Frugal Friday Week #32
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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 #32
So I’ve started a 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!
Side Note: If you missed last week, I reshared that we are currently in the process of selling the homestead to move into a tiny home (camper) to travel and do ministry work in rural places.
Meal Highlights
This week was an interesting one for meals. I told the kids we are playing a game now. The game is to see what kind of meals THEY can make from what we have.
I will say, they came up with some interesting things BUT we are eating up what we have so we can continue to avoid going to the grocery store right now.
Shopping We Did
I did a large shopping trip this week to work on some things we need for the future. Our beds in the camper are all different sizes than what we have in the house so we needed all new bedding. I also needed some pet supplies for our kitty and pup that will be on the road with us. Let’s just say, it was not a cheap trip to the store!
However, we’ve been selling many of the things that we don’t plan on using again so we’ve been using all of that money to buy the things we need for the future. It’s a nice way to do things…you get to clean up at the same time you get to buy what you need!
How We Lived Frugal This Week
As I mentioned above, this was a big week of selling things that we didn’t need. It’s been a great way to clean out!
We stayed away from buying groceries…we plan to do that for the next 3 weeks at least to work on eating up the “random” stuff that we aren’t keeping or taking when we travel. It’s a challenge for sure but again, I’m enjoying the cleaning out.
We are also taking time out of our busy week to spend time with friends and family. All of this is free of course! It’s always nice to spend time with people you care about when you can. We so look forward to finally being able to do more of this once our busyness dies away.
Something frugal that I did this week that doesn’t seem frugal at the moment but will pay off, in the long run, was to spend a little more on some of the things I bought while shopping (pet beds, sheets, a few clothing articles, etc) to get a higher quality item that will last us much longer.
Blog Posts I Wrote
- Homemade Soft Caramels – This is a yummy sweet treat!
- Easy Homemade Caramel Sauce – You MUST make this recipe to use as an apple dip right now. It’s so good!
- Homemade Onion Rings – If you want to make them instead of getting them from a restaurant, here’s a good recipe!
- Making and Using Bean Flour – Bean flour is a great frugal staple and can be a healthy thickener. Here’s how to make and use it.
- Gluten Free Bread in the Bread Machine – This is my most popular gluten free recipe but that makes sense because it’s so good!
- How to Save Money on Peanut Butter – If you use this staple in your home, you might want to check out this post to get ideas on how to save money on it.
- Fall Cleaning Tips and Checklist – Getting started on your fall cleaning? Here’s a free printable checklist I made.
- Vanilla Lip Balm – I like to update this recipe this time of year because it makes a wonderful gift.
- Practical Food Storage – Creating a stockpile or a good pantry is hard to get started with. Here’s a practical guide on how to do it.
- Homemade Baby Toys – Now is the time to start making homemade gifts. This little project is so fun!
- Homemade Muffin Mix – This is something I always have in my pantry!
- 20 Uses for Chives – I realize that summer has passed but save this post for later so you know what to do with your garden chives!
- How to Save Seeds for Next Year’s Garden – Perfect time to work on this! Are you saving seeds? I even put some away for the next garden I will have!
Looking Ahead to Next Week
Next week looks rather chilly, but we will continue with the cleaning up and finishing packing around the house. The week after, we finally get to pick up our camper, so once that happens, we will be busy organizing!
For now, we will continue to sell things we don’t need for later. It’s been very freeing!
So tell me….what did life look like for you this week? What did you do, make, or plan to do?
Side Note: We will soon be on the road and working on service and ministry work throughout the United States. If you have or know of a project that you’d like us to consider helping with, please email me at [email protected] and let me know. We’ve done everything from working in food pantries, to building projects, to pastoral work, and everything in between. We look forward to seeing where God will lead us!
Merissa Alink
Merissa has been blogging about and living the simple and frugal life on Little House Living since 2009 and has internationally published 2 books on the topic. You can read about Merissa’s journey from penniless to freedom on the About Page. You can send her a message any time from the Contact Page.
Your blog makes my day (morning). I am so excited for yall. This is even more memories that your kid-o’s will never forget. God Bless Your Direction.
Thank You.
It’s inspiring to get to watch watch holding things with open hands as a Believer looks like! I feel it’s not a mistake God lead me to you, as I feel called to not hold on to stuff so tightly like I used to, and be more open to serving.🙏✝️
It is amazing how freedom comes with letting go. We haven’t even launched yet (but will soon) and opportunities to serve have come our way that we would not be able to do if we were tied down. We truly are excited for God’s leading and direction.
Sending good thoughts as you pack up to move! Looking forward to seeing updated camper journey posts — it will def be different with your growing family!
We’ve begun downsizing our urban homestead and preparing the gardens for winter. Lots of canning, dehydrating, and freezing taking place. I’ve also begun selling off old books, homeschool curriculum, and other items we acquired during the pandemic years in order to have funding available as our oldest graduates and begins his college career next fall!
Would also be interested to see posts on how you & hubby are making an income as full time RVers and working ministry.
Cleaning out and downsizing always feels good! Right now our post about income would be short and sweet…we have will have residual income from selling our business as well as whatever comes in from the blog. We’ve calculated our bills and are pretty sure we will be able to get by on very little since we will be setting up our camper to be off grid. We will see how everything works out though once we are in it! We’ve also chosen to not do any fundraising for any projects we might work on. We know that works out well for others but we felt uncomfortable with it during our pastoral training/internship. We believe that God will provide for all our needs and for the needs of any project we are called to do. 🙂
Thank you for all the great tips! Where do you sell your items?
My husband lists them on Facebook marketplace mostly. He doesn’t mind dealing with the some of the crazy replies! 😀
Thank you for your blog. I really appreciate you.
This week has been a tough one, but I managed to get out and grocery shop. Our world has been turned upside down as my husband is being treated for cancer, and our daughter died suddenly 2 days before he finished treatment. We are in the process of trying to get rid of our unnecessary things in hopes of living in an RV. I do have a suggestion of where you can help. It is my daughter’s church in Seattle WA, Gift of Grace. They help the homeless, they have a full garden where my daughter worked.
Blessings, Tess
I’m so sorry for your loss, Tess. <3
I am so very sorry to read about your daughter. Heartbreaking. I feel like there are never words enough or the right words. You and your husband are in my thoughts this morning.
Praying for healing for your husband’s cancer. My dad has been battling cancer for almost 5 years. It’s not easy. We believe in the power of prayer.
Lifting you both up today. Hoping that you are able to make your transition to living in an RV. God bless.
I’m so sorry for your loss.
Wow girl, I’m impressed! I can’t imagine narrowing all my clothes down to that. What about dressier pieces for certain occasions like church? I feel the need to clean out and minimize what we have, and I do so in small batches but since we too are planning to move within the next few months, no better time than now. I certainly do not want to take it with us. You have provided some wonderful ideas to not just give everything away, but to sell as much as possible to use for other needs. Thank you so much.
What I can remember about my week:
*We ate chili cheese dogs
*stuffed baked potatoes
*BBQ chicken nachos with precooked shredded chicken from my freezer
*White bean and ham soup with cornbread
*And today we will have cheese ravioli ( not homemade anything) late last night we were at the store searching for an easy semi homemade meal for today. They had the ravioli on sale BOGO and the spaghetti sauce too, so voila!
Have a great week and persevere!
We each have 2 nicer items to wear to church, a funeral, or any other function where we need to dress up. 🙂 It’s good to clean out as soon as you can because it takes more time than you think! I’m glad we started when we did because now that we are down to the final weeks, I’m starting to feel the crunch and am glad I don’t have to deal with any more than I already do.
I can’t believe I’ve missed these blog posts! I’ve got a LOT to catch up on!
My frugal week started when I was “house/dog/cat/2 teenage girls” sitting for my nephew and his wife. I made dinner one night of chicken thighs and roasted red potatoes with a side of mixed veggies. The next night I made Bean Soup with smoked sausage and cornbread. The next day, I repurposed the leftover chicken dinner by dicing the chunked potatoes, shredding the leftover chicken and mixing all with the veggies. Then I mixed up some of your soup mix base and made some cream of chicken soup to hold it together and made a biscuit type crust. It made an awesome chicken pot pie! The girls were amazed! They thought I made a completely new meal! ( well…I guess I did, but with “old” ingredients!! ) Now home, I am about to make up your muffin mix, mend some shirts and sew a pair of jeans that I thrifted. They are too short so I cut and made a pair of capris out of them. Just need to finish the side seams that I made into a ^ shape. After that I will be baking sandwich bread for the coming week, and grating up the stale loaf for breadcrumbs, before going to the volunteer at the local Lodge.
Chicken Pot Pie sounds delicious right now!
We are a military family and I remember the packing up before a move, with stuff stacked everywhere, and a scale to measure everything because we didn’t want to go over our allotted weight. Every 3-4 years we would have a real good clearing out, it was nice because it kept us from becoming hoarders…haha. Then we retired, and as they say, it was like opening up the seal on the biscuit can. It’s been 7 years since we had a real good clearing out, but we started doing it this year and it has been very freeing. I haven’t been to the grocery store in over two weeks (I am going today), and it’s much like the game you played with your kids, with resulting interesting meals. We are trying to clear some room in the freezer for soups and breads. I like to have a good stock of those for the winter. Good luck with your move.
I had to laugh at your biscuits in a can reference! It’s crazy how quickly things can accumulate, isn’t it?
Look forward to hearing projects your family do. I enjoyed teaching Sunday School, helping with VBS, and now help with quilts for disaster relief and making items for day for girls. I made some applesauce and dehydrated dill this week. Might try those onion rings on your blog since we have lots of onions and husband loves them. Been listening to The Guardian by Nicholas Sparks. Enjoy your adventure😀
If you try them I hope you like them! 🙂
Hi! I’ve missed a couple of weeks! We are finally enjoying cooler weather in Louisiana! Gumbo on the stove is everyone’s meal on that 1st cool spell! I am going thru boxes/closets one at a time, and bringing straight to a church resale shop (for pregnancy center) near me! I love resale shops! Always find great things! Picked up items for the winter for my grandchildren. Meals are short and sweet for us. Nothing fancy, sandwiches/salads/soups! Bible study on Wednesday evening on the book of Esther! Can’t wait to see where God leads you!
I had a bunch of bags with leftover pecans from past baking. Most were stale and don’t bake well. Git this recipe from a neighbor and I am addicted.
2 cup butter melted
1 – 2 tbsp soy sauce
Melt.
2 cups pecans
Mix and spread on cookie sheet
Bake at 300 for 30 minutes.
Cool on paper towels.
Enjoy and way cheaper than fancy store bought snacjs.
Merrissa,
You posts are very meaningful. I am trying to put your recipes to good use. I pray you will be blessed in your time on the road. I traveled for 4 years in music ministry. It was such a blessing and I look on it with a great fondness.
May the Lord bless you and keep you. May His face shine upon you and give you peace.
In Christ,
Melody
Love reading your stories. Thanks Merissa!
Good luck! What an awesome journey, realizing your goals and making life happen. Godspeed!
I canned 6 qts. If beef stew, several pints of northern beans and chili starter.
How exciting for you and your family to be on the road again doing ministry work 🙂 I hope everything works out well .
I have recently cleaned out my clothing-closet for selling at my yearly flee-market and sold a lot but I am now where near the downsizing of your closet LOL. One way I regularly clean out my house is taking things I no longer need to the local ‘ Tauschbar’ =Exchange shop where they take everything except clothing and books and look for things I can use (mostly miniatures for my dollhouse and sometimes craft material, and Christmas-decorations which I collect the whole year to give away to poor people at our Church yearly Christmas-party) This way I find things for free and avoid spending money. Books I can bring to the thrift-store or the telephone-cell turned into book-closet you have here everywhere. I go there every 2 weeks with my bicycle. Yesterday I went to the local flee-market and enjoyed the beautiful sunny Autumn weather and talking to people and looking for miniatures.
You have such a sweet kitty,what a good carrier I am impressed by your choice.i always appreciate your on the road updates. .sharon