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Well, I think I stayed in budget on my trip. I will know for sure when I look up my CC bills. I did not necessarily try and be thrifty on my travels. I bought some winter things for myself on sale. I was able to get a little Christmas done on sale. But I really just enjoyed myself and spent what I wanted, which was nice. Of course, I had purposely saved for this reason.
I did not care that McD's diet cokes were more expensive back east or in the gulf. I just bought what I wanted. We were going to eat out most meals, but after two dismal meals the second one was well over $80 for the four of us, we decided to get some groceries and cook. I don't mind eating out in fact I enjoy it, but not when the food is less than stellar, and Sis and my choice was downright awful. Also, I don't mind cooking and neither does Sis. Anne was able to grill our steak to perfection.
But I am home now, and I am putting a spending freeze on groceries until we leave for our cruise in December. Mostly because we just need to eat down what we have in the freezers. I really would like to do some re arranging in the garage as it is not really conducive to good food storage, but I have not figure out when I can do that. I will probably get Nate and Hub's on that in the future.
So now the plan is to pull things from the freezer and eat what we have taken from the garden. If anyone has any good eggplant recipes let me know. I do a mean eggplant parm but would like some alternatives. I do love fried eggplant. We have a ton of eggplant and green peppers. Way more peppers than I can freeze or use. So, I will probably be giving those away on the marketplace.
Tonight's repast will be chicken breast strips, salad, potatoes, and a can of veggies. Hubs is working at the school tonight so dinner will be early. I have two brides coming in this afternoon and a little work to do in the shop. It was really nice to have yesterday to just get myself back into home mode.
Thrifty Thursday:
1. saved all my spare change on trip added over 25 dollars to my coin bank
2. saved 5 since I came home $15.00 it was weird to spend 5's on the trip as I have been so actively saving them for so long.
3. bought Christmas gifts and a birthday gift at 60-70% off on the trip.
4. hubs picked all the potatoes and onions from the garden, so we have plenty for a while
5. picked all peppers, eggplant and green beans we will eat these all the rest of fall
6. Took home a large suitcase of Sis's for all my gifts and paid nothing for luggage with my Delta sky miles card. My second bag was $40.00 so I decided to carry it on and then when I got to the gate, they offered to check it for free as they were over loaded. Free is always good.
7. we cooked more than we thought at the beach and saved ourselves some money
8. gave away leftovers at beach to people there so no waste
9. Sis and I almost always split and entre' when we did eat out. The only time we didn't we ended up eating only 1/2 of what we ordered but sent it home with Sister-in-law for my brother-in-law so no waste.
Not much in the way of saving, but I was having fun. I will get back on my frugal horse now that I am home.
What have you done to save money this last week?
Have a great and productive day staying positive while you are in the negative.
Kim
Eggplant ideas: eggplant fritters -- boil, drain and mash eggplant chunks. Add egg, salt, pepper, diced onion and flour to make stiff batter. Drop by spoonful into shallow hot oil and fry until brown on both sides. Also what we call Indian eggplant which is a cheat on a very elaborate recipe. Boil and drain diced eggplant. Saute diced onion in small amount of oil and then add garam masala and saute until toasted. Add eggplant and a can of Rotel tomatoes and a can of drained chickpeas. Simmer together and add salt to taste. Serve over rice. Judy
ReplyDeleteThank you I will try both and have all the ingrediants.
DeleteYou sure are a world traveler girl. Good for you - you enjoy it, so do it while you can. I love that you have so much fun!
ReplyDeleteBe careful eating that freezer down - things will cost a lot more to replace them - if you have no trouble getting stuff.
Well, I won't overlook a great sale that is for sure. But things have to be eaten before freezer burn.
DeleteYikes, eggplant recipes are beyond my skill level ;). Plus I don’t much care for it so have never really tried to cook it….Glad you are home and back into action and prepping for the December cruise! My local Kroger had bone in chicken breasts on sale for $0.99 (and of course limited to existing supplies), and two stores I went to have zero in stock. Nor even a spot to put them….Sigh. Done looking for that, and will just buy BLSL for $1.79 and freeze for the winter. Looking forward to a new Kelsey photo ;). She is a cutie! Hilogene in Az
ReplyDeleteI know we are low on chicken, but it is so espensive here.
DeleteMy round trip ticket over New Years to see baby (and older grandchild) was $1200 (including travel insurance.) It is a nonstop flight. I about died but said oh well, it is 2000 miles one way from Atlanta, and bought ticket anyway. Very short trip bc of work schedule. I generally only fly maybe once or twice a year. Always to see family bc I loathe flying and they are the only reason I will get on a plane… lol. I only cook eggplant one way and that is to cut it in half, garlic salt and pepper, turn upside down and bake in olive oil at 350 degrees until done. I thin scoop it out of skin, and chop it up, add more minced garlic and lemon. I eat it about once a month bc it is supposed to be good for you. Mind you, I am not a cook…… lol. This is the best I can do bc it is easy. Cindy in the South
ReplyDeleteYEs plane ticket s are high right now, but a new baby is so worth it!
DeleteBreathing wood fire and being covered in smoke and ash was the highlight of my week, but you have read that. I would have to read the last week on my blog to know what I did. It sounds like you had a great trip. Good for you. If I had an eggplant and could not give it away, I would drop it in the trash.
ReplyDeleteOkay, do you like baba ganoush? I think you can freeze it.
DeleteMany people do not like eggplant.
DeleteEgg plant Parmesan and banana ganoush is all I can recommend. Maybe just roasted egg plant too? Your hubs did so well picking your harvest while recuperating. I say live once, live we'll, so I'm proud of you for enjoying your trip and stay with Sissie.
ReplyDeleteBanana, not banana. Oh auto correct.
DeleteActually, hubs is doing so much better than I thought he would. I am pretty proud of him.
DeleteMoussaka is a delicious way to use eggplant. I am violently allergic to eggplant and I hate that because I use to make moussaka regularly.
ReplyDeleteOh and to protect my reputation, I was an equal opportunity change dropper. Sluggy was just a better finder.
I have never had Moussaka, I will have to look that up. Well, SLuggy is a couple of inches closer to the floor.
DeleteIMO the whole point of being frugal is so that you can spend on things that mean the most to you. And making memories on a vacation with friends and family is one of those things.
ReplyDeleteI agree. When I went on vacation, I had a budget, but gave myself grace to buy what I wanted. As long as I didn't go overboard, I was good.
DeleteIt was so nice to have the money saved to pay for what I wanted and not to have the guilt of charging things and knowing I would have to go home to debt.
DeleteYou know, it's hard to be frugal and thrifty when everything costs so much.
ReplyDeleteIt is, we are really low on chicken which is my favorite meat, but I will not pay the price they are asking.
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