Last Week's Frugal Accomplishments

Last week was finally back to a regular work week for us with no snow and beautiful spring weather. We saved by:

 •Benny stayed home with little man and took care of many chores, spent time outside in the spring weather, filled the bird feeder with discounted birdseed, and enjoyed being a SAHD

 •Took advantage of produce manager cleaning out bins and got free carrots, parsnips, and other veggies. Some went to our friends’ chickens, some were still good enough for us to eat.

 •Purchased cabbage on sale and with 20% off app, as well as BOGO apple cider vinegar, toothpaste (with coupons), and ketchup

 •Made all meals at home and from scratch including sweet and sour stir fry w/ homemade egg rolls, winter squash pancakes, muffins, focaccia, black bean burgers w/ homemade whole wheat buns, and pesto pasta salad

 •Tidied up back garden by trimming back and pruning, did minimal weeding to prepare for spring plantings.

 •Have the first herbs coming back including chives, oregano, sage, lemon balm, and mint. The chives will be big enough next week to begin harvesting.

 •Carpooled to work as usual to save on fuel and have time to plan with my teammate

 •Took walks and hikes numerous nights for exercise and family time.

 •Made a powdered orange cleaner (1 cup borax, 1 cup baking soda, 2 tablespoons ground, dried orange peel—I grind in a coffee grinder) and finishing up orange infused vinegar for use as a cleaner. The powdered orange cleaner has been great for cleaning the sink or counter tops.

 •Began assessing freezer contents and using up in preparation for CSA and farmer’s market season 

•Cleaned out little man’s drawer and noticed lack of summer clothing, so emailed a few friends and colleagues with older kids to see if they had hand-me-downs. They did! So we now have enough clothing for little man for the spring and summer, which saves us some money and helped friends clean out their closets.

•We did a little yard work, so one garden now has a rock edging and the stone cages we had the rock in are now deconstructed. We’ll recycle the wire and we have friends who are going to use the pallets for their garden edging and compost bins.

•Cut little man’s hair at home… not perfect, but an improvement and it didn’t cost us $10 or more. 

•Met a friend for some time together. We opted to BYO coffee and a walk in local gardens instead of a brunch meeting or coffee at a coffee shop. It was wonderful to be together and a great way to celebrate the coming of spring.

What did you do to live and save green last week? I'd love to hear from you! I'm linking up to The Prudent Homemaker and to Strangers and Pilgrims this week.