A Frugal Failure becomes another Failure & then a success!

I am trying really hard to eat healthy and be frugal.  I have not been doing any Once a Month cooking but I have been cooking for two weeks or several meals at a time on Sundays.  This past week I made Quinoa and when I went to eat it it was a bit overdone.  Last night I decided I would spread it on a baking sheet, and bake it on low for to see if I could salvage it.   I sat down to catch up on some blogs.......enter failure stage 2.  I forgot about my Quinoa for almost an hour!  When I checked it it was not burnt, but very brown and crispy.  I tried a little, it was crunchy...I like crunchy.  I crave chips all the time.  So I put it away as I was determined to save it now.  Suddenly today it came to me- I could bake it again with some seasoning and make chips out of it!  So I took some fresh rosemary, garlic, parmesan cheese, and a little olive oil and egg white, salt and pepper, and rounded them in a teaspoon, flattened them like a cracker with the bottom of a drinking glass, and voila! They are sooo good.  Oh, and my camera is not working so if I can figure it out I'll take a picture of the crumbs for you......Never stop trying...do your best not to waste anything.....

Using Less

I was just in my basement doing some laundry. I opened up the detergent and started pouring it into the cap up to the little line, when a little light bulb appeared over my head (I only saw it because it is dark down there.) What was I doing? I was washing my sheets and a few other items that were not really dirty, as in soiled or stained, but needed washing. It definitely did not require an entire cap full of detergent. So, I poured it back in the bottle. And I used half as much.
Then the dusty cogs in my brain started turning, and I realized that while in the past I have been conscious of how much I use, I have not been good lately. The other day I actually followed the directions on the shampoo bottle- lather, rinse, repeat. Repeat? Is my hair that dirty? I can also assure you that it was no dime size drop of shampoo either. It has occurred to me that I am taking things for granted. The laundry detergent, the shampoo, the toothpaste, and the dish soap. I have a huge stockpile of these things. I have not been careful about using them since I know I have that safety net. We cannot be vigilant about everything at every time, but I would encourage you to think about using less. Do your clothes need a cap full of detergent? Probably not. My work clothes definitely don't, but my gym clothes might be another story. What else can we use less of? Electricity? Cheese on our homemade pizza? Dressing on our salad? Creamer in the coffee? Bubble Bath? Shorter Showers?

I would encourage you to pay attention to how much you use as you go about your business this week, and if you think it is too much, start scaling back until you can't anymore, or until it becomes uncomfortable, and add a little back in.

Maybe you will find that you can stop using paper towels all together and switch to rags? Or a few extra minutes in your day from a shorter shower? A few extra dollars in your bank account from buying less shampoo?

Leave us a comment and tell us what you are going to use less of!!!!!!!!!!!

Starting My Seeds

I am so excited about my garden this year- um can you tell? These are my seeds that my husband and I started on Wednesday night. We had our last frost this week already, so I am hoping I have time to let them sprout, and then bring them outside to get used to the weather.

The largest tray is filled with tomatoes, the other two are multi-colored peppers, and watermelon. I plan to have a huge garden this year and I wanted a lot of tomatoes so that I could make and can bruschetta, tomato sauce and I even found a great recipe for homemade ketchup that I would love to try. I told my husband I wanted a 30' by 30' gardn but we will see. My main plan is to be able to grow vegetables that I can freeze for use all year but we will have many we can only during the growing season. How is your gardening/garden planning going? Leave a comment and let us know!

I am trying to figure out how to publish the links so I can see your pictures and your blogs!!!

Seed Shopping

I posted back in February about Gardening. Sunday I went shopping and bought my seeds. I am so excited to get them started!!! We are planning to double the size this year and not only are we planting more of what we had last year, I bought some new seeds. I am trying my hand at asparagus, watermelon, and grapes. I will be starting them soon. We have a utility table in front of our living room window that gets a lot of sun. I am going to put some garbage bags under it, since I bought a white carpet last year (?) I have been saving egg cartons from my Sunday cooking and my husband was given some free ones that hold 30 eggs from a local diner.

I am signed up for the Better Homes & Gardens e-newsletter and they sent me a great email with garden planners. Check it out here. Now get moving!!! Planting a garden is more frugal and money saving than any coupon shopping you could ever do!

Green Living & Frugality

In the April 14th issue of Woman's Day there is a small article on the Eco-Friendly page about re-using household items instead of trashing them. One of my favorite things about frugality is that it more often than not overlaps with green living. I make it a point to recycle all of the newspapers, magazines, cereal boxes, jars, bottles, & plastic containers that I buy. I also keep a reusable bag in my "purse" so as not to use plastic bags. My favorite tip from the article is tip 3. Re purpose cereal box liners as wax paper for wrapping sandwiches. Read the entire article here.

With Earth Day coming up on April 22nd, let's take it one step further. Check out the Happy Housewife's post here on making a DIY Compost Bin. I bought my seeds today for my garden and cut my vegetables for the week tonight. As I threw out the scraps of the vegetables I was wishing I made that compost bin.

Active Frugality-Practicing What I Preach

It's Sunday and it is snowing here in upstate New York. I decided since I had a very busy week ahead to do another round of cooking. I have really been cooking weekly and preparing for the week ahead instead of monthly. As it gets closer to spring & summer I am going to try to do monthly baking days for bread, etc, and work on those things I can only prepare weekly, in addition to gardening and canning. Today I made a dozen eggs and a package of turkey bacon. I whisked the eggs in a bowl, poured them into a muffin tin I sprayed with cooking spray, and then chopped a few slices of turkey bacon and put those inside the egg cups. After they cooked and cooled, I put them in baggies in the refrigerator to grab on my way to work throughout the week. Once I get to work I pop it in the microwave and eat it with my oatmeal & latte. I need to figure it out, but I am at breakfast for about a dollar a day right now!!! I also tossed the rest of the turkey bacon into a bag for grab and go during the week.

Yesterday my husband made me a pot of vegetarian chili with dried beans I had soaked and cooked last week on cooking day. Today I made corn muffins and also bagged them and put them in the fridge to go with my chili. They can go with dinner too, or breakfast. I try not to eat too many, they are about 170 calories each, but they are a nice treat with my healthy chili.

Aldi had bricks of cheese on sale last week for $1.29. Hubs and I stopped by and bought a few and I grated them and bagged them in 2 cup portions. I cannot believe that 1 standard size brick of cheese is 4 cups of grated cheese. That makes a serious case to me for buying bricks instead of shredded cheese from now on.

I cut up my heads of lettuce and put them in a produce saver container for quick salads with dinner this week.

Dinner for tonight has been cooking in the crock pot for these past two and half hours, and I am so glad because I am tired. I may put some whole wheat pasta on to boil for dinner one night this week as well. I have a few ideas of what we'll be having for dinner this week, so I am off to sit down (aah) and create a menu guide! My husband and I will be on completely different schedules this week so I might be better off cooking and refrigerating most meals for the week so we can both just heat, eat and go.

How did you do this week? Leave a comment-I am really interested in your ideas and tips!!!

Stephanie

Active Frugality Skill # 2- Gardening

A green thumb is something I lack, but I have been able to grow a garden with a fairly good rate of success. Last year we grew tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, green beans, broccoli, lettuce, and squash. Basically, I used the garden for fresh vegetables for the gardening season, and now I am back to purchasing fresh vegetables weekly. As I have been reading online and looking at my Ball Canning & Preserving Book, I have come to realize I should be growing as large a garden I can afford time and money to grow. My plan is to grow more of each vegetable, and can or freeze it for use during the rest of the year. Now, I am not going to get carried away and grow 40 tomato plants (I hope), but I am going to grow enough so that we can make our own homemade pasta sauce, bruschetta, and possibly ketchup for at least a half the winter. As far as squash and peppers go, I will be freezing those on cookie sheets and then bagging them up and storing them in the freezer until needed. The best part of that is being able to prepare them the way I want, so I can have diced peppers in my eggs, or strips to make fajitas, or slicing the zucchini into thin rounds to make Zucchini-roni Pizza by Rachel Ray, mmmm.

Now is probably a good time for you to begin making a plan for where your garden will be, how you will set it up, and what you want to grow, how much, OK OK,you get the point. My plan is to assess how much we need for our family, and then see if we have space for any extra, so that we can make extra to give as gifts. Don't forget to factor in the cost of any seeds.

Once you have this part figured out you will want to start looking for sales and coupons for the containers you will need to adequately store these items for the winter. I am thinking I'll be stocking up on plastic freezer and sandwich bags, and canning jars in various sizes, and wax & other accessories that go along with canning. Canning jars can often be found at Goodwill, yard sales, etc.

You can draw advice from around the web, including this post at Frugal Family Fun Blog, and this website by Ball. I do recommend purchasing the Ball Blue Book or at least borrowing it from your local Library. Don't forget about the experience you have around you, your mother and grandmother probably have canned and preserved before!! I will be asking Mom for help, I remember her making jam when we were kids.

If you don't have much yard space for gardening, get creative and use your Library and the web to find alternate methods. Type container garden in to your search engine- mine found over 1200 sites. Grow fresh herbs in pots around the house- they do not have to stay in the kitchen. Also, you can buy items on sale at great prices and still freeze and can the items for future use, as you would if you were making meals for Once a Month Cooking, see more about that here. I was considering doing the same when our local grocery store had bags of onions B1G1F.

So, for homework, start checking out books from the Library, check prices on canning supplies on your next store trip, and plan out what your needs are, and get ready to play in the dirt!!!!

Posted by Stephanie

Active Frugality

Skill #1 Once A Month Cooking (OAMC)

Frugal is a state of mind. I get a little rush when I get a great deal, or when I make something last a bit longer, stretch a bit farther. There is no more satisfying night of sleep then when I get creative and find new uses for old things. Does this sound like you? If not, then you need this post more than I need to write it.

Being frugal is a necessity for most of us, right? In these economic times we have to clip coupons, stretch the milk, keep down the electric bill, just to make ends meet. For me, it is more than that, I like it! It is a Game! I have been watching my savings accounts go up, little by little, and I want it to go up more.

I am going to share some more ways I play my “game” because I think these add to my bottom line over the long run, beyond the next deal, and the deal after that. I am calling it Active Frugality. The bottom line is that the couponing, online communities, free samples, giveaways, etc are all really great tools you can use to stretch your budget, but what will you do when the coupons are gone, or the deal is over, and your stockpile is running low?

Well, if you are actively frugal you have other tools that you can rely on. A few months back I wound up with frozen whole grain waffles for less than $1 per box, but I had about 4 coupons, so I could only get 4 boxes, with 8 in a box, they didn’t last long. So what do I do now? Once a Month Cooking (OAMC). It may be one of the best tools I have at my disposal. It is only limited by my imagination and ability to read. I used Google, and a few cookbooks, and made some whole grain waffles of my own, Ok, my husband made them for me.

We made about 20 waffles, and after they cooled I broke them up and put 2 triangles each in Ziploc bags, and put them in the freezer. During the week I grab some pre-cooked turkey bacon, and some syrup, and I have breakfast-cheap, inexpensive, healthy breakfast.

After that the light bulb turned on. I can make a lot of items from scratch, saving time and money in the process. Right now I am experimenting with making my favorite store bought instant latte mix, to save myself about $3 a week. Last year I realized I could buy a week’s worth of Latte for $3, instead of $3 per day at the Coffee House. Now, my “skills” have developed more and I am trying to get that down to pennies a day.

Homework: Think about some foods that your family eats a lot of and how you can use OAMC to benefit you.

Tools: Check out some of these Tools:
Jane4Girls - Potatoes
MoneySavingMom - Baking Day


Please leave comments and share your tips!!!!