I spent most of last week in the garden, getting it ready for the garden tour that I had on Saturday. I didn’t do a lot of “extra” things last week, but I certainly enjoyed my time outside!
I harvested lettuce, spinach, Swiss chard, parsley and chives from my garden. I also picked a few asparagus stems, a few sugar snap peas, and a couple of strawberries.
I planted zucchini, Armenian cucumber, and foxglove seeds. The cucumber seeds came up in three days!
My husband cut his own hair.
I used coupons to save $42.75 this week on purchases. One of those purchases was on eggs; I bought 14 dozen eggs at $1 a dozen this week, and used egg coupons to save even more on them. (I know some of you are wondering how we can eat so many eggs. It doesn’t take much; if everyone has 2 scrambled eggs for breakfast, we go through 18 right there. I actually don’t make eggs real often, since it is a much more expensive breakfast. I use many eggs in baking during the week. When they are on sale for $1 a dozen, I stock up and then use them over several weeks to make lots of things: meringues, pudding, in muffins, pancakes, crepes, etc.) Eggs (and a tarragon plant from the nursery) were the only food I purchased last week.
I had several at-home dates with my husband.
My husband took the children to the library, where they checked out several books.
I watched several shows for free on Hulu.
I made Greek yogurt, Italian dressing, pasta salad (with a can of olives instead of tomatoes), baked beans, Easter bunnies, French bread, lentil tacos, tomato basil soup, creamy turkey enchiladas, and graham crackers.
What did you do to save money last week?
3/ we also started our seeds and so glad to see my son’s strawberry plants are growing and looking forward to some strawberries this year.4/ will not be buying clothes for my son this summer as we were blessed with some awesome hand me downs from a friend and maybe getting more as the year goes by.this goes also for the oys my son has,we have not bought a thing becos we were given so many and also as for the board games I was able to host a hasbro party earlier this year and got some awesome games from them as well.That is all I can remember…God blessSheeba
Bought an aquaponics system for $100. It included 32 tilapia, three grow beds with the expanded clay and all the pumps and hoses. It will be really hopefully in the summer months.
I bought two round eye roast on manager special (so got them for $1.99lb) Did a google on how to bake them to make them like Deli meat. Made some rolls serving this for dinner tonight as French Dip sandwiches and will have loads leftover for lunches this week. Got some oranges on manager special have been using these and some nuts I got from friends for snack this week for free. Got two boxes of crackers and a can of soup free last week. Getting Meds much cheaper now (thanks ladies for all the ideas!) Used Homemade laundry soap, switched dish washer to light wash. Using it only every other day and washing more by hand got three bottles of free dish soap using coupons. Got some free coffee samples in the mail and two free birthday meal coupons(will be using those this weekend) Got a $9.00 rebate off of one of our bills by calling and asking about a rebate that was due. Got $24.00 off another bill when I questioned charges. It does pay to ask about overcharges and fees and bills. I was also overcharged $14.00 by the bank but not certain I will be able to get that overcharge back.Got free gallon of Milk at the Grocery store and also got a refund for item that was sold after expiration date (they gave me back the amount I paid plus the amount that I paid again so I got paid twice for the item) The clerk said that was the store policy. I never knew this before.Not frugal but we got to see family for Easter! Massive deal as we have not been able to do this for about 8 years. Bought Taco Salad Shells for .29 on manager special will serve these as large salads several evenings this week. Free lettuce for friend these will be very cheap dinners.
How exciting! Did you get them locally or online somewhere?
A guy my husband works with was selling it. He ordered the fish somewhere in Phoenix. He offered it a couple of months back for $500 but we can not afford that much. But he really wanted it out of his yard so offered it a $100.
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That is really cool, Nancy! And what a savings!
Robert…your comments made me feel just wonderful. So excited for the meds price break and for all the cool things that have happened this week for you!
Hi Debbie,My bread machine has a rice cooking setting I just noticed it the other day and I have had the bread machine for more than a year.I am going to google how to cook rice in mine. Maybe yours would cook rice too.Blessings,Patti from San Diego
Well, I hope it’s OK…I have a new list of frugal accomplishments that went up on my blog today, so here’s a link:http://tenthingsfarm.blogspot.com/2013/04/springtime-frugal-accomplishments.htmlWe've started some microgreens, gotten some canned soup free at the store and much, much more. I think I’m most proud of saving the Easter egg dye and letting Daughter use it for watercolor painting! I’d love to have you click over for the complete list. 🙂
I’ve had a busy couple of weeks. We helped some friends move some of their things to their new home, 8 hours away from here. Also, outside work was done, like setting us their barn, and fence repair. About 20 people were involved with that project, so my friend and I cooked a lot, before we went, and while we were there. We were able to serve excellent meals to our families and other helpers that went along, including several young adults, who were very hungry after working so hard. Almost all the ingredients from the many items I took were from my pantry, and my home-canned fruit and beans. We were able to completely avoid the traditional “go get a pizza for the crew” idea.I finished digging all the weeds out between and around my raised beds in the garden, and my daughter and I finished putting free bark chips around them (from the tree trimmer people). I planted peas, cabbage, pea pods, carrots, onion sets, and lettuce. I dug and used leeks that have overwintered.We planted many more starts in our little greenhouse. My husband has been handling the lights and watering them. He transplanted the peppers we started a while back. I used many little bits of flower seeds that were rattling around in my seed box, and most of them came up. Some were probably too old.We had ham from our home-grown pig for Easter. I made soup from the broth and bits. I cooked a turkey yesterday, and put the bones in the crock pot all night. I will clean and seperate that this morning. I froze most of the meat in baggies for later.I have one area of my garage where I keep plastic ice cream pails(left from church events where they served ice cream). They are full of staples like flour, etc. I cleaned that whole area and bleached it all, because we found a lot of mouse droppings. Yuck!!!!! So, my husband has since caught 10!!!! It was not pleasant, but I was extremely glad the important stuff was sealed in those buckets. I would have had to replace it all.I found a ham for 99 cents a pound yesterday. We won’t have enough of our own for a whole year, so I bought it. My husband made reservations for us to stay in a cabin at a camp next weekend. It was free to him, because of his work. I’m going to pack food, so, a fun get-away for very little.I had each daughter choose a recipe to cook this week, with the understanding that it would be a main dish, not dessert. I was willing to buy a couple of things if they needed them, but most were on hand. So, yesterday’s recipe was chicken tortilla soup–yum! Today’s will be some kind of greek pasta. Hopefully, yum again. Good training for their futures.
I felt bad about dumping out all that dye! I wish I had thought of painting! Great idea.
Yay for the free getaway but YIKES for all those mice. I have to be on the lookout constantly for droppings since we live in the woods. Last spring I was going up the stairs for bed one night and thought I saw a large dust bunny on the stairs. It was a baby mouse. There were 9 of them running around like they were crazy and that one had fallen down the stairs. Much chasing and catching later and we had most of them. We had trapped the mama and there was a nest and so they went looking for her. That was a first and one I hope to not repeat. I hope your mice are all gone!
Emilie, what a great idea for the recipes! I have never heard of that but I love the concept.
I had written a note on brandy’s previous post titled “Lovlies” for Easter but I guess most of the people didnt see it. Its going to be a not so frugal month for us as we are planning to shift states. I was wondering if anyone lives in New Jersey (or knows about the areas there) like grove street, journal square and newport. We are going to move but dont have an apartent fixed and would really appreciate any ones views on the living and getting an apartment. I tried online options but the sites have not been updated.Thanks so much
You are welcome.Im glad i could be of some help.
Last wk wasnt as frugal as I would like but I hope to reset this coming wk. *washed baggies.*was able to buy another ham for 78 cents/lb. *continued to workout w my friend and use her membership. *my husband had a coworker offer to make his shadowbox for his retirement! Was very excited about that. *made banana muffins and carrot cake from scratch. *donated some clothes and some canned goods.. Not frugal for me but hopefully will enable someone to buy at good price at goodwill or help w feeding their families at the foodbank. *went to walmart w my workout buddy..convinced her to hem her existing curtains vs buying 2 shorter curtains. Again not frugal for me but hopefully showing my friend ways to save money and use what she has. *selected “light” wash on dishwasher and clothes washer. Saw someone else mention it and it didnt dawn on me to mention it cuz Ive been doing it for so long. Frugal failures:We ate out 3 times last wk. We found out that our rental will need about $500 dollars worth of repairs. Repairs we did not plan adequately for. Threw away kale because I didnt use it before it went bad. Went to make rolls for Easter. Ruined the dough not once but twice! It was 3 rd time that was the charm but it was already monday. So no rolls for Easter dinner.
Taral.. I am not familiar w NJ but i do follow a coupon blogger who lives in NJ. She has helped me save alot since moving from VA to CT 3 yrs ago. Livingrichwithcoupons.comBest of luck to u and ur fam!
I think the handwritten recipes is a great idea, too!
it seems like the areas you listed are all in or around jersey city which can be quite pricey due to the proximity to NYC… any particular reason you are only looking there?
Im going to be starting work first time and for the time being its going to be my daughter and i while hubby will be in california working. So i need close proximity to her school, work etc since i will be travelling to ny. And the reason i chose jersey city is because that is the only place hubby has friends who can help us if anything goes wrong. I will be working in nyc
Thanks you timothy bean
love your blog!Your boys are gorgeous!
taral i live in a great suburb that has a train to the PATH which will get you to NYC… my husband makes the commute every day and it is so easy…apartments are pretty affordable and home prices are still reasonable…also its new jersey! nj is a super small state! jersey city is like 20 minutes away so your friends will be close by! don’t discount the smaller towns! i lived in NYC for a couple of years b/f I had kids and its not very frugal! best of luck to you on your new job and your move…
TaralMy husband works in Newport and knows the area well. He says apartments run around $2300 and up a month. It’s expensive and will be a move if you are coming in from the suburbs. We live near Princeton and rent here for a decent place runs about $ 1500 on average. Hope that helps. My husband commutes everyday which is hectic but he has been doing this for the last ten year now and quite used to it.