My Tireless Retirement – Week 135

 

Hello Everyone!  It’s November! Already!  It was time to get hopping so I had another busy week planning and preparing for the upcoming holidays which included some strategic grocery shopping where I literally purchase five pounds of butter for only $1.75!  Best deal ever!

 

Free butter! 😃

I had downloaded a digital coupon offer for butter at $2.49 each at Fred Meyer plus I had previously downloaded a Best Customer digital coupon for 70¢ OFF a pound of Kroger brand butter and I redeemed some of the rider rewards points I had earned riding the bus this year for a $10 gift card.  By the time I used the gift card and the digital coupons I only had to pay $1.75 out of pocket!  I also used another digital coupon to pick up a 2# block of sharp cheddar cheese for $4.99.  I now have plenty of butter and cheese to get me through the holidays and last me the remainder of the year and well into the next, I think.

 

I can get quite a few groceries home with my
backpack & my reusable shopping bag

I continued to ride the bus this past week to get back and forth to work.  In the process I continued to log my bus rides and I am earning more points to redeem for future Kroger gift cards.  I’ve decided I like FREE groceries.  I’m varying my routes each day and walking a bit further to get my steps in while catching the bus at different stops.  A couple of times I walked through one of our beautiful parks, which I absolutely loved.  This past week we’ve been hovering around the freezing mark at night so all of the trees are changing colors and it is spectacular.

 

I stopped and said hello to this fine gentleman as
I made my way to the bus stop

I made it home on the bus with my latest grocery shop.  All eggs were intact!

My monthly shopping list was rather short and I knew the best place to pick up the handful of items on that list at the lowest possible cost would be Winco so off I went after work one day to get my shopping done.  I was able to disburse the weight of my groceries between my backpack and my Trader Joe’s shopping bag so it was no problem to carry everything home.

 

I had to reinforce the straps on my backpack with extra stitching

I’ve been doing some repairs lately, one of which was to add some stitching to my backpack to reinforce the top of the straps.  I had noticed a few stitches had popped loose so I wanted to get on top of that ASAP.  I heavily rely on my backpack these days.  Another repair was to stitch up a loose seam on the side of a pair of underpants before it got worse.

 

"New" water bath canner

A co-worker of mine is moving so she gave me a snow shovel she no longer needs which is perfect because I had one on my list of things I need to replace this year.  Excellent timing!  We have a thrift store inside the senior center where I work and I scored a water bath canner for $7.49 to replace my rather worn out one that is chipped up and starting to rust inside.  I think my old canner will now become a flower pot in the backyard.

and this darling little electric fireplace

Another great find I got at the thrift store was a small electric fireplace for $19.99 which I am planning to put in my guest room.  I had been thinking of adding one there for quite a while and now when I sew or work in there or have guests it will be a nice ambiance.  I was also thinking of making part of the downstairs bedroom into a den of sorts and if I do I can also use it in there.

 

I am now well supplied with bungi cords

This meal was fabulous!  Perfect on a windy, chilly day

I spent Halloween with a gal pal and we went to Harbor Freight to pick up a few items we needed to use around our respective houses.  Then we came back to my house for a good visit and had some delicious hot soup, a great salad and some homemade dinner rolls for supper.  It was the perfect end to the month and to my retirement week.  I hope you enjoyed a wonder week as well.