Monday Frugal Update
Wow! Glad to be talking to y’all again! The craziness in my life has come to a temporary halt. Graduation is over with and softball/baseball games have not begun except for practices. I have some posts written for here already and plenty more ideas!
After remodeling two rooms and graduation, I feel poor so the frugalness has been pouring out of me! Beyond that, I have been feeling a bit lazy so I have been finding solutions at home so I don’t have to go to the store. Sometimes I think being frugal is from being lazy and sometimes I think it is because I am being smart about my resources. Let me know what you think!
So for this week in frugalness, I have been doing these things!
1. I ran out of dishwasher detergent. I realize I could (or the kids could) wash dishes by hand, the dishwasher saves a lot of time, hassle, and arguments. So I found a great recipe from One Good Thing by Jillee that has been working great. I still wish I could use powder detergent, but this dishwasher doesn’t seem to care for it. I omitted the vinegar and only use that in the rinse compartment. The vinegar with the Dr. Bronner’s castile soap seems to create a clumping effect that I do not like.
2. Some of you may saw where I posted a recipe for Homemade Gatorade on Facebook. Paige and I tackled that on Saturday and loved it! I was definitely looking for a way to reduce the costs of buying Gatorade and this is it. Paige loved the taste of it and thought the reaction of the lemon juice and baking soda was too cool!
3. After squeezing 8 lemons for the Homemade Gatorade, we used the peels to make Lemon Vinegar. Very, very simple and the cleaning power of this is fantastic. I love that this is a no-waste cleaner, but waiting two weeks for it to come together is torture!
4. I also took a stab at drying blueberries. This will become a blog post! I also made banana chips for the kids to snack on this summer. I plan on drying apples this week to also have for snacks.
5. I bought some new summer tops and a skirt at the thrift store this week. I needed some cooler feeling tops and I think these will fit the bill. I only spent $18 for five shirts and one skirt. Not bad!
6. We ate at a lot of graduation parties the last two weekends. We enjoyed some wonderful food and felt like we were eating out!
7. I have been staying away from buying breakfast or lunch for the last two weeks. I would sometimes stop once or twice a week as a treat for myself, but those costs are starting to chip into my budget especially with $3.94 a gallon gas. I have cut those out and will be continuing to do so in the future.
8. I downloaded a few books for free on my Kindle. There are so many great books out there for free that are worth your time and effort to find them.
9. I also have been looking at repurposing items a little more. I have been washing out and reusing resealable bags that had not contained raw meat. Considering what “good” resealable bags costs, this is a small way that could add up to bigger savings!
10. I made a batch of granola last weekend. This time I opted for the cranberry and almond soaked granola which we love.
11. We have also cut out meat a little more in our diets. Ground beef is very expensive right now so I have been looking at alternatives like ground turkey or finding meals with no meat. We have also been eating more eggs since I have found some decent sales on eggs.
12. I purchased a half of hog from a local farmer. The cost of the half of hog was $65 and processing was $69. I got 102 pounds of meat for $1.311 a pound. Much cheaper than grocery stores and I get ground pork, pork sausage, bacon, ham steaks, pork chops, pork roasts, and spare ribs. Yummy!
13. I have signed up for several free items this last week. Besides getting great things in the mail, this is a great way to stretch what you have and try new things.
We have been trying to be frugal and I hope this list helps you in some way to be more frugal. If you think a solution does not exist, do some research!
Thanks for reading! Have a great day!
Erica