Five Frugal Things | a tidy-the-fridge edition

I need to do a better job with frugality especially now that my husband is working less. And I have one kid approaching driving age…need to save money where I can to spend on insurance…and a car she can drive. Let’s see…. -I picked up some fast and easy to make things for the freezer in case plans go awry…cheaper than takeout -I organized the freezer and pantry and have been planning meals around using up that food - I found water bottles that my son cannot easily break and have been patiently buying some when they go on sale - I was able to join a Bible study group While my kids are doing youth group and awanas at our church. So it’s less running around. We all go to one location to do our Sunday activities.

Yup! The lids made me twitchy! Haha! Great prepping. I used to be good at this and you are inspiring me to get back at it. Where’s Chiquita during all this?

I'll try to come up with FFT... 1. I got a gift card from donating blood which I used at the convenience store for my purchase. 2. We haven't had to run our AC unit to sleep at night for a few weeks, saving us on our electric bill. 3. We applied for a low mileage rate on Hubby's truck since it qualified, thus saving $ on our monthly insurance bill. 4. The food pantry that operates out of my work building gifted me peaches, potatoes, green grapes, macaroni salad and 6 ears of corn which wouldn't last until the next food distribution. We also got a bag of zucchini from hubby's coworker's garden. 5. I froze over-ripe bananas for future baking.

1. We’ve had some low humidity weather and it’s been wonderful to open up the windows at night to cool the house down rather than turn on the AC.

2. I made a use-it-up Indian stew using two mini eggplants, some of my massive haul of gifted peppers, and some of the previously chopped and frozen kale and golden oyster mushrooms. It was a nice departure from our usual meal rotation and I find it challenging to use fresh produce before it goes off. I usually prefer frozen for that reason, but won’t say no to free food!

3. Picked up a free monthly Hallmark card and used a coupon to purchase an anniversary card for a reasonable price.

4. Also in the spirit of not saying no to free food! After choir practice last night someone was giving away “half a ton” of vegetables from his car and I was the only one interested! I came away with a massive amount of fruit and vegetables– a whole flat of grapes, an entire banana box filled with swiss chard, eggplants, potatoes, turnips, lettuce, celery, bananas, bell peppers, broccoli, and I’m probably forgetting something else. And cottage cheese and english muffins. I think he’s a bit of a food activist and tries to salvage food from various distribution points that would otherwise be thrown away, so I’m guessing more free food could be in my future. But now I need to do some massive food prep a la Kristen!

5. Finally managed to cut my toddler’s hair despite many protests and much wiggling. Not specifically frugal as it’s not like we would have paid anyone else to do it, but it was at least satisfying. It is definitely a hack job!

Frugal “fail”: I accidentally had some Starbucks stars expire before I could redeem them for a pastry. I really like their ham and cheese croissants but would not ever pay OOP for one.

I never, ever listen to anything that has to be piped into my ears. I would like to be more efficient, as you are with cleaning and listening (at 2X speed, no less!) but the few times I have tried it, all I did was obsess about how soon I could yank the ear buds out.

1. Sold some jewelry on eBay. It belonged to my grandmother, one piece dating back from before the Tsar was overthrown (she was 13 when that happened, so since she lived to be 99 and 11 months, I heard a lot about those times in Russia). I have never worn any of the items, because I prefer rings to other ornamentation. Still, I felt sad about getting rid of her stuff. No other relatives wanted it so I finally let it go. My hesitation faded when I realized it could possibly end up in the dump if someone thought it was costume jewelry when it is really intricate and ornate solid silver and amber. She literally saved this stuff by burying it in a park and then retrieving after the war. Then she sewed it up in the hems of her clothing to get it to the US without having it stolen. I felt like attaching a history card to each piece. She would be glad to know we made money from the sale of it. 2. Did the semi-annual inventory of our chest freezer so are eating out of that now that I can plan meals better. I also realized I do not need to buy more butter, as we have 23 pounds of it frozen. Also, more than 40 pounds of salmon. Nothing needed to be discarded due to freezer burn. 3. Free evening entertainment sitting on the porch, drinking hot chocolate and watching the northern lights. They are common but this week the display has been especially colorful. Easier to do now, when it is in the 30s than when it is in the minus 30s! 4. Accepted another breastless rotisserie chicken carcass from the bachelor who won't eat any of the rest of the bird. We had two meals from it plus it is now in the slow cooker making stock. 5. library for books and puzzles.

Frugal fail: I don't know what happened to our rescue Dane surrounding his claws, but he absolutely goes nuts if you try to clip them. We have tried every trick, including slathering peanut butter on the husband's forehead so the dog would get distracted and lick it off while husband did a quick trim. There is a nail clipping service that will come to your house, so we tried that. It worked once when he first came and was younger and had been starved so was lighter. Even then it was a struggle. We called them again but this time it was a $50 fail. Three of us could not restrain his 185 pounds and we quickly stopped before we terrorized him even more. Next stop, the vet later this week. They can lightly tranquilize him, to the tune of $100. Poor guy. He is still a puppy at 14 months so I had hopes of training him to accept clipping but no luck so far.