A Thrifty Saturday and A Surprise Blessing

 

Happy Sunday! I have no idea what the weather is going to give us today, but I'm declaring it a beautiful day, no matter what!

But first...a Saturday recap: 

Yesterday, David was planning on putting trim up in our bathroom (renovation project), but I twisted his arm and told him I wanted to get out of the house and just have some fun. It didn't take much twisting and so off we went!

The first stop was to Home Goods to return an ottoman that wasn't working in our living room. We were just within the return period, so thankfully we got a full refund! We got back $97.00!

Next, we had an old typewriter that David had in his office for years and when he cleaned out all of his stuff last week, he took it to a friend of ours who owns a thrift and resale shop to see if she would want to buy it. She instantly knew the perfect customer who had been looking for a typewriter, so she sold it for us and we made $85.00! 

After those two stops, we had lunch out, but shared an enchilada dinner, chips and salsa and were perfectly full, all for a total of $15.00.

We then made our way to Sam's, where we stocked up on things that were a better price than the grocery stores. We bought meat, eggs, milk, bacon, sausage, flour, sugar, chocolate chips, coffee, creamer, paper towels, toilet paper, dishwasher tabs and paper plates. We were very careful to make sure we were getting a better deal than we would elsewhere and we only bought what we normally buy anyway. We also used a gift card David had been saving, so we didn't spend anything out of our account, which so far, we haven't touched in two weeks!

When we got home, we both agreed that we are having fun challenging ourselves to not spend or to find ways to do it very minimally. 

After putting away the groceries and having our afternoon cup of coffee, I got busy in the kitchen making a pound cake for Sunday's lunch. We are going to visit some friends after church. They are making lunch, so I wanted to take them a treat. I had this Lemon Poundcake in the pantry, so I baked it while continuing to organize all the goods we brought home.

It smelled so good while cooking and cooling and was so very tempting when I was drizzling the icing on top. Yummmm! 

I had put all the ingredients for stew in the crockpot before we left that morning, so it was simmering all afternoon and smelled so good. This is the kind of meal I love, because all the veggies were ones I had saved over the past month and kept adding to the freezer bag. I bought a small package of stew meat, added my saved veggies and one more bag of mixed frozen veggies, some beef broth, a can of tomatoes, and a packet of seasoning and that was it! I didn't have to chop anything, because I had already the veggies in the freezer. 

I made garlic toast and we had a delicious supper while watching Doc Martin (strange British show). 

So it was a full day of making deals, cooking and just relaxing. Our pantry is stocked full of essentials and we still have money left on the gift card we've been using, which we will use next week for Family Dinner supplies. 

Oh, and one more blessing we had on Saturday...

While we were in the thrift store, I walked upstairs, which I never do, and saw a bookshelf way off in a corner. Immediately my eye caught something familiar on the shelf and I knew it was a book that is very special to our family. 

Religion With a Smile was written by David's uncle Earl, back in 1965. We have a copy that was handed down to us by David's parents, but what a blessing and a surprise to find this in a huge warehouse full of stuff!  Of course we bought it ($5.00) and brought it home to give to one of our boys. 

I told David that I felt like the Lord gave us that blessing, just to show us he sees us 💛

It was a great day and a much needed one.

Today we're off to church and then a lunch visit with old friends.

I hope your Sunday is a blessed one my friends! 😊

Until Next Time...

Blessings!