Saturday, June 22, 2013

How I saved money this week (June 22, 2013)

Life was very full this week. I'm thankful for health and strength to put in a full day's work. I remember a few months ago when my knee joint was swollen and I could barely walk. I did a lot of sitting. I'm grateful that I can now take care of my home again. There are different seasons in our life.  A time to work and a time to rest. Who knows what tomorrow will bring.

This week I've been working diligently to put up the produce that we are harvesting. My freezer is full so I need to continue pressure canning whatever produce I can. This will help with the limited storage space I have available.



Here are a few things I did to save money in my home this week:

1. I washed my car at home using 2 buckets of water. One bucket with soapy water (car wash liquid purchased several years ago from Walmart. It lasts forever.) and one bucket with warm rinse water. I didn't think it was possible to only use 2 small buckets to wash an entire vehicle .. but it is.

2. I made a batch of homemade dog food and froze it in small containers.

3.  I made 2 batches of homemade spicy tomato sauce and pressure canned 8 pint jars. I also pressure canned my first batch of green beans. I bought a Romano green bean seed and we love it. It's wider than most and has a buttery flavor.

4. I was blessed with free plant stakes, a medium sized flag pole for the garden and a stepping stone from Freecycle.

5. I purchased birthday cards from the dollar store instead of a drug store. They were very nice.

6.  I bought a belt from the thrift store instead of a department store.

7. We're eating the vegetables in season from our yard. I'm buying very few veggies at the grocery store. An occasional avocado or romaine lettuce head but nearly every dinner meal has a salad or multiple vegetables from our yard. I just heard you can put kale in a smoothie so that will be my next attempt. Hubby says 'no thanks'. :-)

8.  Seeds (broccoli, cauliflower, lettuce, pumpkin) have been planted for our fall garden. I was also given some sweet potato seedlings from my daughter in love.

9.  I made another batch of The Duggar's homemade liquid laundry detergent.

10. I'm researching how to harvest stevia and make it into a liquid sweetener. Currently, I am paying nearly $15 for a small bottle. I'm hoping to make my own someday.

There was more but those are the highlights.

What are you doing in your home this week? There is no small task when it's done with love for God.

10 comments:

  1. I am on a tighter budget than usual for a while. This week I challenged myself to try to live on the cash in my wallet for 2 weeks. I'm doing fine--except--I made a mistake and accidentally used my debit card at Walgreen's today. I'll have to deduct some of my cash and put it back.

    I've been thinking about every purchase-and about gas. I live in the country so every day I don't go out is money saved. I've been only putting $5 or $10 in the tank instead of filling it.

    I had $65 in cash when I began and a week is behind me and I think I'll be fine. I did also have some food in my fridge/freezer and cupboards.

    Today I put some time in my garden, doing transplanting of vines either into bigger pots or a spot in the ground. Considering if I want to paint my old trellis blue--I have that color in spray paint. It might look good, just need to think a little on it.

    I can only work outside a little at a time, but I did get most of my vines moved today, and did some fertilizing with fish emulsion, I also put down 2 bags of wood chip mulch. I've got 2 more bags to go, and I need to put up some chicken wire for some of my vines and paint that trellis and then transplant my last 2 potted climbers. Might get this done tomorrow or Monday-- we shall see..

    I did 'splurge' just a little I picked up a few plants at Lowes that were on clearance. I got a healthy orchid that is not in bloom anymore and it came in a nice pretty pot. (I'm a sucker for orchids, and all of mine have been gotten at huge discount) I also got a little spirea shrub on the clearance rack and some moss roses. The shrub I am going to use to make more, maybe by division-but if not perhaps I will mound it and see if new roots happen. I noticed that the big old camellias we cut down from in front of the porch--cuz they blocked the view of the lake and were just too big to transplant. :( Well.. at least one is putting up new growth. I'm not sure if it is below the graft or above it--I'll have to give it a serious look--cuz they were gorgeous plants, I'd enjoy having one that's not quite so huge.

    Learning to propagate plants--is a way I have saved money. I have a friend I see now and then--and she does it too, so we trade. I gave her a baby magnolia tree and some pampas grass a few years back, she furnished my new garden with day lilys, wisteria, canna and some other plants. She and I get together every now and then and go to odd little out of the way places for plants or thrifting. Then we get lunch usually at some discount place she has discovered. She eats out more than I do--so she knows the places.

    I tossed some fruit and coffee grounds into my compost bin, Lots of worms in there--reminds me I still need to make a new worm bin by the time Hubby comes home next weekend. I have some plastic tubs I'm not using anymore so I'm going to stack them and drill some holes and that will be our room bin. :) Now that we are living on water I need some cheaper wrigglers than we can get at the gas station.

    Always thinking of things to do. I love that you clean your own car. I deep vacuumed mine a couple weeks ago and decided my dogs can't ride along with me on errands anymore. I would rather have some spare car seats in the back than doggy hair.

    I got a 2nd hand car seat for Evie--my grand-daughter. Still looking for a deal on one for Jacob her brother. Just seems life would be easier if I could go get them once in a while & return them without hassling with car seats.

    I'll have to try that 2 bucket car wash.. I have a jeep though--so I might need 3. ;)

    Love your Blog!
    Mary

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  2. You've been a busy girl Miss Mary! :-) I agree about the car seats. They are so heavy. Thankfully my DIL puts our youngest grandson's car seat in for me.

    I wish I knew how to propagate plants. I think that is such a neat thing to know.

    I like your challenge. It inspired me.

    I still remember all your frugal ways quite a few years back. You were amazing!

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  3. I have been following your site for about a year now and really enjoy it. My DH is isabled due to a back injury also. We downsized into a 700 sq foot house 4 years ago and our debt-free except our mortgage using the Dave Ramsey baby steps. This week we ate meatballs from my double batch I froze last week. Also had some "breakfast" suppers. They seem less expensive to fix.

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    1. It's so nice to hear from you Deb. Interesting how our paths have some similarities. Debt is devastating to living on a disability income. Glad to hear you are debt free. I love meatballs. :-)

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  4. I enjoyed reading your list of conservation this week. It's always inspiring, I just may try that two bucket car wash. Will be interested to hear what you learn about the stevia.

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  5. I am applying to put three credit card balances together with 0% for 11 months and paying a lot on the one combined card to knock down debts. Two other cards (Firestone and Home Depot) are less and I am just paying them off.

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  6. I you put kale in a smoothie - add peanut butter - covers the taste and makes it taste like dessert!!

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    1. I LOVE peanut butter and rarely keep it in the house these days because I LOVE PEANUT BUTTER! :-) What else would you put in the smoothie?

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  7. We too are starting to eat some of the bounty out of garden, at the moment mostly swiss chard, although the kale, onions, and peas are about ready.
    I always buy cards at the dollar store for a $1 or sometimes 2 for a $1. Cards run between $3 - $5 a piece anywhere else - which is just CRAZY!
    I have made our laundry soap for three years now, just think in all that time I have not purchased detergent!! I spend about $16/YEAR on the homemade stuff, isn't that cool? And we save buy using a wash line, outside in summer, in the basement in winter.
    We had a huge bounty of strawberries this year, we have 40lbs in the freezer, and 24 pints of jam, and the rest we enjoyed fresh - the only cost was my time and some fruit pectin.
    We have been blessed with well timed rain so we have not had to water our gardens at all this year.
    Life is good and the Lord blesses us so and I never cease to be amazed.

    Peace and Grace,

    Bean



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  8. Lately our weeks have not felt frugal at all. My husband and I have both needed dental work over the past few months, and even with insurance the cost has been huge! Buy I need one more crown, and I hope we are done.

    Last week I walked through Target because I had a few minutes to kill before picking up grandkids from vacation Bible school. I found a Star Wars t-shirt on clearance for $2.70 in the boys. dept. Perfect for our grandson turning 8 in August, along with some books I will be looking for at thrift shops and the clearance section at Books-A Million.

    Kept our two grandkids that live here for the weekend while their parents went out of town. On Saturday we swam at my sisters pool. Took sandwiches, snacks, and a pitcher of lemonade, so a day of free fun! Also had breakfast dinners while they were here, which they love. And yes, Deb, so inexpensive to make.

    I found a blouse and two sweaters for my daughter for .25 each at a thrift shop, also a khaki skirt for my granddaughter to wear to school next year for $1.00.

    We watch Netflix as our main source of entertainment. Only $8.00 a month. We do not have cable t.v., a savings of $20 or much more per month.

    Bought $100.00 in groceries on June 16th. still eating that along with meat that was already in our freezer. Have only picked up a few things since that stock up trip.

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