Monday, October 20, 2014

Frugal Accomplishments This Week

It's that time again, that time where I share just how frugal (or not) I was in a week. Fortunately this past week as a good one, and I have a decent amount of frugal things I did to share with y'all.

 photo fatw_zpsab97fa7b.png

Here's what I did this week to save money, divided by category:


 photo IMG_1841Medium_zps147db0ef.jpgFrugal In the Kitchen:
Made From Scratch:
Made homemade kombucha
Made homemade iced tea
Ground gluten free flour
Made gluten free bread
Made homemade jello, and when that didn't work out amazingly, fixed it and made a second batch
Made homemade gluten free marble cake
Made strawberry sour gummy candies from scratch
Made gluten free chocolate cake
Made homemade chocolates
Made homemade Italian dressing
Made pickled green tomatoes

Revamped Leftovers:
Made chicken scrap soup
 photo IMG_1838Medium_zps0805be34.jpgUsed the meat from a chicken carcass that I'd made into soup, as the protein for a meal
Made veggie scrap broth, then used that together with free zucchini, home rendered chicken fat, not so greatly textured noodles, and frozen hamburger crumbles to make soup.
Bibimbap leftovers that I'd frozen became fried rice

Frugal Dishes:
Joined a communal BBQ, and brought along chicken breast, which I stretched by making shish kebabs with that and other veggies I got free
Made chicken piccata with foraged capers

Homemade Health Products
Made homemade ginger pills
Made olive leaf and rosemary teas for medicinal purposes

 photo picked_zps2bdf87bc.jpg Frugal Clothes
Took in the waist and hemmed two pairs of pants for my sons
Ordered rain boots from nextdirect.com- free shipping and cheaper than buying locally

Frugal Fun Things
Went on a trip to a nearby spring- free- and had a picnic there

Foraging and Other Free Food
Foraged mallow and wild mustard
Picked tomatoes, hot peppers, cucumbers, basil, and pumpkin blossoms from my friend's yard
Foraged olive leaves and rosemary

Frugal DIY
Fixed our broken freezer

What did you do to save money this week?

3 comments:

  1. Did not buy a TV, did not buy nightstands (we have all these great boxes from the move),. Not having TV means we save almost $100/mo on our monthly (MONTHLY!!) bill. Now I know what everyone in Scottsdale spends money on.

    Got a rent discount because my husband is an electrician and the wiring here needs work. As does the plumbing.

    Okay, so we spent some of that savings on a bed and bookcases from IKEA. (can't put up wall shelves in a rental.)

    Cats entertained by the masses of birds outside. I swear, it's like a Hitchcock film.

    As soon as I find my molds, I'm trying the gummy candies, there's all this free citrus b/c the trees are overburdened with fruit. And once I get some Mason jars (garage sales here every week) I'm making marmalade!

    ReplyDelete
  2. wow, you fixed your broken freezer! That is a major accomplishment. A freezer is pretty essential when preparing food for a family. :) To save money this week, I "salvaged" some leftover rice from the fridge along with some leftover homemade chicken soup, mixed it all together, and ate it for two meals for myself. And when making some homemade chili recently, I used up some potato peels in it--I had bought organic potatoes and made some mashed potatoes. Our family doesn't like the peels on the potatoes when they are mashed. So I saved the skins (since they have more nutrients AND they were organically grown) and pureed them with some tomatoes to go in the chili. Also, I just made some homemade deodorant with ingredients already in the kitchen. I have been working out with a ten-week workout plan found on Pinterest. I just saw you are planning a lifestyle including more workouts, and I have found Pinterest to be a great source for workouts. No need to pay for a gym. :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Wonderful list! May I ask what you do with the olive leaves? I have an olive tree on my property. :-)

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for leaving a comment on your blog. Comments are moderated- please be patient to allow time for them to go through. Opposing opinions are permitted, discussion and disagreements are encouraged, but nasty comments for the sole purpose of being nasty without constructive criticisms will be deleted.
Just a note- I take my privacy seriously, and comments giving away my location or religion are automatically deleted too.