My Tireless Retirement – Week 101

 

Wow!  Holy cow!  I had a great week! March has definitely come in like a lion on all fronts.  We started off with very windy, stormy and snowy weather.  It continued to snow and blow pretty much all week, not spring like at all!  Nonetheless my week was still amazing!

 

I didn't let stormy skies keep me from my mission

Winco is located across the street from our courthouse

I think this is so cool!

One day last week, even though I had the day off and in spite of the weather, I hopped on the bus, went downtown and walked over to Winco to do my “big” grocery shopping.  I came home with a few things strategically placed in my backpack and the rest of it divided up between two shopping bags.  I even stopped along the way to admire the scenery and snap a few pictures.  I was super excited to score another pot roast on markdown for my upcoming canning project.  It was a doozie too, four and a half pounds!

 

I made it and I had a surprisingly great time! 😀

Not a bad haul!

This purchase alone made the trip worth it!

On New Year’s Day I treated myself to something I have wanted very much for a long, long time.  A ticket to Shen Yun!  Sunday the 3rd was the day and oh my gosh, it was wonderful.  Worth every penny and I absolutely loved it!  The performance was held during a snowstorm, of course, but I made it there with no problems.

 

I loved this show so much!!

I made the trip even more worth it by loading my glass recycling into the truck before I left and then on the way home I stopped at Albertson’s and dropped it off in the big collection bin they have in their parking lot.  Then I went inside and picked up my prescriptions at their pharmacy before going over to the seafood section and grabbing a pound of frozen and vacuum sealed salmon fillets that I got with a digital coupon for only $4.79.  Another score!

 

This movie is fabulous!

Tuesday I went to the cheap seat movie theater and saw The Boys In The Boat.  Oh my gosh, that is a great movie.  I heartily recommend it.  If you have the opportunity to go to Shen Yun I recommend that as well.

 

A new journal I made using a spiral notebook

I used some lace to make a pocket
on the inside cover

In between my work schedule, my social schedule and my housekeeping tasks I did get in some paper crafting and started making myself a new daily journal with a vintage sewing theme.  I may be using this one for my journal in 2025, I haven’t quite decided yet.  If I do this would definitely be the earliest I’ve made one in preparation of a new year.  Regardless, it has been a fun project to work on.

 

I got this for $4.79!

Ways I Saved $$: 

I made my trip to the Shen Yun performance really count by also combining it with a few errands – dropping off the glass recyclables, picked up my prescriptions and used a digital coupon to add a on pound package of salmon fillets to my deep freezer. 

I took advantage of the Tuesday $2 a seat special at the movie theater.  I did not buy any snacks or soda, I did sneak in a water bottle and a granola bar. 

My hair grows really fast so I trimmed my hair saving myself a bundle plus tip on a trip to the salon. 

My BFF hooked me up!

I decorated for Easter using only items I already had on hand. 

Gas prices leaped another 10¢ a gallon here, literally overnight.  I kept my driving to a minimum and combined errands as much as possible when I did drive someplace.  The rest of the week I used the bus.  I’ve even inspired my boss to start riding!  Yay!

I had no food waste last week.  In fact, I can’t think of anything that was wasted around here including my time.  That’s pretty awesome!

 

Meals I Prepared: 

At the beginning of my week I had one leftover meatloaf meal in the fridge, one serving of chili con carne leftover from the previous week, a can of clam chowder from the pantry, a container of  minestrone soup and one of beef barley soup from the freezer, two frozen servings of leftover pasta that I had made in February, four low carb dinner rolls that I buttered and toasted in my mini electric skillet, as well as two servings of taco filling in the freezer and some leftover corn tortillas in the fridge, plus I made fresh green salads as well as steamed asparagus to go along with all of those meals.  It was a delicious week and no additional cooking required.  Perfect for a very busy and full week.  Go me!

 

I hope everyone is doing well.  How has your week been?  Did you score any great deals at the grocery store?  Seen any good movies lately?  Is your weather as crazy as ours has been lately? 

FYI - My retirement week runs from Friday through Thursday.

 

Stretching My Non Food $$ - Soap

 

For a number of years now I’ve been stretching my various soaps in ways to extend the use of them.  Through trial and error I’ve been able to do a variety of things without affecting their overall performance.  I’m sure I’ve managed to save quite a bundle of money over the years, especially while raising my family.

 

Liquid soaps are easy to extend simply by adding water.  I’ve used a lot of different hair products in my lifetime and for me I find the inexpensive brands such as Suave, White Rain and VO5 to be every bit as good as the more expensive brands.  In fact, maybe better as I seem to not have a residue build up with the less expensive products.  Several years ago I discussed this with my hair stylist and she gave me some really good insight.  For one thing, most people use way too much hair product and use it way too often.  I had been having trouble myself with an irritated scalp and her suggestion was to wash my hair less often and to just simply rinse my hair with warm water in between shampoos to keep it fresh.  Once I started to do this my scalp was much happier and my hair was just as clean, shiny and healthy looking as ever, maybe even more so.

 

One day I noticed how thick the shampoo and conditioner I use is.  It was so thick that it was actually difficult to get out of the bottle at times.  I started using distilled water and watering it down bit by bit.  Not only did it come out of the bottles easier, but it lasted a whole lot longer without affecting how it worked at all.  I also used smaller amounts each time and again I had no problem lathering up my hair or conditioning it to help with tangles.  Now I always water down my shampoo and conditioner and use a pump bottle to dispense just the right amount I need to clean and condition my hair.

I turn one jug of laundry detergent

 

into two!  It's like magic! 😂

Similarly I do the same thing with liquid laundry detergent.  I still alternate between my homemade laundry detergent which I use most of the time and then occasionally I run a load using a commercial detergent.  For me it seems to make my homemade detergent more effective.  I think this is true of any soap or cleaners we use in our home.  I take an empty detergent jug and fill it halfway with liquid detergent and then the rest of the way with tap water, then give it a good shake.  I use the regular amount and my clothes are clean and bright.

 

When it comes to hand soap the biggest savings for me is to use foaming hand soap dispensers and refill them with my own solution.  I’ve been making it for years and years using shower gel I already have on hand (picked up for FREE with coupons from Bath & Body Works) and it works every bit as well as if I’d bought a brand new dispenser at the store.  I use a heaping tablespoon of shower gel stirred into a cup of warm tap water and it makes the perfect amount to refill one dispenser.  If I use regular shower gel I just mix two tablespoons into the cup of warm water to get the right consistency.  As someone who washes their hands a lot I have to have a good soap and this works really well.

 

Another thing I’ve been doing for years and years, I wash my dishes by hand almost all of the time so I use a concentrated version of liquid dish soap.  My brand of choice is Palmolive Ultra, but there a few others out there to choose from.  I buy it in the really big jug as it tends to typically be the best price, ounce per ounce, and refill a pump dispenser that sits at my kitchen sink.  I find that one pump of the soap is more than enough to wash up a small sink full of dishes.  For a larger load I’ll use two pumps.  It definitely takes a lot less soap to get your dishes squeaky clean than one might think.

 

I still use bar soap in the shower and whenever the soap is down to a sliver and is getting hard to handle I get out a new bar, get it nice and wet, get the sliver of remaining soap nice and wet and stick the two together.  It allows me to use up the last of the old bar without any waste and is much easier to handle in the shower.

 

A shot of my linen closet a few years ago when I got most of this
for $1 on sale and with coupons
Not likely to see those kind of deals anytime soon

Soap isn’t getting any cheaper, in fact quite the opposite.  In a nutshell, to save money, I use only the amount I truly need, I am mindful not to be wasteful and I look for ways to effectively extend the life of my products.  I’m sure there are a lot of other ways to save money on soaps and cleansers.  If you have a great idea that works well for you be sure to share it in the comments so we can all learn from each other.

 

Keep Moving

 

One of my goals this year is to do whatever I can to improve my overall health and wellbeing.  I am currently working on converting both my pantry and my long term food storage (LTFS) over to a REAL Food pantry situation.  Same thing with my deep freezer.  As I am moving forward in that endeavor I am trying to use up any prepackaged foods I still have with no intention of repurchasing those items.  When I make my grocery lists and do my shopping I’m being much more intentional and aware of the items I am buying.  I’m reading labels and really thinking about what I put in my cart.  Is it clean, healthy and of good quality?  What about the packaging, is it wasteful?  Is there something I can make myself to replace a particular item?

 

My activity level is another area I am steadily working to improve.  Riding the bus and walking to and from work as taken me to another level and added a new element of happiness to my every day.  Throwing in grocery shopping by walking and using the bus took it to an even higher level as I am able to really test my resourcefulness.  Surprisingly I am finding it a lot of fun to challenge myself in this way and the bonus is that I am able to engage with others a lot more.  I’ve had a lot of nice little visits with people as I’ve waited at my stop or I’m riding on the bus.  I find myself getting excited as I plan my days and routes with my work schedules.

 

I’ve always enjoyed walking, but when I can add a purpose to it I enjoy it even more.  I’ve often found myself getting bored with simply walking around my neighborhood even though I know the exercise is good for me.  By having tasks associated with it I find I get a lot more out of walking and it keeps me much more motivated.

 

Our emotional wellbeing is every bit as important as our physical wellbeing.  This is an important facet of my life that I work on every single day.  I pray.  A lot!  I write in my journal every day.  I touch base with my therapist every other month.  I practice the coping skills I’ve been taught.  I do not allow negativity into my life and I’m very rigid about this.  Life is far too short to put up with that kind of nonsense.  I recognize I have limited control, practically none, over the actions of others, but I have total control over myself and how I choose to handle various situations.

 

Most importantly I choose to be happy.  I seek joy.  I embrace simplicity.  I am a positive person.  I am content and grateful.  I care about others as well as our environment and I love animals.  I am taking care of myself.  I am kind, generous and faithful.  Every day I keep moving.

 

My Tireless Retirement - Week 100!

 

Wow!  It is March already.  Wow!  Week 100 of my retirement is in the books.  Even crazier is that I’m less than a month away from celebrating my 2 year retirement anniversary.  Like they say, “time flies when you’re having fun!”  Are you having fun?  I sure do hope so.

 

I began the new month by picking up a few items at Fred Meyer that were on sale.  One of the items on my grocery “wish list” is pot roast and Albertson’s finally had them on sale for a fairly decent price, however when I stopped in, and I went to two different stores, they didn’t have any.  Sadly, this is not a new issue with them.  Long before the pandemic every hit they have struggled with stocking sales items.  However, when I was in Fred Meyer picking up asparagus and a couple items I had FREE digital coupon offers for I checked their meat department and found a really nice roast marked down.  I did the math and it was less than Albertson’s sales price so I grabbed it and when I got home I put it away into my freezer.  My plan is to gather roasts on markdown or on sale and tuck them into the freezer until I have enough as I will be canning them.

 

My coffeemaker got a good cleaning inside and out.  I made a pot of vinegar and water and poured it into the reservoir and let it sit for an hour before hitting the brew button and running it through.  Then I ran a pot of fresh water through it.  I also bleached the stains out of the carafe before using that same bleach water to soak my coffee cups and travel much to remove the coffee and tea stains from all of them.  It feels really good to have a sparkling clean coffeemaker and pot as well as stain free cups to drink my coffee from.

 

On Wednesday we had a potato bar potluck lunch at work.  I emptied two jars of home canned chili into my mini slow cooker and took that in as my contribution.  I was able to use up two older items from my pantry that had been hanging around for a little while, but were still delicious and added two more empty pint jars to my stash in the garage.

 

In preparation of my next gardening season I planted flower seeds in peat pots and tomato and bell pepper seeds empty yogurt cups.  Then I used a couple old storage bins I already had on hand in the garage to make “greenhouses”.  The flower seeds have already sprouted so I added the grow lights I got last year.  No sign of anything with the tomato or pepper seeds yet, but I’m watching!

 

Ways I Saved $$: 

When I finished cleaning the coffee carafe and cups I used that same bleach water to soak the bottom of my kitchen sink along with my scrub sponge and was able to disinfect both the sink and sponge getting some extra mileage out of that bleach. 

I washed out two gallon size Ziploc bags to reuse.  I’ve already put one of those bags back into service.

 

Meals I Prepared: 

I got off really easy last week as far as cooking and meals went.  I only actually cooked one time which was to prepare a meatloaf, scalloped potatoes, green bean casserole and a lemon poke cake for a Leap Day celebration.  It was so good and no one left the table hungry, that is for sure!  And!  I still had enough leftovers to put a couple into the freezer and one in the fridge.

The rest of the week was literally reheating leftovers and thawing leftovers to reheat.  I had soup and salad meals every other day which was perfect for the wet, windy and chilly days we had last week.  A hot bowl of soup was very much appreciated.

 

That pretty much sums up my 100^th week of retirement.  It was a good one!  How was your week?

FYI - My retirement week runs from Friday through Thursday.

 

REAL Food Recipe - Cream Of Broccoli Soup

 

In January I made this delicious and creamy broccoli soup.  It is easy and very inexpensive to make.  It also freezes very well.

 

Cream Of Broccoli Soup 

2 medium potatoes, peeled & finely diced

1 16 oz. bag frozen chopped broccoli

½ cup onion, finely chopped

2 cups vegetable broth

1 cup grated sharp cheddar cheese

2 cups whole milk

Salt & pepper 

Cook potatoes, broccoli and onion in vegetable broth until vegetables are fork tender.  Remove from heat and mash potato mixture.  Stir in cheese and milk.  Return to heat and bring to a slight boil.  At this time use an immersion blender to make soup smooth and creamy.  Season to taste with salt and pepper.  Makes 4 to 6 servings.

 

If you don’t have a blender you can eat this soup just as it is.  It is just as delicious in a chunkier form.  But if you can blend it you may like the smoother and creamier texture.  I serve it along with a nice green salad and a piece of bread or a biscuit to complete the meal.  It also makes a great starter for any meal.

 

 

Low Spend - Living & Dining Room Refresh

 

In 2018 I did a huge upgrade in my living room.  I took everything out of it, added some trim and then painted the walls and the ceiling, added a tiled entry way in front of the door, gave the fireplace a refresh and replaced the carpet.  That same year I also upgraded the dining room.  Not only did I paint the walls and ceiling but I also added trim and wainscoting.  It was an amazing home improvement project and once it was done I was thrilled with the results.

 

I took this photo before I got started and even included
my paper crafting mess on the dining room table

My Amazon order

It has been six years now and since then very little about this room has changed except that I’ve been steadily removing items as part of the big decluttering project I did last year.  I’ve really enjoyed how much this space has opened up however, I was ready for a little bit of a change up in here.  Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love my living room and dining room, however I feel a little bit of a refresh is always nice so we can continue to stay in love with our spaces.

 

Another before shot

And after

Since I’m on a low spend 2024 challenge I knew that any changes I decided to make needed to be done on a slim budget.  The items I’ve chosen to keep after decluttering I still very much wanted to keep, but I did want to tweak them a bit so I ordered a new slipcover for my sofa and a new one for my recliner.  It was a subtle change that really refreshed this room.  I then rearranged what was left.  I had taken down the mirror over the fireplace as well as my sword from the wall, but after much reconsideration I definitely wanted to add them back as well as some decorative artwork I used to have hanging over the sofa.

 

I love it!

The dining room was super simple.  I had ordered some new seat covers for the chairs so I simply switched them out after giving the room its quarterly cleaning.  After that I rehung my great grandmother’s picture that used to hang in her little living room.  I really love that picture.  It is amazing to me what a few simple little changes like that can do for a room.

 

Ta da!

I thought these were really pretty

I am very happy with the final results

Using a $25 gift card I had earned by doing surveys last year I applied it to the order I placed on Amazon for the slipcovers and used items I already had on hand to finish off this project.  My final total came in at $57 to refresh two rooms in my house.  I’m just thrilled and amazed by this little project.  So what do think?  How did I do?