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| Elsa is wearing the jumper I bought last week at the garage sale for .50. She was very excited to see that it has images of the Eiffel Tower on it. She is also wearing the Eiffel Tower necklace that Winter made for her. |
I sewed grosgrain ribbon to the sweater that I bought for Winter at the thrift store.
I made a pair of pajama pants for Ivory from the sheet that I bought at the garage sale last week.
I fixed the elastic in one of the skirts that I bought at the thrift store for Winter so that it fits her now.
I shortened the sleeves on a long-sleeved blouse (that I bought for myself a couple of years ago at the thrift store) to make it into a 3/4 sleeved blouse. I don’t really need long-sleeved blouses here.
I sewed the velcro back onto the leather strap on Wren’s Mary Janes.
My husband was given a hand-me-down jacket.
The children had fun outside playing badminton in the garden with a badminton set I purchased at a garage sale (Elsa, my 3-year-old, said she wanted to play “Batman” too. Considering my children don’t know who Batman is, this was even funnier!)
I made French Bread, ranch dressing, and crepes.
I used the whey leftover from making Greek-style yogurt in ranch dressing (I mixed it with powdered milk to replace the milk) and I used it with powdered milk in a batch of crepes for the milk.
I received a free lamp base (no shade) from someone who offered it to me.
Another gardener gave me a quart of snow peas from her garden because she was going out of town.
I taught Winter how to make granola. She made a double batch of cranberry almond granola.
I gave both Winter and Ezrom a haircut this week (Winter’s “trim” was about 4 1/2″ long).
I harvested lettuce, strawberries, green onions, parsley, and cilantro from the garden this week. We had salad five days this week and I picked lettuce for our sandwiches on another day. I also gave away lettuce to two families.
I dug and transplanted nasturtium plants that had self-seeded in the garden to the pots on my patio.
I cut flowers from the garden and put them on my table.
I cut more flowers and put them in a jar in my bathroom.
I cut branches from a tree and put them in a vase on the piano.
We played Simon Says one night.
I watched a couple of shows for free on Hulu.
I made a batch of homemade hair detangler.
I had an at-home date with my husband.
We celebrated two birthdays this week in my family (Ivory’s and mine) at home, using things that we had on hand. Winter even hung up the pink banner that I made for Liberty’s birthday several years ago (pictured here along with my tips for frugal birthdays).
What have you done to save money this week and enjoy life?
I used outgrown clothing and thrift-store scraps to make new clothes for daughter’s dolls. http://deweystreehouse.blogspot.ca/2013/04/frugal-doll-fashion-runway-spring-2013.html
Great job!
Happy birthday to you and Elsa!
I cut 5 heads of hair Saturday. Whew! This morning we enjoyed scrambled eggs with cilantro, onion and squash blossoms, courtesy our chickens and garden. I am very excited to see your front yard remodel. I have a half wall in front of my house which allows for a lovely private porch and planting area. There is also a planter attached where I have dwarf trees. I would be happy to send pictures.
Happy Birthday!
I can’t wait to see it either! The HOA folks haven’t read their emails yet 🙁 The plan WAS to have it done by my birthday. It’s getting quite hot and I want to get it done ASAP so that the plants will survive, and also so it won’t be miserable to work out there while I’m putting it in. Thankfully the vinca and zinnia seeds germinate well at higher temperatures.
Thank you for telling us about cutting open Ziplocs that have sprung a leak and then using them to wrap meat and so on. I use m y bags until they leak, but never ever thought about extending holey ones by using them like you do. What a wonderful, wonderful idea! I am going to start that immediately.
This week has been quite productive and physically tiring…1/Did a lot of spring cleaning at least my car and garage is clean enough, used my tea tree oil cleaner and dish washing liquid to clean the windows in the garage as well. Only expense was to get a small bottle of peppermint essential oil to keep the bugs and mice away. We still have some work on the storm door for our front entrance left to do though I was able to replace the rusty handle with a brand new white one.The other parts of the door seems to be literally glued tight to the doors and therefore hard to remove.2/ I did put in a work order for our little broken attic window that to our property association manager.Hope he gets it done and the sad news is the cracks in our driveway are our responsibility.I will be asking around for stuff to fix them as well the huge crack in out back patio.3/We cooked all our food at home but splurged by going to a nearby Amish market to get their bread for ourselves and a friend.the flavors you cannot beat with their yummy treats(for $13 about) though my husband is confident I could do the same.4/Made a huge batch of “appam” dough made of ground rice and yeast for the week.It turned out ok and a friend also took some for herself and kids. I do not know if its ok to keep using my slightly expired yeast. Does anyone here know?I also made wheat buns from money saving mom…5/ My son was sick again this week so less driving done and therefore we skip the gas station for another couple days.Treating him with OTC meds and lots steam inhalations with eucalyptus essential oil which seems to help his wheezing.6/My onions, broccoli and cabbage and my tomato plants have sprouted a bit in spite of the temperamental weather we are having in NJ and I am quite looking forward to produce. Have not used my free pallets yet for more raised beds for the strawberries and coriander but I should soon.Set up our bird feeders and used our rancid sunflowers seeds as bird food-hope squirrels do not get them first.Also set-up the cheap weather clock I got on the back fence this past week. 7/ I started tearing out a wall paper strip in the bathroom which I dislike a lot. Did not buy anything as I had all I needed for the work on hand.I would love to repaint the half bathroom someday as it does need it and if we do get repainting done along with the rest of the house, at least I would have done some of the work.8/checked out some great research books from the county library on gardening and sewing, one of which Brandi has mentioned here on the site. Love the inspiration.Have a gr8 week-Sheeba
As long as your yeast prrofs, you can still use it. I proof my yeast every time I make bread. Make sure the water is between 105ºF and 110º F. Stir in the yeast; it should bubble up after about 5 minutes. If it does, you’re good to go. I’ve used expired yeast long after the date without problems.
Happy birthday ladies!We had a great week! I took all food and drinks to work. I am proud of this because my coworkers eat out 2 -3 times a week. I don’t know how they can afford this! I used up leftovers for my lunches.I was able to wear my work clothes more than once before washing. I work in an office. I made laundry soap, dish soap, shampoo, conditioner rinse, face cleanser and glue. All with ingredients i had on hand. We started our yard work. My hubby is cutting dead branches and burning them. Our raised garden beds are ready to go. The plants i started indoors are growing very well, broccoli, cauliflower, pinto beans. The tomatoss should come up any day now. I planted sun flowers, pompon poppies, and kiss me nots in the yard. This week we will hopefully plant our veggies outside. It still gets cold at night. My husband found a used little girl’s bike for $2, 2dresses for our toddler and a tea set. He spent $5 total. I am so proud of him!I exercised using free videos from sparkpeople and yard work of course! I drank lots of water. I cut up an old, unused curtain for handkerchiefs.I gave my mom several packs of new razors i wont use.I donated several more bags of stuff to Goodwill.Thanks to every one who posts and Brandy for hosting. Have a great week everybody!
This week makes us debt free for 3 years! We should have celebrated together!!! We do without a lot but we do stay debt free. We our selling our little house and moving on again as it is getting to expensive to stay here as well. I pray things will remain good for our family. We are using second hand boxes to move cutting the cost of the move. Bartering somethings as well and doing a lot of the work ourselves. I went shopping for my birthday over the weekend I got a new pair of jeans for half price and a new pair of socks for $.92 (they were marked $5.99) I paid the .92 after tax so that was nice. Eating the rest of our food so I don’t have any waste. Reusing all the plastic bags and other items I can find for stuffing for moving items. I am certain there were more savings this week but frankly I just can’t remember them at this time.We did a date day at the park with a picnic by the water which was quite lovely.
Great find on the Vera Bradley bag! I love her things, they are so bright and cheerful. I have a cross body mailbag that I LOVE. Enjoy your new bag!
Some tomato plants do well in hanging baskets. Just remember that they need a lot of water–sometimes twice a day!
I’m currently using yeast that expired over a year ago. It has been stored in the refrigerator and is fine.
I never cease to be amazed at your frugality Brandy! Your children are adorable. What leaves me baffled is that one, your house looks spotless. And two you have a WHITE COUCH with 7 children??!!?? I have 7 children ages 9 and under at my house (4 boys,3 girls) a couch that colour wouldn’t last long here. Our couch is charcoal in colour and there is dirty spots all over it despite frantically cleaning it. Keep up the great and inspirational work.
This week has been life changing for us. We bought a piece of land that is off grid with solar energy. That is our biggest money saver for us this week. We also planted 60 starts that are already starting to poke their heads above the soil. It is the first time that I have planted starts. My kids love seeing the plants grow. I hope to get some beds built soon so I can plant them outside. We will be moving to our homestead this weekend. We will also be building our home by ourselves with cash as we go so I hope to be posting a lot of super deals or free stuff we are able to get as we go along. We will have an initial payment on our property and our shelter we are building into, but that is the only things we will have payments on. Super excited about our new adventure and that I can finally plant my own garden and raise our own animals. Oh we got some baby chicks for eggs some day last week.
My Mom is famous for her roasts. She flours the roast on all sides and then browns it really well on all sides on the stove top in a little oil. If you are going to cook it in the crockpot you can transfer it after browning. Then add a couple of cups of water to your browning pan and bring it to a simmer while scraping all of the browned bits loose. You can then pour that water into your crockpot and it will make a delicious roast. After the roast is cooked the broth can be thickened with flour for gravy. I never understand why so many recipes include broth these days. It really ups the cost unless you make your own and most meats just don’t need broth if the meat is well browned to develop flavor.
We managed to eat at home all week and weekend except for Friday. Hubby & I go out on Friday nights as a treat to ourselves. We went to Arby’s and used the coupon “two can dine for $8.99” so it wasn’t too overly expensive :)For snacks last week I made milkshakes, my husband made popcorn in our popcorn maker and my daughter made Cocoa Rice Krispie Treats & regular Rice Krispie Treats.Aldi had 3-packs of Green Peppers for .99¢ each. I bought 4 packs. Saturday night I made stuffed green peppers and had enough for a couple lunches. The rest of the peppers were sliced up and put into the freezer for future meals. They also had strawberries for .99¢. I cut those up and froze them for smoothies and milkshakes. I went to 2 different grocery stores (both only a few minutes from my house) and bought bone-in chicken breasts for .99¢ lb. and large eggs for .99 each. I was able to get free with coupons: (2) Soft soap liquid hand soap, (5) Pampers baby wipes, (2) Colgate toothbrushes and (1) Skintimate shaving cream I received my BzzAgent package for FREE Hillshire Smoked sausage and $1.00 coupons in the mailMy daughter and I de-cluttered the room off of my kitchen (it’s really a small bedroom) but we use it for our spare refrigerator, cabinet we keep our extra food in and a lot of my daughters things she has boxed up along wit Ryan’s toys . We got tired of the “mess” and decided enough was enough! We cleaned and organized that room for almost 3 days! I now have my food corner which consists of the cabinet, refrigerator, shelving units full of laundry products, toilet paper, paper towels and Kleenex. I’m so glad it’s all in one place now and it’s so organized! We also bought a new shelving unit to hold all my small appliances and my grandson’s toys. We also ended up moving my chest freezer inside too and off of the back porch. It’s nice to have everything in one place. I downloaded 4 books to my Kindle from AmazonI submitted a recipe to Pillsbury and a $5.00 e-coupon was loaded onto my Kroger cardI washed and reused storage/freezer bagsWe put over $4.00 into our change jarI mended a shirt and a few pair of my blue jeansMy daughter took our pop cans in that we have been saving since last year and we got a little over $20.00 back. I let her keep half of it for taking them in for me.
So exciting!!
Sorry to be so late posting this week – life has been a little crazy over here! My frugal accomplishments for last week are:Planted 2 Scarlet Spire Colonnade apple trees & a York elderberry bush. Planted the trees behind the short dry stack towers at the entrance to the barked area. The towers had a couple daffodils in front & yellow iris behind them. The iris were from freecycle 2 years ago. I moved two large clumps of yellow iris to make room to plant the trees. Planted the iris in several smaller clusters along the edge of the grass & the barked area in the back yard. Next year, I plan to put 2 more colonnade trees of a different variety extending from the tower on the right at the “entrance” to the barked area, towards the house, creating a living fence there. I store various hardscaping items from freecycle, like cinderblock, patio block, & bricks, on the barked area, & the trees will screen those items from view. The yellow iris will bloom in front of the colonnade trees.Harvested lettuce, chives & green onions from the garden. We have been blessed with rain, so I did not have to water hardly at all this week. Made 8 seed tapes using extra onion seed I had, for a display at a church function. Printed off 10 seed packets from this site, & filled each one with 15 heirloom Waltham Butternut seeds from one of my squash. The seed tapes & the seed packets will be given away at the church function. Took pictures of the lettuce bed, with large, producing heads of lettuce, tiny lettuce sprouts from seeds planted March 16th, & the glass cloches. Combined with some winter pics of the lettuce growing under the cloches, these will also be part of the display. We had several nights with temps of 28 degrees, so the cloches protected my lettuce plants.Used coupons to save $73 on plumbing repairs. Watched “Call the Midwife” on PBS & Cheese Slices on UEN.Two Associated Food stores here are offering a new organic line. I don’t normally use organic, other than what I grow, but the maple syrup on sale for $2 less than the sale price of the brand I usually buy, & there was a $1 off coupon I could use with it. I bought a bottle at Macey’s & a bottle at Fresh Market, using the coupons, & saved $6!! When my husband had to start eating gluten-free, the cinnamon-roll breakfasts for holidays had to go. He doesn’t like fruit syrups, & gluten-free oatmeal waffles, with real maple syrup, has become our new “holiday” breakfast. Picked up several more Fresh Market coupons & was able to stock up at 30% savings.Found & bought 2 small glass cloches (cheese board size) at thrift stores; now I have 8 small cloches & 2 large ones, so there are enough to grow a decent amount of lettuce for 2-3 people. I also found 1/3 cup & ¼ cup Tupperware measuring cups that match the ones I already have, for a quarter for both of them, so now there are measuring scoops in the oatmeal & the cornmeal!Altered a recipe for Lemon Brownies to gluten-free. The first time I substituted Featherlight mix, but the texture was too gooey. The 2nd time, I tried sweet rice flour & they were perfect, & my husband liked them. I also made GF black bean brownies. Added more lemon peels to the cleaning vinegar bottle.
Wonderful! Best of luck to you!
In addition to all the regular things, I changed the water in the our Betta fish’s tank and used it to water the houseplants. I’m working on replacing all the elastic and velcro tabs on some cloth diapers that I was given.
Marivene, I made black bean brownies not long ago but didn’t care for the texture. I do have a great recipe for brownies using chickpeas though and everyone loves them. There’s no weird texture to them-they are very smooth. You can see my recipe on my blog if you’d like:http://lisajoseph.blogspot.com/2012/09/chickpea-brownies.html
Congratulations! One of my dreams is to make our house as “off grid” as possible! That is so exciting!
Lisa, Thanks for the offer, but my black bean recipe is from allrecipes.com & it doesn’t have a weird texture. I read thru all the comments on the brownies first, & some people added 1/2 cup GF flour. I add 1/2 cup sorghum flour when I put all the ingredients in the blender. They turn out wonderful, & our family likes them.