Pennies From Heaven

 

Hello dear Ones!

I hope you had a good week! Mine was a bit—unexpected is probably the best word for it! I was happily running errands last Monday afternoon, feeling very good about the tasks I was getting checked off of my “to do” list, when all of a sudden the air conditioning stopped in my car! “Rats!” I thought to myself! Just in time for our week of record breaking temperatures! But—I consoled myself with the thought that at least the car was still operating correctly and it was “only” the air conditioning. Or so I thought.  I made one last stop, then picked up my daughter from school and headed home.  Pulling into our car port, I started dutifully carrying groceries from the back of the car into the house.  Then I hear my daughter ask—“Ummm, Mom?”  “Yes?” I holler back, my head busy with making sure I get the frozen things safely put away into the freezer before they start to defrost.  “The car is smoking—it isn’t going to explode or burst into flames or something, is it?” I hear her continue.  :O THAT certainly got my undivided attention!  And sure enough—as I go to look at the front of the car, there is smoke pouring out from both sides of the hood!  I have to confess—in all the many years I have been driving, this is the very first time I have ever had something like THIS happen to me, so I guess I have been very very blessed that this was my first time!  

That made it pretty clear that my car was going to be taking a vacation for a bit at least!  Welcome to the first day of school!  But we are so blessed!  God was watching over me for sure, for it could have been so much worse!  It could have happened on a long distance trip this past summer when we drove far away from home—but didn’t!  It could have left me stranded by the side of the road—but didn’t! It COULD have ended up causing an accident involving other people—but didn’t!  If you ARE going to be stranded somewhere, isn’t home the best, most delightful place in the world to be stranded at? I feel it is! Another blessing I have thought of—I had JUST finished grocery shopping!  So my pantry was full, and it was not a stressful time to be without a car and have no fresh produce in the house!

 There are many things to be stressed about—but my thoughts as I write this are on all that we can feel blessed about if we only open our eyes and start looking for those blessings.  The blessings are there, regardless of whether we notice them or not.  But how do you feel if you give a gift to someone you love dearly and they never acknowledge it or tell you “thank you?”  It doesn’t feel good, does it?  I am sad to say too often this is me with the gifts and blessings God gives to me.  It is so easy to focus on what is negative in our lives, but how often do we notice what is positive? I hope in a small way, these posts on frugal living can be a bit of focusing on the positive. For even if it is something we did with our own strength and sweat, where did we get the strength to do the task?  From our Creator, of course!

On to this week’s frugal endeavors! This past week, I:

1) Made home made granola.  I have been making home made granola for as many years as I can remember! But I did not grow up making it, no indeed! It was something I learned how to do as an adult, after I was married.  Over the years as I have changed the way I eat to become healthier, I have changed recipes that I use several times, and have even then tweaked the recipe to not include OR to include something I want to either avoid eating or eat more of.  When I look at the cost of granola in the grocery store, I am not sure how people afford to purchase it all the time to feed their families!  It is so easy to make, and you can customize to your heart’s content!  If you have never made home made granola before but would like to try it, I would encourage you to do a google search for recipes.  You can find gluten free versions, oil free versions, sugar free versions, higher protein versions, and I am sure many, many more variations that I cannot even think of right now! Besides that, baking it makes the house smell yummy, and warm granola is even more delicious!

2) I enrolled in a free class!  This was something I was not planning on, but the night before the first class period the teacher who is a family friend texted me and personally invited me to take the class.  I talked it over with my hubby, and since it IS in an area that I am trying to learn more about we both felt it was too good of an opportunity for me to pass up.  So while it does busy up my schedule a bit, at the same time it is a huge blessing and and will help keep my brain active! And two classes in I am already learning new things!

3) I cooked garbanzo beans from dry beans.  This is quite a money saver over purchasing canned beans, and they taste better too!  But I love the convenience of canned beans, so I have thought of a solution.  I cook dry beans using my Instant Pot which makes it very simple and easy (thought I used to cook them in a crock pot, which is also very easy!).  Then I dish them up and put them in a small freezer container that is just the size holding about the same amount that one can holds.  So when I need one can of beans, I simply go to my freezer and pull out one container and pop it in the microwave! It is almost as convenient as commercially canned beans, and much less expensive.

4) I purchased two cases of bananas at the store that were getting spotted and were marked down to 50% the original price.  I peeled these—adding the peelings to our compost pile, and froze them in quart size freezer bags.  I lay the bags down in single layers in the freezer, so when I use them I have a single layer of bananas and not a large frozen banana mountain! And what do I use them for, you ask?  I am glad you asked that question!  I use them most days for smoothies! That is my breakfast most days, and I love it!  Maybe another time I will share a smoothie post and tell you how I make it.

5) I checked out and read a book on Hoopla through my library for free!  I love being able to listen to audio books while I cook or clean or fold laundry!  Do you listen to audio books from Hoopla?  Our library also subscribes to Libby, and I use that one as well for sometimes a book is available on one app but not on the other.

Phew! That was my busy week! What was your week like?  Did you keep a list of what you did to save money and be frugal? If so, I would love to hear what you did!  

Until next time!

Friend