Frugal Friday Week #39
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Here on the blog I post I lot of how-tos and recipes but 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. This series was started in 2023 to provide more of a peek into our regular every day life and how we put things together.
Frugal Friday Week #39
This series is called Frugal Friday! Each week I share what we’ve been up to and how we live frugally.
But this weekly post wouldn’t be nearly as interesting if it weren’t for you. The comments sections is all for you to leave your story from this week. How YOU lived frugally so that we can all keep each other accountable.
Side Note: If you missed the last few months, I shared that we are currently living in a tiny home (camper) to travel and do ministry work in rural places for part of the winter as we take a temporary break from our homestead.
Meal Highlights
It seemed like we didn’t always have tons of time for meals this week even though we stayed in the same place all week. We made
- My now “old” standbys of ground beef lo mein and white bean soup. Both give us lots of leftovers and are super cheap to make.
- The last of our pork chops from our pigs butchered this past fall.
- Ham and Cheese sandwiches a couple of times because the kids kept asking for them over and over!
- Eggs in Toast and Bagels
- Yogurt and Granola
Shopping We Did
I did a fair amount of shopping this week since we stayed in the same place. Maybe that’s my downfall! Actually we were completely out of meat and needed to stock back up. I spent around $300 this week on grocery shopping which was more than my budget of $200. However, I didn’t spend anything last week and this week that also included things like dog food, a Christmas tree new balls for the dog’s toys, and other not-food items.
I also bought 2/3 of my Christmas presents this week. We usually spend around $50 per child. I just need 1 more thing for each of them and a few stocking gifts, and we should be good to go! My husband and I usually exchange gifts but probably won’t this year for the sake of easiness.
How We Lived Frugal This Week
This week, we took some time to see some local sites while my husband was working on a church project in the town where we stayed.
We were able to go to a museum, visit an aquarium, go to a nature education center, and take a homeschool class at a local library…all for free! In fact, we’ve yet to spend anything on “attractions.” It’s really a challenge I enjoy trying to figure out…how can we find cool places to visit and nice places to stay without spending anything at all? All you have to do is ask the locals or search “free things to do near ____” into Google to find all kinds of ideas.
I really wanted to bake some things this week but wasn’t sure I wanted to use the oven since I burnt everything last time. The joys of a camper oven! Maybe I will work on that when we are settled in one spot again. I did make some hard-boiled eggs because those are so much easier for us to have for breakfasts on the road versus other types of eggs.
Blog Posts I Wrote
I was BUSY writing all this week! Here’s what I wrote:
- Chocolate Meringue Cookies – These are such light and fluffy cookies!
- What to Buy, Grow, and Eat in December – Need tips on what to buy this month? Here’s a printable!
- 3 Ingredient Oatmeal Pancakes – New recipe on the blog. So easy!
- Beeswax Candles – These candles make a great gift. Here’s how I make them.
- Homemade Gifts for Kids – Need some ideas of things to make? Here’s a big list of homemade stuff for kids.
- Chocolate Cheesecake Cake – This double layered indulgence is such a treat to make right now.
- Snow Ice Cream – Have some clean, fresh snow in your yard? Here’s how to turn it into ice cream!
- Non-Food Gifts in a Jar – Looking for some gift ideas to give in jars that are NOT food? Here’s my ideas!
- Homemade Fig Newtons – Another new recipe on the blog this week! This one isn’t the easiest that I have posted but it’s so yummy!
- How to Shop at an Amish Discount Store – I updated this post with even more tips from my time in Amish country.
- Frugal Laundry Tips – Need to save more money on laundry? Here is a list of the case studies I’ve done to see what saves money!
- Amish Oatmeal Pie – This is a yummy and frugal recipe!
- How to Be Prepared for Difficult Times – Are you concerned about being prepared for a natural disaster or job loss? Here are my best tips on what to do.
- How to Make Your Own Greens Powder – Use up all the greens in your garden with this healthy idea.
The big news this week is that I finally got the Little House Living community forum put up! Please check it out, join, and add some conversation here. I’m very excited for this new addition to the site and think it will be a great way for us all to connect (and stay off social media!).
Looking Ahead to Next Week
We are currently headed south to warmer weather! We are excited to spend some solid family time together for a bit until we find our next project.
Side note: If you are located in southern Texas, New Mexico, or Arizona and know of a service project that a church or organization needs help with, please contact me at [email protected].
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.
Lots of good ideas lately: beeswax candles, cranberry loafs and diy fig newtons are my top three. I loved seeing the pork chops because I’d love to add a pig as soon as possible. Though realistically as soon as possible is not very soon. The Christmas tree looks great with kitty adornment.
Fondly,
trying to live simply in So Flo
Marissa, if you look for an Air Bake cookie sheet, they make one that fits the RV oven just right, you won’t burn whatever you bake in the oven. I have one that stays in the oven at all times. Place your pans on to bake.Nordic Ware Insulated Baking Sheet, Metallic Large
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List Price: $29.30List Price: $29.30 Measure the inside of your oven, Mine takes the smaller of the pans and a 9×13 pan will sit on it. Haven’t burned anything in my oven once I started using one. Several brands of them just look for and insulated flat cookie sheet. the above is an example the lg is too big , there is a smaller one that fits perfect.
Happy Friday! The first snow flakes arrived n central Pennsylvania this week. Cooking this week was an instant pot of vegetable soup to warm us at lunch time. Dinners has been using frozen leftovers from Thanksgiving and that week . I did make a healthy chocolate cake using yogurt yesterday.
Christmas shopping is completed with wrapping to start. This year as a gag gift each household is exchanging “the it drawer contents.”
RV ovens are tricky, the last one I reduced the temperature and used double layer of aluminum foil or two cookie sheets under everything.
Looking forward to reading everyone’s comments.
Insulated Air Bake Cookie placed on the oven rack and then place baking pans on it will stop the burning of your baked goods in your camper oven. Have used one for years in mine, totally stopped burned bake goods. There is a size that fits the oven perfectly, I think I got my last one at Wal Mart. Make sure it is an Air Bake sheet.
Going to a craft class to make a free snowflake decoration with zip ties today. Still doing mission quilts and feminine hygiene products.
Made pork chops under broiler, spaghetti and a beef barley soup. Got free bananas to eat and cows like them too. But they get excited over squash and do a run/dance.
I have got to check in on your newest writing. They all sound great! This week, I used turkey leftovers in gravy. I froze some turkey soup too. I collected free newspaper for my garden from my hairdresser. I condensed driving as much as possible. I walked in an area park even though it was 35 degrees. We are eating earlier canned stockpiles at good prices. I needed some gifts from the Christian bookstore. I asked cashier directly where I could find exactly those items and did not browse around store. I bought an extra set of matching, vintage silverware for extra guests. This saves on plastic-ware and reminds us to eat at home.
I finally realized that I can get my cookie dough prepped ahead of time (I normally end up trying to make 12 different types of cookies, 4 cakes, 3 pies and toffee all at once in the span of 3 days because it never occurred to me I can do the cookie dough ahead!) So I now have all the dough in the freezer! I tend to get overwhelmed with “stuff” this time of year, so I am done Christmas shopping and only have food for dinner and brunch to complete. I am going on a no buy year(except consumables – and no frills at that, and personal care I cannot make. Today I made dried oranges for decorations and a lovely Lemon Chickpea lentil soup. I will share that with my mom and freeze some. Have a great weekend!
Hi Merissa i love to hear how you and your family are doing. I am glad you are traveling to warmer weather for awhile! Please have safe travels and enjoy!
It is a great picture to see the cat under the tree. We have been working on getting the tree up. The meals have been fried rice with leftovers, chili with lots of beans, chicken with potatoes and mushrooms and I looked up recipes for ground beef lo mein and then made up my own. Cannot believe that it has been a week since your last post. Going to try the 3 ingredient oatmeal pancakes and the Amish oatmeal pie. Thank you for the ideas.
Love the photo of the frosted leaf!
We had lots of appointments and errands this week, so I made easy dinners. It’s cold and wet in Ohio…Sausage and Kale Soup, Taco Bowls, and Veggie Soup with Orzo warmed us up. We had one of our quickie frozen favorites; Beer Battered Fish on a bun with Fries, and a salad to round out the week. We are stocking the freezer as things go on sale, and I did do a little shopping for our big Christmas morning breakfast. This weekend I will be finishing up painting a gift for my best friend, and beginning to paint a set of nutcrackers for our house. I baked Harvest Grains wheat bread to go with the soups, and Hot Cross Buns just because we love them. I really hope that you figure out your oven situation because there is nothing more satisfying than the aroma of freshly baked bread.
I made comment and it disappeared so here I go again. This week we will be eating salmon patties, baked spaghetti, hamburgers, tomato soup with ham and cheese sandwiches, chicken nuggets with potato wedges, and leftovers of what I cook this week. Snacks will be peanut butter cookies and chocolate snack cake. Lunches are mostly leftovers or find your own. We are in our seventy’s and always have leftovers to use up. Breakfasts are usually either hot cereal, eggs with bacon or sausages, eggs, biscuits and gravy, pancakes, waffles or English muffin sandwiches. Be well and safe.❤️❤️❤️❤️
I love the peek into your frugal life, especially the clever ways you keep expenses in check while on the road. Your resourcefulness with finding free local attractions is inspiring! By the way, I’ve recently been using EMUCoupon for my shopping needs and found some fantastic deals; have you given it a try? Also, those Chocolate Meringue Cookies and Amish Oatmeal Pie recipes are on my to-try list – they sound delicious! What’s your favorite go-to recipe when you’re on the move and looking for something tasty yet frugal?