My Tireless Retirement - Week 40

 

For me, 2021 and 2022, were a bit of a bumpy ride, both emotionally and physically.  As I sit here today I feel 2023 is going to be my turning point, my year to put all of that behind me and move forward.  With gusto!  I have a lot of ideas swirling around in my head on how I plan to make that happen too.  I decided my "theme" for this year is to take each day as it comes and make the most of it.  One day at a time and focusing on the moment being careful not to wish away my days in hopes of a better future.  I need to be present in today and make it the best day I can rather than hoping things will be better tomorrow.  I can make my life great right now.  I'm further enhancing that by asking myself each day "What beautiful thing can I do today?" and it turns out, quite a bit.

 

Yes, all of this is going!

All of the empty containers & bags I've collected so far

I printed off a new copy of my decluttering checklist and began again and I am amazed at how many more things I've collected throughout my home.  With the warmer weather we've been having all of our snow melted and I no longer have any in the back of my truck so I should be able to get a load of donations off to the thrift store and take in all of my glass to the recycling bin at the neighborhood supermarket parking lot.  Once I do that I'll have my garage back, yay!

 

I made a new batch of homemade laundry detergent

I printed off a new copy of my quarterly housekeeping checklist and began working on those tasks again too.  On new year's day I gathered up all of my bedding and gave it a good wash and rotated my mattress.  I also made up a fresh batch of homemade laundry detergent.  I finally figured out the combination that works for me and I'm quite happy with it.  This time around though I only made a half batch because this stuff lasts a long time and with it only me now, most of the time, it only made sense.  I was able to downsize from the gallon sized Mason jar to a half gallon sized one to store it in.  I think this detergent should last me the year.  I took inventory of what I have left to make my next batch and I'm good to go so no need to purchase any new supplies this year either.  Yay again!

 

I started my brand new 2023 journal

The Brita got a good scrub & a new filter 

Tuesday was my day to run errands and I did have a good list of places I wanted to go, eight in total.  It was the longest errand run I'd done in a good long time.  I had a Home Depot gift card that I used to pick up two new toilet seats and a roll of painters tape, my current roll is about gone so I thought I'd better get a spare roll.  I had placed the order online so all I had to do was stop in and pick it up once I was in the area.

 

I ran errands on Tuesday and picked up a few things

I treated myself to wine from Trader Joes & a sticker book
from Dollar Tree to use with my 2023 journal

I like to plan my errands so I'm as efficient as possible with my time and my fuel.  I mapped out a route, grabbed my shopping list and off I went.  Since I'm trying to have a low spend year I was super careful to stick to my list and only buy the things I had intended.  I was really happy to come across a closeout sale on half gallons of organic whole milk with an expiration date of 2/22/23.  I picked up two and used a $1 OFF digital coupon I had downloaded to my store rewards card to save even more.  Along with a quart of heavy whipping cream I'll be able to make quite a bit of creamer for my coffee.  I plan to use one of the half gallons this month and save the other one to use next month.

 

This carton of whole milk should last a while

At the end of the year I redeemed the points I had saved up from my credit card rewards for a gift card to Albertson's.  I used part of it to pay for some avocados (48¢ each) and four 8oz. packages of cheese ($1.69 each) that were on sale last week.  I always appreciate FREE groceries.

 

I used a gift card to pick these items up for FREE!

On the way home I stopped at the gas station and topped up my car spending a whopping $12 for nearly four gallons of gasoline.  Both of my vehicles are now full and I'm good to go for the month of January and beyond.

 

My bulk spice & produce haul plus an extra 5# bag of flour for bread baking

Chopped onions for the freezer and the scraps are saved for soup stock

I'm feeling pretty spoiled right now.  One of my wish list items on my meal prepping list was to have some packages of chopped onions and peppers.  Last fall I was able to find some peppers on markdown so I got a couple bags of those chopped up and in the freezer.  With the price of onions I haven't been buying many lately.  This week I got a quart sized package of yellow onion, a smaller package of red onion and another small package of sliced scallions in the freezer.  That is the final thing I had on the list.  It makes it very convenient having those types of things in the freezer when making meals.  It's the simple things that bring me joy.

 

New Years Eve we had homemade sausage pesto pizza & a salad

Our New Years Day meal
Stuffed portabello mushroom with broccoli & a homemade wheat dinner roll

After the holidays I had so many leftovers, some I had squirreled away in the freezer that I didn't need to cook at all.  It was mostly heat and eat, prepare a few green salads and use things up before they went bad.  That freed me up quite a bit so I could focus my attention on other things I wanted to do around the house.

 

Yes, this happened last week! 😂

One of my meals I pulled from the freezer to reheat last week

I hope everyone is doing well and that you are off to a good start this new year.  What are some of the things you want to accomplish this month?  I'd love to hear about what you are working on.