Monday, May 11, 2015

Frugal Accomplishments This Week

I have to say I'm really proud of myself. I have been so behind on laundry for so long that I've been reluctant to do anything that might increase the amount of laundry in my house. So its been a given that cloth diapering was out of the question- not a single cloth diaper was used in my house in at least 2 or 3 months...
Well, I finally am sort of caught up on laundry. Actually, not really. But I'm not so insanely far behind either that the thought of making additional laundry didn't freak me out.
So that, combined with the fact that I used up one package of disposable diapers, meant that I actually started using cloth diapers again.
This week, I'd say somewhere between 1/3 and half the diapers used in my house were cloth.
So yes, as I said, I'm proud of myself.
Another thing that I'm feeling good about is my getting cheap produce and foraging. The past little while I haven't bothered going to the farmer's market or foraging- I just was buying pretty overpriced produce from the local stores- I tried to get the cheaper stuff there, but didn't exactly go out of my way to try to get cheaper stuff. And therefore I paid way too high prices for produce...
But this week I went to the farmer's market and I foraged greens, so we actually had a large variety of produce that didn't cost a fortune this week. Which means we ate more healthily than we have in the past little bit (because when produce costs so much I don't buy so much, and what I do buy I use sparingly)...


So anyhow, other than what I already mentioned, this is what we did in our house to save money this past week:


Frugal Shopping
Ordered my boys some nice summer pants from NextDirect.com as well as a summer dress for Anneliese.
Ordered cheap sunglasses for my boys from ebay.
I stocked up on grade b produce from the farmer's market- apples, bananas, melons, pears, peaches- for super cheap (30-40 cents a pound).

Frugal Fun
Had a playdate with a homeschooling friend at a nearby massive park, after which we went to the bird observatory- both free.
The kids saw a free kid's show, and got 2 kids books and a CD from the show as well.
My mom took my kids to the science museum, which was having a free admission day
Mike and I went on a date, using my mom as a babysitter, and using birthday money given for that purpose, so the date cost nothing out of pocket.

Foraging
Foraged lambsquarters and eryngo.
Foraged olive leaves, rosemary, and lavender for tea.

Frugal in the Kitchen
Made lentil and pea curry for supper.
Cooked up a stir fry with lambsquarters for supper.
Cooked up some buckwheat in leftover chicken soup.
I blanched and froze fresh cheap green beans, bought in season, instead of buying the more expensive frozen stuff.
Made shakes for breakfast with lambsquarters and grade b produce for breakfast instead of cereal.
The kids made homemade salad dressing.
Turned leftover stale cornbread into pancakes.
Made homemade sweet chili sauce.
Kids made homemade powdered sugar.
Kids made homemade meringues.
Made homemade larabar type bars, using green buckwheat and pumpkin seeds instead of nuts or seeds, to keep down the cost.
I used leftover rice to make a casserole.
Made kombucha.
Used leftover quinoa from the freezer and leftover potatoes to make soup.


Frugal Medicine
Treated sore throats with olive leaf, rosemary, and lavender tea.
Treated pinworms with pumpkin seed based larabars and pumpkin seed smoothies.
Used kefir to treat a fungal infection.

So, what did you do to save money this week? Anything you're particularly proud of?

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