2011 Frugal Challenge

[wjcalderon]

I'm going to start by using up things I already own.
Example: I will buy a bottle of lotion, decide that I don't like it as well as the one I used before, stick it in the cabinet and buy a new bottle of the one I like better.
I have done this with soap, shampoo, lotion, hair spray, toothpaste, etc.
There is nothing wrong with any of these items - they just aren't my preferred brands.
I plan to get them out and use them up before I buy any more.

[madhen]

Good idea, wjcalderon! I do the same thing, although mine is more that I store the item somewhere, then forget I put it there and buy more because I think I'm out.

[dean]

Happy Frugal New Year everyone!
*Last night I cooked beef ribs for supper. Went to the pantry for barbcue sauce and realized there was none, I googled it and found a great recipe. DH loved it, he said they were the best ribs he ever ate and he loved the tang of the sauce. No more buying from the store. if I can make it from my own stockpile. I will be doing this alot more in 2011. I want to cut out as much of our grocery budget as possible.
*Making hm sauerkraut with a large pork roast we bought a while back on a manager special sale. HM smoked sausage made last winter, and the last of our own potatoes. HM dinner rolls. Pretty frugal meal, but very festive.
*Collected free eggs from the hens and fed them alot of veggie peels.
*Heating as usual with our free wood. So far this winter we haven't turned on the gas furnace at all.
*Washed in cold, and line drying in basement near the woodburner. Need to make a batch of laundry detergent tomorrow.
*Working on grandson's quilt, with all stashed materials.
*Making budget and grocery list as the day goes on.
*Limited power
*Composting and planning garden for spring, as the seed catalogs are arriving daily.

[alotofgooddeals]

taking the left over macaroni and burger and adding a bag of mixed
veggies to make it go for dinner....?

Sorry guys, cascade meals is where you use either left over food (which you can only do for a couple of days) or left over ingredients from other meals like making an onion go across 3-4 meals. I waste so much food and I want to stop that.

[madhen]

Happy Frugal New Year everyone!
*Last night I cooked beef ribs for supper. Went to the pantry for barbcue sauce and realized there was none, I googled it and found a great recipe. DH loved it, he said they were the best ribs he ever ate and he loved the tang of the sauce. No more buying from the store. if I can make it from my own stockpile. I will be doing this alot more in 2011. I want to cut out as much of our grocery budget as possible.

And will you be sharing this recipe with the rest of us? (Or at least the link for it?)

[nuisance26]

~I'm in this year! I'm going to focus on one area a week to be frugal in. Some areas I need to work on are:
transportation costs
grocery budget
electricity
purchases for the home
the other category of the budget(for big things that I can't seem to convince DH to practice delayed gratification with)
food waste

I'm sure I'll add more as the year progresses. This week I'll be curbing electricity use. I just turned down the heat 2*, turned off 4 lights and shut down the desktop computer.~

[alotofgooddeals]

I need to curb the electrical usage...shutting tv off now... no one is watching...and just shut the heat off in the bedrooms and closed the doors...should stay warm enough until this evening and i will turn them back on a half or or so before bed...any other ideas would be great...

[dean]

And will you be sharing this recipe with the rest of us? (Or at least the link for it?)

Here you go madhen:
After cooking the ribs for a while:
2T melted butter
2T chopped onions
1T chopped green pepper
1C water
1C ketchup
2t mustard powder
1t salt
1t celery seed
2T brown sugar
2t lemon juice

Add it all to the ribs and simmer. About another hour.
I always cook my ribs til they are about to fall off the bone.

Hope yo like it as much as we did.

[peanut]

Ooooh Dean...do you think that recipe would work with lamb ribs? There's like no meat on them. But I'd like to do something special with them.

I ended up making a new recipe to use up leftover foodstuff in the fridge (cascading?). We had leftover hotdogs. I made Hot Dogs and Potato skillet. I paired it with a tossed salad. We had lettuce going bad. Everyone loved it! There was no hot dog skillet left. We do, however, have salad left.

I also made a custard pie with a prebaked pie shell from before Christmas that needed to be used. And some Welsh Cakes for DH. We decided to skip the Brie cheese this year. The cakes are fine on their own and we didn't want to spend the money on Brie...or add it to our waistlines.

We had an alcohol free New Years too. We're just getting to be too old and fuddy-duddy to care about that kind of stuff. Instead we stayed up past midnight talking to our boarder and doing Internet searches on her hometown in Korea.

[dean]

peanut-I think it would work with any thing that you want to use barbecue sauce with. Give it a try and let me know how they turn out.

[Daisygirl]

I'm definitely in!

I have several things I have to save for:

#1.) Emergency Fund
#2.)DD10's competitive cheerleading expenses
#3.)DD15's foreign exchange trip next August
#4.) Moving to a bigger apartment this summer

Frugality is my ticket to prioritizing the way our money gets allocated!

[TrulyRoxie]

I'm jumping into the deep end - just joined the forums and may as well start off the year with a few challenges!

[peanut]

Good to have you on board! Welcome to the Village.

[Luckybustert]

Happy Frugal New Year!

Some of the things I want to focus on in 2011 are wasting less (using up what I have), making do instead of buying new, cooking at home instead of paying someone else to do it for me at a restaurant, reducing my health care costs by taking better care of myself....I'm sure there is more, but those are some biggies for me.

[dexterteach]

Still need to finish my budget, and pantry-freezer inventory. MIL, and FIL visiting so probably won't get to that until tomorrow.
-Ate at home all day.
-Washed in cold water.
-Heated home with free wood, and fireplace.
-Gathered 4 eggs from chickens.
Teenage daughter has had T.V. on all day! ARGHHH!