Stupid Frugality and Cheap in the kitchen.

I constantly have to remind myself that just because something is on a good sale does not mean I need it.

Our neighborhood is having a garage sale today. Except for a handful of nickels and pennies, I cleaned out my wallet buying things at a neighbor's sale. I'm new here. I'm trying to make nice. And even though her stuff was priced more than I wanted to pay, I couldn't see asking for a discount. So, we paid 3 dollars for an Elmo's world toy for my 4 year old. And 9.50 for a big stroller with cupholders etc. I didn't really need the stroller because we have two umbrella strollers (one bought new from a thrift store, one from freecycle). They are serviceable but, not great and my tall husband hates having to bend down to push them. And this one is tall. And is a namebrand. So, I only have a bit of buyers remorse. It's just not as clear cut that I have gotten a good deal. Perhaps I can get 5 dollars for it when we have our garage sale in the fall if it doesn't work for us.

And my house is a complete mess so I shouldn't be shopping anyway. I need to be cleaning and decluttering. But, perhaps flylady would be a bit proud of me. My kitchen sink is clean and I know what's for dinner.
After perusing our fridge to see what needed to be used up (a handful of mixed veggies leftover from last nights dinner) and the freezer to see what we hadn't had in a while (bbq veggie riblets) I came up with this: Gardenburger riblets (bought on sale w/ a coupon), white cheddar rice mix (bought with double coupons) with mixed veggies added (store brand), and tomato slices (the cheapest the grocery store had).
Not homemade but, a quick dinner anyway. I'm not a 'from scratch' person. I want to be out of the kitchen as quickly as possible. I suppose this will change once the kids are grown and demand less attention. So, we do eat a lot of prepared foods (generic mac and cheese, spaghetti sauce from a jar, pizza dough mix) but, I manage to get a lot of these things very cheaply. And we're mostly vegetarians so there are always plenty of veggies and low fat protein in our foods. So, I don't feel guilty that we aren't eating right.

The kids are occupied for a minute so I need to take this opportunity and clean up something. The bathroom needs scrubbing. The kitchen table needs decluttering. I need to gather our recycling and put it in the car for later.
Gotta go. Life is calling.