I've been employing the usual cost-saving strategies, such as hanging laundry to dry, gardening, cooking from scratch, shopping second hand. But I've also plunged right in to many other active frugal endeavors.
I've baked a lot -- from graham crackers to French bread, from zucchini muffins to hot dog buns, and a large batch of biscotti. Baking from scratch saves a bundle over buying these same items at the a bakery or grocery store.
I made donuts, not just once, but twice, over the weekend, using my French bread dough, and upping the sugar just a smidge. We estimated that we saved about $10 on home donut-making. And fresh-made donuts are crispy and delicious!
I made a large batch of pinto bean sandwich spread for lunches. I followed my garbanzo bean sandwich spread recipe, substituting pinto beans for the garbanzos. I froze several jars, to use in future weeks. Peanut butter is a standard for sandwiches in our house. But the price of peanut butter has been high the past 2 years. Bean-based sandwich spreads save us about $1 per jar, over jars of peanut butter.
I froze my pears, using lemon juice, instead of ascorbic acid to prevent browning (about 2-3 tablespoons per pint container, sprinkled over the blanched pears, before adding sugar syrup). I am hoping we'll enjoy these this winter. If we do, then a couple of favorite recipes that call for canned pears, can be made with my home-grown, frozen pears, saving us a couple of $$ on store bought canned pears.
I've been rejuvenating clothing, with patches, dye and taking in seams. I have repaired, restyled and restored 8 pairs of jeans and pants in the last few weeks. I have one more pair of jeans and one skort in my pile to alter. Rejuvenating clothing has saved us over $100.
I patched all my daughters' casual socks. I'd hoped to replace all these socks at the end of summer, but now it looks like we need to make them last a few months longer (guess what Santa will be putting in the stockings this December?). New socks would have cost $15 on sale this fall. Santa will be buying socks at an annual 50% off sock sale, the day after Thanksgiving.
I made several gifts, both birthday and Christmas. And I'll continue making gifts for the next couple of months. I made these gifts, using only materials that I had at home. I have no idea how much I have saved making gifts. And this type of frugal activity is fun!
I made a batch of ketchup. I didn't follow a recipe, but borrowed my ketchup-loving daughter's taste buds, while I combined minced onion, vinegar, tomato paste, sugar, salt, lemon juice and water. It came out to our liking -- very tomato-y. We made a better product, skipping ingredients that commercial products contain, for about 25% less than store-bought ketchup.
I made a half gallon of wild blackberry pancake syrup. Oh man, is that stuff heaven! One of the jars has been set aside as a Christmas gift. My daughters picked the blackberries for us. We have many places nearby, where wild blackberries are found in abundance.
I've been working in the gardens, making them as beautiful as possible, using my efforts in place of new plants. I am saving some money for daffodil bulbs, for a couple of patches on the property. I finished the spot where I began in spring, with a dry river bed, some hostas, a couple of rhododendrons, and some hydrangeas. Over the years, I'll divide the hostas, and fill the space, as well as move some purple and white crocus to underplant them with. I'll take some photos and post them soon.
And I finally did some grocery shopping. When September hit, I assessed my pantry and went to the restaurant supply to buy what feels like the basics for us. I thought long and hard about which items were our family's essentials. I brought my calculator to the wholesaler, and unit-priced in the aisles. And in almost every case, I went with large institutional sizes.
So, fill me in. What's been keeping you busy this last week?
