What new frugal thing have you done? - Page 10

[katheek77]

Originally Posted by EmsMom

Can you tell me about how much this recipe makes? In cups, maybe? And can it be frozen. My family likes cream cheese but doesn't eat all that much of it. Thanks.

It makes roughly 7-8 oz. You can halve the recipe, though. I have done smaller quantities for the cottage cheese, as well (1 Q milk and 2 T vinegar). FTR, the only real difference between cottage cheese and cream cheese is how long you let it drip.

I have never had good luck freezing cream cheese. It gets watery and crumbly.

[A Mom's Love]

I've begun making homemade bread again and have had good luck in the past few weeks with my french bread loaves & today with focaccia.

[funkygranolamama]

Originally Posted by Contrariety

I've been budgeting every last dollar. It's hard. I usually leave some wiggle room, but this week, I did not. I have figured our budgets out until Feb, and have left no wiggle room. What that means is, we had to come home from whatever we were doing this weekend for dinner and lunch, instead of eating out... and it also means that I squeezed $35 extra dollars out of the budget to go in to our emergency savings!

I have also adopted a no-buy books rule. I've been doing VERY well. I worked at a bookstore all through college and amassed a huge collection, the idea of NOT buying a book was really novel. I'm all about the library now, and have even liquidated my book collection to only absolute favorites and top shelf books.

I've been staying home. It's kind of a drag still. My family and friends live too far away and we're working really hard to build up our emergency savings before snowballing debt, and if there's not enough gas left over from last week to visit, I don't visit. Now does that mean I'm staying at home to clean my house and do crafts instead? Of course not! Just that I've been reading a *lot* of books!

if you haven't already, you may also want to check out paperbackswap.com. it's a really cool way to get books cheap. for every book you mail to someone else free of charge you get a credit. you can use that credit to get books free from other members. it only costs just over $2 to mail most books so basically, you're getting a book for 2 bucks. Our library also has a book sale a few times a year to sell out overstock. most books can be purchased for a quarter to $1.

[funkygranolamama]

*i'm already vegetarian, but now that my hub has switched work shifts i feed the kids vegetarian meals instead of meat meals 6 nights out of the week.

*instead of renting movies, we now use netflix. it's $13.99 monthly for unlimited rentals, 2 at the time, and we can watch anything they have available instantly online. when we used to rent movies it was maybe 4 a month and at least one would go back late

*we are doing a recycled christmas. we did this last year, too. we buy almost all gifted items at thrift stores or yard sales. last year i got a huge box of clothes from my mom (secondhand) and i was thrilled. think about how many resources from the production cycle you are conserving! it's also nice because the clothes are soft and worn in, not itchy and full of chemicals.

*reduced leisure trips to the store. not going just because there is nothing to do. we also reduced trips to a city 30 miles away we used to visit twice a month just to get out of the house.

*trying, TRYING to take my own food to work! having a hard time with that one, though.

i'd also like to get some good coupons. it just sucks because it's kind of a lottery if you search for coupons online. when you get to the store and they don't have the product, do you buy the more expensive item like it or just cut it out?

[Pinoikoi]

Originally Posted by funkygranolamama

*i'm already vegetarian, but now that my hub has switched work shifts i feed the kids vegetarian meals instead of meat meals 6 nights out of the week.

*instead of renting movies, we now use netflix. it's $13.99 monthly for unlimited rentals, 2 at the time, and we can watch anything they have available instantly online. when we used to rent movies it was maybe 4 a month and at least one would go back late

I gave up on renting movies a LONG time ago.. it is SO pricey! :

Have you looked into your library system or do you live anywhere near a library? We rent all our movies from there now.. they are free for 7 days I think (and you can renew online).. Plus we can reserve movies we like online and then when they are ready for pickup (at the branch of our choice), I am sent an email.. it is a pretty great system (especially since it is free!)

[2 in August]

Originally Posted by Little grey mare

So I can make our own yogurt, and I might just attempt to make our own cream cheese but I'm at a loss for cottage cheese, sour cream, whipping cream and regular cheese. So we do without for the most part.

See if you can get the book Home cheesemaking from the library. You'll learn how to do all of those.

[wholewheatmama]

Bumping for a great thread! :

Originally Posted by Little grey mare

Cloth toilet paper...I just don't think I could do that...

Once you use cloth, you have a hard time using paper again! I swear!


I'm getting great ideas from this thread and am already doing a lot of them. Another one I do is using more of the food I already have. I found the site SuperCook, where you plug in your pantry items and it gives you a million recipes you can make from food you already have on hand. I also got a VitaMix for Christmas, which is great for throwing leftover bits into to make soup or smoothies. : I can also use it to grind my own grains, and I am going to start making more of my own bread.

For the last few months, a friend and I have been doing a childswap for free child care. The kids get a playdate as a bonus!