Frugal aaaaaand not so frugal things I've done this week

There comes a time in every frugal mavens life when money must be spent.  I hate it, but as long as it's worth it I can give it a go.  Such was the case this past week ( and in the next few days).

I have a refrigerator which, at only 2 years old, was pooling water under my vegetable bins (inside the fridge).  In addition my dryer would begin by drying normally, but after a few minutes start running loud.

To fix the fridge I had initially purchased a new gasket (cause according to the user manual this was the problem), but it didn't fix the problem.  It wasn't a total loss, because there was a good sized crack in the original gasket so it needed to be replaced anyway.

My dryer was beyond my skill to heal.

So, needing skills that far surpassed my own, I called a local appliance repair service.  I actually go to church with one of the employees so that's where I started.  A very nice man, the owner actually, came out to my house to take a look at both appliances.  My fridge problem was a blocked drain tube in the back.  He fixed it easy peasy and then showed me how to do it if I ever had to.  He said, though, that he has never had a repeat problem before.  The dryer.....well we will say it is beyond His skill to heal.  The motor is running hot.  As old as the dryer is and all the other things wrong with it, means it just isn't worth the money to fix it.  So I'm in the market for a new to me dryer.  Two things fortunate about this situation.  First, this nice man didn't charge anything for diagnosing the dryer.  Originally I was to have paid him $135 to see and repair both appliances.  Since the dryer couldn't be fixed, I paid only $85 for the repair of the fridge.  The second fortunate thing is my solar clothes dryer!

 This will enable me to continue drying my clothes while taking time to find the dryer that suits my needs.  I really am trying to get away from dryer use in the summer and use it only in the winter.  In winter I want it to heat my house up, in summer, not so much.  So I have time til winter comes in.

In addition to the appliances,  I have to get my eyes checked and hubby needs a new set of frames for his glasses.  Fortunately we have a health savings account which will cover these items.

On a not so frugal note, I'm currently having my wedding set repaired.  The diamond is missing from the engagement ring and all of the rings have to be sized down.  I was wearing my wedding set on my middle finger and not my ring finger.  Let's just say my hands are much smaller than they used to be.  The price to have this done was more than I figured, but Dh reassured me it was fine.  The set does appraise for far more than we are paying to repair it so that's nice.

The frugal part of all of these unplanned expenses was that none of it was financed.  Everything came out of a fund in our savings account.  I would much rather pay ourselves back than pay someone else interest.

Other frugal things done this week, 

Cooking, milling, and cooking down tomatoes for sauce-  I'm then freezing the sauce for canning when cooler weather is here.

I'm back to making our bread and granola again and, as such, have re-opened the country store to make the bread, granola, and jams I sell.  I've sold some as well.  It's nice to be back into the swing of things.  I also sold a set of Baby doll diapers on Etsy.  Filling my Etsy store with more Doll items is high on my list of priorities since Christmas season is coming.  Doesn't feel like it with 90+ degree weather, but I know it's in  our future.

I'm beginning the process of recovering an over stuffed chair we have in our living room.  When done I'll post the before and after pics.  I was fortunate enough to get 8 yards of navy Blue upholstery fabric for about $8 at a thrift store.

So there you have it.  What frugal or not so frugal things have you done this week?