• Home
  • Making a Home
    • Farmhouse Diaries
    • Homemaking Notes
    • Frugal Accomplishments
    • In the Kitchen
    • Decluttering
  • The Farm
  • Goals
  • Books
    • The 20th Century in Literature Challenge
    • Reading the Alphabet Challenge
    • WILLA Literary Award Winners Challenge
    • The 10 Year Reading Plan for the Great Books of the Western World
    • Daily Spiritual Reading Challenge
  • Mother Academia
  • Projects
    • Five Good Things
    • The Wednesday Five
    • Extraordinary Ordinary
    • One Hundred Beautiful Things
    • Small Biz Showcase
    • Snail Mail
  • Shop

The Big White Farmhouse

intentional living, little by little

October 22, 2019

No.308: A List of October’s Frugal Accomplishments

Month #4!  This month, I focused on looking critically at our possessions, dealing with the things we no longer need (creating the 1,000 Item Declutter Challenge!) and trying to take good care of everything else.  I’m so happy to be tackling this during our children’s fall birthdays and before the Christmas season.

OCTOBER’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 gave my son a haircut.

+ I borrowed and read a book from the library.

+ I reused an empty jam jar as a water pot when the kids painted with watercolors.

+ I bought the huge bag of dog food, even though the price makes me cringe.  When I did the calculations, I actually save over a dollar per pound, making it the better deal.

+ With the kids in more activities this fall, we tried to save gas and do errands when we already have to be in town: meeting people to pass off things from Trash Nothing or Facebook Marketplace, popping in the grocery store for an ingredient, etc.

+ We moved our oldest into the basement bedroom and I was able to rearrange our furniture around to give him everything he needed, including a nightstand, dresser and even an old loveseat.  The only thing I purchased was a new lamp.  He’s got quite the man cave now!

+ I unclogged our troublesome master bathroom shower drain with a homemade solution I found on Pinterest.  Definitely my favorite frugal accomplishment this month!  Here’s the “recipe”:

DIY Drain Unclogger
8 cups boiling water
1/2 cup baking soda
1 cup vinegar
1 cup very hot water
8 cups boiling water
 Boil 9 cups of water.  Reserve 1 cup and dump the rest down the drain.
Sprinkle the baking soda down the drain and let it sit for a few minutes.
Mix the 1 cup of reserved water with 1 cup vinegar and pour slowly down the drain.
Let sit for 10 minutes while you boil 8 more cups of water.
Pour boiling water down the drain.

+ I made more homemade chicken broth and finally got to use my new Souper Cubes (affiliate link).

+ Ebay had a 3-day promotion that waived the listing fees for 200 items.  I listed 23 items, saving me over $8.

+ When our oven started taking forever to preheat and then not cooking evenly, we paid the $125 fee to have our home warranty send someone to look at it.  There was a whole host of issues including a broken bottom coil and glitchy front panel, which would cost $1,200+ for parts and labor.  I hate paying that home warranty bill each month when things are good, but sing its praises when appliances start breaking!

+ I learned a laundry trick to get grease stains out of clothes by using plain white chalk.

+ I turned off the A/C on October 4th and now we play my favorite game of the year: how long can we go before having to turn on the heat?

Your turn!  What did you do to save a little money this month?

_________________________________

Previous Frugal Accomplishments: 
JULY  //  AUGUST  //  SEPTEMBER

Related Posts...

Posted In: Frugal Accomplishments · Tagged: frugal accomplishments, operation less waste, our debt-free journey, saving our pennies

Comments

  1. Shelly Cunningham says

    October 23, 2019 at 12:29 am

    THANK YOU for sharing the DIY drain clearing- I am going to try it in our master shower as well!!

    • Ashley says

      October 23, 2019 at 11:15 am

      It's a bit of a process, but worth it! Hope it works as well for you as it did for me.

  2. Tabitha Studer says

    October 23, 2019 at 5:52 pm

    turning the heat on is my favorite game of the year too! hahaha, we made it until October 18th when it got down to 60 degrees in the house and I finally caved. Our heat is set at 65, but that extra 5 degrees make a big difference. hahahha

    also – that drain clear solution is about to get used big time at our house! thank you!!

    • Ashley says

      October 23, 2019 at 7:12 pm

      Yesss, 60 degrees is chilly! Hoping we get a few more weeks of mild weather here in VA.

About Me
Welcome to the Big White Farmhouse!

Get the Big White Farmhouse In Your Inbox!

Loading

Currently Reading:

The 10 Year Reading Plan for the Great Books of the Western World

Popular Posts

No.438: Last Week at the Farmhouse // A New School Year Begins!

No.703: Homemaking Notes on a Monday // Vol.37

No.38: New Habits, Little by Little – Cooking at Home (September 2017)

No.798: Last Week at the Farmhouse // Brave Knights & Heroic Courage

No.869: Last Week at the Farmhouse // To Be a Good Teacher, You Must Be a Good Student

THE BIG WHITE FARMHOUSE IS A FOR-PROFIT BLOG AND POSTS MAY CONTAIN AFFILIATE LINKS. ALL CONTENT ON THIS BLOG BELONGS TO ME. PLEASE DO NOT USE MY POSTS OR PHOTOGRAPHS WITHOUT WRITTEN PERMISSION.

© THE BIG WHITE FARMHOUSE 2011-2025.

Amazon Disclosure Policy

The Big White Farmhouse is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.

Less Materialism, More Intentional Living

Archives

Copyright © 2025 The Big White Farmhouse · Theme by 17th Avenue