My hours at work changed this week, which means I go in earlier and get out later.  It also means I work six days a week from now until the end of September.  It doesn’t leave me a lot of time to get all the things done that I “want” to do, but I do look forward to the over time income.  However, I’ve learned that if I don’t plan well and stay organized it’s easy for the extra income to get sucked up into little emergencies like what’s for dinner and such.  Gotta have a plan!

Friday’s Frugal Five:

1. I purchased a new router for our internet service so the provider we use would stop charging me $10 a month to rent theirs.  Got my first invoice after installing the router, and the $10 charge was still on the bill.  So annoying!  But, I called and had the charge removed.  I swear I think they do this on purpose in hopes that we wont notice it or they know some people wont take the time to call and have it removed.  Either way it’s frustrating….  I’m guilty of getting so annoyed with all the questions when I’m just trying to speak to a customer service person that I hit the “0” button on my phone like 1,000,000,000 times.  It seems to work after about the first 5 questions and you’ve reached a moderate level of frustration.
2. I’ve set up my direct deposit savings for my overtime income to be automatically deposited.  If I don’t see it I wont miss it and won’t be tempted to spend it.
3. Checked out 2 books of interest from the library prior to purchasing them to make sure they are what I wanted.  I did buy the books as they are cook books geared toward the direction we want to go in changing our diet.  Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon and Nourishing Broth by Sally Fallon.  Both very good books that I’ll use for years.  Yes, I could’ve continued to check them out of the library, but I’m sure over time these books will show much use with many food spots and dog eared pages, not something I would want to do to a library book.
4. I’ve been saving my used deodorant containers waiting to make my own deodorant.  I’ll be making it this weekend, so I’ll let you know how it turns out.  The true test of how  well it works will be when I’m lifting 50lb bags and buckets at work this spring.   I’m going to use a recipe of coconut oil and baking soda. I’ll keep an open mind because the goal is to get away from all the chemicals I’ve been putting in and on my body as much as possible.  The recipe looks easy to just mix coconut oil and baking soda together well and put it in a used deodorant container.  I may need to put it in the fridge to get it to set up quicker, and then of course store it in a cool spot.
5. Eat Dirt by Dr Josh Axe is another book I checked out from the library.  It is a good book with a lot of valuable information in it about gut health.  It is his opinion that we have become a germaphobe clean freak  anti bacterial nation which has done us no favors for our overall health.  And like the title says, he mildly suggest that we should “Eat Dirt” meaning for example don’t be afraid of the vegetables at the farm stand that still have dirt on them, because those are the ones that will provide us much more nutrition than those that have traveled thousands of miles.  It’s a good read, and I suggest it to anyone interested in getting (back) to real food and good health.  It also gave me fond memories of working in the garden with my Dad and remembering how he sometimes would pick a vegetable and take a bite out of it right there on the spot, then convince me to do it too.  Dirt don’t’ hurt 🙂

As always, meals came from the freezer and pantry, except for those hamburger buns on Wednesday night.  There were no meals eaten out or taken out this week, lunches were from leftovers, bills are paid, money is in the pickle jar and still breathing fresh air and loving it.

What’s Cooking 4/8/16?

• Breakfast: overnight oats with dried cranberries, walnuts, sprinkle of cinnamon and a drizzle of maple syrup
• Lunch: the last of the stir fry veggies with jasmine rice
• Dinner: homemade pizza night

Here is a picture of yesterday’s (and today’s) lunch.

How about you, what frugal fun things did you do this week.

Till Next Time,

Lori