I recently received a letter from a reader that really touched me. It was a wonderful reminder of why I write, and reminded me of what this particular post does to help all you find ways to save money each week. I’m glad that as we share how we’ve saved money each week, we can all get ideas to help one another. I am blessed to learn new ways from each of you to help us save money.
I picked peaches, blackberries, and strawberries from the garden. I sliced and froze peaches. I froze blackberries. I made peach pie popsicles.
I cut green onions, Swiss chard, lettuce, chives, and chocolate mint from the garden.
I planted seeds in the garden for all the things that still haven’t come up, even though I’ve planted many times: Armenian cucumbers (I should be harvesting now, but there is time to try again), basil, zucchini (I do have two plants already, but they haven’t produced anything still), and beans. The garden has been somewhat neglected these last few months and it needs some work.
The garden has been somewhat neglected these last few months and it needs some work. I spent time fighting the grape leaf skeletonizers last week, in an attempt to save our grape crop. Last year’s crop was lost because of these, and this year they are even worse. The spring rains we had have led to gray mold on the some of the grapes as well (mostly on my red flames, so those may be a loss no matter what).
My husband cut my hair and his own. I gave 2 children a haircut. We had to replace our hair clippers this week, as the old ones died. It’s well worth it as the price of clippers easily pays for itself in a haircut! We purchased these Wahl clippers, and they are fantastic!
I turned 2 pairs of torn jeans into shorts for the girls. It only takes a few minutes to cut them and hem them for shorts, and our weather will be over 100º this week, so the timing is perfect.
I sewed the velcro back onto my sandal, as it had come off.
What did you do to save money last week?
We have a large canvas gazebo to put up in our backyard for summer BBQ’s and need help. I called around to “Handman” companies which would charge us about $250.00. So I wrote to a few of our good friends from church and they plan to be at our home Wednesday to help put it up for free ! My husband and I spent today running errands and was able to enjoy a lunch out. . He found a gift certificate from Christmas he had in his wallet for $20.00 at a Mexican restaurant 🙂 I am able to continue to pick kale, lettuce and chard from our garden. Still waiting for other veggies to mature. I found 3 strawberries that are ripe to enjoy. I decided to no longer buy canned dog food for our little 20 lb rescue dog Tino. Instead I bought a pound of cheap ground beef for a couple of dollars and browned it. Then packaged it into 1 Tbs / serving to mix with his kibble. This will last 40 days and saves so much in cost. This is about it. Have a wonderful week
I had a great May, mostly frugal (sometimes not so much but still frugal as compared to any of my colleagues 😉
Weekly update is here: http://www.simpleisgoodforyou.com/frugal-accomplishments-and-ways-i-saved-money-28/
Ps. I just saw a photo you posted on FB with Winter, Ivory and Octavius. I think I am speaking on behalf of most everyone – we want to see more photos of Octavius with the other children! 🙂
That reader was so right Brandy. This community that you started has gave me the encouragement I needed to keep living frugally and know that I’m not the only one doing that!
I spent most of my week last week planting our vegetable garden. It has been very hot here and the plants have needed to be watered twice so far. Hopefully we will get a much needed soaker soon but rain has skipped all around us.
Here are the rest of the ways I’ve saved last week:
http://www.vickieskitchenandgarden.com/2016/05/my-frugal-ways-this-past-weekwhat-was_29.html
This week frugal accomplishments are
I cut up some not so wonderful strawberries and helped them along with a spoonful of sugar, they will be perfect with yoghurt for breakfast
I made fruit and spice loaf and nut and seed crackers from scratch, with ingredients already at hand
I line dried all the washing, I love the smell of sunshine in the clothes and sheets
I rode by bike to work every day
I hemmed a pair of brand new jeans that I picked up at the Salvo’s for $2.00
Have a splendid week,
Fiona
Lucky Tino has a smart Mama!
I’m so glad you host this blog as well. I have learned so many of great tips and tricks from reading your posts as well as everyone’s comments. I check every day to see if there are new comments to read. Thank you so much for presenting such a wonderful blog, Brandy!!!
Our weather this week has been unseasonably hot. Of course this was just in time for when the pioneer village I work at opened for the season. Nothing better than to wear several layers of clothing on a hot and humid day!:p I’ve been enjoying meeting so many different people this week, though. Right now we have the school children coming for the educational school programs which is the bulk of our visitors at this time, but we also are open to any visitors that stop in. To our surprise, we’ve had a lot of out of town guests, which normally happens more in July and August. On one day, we various visitors from Switzerland, Holland, Russian, the UK (one of them was originally from New Zealand) and Bangladesh! I think meeting people from other countries is one of the greatest perks of my job. Anyways, back to my frugal accomplishments for this week:
*Meals made at home included breaded stuffed chicken breast with potato wedges and broccoli, pasta and sausages slices with choice of red or white sauce, grilled cheese sandwiches and potato chips (rough day at work, then my mom says “what do you want for dinner”…so this is what I had enough energy to think up), chicken and broccoli low mein stir-fry with spring rolls, BBQ hamburgers and hotdogs with salad, and hamburger helper with salad.
*As usual, I took all my lunches to work and a insulated travel cup with ice water to drink. We’re doing training in the buildings with the new interpreters, so there were yummy treats shared a few days this week as our new interpreters learned how to cook in the wood stoves and with the open hearth or outdoor fire pit.
*Went to an auction and picked up a nice computer chair for my daughter, a set of brand new headphones that I will use as a Christmas gift for my daughter and new sunglasses for myself all for under $38 total!
*Grocery deals this week included 2 free bottles of BBQ sauce (plus 1 bottle @$1.97) using coupons and a rain check from a couple weeks ago, peaches and pears for $0.97/lb, a watermelon for $2.97, 2 bags of perogies @ 2 for $3, 10lb bag of potatoes for $1.97, a dozen hamburger buns for $0.79 and 8 large cans of cat food for $0.97/can (normally $1.40/can).
*Baked a double batch of double chocolate zucchini muffins, using up more of the shredded zucchini from 2014. I wrapped each muffin in plastic wrap, put them in a container and froze them. We can then grab the frozen muffins in the morning to put in our bagged lunches. They are thawed by the time we each lunch.
*Tried a new recipe for baked pumpkin donut holes (recipe link: http://damndelicious.net/2012/10/26/recipe-from-the-archives-pumpkin-donut-holes/), using up some of the frozen pumpkin from 2014. They were so amazing that I made 3 batches! I packaged up some of the donut holes (3 per baggie) and froze them for quick lunch bag items. The rest were used as a dessert one night.
*Last weekend I planted most of the garden and almost everything has started to sprout already! The unusually warm weather we’ve had this week has definitely helped get everything going.;)
Thanks to everyone who shares their frugal accomplishments. I learn so much from everyone. Hope you all have a great week!:D
I give all of my children their haircuts. With 4 boys, that definitely saves us a ton of money over the years! I’ve always been curious about planting grapes, but I’m not sure if they’d do well in my area. I didn’t realize there were so many diseases that attacked them. I hope you are able to save the plants.
Here are my frugal ways this past week: http://www.mediumsizedfamily.com/5-ways-weve-saved-money-week-36/
Thank you, Brandy, for the recommendation on the hair clippers. I cut my husband’s hair regularly and will need to replace them soon. They are at least 8 years old.
For my birthday my husband and I had a buy one get one free entree from a restaurant and spent $12 OOP. My daughter hosted my birthday dinner with the family. With birthday money I received I bought some sandals that were on sale and I had a 40% off coupon. I ended up saving 50% on them.
I made yogurt in the crock pot and strained it to make Greek yogurt. We eat yogurt everyday. I made a batch of pancakes and put half in the freezer for easy breakfasts.
I bought strawberries for 99 cents a pound and bought several packs. I froze most of them for smoothies and to put in yogurt.
I planted some mint for tea. I also planted some magnolia and daisy seeds that I had bought for 25 cents for each package last year. I have lettuce growing where I planted last year that had reseeded itself.
We are eating with the seasons and only buying produce and other grocery items that are a very good price.
I bought tea, minced garlic, vanilla, dry beans, and brown rice from the dollar store.
We will be eating more vegetarian meals throughout the month to save on the grocery bill.
I cut off the top part of a dress that my daughter gave me I never wear and made the bottom part into a skirt. I only had to buy new sewing machine needles to complete it.
This week had a few good accomplishments. I googled to find the cheapest diesel fuel for my husband’s truck, finding a location that was on the way we were going, and used a gas gift card I had earned to pay for the fuel.
Learned a new trick to avoid food waste. Sometimes I decide to cook something, thaw out the meat/chicken, then the next day decide that I don’t want to eat it for dinner. In the past sometimes I will not cook the food in time and need to throw it out. Last week, at 10 am I took all the thawed chicken breasts and made a big batch of chicken piccata, then split it up into portions and froze them. Food saved and meals made! And this weekend, I wasn’t inspired to cook and was thrilled to see the frozen chicken piccata just waiting there for our dinner! Overall last week we ate all our meals at home except one. For me, having frozen cooked healthy meals is a huge money saver, it is like having a take out section at home, just waiting to be heated up.
Colored my hair again at home for $5.97 and a half hour of my time including a shower. Later I met a girlfriend at a hair salon where she was getting her hair done and was running late for our lunch. Not sure what she paid for a haircut, color, highlights and blow dry but lots more than my $5.97!
Brandy, every week I learn something from your blog here, whether a new idea or just inspiration. I have read your saving money and pantry areas so many times I have lost count ;). One specific thing that is done well here…on a scale of 1 to 100 of being frugal, we are all at different spots, working towards getting better. I have always felt welcomed, regardless of whether I am a beginner or expert. I feel good adding something I have learned, even if it is probably obvious to everyone else (like today’s comment on chicken piccata) 😉 You have a very welcoming atmosphere. Rather than feel depressed that I can’t feed our family yet for $100 a month, I find it inspiring to come back here to learn new ways to get there. I was thinking back on your story of how you originally stocked up on rice a roni boxes, realizing we all have to travel a similar path to learn. Thank you.
I am thankful for the all the information shared here. It’s one of the highlights of my day when I can stop in to read about what everyone has been up to. Thank you for creating and continuing this wonderful space, Brandy. I forgot to mention in my post that I picked the first of this year’s raspberries from the garden. I’m guessing we had the same challenge with our grapes last year. I picked lots and lots of little worms from the leaves. The good thing is the chickens would eat them. That’s quite a time consuming chore though. We saw what looked like Japanese beetle damage a couple of days ago, so it will soon be time to hand pick those as well, & feed them to the chickens. At least some good comes from them! Joining in here: http://abelabodycare.blogspot.com/2016/05/late-may-blooms-frugal-accomplishments.html
Greetings from da U.P!
I’ve started working my Summer job; it’s full steam ahead, here. We’re expecting our tourism to double this year. Although i love my job, double the people may be a tad much. Having said that, working a second job pretty much stops me from spending!
*I managed to get a few things down in the garden. The cherry tree was trimmed and the branches were brought inside where they bloomed. I also put a few in a blue bottle that’s attached to the fence post. It sure cheered me up!
*I planted a lettuce and parsley mixture in the standing bed my husband made me from used pallets. They’re starting to come up.
*I transplanted the rosemary i bought into bigger pots. Those have been kept in my tiny greenhouse that my husband also made me.
*I planted shallots and potatoes in my tiny garden. I also put shallots in a huge pot i have. They did very well there last year. We’ve decided that we like shallots better than onions to grow; much easier and they last forever in the fridge.
*A workmate gave me a big clump of oregano, chives and a branch of bay. I dried some chives and planted a small clump in the tiny garden. The bay leaves were dried and i got three starts in pots on my kitchen windowsill. I love seeing them! The oregano is planted in with the herbs and flowers.
*We skyped with our son and grand boys.
*We had organic garbanzo beans on clearance for 1.50 a bag, so i bought four. Not the prices some people find, but it’s great for us!
*I went to many yard sales and two estate sales on the weekend. I got a few goodies that are up on ebay. I really want to go to Florida this Winter and Ireland next Fall, so those are the goals for the $$.
*Went to the Dr. for my wellness exam. Not frugal, at all, even with insurance. But, we’re mapping out a plan for my health issues which is invaluable to me! And, i;m actually following orders!
*We’ve had rain almost every day for several days in a row, so that helps. I have a water barrel that’s now full. I wish i had several! I’m hoping all this rain will yield blueberries in the woods. We didn’t get any last year.
*I went to Dollar Tree for soy milk and chips for husband’s lunches. The chips are cheaper by the ounce there than our grocery store.
*My husband has been working in construction since our move here. The custom windows, that are going in the house they’re building, are packed with strips of mahogany. He was given those strips to do with what he wanted. He made two beautiful frames. One will be sold, with one of his photographs in it, while the other hasn’t been decided. He’s so talented!
Have a wonderful week!
Well. I have some shorts from old Navy that I got on sale. All pants gap at the waist for me. I looked up how to put in buttonhole elastic in the waist. Now they don’t gap! Two pairs to go.
I made black bean soup, homemade bread and homemade hummus. I used up some beef donated by my neighbor make beef stew. For a party today I am taking a plum crisp, lemon garlic shrimp (neighbor also gave us the shrimp), and veggies. I have been working hard to use the produce in our delivery box.
Not this week but a long time ago… we have a drought resistant plant that is a big bush with orange spiky flowers. When the flowers fall off the plant we got some volunteers. My husband replanted a few and one lived, next to the hedge. It’s really pretty. My neighbor has some really pretty succulents and has offered me to take a piece. Maybe some day.
Still have to go back and binge read what I’ve missed.
Good luck saving your grape crop this year!
Last week to save money:
Mostly stayed home. That’s not hard to do when you work so much. I like my new job so far, however it’s quite a ways away and I work really long hours. One of the Doctors I work for is not very nice most of the time. I plan on using this training and experience to eventually find a job closer to home.
I did go grocery shopping once while my husband was at his Chiropractic appointment with my other boss (the nice one). I took my daughter with last night and did a coupon shop before a sale was done. I got free comet cleanser ( and found more coupons to get 3 more free), 2 free boxes of sinus medication, .90 cent large Juicy Juice juices, a free yogurt, 4/$10 on my hubby’s beloved Mt. Dew ( he drinks it anyways, might as well stock up while it’s on sale), a new brand of nut milk for $2 each (regularly $5), just to name a few.
Got some more items ready for my mom’s rummage sale. I will be working on that this week as well.
Rented a tiller so my husband could til the garden. He also tilled a part of the front yard we want to landscape. I used newspapers I have been saving all winter and laid those down and covered with soil to block weeds from growing. I have half the garden done. This made me realize how big the garden is lol. I will do more today and then plant my seedlings. He also bought more poles and chicken wire and surrounded my raised bed that a furry critter used as a buffet. I replanted that one and put out my seedlings for that bed after it was surrounded.
We ate all but one meal at home. We did order in last night. I suffer from chronic pain in my lower back, knees, feet, and ankles. All the garden work has been to much for me lately. I have another Doctor appointment in two weeks and will bring this up to her. We are working on one issue at a time, and I have many. I qualified for their sliding scale fee 🙂 since I do not have health insurance. I also have a prescription discount card to use along with their prescription drug program which saved me $10.
We did the usual things as well: turned off lights and unplugging small appliances when not being used, turned off the water while brushing teeth, not using as much soapy water when doing the dishes, washed and reused glass jars and baggies.
Have a great week!
This week I bought 20 lbs of ground beef on sale for $1.99/ lb and turned it into 3 dozen hamburger patties ( Oh, how I love my little $4 hamburger press that makes 6 burgers at a time!), 3 dozen taco rice burritos, 50 beef and bean burritos and 5 quart size ziplocs of cooked & crumbled ground beef for easy meal prep! The savings in time and money by having these ready to use in my freezer is enormous!!!
I also bought 8 dozen ears of corn for 10 cents an ear! This is the lowest price point it ever gets to and only happens Memorial Day weekend and maybe 4th of July (but not always!) I cleaned, blanched, chilled in cold water, then took the kernels off the cobs. Filled Foodsaver bags with 24 oz each and vacuum sealed! I ended up with 30 bags of frozen corn that saved me over $65 (compared to buying frozen corn!) This will see us through the year!
We continued work on our front fence with the cedar fencing we bought from a neighbor and spent Saturday cutting and installing our “new” fencing! The total cost for the fence, including the materials we needed to buy additionally, will be about $200! A comparable real cedar fence would cost about $800 in materials plus $500+ for someone to remove old fencing and posts and put in new fence posts and cement and install this fence! And it looks amazing!!! Our 3 local sons and 1 son-in-law dug out the old 4×4 fence posts and cement and helped put in new posts and cement them in. Then, hubby and I cut and built the rest of the fencing and installed almost all of it on Saturday morning!
We continue to sell our recycled planter boxes from free pallets we deconstruct and also got a special order for recycled pallet Ohio shaped wall hangings. That brought in an additional $150 this week and it looks like we may be making about $900 more of the Ohio wall hangings for this client! It’s amazing to us the opportunities to earn and save money that are laid at our doorstep if we open our eyes to them!!
Hubby was able to upgrade several of his larger power tools at a once a year sale this week. He spent almost $500 (gasp!) but saved over $1000! We consider these an investment and worth it!
Hubby is looking at things to build with the leftover free 2 x4s from the pallets and is happily constructing some outdoor Furniture that we may also market.
Our minivan was leaking PS fluid and mechanic told us that he saw other issues coming up with it that made him advise us not to repair PS. How we appreciated his honesty. We started looking on Craigslist for a replacement and found a wonderful minivan with stow away seats (we are getting older and don’t want to depend on helpers to hoist seats out when we want to carry something! Because we drove out into the country (farther than most people in our big city would consider) we got this 2005 minivan for only $1000 ! The original owner told us of a couple possible problems so we took it right away to our mechanic. He did a thorough check and found that it doesn’t need any repairs and is in fine shape! Another blessing! We again used cash from our savings for this so no car payments!!
All in all, a terrific week!
All your posts mentioning peaches remind me of a time nine years ago or so. I was going through a very difficult time, financially. Like you, I was using fruit from my freezer to make popsicles and smoothies. I also used blueberries and raspberries for muffins. I had already used amost all of my fruit and was down to just peaches. It was then that I discovered peach muffins. The recipe I found called for 1/2 cup of sour cream which I happened to have left over from a previous meal. I was out of plain sugar so I substitued brown sugar. The result was fabulous. Today, muffins made that way remain one of my family’s favorites. I won’t include a recipe because peach & sour cream muffin recipes are now abundant on the internet but if anyone who has extra peaches wants to try it, be sure to use brown sugar. The muffins are better that way. Although I haven’t tried it, I imagine yogurt or buttermilk could be substitued for the sour cream if that is what you have on hand.
I enjoy reading these posts too. I learn so much. Thank you for making this a “thing.” 😀
We discovered a local venue for live music. I had to go for a class, and we ended up enjoying the evening and scenery so we’ll definitely be going back soon. The toddler had fun too.
Here are my other frugal efforts last week:
http://2minimize.blogspot.com/2016/05/last-weeks-frugal-efforts_30.html
We paid off our truck in April – two years early vs the original term of the loan. I used what would have been the payment for this month to do maintenance and some minor cosmetic repairs on it (it’s a diesel, so it will run “forever” if taken care of, but the taking care isn’t cheap LOL). We are at 57,000~ miles with some bigger maintenance due at 60K, so the service advisor wrote up a bid for me and I will schedule that work for when the next payment would be due. Right after the maintenance was done, my check engine light came on, pointing to a problem that has already been fixed once. In the process of repairing that issue, the mechanic changed out our coolant fluid, something that was on the list for the 60K maintenance. The service advisor wrote that into our warranty coverage because it was necessary for the repair, and now I don’t have to pay for it in a month.
My birthday is this week so my mom made lunch for us on our usual Friday visit, but made a second pan of lasagna for my daughter to bring home and heat up on my birthday. She also made a cake and sent half of it home with us, in part for celebration and in part so my diabetic dad won’t be overly tempted by too much cake around their house. 😉
I used a Barnes & Noble gift card to order two books on my wishlist, combined with free shipping and a 15% off one item coupon. I also made sure to log in to Ebates first, which gets me an additional 1% back. It will only be about 40 cents, but they add up. 😀 The kids and I used a Red Robin card I received for my birthday for a dinner out as well. I had asked my parents not to “fuss” as I would rather they use their funds to eliminate debt too; I know that they purchase gift cards at a store where they get points toward discounted fuel, so I couldn’t complain too much and was certainly grateful for the treats as I wouldn’t have bought the books or gone out otherwise.
I took a load of yard waste from their house to the local landfill for composting, which is free, and on the way back my dad used the points program to get me 60 cents off per gallon, bringing diesel from $2.649 to $2.049 per gal. I like to fill up at half a tank and I was not quite that low yet, now our tank is all filled again. Yay!
We used our membership to the local zoo and wildlife parks to go to the wildlife park and meet some friends at their new exploration area. We usually don’t go to the gift shop, but this time I went and let each child pick one item; our membership got us a 10% discount on each treat.
We bought groceries at the commissary instead of going off base. We pay a surcharge on the amount purchased, where we wouldn’t pay tax on food off base, but I’ve priced out the items we buy there and they are much more on the economy, so it still works out less.
Fiona, would you be so kind as to share those two recipes? They sound good and different! Thanks…
I really enjoy this blog, and the frugal accomplishments especially. I live in an affluent area where most people aren’t interested in frugality at all. This post is a refuge for me each week, to read about and celebrate the accomplishments of other like-minded people. Thank you, Brandy, for hosting it even when your life is very busy.
I was keeping a list of my frugal accomplishments, but now I can’t find it. Let’s see what I can remember:
– I cooked at home (except for one meal) and took my lunches to work.
– I picked up a bunch of empty boxes from a recycle pile to give to my sister who will be moving in a few weeks.
– I attended a work party at the community garden. The two hours I spent weeding and spreading wood chips in the pathways will count towards my volunteer hours. Weeding is a lot more fun if you get to talk to fellow gardeners while you work.
– For entertainment, I checked out books from the library, watched DVDs from our collection and listened to podcasts.
– My mom invited me to visit a new saltwater pool that opened a half hour north of here. She paid my entrance fee. The pool was quite warm (90 F) and felt wonderful.
– My husband was off work this week so we were work on a home project that needed to be done.
– We gave away a small table and two chairs on Freecycle. Two people no-showed, which is so annoying. Finally, person number three picked it up (in the pouring rain, no less).
– I bought a half-flat of strawberries, and froze a bunch for future use.
– I wanted something sweet, so I experimented and made a simple cake using hazelnut flour. I froze part of it for later. It turned out really well.
– I made yogurt (I stopped months ago after several yogurt fails). Recently I bought an Instant Pot (an electric pressure cooker/slow cooker). This thing is truly amazing, and also makes great yogurt.
Now I am heading out to tend to some plants on the patio and transplant a tomato. Then I will head out to my garden community plot to plant three kinds of beans. My bush peas are two feet tall now. Nicer weather is expected this week, so hopefully we will have some peas in a few weeks. Can’t wait! Yum.
Have a great week, everyone!
Thank you for sharing the donut hole recipe. It looks delish! And I still have some pumpkin puree left over in my freezer too. 😀
We too bought a set of Wahl clippers for an early father’s day gift. My husband cut 3 of our boys hair and I cut his. I also trim the baby’s hair myself. This will save us a lot of money.
This is my favorite blog and this is my favorite of all your posts. I truly have no people in my life who try to live frugally, so I love having a community here. It really gives me a sense of belonging and encouragement. I owe it to God and you Brandy. Definite, highlight of my week.
I had hip surgery on Thursday, so really if you can go nowhere and are tied to a constant movement machine and icer 8 hours a day, frugality just comes natural.
In preparation for surgery, I prepared enough freezer meals to get through the entire time I am on crutches. We are just doing sandwiches for lunches and I prepared a lot of to-go type snacks and stocked up on sale items to bring to ball games and for the kids to help themselves while I can’t.
So far so good! We haven’t succumbed to any take out yet. I also have a couple of great teacher friends who have offered to do my grocery shopping (waiting to see what goes on sale) for me. I am truly blessed.
My goal is to get 100% complete on Christmas gifts. I have knitting and embroidery in a basket next to my bed. I literally have 8 hours a day where my leg is moving, but I can go no where and do nothing but sit there. I will have to do this for 6-8 weeks, so I think it is doable to complete all the gifts needed.
Hang in there with the job — it can be tough working for someone who isn’t nice, but you are right to think the training you are getting now will help you find a better job later.
I always look forward to these weekly posts, and to reading what everyone else is doing. It is inspiring.
Brandi — how do you use your chocolate mint?
Our cold, wet spring has been hard on the garden. This time last year we had lots of fresh peas — this year they are not even blooming yet. I am still waiting for the soil to warm up enough to plant my beans and squash. I do have plenty of oregano, thyme and sage that came up from last year, and my rhubarb is getting big enough to harvest some. My arrugula is also doing well and we are enjoying it and green onions in salads.
My husband did a couple of odd jobs for neighbors — we will use the money for some unexpected expenses, so good timing.
A neighbor is moving and gave us their snowblower. My husband has kept their driveway cleared the past two years with his plow — we have borrowed the snowblower a few times to neaten up the edges of the drive and to cut paths in the back yard for the dogs. They could have sold the snowblower, but insisted on giving it to us, which was very generous.
I am working my way through the mending pile — I darned small holes in several of my husband’s T-shirts.
I cut lilacs for the house. They don’t last very long, but they look and smell so beautiful for the few days I can keep them.
HI Momsav… I am headed your way this summer to Christmas, MI. Lunch at Falling Rock cafe is a favorite.
A frugal accomplishment I am proud of is asking for money back from two grocery purchases that were incorrectly priced. Not my favorite thing to do, but I feel better having done it.
Other frugal accomplishments are here http://www.healthfulsaver.com
I also appreciate reading everyone’s ideas each week. Some ideas may be things I have heard of before, but it gives me encouragement to implement them.
This week we:
*Saved at the garden center by speaking with the business owner. He gave us contractor pricing for the large order we put in (new garden bricks and new front deck with fancy railings and new house siding). And we ordered it all during their “save the tax” event which saved us an additional 13% (about $200).
*We’re using this year’s tax-return money to fund our outdoor renovation project so as not to affect our monthly budget.
*Stuck to our $100 a week grocery budget for our family of 5. (I’m still learning your ways Brandy! Every week I think I do a little better to stretch our budget)
*Washed laundry at night (when electricity is cheapest in our area). One to two loads a night. And hung to dry outside in the morning. It was tricky this week, with rain for two days, but I got it done!
*Added water to milk and spaghetti sauce to stretch them.
*Bought 10 pounds of peaches on sale. Sliced and froze half for future summer popsicles and smoothies.
*Planted a semi-dwarf apple tree! We’re looking forward to harvesting many apples once it matures in 3 years.
I am very thankful for your site Brandy. You and your readers have taught me so much! I never could have imagined trimming our budget as much as I have without it. Thank you!!!
I am an ‘old hand’ at frugal ways but that’s not to say one can’t learn new things (or be reminded of old way I used to save). I deeply enjoy the like mindedness I find here in this forum and I admire the lovely things, which many who are frugal attempt to forgo. I need beauty as much as I need encouragement! I had a fair week of savings behind me. http://bluehousejournal.blogspot.com/2016/05/my-frugal-week-present-savings.html
Mandy: Since u do not have health insr look up your medications on Goodrx.com. It will compare the top stores nationwide for the cheapest meds. You print out the coupon and take it to your pharmacy. There are millions of meds listed and I have seen a price difference of anywhere from $50-300. Hope this helps. Also if you have any of your doctors within a health system and need financial assistance always apply for it. You would be surprised how much help is out there.
Thanks for the link to the recipe. I am going to try that!
This week we had blueberries, strawberries and raspberries all on sale for $.85 a container. I stocked up and will make freezer jam this week. I was rather disappointed with the meat sales in the Phx area for Memorial Day but did find pork spare ribs on sale for $6 a slab. I grabbed a few of them and will cook one slab for a Memorial Day cookout and freeze the rest for special occasions. I found my son’s favorite fruit snacks on closeout sale which was $.90 a box. I cleared off the store shelf :D. I will put the majority of them away to use for his school lunches when school starts back up in August.
This year my tomatoes were really sad and small. We have had an awfully cool spring and I am not sure if that has something to do with it or not. The rest of my plants are doing great including my blueberry plant and goji berry plant. I recently purchased a peppermint plant and it too is doing well. Brandy – would you mind sharing how you make your tea with mint leaves?
Have a great week!
HI Amy,
I live in Phoenix too, not sure if you have been to the grocery discount store called American discount foods in Mesa… website of the same name, they occasionally have great deals on meat and eggs, as well as other items.
Hi Hilogene,
I have not been there. I live in North Phoenix (north of the 101) so I don’t get down to Mesa much. I may have to take a trip! Thanks!
Amy
I feel a bit like I am spinning my frugal wheels but not making much traction 🙁
We have teen driver and car insurance is due so (yikes)… she is also taking a couple summer classes to stay on track with her dual enrollment so we had tuition due this week as well.
On the frugal side:
* made a quadruple batch of spaghetti sauce for the freezer… great when I need a quick dinner
* making homemade bread
* got veggie plants purchased and just need to get them planted
* my daughter went camping over the weekend which was free for her 🙂
* we have a new to us family member (bunny named peanut) who has been free entertainment….LOL
* I was able to get some good sale items at the grocery store and do a bit of pantry stocking.
I, too, love this site and community. I’m always inspired.
It was a rather quiet week here, just finishing up the school year. Yay!
Frugal efforts included:
* making granola
* making veggie stock w/ sad-looking but still fine veggies from the fridge and some veggies from the freezer
* composting the “dregs” of said stock after the broth was bagged up for the freezer
* harvesting zucchini
* gathering windfall apples (we’ll probably dry them) from our little trees
* making trail mix
* making all of our bread
* using water from the rain barrels and dish rinse water to water potted plants
* Hubs continues to keep the garden going.
Have a great week, everyone!
So excited to say we got the first tomatoes from our garden. My husband picked 6 large tomatoes and several squash. Sad to say the heat here is already killing my Lilly plant. I have had it in the shade, I followed the directions, but it is dead as can be. It was so pretty when I got it too.
We have had so much rain in the past few weeks. I have used my dryer more than ever this past few weeks. My sister’s home came in the Woodlands (near Houston) almost flooded. She was so lucky. The house two doors away had several feet of water in the house. So it is a blessing to say my family is safe, and I am praying for the others who lost so much.
We were on vacation most of last week. It was so nice not to cook and do laundry. However, it was not so great when I got home to the mountain of laundry, the dust filled house, and the garden that was weed infested. We found several squash plants that were so big we knew they were not going to be good, so we just added them to the compost pile.
Made a big dent in the sewing I need to do for my church doll clothes project. It is fun, but it is also time consuming. I call it a labor of love.
Tomorrow I have my last day off (for a long while) and I will be getting my physical exam, mammogram, and the results of some heart tests I had done a week ago. Sure hope all is well, but I don’t know.
Hope everyone had a great Memorial Day, God bless our service men and women, and thank you for your service.
This site is one of the best on the internet, in my humble opinion. Every time I read here i learn something new.
We had a frugal, and non-eventful week here. Added to the pantry, harvested some herbs, and did a whole lotta nothing.
Have a great week everyone.
https://hiproofbarn.wordpress.com/2016/05/31/frugal-endeavors-29/
Don’t loose hope on the garden, Cindi. I live in Ontario, Canada and we had a long, cold spring as well. Most of my garden was put in 2 weekends ago when we finally had a heat wave hit (the weekend before I put them in, we had snow!). It has been so warm, everything has popped up very quickly. My beans broke ground one day and were 2-3 inches tall the next! Just wait for it, the heat is coming!!!;)
I am sorry about all of the problems you are having with your garden, but it does make me feel better that I’m not alone when things don’t come up right away sometimes :). We have an unusually large rabbit population this year that has decided to hang out in our back yard and for awhile they were having an all-you-can-eat feast on my plants until we could get chicken wire put up.
This week the most frugal thing I did was to work on our sofa which I am reupholstering with drop cloths. It is a first-time project, and while there are a few amateur mistakes, for the most part it has not been as hard as I thought it would be and looks decent. The sofa was a hand-me-down from the previous owners and in terrible condition, so at least I knew it couldn’t look worse when I took it apart :). My next project will to be to make Roman shades out of drop cloth fabric. My husband is painting the trim in our house white with some paint we got on sale as well.
I stocked up on some ground beef which was on sale for $1.99/lb for 80/20 this week. I haven’t seen those kinds of prices in awhile! I also decided not to renew our Amazon Prime membership which will save us $100/year and purchased some LED lightbulbs on sale from the Home Depot for $4.97/4 bulbs. We switched over to CFL’s last year and they are still working, but eventually as they burn out I want to have LED’s on hand to replace them with.
This week we:
-Made a pact not to eat out. At all! Nada! We’ll see how we do. We typically eat out when a new homemade meal doesn’t work out, but I know we can do better.
-Mr. Picky Pincher and I made homemade chicken and veggie stock, chocolate cake, minestrone soup, meatloaf, smoothies, ciabatta bread (a pain but what a treat!), and marinara sauce. Phew! It was a heavy cooking weekend but it’ll save us a lot of work in the long run.
-I’m going to start making my own DIY body lotion.
-We made the plunge and created our cheap, homemade laundry soap. We used the Castile soap my sister gave Mr. Picky Pincher for his birthday, so the only cost to us was in Borax and washing soda. Score!
Thanks Laurie and Cindi! The clinic I just started going to has a sliding fee scale, access to free services ( like mammograms), a dental clinic and a prescription program at the local pharmacies.
When I have a tough day at work I just remind myself I get to go home at the end of my day 🙂
This past week had some frugal and not so frugal moments.
Frugal-
~Did some mystery shops to add to DSs college fund. While I was doing one at Rite Aid, I discovered a large portion on the “healthy eating” grocery items had been marked down 50-75% off. Bonne Maman blueberry jam was down to $1.09 and I had my coupons in the car so 50¢ off. Picked up the 3 that were left at 59¢ a jar. I also found spray paint on the clearance rack for $1 when I was doing another shop. This is the Krylon that is normally $4/ can. Now I can finish up some yard projects.
~My MIL cut my hair. I always have it really short for summer so it’s wash and wear!
~Sold a few items on Amazon including an out of print cookbook for $35. I had picked it up at a church sale a few weeks ago for $1.
~Neighbor offered us some nice wood shelving boards that DS will use for his college apartment in the fall. I realized I had no basil seeds so same neighbor gave me some so I didn’t have to buy any.
~Took BIL, who is visiting from NV, out for crab cakes for dinner. Food was really good, service not so. Called the next day and talked to the GM who is sending me a gift card and was glad to hear what had happened.
~DH built a small wood rack from reclaimed and scrap materials to add to our firewood storage. We like to keep the wood up off the ground and under cover so it burns better and creatures are less likely to live in it. Bonus- my yard is a little neater!
~MIL is getting ready to downsize so I came home with 4 packages of new LED Christmas lights, 2 Coleman lanterns, 2 oil lamps and a unopened package of plastic drop cloths.
~Got coupon inserts from a fellow Freecycler and free stamping supplies and stamps from FB yardsale group.
~Found beautiful geranium hanging baskets marked down to $3.50 at the grocery store. They will be repotted into my planters.
Not so frugal-
~Ended up at the urgent care on Friday when my sinus infection progressed to a respiratory infection and my O2 level was down to 90. Lots of meds later and 5 prescriptions, I am on the mend. Discovered my HSA card expired in January and don’t think we got a new one. Paid copays for visit and Rxs and will need to submit for reimbursement.
~Carry out food all weekend as cooking was out of the question since I was so sick. Oh well, that’s why we’re frugal so it’s there when we need it!
It is so nice that you feel appreciated Brandy, I know you must put in many hours here in service to families across the world who benefit.
This week wasn’t so frugal since I am still sick and don’t feel much like cooking. I have been trying to cook simple meals for the children but my husband has had to eat takeout and leftovers some nights. He has been wonderful about helping with the children when he gets home from work so I can go straight to rest. Our garden is doing wonderfully, we have party pan squash, kale, arugula, cucumbers, tomatoes, a few strawberries and some watermelon that will hopefully be ready in a few weeks. We had a lovely Memorial Day with friends, we went on a hike that led to a stream where the children played, then went to a brewery with beautiful gardens. Each family brought a dish and we bought beer from the brewery, none for me although it looked very refreshing. I didn’t shop much at all so at least I was frugal in that respect although I might have missed out on Memorial Day sales. I am hoping that I get my energy back in the next few weeks so I can go back to full force. I’m also wondering if this could be girl since I feel so much different than when I carried the other children. Wouldn’t that be something!
One very frugal thing I forgot to mention was that I did our quarterly exchange of kid and maternity clothes with a close friend. She also has boys and we pass back and forth baby and kid clothes. We have a big bin for each size and we add gifted and thrifted clothes to each bin then send it back when the child has outgrown each size. This works well because our children are all born one year apart from the next and so we are never pregnant at the same time or have a child who is the same size. With the added benefit that we don’t have to store each size. She is the same size I am so we can pass back and forth maternity clothes and also more formal clothes that are harder to find for each occasion. Shopping in someone’s closet is very frugal, free!
Hi, Jen!
We love the Falling Rock!
Brandy, I too agree with all the positive comments made by your readers here. I also appreciate the spirit of civility and co-operation that your inspire.
We have had lots and lots of nice spring rain here so everything is green and lovely and growing. We have harvested asparagus, rhubarb, chives, kale, mint and cilantro. We had leaf lettuce and spinach from the hoop house. All the warmer weather plants are in too, either as seed or as seedlings from the greenhouse. We should have our first strawberries of the season in about 2 weeks.
Finished washing up the last of the winter clothes, making and repairs and packed them away. Vacuumed, washed, shook out various winter runners and rugs and put them away. Washed walls and woodwork in entryways, bathrooms, kitchen and halls.
Baked 2 loaves white bread, one loaf cinnamon raisin bread, 2 pans of sweet rolls. Made buttermilk waffles, bran muffins, corned beef hash and poached eggs, German (hot) potato salad, cucumbers in yogurt salad, veggie pizza-crescent crust, mostaciolli baked with cheese and sauce, garlic bread (from freezer batch), orange-carrot jello, 12 bratwurst (from freezer), date-pecan granola, chocolate chip cookie bars.
I am going to jump on the bandwagon and tell you how much I appreciate you having this forum in your blog. It is comforting to know that other people are in the same or similiar situation as myself, and we all have a place to share ideas. Last week I was able to get 35 gallons of gas for 80¢ a gallon and then from another store 20 gallons for 50¢ a gallon. DH fills up his truck first and then fills up the gas cans. We can then empty the gas cans into my car or if he needs more gas, or the lawn mower. All that gas wont last long. We’ll be needing more next week. Last week there was a cool whip deal and I had coupons for it. I purchased about 50 containers of cool whip for 25¢ each. Its part of a savingstar deal so once they update that, I will get $10 put into my account. I have a friend taking half of the cool whips for her family and she gives me things in return. We had a lot of meatless meals. I made a huge pot of chilli one day and that only lasted 2 days. We are eating out of the pantry and not using cash for food if I can help it. I recycle what I spend by doing the apps. I transferred one of the balances from a credit card to a 1% interest rate one from my credit card. This will free up some cash to be used to pay down other things. I’m on a mission to make whatever money we have last longer.
What we did to save money this week:
I downloaded a copy of a new novel for free with my Amazon Prime membership
Netflix sent us a “We want you back” email with another 30-day free trial, so we accepted the offer and have been binge-watching all our favorite shows. We’ll catch up on them in another two years!
My husband borrowed the neighbor’s lawnmower and edger. We fill up the gas, and he mows the neighbor’s lawn, too, so it’s win-win: We don’t have to buy our own mower, and the neighbor doesn’t have to mow his own lawn!
We attended a free pig roast at a neighborhood bar! We spent a total of $23, but we would have gone out anyway (it was my husband’s birthday), and this way, we got dinner, and made some new friends!
I signed up for a free fix-it clinic at my neighborhood library next weekend to learn how to fix a pants hem that fell out recently (yes, I have somehow gone 46 years without learning to how to hem my own clothes!
I love this weekly inspiration and motivation post!
+ Decided to switch to a cheaper cat litter since the Tidy Cat seems to have changed theirs and it isn’t clumping or keeping the smell down any better than the cheap stuff (and yes, I have tried every single version of their litter and most of the other high end litters 🙁 )
+ I went to the greenhouses with my Mom and sister and stuck to my list and only bought those things I had already researched and were useful, not just pretty. I also decided against purchasing any annuals for my patio pots this year since the Danes think anything in a pot is a toy. I did buy marigolds but those are all for around the veggie garden. I used a 25% off coupon at one garden center to purchase a beautiful hosta to fill in another area on the North side of our house where no sun ever hits.
+ My daughter has helped me tremendously over the last week remove all of the overgrown ground covers that were growing into the brick and aluminum siding and trimmed back all of the overgrown shrubs and dug out another 2 to be relocated. We also removed 2 rather large trees that were too close to the house and rubbing on the edge of the shingles. Things has gotten let go when I injured my back and I am only now catching up on the yard and garden – I almost have the entire veggie garden reclaimed from the grass!
+ I was going past the bread outlet while on my way to the greenhouses and I stocked up on the Mediterranean flat bread we love, white sandwich bread my hubby thinks he needs and buns for the next couple months of grilling and brought my Dad a couple sweet treats as well for his coffee breaks.
+ We had several days of 85 degree heat with high humidity and my potatoes shot up and already needed to be hilled and my peas outgrew the short trellis I had started with. I need to replant my green beans though – not a single one sprouted so I dug up a row – something took every bean seed in the box!? The strawberry plants have grown huge but I am pinching off blossoms this year since I just planted them in April. The chickens ate every plant and I had to start over 🙁
+ We bought milk at $1.67 a gallon again (farmers aren’t making anything at those prices but it does help my budget), Cheese for $1 for 8 ounces, Lunch meat for $3 a pound, cereal for .99 cents a box and breakfast sandwiches for .49 cents each (not sure I could make them for that price – I’ll have to figure that out). We splurged on some red peppers since ours won’t be ready for months and I am out of them in the freezer. I also found a frozen 10 pound roll of 80/20 ground beef at the discount grocer for $1.59 a pound – I plan to thaw it and cook it up into meal portions for quick meals.
+ I worked the holiday to get the extra pay even though I didn’t have to.
+ Purchased more puppy food before the sale was done today. It saved us $8. I also purchased the canned cat food on sale which also saved a couple dollars.
+ I repaired the front window cover I had made for our “bus” last year. A couple seams had given way from being stretched too far – hopefully the repair will last.
+ Sold 2 more things on Craigslist which cleared out more “junk” and puts gas in the “bus” for our camping trips.
+ While at my parents, my Dad gave me 4 more tomato cages and a whole pile of the composite (plastic) wood odds and ends he had laying around so now I have enough to finish off my blueberry planter and 2 more raised beds.
I think that’s it – I am exhausted from the holiday weekend and LOTS of barking dogs so I probably forgetting something.
My daughter made these donut holes tonight and they were delicious rolled in sugar and cinnamon. We left out the cloves and allspice and cooked them in cake pop pans we got at the thrift store last year. Our double batch made 5 dozen. Thanks for the great recommendation. That blog had a lot of inspiring from scratch cooking and we found several recipes that we can make from our freezer and pantry over the next few weeks.
I didn’t post last week, so this covers 2 weeks.
Our fridge died. I transferred what I could to the chest freezer and used up bread and rolls over the week. A lot had to be thrown away though from the freezer and almost everything in the fridge.
When the new fridge was delivered, they scratched the side coming through the door. The scratch did show and when we called, they took $180 off the price, so we accepted that and decided to keep the scratched fridge. Then 4 days later, the new fridge wasn’t keeping cold. This time though I was able to transfer the food into a cooler (we hadn’t completely restocked the fridge yet) and they delivered a another one the next day – this time unscratched. So after all that I’m happy to have a not scratched fridge that is still running.
Until we got the new fridge and restocked it, I was able to bring home condiment and jelly packages from work to use until we got the fridge going and restocked.
We had to charge the new fridge because I depleted my emergency fund having to pay for my father’s cremation, legal fees/attorney for probate and making his mortgage payment for 6 months. But we should be closing on the sale of his house next week, so I’ll be able to replace my emergency fund and pay off the new fridge with no interest owed.
I combined errands – I went to DSW and spent my $5 birthday money. I got 2 pairs of nude no-show liners for work and spent $2 OOP. At Publix I got 2 boxes of Salmon burgers for $4.99 total for 2 boxes (usually $6.99 per box!). I stopped at Aldi to pick up some things to keep restocking the fridge/freezer. They had hot dog buns marked down to 29cents so I stocked up on those!
I made lentil sausages for the holiday and put the rest in the freezer.
We spent Memorial weekend putting in a new vanity, medicine cabinet and light in our hall bath. We did the work ourselves. We also put in a new dining room light. When we were at Lowe’s getting plumbing supplies I found a light I loved on clearance for 50% off. We already had the money put aside for the bathroom project since we have been planning it for months.
Have a great week everyone!
Hello Brandi and all from Australia 🙂 , I am a bit late listing last week’s frugal accomplishments.
I hope Brandi that you can save your grapes this year, always sad when you loose produce 🙁 .
Thought I would start on a positive note of our –
Major financial accomplishments –
– This month we have banked 70.27 % of our after tax combined incomes for our pay for our new house with cash fund, even though we pay rent currently.
– Made enough from sales of my handcrafted goods to pay for our telephone and internet bills coming, allowing us to save a further around $80 into our house savings fund for this month.
– Was able to repair a punctured tyre for our ride on with craft money earned as well which helped us save another $22 extra for our house savings.
– Since refining our spending and doing frugal things in the house since January we are saving on average $300 – $400 a month more for our new home.
– DH and I are keeping each other in check on spending asking if we really “need” to purchase something and it appears to be working.
Electricity Frugalities –
– Heated our house for winter with near free to us cut timber & kindling collected by us 5 minutes away from home.
– Started doing all our laundry washing using cold water as we usually pretreat before washing anyway.
– Started cooking all our meals and to be ready before 3 p.m so we are using off peak rather than more expensive on peak electricity costs.
– Was mindful to turn off all appliances at the wall when not in use and when we were outside gardening.
– Turned on the lights slightly later in the evenings and opened up the blinds instead, as it is winter here and is getting dark earlier.
In the kitchen –
– Cooked all our meals from scratch using home storage and garden produce.
– Made all bread from scratch using all purpose flour, we tweaked and experimented with our bread machine recipe as bread flour is 3 times more expensive per kilo to save us more money.
– Started rotating through and using older stocks of commercial muffin mixes in the cupboards purchased on special and once used will move to making my own premixes now the prices have gone up 25% (the packet size has reduced by this and they are selling them at the same cost). With purchasing wholesale bulk items I can make them far cheaper now.
Fuel –
– Topped up our fuel at the low end of the price cycle saving around 0.11c per litre.
– Combined multiple errands together when we went out to save us on fuel costs.
In the garden –
– Mulched and made compost with spent corn and bean & hotshot lilies, excess basil & parsley plants from the garden along with vegetable peelings from the house.
– Weeded around half the house garden beds.
– Harvested capsicums, strawberries, sweet corn, spinach, silverbeet, many pumpkins, cucumbers, snow peas, peas, parsley, Thai basil.
– Blanched and froze excess capsicums, spinach and silverbeet from the gardens as we are getting into frosts so we have a stock on hand just in case, so far so good the plants are not being affected as I planted them in more sheltered areas.
Water preservation –
– Used grey water saved from the washing machine and all our showers to water all the house lawns and ornamental flower gardens.
– Fertilised the whole garden using water from the rain water tanks to save on town water use.
– Missed a few scheduled gardening watering sessions due to some rain falling.
Honestly, there are some weeks that these posts keep me going. Reading what others are doing to save money, how your garden gives you food to feed your family every week…all of it. Thank you so much for keeping it going!
My week was kind of a mixed bag of good and bad, but the garden is doing decently so far (fighting the occasional potato bug and aphid, but so far so good *fingers crossed*) and the good mixed in with the bad makes the good stand out that much more really. At least by Sunday the week was looking better…or my attitude improved. Either way I’ll take it.
My list for the week can be found here…
https://makedohomemaker.blogspot.com/2016/05/frugal-friday-money-saving-weekly-recap_27.html
I’m a part of my county’s medical reserve corps, and I took a Psychological First Aid training online for free. I have to do training at least once every 3 years. My mom brought two huge bags of English muffins, and we used them up by letting the kids make mini pizzas with them. I won a $2500 scholarship for grad school- woot!- and I applied for another one that could be $1500 if I win. I spent several hours in the library on Saturday researching other possible scholarships. We borrowed the Peanuts movie from the library and I used Ebates and a discount code with Paypal funds from selling on Ebay to buy my daughter’s sleeping bag for nothing.
You can also look up needymeds.org to find resources for free or steeply discounted medications.
http://chefowings.blogspot.com/2016/06/frugal-time.html
I should always include , read The Prudent Homemaker web site ;), surfed the recipes, checked out photos of kids, food , garden etc and this past week it would be passed the web site info along to a friend that just had her 7th daughter (yes daughter not child,at least she has plenty of hand me downs) and to my grandson and his lady that are about to have their first.
Years ago we would have major damage due to Japanese Beetles. We purchased a trap, removed the scent packet and hid it beside a rock in the chicken yard. The beetles would then fly into the chicken yard. The chickens would hover around the big rock waiting for a beetle to appear then all pounce at once. Free, cheap entertainment for us. Every year we hope we will have a huge outbreak of beetles again, but alas, they have cleared the area.
I thought of you, Rhonda, when we took the 4H to Ft. Clatsop (Lewis and Clark’s winter quarters on their historic journey) The kids had a blast and many of the did the jr. ranger program, which consisted of a booklet of activities for them to do to win a patch.
Congrats on getting a new van! And the fence!
I agree! I love learning tips from you all! 🙂
School ended last week and we are transitioning into summer schedule. Going to work 90 min early each day has been a challenge but it is saving us so much on child care!
I need to be better at packing lunches, I’ve gown so used to running home over lunch and now do not have the luxury of that. ..
Finally got planted in the garden. 🙂 sold $20 worth of dill plants at work, such afforded me some tomato plants at the farmers market.
Taking advantage of the family dinners at my daughter’s play practice this week. Of course, volunteering too. 🙂
Sending daughter to super sitters class tomorrow, using employee discount.
Camp is next week, volunteering so my daughter goes free and son can go for $30.cub camp was paid for with popcorn sales. 🙂
How do you sell books on amazon? Is it worth it?
What a wonderful idea, Jeannie! We tried traps the usual way, & applied milky spore a couple of times, but this is the best idea yet. Thanks so much for taking the time to share this. Free entertainment and a time saver too. We’ll definitely be trying it.
Brought in several stems of yellow iris that had blown over in the wind & put them into a heavy, sturdy green glass vase. I have tried putting these iris into a bed vase before, & they were too top-heavy for that. Dead-headed both the yellow & the purple iris.
Ate several salads using lettuce & spinach from our garden.
Dehydrated a quart jar & a pint jar full of parsley on two of the cooler days.
Completed another pine cone survey.
Used the last of gift cards from Mother’s Day to buy Lodgestones for the edge of the back perimeter bed when they were on sale for Memorial Day for 84 cents each. I had been paying $1.39 each, but the “regular” price listed in the sale flyer was $1.68 each & they were “half off”. I surmise that after June 1, the price will be $1.68 each, but I bought 48 more stones in 2 trip today. A $6 pine cone survey check arrived on Friday, so I was able to buy 7 more stones. Continues to work on the low wall.
Sent grass clippings home with my youngest daughter for her to use as mulch on her community garden plot. Continued to use more clippings as mulch on the garden tiers & on the perimeter beds.
Saved the glass bottles & metal lids from a 4-pack of Stewart’s key lime soda. After they were washed & dried out, my daughter used the bottles to hold multiple packets of the seeds she intends to plant in her community plot. The plots are at the edge of a huge farmer’s field, & seed packets have a tendency to blow away in the wind there. She plans to carry the seeds out to her plot in the bottles, in the carrier, where she can set it down without it blowing away. This year she is planting mostly carrots & beans, for a canning garden.
Continued to use the glass cloches over the tender plants until Wednesday. The Boston marrow squash has outgrown the largest cloche I have & the other plants are close behind, so as of the end of the week, they are on their own.
Continued to pick up grounds for gardeners whenever I was near the Starbucks.
Mix in some oatmeal or rice while cooking the meat and finely diced carrots, and it will be closer to what wet dog food is, also will stretch the meat even further, while still being an excellent wet treat for Tino.
Ashlee,
I couldn’t agree more! This blog is my favorite and I NEVER get tired of reading it and looking around on here. It’s such a great community of like-minded people and I find weekly encouragement here too! 🙂
Robbie, I’m not quite sure what you mean about how do I sell books on Amazon. Please realize that most books are worth nothing and it takes time, patience, research and a bit of luck to find the books that are worth reselling. I have been doing it for 4 years and I have developed my knowledge on certain niche subjects so I look for books on those subjects. Also realize that storing books takes quite a bit of space.
It is worth it to me as I can make some money at it and I don’t have a lot of capital at risk. I think each person has to answer for themselves whether or not it is worth it. I hope that helps!
Ashlee, prayers for a speedy recovery! Wish I knew how to knit, would love to be able to make such thoughtful and loving gifts. Smart girl for preparing your meals in advance Having just finished physical therapy for should surgery I can appreciate the effort spent on keeping movement. Don’t give up, keep the can-do spirit of this blog and know that I am thinking of, and praying for, you.
Ok, my shoulder works but my fingers don’t!! LOL
Congratulations on the scholarship! That’s awesome!
Jen, that’s wonderful! That is really frugal!! Good luck on the second scholarship.