Friday’s Frugal Five

This week was “stay out of the stores” week and I’m happy to say that I’ve been rather successful too.

Well, I did have to stop and pick up a few canning jars, but that’s it.

I realized that each day either on my way to work or on my way home the thought of stopping at the store just somehow instantly popped in my mind.

Just like hey it’s 12:00 time to eat lunch, or hey it’s bedtime time to brush my teeth, hey I’m in the car lets stop at the store….

What is that!!!

What I know about myself is that if I don’t make a conscious effort to stay out of the stores then my subconscious will come up with something that I need and I’ll be at the stores every day.

So this weeks frugal five is more about the things I didn’t do instead of the things I did do.

Not one morning did I stop at the stores on the way to work to pick up something I thought I might need.
Only one evening did I stop at a store to pick up canning jars, but bought nothing else that I thought I might need.
I did not carry my credit card with me all week, purposefully.
I did not spend any of the cash in my wallet and used a store credit to purchase the canning jars I picked up.
I did not buy breakfast, lunch or dinner out all week.

I did however “put up” (canning) 16 jars of salsa, 7 jars of tomato juice, 5 jars of sweet relish, 16 jars of (my version) salsa verde, we packed our lunches, dried our clothes on the clothes line (in between storms), added money to the pickle jar and are still breathing fresh air and loving it.

Salsa Verde 2

What frugal fun have you had this week?

Till next time,

Lori

Friday’s Frugal Five

I’ve mentioned before that I wouldn’t really consider us “preppers” as much as I like to consider us as just being prepared. Because of our homestead lifestyle and growing a lot of our own foods, having a stock pile tends to come with the territory. I also try to shop in bulk to take advantage of better pricing which segways us into this weeks frugal five.

Kroger had an awesome buy 5 deal on several items this past week. Peanut butter being one of them, so I stocked up on 10 jars for .99¢ each. (Goes great with the grape jelly I made) 🙂
Kroger also had Dave’s Killer Bread in the buy 5 deal so I bought 10 loaves (for the freezer) at $3.19 a loaf. I know this is still expensive for a loaf of bread, but we love this bread and consider it worth the price for Organic.
A little while back I made some blackberry jam, but didn’t remove the seeds and while it had a great flavor, we just couldn’t tolerate the seeds. Since I was in jelly making mode this week I opened all the jars, strained the seeds, ran it through my food mill, cooked it down with another box of pectin and re-canned it. I certainly wasn’t going to waste it, so now we have some seedless blackberry jam we can enjoy.
I have a bit of a confession to make. I love cherry season and when they are plentiful in the grocery stores I can’t resist. I buy them every week, and it can get a little expensive. Monday I bought a big bag of cherries for the week and they looked good when I got them, but then by the next day they had gotten all soft and shriveled and did not taste good at all. I called the grocery store and she told me to bring my receipt in and they would either give me more cherries or refund my money.
Similar to number 4, this week when I purchased avocados, they looked perfect, not too soft and no bad spots, but when I sliced them open every one of them were at least 50% black inside. Again the nice woman at the grocery store told me to bring my receipt and they would replace them or refund my money.
Bonus – We had a rep visit us at work yesterday and brought in a huge box of Panera bagels that apparently no one wanted so I brought them home. I know some people may snicker at this, but seriously why waste food? Why? The Z Man and I will enjoy them. I can see some bacon, egg and tomato breakfast bagels in our future this weekend and probably toasted bagels with butter and grape jelly 😉

Including our daily frugals of drying clothes on the clothes line, packing lunches for work and still adding my quit smoking money to the pickle jar and breathing fresh air.

How about you, what frugal fun have you had this week?

Till next time,

Lori

Friday’s Frugal Five

Last week I hit a deer and the insurance company totaled my car. While the damage wasn’t extensive, the repair cost exceeded the value of the car, well the value of the car to them (not me).

We are buying the car back and the Z Man will make the repairs and we’ll bank the balance of the pay off. How is this frugal?

Not using the money from the insurance company to buy a new (to me) car.
Buying the car back from the insurance company because we have taken care of the car and know it’s a good car and has more life left in it.
The Z Man will find the replacement parts at a salvage yard, saving a lot of money instead of buying new parts.
I will get a rental car (provided by the insurance company) to drive for 10 days while the Z Man fixes my car, instead of driving our truck that doesn’t get the best gas mileage.
Realizing how fortunate I am to have a husband that is more frugal than I am and is also a Mr. Fix It.
Also realizing that I am much more fortunate than the deer. 😦
Dinners cooked at home, laundry dried on the clothes line, money in the pickle jar and still breathing fresh air (quit smoking).

The things I like about my car are:

It’s paid for
It gets great gas mileage
It’s paid for
Insurance is reasonable on it
It’s paid for
Personal property taxes are low on it
And, it’s paid for

I really don’t want a car payment ever again. A car for me (now) is to get from point A to point B safely and as economically as possible.

What about you, what frugal fun have you had this week?

Till next time,

Lori

Friday’s Frugal Five and One Frugal Fail

I’m going to start with the frugal fail.

I made the worst meal of all time this week. It was so bad that even the Z Man who is a Saint said “Baby, you don’t need to write this one down” (sometimes if we have really enjoyed a meal, I’ll make notes about it in a recipe journal I keep)

The concept of the meal worked in my mind, but the follow through and end result was so bad, so so so bad that I threw the whole meal out and didn’t even try to repurpose it.

In my electric pressure cooker I put brown basmati rice, diced onion, diced carrot and water. Then I put the steaming rack in the pot and put cod filets on it. I pressed the button for rice and let her rip.

What I ended up with was one large glob of overcooked rice and cod filets that were so over cooked they resembled a dried up old sponge. It was awful. FRUGAL FAIL! (well the chickens got the rice)

Friday’s Frugal Five:

Earlier this week we saved $17.00 on each apple and pear tree we bought for our little homestead orchard, paying only $7.69 for each tree.
I returned some clothes that one of my other personalities purchased on an impulse and they were not at all my style. I don’t know why she does that sometimes!
I colored my own hair, which is not unusual… the unusual part is that I foiled my own hair and put darker undertones in it. Foiling your own hair is NOT easy. The products cost me about $5 saving me $115 of what it was going to cost at the salon. No, it doesn’t look as good as it would have had it been done professionally, but the Z Man likes it so I’m ok with it too.
I spent $27.44 at the grocery store this week which brings my total for the month for groceries to $66.45.
Laundry was dried on the clothes line, no meals were eaten out or carried out, lunches were from leftovers or salad in a jar, bills are paid, still adding to the pickle jar and still breathing fresh air and loving it.

How about you, what frugal fun have you had this week?

Till Next Time,

Lori