Frugal Friday Week #24
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I always feel like I post many how-to’s and not many “real lifes”. Although I do try and incorporate that into my newer posts, I’ve often thought that it might be even more helpful for my readership to get a better glimpse inside of what our simple/homestead/from scratch/frugal life really looks like.
Frugal Friday Week 22
So I’ve started a new series called Frugal Friday and need your help. My idea for this series is to share some of the projects/recipes/things we worked on this week and, in general, just what life looks like.
I need your help because I’ve tried something similar before, and I gave up after a while. I got bored, felt like no one was reading it or cared, and I moved on to other projects. So what I need you to do each week is to share what your week looked like in the comments section. I think it could keep us ALL accountable and may serve as an encouragement to others!
So let’s dive right into this week!
Meals We Ate
It’s been a busy couple of weeks with us working at camp and then me being gone. I worked on my meal plan again for the last few days, but before that, we were at camp in the kitchen, so everyone ate camp food all week. At camp, we served:
- Sloppy Joes
- Grilled BBQ Chicken
- Tacos
- Spaghetti
- Lasagna
At home this week, I made Chicken Wings (with homemade Ranch Seasoning), Chicken Noodle Soup, and I was gone for a few days, so my hubby did some cooking (and I’m not sure what all he made!). I had to stay in a hotel while I was gone, but we always got one with a kitchenette, so I went to the grocery store and picked up a steak and some cabbage mix which I fried together for a simple meal.
Shopping I Did
Since I was in the big city for part of the week, I stopped at Costco and Aldi. I spent about $200 total on some stock-up items that I needed for the next month.
Projects We Worked On
Unfortunately, my garden (which was looking ok!) was hailed out for the 3rd time this week. Some of it was covered; the rest I’m going to have to let go. The hail has been unrelenting!
We worked on some small things this week when we got home, like finishing a rock wall in our backyard and finally putting doors on my bedroom closet.
Other than that, we’ve had a fairly chill week here. Not doing a lot except some computer work and the kids are catching up on sleep! Not a project, but we did get to our local free Christian music festival for one day this weekend as well, which is always fun!
Blog Posts I Wrote
- Homemade Zucchini Bread – I updated this recipe so it’s easier to print. Good for this of year!
- Sunday Dinner Ideas for the Family – New blog post with some quick and simple dinner ideas for Sunday meals.
- Rhubarb Bars Recipe – I was feeling optimistic when my plants were bouncing back and hoping to make some of these bars. They are so good!
Looking Ahead to Next Week
We hope to get away for a real camping trip in the mountains sometime next week since we’ve wanted to do that all summer. The rest of the week will probably be spent with our friends, who will leave us soon to work on a new disaster relief project.
So tell me….what did life look like for you this week? What did you do, make, or plan to do?
Merissa has been blogging about and living the simple life since 2009 and has internationally published 2 books on the topic. You can read about Merissa’s journey from penniless to now on the About Page. You can send her a message any time from the Contact Page.
Went on a frugal trip to the zoo with family friends of ours. Got discounted admission, brought our own snacks, drinks, and picnic style lunch. Limited souvenir shopping to a $5 mini notebook (for my 11y old) and she spent her own money on little items like crackers to feed the goats ($1 per cracker), a miniature toy giraffe, and a zoo bracelet. I chose to take pictures instead of purchasing items. I can print my favorites and make a collage to hang if I choose.
Meals this week have involved lots of wraps, pasta salads, and quesadillas as it has been warm and humid all week. Finally got a good thunderstorm and INCHES of rain late yesterday. Our garden is thankful for the rain! I picked some of our bigger peppers before the incoming storm and will incorporate them into either a chicken or a pork dish this weekend. (Shredded meat and diced veggies that I can either serve over rice or pasta, or load up on bread for easy chilled sandwiches.)
I’ve begun sorting out the children’s clothes and preparing for the upcoming “back to school” sales. We always take advantage of our state’s tax holiday at the beginning of August and pick up some things to use here at home, as well as buy needed clothing like socks, undies, and plain white t-shirts (for layering) that I don’t purchase secondhand. It helps save money and we usually shop with other family members so the kids get in some “cousin time” which is great for making memories.
Happy Friday!
I’m planning on getting in on some of those back to school sales here soon too….just need to figure out what we all need for this year which means shifting my mind back into school mode! 😉
So sorry to hear about all the hail. Camp sounds like fun. We put peppers in our spaghetti sauce. Got our first ripe tomato today. Broccoli and cauliflower are small, but good. Our corn is about four feet tall…..much shorter, due to less rain. But our clay soil garden does better in less rain years. We have been getting a few tenths of rain. No complaints here. God provides.
My son is in his first week at nearby factory that has OT now, nice people, and excellent pay. So Kyle is happy. My husband and I are retired and had a child later in life. Kyle has hydrocephalus, shunted at 2 months, and graduated a year later than other kids. But he is a hard worker and has common sense. So we are blessed.
I made lasagna this week. Kyle had tacos. With 99 cent per lb, chicken, I bake it. Kyle loves this. Looking forward to having lunch with a friend Monday. Listening and reading books. Take care.
We are on vacation this week and staying at a place with kitchen so we have cooked most of our meals. Our daughter wanted Chinese from a restaurant here that is pretty good but a little pricey, so my husband and I let her order take out and we ate leftovers at the Condo. We have done more free things such as hiking, swimming in lake, visiting historic places, and playing games rather than things that cost $$. It has been nice to not worry about if we can afford something and just be on the lookout for items that don’t cost. So many memories have been made.
Thank you for sharing these Frugal Fridays, I really appreciate them! This week was a busy, yet productive one. I bought an old 1800’s china cabinet off FB Marketplace for cheap, and fixed it up. I mastered making sourdough sandwich bread using my sourdough starter discard, and started making more meals using less meat, and more beans. I’m happy keeping life simple and on budget, thank you for all the helpful advice!
Good morning. This week we cleaned my mom’s and helped with yard work.
My oldest granddaughter stayed over for her birthday which is next week. We went to breakfast and lunch plus did clothes shopping (yes, she was able to get a toy or two). I think her highlight was getting up early Wednesday morning and helping Gramps do barns and pick the garden.
Our youngest son and his wife are house hunting so we also went with them to look at a couple places. We are encouraging them to wait for the Lord’s best. As my daughter pointed out; they’ve seen good and better next will be God’s best.
Today my husband is cutting our hay field. We’re praying the weather remains dry. Thankfully we round bale.
Our laying hens are still a little broody plus egg production has been down partly to a fox who killed several chickens last month.
My daughter took an inventory of our freezers so we can keep a better track of veggies we eat during the year.
We’ve already done our corn and got 35 containers (we took it off the cob). We grew blue pumpkins this year and already have 6 cups puree in the freezer. Our blackberries did well this year and we’ve enjoyed blackberry sauce over ice cream. Last night we had acorn squash and butternut squash with butter, brown sugar and cinnamon.
Well I’ll close for now. Trust everyone had a good week and enjoy a peaceful weekend.
Love your Friday notes! Too hot here in FL to garden my tomatoes dry up! did get half dozen cherry tomatoes! Sewing a new pouch from Crafty Gemini easy and good directions!
Love and praying for good and safe week at camp!
Judy Morgan
Got started on canning season.
Made pickled beets, apricot almond jam and apricot pineapple preserves
Also made 14 pints of tomato soup
With frozen tomatoes from our freezer.
Love frugal fridays posts
We spent 8 nights/ 9 days on a vacation trip that was quite frugal… camping in the Eastern Sierra Nevada. We meant to stay one night in a motel for showers etc. but there were no reasonably priced rooms available, so we just camped. My husband has a senior pass that gets us 1/2 off at NPS/NFS campgrounds so it’s pretty cheap….and so beautiful to sleep under the stars. We did splurge once on what’s supposed to be the best BBQ in California, in Big Pine, but we split a rib platter and that was plenty! We don’t plan ahead, we just go.
Dear Merissa, Please continue to write your Frugal Friday posts. I’m sure so many of your readers are interested. Ok, my kiddos are grown and I am retired. I have a very large (and messy) craft room. I could happily live in there and just allow my creativity to overflow, but I do get out once a day and tend to the garden or play with our dog, Brutus. My husband still works, but everyday after he gets home, we have Game Time…card games and Yahtzee, up until dinner time.
I cook nearly everyday, bake bread often, preserve food, and make my own skin care products, as well as all the stuff that goes on in the craft room. It’s a nice life! Continue with your blog, I love reading about your life, too.
We have been holed up inside because of air quality alerts every day. We do some quick watering every morning and get back inside. Our biggest savings was Hubby opening up his jump starter to see if there was a replaceable battery inside. It is 6.5 years old and he had called the manufacturer who said to throw it away and buy a new one since the battery had failed and there were no replaceable parts. I really don’t like being lied to! Inside was a 12V battery that is $40 dollars to replace over $100 for a new unit. It is a case of just unplugging the old battery and plugging in the new one.
I really enjoy your Friday posts, I look forward to them each week.
My 9 year old had all day camp at church this week, so it was a little more hectic than usual getting him back and forth. But he had so much fun and of course learned a lot.
I didn’t do any gardening this spring, and I’m regretting it now. So my son and I sat down today and planned some things to plan now for this fall.
It is too hot and dry to garden in Florida. We are trying to water a few plants and keep them alive. The different things that I cooked this week were biscuits in the air fryer and roasted green beans in the air fryer. Meatloaf in the crockpot and baked potatoes in the crockpot. All were a success except the potatoes as they were brown inside. I am trying not to light the oven with this heat. Every Friday I look forward to your frugal Friday posts. Thank you.
Got some parsley and basil in larger pots this week. Cut off old bloom and fertilized pansy hanging planters for more blooms. Not much else. I enjoy your posts.
Hi, our weather in the UK has been very hit & miss recently. Here in East Anglia, it’s been raining hard & been very cold (it’s meant to be Summer!!). Having said that, my rhubarb and tomatoes are doing quite well along with the gooseberries. Hope you all have a great week.
Where in the Bible does it say something like, “Ye ask not, ye get not?” This week I asked a perfect stranger walking past my house for help. I was on the ground of my garage, and the leg & wheel of my walker had come off. Turns out, she was only a visitor to someone in my neighborhood, but she kindly did stop to help. Then when I put the word out to 2 friends, I ended up with 2 walkers, one from each of their churches–what a big blessing! Now I can leave one in my car! Lastly, I had asked at a weekly lunch we have of church folks, that my crock pot was broken, where could I buy a used one? One dear friend is giving me one of hers, at our weekly lunch this coming Friday. He does meet all our needs, if we only ask!
It’s been too hot to go much outside. I took both dogs to the vet one got infection and nails for both. I got help to pick out a juicy watermelon and boy that worked. The darker green, a buttery rich yellow spot and the heavier the riper it is and wasn’t picked green. Hope this helps