Well here we sit this morning-Buddy is laying on the couch running a low grade fever. It’s 9:51 and the little guy hasn’t even eaten breakfast (and for anyone who knows Buddy, that really shows he’s not feeling well. He usually has had breakfast and 2 snacks by 10 am!). I thought it would be a good time to give a quick update on life in general over here.
#1-We closed on the other house last Friday! Yeah!
#2-Because of #1 we were able to pay off enough of the mortgage on this house to cancel the mortgage insurance. Then we paid for the new windows that were installed several weeks ago. The remainder will be used to fund our IRAs for last and this year and then held in our account to do a few more projects we have planned (paving driveway, cutting down some trees on the back of the lot, fixing a missing gutter, replacing the garage doors on the barn)
#3-I purchased $140 worth of fabric about a month ago while stuff was on sale at the fabric store. I used it to sew 7 valances for the kitchen, 2 large curtains to act as doors for closets (one in the kitchen, one in the upstairs bath) and a set of curtains for YB’s study. Believe it or not, I had enough khaki fabric* in my stash to line all the valences and the curtains in the study. I also had a stash of thread so I didn’t need to buy that.
$140 sounds like a lot, but lets do a quick comparison. Cheapo valances at Wally world run $9 (x7=$63), unlined panels cost about $15 (x3**=$45), and lined panels are $25 (x2=$50) for a total of about $158, plus 8% tax in NY state is another $12 or so for a grand total of $170. And of course by buying fabric I was able to choose exactly the pattern/color/style I wanted. And trust me, I’d been looking at both the thrift stores and the big box stores and hadn’t seen anything I particularly liked.
#4-I’ve been baking most of our bread. This isn’t that much of an effort since I’m home all day, and I use the breadmaker to do the dough part. I don’t know if I’m saving very much money wise, but boy does it taste better! Princess keeps telling me she likes my bread better than the store bread! Plus I can slip in extra wheat germ or whole wheat flour for addition nutrition.
#5-We had a super bowl party; I made two kinds of chili and kept them going in crockpots for a pretty frugal meal to serve a crowd. I took pictures and plan on doing a post on that soon.
So I guess that’s the general update! Happy Valentines day to you all.
*Note: In our house in Virginia we made an entire wall of shelves in Buddy’s room (he was a newborn at the time) for storage. Then I made a huge khaki curtain that went across that entire wall to hide the storage. When we moved I saved the fabric and was able to use it for lining!
**Note: I said there were 2 curtains acting as doors. One of those is really the size of 2 panels sewn together, so I am counting the total for unlined curtains at 3.
Amy says
I hope your little guy feels better soon. Congrats though on the house and everything!
I just love to take a peek in people’s days and see what fun money-saving things they are up to. Thanks so much for sharing!
Anonymous says
Great ideas. Hopefully, Buddy is better. Tylenol saves the day for us. That is a great deal for fabric. It is great the other house sold and things are going well. Take care. Annette
tansy says
most bread purchased at the store contains chemicals to keep it from molding that aren’t very healthy at all. the health benefits alone are worth the effort to make bread! my kids prefer it over store purchased bread too.
hope your son feels better soon!
Jenn @ Frugal Upstate says
Thanks guys! Buddy is still sick, but much more energetic today.