Home Sweet Frugal Home #2

Are your dollars not stretching as far as they used to? I know mine aren’t! So I thought I’d start sharing some frugal things that we do as a way to encourage myself and maybe give someone in a similar situation some ideas. 

Be sure to check out the comments in Home Sweet Frugal Home # 1 here for more money saving ideas!

Here are a few highlights of some recent frugal things I’ve done:

This may seem like an odd thing to include in a frugal roundup post, but one thing I’ve started doing is wearing an apron while cooking. I have about 5 or 6 cute aprons and used to rarely wear them. Then I’d be making tomato sauce (it always splatters) and I’d get sauce on myself or somehow I would get whatever I’m cooking on myself. I’ve ruined so many perfectly good shirts this way! This should help me save money in my clothing budget!

–cut my husband’s hair (I’ve been doing this for years)

–froze leftovers instead of keeping them in the fridge where I’m bound to forget about them and then had leftover buffet for lunch one day. Wasted very little food this way!

Went to the library and checked out a few dvd’s and books. Also got the last 5 issues of Real Simple for 50 cents at the library (all magazines are 10 cents each at my library). I was quite excited because I never buy this magazine and the cover always looks good.  I think I spent 50 cents too much  !!

–saved my orange and lemons peels and added to them to white vinegar to soak for when I need to make some more scented all-purpose cleaner

My amazing daughter made homemade whole wheat tortillas and then used them to make  taquitos. This was all inspired by the fact that I said no to buying a box of taquitos when we went grocery shopping. Her homemade baked version was delicious and much healthier than buying a box of frozen ones. I also froze the tortillas she didn’t use.

She also made homemade crackers. This was her first time for making both! They were also delicious!! She had a bit of trouble trying to roll the cracker dough thin – any suggestions?

-In the garden -I harvested more tomatoes , a handful of green beans, 2 bell peppers and enough leaves of kale and swiss chard everyday to add to our morning smoothies. Also planted some lettuce, spinach and radishes. It’s been too hot for lettuce to grow so I’ve had to buy some all summer, but now that it’s cooling a bit it’s a perfect time to seed some.

I pulled the garlic I planted last fall about a month ago and have been letting it dry in the garage. I think I have enough organic garlic to last a few months

So that’s just a bit of some of the frugal things we’ve been doing lately.

What have you done lately that’s frugal?

Originally posted on A Cultivated Nest.