Thrifty Thursday and the Week That Got Away

      Goodness-I've been AWOL for nearly a week and not for any reasons of drama or stress. A part of not regular blog posts was really just a blur of days and then realizing, "I never blogged today". No time like a Thursday to pick up where I left off with another round of Thrifty Thursday. Today's post will be heavy on time-time spent not blogging apparently. I still had a good cross over win in the resource and money categories too.  

Time

• We had a really good time at my sisters  3rd of July party. The food was good-they do  old fashion hotdogs and brats on the grill and walking tacos, both with all the fixings. It's also a potluck to round out the meal and there was quite the spread. This was the first really big gathering, not counting the after park clean-up. Many of my niece and nephews and their families made it for the day and it was wonderful seeing all of them. 
  
• DH went up to the cabin after work on Saturday and the girls and Ion Sunday morning. It was a very nice 4th of July-swimming, eating, and relaxing. On Monday, I think I might have just floated on a  pool float in the lake for 90 minutes straight! Again though, DH had to work on Monday when so many people had it off. Retirement  can't come soon enough for him. 
• We had arranged to Facebook Messenger video talk with my son on Monday night. Nearly four hours later, we were all caught up. He has been working very steady now for the past month, but says people in California, or at least his circle of people, are not rushing to  put themselves back in  indoor crowds yet. He still has all the same  Covid protocols on set ta they had during the height of the pandemic when they weren't shut down. 
• DD1 came over on Tuesday night and she and I brainstormed some opportunities for her to build out  her own business. While she has a good job with benefits, it is very stifling and not quite the creative  outlet it was proposed when she was hired. They also seem to regularly have the threat of losing funding and potential downsizing and lay offs. She would have a solid side business before ending steady employment to go totally self employed, so she was working though  both budget and side work opportunities to build up her own options.. 

Resources  

• This first one is a cross over with money as it will help the grocery budget a bit. DD2 works in a food pantry and a few times a week they need to purge items that at the end of the day, policy says needs to be thrown. This is fresh produce and bakery for the most part that is a day or more past best by date. I've been teaching her well to  understand best by and bad are not the same. She came home with two small tubs of  prepared fruit (at $5.99 retail-outrageous), two bags spinach, and already cut onion and pepper mix which I froze, both of which I froze, and a 12 count of mini-croissants. The only bad ting was a mushy cucumber, plastic wrapped so it wasn't leaking, that had to be thrown. 
• We used the croissants for supper along with a handful of spinach and I made a sort of egg bake/croissandwich. Then I froze the other half of the croissants. I cleared a 1/3 bag of hash browns from the freezer as a side dish. Lunch today will be a croissandwich with the leftover egg bake.
• I ate leftovers or odds and ends cheese and tortillas for my lunches this week and avoided waste.

Money

• After being at the lake, I didn't feel like cooking anything for supper so we got Chinese take out Monday night, but at the  HyVee counter which was a lot less than had we ordered form the restaurant, plus, they gave us an extra side of lo mein. I'm putting it in the money win column-might be a stretch. 
• Scored both boneless/skinless chicken breast and pork loin for well under $2 per pound and bought two of each at Aldi. We didn't need the chicken at the lake, so one is in the freezer there for a future weekend. I froze one pork loin, and made the other into pulled pork, which I cooked in the slow cooker all day while at my sisters party. It was phenomenal and I ended up up with enough to feed probaby 12 people with a loin that was under $7. I froze the other chicken too, but took out yesterday to thaw. I'll cook that package today and use or refreeze in  meal portions.
• I shopped at Aldi on Friday and spent a lot, but it was more of a weekend/holiday shop, so still need to do a restock with groceries after eating down much of our stores last week. With so much meat set aside though, I'll likely not need to buy much in that area so foresee staying on budget or less this month. 
• DD2 checked out a movie she and her brother were discussing n Monday, free from the library. 
• I made coffee at home (except for Sunday when we stopped on route to fill the car and got coffee). DD2 and DH packed lunches each day. My daughters walked to the store for me as we were out of milk and bread and I gave her free rein to buy other things for her lunch. Her big splurge was a  specialty kind of ramen/noodle like soup, four packets, for her lunch, and some of the Terra root chips. Still cheaper than lunch out. 

     Mostly this week was home and or family focused. I didn't even get out to trivia last night so had savings there as well. I'm really thinking about where my money goes, while not being cheap, and not being wasteful. Often that means spending a bit more time, like preparing the pulled pork rather than buying it already made, and foregoing something with only short term gratification. This is th e essence of my frugality, combining the best use of my time, while not adding more stuff to landfills, my house, and my brain, and saving financially for the future. To spend in any of these areas in ways that bring joy is my goal.