November's Provident Living

This was my list for November.  When I make this list of things I do each month I feel like all those little things that I take time for or have learned to take care of in a self sufficient manner add up and make a difference in our budget and in our quality of life.  I love learning new ways to do useful things.  As I look at my lists from each month I realize how much I have to be grateful for, I see little miracles in my life and I feel more gratitude in my heart for the plain and simple gifts otherwise so easily taken for granted.

 

I mended a winter coat that my oldest child had worn.  The padding and lining were both ripped and after my repairs and a good cleaning it looks as good as new.  Already for the next child to wear and it has started getting cold... especially as she leaves the house at 5:30 a.m.

I made a triple batch of laundry detergent and a double batch of dishwasher detergent.

I took my van back to where we'd gotten the new transmission put in because I was hearing a knocking in my steering column whenever I turned.  They discovered a loose bolt they had missed which they tightened and everything is fine.  For my trouble they gave me a card for a free lube and oil change the next time we need one which is a $50 value.  They also gave me an opportunity to write an online review for them so I did.  I brought in a copy the next time we were going past their service department and they mailed me a $10 gift card to my favorite store, Target!

Homemade granola bars were quite the hit.  Everyone loved to get one on those "early days" we have twice a week when everyone has to run out the door.  I liked them because they were easy to cut and held together well.

French style vegetarian soup was an easy, warming and delicious soup that was made out of next to nothing and nearly filled my "cauldron".  It used all pantry ingredients and even called for some old bread so I pulled the heels out of the fridge.  I gave it little thought other than making sure my beans were soaking the night before.







Lemon Bundt Cake with lemon glaze, also made completely from pantry ingredients, included a homemade all purpose cake mix but no actual lemons.  It was perfectly lemony and delicious and very inexpensive to make.

Doing crafts with my pre-schooler was a lot of fun using pumpkin seeds from our jack-o-lantern to outline our pumpkin craft and then paint orange.  This craft taught concepts in size as well as patterns and worked on fine motor skills with scissors, glue and paint.  We also used the seeds to glue and trace his name.

We began working on homemade Christmas presents for cousins and siblings which utilize our huge crayon bucket collection.  All those broken crayons will find renewed life by making crayon melts.

Free entertainment... my husband got four complimentary tickets to the Musical "Peter Pan" that he has been working for months on.  We got a fifth complimentary ticket for school staff and since a couple of my children are in the production it was one more ticket than I needed.  So after some thinking I invited a friend of my girls that I thought would really enjoy and appreciate seeing this performance and who would also be good sitting with my other three children.

Speaking of the annual musical, it is like a second job for a quarter of the year for my husband and earns us some cash which will be paid in four installments between now and June.  The person playing Tinker Bell in the live orchestra fell through as did the person playing harp and so my husband was hired to play in the pit for performances as well.  He will earn some unexpected money for rehearsal time outside of his regular hours as well as get paid per performance as a hired professional.  This will allow us to restock some of our emptying pantry shelves, replenish our emergency fund and give us some Christmas money to work with.


 Homemade Italian dressing is a favorite on spinach and homegrown tomatoes which are still ripening on my windowsill.  I usually have the dry ingredients in pint jars on the shelf ready to be mixed with their wet ingredients for a quick fix on busy nights or so my older children can easily prepare the salad dressing themselves.  Home canned peaches and applesauce have begun to supplement the fruit in our diet. 

 I made a White Bean Alfredo which will fool anyone into thinking they are eating chicken.  It is so good and filling.  I think the secret is in the garlic!  The recipe utilizes white beans and powdered milk in my food storage.  I often cook with powdered milk because while we prefer not to have to drink it I do not notice a difference at all when I cook with it.  Using it in this way enables me to rotate milk in my long term storage and reduce my cost of cooking this dish since bulk powdered milk is probably the least expensive way to buy milk.




Remember those little spookies we picked at the pumpkin patch last month?  I was able to freeze 14 cups of puree from them.  After gracing our front porch for most of the harvest season we brought them in when the outdoor temperature began reaching the freezing point at night and we roasted them.  I measured the puree into clean reuseable lunch meat containers which work just like "gladware".  A few years ago there was a pumpkin shortage in this region and not a can of pumpkin was to be found in any store around here for months and months.  I was grateful to have a few frozen containers of puree but have since made sure to freeze as much pumpkin as I can.  I use pumpkin for muffins, pancakes, soup and of course, pie!

 The reason I include the Pumpkin Whoopie Pies here is because I used fresh pumpkin puree to make these... the cookie part was so soft and they were a wonderful autumn treat.  They are a real contender with the traditional chocolate and cream version that I loved growing up.  The other ingredients in this treat were purchased in bulk.  The cream cheese is something I stock up on when I can buy it at .90 per pound.  Unopened, cream cheese lasts for months in the fridge.  Check the expiration date and stock up on as much as you have room for and think you'll use in that time.

Pumpkin Whoopie Pies

Some of my shopping bargains this month included Halloween napkins for .30 a package.  At home I always use cloth napkins but I do use paper napkins in lunch boxes.  I got four cookie cutters in various Halloween shapes on the clearance table as well as a Halloween door hanging decoration for just $1.50 instead of its usual $5.  It's very cute with a Halloween cat and everyone who knows me knows I won't let anything with a cat go to waste!!!  On a more practical note I avoided the after sales on Halloween candy but stocked up on canned goods.  Many vegetables were just .49 per can when you bought them in multiples of 10.   I was able to add 78 cans of food to my pantry shelf to help replenish my dwindling supply.  Some cans will be given at food drives to help feed others this holiday season also.  Baking supplies go on sale this month so this is the time to stock up on those items.  Sugar went on sale for $1.19 for 4 pounds with a limit of two so my husband and I each went through the line and then we went back the next day on the way home from somewhere.  Butter was $1.59 per pound.  Spices, baker's chocolate, canned pumpkin, soups and canned milks were on sale too as well as pasta. I also purchased 10 pounds of bacon using a rain check.  They were on sale but if purchased in multiples of 5 (up to 10) then they were just 1.99 with the rain check.  Since bacon rarely goes on sale for the price I am willing to pay I did purchase all 10 allowed.  I found large bags of Snicker's minis, normally $10.00 for $1.10.  I bought two bags and may use them for Christmas or perhaps to pass out to the children in my class at church.  Dollar deals included cream cheese and Cool Whip.

TURKEY!!!  Of course this is the month to buy turkey.  The store with the best sale on turkey around here had a purchase limit of one so my husband and I each went through the line separately.  Large turkeys over 16 pounds received $17 off with a $20 purchase.  I advised my husband to look for a smaller turkey in that range because the deal would give us more money off per pound.  Our turkeys ended up  costing about .50 cents per pound.  

 

I had a little fun experimenting with my camera here.  The kids got super excited about making a volcano one Saturday morning when it was time to make bathroom cleaner.  Bathroom cleaner is super easy to make with some basic items that you may already have in your home.  It is super fun and quite entertaining to make.  Just be sure to use a big enough bowl to mix it up in.  Then it will settle and fit into a bottle for use.  It cleans quite nicely and smells really good.



Marinated Garden Tomatoes for Pasta



  The end of my garden tomatoes had ripened on the window sill and this was a delicious way to use them.  I chopped them up and marinated them for pasta sauce one evening after a very busy day.  I was able to get some other household chores done while it marinated and the water boiled for pasta.  I decided that this vegetarian dish may be my new favorite pasta.  It is completely easy, made out of next to nothing and tastes just like this pasta I loved that Down East discontinued several years ago.   Check out the recipe under "Tomatoes" on this blog.

 

 

We rented two DVDs from Red Box for free with two different coupon codes they mailed to us... a nice at home date night.  We also borrowed the movie The Lorax from the library for one Friday night which the whole family watched.

 

We filled out an on-line survey to get 50 points added to our Shoppers Club card which is half the points needed to get a discount on their gas pump.

My husband and I went out for dinner at a favorite little local restaurant for our date night out.  We were leaving at closing time on Friday night and they are closed for weekends.  So they came and asked us if we'd like to have some free bagels.  Of course we were delighted.  Then they said they were just going to throw out the unsold bags and we could take as many as we wanted to so we picked out ten half-dozen bags leaving the workers some to take if they wanted and thanked them.  Our children were delighted on Saturday morning and bagel sandwiches went out in lunch boxes on Monday.  We still have plenty more stored in the freezer for the coming weeks.

I stopped at the craft store to help my 11 year old pick up some crafting supplies for a science project in his enrichment class.  We found Crayola modeling clay being sold at a discount and it would give him more control over the project than Styrofoam balls.  It would take away the need for purchasing a paint color we were out of as well.  I also had a list of supplies to purchase for making some Christmas gifts and found a 50% off sale on my exact list items.  This enabled me to make gifts for two children at the price of just $5.  I already had leftover supplies at home for the rest of the project from several years ago.

November was a busy one.