Friday, September 9, 2016

A Thrifty Week at Harvest Lane Cottage #80

Welcome to another thrifty week at Harvest Lane Cottage. I am honored by your visit.  Each week I share my thrifty and frugal projects, ways of saving money, and my blessings from God. 


I am so glad you dropped in for a visit today—or tonight!

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Hello! 
  Fall weather is playing hide and seek with us. Last week when I wrote, the weather was glorious. This week, summer has been back, but fortunately, the heat hasn't risen over the '90's. Still, the air conditioner has been going every day and some nights. The most comfortable place in the house is still in front of the a/c. Are things getting nicer where you are? 

With cool weather, comes thoughts of crafting, sewing, baking, and decorating. First though, I need to do some fall cleaning. Do you have any favorite homemade cleaning recipes or tips you'd like to share?
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Here's my thrifty week:
  • I went yard saling and bought nothing! Yay! That's more $ in my pocket instead of clutter in my closet.
  • I cut my soap bars apart and set them to dry on top of the refrigerator in a box. I figure the bars cost about a dollar each to make. It doesn't sound thrifty until you consider that to buy them, I'd pay $3.50 or more each. My family loves homemade soap. I use a blend of coconut oil, vegetable shortening, olive oil, water, and lye. It costs around $30 to make a batch. I need to make at least one more batch before Thanksgiving.
  • I didn't go out for a cappuccino Tuesday evening. I stayed home and saved money.
  • We had company for Labor Day. We made burgers, chips, and fried okra from our garden. I've never had fresh fried okra. Oh my! Our friends brought the potato salad. We sent apples home with them as a parting gift.
  • I made two apple crisps from the 40 lbs of apples that we received free last week. 
  • I made apple butter using a slow cooker full of apples cut small and treated with lemon juice, brown sugar, white sugar, and a wee bit of water. 
  • I used little canning jars that my friend Laura gave me. Thanks Laura!
  • We had a Hobbit and Lord of the Rings Marathon party from 7 a.m. on Saturday until about 2 a.m. on Sunday morning. I provided the first $20 for meals and snacks (plus some of the chili fixin's). The kids pooled their money and paid for the rest. The guests also brought snacks and sodas. By the way, bagels, cream cheese, butter, and jellies made a very easy first breakfast. This was followed later by second breakfast, elevensies, lunch, tea, supper, and dinner more or less. ~grin~ They basically ate like Hobbits all day!
  • Hubby made 2 apple pies from the apples.

Well, that's my thrifty week. 
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What are you doing in your home this week?
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ღLauraღ
...doing what I can with what I've got
where I am on a short shoestring budget!

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18 comments:

  1. Hello my friend! It is hot again for sure but not so bad today and we had a bit of rain. sounds like a good week for you.

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  2. Fresh okra, fried, is wonderful!
    That's a long party, I'm sure the youth enjoyed it but I'm old, I'd rather sleep 😂
    Hope your next week is thrifty too.

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  3. Trudy Abernathy-NeillSeptember 10, 2016 at 3:16 PM

    Hi Laura....we have had weather in the 90's on off all week and two nights of tornado warnings which I do not like at all. I have finished canning finally! Hurrah. I shared some of my homemade jelly this week and also some of my home canned green beans. The person I gave them to gave me then a box of canning jars for free. Another person I gave two sacks of our tomatoes and she in turn gave me linens and two bags of yarn and a box of sewing items. Isn't it lovely how things work out? Now I will turn to cleaning on the inside and beginning to decorate for Fall as well. My husband, the farmer is cleaning out flower beds and also some of the garden plots as well as keeping up with the mowing. I have watched our grandchildren this week so that their parents could go into work and get three extra hours a piece which helps them. I enjoy your posts as always and wish you and yours a happy Fall. All the best, Trudy from Windermere Farm.

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    1. What an awesome week you had! That's truly terrific. You get so much done. I admire you! May God bless you.
      Laura

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  4. Laura are you Canadian? Sounds like you had a good week. I have kept the oven off not to heat the house up. The humidity is awful. I didn't do groceries this week. Living out the fridge and there is some frowns in the fruit area, but I have bins of free apples and pears. They will have to do. I am going to bake my spaghetti squash and make noodles this week and we'll as apple crisp.

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  5. It has been full blown summer here with high temps and humidity. Oh well!

    Glad you had breakfast and 2nd breakfast. (I can still hear the Hobbit's accents )

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  6. The Hobbit party sounds like it was hit. I had to chuckle about the amount of eating that went on. Kids seem to graze all day long! We are finally getting a break from the oppressive humitiy. The windows have been open all day and I hope to have them open most of the week. Thankful for the ac break.

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  7. Great Thrifty post. You always encourage me.

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  8. We just had our first anniversary and hubby and I celebrated by watching all three of the hobbits and then all three of the lord of the rings over a weekend :) And I also wanted to mention that the Wednesday "To Grandma's House We Go" link party just started over at grandmashousediy.com and I thought you might be interested in joining it, thanks!

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    1. That sounds so fun, Tarahlynn. I'm afraid there are quite a few parts I just cannot watch, but I know that the teens enjoyed them. Happy anniversary! Just a hundred more to go!

      Here's some Marriage Advice from an Older Woman.
      Be blessed,
      Laura

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  9. You did well my friend and that movie marathon sounds like so much fun!

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    1. Hi Debbie,
      It was for the kids, Debbie. I loved having company, but it made me really tired. ~grin~

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  10. Thanks for sharing with us at the To grandma's House we go link party! Pinned!

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  11. The party sounds so fun Laura! Would love being a hobbit for a day. :) You have been very busy and thrifty. I made an apple crisp today with apples a friend gifted me. Just ate a bowl with some ice cream. YUM! Thanks for sharing with SYC.
    hugs,
    Jann

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    Replies
    1. I don't think I could be a Hobbit for a day, Jann. My stomach would be killing me!

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Your blog friend,
Laura Lane
5 Year Cancer Survivor