I haven’t shared my weekly frugal accomplishments with you in quite a while. To be honest, a big part of it was me feeling like I wasn’t living up to the frugal standards I held for myself, so I felt a bit like a fraud sharing my “frugal accomplishments” which didn’t feel like big accomplishments at all.
But lately, as in the past 2 or 3 weeks, I have been putting in a bigger effort to be more frugal, and not just that, but also to track what frugal things I did, so that I can look back over the past week and feel encouraged by what I managed to do, and not discouraged by the times that I wasn’t as frugal as I should.
And so, maybe not the most frugal week ever, but I think I did a decent amount of frugal things.
Frugal Accomplishments This Week
So first off, I have to share that this past week my husband has had off work for winter break, and I wanted to fun things as a family, but I didn’t want anything that would cost too much money, and so, I decided to pre-plan things and pay a visit to this store in town where everything there costs only 25 cents, and buy some little things which could be the basis for various frugal activities. I bought bubbles, coloring books, playing cards, playdough, spirographs, mini flashlights, etc… and at random time I would just whip out some of them and we’d do an activity based on them. I think total I spent 5 dollars on all the stuff, but it provided many hours of entertainment.
I also wanted to share that in addition to doing things to save money this week, I also did what I could to earn some extra cash, by selling homemade gluten free goods to a few different people.
And now, on to more specifics:
Frugality In The Kitchen
Brought home leftovers from the family get together.
Making Food From Scratch:
Ground lots and lots of gluten free flour
Made up lots of batches of homemade gluten free bread mix
Made a bunch of gluten free donuts
Made a gluten free birthday cake
Made homemade ketchup
Made chocolate chip cookies from scratch
Frugal Foods:
Made a lentil dish as the protein for a family get together.
Made chicken soup from concentrated chicken soup “mix” I had in the freezer and a chicken carcass.
Cooked up some salmon heads for supper, then used the leftover bones to make salmon bone broth
Made buckwheat porridge for breakfast
Reused disposable aluminum pans
Made a chickweed salad for guests
Made soup from chickweed, leftover zucchini and leftover sweet potatoes and leftover chicken
Frugal Fun
When I was in the city, I promised the kids something nice, considered taking them to a restaurant, even sat at a restaurant with them and a friend, but instead bought them each 2 treats from the “dollar” coffee shop, which everyone enjoyed and was a fraction of what it would have cost at a regular restaurant.
Had a family get together and spent nothing, only used what was in the house to make a few dishes
Frugal Shopping:
Stopped in a cheap grocery store to buy cheapo gluten free bread to make gluten free garlic bread for a family get together, walked in with a short short list, and bought only ONE thing not on that list.
Walked to a farther grocery store to buy cheaper milk and diapers on sale
Ordered some clothes for myself and the kids from aliexpress including dresses for my brother’s wedding, and shoes- I got recommendations on how to make sure the stuff actually fits properly, and now am really hoping that it’ll work out well- but even if not, I didn’t spend so much at all…. $15 for a bridesmaid type dress for myself including shipping… Also ordered Toms style shoes from Aliexpress for myself.
Foraging:
Foraged milk thistle, chickweed, wood sorrel, nettles, plantain, wild mustard, sow thistle, and pine nuts.
So, what frugal things did you do this past week? Any you’re especially proud of?
