What have you done frugal Jan 15-21? - Page 3

[HydeParkB]

Stacy, thanks for the yogurt recipe! Does it matter what kind of milk you use?

[mamimapster]

Used slow cooker 2X this week instead of grabbing something on my "late" days, continued to make bread at home (We haven't bought bread in over two months). Caught some Clearance cans of Olives for DD's upcoming party at 1/2 off, also got some yummy Snyders of Hanover Organic Pretzels for .99. Used the money my mother gave me for DD's Channukah/birthday gift to get her a great wooden teaching clock, lace up shoe puzzle,chalk, cute stripey babygap outfit, etc.that I'm going to wrap into a box for her to open. The total expense for all of the things I got her: 5.00. The cost of the ONE puzzle new 19.95. The balance of the money will go into her baby account.
The BIGGEST frugal thing I did this month was to finally give in and admit that I couldn't figure out how to make ends meet. I have always has a pride thing about being a "provider" and very intent on paying the bills, balancing the checkbook, etc. However it wasn't working. We have changed how we do things now. We have so far this month sat down every monday and updated out progress together and in the ususal time when we do menu planning we are now also evaluating bills. HUGE difference. I haven't bounced a single check this month. I feel very tight giving myself an allowance of 70.00 week for groceries/gas/postage/expenses of all type. However, I think in the long run this might be our way out of the pit we have fallen into. We have managed to pay more bills this month then were covered in all of the time that my unemployment expired.

[simple living mama]

Bought all my dd b-day gifts at our thrift. They are all new and wonderful! I guess presents that kids didn't want left over from Christmas? Making her wrapping paper. Packed food for our outings with kids this week. Committing to only using wash machine now and hang drying all clothes for now on. Took advantage of three "free" events this week and had a blast with the kids.

[KimberMama]

We're continuing to stretch the grocery shopping out, which is a big change compared to "go every Wednesday". We'll probably have to go today, but only because we are nearly out of fruit, and we are out of soy milk. Still, I may look through what we have, plan a few meals, and make tonight's trip a quickie.

I'm getting even better at using leftovers. Last night I was going to make a squash soup with a squash we've had a for a few months, but I knew we had beans that needed to be eaten. So I roasted the squash as a side dish and made "beans and greens". I sauted onions and portobello mushroom in veggie broth until soft, added the beans to heat through, then tossed about 6 ounces of baby spinach and top and let it steam for 3 minutes. I knew the boys would be thrilled about it (they are in a big "do not combine foods" phase right now) so I reheated some leftover brown rice and they had that with the squash.

I have enough leftover roasted squash to make soup for dinner tonight. I'll make pizza for the boys from ingredients I have on hand.

Oh yeah, we had a full 9X13" cake leftover from yesterday. I stuck it in the freezer and we'll take it to a party we're going to tomorrow. The boys still may choose non-vegan cake, but at least we'll have the option. It's chocolate, so at least DS#1 will probably eat it.

[acystay]

Originally Posted by HydeParkB

Stacy, thanks for the yogurt recipe! Does it matter what kind of milk you use?

Not really, but whole is best for you and children. If you can find raw, use it, but don't quite scald the milk. Raw milk yogurt is so yummy and the best for you! Trader Joe's here sells a pasturized unhomoginized milk as well. So if you can't find raw use that. It's better than past/homo whole milk.

note: to really get the benefits of the cultures in yogurt i.e. for yeast infections you need to use raw milk

[klstomi]

This week I:
- turned thermostat down on water heater (gas $ is killing me) and am learning to take quick, "warm" showers
- began a running club at my school rather than join a gym
- came home & ate oatmeal (which ds loves) on my late day rather than eat out
- tightened up recipe book of what ds will eat so menu planning easier!

[babybugmama]

I did not give in to the urge to buy some goodie. Life is really really tough right now and I find myself really wanting to comfort eat, which means buying crap and spending extra money.

[HydeParkB]

Wow! This has been a great week full of good ideas. I'll try the yogurt the next we get whole milk.

This talk of oatmeal reminded me to have oatmeal for breakfast this morning.

Also:
- went to the grocery store and stocked up on some sale items. I was hoping I could pay cash, but I spent $36.08. I had $36 in my wallet! I usually put all groceries on the credit card. So, I paid $30 in cash, and put the $6.08 on the card. I figure it's an improvement!
- made cookies from on-hand ingredients, in hopes of curbing my husband's snickers cravings
- resisted the urge to eat out tonight, instead having frozen ravioli. It's not the cheapest thing, but it's already paid for
- figured out that with my new health insurance, change in flexible medical spending account, and raise , my take home pay might be $100 per pay period more than last year.

[jmarie]

I have learned alot from these threads! Some of the things I have learned and put to use are:

-Use half the detergent than usual for clothes
-Made a complete inventory of my pantry (there was alot more food in there than I realized).
-Used inventory to plan out meals for 1-2 weeks (this is completly new for me).
-Staying home to avoid "mindless" spending (fast food is my addiction)!
-Running an extra spin cycle on the washing machine to get as much water out as possible. This has cut down on the drying time considerably.
-Staying home also saves on gas.

[momadance]

great ideas!
subbing.

I find it tuff to cut back on our grocery bills...
i bake our own bread, and were vegan so how does it all add up so fast?

oh and we rarely buy chips/cereal/soymilk.

i'm debating getting a Sams membership. My bday is coming up, and i thought i might ask for that from my mama. do you really save money at those type places?
saving on gas would be nice...

[KimberMama]

Originally Posted by momadance

i'm debating getting a Sams membership. My bday is coming up, and i thought i might ask for that from my mama. do you really save money at those type places?
saving on gas would be nice...

We have a Costco membership; if you eat an organic vegan/plant-based diet you won't find much, especially if you also avoid refined fats.

You can save on other things, like batteries and books. But there will be plenty of cheap goods made in China. Ours has cheap gas, but it's usually not a more than a few cents cheaper than the corner gas station so it isn't worth driving out of our way to.

It's pretty much a wash for us, and we may not renew this year.

[momadance]

We went to Sams today. I think my mom is getting me the membership for my bday. It's real close to our house. We'll save a ton on organic pbutter, organic maple syrup, honey, organic spag. sauce, tortillas, CAT FOOD and CAT LITTER, OJ and rice and pinto beans. Oh Gas too.I was pretty impressed, and totally prepared to be disappointed. Plus it's 13 cents per photo from our digi so that's cool too.

[Hollysmom]

Did some frugal things

1) planned next week's menu
2) made scratch pancakes and pizza dough
3) reduced my weekly grocery bill by about $50 - $70 (hoping to start shopping every two weeks and reduce it further)


Did some not so frugal things

1) had lunch out on Friday and....
2) ordered in food Friday night :

Even though Friday was not such a great day, the week was pretty good

[HydeParkB]

Today I made a lasagna, and I'm going to freeze half of it. Much of the ingredients were from the pantry/freezer. Right now I've got a pork loin (from the freezer) marinating in some marinade I bought super cheap on sale and with a coupon. That pork loin will probably be dinner for three nights this week!

I did some birthday shopping for DD. Got a pull toy, three puppets and a giant ball - not too extravagant.

[babybugmama]

http://www.mothering.com/discussions...55#post4490255

new thread - but if anyone is feeling industrious, someone want to go through the thread and find the great ideas to list? Maybe we could make an overall list of tips?