Are your dollars not stretching as far as they used to? Everyone has different reasons for wanting or needing to cut back. I thought I’d start sharing some frugal things that we do, in a monthly series, as a way to not only encourage myself to stay on tract, but maybe give someone with similar goals some ideas.
Please feel free to share what frugal things you have been doing in the comments! You never know who you might help by sharing your frugal accomplishments.
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The garden is producing so I’ve been able to harvest some vegetables. I hope it cools down because my tomatoes are not liking this heat! (most tomatoes don’t like to set new fruit in temps above 90).
I’ve been getting tons of cucumbers though! Cucumber salad is refreshing in this heat and we also put them in our morning breakfast smoothies. I planted little pumpkins to use in decorating this fall – got one already. The blueberries and blackberries are ripening so soon we’ll have fresh berries!
My husband replaced the burners on our grill instead of buying a whole new grill! He ordered the parts online and they were easy to install.
I stumbled upon lots of marked down chicken in June! Most of it I stuck in my crockpot to cook. It’s really a money saver to have already cooked chicken or ground beef in the freezer. It makes putting together a meal so much quicker which keeps you from eating out!
I spray painted two seat cushions for chairs that I keep in my vegetable garden with some apple green spray paint I already had. So far so good – we’ve had plenty of rain and they still look good. Even if they only look good for the rest of summer – it still saves me buying new cushions! Here’s the DIY – Spray Painted Outdoor Cushions
I got a few free books for my Kindle using my Amazon Gift Certificates that I earned doing Swagbucks and Bing. We also got some free magazines using Barnes & Nobles gift certificates we earned doing Viggle.
I made homemade healthy peanut butter cup type treats. Only mine are made with natural almond butter and I made my chocolate with coconut oil and cocoa powder. I combined a few recipes so I don’t have a recipe to share but I have quite a few homemade candy recipes on my Homemade Solutions Pinterest Board. You know, people used to make their own candy and it was a once in while treat.
Discovered the 1/2 salads at Wendy’s! I know…may seem weird but we haven’t eaten in a Wendy’s or McDonalds in almost 10 years! We do go to Chick-Fil-A now and then when we’re out and can’t get home to eat lunch and used to get salads there. Anyway, for the occasional fast food run a 1/2 a salad at $3.99 a salad is a lot better than getting a full salad at Chick-Fil-A!
Started reclaiming the water I use to wash veggies/fruit, the water from boiling eggs/pasta etc to use on my containers on my front porch. This way I don’t have to use the hose (and pay for water). I keep a bowl in the sink to catch the water, which I empty into a bucket I keep close by. We also use the bucket to catch the cold water while waiting for the water to heat up in the shower. It’s something I do every summer since our city charges such high rates for water usage and I have so many plants that need watering out front.
Those are my highlights for June, what frugal things have you done this month?
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Great ideas Manuela! I make sure to menu plan so I only buy what I need at the store for the week. It really cuts down on last minute runs to the grocery store. I also love to cook once for multiple meals. When we grill we grill enough meats for a few days. It was really hot and humid here the [ast week so I grilled my bread instead od baking and heating up the house. I just divided up the dough into equal chinks, rolled it out flat and grilled it. It puffs up and is very much like pita bread but moister and it tastes fantastic with pesto, fresh tomatoes and thinly sliced onion:>)
Good tip about cooking for multiple meals, especially the grill. I need to do that. My husband is the grill master – I’m afraid to turn it on 🙂 So I need to make sure he has more meat defrosted than for one meal. Great tip!
Yumm! Your grilled bread sounds soooo delicious I’m tempted to ask for the recipe. Sadly I’ve given up wheat for the most part. It’s not made with almond flour is it (asking hopefully)?
Sorry, it’s a honey whole wheat french bread, rcipe on the blog, but if you have a bread recipe you can eat why not try it on the grill? Earl does our grilling, we have a charcoal grill so it gets the full use of the coals to make sure we cook several meals at once.
Those are some great ideas – thanks for sharing. Thanks for the tip about W’s 1/2 salads, as I did not know about them. I don’t go there that often and did not know they had them – will check it out soon. I also freeze leftovers for future meals. Reminds me – I need to get busy as the supply is dwindling.
Enjoy your evening and stay cool.
You have such a knack of putting things together. Your containers look so great.
Thank you Linda!
Your flower containers must really like that leftover water – they are doing fantastic!! Really pretty!
Judy
My favorite topic!
Closed off 2 unused bedrooms to save on a/c
Made 2 birthday gifts
Watched YouTube sows on our tv through the Roku- I love not having a cable bill
Used coupons and shopped local sales carefully
Found 2 great sales on lean ground beef. Some went into chili and taco meat and the other was frozen in half pounds
Our water rates are going up so I am going to be doing more water conservation too.
As a single person, all my frugal hints are of the buy big and beak down variety..but it works..
for instance, I don’t like white meat, so buying even a half chicken is a waste of money..I like thighs, so buy them on sale, only at nearby markets, and break ’em down into 2- thigh serving portions, freeze and have them ready whenever…
I always use my veggie steam water on my houseplants-they love it, and get lots of good nutrients that way, so I save on plant fertilizer..
Also, because I am a country mouse these days, driving into town means using up expensive gas, so I try my darnedest to organize things so that I do the multiple tasks and shopping things I have to do and confine it to once a week if possible…saves money and aggravation..
The most frugal thing I can think of doing is doing without..most of the time you find that you can do without whatever it was that you thought you needed quite easily.
I try to group errands too.
I’ve been really concentrating on using what we have and also combining coupons with sales. Our grocery bill has gone down alot and we are much more organized with grocery buying.
I like your idea of saving the water for plants. If you think about it, lots of water goes down the drain. Its been unusually wet here lately, so we haven’t had to water outside plants much.
Yay for the grocery bill going down! I think you’re one of the few people I’ve heard say that in a long time!
We’ve been getting lots of crazy afternoon thunderstorms but I find that it’s so hot that many of my containers need to be watered two times a day!
Wonderful ideas! I especially like the catching the cold water while waiting for it to heat up! My plants will love it!! Thanks for joining TTF this week!
Linda
Great ideas as always! I collect rain water for my plants that need additional watering. As much as we have had lately it’s been easy to managed & helped immensely.
My other thrifty move was to cut off cable. My kids had a fit a first (& they rarely watch TV anyway) but I just can’t stand the concept of paying for TV, especially since I don’t watch it much either. There isn’t a lot on these days that appeals to me.
Good for you! I’m the only one here willing to go without cable.
I love the idea about saving the water! We’re clearly not in a drought right now (thank God) but BOY could I have used this idea in years past. Regardless, I want to remember it now.
I made 1/2 gallon of yogurt today, which should last me 1.5 to 2 wks. Made sun tea so as not to heat the house or use propane. Watered porch planters with recaptured water from kitchen sink. We have a rain barrel and and underground 16′ cement cistern that collects rainwater from the roof for use in the garden. I like to cook-once eat-twice method of cooking so my freezer is full of main entrees to heat-n-eat during this hot, humid Texas summer. Thanks for sharing your tips!. (visiting from DIY Linky)
~Taylor-Made Ranch~
Wolfe City, Texas
Here I thought I was so frugal and I’ve been pouring the water from the dish pan where I wash my veggies down the drain! Not, anymore. 🙂
I always learn something from you!
Hi Manuela!
Love these tips and ideas… I use some of the same water saving techniques too. We’ve not had much rain lately…and our temps are reaching over 100° now. I guess that means no tomatoes for us…and recycling the water will help to keep the ornamental pretties on the porch from looking parched. (excuse the alliteration)
I haven’t used our crock-pot much this summer, I generally like to …need to pull it out and do it. Seems like we’ve taken to eating sandwiches or eating out. :/
Eating out…eats up the budget, she says as she slurps on her 1/2 price Chocolate Banana Malt… 🙂
… as always love these little reminders for living frugal, thanks for sharing. Pat
What a great idea about reclaiming the water from watching veggies, etc. I never considered that. Great way to save on watering plants! Fabulous tip! Found you at Frugal Days, Sustainable Ways. 🙂