2012 Frugal Challenge!

[warramra]

All of these books have good nuggets of information. Of course not all the information applies to what I can or are willing to do right now.

The Self-Sufficient Life and How to Live It -- John Seymour
Focuses on having at least an acre of land to work with and is British, so some of the growing information doesn't apply. But it also has really interesting information about traditional skills and crafts that are useful.
The Backyard Homestead -- Carleen Madigan
Very applicable to trying to 'homestead' on a suburban plot.
Backyard Homesteading -- David Toht
Wonderful photographs and plant information.
The Homesteading Handbook -- Abigail Gehring
Urban Homesteading -- Rachal Kaplan
These last two are more a compilation of information. Useful, but kind of a dry read.
I also have an E-book series called the "Weekend Homesteader" by Hess. It is a month by month breakdown of things to do or prepare. Hess does a good job showing month to month what jobs and chores need to be focused on. Also she points out that not every homestead is the same and to start where you are in the process.

My very favorite things to read are Mother Earth News (both online and in print) and memoirs. This list of books are books I have ordered from Amazon Kindle
The Dirty Life -- Kristin Kimball (City girl marries farmer and their first year setting up a farm coop in northern NY state.)
The Feast Nearby -- Robin Mather (Robin loses her job and marriage, escapes to a small vacation cottage where she learns about eating locally and living frugally; includes recipes)
Made From Scratch -- Jenna Woginrich (moves to a small rural farm where her goal is to live as self-sufficiently as possible; includes recipes)
The Quarter-Acre Farm -- Spring Warren (Mother sets out to raise almost all their food from their suburban plot. Includes her failures and successes, along with recipes)

Enjoy Reading

[warramra]

Thursday

~ put up 13 half-pints of fig jam from the figs I picked earlier in the week. Some of them will go back to my friend whose tree I picked the figs from.
~ Neighbor gave me a bottle of laundry detergent she didn't like and a baggie of jalapeno peppers, I gave her a jar of fig jam
~ Hung a string of Thai peppers to dry
~ started harvesting rosemary to dry for this winter
~ Made t-shirts for dd12's 3v3 soccer team, the coach lets me do the t-shirts in lieu of our share for the entry fee. DD12 will be traveling with her friend to the tournament this weekend which also saves us travel expenses (her hotel share will only be $30)
~ Paid bills online
~ meals at home
~ collecting eggs

[oheoh's momma]

leftovers for lunch
picking tomatoes from my garden to blanch today
washed and hung 2 loads of clothes
reorganized bedroom and found lots of lost stuff ( 2 boxes of kleenex unopened,4 sets of nail clippers, a box of emery boards, a bottle of tums) all under the bed room furniture I am a bad housekeeper lol.
free movie coupon Yay....

[smk0817]

Thursday:

-no spend day
-spent all day at the pool with DH and kids....free entertainment
-all meals at home
-realized I only need a few things from grocery store this week since we stocked up so much last week during sales
-DH worked some overtime

Friday:

-NC tax free weekend. Had kids go through their clothes so I would know what I needed to buy. Went to a consignment store and DD loaded up on Aeropostale, Abercrombie, and Charlotte Russe shirts plus a North Face jacket. Spent $70 but retail would have been 4 times that so I'm happy. Also shopped at Old Navy, Ross, JCPenney, and Aeropostale. Oh, and Five Below. Had my cash budgeted out and didn't go over. Cash rules!
-biscuits at the drive thru $3, took bottled water from home
-DD has a private dance class tonight $15
-leftovers for lunch
-searched everywhere for a dress for DD to wear next weekend to a wedding...couldn't find anything she really liked. She decided to borrow one from a friend. Fine by me cause she'll only wear it once.
-planning this week's meals based on things that need to be used up...have tons of eggs, cherries need to be eaten before they go bad, half a cucumber is on its last legs, etc.

Stephanie

[Telephus44]

*Donated 6 bags of stuff to Salvation Army today. Will help at tax time.
*Only bought 2 bottles of milk since we haven't been eating as much cereal.
*Made cookies and froze half the dough. Less calories and it will be easier to make cookies next time.
*Was really wanting an iced coffee while out running errands today, got an iced coffee instead of iced latte saved about $1.00
*My dad gave us 4 squash and a small tomato from his garden
*Won a bag of Ghiradeli chocolates

[oheoh's momma]

went yard saling today also and to the good will
found prince 3 disk set cd 50 cents and 1 bottle of unopened bodycology soap 5-cents
goodwill
3 hoodies no stains
1 pair of Joe boxer pj flannel for winter

for total of 23.61

[Suprise]

-Went to my moms to spend the day in the pool. Free entertainment and lunch.
-Having pancakes and eggs for dinner.

[brennasmom]

Thanks for the info Amy. I think I have read a couple of those but am going to check my library

Frugal Friday:
* had DH pick up some cheap TP at the grocery while he was getting his RX
* did a moneymaker ($15) deal at RA.
* have 2 extra kids tonight and picked up subway but used a gift card
* got our budget up to date (scary!)
* got DS some yogurts on sale

[Maine Girl]

This week I have had all but three meals from home
Gas jumped 9 cents here to $3.78 so after getting groceries yesterday i came home instead of running out to the mall.
Today i believe i will be home all day
Been on Pinterest for christmas gift ideas

[smk0817]

I LOVE Pinterest! I've been pinning ideas for Christmas gifts too. It's gonna be homemade for a lot of people on my list this year!

Saturday:
-no spend day
-no drive day Gas is up to almost $3.50 in my town. Ten minutes away it is $3.38. Makes no sense, but it is making me more mindful of my driving habits.
-ordered a free 8x10 on Walgreens website...will pick it up on Sunday
-all meals at home
-no laundry day, not because it didn't need it...I was just too lazy.
-made a grocery list and added up approximate amount for items. DH gave me cash so I'll be sure to stay under the amount.
-cut some off of the pork loin that was going on to the grill, it will go in the crock pot on Sunday for dinner for me and the kids.
-almost out of milk, but refused to run to the store. Have some vanilla flavored soy milk that no one really loves. Will mix with chocolate Nesquick to see if kids will drink it. Sneaky.

Stephanie

[oheoh's momma]

went on a stockpile run today
got 40 cans of soup on sale, 10 cans of beans, and a some buy 1 get 1's free and meat on sale.
used my raincheck for the brownies and talked to the manager because they still did not have any so she told me get the ones for 1.99 same brand and price just different kind. so got 10 /10 50 % savings.
frugal flop we are eating out to much..grrr

[Telephus44]

Well, we bought a new mattress - not really frugal, but we did get free delivery, an extra $300 off since we didn't need the free box spring on promotion, and we got the "double sales tax" off promotion. MA is having a tax free weekend next weekend, so they won't put the charge through until next week to save us the sales tax.

*Used a coupon for free Spicy Chicken bites at McDonalds
*Used up an old squash from the fridge for dinner (stir-fry)
*Sold something on eBay for $.99
*Relisted 2 items on eBay
*Prepping lunch for this week - this is my first week back at work
*Repurposed some letter trays DH had
*Laundry in cold/on express wash
*Decluttering like crazy - the house actually looks really nice

[smk0817]

Sunday:

-all meals at home...frozen waffles from stockpile for breakfast, subs/snacks/drinks packed and sent to the pool with kids for lunch (I had leftovers), and BBQ pork (from yesterday's pork loin) and leftover baked beans for dinner.
-DS ate up some grapes before they went bad.
-Used cash at the grocery store and came in $8 under budget. Put that $ in my savings.
-Picked up free picture at Walgreens.
-Found a dress/shoes/earrings for DD to wear to upcoming wedding. Spent almost $50. She better get her use out of it! The shoes were cute flats that she can wear all fall/winter.
-Styled DD's hair using items here, plus cruising Pinterest to find new styles for her. Avoiding a trip to the salon!
-Rice Krispie treats were on sale at grocery store but they were sold out. Came home and made them with ingredients I already had. Duh. Why didn't I think of doing that in the first place?! I saved money plus I know exactly what is in them.


Stephanie

[warramra]

Saturday & Sunday

My weekend went way too fast, almost a blur.

~ dd12 went to her soccer tournament with on of her teammates. Saved me the cost of gas, food and hotel room for me. She had a blast hanging out with her friends. They also qualified for the national tournament in December. Unfortunately it is at Disney, $$$$.
~ Did take advantage of no sales-tax weekend to pick up softball pants and a bat for dd7. She is starting her first softball season this week. Didn't need any other school supplies at this time.
~ Grocery shopping this weekend limited to cat food, canning jars and sugar. We have everything else we need on hand and need to save the money.
~ DH worked his second job this weekend. Got another couple of payments.
~ We had clean up/organizing day on Sunday. Used homemade cleaning products.
~ collecting eggs from the hens

[oheoh's momma]

today cooked 9 lbs of ground chuck for freezer
3 bags of zucchini for the freezer
1 bag of stewed tomaotes for freezer
spent day in kitchen very enjoyable
no air today.
1 load of landry dry for 1 cycle then hung