FEBRUARY’S FRUGAL ACCOMPLISHMENTS
My Goal: Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without.
And if you have to spend money, do it with intention.
+ I bought a merino wool sweater for $4, but one of the leather elbow patches was coming undone. My son didn’t care for the patches anyway, so I pulled the stitches out of both and the sweater is good as new!
+ Our hens have been laying regularly all winter, which has been a huge blessing. We average 9-11 eggs a day.
+ I made fodder for the chickens. With all of the snow and mud, they seem desperate for anything green and it was a welcomed treat! It also helps a tiny bit with feed costs.
+ I gave my hair a trim. In other hair news, I am trying to train my hair to shampoo less often. If I can deal with greasy hair for a little bit, I think I’ll have healthier hair and save some money on shampoo too!
+ I made chicken stock from a roasted chicken carcass and a bunch of vegetable odds and ends that I keep in the freezer. Still using my favorite Souper Cubes (affiliate link).
+ We keep the thermostat relatively low and are just piling on the sweaters and quilts. I seem to feel the cold more than any other family member; I have teenage boys happily walking around in shorts and t-shirts!
+ I used up a big bag of frozen blueberries and made a batch of blueberry butter. I used the recipe from this book (affiliate link), but didn’t end up canning them. A lot of work and my kitchen looked like a blueberry blood bath (hands dyed blue! dishcloths dyed blue! everything blue!) but the end result was delicious. We have used it as a spread for toast as well as swirled into oatmeal and plain Greek yogurt. We’re planning to top our pancakes with it next.
All of these are great but I specially like the fodder making, since not only it is frugal but is also yummy and healthy fot he chickens!