Frugal Fridays #1

Frugal Fridays
I’ve debated on doing this post for a while. I don’t want to come off as preachy, or “look at me and all the fabulously frugal things I’ve done this week.” I certainly don’t want to make any of you women out there reading this feel like you should be doing more, or that you should be doing better. I hate blog posts like that. And I’ve ready plenty of them. Gross.  That’s NOT what I want to do.

But at the same time, I find a lot of motivation and encouragement from other bloggers’ posts. Not just the how-to posts. I like to see what bloggers are actually doing in their day to day grind. They give me ideas for how I can adjust things in my own daily grind to meet our goals, or make things run a little smoother in our day. I love reading the “Frugal Accomplishments” posts over at the Prudent Homemaker Blog. Even though I do a lot of things differently than Brandy, or because of location, I simply don’t have access to the same deals that she might (we don’t have case lot sales here), I’ve gotten so many ideas from reading her posts. If nothing else, it does so much good for me to see another mama of a large-ish family doing her best on a modest budget.

So, I’ll post on Fridays some of the things that I’ve done to save money that week. I think I’ll also post some [frugal fails] of the week as well. Because I have plenty of them, and I think transparency is a good thing. The blogosphere has a way of hiding our flaws, and only showing our successes. I’m not an expert. I’m not a purist. I’m learning daily. I stumble just as often as I learn, though. That goes for all things…economics included.

 

Accomplishments:

– I used a left over chicken carcass from dinner to make stock. I added in some veggie scraps that I keep in a baggie in the freezer. It’ll be used in tonight’s chicken and rice soup.

– I made 2 loaves of whole wheat sandwich bread (recipe to come soon…it’s so good!).

– I cooked up 4 lbs of dry beans and froze them for later use (much cheaper than buying canned). Canning them is my preferred way of storing beans, but I’m currently out of lids and need to purchase more. I’ll be ordering some Tattler reusable lids and trying them for the first time.

– I made banana walnut muffins with some bananas that got too mushy for fresh eating.

– I harvested some kale for zuppa toscana soup.

– I have stuck to the monthly menu plan.

– I started a bandana quilt for one of my sons for Christmas. I used coupons and found a good price on the bandanas to keep the price low. (pictures and tutorial to come once it’s finished!)

-I sewed a Christmas dress for my daughter. I used this tutorial….I love it! I used coupons for the materials and only spent about $12 for the fabric, yarn, thread, and I also needed to replace some of my bobbins and sewing machine needles. Not too shabby!

 

Christmas Dress e

Sorry for the dark cell phone picture. It was late at night when I finished and I just snapped this quick picture.

– We had family pictures taken using a Groupon deal. We haven’t had a family picture since we only had 2 kids…so we were way overdue! We shopped at a thrift store using a coupon for our outfits.

– I finally managed to get the ammonia funk out of our diapers (added white vinegar to a soak cycle and let them sit over night then rinsed them, in case you’re wondering)…so we’re back in cloth diapers after a 2 week hiatus. And by “we”, I mean my son. Not me. To be clear. Ahem…

 

Fumbles:

-I had to throw away 10 oranges that got moldy. I’m not sure why they went bad so quickly since I bought them less than a week ago. Pretty disappointing.

– My husband splurged and bought me a vacuum cleaner. Not a cheap one. I was planning to wait and look for Black Friday deals, but I haven’t had a functioning vacuum cleaner in about 18 months and he wanted to surprise me. He’s pretty dreamy like that. Or maybe he just got sick of the gross carpets. Either way, after getting over the sticker shock, I am thoroughly enjoying my clean carpets. :)

– I’m pretty sure we’ll run out of coffee and creamer before my November shopping trip. So I’ll be making a trip to the store. I’m willing to sacrifice a  lot in the name of saving money. Coffee isn’t one of them.

– Library late fee. Yeah.

 

Goals for this week:

– Plant some lettuce seeds in the window sill for microgreens.

– Can some apple butter.

– Continue making our bread instead of buying it.

– Make  a batch of yogurt and a batch of granola.

- Finish preparing the garden for winter. 

 

 

What frugal accomplishments/flubs did you have this week? I’d love to turn this into a link-up at some point!

 

This post may contain affiliate links. That means that if you clink on a link and then purchase something, I receive a commission. Thank you so, so much!
 
This is a list of some of the awesome sites that I occasionally link my posts at. They’re all great blogs about anything from parenting, simple living, cooking, homesteading (backyard and large scale), gardening, Christian life, frugal living, etc. Check them out!The Chicken ChickThe Prairie Homestead- Homestead Barn HopStrangers and Pilgrims on Earth- The Art of HomemakingHomestead Bloggers Network- Tasty TuesdayBackyard Farming ConnectionGrowing Home- Growing HomemakersWildcrafting Wednesday, So Much At HomeHope in Every SeasonGreen Thumb ThursdayHome Acre HopFrom the Farm HopFarmgirl FridayFront Porch FridaySimple Meals FridayBetter Hens and Gardens.

Comments

  1. I like these kind of lists too as I also enjoy reading “The Prudent Homemaker’s”. And I had to laugh, as cheap as I am, coffee is not something I fool around with either! Very serious business :) And I must say that the dress is absolutely adorable that you made!!!

    Thanks for the frugal inspiration!

  2. Katie Homemaker says:

    Hi Ashley! Although we left the cloth diaper part of life years ago (mine are 11 and 14 now) , your typical kitchen day sounds similar to mine, and I love that you are sharing the oops parts too! I too try to save every penny, then end up with a 5 or 6 $ library fine! Or I buy a bag of clothes for $4.00 at good will, then get a fancy coffee for the same amount! Glad to see you keep the coffee going in your house too-that’s something we won’t pare down on either! Keep up the good work. And check out the yummy crockpot granola recipes on pinterest. I have made it twice and it actually works!

  3. I’m totally with you on the coffee! If we’re out of coffee, then as far as I’m concerned, we’re out of groceries! ; )

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