My Thrifty Retirement - Week 1

 

My first full week of retirement began on Sunday after two days I spent taking it easy and resting.  I needed a break and told myself a three day weekend (actually the whole month of April) spent only doing what I wanted to do was the first order of business.  I spent those days in my craft room making a lot of really pretty greeting cards.  My craft room and pretty much any project I do in there is like therapy to me.  I am planning a lot of therapy to be going on for quite some time.  I challenged myself to make as many cards using only my overflowing pile of paper scraps as I could and I came up with some beauties.

 

I had pulled all of the meat from a roast chicken I had made the previous week.  We had eaten several meals from it already, including sandwiches and salads, but I wanted to make sure none of it went to waste.  After removing the meat I used half of it and the leftover gravy I had made to put over rice.  The remaining meat went into a container and into the freezer for a future meal.  The bag I keep in the freezer for veggie scraps was nearly full and had the bones of another chicken in it too.  I combined that along with this chicken carcass in my largest slow cooker, added three quarts of water and let it go for twenty four hours to make some good bone broth.

 

Potato patties with sour cream

I used up some leftover roasted potatoes and carrots by mashing them up, adding a tablespoon of flour and an egg to them and making potato patties which I fried and topped with sour cream.  They were delicious!  I also took a very ripe banana as well as some sour milk and made a loaf of banana bread with it to have for afternoon tea.  I added a small handful of pecans that I chopped up real small and used half the sugar the recipe calls for.  It was delicious!  Definitely sweet enough.

 

I washed my insulated lunch box and then mended a small spot where the stitching came loose.  Now it is all ready for a new life, just like me.  I also mended two of my dish cloths that had worn a bit thin in a couple spots.

 

On Saturday my daughter picked up our FREE offers from Albertsons and Fred Meyer this week.  We each got a jar of almond butter plus a sparkling water beverage and I had a coupon for a bottle of FREE bottle of salad dressing.  The only grocery shopping done so far has cost me absolutely nothing.

 

So far this month of April I have spent $0.  I even canceled my Amazon Prime membership so it would not renew this year.  I think I can get by without it and I'm eager to see if that is true.  I had already canceled Netflix back in December and haven't missed it at all.  We have a Roku and it works really well with loads of free options for television programs and movies.  Youtube has a ton of moves as well.  I also plan to borrow DVDs from our public library whenever I want to see something.  I have loads of free options.

 

A couple of my readers have recently purchased me" cups of coffee" to support this blog and I cannot tell you have much that has touched my heart.  Another fine friend sent me a case of mandarin orange cups for my prepper pantry.  Such a nice surprise!  I wish we could all get together for some real cups of coffee and a good chat.  You all mean so much to me.  I am so grateful.

 

Pork chop, steamed asparagus & homemade applesauce

I hope all is well in your world.  What are some of the thrifty things you've been up to lately?