Anniversary Walk

It was our 7th Wedding anniversary this past Monday and we celebrate rather quietly, as agreed upon in advance. No cards, no presents, just a dinner out. As hubby was suffering the effects of a cold we took a walk around the marina to celebrate instead as he needed some fresh air and the idea of going out to dinner with him feeling under the weather seemed like a waste. We shall go at some later date when he is healthy and can enjoy it.

It is late September and we are still experiencing nice weather. It rained yesterday for the first time in ages but today it is nice and sunny again. The autumn leaves are just starting to turn and I hope to get some nice shots of those in the next few weeks.

This little Kingfisher bird is a rare sighting - unfortunately my telephoto lense was back at home so only got a shot with my regular lense.

My favorite shot of the day was above. I just love the ocean.

It appeared to be the perfect day for sailing with 17 degrees celcius and slight winds. Lots of people were returning from the day on the water.

I splurged this week and bought two of these gigantic mums at Costco - $25 for both! They are each almost three feet wide and two of them completely filled my backseat on the way home. With our mild island temperatures I expect them to last a few months - a treat that would not have been possible back in Alberta as the first snowfall there is generally Halloween.

Now I am off to make a dinner of ham for dear sick hubby. Homemade carrot cake for dessert (I made it yesterday and it is yummy!) and a PVR movie for our wild Saturday night. Cheers!

Recent Thrifting Finds & Found Money Jar

Before:

After:

Where I got the idea from Pinterest (no, I am not going to start doing masses of Pinterest Posts, forgive me for this one)

Source: flickr.com via Cheapchick on Pinterest

I really am looking to find a group of these old wine bottles as I love glass and see them as art. Although we have a much smaller house I have space above my cupboards to group them. This one was 50 cents found at Bibles for Missions Thrift. Some would have left the dusty old crumbly wrapping and label, not me, I love the glass bit. This bottle was imported from London in 1947 according to the label. A little bit pirate looking.

Another recent thrifting find was this fabulous tray for $2.99 we found at Value Village. I almost never find anything there other than clothes but hubby was there buying some T-shirts (yes, he is now buys the odd piece of clothing used - finally converted) and we both agreed it had to come home with us.

The glass vase/candle holder was purchased about seven years ago at Homesense( with a gift certificate). It is one of the few things that got a little crack in the move but due to the pattern on the outside it is unnoticeable and until it falls apart I am keeping it.

Finally, one of my favorite bloggers The Non-consumer Advocate recently blogged about her found money jar. Whenever she finds money she stashes it away for a rainy day. I was inspired and am doing the same although I have found only .70 this summer. 20 cents was found on the beach, 25 cents on the sidewalk and my last quarter was because someone was too lazy to push a shopping cart two more feet to retrieve the deposit after shopping. Their loss, my gain. Likely next Spring I will empty it and go on a garage sale shopping spree - maybe some books? Cheers!

Nature Day

This week hubby was out of town so I drove to hang out with my Mom for two days.

Meet the Pacific tree frog. This particular guy has been residing in my mothers hanging pot on her porch. She found him while watering her plants and he seems to come back every three days or so. Pretty amazing as I didn't even know we had tree frogs until she pointed him out to me.

She also has deer that visit her little patch almost daily. This doe had twins, and seems to have picked up a third fawn along the way. Sorry for the poor photo but they ran away before I could get a decent picture. We are not sure if the doe was babysitting or perhaps recently adopted herself a third baby.

Many spiders reside on Vancouver Island, primarily because of our moderate climate. Most are completely harmless and in this case, completely beautiful. I still prefer to find them outside versus inside though.

It was a great couple of days. I took my time on the way back stopping in at farm markets and thrift stores. My next post is a thrift store find!

Frugal Things We Did This Summer

1. No spend days at the ocean - five minute drive away, packed snacks and drinks. Great free summer entertainment. A great stress reliever as well.

2. Attended a couple of free festivals. Avoided eating at them except one where all funds were going to charity and we only spent $10 there on two hot dogs, two hamburgers and two pop. 100% of the proceeds were going to the local foodbank so not only did we get an extremely inexpensive lunch but it was for a good cause.

3. I became a better cook so eating at home appealed more than eating out. Our biggest gripe about eating out is disappointment with the quality of the product and service. Hubby says we live better now than we did before and part of that has to do with better home cooked made from scratch meals. I know our $400 per month grocery budget is pretty healthy compared to most frugalistas, but by having steak and shrimp at home once in a while we prevent falling off the frugal bandwagon by eating out. We take pleasure in eating a well balanced and varied diet but in a pinch, I know I could decrease our grocery budget - for now I choose not to.

4. Read things on the internet to DO-IT-OURSELF. Hubby finally learned how to do a minor bathroom repair which saved at least $80 in labour costs. Prior to this summer he would have just hired a plumber.

5. Treated his business as frugally as our home. Hubby bought two packages of paper on sale but then a box went on sale a few days later for almost the same price as the two packages so he returned them and got the box. Every dollar counts, especially in self-employment.

6. We got to know our neighbors and shared the expense of a fence bordering our two properties. We also saved them money by lending them our power washer, which I am sure will save us money in the future when we need a favor from them.

7. When you have time you can research every single item you buy. I managed to get a car rental for half what hubby could due to a few tricks and a half an hour spent looking for coupon codes from car rental companies. This savings was $120.

8. Foraged free food - 12 cups of blackberries picked. Next year I hope to harvest even more as I was busy working this year during the prime picking time.

9. Hubby ordered contacts online for the first time saving approximately $200. All you need is your prescription from the optometrist. This is the first time we had to foot the bill as prior to this we had two benefit plans. We ordered from clearlycontacts.ca and got the SAME EXACT PRODUCT WAY CHEAPER (if you order there google for a current coupon code first for free shipping or a discount, and no, this is not a paid endorsement, just a great deal).

10. Made good use of our netflix membership (we hook up our laptop through the tv with an hdmi cable bought at Walmart) and pvr to record movies as they are the primary souces of our entertainment. I am still not sure if netflix is the way to go long term as am disapointed that they are very slow in adding new movies to their lineup. I threatened to cancel the membership but then we found a couple of series that we have been watching so for now it stays.

11. Went to several garage sales to buy used goods at a fraction of the retail cost. Buying used saves money!

12. Lightened my own hair using a drugstore kit - for the first time ever. I expect to save at least $250 per year from here on out - my favorite new way to save money.

Please share what you did to save money this summer!

Today on Elaine's blog Sunny Simple Life she shares a frugal day in her household, husband and wife air conditioning repair! I am linking up to her party today Sunny Simple Sunday.

Time for Pie!

One of my goals this summer was to learn how to become a better baker. My baking skills had been somewhat limited to muffins, cakes and biscuits. Earlier this summer I added scratch pizza crust from this very easy recipe from Canadian Living which I loved as it is yeast free and ready to use as soon as done.

My next hurdle was homemade pie crust. After picking twelve cups of blackberries (with numerous scratches to prove it) this week I was inspired to try my first pie from scratch. There have been a few frozen pie crusts in my past but no more.

Sorry about the picture. The pie was so good I forgot to take a picture until after we ate half. The recipes I used were both found on allrecipes.com (my favorite free recipe source):

1. No Fail Pie Crust I
Ingredients
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup shortening (I used Golden Crisco - room temperature DONT REFRIGERATE, I would not recommend using butter or margarine)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 egg
1/4 cup cold water
1 tablespoon distilled white vinegar


Directions
1. In a large bowl, combine flour and salt. Cut in shortening until it resembles coarse crumbs.
2. Mix egg, water and vinegar together. Pour into flour all at once and blend with a fork until dough forms a ball.
3. Wrap with plastic and chill in refrigerator (for at least 1/2 hr)

This recipe apparently freezes well. I had a little left over so will find out.

2. Blackberry Pie Filling I
Ingredients
4 cups fresh blackberries
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons milk
1/4 cup white sugar

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C).
2. Combine 3 1/2 cups berries with the sugar and flour. Spoon the mixture into an unbaked pie shell. Spread the remaining 1/2 cup berries on top of the sweetened berries, and cover with the top crust. Seal and crimp the edges, and cut vents in the top crust for steam to escape.
3. Brush the top crust with milk, and sprinkle with 1/4 cup sugar.
4. Bake in the preheated oven for 15 minutes. Reduce the temperature of the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C), and bake for an additional 20 to 25 minutes, or until the filling is bubbly and the crust is golden brown. Cool on wire rack.

I had no pie rack so improvised using a metal rack that goes in the bottom of my roasting pan. I also had no pastry brush so used a barbeque brush for the milk bath on top of the pie. Next time I would make the crust a little thinner as now trust this recipe to know it doesn't tear easily.


OMG maybe the best thing I have ever made! I still have some berries in the freezer for later baking, and yes, my piecrust making abilities will only get better from here on out. If you have never tried a crust before - try this NO FAIL RECIPE! Even if you overwork the dough it still comes out flaky.

I only had time to pick these berries and make this pie because...I quit that job! After three days I knew it wasn't me - but wanted to make sure so gave it a full two weeks and quit. Thankfully we are financially secure enough for me to make this decision. I have never quit a job in such a short period of time in my life, usually working at jobs from 2 to 10 years. Frankly life is too short to be stuck doing something you know you don't like. Life here on the island is no longer only about work work work, it is about living life the way we want to.

Fortunately, hubby's business made huge leaps and bounds this week and he has asked me not to find another job as he needs my help right now with administration. I was already his blog keeper and travel arranger. Now I will be doing more to ease some of the burden off him. He started his business six months ago and all his hard work is starting to pay off. I am very proud of him. The option is always there of getting another job but for now we are going to try this out.

You never know what curves life will throw at you and we count our blessings every day. Three months now living on Vancouver Island and we are definitely going with the flow!

August Budget Roundup & Urban Foraging

Hubby's shot from his iphone today on our beach walk

August's Grocery Budget $400
Year to date overage prior to August $335.66

Actual $380.25 reducing year to date overage to $317.91 less $75 from clothes budget (see below) to $242.91 overage year to date.
If you are a new follower my grocery budget includes all over counter medications, grooming and cleaning products.

Coupons Used $6.46. Quite low but so much cooking from scratch on items that have no coupons so I am not at all worried about that.

Annual Clothing Budget $200
I bought two pieces of clothing to go with my job - both purchased at Value Village for $25.74
$139.79 To Go
I have done so well this year on a reduced clothing budget by shopping thrift stores. Now I am transferring out $75 of the clothing budget to reduce to grocery overage but still have $64.79 left in the clothing budget for the year.

Annual Hair Budget $400

Spent $8.95 on root lightening kit

$133.25 left to go - and I think I can now stay within this budget - drumroll please

This is not a sponsored post - just wanted to show you what I bought

****Finally I tried lightening my hair with a store bought lightening kit. I was not trying to go full blonde or anything, just lightening up the roots a bit to match the rest of the hair that bleached out from the summer and the left over lightened bits from the last time I got my hair done in the Spring. Hubby says he likes it better than the last several times the hairdresser did it as is more natural looking. Another great thing was that it only took fifteen minutes.


SUCCESS! I am now committed to only getting my hair cut at the hairdressers, not colored. This is a financial barrier that took years of being a GIGANTIC CHICKEN to overcome. Next year my hair budget is going down to $200 as a result which is still a generous budget.

Due to inflation next year I likely will increase my grocery budget by the amount I reduce the hair budget.

I have gotten exactly one tiny tomato off the plants so far, I cut it in half and shared with hubby (picture much bigger than real life). It was tasty and several more are starting to turn. Both tomato plants were supposed to be beefsteak tomato, and one is apparently not.

After a wonderful late summer day at the beach enjoying the sunshine I picked some blackberries to freeze for baking. Hubby joined in the eating when I got them home so tommorrow night he joins in the picking :) Hooray for free groceries!