Frugal Living Finding Contentment and Spaghetti Pie 

I just saw this today in looking at your videos before I found you. I am amazed at how many people are beside themselves with being home (not including folks who are completely alone). We work so hard to get a house, make it into a home/sanctuary and then are having a fit because we get to live in it. People have beautiful backyards and decks. I am amazed that I have been so content with being at home, I knit, I sew, I Zoom, I RU-vid, I talk to friends on the phone, I write to my granddaughter (10 miles up the road) I make jewelry, I do nothing sometimes. This is a wonderful after working so hard for so many years. Many of us are so fortunate, a roof over our heads, food to eat, heat, lights and clothes to wear. I'm trying to learn to be more and more grateful. I also do not buy paper towels, napkins and use old towels, cloth napkins, old sheets, T-shirts etc. My husband and grandson complain non stop, but I will not budge...........Love your videos and positive outlook.

I need some drinking glasses, so there is A Church thrift store that I 💗💗💗. Frugal is the💖💖💖

We are very content just being with each other . We’re not party animals. After supper & showers we enjoy relaxing in our recliners watching tv,doing puzzles ,word searches & reading. Sheer contentment at its best ! We enjoy being with our 5 married children & 12 grandchildren. Our church family & friends are a big part of our family life.

I saw this today as well. Church was the hardest thing to not be able to go to for me. I missed my church family.

Pasta and peas

The only thing we missed was being with our children and Grandkids. It’s the one thing money can never buy. Our adult children brainstormed how we could all be together in a safe environment. I know we all found containment in sitting in a lawn chair doing nothing other than being together

My home is my sanctuary.

Loving these first videos. So relevant to now . Things became different , but never same again. Can't buy your way to contentment.

Faith, Family, Friends= FULFILLMENT 😍

Yup contentment not in things We love our home and we are not bored

Rhode Island , New Jersey, Connecticut New York was number #7

My spaghetti: Old fruits or foods in the fridge. My spaghetti dressing: Garlic oil vinegar salt How: Fry garlic with half cup of cooking oil Add vinegar and one teaspoon of salt Add old fruits and foods to pan Add water for gravy When reach boiling temperature for all ingredients, off heat. Its ready. Thats why i dont worry about food money. I saved enough for the rest of my life. Minimum monthly grocery to survive: Garlic $4 Cooking oil $10 Salt $1 Pasta or cheap fruits $10 Chicken $10 Vinegar $2

I'm watching your oldvideos I'm try not to laugh and you say paper towels because I got hit with the shopping cart three times when it first started the pandemic cuz people are just like running people over to get it at my store that I work at

That looked very good and easy to make. I need all of the cheeses 🧀. I mostly stay home, but my husband has a bad case of cabin fever. He does yard work and goes on daily bike rides. Twice a week he goes to his 90 yo mother’s house to do lawn work and fix things. She has full-time caregivers. Whenever I make something tasty, he take some over for her to enjoy. She has a large house, so they can social distance.

My Nana made spaghetti with a ricotta sauce for Holy Days that meat was not permitted. Lot's of parsley, fresh ground black pepper, and topped with Parm! PERFECTO !

Doing MORE with LESS... so satisfying....Preach it Sistah !!

Yum! I’m making that spaghetti pie next time I go grocery shopping - my oldest will love the ricotta - she’s always telling me NO COTTAGE CHEESE IN THE LASAGNA MOM! Lol 🤣😎

I agree, I am so content being at home! Gardening, reading, cleaning. Obviously there are things I miss like seeing my family. But, not flocking to the stores. That spaghetti pie looks so yummy!

I'm finding contentment in our home life right now. We are still working but once we are home we 🏡!! We're trying not to go out

Great content, Emmy! I no longer need more stuff and I no longer go to the thrift store! I am HAPPY with my frugal spending !

I have been marathoners frugal money saver. This was a treat to look back 3 yrs ago. I only had 3 days off during this time it was difficult to get the nessasary items I needed to get back n forth to work. But made it through going to make the spaghetti pie it looks great.

I am very happy and content living a frugal life. You never have to pay for another haircut because your husband did a fine job of it. I cut my own and have for a couple years now. It's easy peasy. I just hope when our stores here farther from the big city start opening and having more in the stores that people don't come up here from out of town and empty our stores and that they just wait until their area stores open. I also use cloth napkins and I also use cloth handkerchiefs instead of buying Kleenex tissues. I'm working on doing away with paper towels. I don't know why I find that harder to do. lol I love your frugal channel and like you I am perfectly happy at home with my books, youtube, tv, the yard, puttering around the house changing things around, painting some furniture, etc etc. I totally relate to your way of thinking. Paper hoarding...ugh.... It's going on 4 weeks now that I can't catch a break and find any toilet paper at my nearby stores. Unbelievable! I still have a few rolls, but …..

I am hoping maybe our society can come out the other side of this pandemic with a little more self awareness, a few more basic skills, and more awareness of how to live a little more lightly on this planet 🌞

Yes God does want us to be content Material things will not satisfy

Paper Products 🤪🤔🤪it’s he same like in Germany. The People fight about it. I ever never thought that this can happen, but... The same with pasta and white flour.. I hope your are still healthy! God bless you.

I can totaly see this with bacon cubes and spinach.

Hello 🙋‍♂️🎁🙏👍👏🤗🔔🤝

Oh wow great ideas !!

I needed this. The focus of God and family says it all ❤️ Yes, I'm going to try the spaghetti pie!!!

I love this channel. Thank you both so much. ❤

Love the Pyrex dishes in the background 😍 I have the same ones. 🤗

Just found you and subscribed! Thanks for all the inspiring content!!❤️🤗

Emmy, this was such a good video. Omg! So many wonderful notes I took from this video. Thank you so much. I just texted my girlfriend and I told her... Emmy says we need to stop searching for that illusive high! Wow! 🙌🏻🙌🏻🙌🏻talk about driving it home, girl right out of the ball park. 💯

Looks perfect, even for company!

Hi I've had a fabulous afternoon watching your vlogs so pleased I've found you I'm loving frugal living myself but you do inspire me Stay safe We are getting back to more normality here in the UK but not fully open we must stay safe though Take care xx

❤🌵

Well said and insightful. Thanks, Emmy!

I’m a napkin user also bought at garage sales . Some are used as rags some clean up messes and some for eating with. I feel it’s a wealthy feel to live and saving money and landfills.

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I have all the ingredients for that spaghetti pie and I'll be making it tomorrow! Looks yum!

Full watch my guys. Always love your content

Oooohhh😮😮😮😮😮 that looks so, so good! I’ll be making mine either meatless, or possibly with mini meatballs. Even when I make my lasagna, it is always cheese only….meats are unanimously preferred always on the side! None of us enjoy the texture of loose ground beef or sausage. And isn’t it great to have a wonderful recipe like this for a meatless supper? It’s not always easy to make those nights a hit for all of us! 🤷🏻‍♀️But I’ll put this with a salad and a homemade loaf of my garlic bread? And then just smile big as I see the GAVONE come out in all of us!! 🤭😱🤣 Thank you for sharing! I just love your channel and your “next door neighbor“ way of speaking. ❤️❤️

I Just make inventory in the kitchen. Learn from you to check up my fridge and use all leftovers ti cook new meals. Thank you!

Spaghetti is what I refer to as ITALIAN SOUL FOOD!

I work in a grocerie store, sad to see people fight in over toilet paper.. Pandemic !!!!! I was thinking of Food !!!!! Crazy !

Oh gosh Emmy I miss the thrift stores also , I do not buy so much in them but for me its something to do , but I am content . I need to buy a couple cloth napkins .Have a great week

Another great video and I love the beautiful plate you put the spaghetti pie on! I'll be trying that recipe soon.

New subscriber here. Sensible living with money mom sent me and I am really enjoying your channel and it’s content!

I really want to make that pie. Oooh little Dixie ❤️. Can you do a video with Dixie please ❤❤❤❤🎉

I miss the thrift store :( but we've only needed to buy food and stuff to fix the 30y old dryer! I was telling my husband how cool it is how much we don't need and what we can use here! Great video!

Oh my...that pizza pie looks absolutely delicious 🤤 I think my kids would love that!

What a lovely recipe, never heard of spaghetti pie but will try it. Not something I have seen in UK. You are right God gives us the contentment we need. We got back from a cruise around S America a few days after lockdown had begun in UK, I thought I would struggle but have been really peaceful except on the odd ocassion, usually gone for walk in countryside at that point. Praise God

The only thing I miss i going to the grocery store or Costco. I am a high risk so hubby has to shop for us and for my elderly mother too. I know it's overwhelming for him to have to shop for us and my mom. He usually comes home with the wrong things and some extra things too. I don't miss anything else. This pandemic has made me want to get closer to God and want to learn more about my Catholic faith. Been saying a lot of prayers and spending time with God.

Hello,so glad I found your channel,yes covig 19 has changed my life,there is a contentment,my mom lives downstairs, I am so content being by myself,doing my crafts,going out yo my porch garden or spending hours upon hours outside in my garden,I get excited seeing a plant putting out a fruit or vegetable,my mombseemed upset with me yesterday because I didn't see her at 3 pm,I was so caught up preparing a meal that the time went by so fast,so yes,I do get anxious sometimes to shop,I go grocery shopping,over shop but I believe I am getting there.tx for advice given

I’m going to make the spaghetti pie! It looks so good! 😊

Hello friend , iam new friend here, i join, nice video, hope more video✌️✌️🙏🙏

While watching this video with my husband he kept saying Amen Amen lol I felt we were at church lol. But seriously our values are so inline with your family. Our home is our haven. Since the kids have grown, we take staycations. No better feeling than setting no alarm clock at night , getting up gently, if it’s summer enjoying our morning coffee on the porch. Just so relaxing. Nothing like Home Sweet Home 🏡♥️♥️ And to be honest…. When everything shut down for pandemic, we didn’t notice a huge difference in our lifestyle. We are the true homebodies and we are ok with it. 😊😊♥️♥️ Blessings to you, Paul and your family. 🙏🏻🙏🏻

Again, great content! I know when everything starts opening up, most people I know will rush out to shop, shop, shop.. we're a society of consumers. Its crazy. Even scrolling through Facebook, people are jokingly posting Amazon, Kohls, etc. boxes piled up from online shopping. Aside from grocery shopping, I hadn't shopped at all for 5 weeks. Except this week I did go get a few things to work in my garden. I needed that for my mental health lol. Love that you cloth napkin. We do to! 💕 I bought paper plates for the first time in forever this week. Our dishwasher is broken and I'm tired 😅

The spaghetti pie looks delicious!! I would make a small salad and put on top. Love to Miss DixieBelle 🥰❤🌵

We've never had spaghetti pie (or heard of it and we live in a very Italian part of Wales!) but I'm convinced! I'm going to make this for us this week and I don't anticipate a lot of push back on that :D xx

Great frugal living tips & that spaghetti pie looks ssoooooo delicious!

Made your spaghetti pie recipe tonight. It was delicious and is a keeper. Thanks for sharing.

I think the saddest thing is so many people have been on a quest to own the newest, best or biggest thing(s) instead of living within their means and saving for the things they want. Very few Americans don’t even have a $1000 emergency fund let along a 3-6 months of living experiences let alone a working pantry. I’m hoping through all of this that it opens peoples eyes. Advertisers have such an influence in our consumer addicted society. It’s like the lyric Sheryl Crow song Soaking Up The Sun “It’s not having what you want, it’s wanting what you have. I’m responding to your contentment video.

Hi Emmy! I joined you all a couple months back and am enjoying it very much. Thank you for all your content. I’m a retired middle school teacher and live in Albuquerque, New Mexico. When you talked about the block planning, I realized since retirement, I really haven’t worked with my agenda like I used to. EVERYTHING had to be planned while in the work world or nothing got done. However, being at home with no plan can also lead to nothing getting done. I carry around a general idea in my head, but experience from being a teacher, one has to write it down to “see “ what has to be accomplished AND what ACTUALLY got accomplished. I’m also a highlighter person and just love to cross off things that get completed. So, I’m back to an agenda and the stickers you’re giving out would enhance my good old black agenda beautifully! Add them to all my highlighters and working on my agenda will become fun again! As always, Emmy, thank you for taking the time to do your videos. I appreciate you and Paul and your efforts and sharing. Sending you sunshine from Albuquerque! 🌞

Hello Emmy, I love your format. A great lesson and a recipe. Kudos.

I'm a new subscriber and we have a mutual friend (I live in the same town). It's so true that you have to find contentment and satisfaction within yourself. I've made spaghetti pie with meat but this looks good. My husband is having extensive dental work and needs soft food so I think I will try this meatless. Thanks for the recipe!

I just happened to come across this video from 2020. Fortunately I love staying at home. Always have. Being content is extremely hard for ppl to be content. You urged ppl not to 'blitz' the stores, hair salons etc when they opened again. Sadly that's exactly what has happened. You are a very grounded & wise women. Common sense gal. Whish there was more like you. Even now that's its 2022 it's chaos out there. I'm 70 & will NOT take the chance out in public anymore. I'm TOTALLY content to stay home. I'm glad I subscribed to you. Love your points on saving money, which I do anyway. Very tight that way. And I love your old time recipes. Gives me ideas on things I can tweak with idioms I already have in the house. Thx again.

That looks good.

I feel so much positivity listening to your video while milking my goat. You are right about buying a few extra food items every now and then. I always stock up when I find a deal. Now I also bought some different grains and cans. I will post a video probably tomorrow about what I am stocking up.

I’ll have to try the spaghetti pie recipe. That looks awesome. I agree w/ you about making our homes a sanctuary and a place we can entertain ourselves. During the pandemic I did just that. I have my keyboard I use for music so playing music and singing I could do in my home. I have art supplies (crayons, coloring books, drawing pads, acrylic and water color paints, colored pencils). I have plenty of books to read. I have my tv and a Roku w/ which to watch shows and such. I always loved to cook but I became more immersed in it than ever and would explore my cookbook collection and recipes and make great dishes. I baked a whole lot more too. Now that we’re getting to a new kind of normal, I have kept a lot of those things up as sources of entertainment. Plus it’s great having the library which was very limited during the pandemic, for books, DVDs, museum passes, cultural events, author talks…all for free. I certainly am dining out A LOT less…I’ve only ordered takeout once since January and I’ve only gone out to dinner once with friends since January. Honestly…I prefer cooking at home vs. eating out or getting take out, or making bread and dessert at home so I don’t go to the bakery for those things anymore. I haven’t visited a coffee shop in forever. I haven’t gone to the movies. I haven’t gone out to hear live music as much, though that is one thing I will probably do more of…but I’ll be eating at home and just having 1 alcoholic drink or tea and honey or tonic water and lime and not spending much. It used to be if I went to a show I’d always get dinner out and boy did that rack up money. And most of the time, the food wouldn’t be that good. No more of that. I’m saving dining for very special occasions and not often.

Alot of what we learned during lockdown we are continuing....we go for drives in the country, reading, looking for simple joys. We truly believe in separating needs from wants.We gave up paper products years ago as an we tried to become more environmentally aware. I love using cloth napkins. Living mindfully on all levels helps to be frugal & content.

I’ve found your videos the last week or so. You are such a loving, genuine, joyful person who cares about what matters. I wish I lived down the street from you! 😉🥰💗

Looks great 👍 !!! I am going to try it because I love everything about it !!! Thanks for sharing with us today !!!

I love that you said you like to stay home 6 out of 7 days. That it’s a good thing. I love love my home - I’m an avid scrapbooker, love , cooking and keeping my home ultra labels and organized. I live with my hubby and 2 grown kids (both going to college). I have a book club group and Bible study once a week which we have done with zoom. Still, it’s nice to know it’s ok to stay home and enjoy it. I live on the big island and do enjoy going to the beach once a week or walk along a pretty area- but other than that- I prefer my comfy home. Hubby and I usually walk our chihuahua baby, Scooby, and we get to see the ocean 🌊 . You are so helpful Emy. I also find going to stores - I’m a spender- just makes me nervous and on guard. I have so much stuff and do not find being tempted much fun anymore

Emmy, how do you store your napkins that you use for “paper towels”? I’ve been trying to figure this out so they are easily accessible. Yes, contentment! Love your question. Helps us go deeper reflection to what will bring us true contentment. ❤️

I agree with you in everything you said. The spaghetti pie looks good!!!

Hi there. I see that you are in the personal finance youtube space as well. We should do a colab! I would love to come up with new ideas with you.

This whole video was great! I’m going to try the spaghetti pie 🥧 We know what Gavones are! 😄Were Italian also, originally from NY, living in PA since 2000. We also miss the chewiness of bagels 🥯 🙂

Expecting snow here in NE NC so I’ve been binge watching your episodes and just pulled the Spaghetti Pie out of the oven. Boy, is that good! I didn’t have spaghetti sauce so I doctored up some leftover crushed tomatoes with Italian seasonings, mushrooms and garlic. It’s definitely a keeper! Thank you for your simple, creative and frugal dishes.

Have you ever tried making your own ricotta? It’s super easy and only takes milk and an acid

Can I ask if you don't mind, do you cut your own hair or do you have someone cut it? I have EXACTLY the same hair as you!!! Very very thick, curly and long. A challenge to cut. During lockdown I cut it myself but I need more layers and I'm not confident to do them myself 😟😢

I don’t miss the grocery/big box stores mostly but do miss our Nurseries really really bad ..I have been ordering online and get free delivery...our local grocery store has been delivering for free but it’s at least $40 more then if I went to Walmart..I have a immune compromised brother so I’m not jeopardizing him..so I have to just suck it up right now.it helps to have lots of variety of various foods..I but, need fresh foods and our guilty pleasure soda..milk is top of our grocery list always..I’m going to start bartering with a friend that owns a dairy farm for his milk I will make him food in return..I purchased a book on how to make a variety of cheeses I’m excited over that..I have to say I’ve been spending money hand over fist more then I have ever spent in a short period of time..however, we are heading into very very hard times ahead including food shortages and inflation..my purchases I’m justifying by stocking up more baking supplies since I’m a scratch cooker/baker so whenever I can get more flour, sugar and cocoa I snatch it when it becomes available on Samsclub.com free shipping since the membership is well worth the fee considering our Samsclub is a hour away 1-way..I have invested in more vegetable/medicinal seeds, huge containers, fertilizers, potting mixes, many more books on self sufficiency, baby chicks along with a rooster the pullets are dual purpose which is egg/meat .. I have a incubator have for years just never used it yet) I have a small flock already but need to add as there is already egg shortages and inflated prices,..today I purchased 1000 mushroom plugs to inoculate our logs..I feel lucky that they were still in stock. For my Birthday my dad bought me a Peach Tree..I have a mature fruit orchard and love adding to it..Money is something we have to have to live but what happens when food isn’t available money will mean nothing..it will be what you can grow yourself to sustain you and your family...if this next round of stimulus goes through I will be purchasing another Greenhouse along with a electric fence that will completely go around our property to defend what we have..Being frugal is very important to me, we do have debt , we do have a mortgage, but by me investing in what will feed us for many years to come is more important to me right now...

It’s sad that this is 10 months old and we’re still having to social distance 😭 upside the only clothes I bought in the last year was a pair of PJs lol

❤🧡💛💚💙💜

What is the best way to keep the spaghetti from overcooking with the extra time in the oven? Should I cook it all the way through before I bake it or undercook it a bit?

when the spaghetti is done - do you rinse it? or just drain

Is that your bible behind you on the counter?

We lived through the Plandemic.