We’re working on two big financial goals right now: saving (a little more than) six months of expenses and paying down our mortgage! I’m happy to return to intentional frugal living as we chip away, little by little. Here’s what we’ve been up to this winter: (Linking up with Rosie again too!)
+ Last year, my husband and boys chopped up a bunch of fallen trees from our property. Even though they aren’t completely seasoned yet, we’ve still been able to keep our heat quite low when we burned the wood in the fireplace. Other frugal fireplace accomplishments: I sprinkled the wood ashes around the driplines of our fruit trees and we tried a DIY firestarter from toilet paper rolls and dryer lint.
+ I gave my daughter a haircut.
+ I buy a lot of used books and sometimes they are hardcover rejects from libraries. I carefully cut the plastic cover off the dustjacket and boom! Looks like a brand new book!
+ Groceries seem to be getting more expensive, so I worked on incorporating a little more rice and beans in our dinner rotation. I even learned how to cook dried beans – so easy and makes a ton!
+ I took advantage of ebay’s waived listing fees (I get 200 a month) and posted a bunch of unneeded and outgrown clothing.
+ I made chicken stock from a roasted chicken carcass and a bunch of vegetable odds and ends that I keep in the freezer. I used my beloved Souper Cubes (affiliate link) again.
+ I started browsing ThredUp for deals to get a head start on spring/summer clothes for my daughter.
+ After almost a decade, I finally bought new glasses last November and now I wear them almost every day! (Ironic since I hated glasses with a passion when I was in high school, but here we are.) This is saving me lots of money in contact lenses and solution.
+ I took out my soap keeper (affiliate link) once my bar of soap turned small and unwieldy. This has proven to be quite a handy purchase for stretching soap even further.
Your turn! What did you do to save a little money the past few months?
Library discards are my FAVORITE used books! They’re always so much sturdier than others, and then the kids get excited by the pockets in the back and play library together 🙂
I love the pockets in the back and the stamped due dates too!
I’m planning my wedding so there aren’t truly frugal accomplishments this year but I loved your chicken stock 🙂 it’s a shame when food is wasted
A wedding! How exciting! Congratulations!!
I enjoy following along with your frugal accomplishments. I love library discards myself–both from Thriftbooks and from library book sales, but I usually keep the covers on because then they last longer at my house. Our biggest frugal accomplishments lately include deciding to build a simple bed frame/headboard instead of buying one and borrowing the tools for the project.
I keep the plastic covers on the ones for my kids too – they can be so rough on those picture books!
And I LOVE your headboard idea – I have actually been searching for one for my bedroom and haven’t found anything I really like. We may have to research making one ourselves! I’d love to hear how your construction goes.
Wood ash can be a wonderful fertilizer for berry bushes too and a lite sprinkle in garden soul can do good things.! Horray for small steps at savings. Every little bit does help!! Well done!!
Ooh great tip, thank you! I’ll have to head to my garden with my ash bucket next!
I really miss being able to go inside my library and look through the sale rack. The library only offers curbside pickup of holds at the present. I just hope they will do a massive sale of discards at some point!
Can you explain how you use the souper cubes? I looked on amazon and think I get it but would appreciate a few examples. If I have it correctly, it is just for anything you make, but you would not have to thaw a glass jar full of frozen chicken stock, right?
In terms of saving money: We have been cutting down and burning small bonfires of the invasive honeysuckle behind our house and adding the cooled ash to the compost bin. Also looking through past years of seeds to see if any may be viable for planting. Creating a sewing area for me in the basement with things we already have including furniture, rug, space heater, and hanging devices for bulletin board, design board and thread sorter. Considering shopping from local children’s resale end of season sale (lol, certainly not end of winter yet) to buy ahead for next winter (if I can guess his size by then).
So far, I have only used the Souper Cubes for chicken broth, but I think they would be handy for soups as well. After my stock has cooled, I pour into the different cubes (they have lines showing 1/2 cup and 1 cup) and then cover and freeze. The next day, I pop the frozen cubes out of the silicone and stack them into a gallon bag and put that back in the freezer. Since they are already measured at 1 cup, it’s so easy to take out just what you need for meals. I’m a big fan!
Love the idea of a little sewing area!
that makes so much sense! thank you for explaining.
I got a new book (hah, not frugal) but it’s called Buy the Butter, Make the Bread and now I’m weirdly obsessed with making our own staple items. I have been on a big bagel/breadstick/stromboli dough kick. But I’m thinking of trying to make our own batch of peanut butter next! I think you would love the cookbook!
That book sounds right up my alley – I’ll check it out, thanks!