Hello there and welcome to another episode of "What frugal things does Penny actually do in real life?"
This week was one of the hottest I can remember here in a long time. When explaining to my kids what the temperature meant, I said that the air outside was about as hot if not hotter than someone's body when they have a high fever.
Yea, that hot- over 100 degrees.
I felt like I was walking in an oven when I tried going outside.
When it's really hot, my productivity level goes way down, to the extent that even the thought of lounging around and wasting time seems like too much work. While we have air conditioning- it is in one room only- the bedroom- and being in the bedroom makes me not productive, so I actually rarely put on the AC, just a big fan. So that was another frugal thing, I guess.
And so, understandably, my list of what I actually got done this past week frugality-wise is pretty small.
I taught a class on foraging wild plants at a rehabilitation center for people post stroke- for the first time I taught about foraging in the local language instead of in English, and that was a big deal for me and exciting- and the day before that I gave a private foraging walk to a few friends to first practice teaching in the local language- so I ended up going foraging twice, for a lot of things, in the absolutely crazy heat.
So specifics- here's what I did to save money this past week:
Frugal in the Kitchen
I made homemade kombucha (which was ready super quickly because of the heat).
I turned watermelon rind into curry instead of tossing it.
Made fried rice with grated watermelon rind, using leftover rice and turkey gizzards I bought on sale (as well as carrots, soy sauce, etc...).
I made homemade potato starch- more on that in another post- using the leftover pulp to make hash browns.
I made gluten free vegan pancakes for breakfast one day instead of relying on cereal and milk.
I dehydrated my wild allium/wild leek to make into a spice mix.
Foraging:
I foraged wild lettuce, wild allium, wild mustard, lambsquarters, milk thistle seeds, mallow, queen Anne's lace, grape leaves, capers, black nightshade, wood sorrel, olive leaves, fig leaves, and rosemary.
Free Things:
I bartered for free babysitting.
I dumpster dove some cute clothing for myself- unfortunately most of it is winter clothing so I put most away for when it is winter, but a few of the shirts are summery so that's just awesome.
I got some hand me down shorts- great quality American stuff, for my boys from a friend.
Frugal Shopping
My cute skirt that I bought on ebay- hoping very much that it would fit- arrived- and yes, it did fit- the gamble paid off- it was cheaper than anything I could buy locally as well...
Bought some essential oils and natural shampoo and seaweed from iherb using my iherb reward points, so virtually no outlay, other than shipping costs.
Frugal Fun
We went hiking to a place walking distance from us, and explored some caves and other natural formations.
What did you do to save money this past week? Anything particularly fun yet frugal?
This week was one of the hottest I can remember here in a long time. When explaining to my kids what the temperature meant, I said that the air outside was about as hot if not hotter than someone's body when they have a high fever.
Yea, that hot- over 100 degrees.
I felt like I was walking in an oven when I tried going outside.
When it's really hot, my productivity level goes way down, to the extent that even the thought of lounging around and wasting time seems like too much work. While we have air conditioning- it is in one room only- the bedroom- and being in the bedroom makes me not productive, so I actually rarely put on the AC, just a big fan. So that was another frugal thing, I guess.
And so, understandably, my list of what I actually got done this past week frugality-wise is pretty small.
I taught a class on foraging wild plants at a rehabilitation center for people post stroke- for the first time I taught about foraging in the local language instead of in English, and that was a big deal for me and exciting- and the day before that I gave a private foraging walk to a few friends to first practice teaching in the local language- so I ended up going foraging twice, for a lot of things, in the absolutely crazy heat.
Frugal in the Kitchen
I made homemade kombucha (which was ready super quickly because of the heat).
I turned watermelon rind into curry instead of tossing it.
Made fried rice with grated watermelon rind, using leftover rice and turkey gizzards I bought on sale (as well as carrots, soy sauce, etc...).
I made homemade potato starch- more on that in another post- using the leftover pulp to make hash browns.
I made gluten free vegan pancakes for breakfast one day instead of relying on cereal and milk.
I dehydrated my wild allium/wild leek to make into a spice mix.
Foraging:
I foraged wild lettuce, wild allium, wild mustard, lambsquarters, milk thistle seeds, mallow, queen Anne's lace, grape leaves, capers, black nightshade, wood sorrel, olive leaves, fig leaves, and rosemary.
Free Things:
I bartered for free babysitting.
I dumpster dove some cute clothing for myself- unfortunately most of it is winter clothing so I put most away for when it is winter, but a few of the shirts are summery so that's just awesome.
I got some hand me down shorts- great quality American stuff, for my boys from a friend.
Frugal Shopping
My cute skirt that I bought on ebay- hoping very much that it would fit- arrived- and yes, it did fit- the gamble paid off- it was cheaper than anything I could buy locally as well...
Bought some essential oils and natural shampoo and seaweed from iherb using my iherb reward points, so virtually no outlay, other than shipping costs.
Frugal Fun
We went hiking to a place walking distance from us, and explored some caves and other natural formations.
What did you do to save money this past week? Anything particularly fun yet frugal?
Tags
dumpster diving
extreme frugality
foraging
free things
frugal accomplishments
made from scratch
revamped leftovers
Reading about your foraging makes me want to go see what I can find locally. Although, I defiantly need to read up more about what is possibly out there so we don't get sick.
ReplyDeleteI posted my own frugal accomplishments here: http://shirnellmarie.blogspot.com/2015/06/frugal-accomplishments-may-24-31.html
That's a great list. I know just what you mean about the heat -- it's been 107 here in the Phx area, finally summer has arrived. (But it's a dry heat! No really, that does make a difference. Less enervating than 90 percent humidity.) But we have AC through the whole (small) house. My bread has been rising in about 20 minutes, seems too fast, but it tastes fine.
ReplyDeleteWe love caves, and live a long day's drive from Carlsbad Caverns in NM. Now that it's the off-season, we're planning a visit. Hope your cave trip was fun!