Saturday, July 13, 2013

Monday through Saturday Frugality

I tried to keep better track of how I spend my days so I could share it with you. I jotted things down as I was working. Frankly, I didn't have enough room to write down everything but here are the highlights.

Monday: I've lost some weight and my pants are too big so I ran a seam down the outside  of each leg to make them smaller. I also took in the seams on 6 blouses and mended some underwear. I cooked up several different vegetables from my garden so all I have to do is reheat for dinner. I find the more I can cook ahead the less temptation there is to eat out. I have a lot more energy in the morning than I do at 4pm.  *smile*  I saved egg shells to make another batch of fertilizer for the garden. Baked my son's birthday cake in the early morning so that I wouldn't heat up the house.

Tuesday:  I worked 3 hours in the morning at Miss Alice's so I don't do as much at home on Tuesday's to save money. I saved the rinse water from my dishes and threw it on my plants..... I'm trying to use up food that has been buried in my freezer. I found a bag of fish stick so we had them for dinner along with a cucumber, tomato and red onion salad with Italian dressing. Looked up on the internet how to freeze okra. I'll be doing that one day this week.





Wednesday: I hung a load of wash on the clothes line .... used the rinse water from the washing machine to water some plants .... cooked vegetables for dinner in my solar cooker which saved electricity and didn't heat up my kitchen . I made 2 batches of homemade snow cone syrup instead of buying it for the grandkiddos.


Snow Cone Syrup

2 cups of sugar
1 cup of water
1 package of Kool-Aid

Heat sugar and water until it comes to a 
full boil. Remove from heat and add Kool-Aid.
 Cool. Refrigerate up to 1 month.

Thursday:  Stained a 'free' outdoor bench with some dark stain. The wood was weather worn. After applying a dark stain it looks brand new. I covered the bench this past winter with a large sheet of heavy plastic to shield if from the weather. Taking care of what I own helps things last longer which saves me money in the long run. Hung clothes on the line. Saved a bread wrapper and cake mix plastic pouch to re-use. Picked enough okra to freeze so I baked it for 10 minutes at 350, cooled and then put in the freezer.  I made homemade spaghetti sauce from tomatoes I grew and put it over spaghetti squash (also grown in my garden) for dinner.


                                         My 'outdoor kitchen' in my garage. It helps keep my
                                          kitchen and house cooler.


Friday: My son and daughter in love brought over 4 buckets of free horse manure for the garden.  Made a yummy salad from our garden veggies of sliced thin zucchini, red onion and tomatoes with zesty Italian dressing. Chopped Hungarian peppers from my garden and froze them.

Saturday: I made homemade spelt flour tortillas for breakfast burritos. Cut my husband's hair. Washed my car at home using 1 bucket for soapy water and 1 bucket for the rinse water. Picked strawberries from my garden and froze them for smoothies. Hung out a load of laundry on the clothes line.

Sunday: Church and then home for a day of rest. :-)

How did your week go? What did you do this week?

Whoever loves money never has enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with his income. Eccl. 5:10 NIV

Remember the poor....

6 comments:

  1. Wait! Sunday is not over! You mean last Sunday?

    I gave money to a woman who begged of me in the hospital parking lot when I was visiting my husband in the hospital. After he was released, I spent more time with him because I learned he needs that. Some of my projects can wait.

    A friend now mows our lawn and so we do not have to do that. We had him to lunch when he finished yesterday.

    I changed our shower so that we only sit down now because as seniors we have both fallen recently.

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  2. One of my favorite topics is the ways to save money. :)

    I have been saving lately by either not buying things or buying them for less.

    I've also gone back to using coupons after about 6 months not using them. I also shop at Aldi for basics each week.

    Another thing I did is make a decision to try to save even more on my personal wardrobe so I can use that money for home decor--which we need here. Yesterday I starched and ironed some of my favorite summer tee shirts and short pants. My shirts are a bit worn so ironing gave them a new half life. Until I can find some nice 'cherry picked' thrift store clothes that will help.

    A project in progress for me is the big screen porch facing our little lake.

    Yesterday I found some nice nature art & a plastic faux wood wall shelf and nice fake floral arrangement--I plan to put those on the walls in the porch. I also got a brand new pretty area rug for half the porch for $29. It really adds something to the space.

    I am making some decor items myself but it was nice to find some at thrift store prices that were perfect for what i needed.
    screws.

    Another free homemade piece of decor is a big interesting piece of driftwood. Yesterday I painted that big chunk with a light coat of aqua floral spray and it looks really nice in the porch.

    My porch project is going really well, Hubby will be home the weekend coming up so I wanted to surprise him with making that area prettier.

    Just some of what I've been up to. :)

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  3. I love your frugal living tips. We always had to live frugally and, honestly, I think it made life easier for our kids when they had all fledged.

    Thanks for the snow cone syrup recipe. I can use that! It's getting hot here!

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  4. Hi Georgene,
    As always, thank you for sharing the way you saved. It's food for thought. I canned 24 quarts of dill pickles and froze some fresh green beans. I cut up some old papers that I generally would have thrown away, to use for scratch paper (keeps me from buying those expensive post-it notes, which I love!) Still eating out of the pantry & freezer, so saved money by only spending $30 on groceries this week (bread, milk, fresh fruit, toilet paper, and a few sale items), started a half-gallon batch of homemade vanilla ... I do a good bit of baking and use lots of vanilla so decided to try to make my own. Made my own lip balm instead of buying. Received some free daylilies. My husband & I took our son to the movies on Friday(a rare treat) and went to the early showing so we could get the cheaper price. Have a great week!

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  5. You totally wore me out by reading all that you've accomplished!!!

    You're always an inspiration to me!!

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  6. So many things I love in this post. First, the verse from Ecclesiastes, a favorite of mine. Next, your garden looks wonderful! I am not a gardener. And I love that you baked your son a birthday cake. I ordered one for my son, not very frugal at all!! Every time I think I'm there, I do something like that.

    So much rain here that I have not been hanging out clothes. Today is sunny, but the laundry is all caught up! Going grocery shopping today. Going to do my best to stick to the list, and only buy any meat if it is less than $2 a lb.

    I've been hitting thrift shops when I can, but not much luck finding any clothes in my size. Went to Ross yesterday and found a dress suitable for church for $16.99. The retail tag said $79, but I had not heard of this brand. Seems to be a good quality dress. I had lost some weight and some of my dresses are just too big.

    The recent rains also ruined my dad's garden. I had so looked forward to shelling peas and putting them in the freezer, but no peas! Everything was ruined. We had 17" of rain on July 4th! That was after several days of steady rainfall, so lots of flooding. Our son drove his car into a ditch, and it would have cost $3000.00 in repairs. This car was 10 years old, and my husband did not want to put that much into it, so he sold it to the mechanic. Our son used some of his savings to buy a moped.

    Guess that's about it. Love your blog!

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