Monday, June 9, 2014

Frugal Accomplishments This Week


Hi there! How was your week? We had a decently frugal week, despite having certain occasions that would have been pretty expensive, but even so, we managed to keep the costs down. 
As for the things that are not day specific... Rose is still fully nursing, fully cloth diapered, and Anneliese is still partially diapered, partially potty training. This week I've been pretty good at turning off lights and fans when not in use, and using sunlight when I could as lighting. And we've been on top of laundry so no needing to re-wash a load, and only line dried all the laundry instead of using the dryer.

Here's what I did to save money each day this week:


Sunday-
Mike bought eggs from a cheap person who sells them herself instead of from the grocery store.
Made an iherb order and only paid $9.22 instead of $65.50, including international shipping! because of using reward points!
My small Lock and Lock containers arrived in the mail, so I can now send even more "spilly" type homemade things like homemade yogurt and pudding and dressings for my kids' and husband's lunches.

Monday-
Made homemade vanilla pudding
Made homemade ketchup
Made homemade French dressing
Made homemade almond milk.
Used the almond milk to make a homemade vegan cheese sauce.
Made stuffed baked potatoes with foraged lambsquarters and the vegan cheese sauce.

Tuesday-
Used almond pulp left from the almond milk to make almond pulp biscotti.
Made tahini and date paste "caramels".

Wednesday-
Made a fancy meal cheaply by including leftovers in the menu to stretch out the more expensive dishes.

Thursday-
Made soup from broth made from bones from a deboned chicken and leftover carrot salad and some zucchini that was on its last legs.
Made vegan, gluten free tahini cookies.
Made homemade jello.
Mike fixed a broken food scale.
Made homemade gluten free breadcrumbs from an attempt to make buckwheat rolls that didn't rise so much.
Mike fixed my broken necklace.

Friday-
Stretched the small amount of ground turkey I had to make meatball with homemade bread crumbs and craisins and ground flax seeds.
Made a lentil dish.
Made soup with free leeks that I rescued before it got to the dumpster in the farmer's market and past prime carrots.
Received a bag of chicken skin and chicken fat from a neighbor, to use to make rendered chicken fat and cracklings.

Saturday-
Repurposed sauce from a stir fry to make into a dipping sauce for spring rolls.

What did you do to save money this week?

5 comments:

  1. Are almonds very cheap by you? B/c here nuts are a fortune and almond milk is comparable w/ soy or other non dairy milks?

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    Replies
    1. No, almonds aren't cheap where I live. I happen to have had almonds in my house already that I bought on sale. Usually I use sunflowers to make a milk, which works out cheaper but the taste is different. I can't do soy milk as soy causes me stomach issues, as well as being less healthy. I can't do oat milk and rice milk is void of nutrition and I can't make it at home... So I typically make either sesame milk, sunflower milk, or coconut milk, depending on what I plan on using the milk for... but this time, I made almond milk.

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  2. I made homemade honey mustard salad dressing/dip (I like making our own with raw honey and olive oil instead of what the store-bought brands usually contain, which is soybean oil.) Also homemade yogurt and homemade lotion (a new recipe found on pinterest using coconut oil, olive oil, beeswax and shea butter--all of which I had on hand. Planning to make another container of homemade mascara this week...it's so messy that I have been procrastinating.

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  3. I read your accomplishments every week but have only commented twice. I always comment on The Prudent Homemaker blog though. Last week we:
    -received a ticket free from my employer to get into the local air show for free, saving $30. We did spent $20 altogether at the air show on various things. Still saved a lot of money, though.
    -We ate out once, but ordered cheap menu items and only spent $12 for us and our 3 yr old. We were celebrating and budget a small amount monthly to pay for an occassional "treat".
    -re-seeded parts of my garden with seeds I already had in areas that had not grown yet. I also weeded two raised beds.
    -I didn't make anything but ate all other meals at home and used food from the pantry and freezer. We have and are using leftovers to create new dishes so they don't go to waste.
    -Made chicken broth from saved chicken skin/bones and veggie bits (carrot ends, onion skins/ends, garlic skins and ends, etc.). We use the broth in various different dishes we cook instead of water.
    -drank water and coffee brewed at home.
    -received a large free cat food sample and several magazines
    -I am finally able to "borrow" books from my library onto my kindle fire! I have already finished one and began another one. I also have two more on hold.
    - Stopped by the meat market on the way home from the air show and purchased two months worth of meat for our freezer.
    Have a great week!

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  4. My frugal accomplishment was, in addition to cutting my book buying, to add to my savings account for each dollar I spent on non-essentials. totaled up to about $37 this week.

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