Frugal Accomplishments First Week January

This past week we did pretty well with the budget category, until my car started flashing the check engine and AT oil temp light.  We took it in to get checked out, and a sensor needs to be replaced, which is generally not cheap in Subarus.  We're trying to make this one limp along until we can get enough saved up for a new to us AWD vehicle, but we'll see how the repair bills keep coming.

Here are the rest of last week's accomplishments:

• Cooked all meals at home.  Had a few shared meals with family and friends, which was fun.
• Composted all kitchen scraps.
• Used veggie stock, frozen tomatoes, frozen beef, and gleaned veggies to make a pot of soup in the crock pot, saving on electricity.
• Accepted gleaned items from the food pantry:  yogurt, bread, green beans, mixed veggies, snack packs of almonds and cheese, and fresh fruit.
• Gleaned from school cafeteria:  three string cheese, two apples, one milk, five bags of Goldfish crackers, two cartons of yogurt
• Picked up a few items on Harris Teeter's Super Doubles event, totaling about $15
• Tried a new overnight porridge recipe.  Needs some tweaking on the cook time, but the flavors were pretty good.
• Did some organizing and cleaning out.  Filled a paper grocery sack with items to donate to Goodwill.
• Washed all clothes in cold water and line dried things.  Found dryer balls stashed away, so will try to use these for drying towels to cut down on drying time.
• Continued to use cloth diapers, cutting down on cost.
• Little man had several dry nights, so that saved on laundry.
• Hand delivered thank you notes for Christmas gifts as much as possible, saving on postage.
• Sent out evite for little man's 4th birthday party, saving on paper invitations
• Found cake mix in cabinet to use for said birthday party
• Found another tie dyed t-shirt little man made that we can use as a birthday gift for another party to attend this weekend.
• Showered every other day to save on hot water, and keep skin from drying out.  This also saves on shampoo, soap, and hair products.
• Used both sides of a cotton ball for makeup removal, saving on cotton.  (Tip:  if you use natural products, you can then compost your cotton balls)
• Used cloth wipes and family cloth when possible.  We wash these on the sanitize cycle or with diapers, so they are always very clean.
• Took advantage of being snowed in for a few house projects such as spackling and sanding dings in walls, cleaning out behind the fridge, and catching up on laundry.  Being snowed in saved on fuel.
• Made homemade powdered citrus cleaner from dried orange peels to use for cleaning bathrooms and kitchen sink.  Repurposed a large spice container to make using the cleaner easier.

I'd love to hear from you!  What did you do to live and save green last week?