Successes/Blessings: I was able to barter with a friend. She gave me a pack of onesies, and in return I gave her a container of peanut butter. I know that this friend would have just given me the onesies because she was going to donate them anyway, but I really like bartering whenever possible. I think it’s something that people could/should do more often. It’s old fashioned, but really, people these days are struggling in ways similar to the way they did “back in the day” with too much month at the end of their money. So if I have something that someone needs, and they have something that I need…why not barter?! I made 2 loaves of peasant bread to eat with a pot of soup. I don’t have the correct size pyrex containers that this woman uses, so I just baked the bread in 9 inch pie dishes … like a faux focaccia. My husband and kids go crazy for this bread! We’ve kept the furnace off except at night thanks to the pellet stove. I cleaned out 3 drawers of my dresser to make room for some baby clothes/diapers etc. This is in place of buying another dresser for baby for the time that he is sleeping in our room. I’ll be brainstorming clothing storage ideas for the boys’ room since there will be 4 of them in there! But I wasn’t about to go out and buy a new dresser, or pay $20 for a plastic storage drawers that my boys would inevitably destroy anyway. Someday I’d love a family closet… I got hubby 3 large tubes of […]
Archives for January 2015
Frugal Fridays #12
We are healthy. Finally. It feels good to say that. Cold/flu season isn’t over yet, but hopefully we can stay healthy for the remainder of it. Mostly healthy anyway. I am very much feeling the 3rd trimester at this point, so I’m not able to be as productive as usual, but we’re getting by fine. The house is less clean, the kids are eating more peanut butter and jelly, and I leave my house as few times a week as possible due to lots of low back/pelvic pain (this is typical for me due mostly to the fact that I tend to have pretty big babies. My midwife has confirmed that I’m not dilating or anything like that. So no worries, just discomfort). Starting around week 34, I usually start obnoxious amounts of prodromal labor that doesn’t go away until baby is born. So I’ve got that to look forward to. Yay. 😉 Successes/Blessings: I knitted a sleep sack and a baby cocoon for the little one- pictured above. I didn’t use a pattern for the sack (blue), just kind of went with it, and the yarn was given to me in a box of mystery yarn by a friend of my mom’s. For the cocoon (white and green), I used this pattern. I don’t normally pay for patterns, but this one is going to be for baby’s Baptism, so I didn’t mind a little bit of a splurge. I purchased that yarn on sale and have plenty left over to make another sleep sack and some hats. It was my first time doing colorwork. Aside from a bit of puckering, I think it […]
Frugal Fridays #11
We’ve finally started to turn the corner with this virus that’s been coursing through our house since December 26th. We’re not totally healthy yet, but the fevers and constant runny noses are gone, the ear infections and pink eye are healed, and just a typical cough remains. Thank God! I hope this is the last time we’re sick this season, as I’m about 9 weeks out from my due date and really need to be healthy when baby comes. I also need to be healthy enough to start getting things in order for his arrival. I need to sew some sheets for the play yard, and crochet some baby cocoons. I also need to buy a new car seat, and some baby socks and onesies. And I’m hoping and praying to have the extra time, energy, and money to stock up a few freezer meals. We’ll see. 😉 Here is my frugal report for the week: Successes/Blessings: We used a gift card to purchase more pellet fuel. We ordered a pallet (52 bags) at the end of Summer, but we’ve already burned through that. Next year we’ll need to save up enough to purchase 2 pallets worth. Even though the wind chills have dipped to -25 degrees, we’ve managed to keep our furnace off most of the time thanks to our pellet stove! I made a large batch of laundry detergent. I use this recipe, minus the Purex crystals. I earned 2 credits on paperbackswap.com when I posted a couple of old books I found in my closet. I used the credits to purchase books that we’ll be reading next in our US […]
Treating a Ear Pain Naturally
It’s the worst feeling in the world when your kids are sick and you’re limited in what you can do to help them. This winter has been a doozy for us. We’ve been sick almost nonstop, regardless of any preventative and natural remedies we’ve put into place. I’m not one to run to the pediatrician’s office at the first sign of illness. Two of my 4 kids have never been on antibiotics before. Not because I’m staunchly anti-antibiotic or anything. It’s just that we haven’t needed them. We don’t get sick often, and when we do get sick, it’s usually something that I can treat at home. But in this case, my 2 year old’s fever was getting pretty high, and he was in a lot of discomfort and had been getting progressively worse despite all of my mama-made efforts and prayers. So, we went to the pediatrician, who confirmed my suspicion. We had a viral respiratory bug (aka: a nasty cold), which had caused bacterial infection in little man’s ear and eyes. He wrote us a prescription for “the pink stuff” to help with the ear infection, and antibiotic eye drops for the eye goop. However, he also told me that a lot of the pink eye and ear infections he’s treated this season have been very antibiotic resistant. In some cases it has taken 3 rounds of antibiotics to kick them. So if we didn’t see any improvement in 48 or so hours, to call him and we’d try something else. Great. So we went home and gave him his first dose and then settled in for the night. Around 2am, I heard […]
Creamy Butternut Squash and Broccoli Pasta (An *almost* one-pot dish!)
This recipe evolved out of many of the One Pot dishes that I’ve been seeing on Pinterest lately. I was looking for a pasta dish that was creamy, but didn’t require a lot of heavy cream or butter, both for nutritional and budgetary reasons. I also had particular veggies in mind that I’d like to use, namely butternut squash and broccoli, because that’s what’s in season right now and affordable. So this is what I came up with…and it was a real hit! The kids loved it, and my husband was pleasantly surprised – he gets a little skeptical whenever he sees more than one veggie in the same dish ;). Cooking the pasta in the milk makes it quite creamy, but the butternut squash adds even more creaminess without the added guilt or expense. 5.0 from 1 reviews Print Creamy Roasted Butternut Squash and Broccoli Pasta (An *almost* one-pot dish!) Author: Ashley M. @ www.growpraybuild.com Ingredients 1 small butternut squash, peeled and chopped Oil for roasting Salt and pepper to taste 1 pound frozen broccoli 4 Cups Chicken Broth 2 Cups milk 4 tablespoons butter 1 lbs pasta of choice (uncooked, I like farfalle) ½ cup parmesan cheese dash garlic powder Salt and pepper to taste Instructions Preheat oven to 375. Peel and dice the butternut squash in ½ inch cubes. Toss in oil, salt and pepper, and spread in a single layer on a cookie sheet. (Tip: I like to line the cookie sheet with parchment paper if I have it as the squash tends to stick.) Roast the squash for about 20-25 minutes, stirring every so often. At the 20 minute mark, […]
Frugal Fridays #10
Oh my goodness! This winter has been tough on us with all the colds. It started the day after Christmas, and hasn’t let up yet. We’ve been doing all the natural and homemade remedies, but it just doesn’t seem to be cutting it. I finally broke down and pulled out the Lysol and bleach to disinfect the house when it became apparent that the vinegar and essential oils were not going to kick this thing. I also had to take the 2 year old to the pediatrician when his cold turned into pink eye and a bad ear infection. This is the first time in almost 4 years that any of my kids have been on antibiotics, just to show you how stubborn this thing is! Since I’ve been running around for the last nearly 3 weeks either being sick myself or taking care of sick kiddos/husband, I haven’t accomplished most of the goals I’d hoped to accomplish. That’s okay, though. There will be time for projects and to-do lists later…right now my kiddos just need a mama to cuddle them and take care of them. Successes/Blessings: We ate leftovers for several lunches and dinners this week. We’ve been eating a lot of soups, which I’ve made double or triple batches of because I knew I wasn’t going to have a ton of time to be in the kitchen with all of these sick babies around. I stopped for coffee after a midwife appointment, and they made a mistake with mine. They realized the mistake before they even handed me my coffee and remade it for me…and gave me both! So I was able to […]
Saving on Groceries, Part 4
In this part of the Saving on Groceries Series, I will discuss how I utilize meal planning and Once a Month Shopping to cut down on our grocery expenses. The other parts in this series can be found in the Frugal Tips tab up above. Meal Planning I think, of all the ways I’ve learned to save money on groceries, having a meal plan has saved me the most time and money. I’ve been able to pare it down even more by shopping in bulk and cooking from scratch, but planning my meals and then shopping for only the meals I’ve planned has definitely been the biggest saver for me. My husband gets paid biweekly, so for the last 5 years, I have gone shopping every other week and planned 2 weeks worth of meals. At first I only planned dinners, and I had a basic rotation of breakfasts, lunches, and snacks that we would go through. Then as the family grew, appetites got larger, and food prices went up, I started planning breakfasts, lunches, dinners, and snacks for each day. This did a couple of things: I was able to figure out exactly how much of each ingredient I needed to buy, eliminating *most* of our food waste. Allowed me to have things planned ahead of time, so all I needed to do was look at the calendar the night before and see if I needed to thaw anything or prepare anything ahead of time. My husband is now able to check the calendar and help with meal times if I’m sick, busy, or just need a break (this is most […]
Goals for 2015
My goals this year will probably look a little different than previous years because we have a baby arriving in a few short months. This means I’ll be limited in how many projects I can take on, how many new skills I can learn, and how much I can do much of anything other than mommy stuff for the bulk of 2015. And you know…I’m really okay with that. It’ll be a struggle for me because I am a Type-A overachiever. I struggle to sit still…and stopping to smell the roses is just something that doesn’t occur to me naturally. But I’m learning. 😉 Garden Goals: Continue learning to grow as much of our own food as possible. I’d like to grow more herbs this year. I won’t be growing broccoli or cauliflower this year because they take up a lot of space and didn’t produce much. I hope to experiment with other varieties in the future, but this year I need to stick with what I know and with what works. I will be growing kale, tomatoes, peppers, beets, lettuce, onions, potatoes, (maybe) carrots, (maybe) cabbage, pumpkins, butternut squash, cucumbers, and zucchini. I haven’t finalized my garden plans yet, so this could change. I will be starting many things from seed. Thankfully I have seed saved from last year and the year before that I can use for most things, so I won’t need to buy much. I’ll be purchasing the tomatoes and peppers as starts from a local nursery that stocks heirloom varieties because I haven’t had a ton of luck winter sowing either of them, and I don’t have extra time […]
Frugal Fridays #9
This is my list for this week as well as the week of Christmas. Successes: – I harvested the 3 last heads of cabbage from my garden. I’ll probably make sauerkraut with them and maybe some cabbage soup. – I made a healing salve to give away to friends and family for Christmas using oil, dried calendula, and essential oils that I already had on hand, and beeswax that I’d gotten from my husband’s uncle this past summer. – I used address labels that I had left over from our wedding to print labels for the salve. I usually don’t hold on to anything that long that isn’t being used, but it was definitely nice to have these on hand this time! – I reused gift bags for birthday gifts for my sister in law, nephew, and a friend’s daughter. – I printed labels on cardstock that I was given by my mother in law several months ago to make labels for some of our Christmas gifts. – I got 2 food grade plastic buckets from my mom to use for food storage. They’re only 2 gallon buckets, but they didn’t cost a dime so I’m thankful! – I made shepherd costumes for the older boys’ Christmas play costumes out of sheets and other supplies around the house. – My husband gave the 3 boys a haircut. – I finally got our 50 lbs of rolled oats sealed in buckets. – I made enough bread dough for 6 loaves. I mixed the dough, let it go through the first rise, then shaped them into loaves and wrapped in plastic wrap to freeze. I’m going to […]
Christmas 2014!
I hope you all had a great Christmas with your friends and families! In the Catholic church, Christmas lasts until the Feast of the Baptism of Our Lord, which is on January 11th here. So, we’re still celebrating! This year we kept things very simple (just how we like it), with regards to both gifts and how many celebrations we try to attend each day. In the past we have enjoyed running from family party to family party, and I very much cherished spending that time with our loved ones. However, being pregnant this year forced me to slow down a little bit and we really enjoyed the slower pace. I got very sick the day after Christmas, which is why I haven’t posted in almost 2 weeks!! At first I thought it was the flu, but now I think it was just a really bad upper respiratory infection. I woke up December 26th with a little tickle in my chest like a cold was coming on. By that evening, I had a fever of 102-103, aches, chills, and a very sore throat. My husband got it pretty much the same as I did. I finally put a call in to my midwife when I was having trouble keeping my fever down with acetaminophen, which concerned me because I know a high fever during pregnancy can cause issues. She called in an antibiotic for me, and we’ve just been hobbling along since. The antibiotic did help and my fever went down within 24 hours. (Low grade fevers don’t concern me as much, and I know them to be a good thing…but it […]
