All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us. – J.R.R. Tolkien
+ We’ve been interested in solar generators as another piece of our power outage solution plan, but always thought it was out of our price range. Thankfully, I stumbled on a Youtube video with an affordable solution! The generator is a GoPower Plus and while there were rumblings that you could find them on clearance at Walmart, I ended up finding mine on ebay. (Amazon has the same one, but it’s more than I paid.) The solar charger was also on clearance at Harbor Freight. (P.S. This one system will obviously not be able to power much, but it’s a start!)
+ I gave my hair a trim.
+ We had an ant infestation in the garage, so I whipped up some simple homemade ant killer: equal parts baking soda and powdered sugar in the cap of an empty pasta sauce jar. I also sprinkled cinnamon to deter any more from entering.
+ A handful of apples were bruised and starting to go bad, so the kids and I made cinnamon sugar apple chips in the dehydrator. Here’s the recipe:
Cinnamon Sugar Apple Chips
4 apples
a big squirt of lemon juice
2 Tbsp. sugar
2 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. vanilla extract
Peel and core the apples, then cut into thin slices.
Mix together the remaining ingredients and then toss in the sliced apples, coating evenly.
Place on the dehydrator trays and dry at 145° for 6 hours.
+ I made carrot top pesto using carrots from my garden.
+ I purchased a book online and reused the mailer later for something I sold on ebay. Love free shipping materials!
GARDEN SAVINGS:
+ As of this writing, we have picked strawberries, lettuce, peas, bunch onions, carrots and red potatoes from our garden. Using current prices from the grocery and local farm stores, I’m estimating that we have saved about $105 so far!
+ More exciting news: our hens have started laying! We have collected 32 eggs so far and at $5 a dozen (per our local farm), we’ve saved almost $15.
Congrats on your eggs! 3 years later and it still brings me joy to get fresh eggs from the coop!
It has become the highlight of our day! We all fight to be the one to check the boxes, ha!
If i wasn’t swimming in basil i’d be tempted to try carrot top pesto. Apple chips/dried apples is what keeps both my dehydrators going during the fall apple season. It’s fun to see how your working to be be frugal!!
I need to plant basil next year!
We got serious about our finances this month and you were such a mental inspiration to me. I was doing all the things I could think of to not spend money. (Like placing Amazon orders once a week instead of whenever I wanted!; giving everyone haircuts- even Carly; and using what we have instead of buying new.)
So thanks for your example!
Frugality is such a mindset and once you get the ball rolling, I think it becomes a fun challenge. My confidence has grown by leaps just by trying new things, whether that was plumbing or cooking or sewing. Wishing you the same!!