Money Saving Weekly Recap

This blog post was delayed until today due to the fact that my weekend was super busy.  We had OT appointments to get to, Special Olympics swimming program kicking off this last weekend and just tons of stuff to do.  I kept trying to find time to post up a blog post, but there always seemed to be something else to do (I’m sure you all relate), so enjoy two blog posts this week as a result!

So, let’s get to the frugal stuff I did this last week.

1. Combined old and new to make dessert.

I decided to make cobbler for dessert one night, so I pulled out the  home made pear pie filling I had made out of the freezer.  Then, I went to the fridge and pulled out about a 1/2 pint of blackberry pie filling I had left from making a trifle for dessert one night and added that to the fruit mixture.  Gave the cobbler a nice flavor (albeit out the ordinary for something I’d make) and used up some pie filling that would have gone bad otherwise.  Worked well.

2. Paid a bill and didn't forget about it.

I paid our insurance bill online for our policy that only renews once a year and paid it as soon as the bill came through online.  Main way that saved us money was that I got it done and didn’t forget about it, which is always a good feeling.

3. Stretched laundry detergent.

I found some odds and ends of laundry detergent in my laundry room when I was organizing it.  I have been using those up to stretch our other laundry detergent as far as I can (that stuff has gotten expensive!).  I am making sure to rinse the clothes with an extra rinse cycle just to make sure it doesn’t flare up the kid’s eczema, but so far it is working well.

4.  Used things I had to do some organization.

I organized my den freezer.  I found some heavy duty boxes we had fit perfectly into the space and were decently tall boxes at that, so I used those to organize the freezer.  When we get some more I’m going to cut down the boxes height for the top layer and stack them on top of the bottom layer.  This way things won’t get buried in the freezer and we will know where everything is.  Total win-win and it didn’t cost me anything (okay, maybe a few blisters having to cut the boxes tops off as those boxes are heavy duty for sure) but my time and energy.

5.  Used up freezer burned meat, so it didn't need to be thrown out later.

I found a pork roast while organizing the freezer that had lost part of its seal and was getting pretty freezer burned.  I threw it into the crock pot this morning with two jars of sauerkraut and am going to cook it low and slow all day until it falls apart.  Makes a wonderfully flavored pork roast, a nice moist texture and, most importantly, saves the pork roast from possibly getting wasted because it tastes like freezer.

6.  Did some mending.

I mended another couple pairs of pants for my son and husband.  I’ll share a quick tutorial later on about how I make patches out of old clothing and how I’ve found works best to mend actual holes in jeans  (versus tears) here, hopefully next week.

7. Used up things that needed to be used up.

I used up a bunch of home canned goods this week in meals.  I took a jar of canned French fried potato pieces (Alvah does NOT like those when I fry them, unfortunately), drained them and then just cut them into bite sized pieces, added a can of carrots and  a jar of pork chunks and then added some curry blocks to make a big pan of Japanese style curry.  I love that stuff, so I’ve been eating it for lunches this week and been greatly enjoying it :).

8.  Bought used clothing instead of paying new prices.

I had some jeans that were beyond worn out and a couple of more pairs of my jeans were really starting to show wear.  I went to the used store on Friday and got two pairs of jeans and was happy I was able to find some Gap jeans cheap.  I’ve only had a couple of pairs of Gap jeans I’ve been able to find at the used stores over the years, but the few pairs I’ve had have lasted for YEARS of hard wear and were super comfortable.  I’m not sure about the new pair I got as they seem like they are cheaper quality than the other ones I’ve owned, but I guess time will tell.  

While at the used store, I looked up and found they were having a sock sale on brand new bunches of socks (like still in the package socks) and they had 6 pairs of men’s socks for 2.29 each.  I got two packages of six as Alvah can always use more socks (he’s hard on them with his eczema and sensory issues).  For 4.58, getting 12 pairs of nice, heavy duty, cushion crew socks, was totally worth it to me.  If he is good on socks, for now, I’ll put them aside for his birthday or Christmas (I haven't had a chance to check yet, honestly).

9.  Made my own seasoning.

When I ran out of fajita seasoning, I just made my own instead of having to go to the store and buy some.

10.   Took a shortcut to making creamy limeade, aka Brazilian Lemonade

We usually really start getting into drinking creamy limeade this time of year and into the summer, but citrus up here right now is ridiculously expensive.  I found the “Simply Juice” line of juices at our local store go on sale pretty darned cheap regularly, so I have been picking up 4 at a time the last couple of weeks (two fruit punch and two limeade) on sale because if you buy 4 you save 1.00 per container.  I add the limeade to the blender and add 1/2 of a container of sweetened condensed milk and blend it all really well together.  It makes a pretty darned good creamy limeade to go with taco nights and things, but for a fraction of the cost of what making the limeade would cost me.

11. Been working on trying to get the electric bill down.  

I have been working hard on turning off the electric heat during the day the last bit as our temps have been in the 40s the last few weeks on and off.  Between that and the sun coming back our upstairs is actually getting pretty toasty by the afternoon.  So I’ve been having a good time opening the deck door (after putting the screens back in) and letting in some fresh air again and was even able to grill out on our deck yesterday.  It was wonderful.  We are all looking really forward to Spring and days like the last couple of weeks make you realize that it is, indeed, coming.

12. I made some new curtains for my kitchen.

I received a tablecloth as a gift a while back, but it was a really awkward size and just wasn’t going to work for any tabletop I had.  It was also pretty stained up, but I held onto it because it was good material.

Finally this week, I decided I wanted to hang some curtains in my kitchen window so that I could open the window and let in a breeze, but still block some of the afternoon sunlight from cooking the kitchen (the blinds I hung are great, but they are so thick they actually block fresh air from coming into the kitchen).  I had an epiphany and took out the tablecloth from the closet and found it was the perfect sized material to make the curtains from.  So, I made some curtains.

First I threw the tablecloth into the laundry with some bleach to try and bleach out the stains as much as I could.  I managed to at least fade a bunch of them and I figure while the curtains hang in the window the sun will bleach out the rest of the stains better than any synthetic bleach can.

I used a tension rod to hang the curtains so I didn’t have to drill anymore holes in my window frame and this way too I can hem the curtains shorter and move the curtains down the window if I want (I’m tempted as I keep clanking pans whenever I close or open the curtains right now) and I can just take them down if we need to put in the air conditioner in the window this summer.  So far I’m really liking the curtain and think it helps to brighten up the kitchen a bit :).

13.  I took out my wheat grinder yesterday and ground a bunch of wheat into flour.  

I took some to use as whole wheat flour and put it into the freezer, ground up some more wheat and put it through my Bosch sifter and made it into more of an all purpose flour consistency and I then went and ground up some of the hull-less barley I had bought and turned it into barley flour to use in baking as well.  I do a lot of baking anymore, so I’ll definitely use it.

14.   Made breakfast items for the freezer.

I made my husband some more pancake sausage wraps for his work breakfasts.  He really likes them and it saves me money from him going out and getting breakfast at some drive through.

15.  Shredded/grated my own cheese.

We had a big block of Tilamook cheddar in the fridge that I was slowly cutting chunks off of to use in meals or to feed to Alvah shredded.  I was in the fridge and noticed some green showing through the end of the wrapping on the block, so I decided it was time to just shred up what was left of the cheese.  Using the food processor makes this SO much easier by the way.  I put the cheese into freezer bag and froze it for future use.  And now Alvah has shredded cheese ready to go for a while.

16. Made bread crumbs.

I had odds and ends of sourdough loaves sitting in my freezer that needed to be used up, so I cut them into chunks, put them in a 250 degree oven for an hour (sourdough is so dense, I've found it can take a while to dry out), waited for the bread cubes to cool and then put them through the food processor to make bread crumbs.  I've found I LOVE sourdough bread crumbs as for some odd reason they come out perfectly seasoned and with just the right hint of salt in them.  I'm going to use some of the ones I made this time to make schnitzel a bit later in the week for dinner :).

And there you go folks.  Ways I saved money the last week.  Hope money saving endeavors are going well for you.  

Enjoy!