Saturday, January 22, 2022

A Thrifty Week at Harvest Lane Cottage #172

 Welcome to another thrifty week at Harvest Lane Cottage. I am glad you've found me! Each week I share my thrifty and frugal projects, ways of saving money, frugal cooking, and my blessings from God. 

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Ways I saved money:

I mended the hem of a bath towel. One more year of service!

Leftovers for lunch Tuesday 

No meat stir-fry for supper Tuesday

I ordered size 6 16" knitting needles, sock blanks for dyeing, and point protectors from Knit Picks while they were on sale. I also bought wool to knit a nice warm hat for my high school sweetheart of forty years, Lowell.

I stayed home more than usual. That saved gas.

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Ways I made money: 

I added to our family income by subbing 5th grade Tuesday. 

I filled out a survey with YouGov. It's the only survey site that I get points for every survey I fill out. The surveys are fairly short—usually around ten minutes. They don't just kick you out after you've filled out page after page of questions. Click on my link above to check them out. I'll get a few points, and you'll get a survey company that actually pays out. I've been using them for a couple of years. I don't make a lot of money, but I do get to save up my points for Amazon gift cards. 

I redeemed my YouGov points for a $50 Amazon gift card. I should get it within three weeks.

I started a return with Walmart pick up service. There were over $13 in products missing from my last order. I should get a refund within 10 days.

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Blessings:

I am knitting Everything November Mitts by Jen Yard in a pretty blue and white fingering weight yarn that my friend, Jill, dyed and gave to me for Christmas. I love the look and the feel of the yarn and the simple beauty of the pattern.

Dear friends gave us money to buy meat for our freezer. Thank you Deborah and George.


Challenges:

Our washing machine's computer decided to quit talking to the motor. ~ Lack of communication always causes troubles!

I took a big basket of clothes to the laundromat. It took three loads in their tiny washers. Each load was $3. I brought the clothes home wet to dry them! I am thankful for being able to laundry at home. What to do about the washer? I don't know. It was the third washer we'd gotten since 2012. They just don't last. So now, my husband is doing his research about what to do next. I did save money by drying at home! I am now trying to wash things out in my sink as we go. I'll probably end up taking more clothes to the laundromat, but I want to minimize!  We already wear clothes more than once if they don't look or smell dirty. That helps them last.

Well everyone, that was my thrifty blessed week What are you doing in your homes?

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 Do not give in to fear about circumstances. God has not given us a spirt of fear but power and of love and a sound mind. 2 Timothy 1:7

 We can do all things through Christ who strengthens us. Philipians 4:13

 This is the time to get in God's word and pray. 

 You may give share prayer requests with me in the comments or by email.

God is so good.
Praise God!

What have you been up to lately?

Laura
Blessed to be a blessing


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17 comments:

  1. Great ways to save money and I could substitute here every day, but I would get sick and then I make more sewing.

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  2. my husband and I left washers and dryers that have computer parts behind . We go for only mechanical machines! Amana is one brand that makes machines without computer parts, The chips and boards on the computerized machines don't last. on the mechanical machines you can get parts and fix them yourself. We have also bought from reputable used appliance stores for machines that don't have computer parts. It saves money too! God bless and help you with that machine!

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    1. Thank you so much for telling me about Amana. I'll tell my husband about it. ~smile~
      Blessings,
      Laura

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  3. Grrrr! On the washing machine!!! I hope it will be an easy fix. My Walmart pickups are getting messier and messier, too. They seem to be out of a lot of items! I plan to do a meatless stir fry this week and plan to scramble a few eggs in for protein. We have a lot of snow leftovers to eat up first. 😁

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    Replies
    1. You've got some good food plans. Enjoy your thrifty meals!
      Blessings,
      Laura

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  4. Laura, so sorry about your washer, I pray that you're able to replace it soon. I'm happy to see the return of 'A Thrifty Week' ... I get such inspiration and encouragement from reading these posts. Looks like you had a good week!

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    1. Thank you Laura. God always supplies. I will just make do until we work out the replacement. Have a great week my inspiring distant friend.
      Blessings,
      Laura

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  5. We had a Maytag Neptune front loader washer that had to have eight new control boards in a year. That made it a lemon so they came and picked it up and refunded 100% of our money. We had asked our repairman which was the most reliable top loader and he recommended Whirlpool. The first of those lasted six years and the transmission went which was more to fix than a new one so we bought another Whirlpool. Just over a year into that one we had to coax it through every load and it walked all over the laundry room and had to be hauled back between every load. That went on for 4 years until it died. At that point we were really frustrated. Our very first washer had lasted 25 years and kind of expected something the same. Research said Speed Queen was the way to go so we bought a Speed Queen 5 1/2 years ago and it has been 100% great for all this time. They are expected to last 25 years because they do not have plastic parts and they are 100% USA made. It is so nice to know that every time I go in the laundry room and load it that it will do it's job trouble free and get our clothes clean which the front loader did not do. Just my two cents!

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    1. Thank you so much Lana. My husband has been checking into machines and has been hearing great things about Speed Queens. I appreciate you sharing your experience. It sounds like a durable option.

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  6. I purchased milk on 1/14. Haven't been in a store since :-)

    Tomorrow I'll go get some basic food stuffs we need to get us to February. Probably spend about $30.

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  7. I also have a bath towel I will be repairing and Made some cookies 🍪! So sorry about the washing machine! Blessings

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  8. Don't laugh -- but an easy way to do your wash while you're "washer-saving" is to put all your clothes (you can separate by color, type or how dirty they are, too) in the bathtub! Fill with medium-warm water, detergent and let soak for a while. Then hop in barefoot and walk around, Lucy-stomping-the-grapes style. Five or ten minutes should do it. Rinse and hang out on the line. It works, and is a lot faster than handwashing everything at the sink.

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    1. That's a great idea! Thank you for the suggestion. That would be more efficient. Thank you!

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  9. I love this idea for a blog post!! Thankyou for sharing!

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Your blog friend,
Laura Lane
5 Year Cancer Survivor