Mentioned in my last post that we finally pulled the trigger on the Instant Pot.  It just arrived and we did the test run (with some water).  I already found a handful of recipes that we have ingredients on hand for.  Will probably make corn chowder this weekend.
For today, going to do a quick mac & cheese test run.
Wanted to ask if anyone had favorite recipes that they wanted to share?  TIA!
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$318.59 Tithe
_400.00 Grocery Envelope
_300.00 Medical Fund
__75.00 Household Envelope
__71.99 Life Insurance DH
__60.46 Life Insurance Me
_100.00 Car Maintenance Envelope
_120.00 Allowances
_100.00 Emergency Fund
1600.00 Mattress Fund
-----------------
$3146.04 Total Money Out
 
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$8639.84 Balance Forward
+_100.00 Amount Added
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$8739.84 New Balance
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I thought it would be fun to do a roundup of the week's frugal wins1) Frugal Thanksgiving - this is an involuntary one. Saved on travel and food costs. Did a zoom dinner with family instead. (2) Harvested my first winter veggies - leeks and carrots. It's my first time growing both. The leeks are a success. The carrots are a bit smaller than I thought they would be. But, they function double duty since you can eat the leaves like you would eat spinach. I'll let them grow a bit...
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Christmas/Birthday stuff is very anti-climactic this year.  
I bought all my presents earlier this week.  I had already decided to get a new cell phone.  (Replacing cheapie phone bought when I considered cell phone use mostly for emergency...  Now that I am using phone more for work, podcasts, music... am buying a newer phone with 5x more storage space).  Made the decision a couple of months ago but was waiting out Black Friday deals.  MM(17)...
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Thanksgiving was nice.  Our restaurant-purchased meal was good, games were fun, and Zoom brought us closer to loved ones far away.  Masks were worn, windows were open, so I'm hoping the six of us came out of the experience safe.
I'm wondering if, after all this time, I should restart a new blog, since I can't change anything on my sidebar.  It will just get more and more out of date, and frankly, I'm really annoyed that others can change their sidebar and I cannot. ...
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Hi all,
 
Hope all is well, and everyone had a great holiday. It's been awhile and so much has happened, positive things for sure. 
I created a new Slack channel and wanted to invite anyone who would like to join me. The link is below. 
https://join.slack.com/t/savingadvice/shared_invite/zt-jk3mscxf-xeM0Rk9Za_8o~dFT_Jw7bQ
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We have just noticed that we have an extra$100 coming out of our income...I know you ask how did we not realise this...well honestly it is easy we are paid in US dollars..once converted to Aust $'s it is different and the exchange rates change all the time so we just set a certain amount and stick to that....its not something we keep a close eye on...our bank acct yes but not the work paperwork...maybe because of all the new tax stuff that was happening in march...I'm not sure....so...
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It was a long day, but I am glad it is done.  Thanksgiving went pretty well despite Mom's early day sniping.  She actually behaved quite well during dinner and was verbally thankful for all my efforts.  The gluten free stuffing was so good.  I was worried, I'm always worried when I try something new, but it worked and everyone loved it, including my Mom and sister.  And the from scratch gluten free gravy came out really, really well.
I've taken all the...
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I finally had a moment to sit down and breathe.  It's been a crazy couple of days with doctor appointments and trying to get the house in order.  Well, half order, half chaos.  Yesterday I made desert and the really cool thing was I made my own pumpkin puree from a sugar pie pumpkin.  I just put the whole pumpkin in the Instant Pot, set it for 12 minutes, did a natural release for 5, and then a manual release.
The pumpkin was so tender I was able to cut it...
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I have some quiet time to myself and thought I'd check in. I'm chugging along, keeping hope for the future and trying to do my part. 
I'm not working with my part-time, after-school-hours-job right now because it has to work around my full-time position, which is "fluid" right now due to the rise in case numbers. As long as I stay current with my certification, though, I can pick up more hours when life settles again. 
SO and I looked over my budget now that households...
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Well only 29 days till christmas...can you believe it...this year has gone by so fast but also at a snails pace...for some...I can say I am ready for a new year, new budget and a new start to everything...a restart...but I am ready for chistmas other than food and ready fro a new year.
Summer is starting here..its 104 here tomorrow...not looking forward to summer but also sick of the cold weather....should be spring all year LOL!
I am hoping to get into an integrated medical...
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I went by my parents' hone to do some food prep. We made carrot soufflé, cranberrry sauce, and prepped vegetables for tomorrow. I put the wine & egg nog in the fridge to chill. Pies were purchased, but my dad baked some cakes for Christmas. They went into the freezer.
It will be just the three of us tomorrow.
Our menu:
Cornish hen 
ham
cornbread dressing (my favorite)
cranberry sauce
green beans with potatoes & bacon
sweet potato pie
pecan pie
rose...
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Happy Thanksgiving friends.   I hope your holiday is blessed and filled with all the yummigoodness!
A few days ago, I was about to pour out the last little bit of coffee from the carafe and decided instead to pour it into my big pot of pinto beans.  Oh.  My.  Goodness.  The flavor kick it provided was a nice rich one.  I maybe added a half cup, maybe 3/4.  But I will probably always add a little coffee to my pinto beans going forward!
Two...
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I'm looking forward to the long weekend. This is probably the first time since the pandemic started that I've decided to take a 4 day weekend. I usually don't work Wednesdays, but worked part of the day today, and now have a 4.5 day weekend. I raked most of my leaves over the weekend, but ended up deciding to buy a leaf mulcher to mulch the leaves which will reduce the size of my leaf pile and also create more surface area so the leaves break down sooner. Got one on Amazon for...
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Due to our rate of positives our governor has pushed us back to phase two. We were in phase three with up to 75% occupancy, now we're back at 50% occupancy. I unexpectedly sold an EBay item on Sunda (it's been a while since I've had a sale) and the two people ahead of me weren't wearing masks even though we still have a mask mandate. That Pfizer vaccine can't come soon enough for me. Fingers crossed that I get selected. 🤞🏾
I really have banged myself up this last...
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Last night I picked up groceries at Aldi via Instacart.  The total was $38, and variables are now at 74%.
I will do this again, but this experience was a bit rocky.  The communication was not good.  When I was notified that my order was ready, I notified the shopper via the app that I was on the way.  Aldi is 15-20 minutes away.  The shopper seemed to think I was telling her I was already there and I got a notification that she was looking for me. ...
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Well our lockdown lasted 2 days and it was over, one of the guys lied to the tracers about what had happened so it wasn't as bad as they thought...but the pizza store he was working at is being investigated for paying in cash and drug trading...so guessing someone is going to be in trouble when all this is over..we currently have 38 cases but they are all quarantined in the hotel so none in the community...but most still wear masks etc..it sucks as we had no covid in the community...
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We picked up a 50 lb bag of dry pinto beans today.  I usually pay $1.18 per pound, but buying in bulk brings the per pound cost down to .46.  Now, I just need to figure out how to store them so they are still good when I get to the end of the supply.  I am looking into food storage tubs.  I figure I will need 2 - 5 gallon tubs.
I am also looking for bulk flour, to see if I can bring my per pound cost down as well.  The best I have found recently was $2.29...
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The bloggers on this site are so inspiring and supportive of each other.  THANK YOU for indulging me in my last pity party post rather than beating me up.  I am happy to say, it was a very short-lived tantrum, and life is back to whatever normal means. 
The rental company of the house I reserved initially was kinda nasty about my postponing the trip.  I get it.  But when there is a statewide mandate of no more than 6 people from 2 households allowed, and...
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