I hope you’re all enjoying Thanksgiving this week! We have so much to be thankful for this year. Most of all, I’m thankful for God’s love and mercy in our family…and for our actual family itself, including this little one growing in my belly. We are so excited to meet him! I’m also incredibly thankful to the men and women who serve in our country’s Armed Forces, protecting us, and sacrificing Thanksgiving dinner with their own families so that we can be safe at home.
I know many of you are probably out taking advantage of Black Friday deals at the moment. I may take a trip out to Joann’s to pick up some more fabric for the quilts I’m making for my kiddos for Christmas. I normally hibernate on Black Friday, but this year there really are some things that I could use a good deal on … mostly fabric and thread for Christmas projects.
Successes:
- I made a gallon of yogurt in the crockpot.
- I made a batch of granola in the crockpot.
- We used our museum membership to attend a free event at our local 18th Century Living History museum. The theme of the event was “Preparing for the Holidays in the 18th Century.” We saw hog butchering, tallow candle making, lard rendering, soap making, baking, and much more. We purchase a museum membership each year and it pays for itself usually within 2-3 visits.
- We were given a case of family pack Kraft macaroni and cheese. ::Gasp:: I know, right? 😉 Don’t worry. This isn’t a typical item on our menu. My father works for a freight company and when a box gets dented or a label gets torn, they can’t deliver it and it gets thrown away. Sometimes he’s able to give it to us instead. I’ll treat the kids to a couple of lunches (and they’ll think I’m the coolest mom ever…for a day). The rest will go into our storage for an emergency or for donation. In an emergency, such as temporary income loss, sometimes it’s more important to just *have food* than to have everything organic and perfectly wholesome. For this reason, I don’t turn down much of anything.
- We used gift cards to purchase winter boots for my daughter and sneakers for my son who had both outgrown their previous pair.
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I swapped 2 books on paperbackswap.com
- I got the turkey carcass from Thanksgiving dinner at my inlaws for making stock.
- I made dishwasher detergent.
Fumbles:
- I attempted to render beeswax from some honeycomb that my husband’s uncle, A Beekeeper, let me practice on. I only got about 1/2 cup of wax from about 5 foundations…so I clearly did something wrong. I’m going to ask Uncle S. to come help me next time. I feel horrible for not getting as much wax as I should have…sort of feels like I wasted it all!
Like with all things, though, it’s a learning process. - We purchased storebought creamer. Not a major fumble. Honestly we just haven’t found a homemade creamer recipe that we absolutely love, yet. So every once in a while, we break down and buy the yummy stuff. I’ll keep trying recipes in hopes of finding a permanent replacement.
Goals:
- I’ll be working hard the next few weeks to get homemade Christmas gifts done. That will take up a big chunk of my time.
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How did you save money this week?
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I don’t see fumbles at all. Like you said the beeswax rendering has is a learning curve and you’re learning something you’ll find useful in the future. Good for you! And your creamer is something you enjoy so it’s wonderful you’ve purchased it. We can’t all spin our own wool or churn our own butter (kudos to those that do!) I look at my own self-sufficiency journey like this – I’ll pursue those things I find most important and not sweat the small stuff – to me it’s all about moderation. Congrats on all your successful accomplishments. Like you I always make my own yogurt, although I use an oven method. It’s so ridiculously easy, super inexpensive and it leaves precious little landfill-bound trash – things that are important to me. I’ve also been making my own pumpkin granola for several years for the same 3 reasons. Thanks for sharing this post (visiting from the Homestead Barn Hop)
~Taylor-Made Ranch Homestead~
Texas
Hi Texas- you’re right about moderation. That’s something I struggle with in general. I either want all or nothing. And nothing isn’t acceptable, so it’s gotta be “all.” It’s an aspect of my personality that I really have to keep in check, or else it can turn into me running myself into the ground trying to do *more* and *better.* Thanks for the reminder and the kind words!
Homemade yogurt is the best
As for creamer, we’ve started buying good old plain heavy cream. If we want extra flavor or sweetener, we add it to our own tastes. A large container goes a long way.
Jody, good thoughts on the heavy cream. I’ll have to try that next time I go grocery shopping. We used to do half and half, but I struggled to find a non-ultra pasteurized version so I kind of gave up. I may have better luck finding non-ultra pasteurized heavy cream, though!
Love your Frugal Fridays! My father owns a trucking company and we were able to receive lots of dented boxes, etc., when we lived closed by (what a blessing)! Like you, I can’t throw anything away. Once in a while of most things won’t kill us… I was able to curb my creamer cravings with raw honey and heavy cream each morning. Heavy cream isn’t the cheapest but at least it is healthier. Thank for sharing on the Art of Home-Making Mondays this week!
Things like boxed brownies are a big treat in this house and we get to get things cheap or free and pass on something that is out of the ordinary to the family. I am sure they will enjoy and they won’t go to waste which is the most important thing. My mom likes coffee creamer which I only get if I can get it free with coupon. I started buying coconut milk and coconut milk creamer when I got it free after coupon and my mom said that it is also yummy and flavorful. It makes it more interesting then just milk because it is thicker like creamer. I also use it in making my sandwich bread so either way it doesn’t go to waste. I hope that you find something you like but creamer isn’t the worst thing in the world