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.

+ 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”:

+ 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?

Month #3!  This month, I tried to focus my frugality lens in terms of consuming: not in the sense of buying more, but instead using up the things I have already purchased and own.  What good are things, even if they are neatly organized in drawers and shelves, if you never use them?  This new way of thinking has been eye-opening for sure.   

P.S. I have another new blog to share with you this month: The Frugal Girl.  Another great resource to inspire you on your frugal journey!

+ I took apart and then reassembled my vacuum cleaner after one of the kids sucked up a colored pencil.  A most ridiculous accomplishment, but you would not believe how many vacuums we’ve been through in almost 13 years of parenting!

+ I took a yard of orange fabric (that I’ve had stored away) and ripped it into strips to use as ribbon for my Poshmark/Ebay packages.  I love how cute it looks and it was free!

+ Our living room chair is almost nine years old and was in sad shape.  The removable back cushion was saggy and the arms were stained.  I fixed the back cushion by wrapping a blanket (this cheap one from Walmart – we used them as furniture blankets when we moved here to the farmhouse and they’ve proved to be quite handy) around the insert and then cramming plastic grocery store bags in the sides to fill it out a little.  Add a $25 slipcover and I have a brand new chair!  So excited about this little project.

+ I got a sourdough starter up and running again.  Hoping to get into the habit of making fresh bread at least three times a week.  So far I’ve made an everyday loaf, a cinnamon raisin swirl, and waffles.

+ I made a big batch of ditalini pasta to accompany our dinner one night.  I froze the leftovers and will use them in a soup once the weather gets cooler.

+ I used up all the birthday wrapping paper I had left from last year before buying new rolls.  I also found a few gift bags I had stored away, which I can reuse for all the kids.

+ I made my own broth after roasting a whole chicken.  I’ve had a full “broth bag” of veggie scraps in the freezer for over a month!  It will never fail to amaze me how you can make something so delicious from things you’d normally just trash.

+ You know me and rabbit holes…one night, I got sucked into the world of bullet journals on Pinterest.  So many beautiful books and inspiring ideas!  I immediately wanted a brand new Leuchtturm notebook, highlighters and pens. ($$$)  Instead, I took one of the extra composition books I bought for the kids (only 50 cents!), covered it in scrapbook paper I already owned and I love it all the same.

+ I moved the potatoes from the pantry to the fridge after reading this post.  It seems like commonsense (potatoes were traditionally kept in root cellars; root cellars = cool temperatures) but I never took the time to really think about it!  Hoping for much less waste with this small change.

+ I bought a “soap saver” to use up all those little bits of leftover soap.  Love that I was able to support a maker on etsy too.

+ I sold four bar stools (that have been collecting dust in our basement for two years) on Facebook Marketplace.   I’m happy to get them into a new home and really happy to get $100 for them!  That money allowed us to cash flow a little day trip to go apple picking and have lunch near our “old-old house”, which is about an hour away.

+ I made soap from supplies I’ve had for years!  I made this recipe for goat’s milk grapefruit mint soap once before and still had half of a container full of the melt and pour product.  I made another batch (5 bars) and loved that I could actually use up something that was in my craft “stash” as well as make something useful.

+ I redeemed Swagbucks points for a $10 Amazon gift card.

+ I borrowed and read three books from the library.

+ I started buying supplies for our emergency closet: water, snacks and canned goods.  Winter (and possible power outages) will be here before we know it!

+ I went to a few thrift stores with my mom and found 12 pieces of clothing for four members of the family, two books, a big mixing bowl and three of the same Crate & Barrel glasses I own for under $40.

Month #2!  I’m really enjoying this challenge of noticing and recording.  I’m trying to change my knee-jerk reaction of buying instead of making do/mending/fixing and this monthly post is helping.  I’m starting to look around my home in gratitude, taking care of the things we’ve purchased, and being thankful that we have all that we need.

P.S. I have a new blog to share with you this month: The Non Consumer Advocate.  Maybe this is just me, but I prefer blogs that don’t tell me what to do, but instead show me what they’re doing.  I’m always inspired after reading her weekly “Five Frugal Things” and think you will be too.

+ I became very vigilant about turning off all the lights in unoccupied rooms (I’m turning into you, Dad!).  I gave a reminder talk to some of the kids who were especially guilty of this.

+ I have had a small hole in one of the throw pillows on my bed for years.  I’ve just propped it up on the opposite side all this time, but finally decided to sew it up!  It took all of five minutes and now I feel ridiculous that I didn’t do that sooner.

+ After reading about fast fashion and different types of fabric this summer, I gave myself two goals when purchasing clothes going forward: seek ethical companies (made in the USA even better!) and look for breathable fabrics like cotton, linen and silk.  These goals are tricky because the price tags tend to be $$$.  BUT!  While I was shopping on ThredUp for fall clothes for Sophie, I found a linen-blend black v-neck tee from Dolan (I think that’s an Anthropologie brand?), made in the USA, and only $3!

+ I collected all of the free samples we’ve been receiving in our “goodie bags” from the dentist and put them in a milkglass bowl I already own.  Now they’re all easy to find and we’ll be good on floss and toothpaste for awhile.

+ I didn’t buy a single book for myself.  Book Outlet even had a sale and I kept my debit card in my wallet, hah!  Still working through the stacks on my nightstand.

+ The white quilt on my bed was looking really dingy from the dirty feet of my children.  (Full disclosure, I immediately started daydreaming about buying new bedding from Pottery Barn.)  Instead, I bought a bottle of OxyClean, washed my quilt and it looks brand new again.

+ I put out a request on Trash Nothing for a deep freezer.  No luck yet.

+ Ebay had a 4-day promotion that waived the listing fees for 200 items.  I listed 40 items, saving me $14.

+ Speaking of Ebay, I sold a handful of homeschooling books we no longer use and made a nice little profit…which went right into buying more supplies for the current school year.  An educational circle of life.


+ I borrowed and read two books from the library.

+ One of my favorite coffee mugs has a crack inside, so I re-purposed it into a pen holder.

+ I made two banana breads with bananas that were starting to turn brown.

+ I went through my entire fall/winter wardrobe and looked at every.single.piece.  Perks to being the most boring dresser ever: almost all of my clothes are navy blue, olive green, gray, white or black!  I threw everything on my bed and inventoried what I had and what I needed.  So for example, I noticed that I could use a new plain black long sleeve tee and a chunky black cardigan, but I’m all set on gray sweaters and anything striped.  This process gave me a very specific shopping list, which will ultimately save me money in the long run.

+ I invested in a dryer lint trap brush (I bought mine locally, but it’s similar to this).  So many pros to this little $5 gadget: it will help prevent fires, less lint in the trap will increase dryer performance (faster loads = money saved) and it even helps with pet hair.  A worthwhile purchase.

+ I made a double batch of buttermilk waffles during our “Big Sunday Breakfast” and froze the leftovers for easy breakfasts during the week.

+ I gave some of Lucy’s puppy supplies to a lady through Trash Nothing.  I’m happy that another dog will have them since they were only used for such a short amount of time.

+ Lucy (almost 7 months old) suddenly become very picky about her breakfast/dinner, turned her nose to it and refused to eat.  After ruling out any illness, I did some research and decided to try the least expensive option: adding a little rice and/or chicken broth.  And it worked!  She’s gobbled up her meals without complaint ever since.  Silly dog.

+ I made a batch of homemade taco seasoning using this recipe.

Do you read The Prudent Homemaker?  She has a weekly series called “Last Week’s Frugal Accomplishments” and it is awesome and inspiring.  The comments are great too!  I’ve wanted to make an effort to notice and record my own frugal accomplishments and July seemed like the right month to start.

+ We added a ton of brown matter to the compost pile and that seems to have helped with the unwanted animals problem.
+ I passed on a big box of P’s outgrown clothing to another mama on Trash Nothing.
+ We recreated a few “fancy” Home Chef meals, using the recipes cards we received back when we got the boxes.
+ I opened all of the windows first thing in the morning to let the cool air in and went as long as we could stand before turning on the A/C.
+ We started brainstorming and researching ways to reduce our cell phone and Internet bills.
+ I watched a lot of Poshmark/re-selling videos on YouTube.  They’re like business development courses for free!  So helpful.
+ I mended three small holes in the knitting on Sophie’s Cuddle + Kind bunny.
+ I also mended a pair of my black pants where the stitching was starting to come undone.  A two minute fix and they’re good as new.
+ I made a homemade weed killer using this recipe.
+ I cut the little boys’ hair at home.
+ I easily fixed the wheel on my Ikea cart after thinking it was broken for a year.  Face palm.  Now it rolls like a dream!
+ I redecorated our side entryway by using things we already own.  I splurged on a new houseplant for $10.
+ We bought a new dishwasher during the Fourth of July sale, saving us $150.
+ I stuck to my list on Amazon Prime Day and then resisted temptation by staying off of social media and not reading blog posts for the rest of the day.  No impulse shopping for the blissfully unaware, although I was tempted!