Frugal Fridays #1

So, I’ll post on Fridays some of the things that I’ve done to save money that week. I think I’ll also post some [frugal fails] of the week as well. Because I have plenty of them, and I think transparency is a good thing. The blogosphere has a way of hiding our flaws, and only showing our successes. I’m not an expert. I’m not a purist. I’m learning daily. I stumble just as often as I learn, though. That goes for all things…economics included.

Accomplishments:

– I used a left over chicken carcass from dinner to make stock. I added in some veggie scraps that I keep in a baggie in the freezer. It’ll be used in tonight’s chicken and rice soup.

– I made 2 loaves of whole wheat sandwich bread (recipe to come soon…it’s so good!).

– I cooked up 4 lbs of dry beans and froze them for later use (much cheaper than buying canned). Canning them is my preferred way of storing beans, but I’m currently out of lids and need to purchase more. I’ll be ordering some Tattler reusable lids and trying them for the first time.

– I made banana walnut muffins with some bananas that got too mushy for fresh eating.

– I harvested some kale for zuppa toscana soup.

– I have stuck to the monthly menu plan.

– I started a bandana quilt for one of my sons for Christmas. I used coupons and found a good price on the bandanas to keep the price low. (pictures and tutorial to come once it’s finished!)

-I sewed a Christmas dress for my daughter. I used this tutorial….I love it! I used coupons for the materials and only spent about $12 for the fabric, yarn, thread, and I also needed to replace some of my bobbins and sewing machine needles. Not too shabby!

Sorry for the dark cell phone picture. It was late at night when I finished and I just snapped this quick picture.

– We had family pictures taken using a Groupon deal. We haven’t had a family picture since we only had 2 kids…so we were way overdue! We shopped at a thrift store using a coupon for our outfits.

– I finally managed to get the ammonia funk out of our diapers (added white vinegar to a soak cycle and let them sit over night then rinsed them, in case you’re wondering)…so we’re back in cloth diapers after a 2 week hiatus. And by “we”, I mean my son. Not me. To be clear. Ahem…

Fumbles:

-I had to throw away 10 oranges that got moldy. I’m not sure why they went bad so quickly since I bought them less than a week ago. Pretty disappointing.

– My husband splurged and bought me a vacuum cleaner. Not a cheap one. I was planning to wait and look for Black Friday deals, but I haven’t had a functioning vacuum cleaner in about 18 months and he wanted to surprise me. He’s pretty dreamy like that. Or maybe he just got sick of the gross carpets. Either way, after getting over the sticker shock, I am thoroughly enjoying my clean carpets.

– I’m pretty sure we’ll run out of coffee and creamer before my November shopping trip. So I’ll be making a trip to the store. I’m willing to sacrifice a  lot in the name of saving money. Coffee isn’t one of them.

– Library late fee. Yeah.

Goals for this week:

– Plant some lettuce seeds in the window sill for microgreens.

– Can some apple butter.

– Continue making our bread instead of buying it.

– Make  a batch of yogurt and a batch of granola.

- Finish preparing the garden for winter. 

What frugal accomplishments/flubs did you have this week? I’d love to turn this into a link-up at some point!