Frugal Friday Week #4
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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 #4
So I’ve started a new series called Frugal Fridays 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 yes, 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 This Week
If it seems like there are a couple of meals missing, it was just that I couldn’t remember what it was or we just had leftovers! We also had several things multiple times during the week because I made extras.
Breakfasts –
Sausage Bites (similar recipe linked or the actual recipe is in my video from this week)
Blueberry Muffins
Oatmeal
Lunches –
Chicken and Rice Soup
Leftovers (We had a bunch of leftovers and didn’t go anywhere this week so we mostly ate those for lunches!)
Suppers –
Tuna Noodle Casserole
Beef Stir Fry with Stir Fry Sauce
Leftovers
Fried Chicken with Sweet and Sour Sauce
Bean Burrito Bowls
Chicken Wings & Sweet Potato Fries + Berry Cobbler
Shopping I Did
I stayed home all week this week so no shopping, but I did put away my coop food from last week. It’s in my latest YouTube Video here.
Outside Projects We Worked On
With more than 8 inches of snow and subzero temps, we didn’t get a chance to work on many outside projects this week.
We did have a sheep lose her lambs by going into labor early. The vet wasn’t sure what happened, but it’s been quite sad. We were able to save the ewe. We hope all goes well with our other sheep who is due in a few weeks and that we might be able to pick up some bum lambs. I believe we are getting several from a local lady next week so be on the lookout for baby lamb pictures. 🙂
We ensured that our sheds/barns were tight and snug for the animals to help them get through the weather. Otherwise, this was a week that we stayed inside!
Inside Projects We Worked On
This week I had another big meal prep and baking day which helped greatly with the rest of the week.
I canned blackberries (7 quarts) to bring my total to 38 jars canned this year so far. I’m going for 1000!
I also meal-prepped for the whole week and put away more bulk foods that we got. It’s all in my YouTube Video here.
I planted crab apple seeds as part of my grand experiment that I talked about in this video. And my onion seedlings are up!
Other than that, we cleaned up a bit. I didn’t want to start many projects in case we lost power or water. Once the weather starts to warm back up this weekend, we will get into things again. Sometimes it’s ok to have that reminder from winter that we can rest!
Books I’m Reading
Caroline: Little House Revisited – I’m listening to this as I have time through my Scribd app. I’m not sure if I like it yet or not, but it’s an interesting perspective. We love listening to audiobooks through Scribd and I would recommend checking it out here.
Blog Posts I Wrote
I will add this section so you can also catch up on the latest blog posts I put up in case I missed sharing them in my newsletters this week!
- 6 Ingredient Bread Recipe. This one is from my mom if you are looking for a tasty bread recipe that is easy to make!
- Wacky Cake. If you are looking for a yummy dessert recipe that doesn’t use eggs, you have to give this one a try!
- Winter Weather Preparedness Tips. You know the winter weather is still to come so there is still time to prep your home and family!
- How to Prepare for a Blizzard. This post is a collection of things that we learned after living through a mega storm. Another one to read if you have bad winter weather in your area or if you want to be prepared for a more major disaster.
- How to Survive Without Running Water. I think this one is a must-read for just about anyone. This is what we learned from our winter with having no running water.
- Homemade Rice Chips. A frugal version of a rather expensive store-bought snack. 🙂
- Cast Iron vs Enamel Coated Dutch Ovens. A guide to which kind to buy and how to care for them.
- Homemade Oatmeal Dog Treats. This is a recipe that a friend of my shared on the treats that she makes for her 6 dogs!
- Olive Oil Candles. I updated this post with more details and info. These are great to know how to be able to make in an emergency.
Looking Ahead to Next Week
We are hoping for nicer weather next week so that we can get back outside! Of course, now the snow will take a while to melt.
It looks like I have a few more seeds to start next week and maybe some errands to run.
Finally… I thought it’d be fun to have a little “incentive” to comment each week and what better way to do that than to do some giveaways! This week I’m giving away a copy of “The Gospel Comes with a House Key: Practicing Radically Ordinary Hospitality in Our Post Christian World.” I’ve re-read this book many times, it’s one of my favorite books on hospitality and truly makes you think about what it really can look like.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
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 the 100-acre farm and ministry on the About Page. You can send her a message any time from the Contact Page.
Good morning,
Our week was similar in that we had another snow storm hit and temps got to the negative 20’s. We are off grid and multiple days of no sun meant the generator was run for quite a bit charging the house batteries. Dinner meals included sherried chicken with mashed potatoes, turned the leftover sherried chicken into chicken pot pie, fajitas with canned deer meat, baked fish with sides of asparagus and baked zucchini, onions, and mushrooms, and homemade lasagna with a side of green beans and homemade bread tonight. Projects included hemming one child’s jeans, sewing a mat to go under the coffee maker (with coffee bean print fabric), sewing 8 pillowcases for donation, shoveling snow :), and researching SheetLoad of cards…very interesting way of making cards which I hope to try out in the next week.
I have been busy getting everything ready for my online summit that’s taking place in March. I’m super excited about it but doing all the tech hasn’t been fun. I have spent some time outside cleaning things up since we have had some unseasonably warm temperatures this past week. I also make pancakes this week using your pancake mix recipe from the Little House Living book.
As usual I baked a loaf of gluten free bread. We attended Mass for Ash Wednesday and went to IHOP for pancakes after. Delicious treat. I have been working on a double apron for my daughter which is St Patricks day fabric on one side and Easter on the other. I also started a quilt top for my grandson and am now having issues with my sewing machine. Ugh! Will try to take it in for repairs today. The weather is inseasonably warm. Cooking has been quick and easy this week. Make the taco salad one night.
Monday morning I went grocery shopping and I bought 2 whole chickens. I put one in the freezer and the other one I roasted for dinner that night. It is only 2 of us so we had a lot of leftovers. The next night I made a big salad with sliced chicken breasts on it. The next day I cut off more of the breast meat, put it in a container and stuck it in the freezer for another meal. Then I took the carcass and stuck it in a big pot of water with vegetables to make chicken bone broth. When it was done, I poured the broth into 2 smaller kettles and 2 mason jars. The jars I put into the freezer and 1 of the kettles to make soup out of later. The other kettle I made chicken and dumplings with. That one chicken is giving us 7 meals!
Love the post, thanks so much for all the other posts as well. We also were waiting to lose power so didnt so as much this week. Read lots of vegetable books as working on planning out a new, large veggie garden at our new house this year. Called around trying to source some manure for free =). Also looking for coffee grounds. Our compost containers came and we filled them up and started our outside pile. Also watched some videos on baby chicks with the kids so they understand the care when they come soon.
have a great week!
I started more seeds inside under lights!
My week was filled with making some crocheted gifts to give to friends.
Used free oranges to make orange jam and orange cranberry muffins.
Mended 6 socks to give them more life.
It was a week of more rest with the storm and cold weather.
We are lots of soup!
Living alone my meals are a little different. I will cooked large portions to last a few days. Roasted chicken with mashed potatoes and gravy 2 nights leftover chicken in casserole for 3 meals. I do enjoy reading your Friday newsletter, it is always full of interesting articles.
Pretty Typical Week, had Wednesday off for eye Dr. appt and oil change. We were down to the grass Sunday and now we have about a foot of snow on the ground.
This week hasn’t been as productive as I had planned, but, the week isn’t over yet. We went to our homeschool co-op, and now my daughter wants to create a project for the International fair that they are having, so we will be quite busy scrambling to pull that together. I still hope to make some strawberry jam from last year’s berries. It’s been quite warm here in Georgia and we are loving it. My Iris’s and Day lilies are coming up and need to be thinned out, so I’m going to try and make that happen. We are slowly starting to look for new property to expand our horizon’s. This week I made potato soup and not much else. I plan to make your ham and white bean soup soon.
Outside work:
Cleaned up a bunch of stuff the puppies got into and drug EVERYWHERE.
Cleaned out pens and put down new hay. My hens finally started laying. Yay!
Indoors
Did some decluttering. House is small, winter is long… doesn’t take much for stacks of stuff to start growing.
Had a couple sunny days so was able to hang out some laundry.
Ordered more seeds.
The only thing we went to town for this week was feed for all the critters.
( and what my husband refers to as a ” Chem brownie ” lol terrible for me but was yummy treat nonetheless)
My week was a bit off for this time of year. We had weather that was in the 70’s and it was quite windy. Makes me look forward to spring. However, today it’s back to being winter with sub freezing temps. It was so nice being able to hang laundry out and have that fresh clean sheet smell when going to bed. We’ve been dealing with sickness the past couple of weeks so this change in weather was right kind of medicine to kick it to the curb. Hope everyone else had a good week!
Busy week too. My husband is gone again (he was gone 34 weeks last year) so I watch 3 of my 4 grandchildren 4 days a week ( I retired from teaching art in the 2018-2019 school year so that I could do this and I just love it…we have so much fun…reminds me of when my children were little:) and I take care of the farm ( we have horses, goats 3 cats and a duck lol) I only had the kiddos for three days this week as we were hit with a snow storm on Thursday . We got about 12-15 inches but that is ok I look at winter as a time of rest because the busy season (spring ) is just around the corner:) So lots of plowing and shoveling. I also trimmed goat hooves and fixed some top electric fence wire on the horses fence. Finished an herbal wreath order…started some herb plants and seeds and right before I wrote this I put some of your gluten free muffin recipe mix (with chocolate chips of course) in the oven. Thanks for all you do and everyone have a wonderful weekend:)
I think so often people dream and fantasize about homesteading. Kind of a rose covered glass effect. The way you’ve broken your week down, and given us REAL information, shows us that it is absolutely possible to be living a beautiful life while still eating leftovers. People are reading you! Keep showing us even what you think is mundane or not important. It’s those things that help the rest of us see that it’d possible!
Frugal Friday Update – thanks for sharing. Our week has been busy with icy/snow storms. I find working from home during the worst of the weather was not as relaxing and enjoyable as I thought. My 13 year old was home and wanted to do stuff! LOL! We planted some onion seeds – the tiny seeds. It’s something we’ve not done before – but I read you could grow them from seed if you start them in February – so we are trying it. So far a few have peeked up in the dirt. My daughter has 3 different varieties of onions started. I chose one variety. ALSO – hope is seen in the tulip bulbs we started indoors. Another experiment since I’ve never tried to force bulbs before. And the greens are growing beautifully – at least 3-4 inches tall already. I won’t share our meals – since we’ve had too much junk food this week! I’m not too depressed about it since I recognize it as the February Blah’s – and soon spring will be here! Thank you for sharing your Frugal Friday! Blessings! Lori
I manage 2 apartment buildings so I have been super busy Shoveling the snow. I Shoveled 6 different times the past couple of days. I’m exhausted but getting through it. We got 10.5 inches of snow the past couple of days.
Loved the post and grocery video. Want to try the sausage bites. Thank you for doing this. Excellent.
Good Morning,
We have had a crazy week of weather in my area. The temperature changed from warm to cold daily. On warm days, I was outside. I trimmed my apple trees and did some general clean up around the yard. I played ball with my dog. That’s her favorite outside game.
Last year one side of our pond was leaking. It had to be drained and fixed. This meant that our fish lost there home. After several months, the pond is fixed and all filled up Now, I can restock the pond. I went fishing at a family member’s pond. I caught some fish that are now in there new home at our house. I named our first three pond fish Adam, Eve, and Noah. I thought that was appropriate.
Tried a new sausage and ziti recipe that turned out good. I should have paid more attention to the serving size. It filled a huge casserole dish. Leftovers for sure.
I ordered a vacuum sealer that was a failure. I sending it back. I’m discouraged right now. Don’t really know what to get. More research is needed on my part.
I’m go shopping for material this afternoon. I need batting for a quilt. I’m excited to get that project started.
Everyone have a nice day.
Hello again from Niagara Falls Ontario!
I’m so sorry to hear about the lambs – what a sad loss. Thank you for sharing that and reminding us that homestead life still has such challenges.
On a positive note, it’s so nice to hear about all the things you’re making. We’ve been baking wacky cake for many years and in fact, the last couple of pieces from the most recent one are in the freezer, to be gobbled up for tonight’s dessert. I put a handful of chocolate chips and walnuts in mine when they are available. Sometimes, I substitute 1/3 cup of oatmeal for that much of the flour.
Our week was busy with on-going repairs from the blizzard in December. One of the “interesting” things about living in a very old house is that when you fix one thing, you find other things. Like, we took down soggy ceiling tiles to find that the second storey was not well supported when the previous owners moved a wall back in the 1970s. Hubby came up with a solution that did not require an engineer’s report and we’re working on that now. I asked him how he had thought about that particular solution, especially since he has had no training in building or carpentry. He told me that throughout his life, whenever an opportunity to watch/learn from an experienced person came up, he would pay attention, and offer to participate if he could. In a time before Youtube, he learned what worked, and what did not work, to address issues. It amazes me that he usually knows, or can figure out solutions. Which is not to say that they are always the best or only solution, but most of the time, they are.
I have a daughter and three sons. My daughter and my oldest son have this ability to learn though patience in observation and practice. My second son tends to want to take over the project and do it his own way. My youngest however, would likely have no interest in the self-reliance/education aspect of the task, and delegate to a professional for the best use of time and efficiency! It’s amazing how different kids in the same family can be in so many ways. Mine are all grown now and have their own places. So it’s just hubby and I and handy friends when called upon 🙂
In the toasty preview of spring last week, I could not resist planting something – anything in the veggie garden. I chose sugar pod peas for part of a raised bed and covered the box with a recycled glass shower door. Everything is now covered with nearly an inch of ice today. We’ll see what happens when it warms up.
We’re also working on using up older items in the freezer and pantry. Rinsing the frost off frozen food before adding it to the pot prevents “freezer taste”. Something that’s working well is making a curry paste on medium heat, add in any veggies, canned dry beans, tomatoes (canned or frozen, or not) and cooked rice. Mix it well and roll it up in tortillas, then wrap those in wax paper to freeze. We made about 20 last week and they make a nice quick lunch from the microwave.
Thanks for all of your great ideas and reminders of our ability to be creative in all aspects of life! We certainly appreciate and benefit from you sharing your thoughts and experiences.
Best wishes always!
This week in southwest Washington we are experiencing winter storms that have kept us all home. My teenage daughters made huge chocolate chip cookies (because Crumbl cookie is way too expensive). I am struggling with working from home, so I am going to experiment with a “quiet box” for my preschooler. We will see how it goes. In the quiet and snow I took some time to reassess my budget, as I am prayerfully considering if I could cut back on my hours (I work full time).
We live on the coast in SW Washington. It was been crazy weather here for sure.
I work from home too. Started before our daughter was born and she is almost 19 now.
I wish you well and hope that you can cut your hours back. It gets easier as the kids get older.
How blessed you and I are that we are able to be at home with our children. Our daughter still lives at home and loves to play cribbage or go for a drive (often when I should be working), but
it all gets done. Enjoy your day and weekend.
We have been dealing with a very sick chihuahua and a vet bill of $2500. Our dog is on the mend and eating very well. We have an emergency fund, which covered the bill. However I will ramp my frugal ways even more to replace that money in our emergency fund.
I did a lot of cooking and baking this week. I am inventorying my pantry, fridge and freezer.
I am repurposing old jeans and old waterproof fabric shower curtain into a picnic/beach blanket. I will use the scraps from this project to make a doll crib blanket for my 3-year-old granddaughter.
We ate from the pantry and freezer all week. No grocery trip for me until yesterday.
Our chickens are laying well, so we had eggs for breakfast every morning, alternated with sourdough toast, muffins, and pancakes.
Lunches were leftovers or sandwiches.
For supper we had spaghetti/meatballs with sourdough french bread, taco soup, homemade pizza made with whatever leftovers I had (spaghetti sauce, etc), sausage with home canned sauerkraut, salmon, and fried venison.
Good Morning,
We had a bit of a crazy week. We did manage to get some seedlings started and I made a few tinctures and infused oils. My husband started some eggs in the incubator. We are waiting for our mama pig to have her first litter any day now and our goats should have their babies in a couple weeks.
Happy Friday😊
Enjoyed your post .
I have had a good week enjoying the warmer temps . Looking at seeds to start soon . So thankful and grateful for God’s Grace .
Thanks for sharing your light .
Hi Merissa, Hubby came down with covid last week and I got it Saturday so we’ve been laying low all week. We also got the cold and snow, being in the heart of the upper midwest. Our suppers were oven roasted chicken, mashed potatoes and veggies, tuna hotdish, pulled pork sandwiches and coleslaw and left over chili we pulled from the freezer. We ordered a pizza one night as I couldn’t figure out anything to make. We eat a lot of eggs for breakfasts…usually scrambled, however I am making an egg bake today with sausage, hashbrowns, onions, green peppers and of course, cheese in it. My hubby has been reading the “Little House” series…..they are my books I received as a child and I’ve read them an uncountable number of times. I was sorry to hear about your lost lambs. It’s always sad for all involved….mamma too, no doubt. Hopefully you won’t have anymore of that with the rest of the animals. I hope to have a more productive week next week…..all the best, Bluej
So sorry to hear about the loss of your lambs. Heartbreaking.
It sounds like you had a very busy week. Thank you for sharing. Love the photos too.
Your cat looks sweet!!
Do you have the recipe for your burrito bowls that you could share sometime? Sounds good.
We are trying to eat from our pantry and freezers, as we have built quite a stockpile. We had a really good bean and sausage meal. My husband said it was a 10 and the only bean recipe he wanted from now on. Feel free to try and share if you would like.
We used:
1 package polska kielbasa, 1 can SPAM, 1 14 oz can dark kidney beans, 1 14 oz can white beans,
1 28 oz can Bush’s Homestyle beans with bacon, 1/2 cup maple syrup, 3 tablespoons white vinegar, 3 tablespoons ketchup (or more to your taste), 3 tablespoons of relish, 3 tablespoons (or less to your taste regular mustard), and about 2 tablespoons of minced onion.
Fried the SPAM very crisp. Removed from the pan and fried the sliced kielbasa with the minced onion crisp. Mixed it all together with the remaining ingredients. Put it all in an oblong casserole dish and baked at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes or so, then turned down to 295 and baked a bit longer.
Made a top ramen, canned chicken noodle casserole last night. Made a ton of food.
I liked it, husband thought it “was okay”, teenager didn’t like it at all. Again, used pantry
items and I have left over to freeze for lunches for myself.
I plan to make a white bean soup this weekend, as we have had snow and very cold temperatures.
My husband likes K cup coffee, but I had a ton of ground coffee that I had purchased and not used, so drug it out and have been making coffee for myself in the large, old fashioned coffee pot. It felt good to pour a cup of coffee like “the old days”.
Shopped at our discount grocery store this week for little things mostly for our daughter.
Spent $20.00. Shopped on senior day so saved 10%. Trying not to go to the grocery store
unless we really need something.
Looked at CDs – right now some CDs are paying 5% interest. Much better than a bank savings account.
Got 2 buckets out and partially filled with dirt for our bucket garden. We have a ton of deer here where we live and I would really like to have a garden, but don’t have a fenced in area. They seem to leave the buckets alone. I will only plant lettuce, kale, carrots and maybe some cherry tomatoes. Made me feel good. Like spring will be here soon. We did have cherry blossoms that came out on one tree before the cold and snow came.
Working on our magazine today. The April issue. Have pages to proofread. Have to force myself to sit and do it…been doing it for 20 years. That is one of the main reasons we are living a frugal lifestyle. Beside that fact that we just prefer it…I hope to be able to retire soon.
Since it’s Friday, I might stop early and play a game of cribbage with our daughter.
We have a cat who started out as a feral kitten that someone dumped by our house. She first lived
in the barn, then we got her to live in the garage and yahoo!!! finally!!! she has become a house cat and she loves to play, so I will spend time playing with her. She is sweet.
If it warms up later today, might go for a walk with my husband,
and stream a movie on Paramount later tonight.
Tomorrow, I will make a short trip down to our local church thrift store to see what they have on the FREE table and maybe go inside for a few books. We are blessed. They sell their books for
.20 each. Last week, I was very cold and found a nice fuzzy jacket there for 4.00 that I have been wearing instead of turning on my heater.
I feel like I have cut our budget every place I can and there is nothing left to cut…If anyone has any unique ideas, please share.
Love this blog and the information Merissa shares. It’s been fun to read other’s posts as well.
Great idea!! Thank you so very much.
Hope all of you have an excellent week.
The Burrito Bowls were super simple this week, refried beans, corn, cheese, diced tomatoes, lettuce, sour cream, and a little enchilada sauce. Everything went in the bowl (except the tomatoes, lettuce, and sour cream) and was warmed up. Then we put the toppings on.
Thank you for sharing Merissa. Sounds delicious. We will make this next week for sure.
Love all your posts and really have learned many things from you! Thank you for sharing!
Hi
my husband and I made more shelves for items I’ve Canned out of wood we already had . I did inventory of food and made list what I needed ,
I canned variety of beans like your email showed me 😊
Two trailers I’d gravel we sholved in driveway woo
Still have my daughters 8 puppies ready to sale ans Baby chick getting bigger .
Had nice spring weather
Hope your well
J
Good morning! I love reading all of the comments! This week we have been working on the house. Temps were up some where we live, the Ozarks of Missouri. We had to tear down part of the ceiling in our mudroom, take out part of the plywood above it, and replace it. Good incentive to get that room and the dining room that is open to it painted. Because of this most meals were either crock pot meals or chicken that I could season and throw in the oven. I have big shelves in that area that hold most of my canned goods and canning supplies. We had to move it all. What fun! But when it gets done, it will look nice. Have a great weekend all1
I really appreciate this blog post!! Just really a kind look into how you all do life with bumps, wrinkles, and weather:) I’m glad to see these “Frugal Fridays” back on the weekly offerings:) Just pace yourself, pray, and stay healthy and strong:) And a huge thank you for helping us all do the same. What did I do this week? I celebrating an unexpected time of healing with a major sprained ankle forced to elevate it in the stillness of the big, deep, cold, still woods of Maine–I was able to read, listen, encourage, and love–O! It was a precious week! Thanks for asking:) Blessings too many to count:)
My life is very boring in comparison with yours! It has been incredibly cold here this week (Winnipeg, MB Canada). The temperature has been between -25 – -40 C (at -40 C and F are the same) I have not stuck my nose outside the door! I am a senior living in a large city. My granddaughter has been on a 3 day field trip with her class at a camp up north. They were supposed to do lots of outdoor activities, however with the extreme cold they were only to do one — snowshoeing — in the “warmest” (-15 degrees C) part of the afternoon! I will be so glad to see her get home — when it is this cold it is dangerous being on the road — if there is a breakdown people can get into trouble quickly because of the extreme cold. Everyone carries blankets and other emergency equipment in their trunks but it is still a reason for concern! I plan to do some sewing today — and laundry. That is the “excitement” of my week. Cooking for one is boring and it is difficult to make a proper meal every day. I often end up with some kind of a vegetable and some kind of a sandwich for supper. There is no motivation to cook when you are only cooking for yourself.
I love to read your posts! I copied the Wacky cake recipe just to give it a try sometime soon. I’m not really struggling with egg issue, as grandson sells eggs, but always looking for new things to try.
A frugal tip I’ve been doing for quite some time, and learned from my mother- although I really didn’t start using it until we went through a particularly poor spell- I don’t throw my clothes in the laundry every day- unless they are my work clothes, or I’ve been extremely dirty. (Out mowing and gardening.) This saves time – less laundry pile up. And Dollars- less wear and tear on clothes, less water use, and less laundry soap use.
I too learned from my mother to wear your everyday work clothes more than once if they have not been subjected to sweatiness or excessive dirt. (Of course, the underwear and socks are changed daily.) This does help extend the life of your clothes by not washing them so frequently. I am using less laundry detergent, and laundry additives too, as well as extending the life of my washing machine and reducing expenses by not running it so often. Then, to save even more, I hang some of the clothes on a wooden drying rack, (Amish made); while I also hang up t-shirts, pajamas, robes, and some blouses on clothes hangers which I then hang on a dowel rod my husband put up for me. I also hang up jeans and slacks on hangers which clamp them on the bottom hem so they hang upside down. When they are dry, I either fold them or hang on pants-hangers to put away. All of this allows me to use free air to dry the clothes, saving wear and tear on the dryer, saves the cost of running the dryer, and also extends the life of the clothes. My “good ” clothes, I run through the dryer and also iron them if needed. As for bath towels, typically I use them three times before washing them. After all, I’ve only used them on an already showered body, not sweaty or dirty. These habits add up to doing far less laundry, saving wear and tear on the mechanical devices so they last longer, also extending the longevity of the clothing and towels, and also reducing expenses of running the mechanical devices. Thanks Mom!
Love your newsletters. Always encourages. Keep them coming. I have goats and chickens and garden. And can meat and produce. Live in south Louisiana so it’s like spring here. Been working and prepping the garden.
Thank you for starting this series! It’s helpful to hear about other’s projects and goings-on. We’ve been knee-deep in maple syrup this week. We tapped our trees just about two weeks ago and have collected close to 100 gallons of sap from 10 taps. We’re almost finished and will pull the taps tomorrow as our trees have started to bud (thank you 70° weather this week). So far we have put up a little more than a gallon and a half. We should get another 1/2 gallon from this last sap run. Our youngest commented on how fun it was to see the land provide. (Yes! Count that as a win!)
This week we have enjoyed some really warm weather here in Georgia with temps in the 60’s and 70’s. I’m not sure I could do that much snow in February! The kids and I have enjoyed returning to our favorite parks and playing in the yard.
I also prepped for a consignment sale where I buy a lot of the kids’ clothes. I cleaned out and organized so that I only went shopping for what they needed.
The book sounds so interesting! I’m putting it on my reading list 🙂
These Friday posts are giving me inspiration for winter meals. I’m working at eating down the pantry, and it’s getting to the point I need to be imaginative!
I was wondering if you have a site similiar to Amazon or Walmart where you order things off of?
Which kind of things?
I love reading your posts/blogs. I live in New Zealand, on the Hibiscus Coast. Our seasons are opposite to yours, so we are looking at the end of summer and moving into a mild autumn/Fall. Our beautiful country consists of two main islands, and our North Island has been devastated by two cyclones (hurricanes). Our two main ‘food bowls’ (Napier and Gisborne) provided sheep, beef, milk, chickens, pigs, fish , honey, wine, grapes, apples, all types of fruit and vegetables to 50% of New Zealand, as well as exported. It has all gone. So our supermarket and market shelves are emptying… I am so glad that I have a Homesteading , prepping attitude. My husband and I live in our home overlooking the sea, with a large vegetable garden and what I call my ‘culinary courtyard’. My sister lives 25 minutes away out on a peninsula so she gets a different micro-climate to us. We both grow excellent vegetables and fruit, so share the bounty between our households… I do the better lettuces , potatoes, sweet potatoes , cabbages, zucchini , passionfruit , limes and tomatoes, while she has the best squash, pumpkins, fennel, dill, rhubarb, lemons, sunflowers (for seeds) and designer lettuces. We are busy bottling/canning enough fruit to see us through 2-3 years with little to no fruit grown in the North Island. We can survive with our own vegetable gardens. We have prepped for years in case of a natural disaster…and here it is.
I am sorry that you are having really bad winter storms – stay safe.
I don’t comment ever, but I’m encouraged (and a bit intimidated) by you, Merissa!
This week we mostly had oatmeal or eggs for breakfast. Our 4 hens are laying an egg a day, now! We are first-time chicken-owners and are enjoying it! I also made a batch of homemade yogurt this week in my instant pot… first time and it turned out pretty good! For lunches we usually have leftovers, and suppers were chicken soup with dumplings, salmon, sheet pan chicken parmesan, spanish rice, and black bean rice bowls.
I’m reading through Charlotte Mason’s Home Education Vol 1 little by little, also browsing The Homesteader’s Natural Chicken Keeping Handbook by Amy Fewell
I have more time to listen to podcasts then read these days. I am so encouraged by “The Strong Women Podcast” (put out by the Colson Center), and “Heaven in your home” with Francie Winslow
My only projects this week are making some toiletries from scratch, crocheting a baby blanket for a friend, and baking. I have 2 littles under 5 so I feel like they’re my main focus right now. 😊
Thanks for the blog posts, recipes, etc you take time to share with us, Merissa! We are taking baby steps but eventually want to be more self-sustaining and own some land. You have helped us know it is attainable!
This week besides going to work . I have stayed inside because of the weather. I was able to organize my store room and rotate my storage. I also made a list of things I need to replace or get. So that next week when our local store has their caselot sale I know what to get . I’ve been doing a little baking to help keep my house warmer .😁
I attempted to make sourdough discard English muffins, but for the second time the recipe was a flop. I pulled a lot of leftovers from the freezer to clean it out, but tonight we’re making upside down pizza, and I’m pretty excited (it’s a new recipe idea, that I’m sure isn’t original).
I read Caroline last year sometime, and I did enjoy it, although it took some time to get into it. I just finished listening to Marmee by the same author and again, it took some time but I enjoyed it. Audio books are my new obsession because I can listen and get stuff done, so I’ve been listening to a LOT this year so far!
I’m so sorry to hear about your lambs! That is tough!
This week we worked on mending fences (neighbor bulls getting through fence); cleaning out, repairing and re arranging chicken coops; preparing for the storm.
I would love it if you continued your ‘Frugal Fridays’ posts…they’re very interesting. So in that spirit…
This was Husband’s birthday week, with supper out at a Mexican restaurant (doggie box) and more at a Tibetan restaurant tonight — which our girlies will pick up the $$, no doubt. Otherwise, I made chicken and rice, which I took to sick friends — then we ate it twice, first by itself, and second, with green chile enchilada sauce and cheese. (delicious) Breakfasts almost always have bacon — but only a few strips. Eggs only once in a while. (The cheapest is now running at a ‘bargain’ price of $4.99 here in Colorado.) Potatoes and tortillas, homemade bread, etc. help stretch out breakfasts. (We sleep in late, so bfast would be ‘lunch’ for some people.)
Speaking of bread — you have a dutch oven. I have been making Mavis’ Dutch Oven Bread (only 4 ingredients!) with great success. Takes about 5 min. to mix, and that’s it!! I love this recipe.
Wow! What a week!
We’ve been trying to minimize our grocery shopping. So, to that end…
I’ve been cleaning out my pantry and freezers; and working on utilizing many of the items that I froze or dehydrated from our summer and autumn gardens. For a fun evening snack, I rehydrated pumpkin and made pumpkin cake in a cup. The result tasted just like pumpkin pie without the crust.
Eggs that I had frozen when our hens were laying every day we’re transformed into quiches. Dried zucchini, yellow squash, scarlet runners, tomatoes and mushrooms combined with fresh escarole was the base for another dinner.
Our energies were also on the outdoor with cleaning chicken coop, and a list of other chores.
Hello! I tried a wacky cake recipe and was surprised good it came out. Especially with no butter, eggs, or milk being used. Other than that my week was pretty much the usual.
I work about 60 hours a week, so time is limited. I had some leftover turkey to use up and homemade vegetable and chicken bone broth in the freezer, so I put on a pot of turkey noodle soup while cooking dinner earlier this week. Some went into the freezer and the rest is for lunches.
I am so happy you do a “frugal Friday blog” I love it! I’m going to learn so much!
My husband and I and our grown children are all in Tucson, AZ. We are in our 60’s and are excited about learn many things about homesteading, cooking & being frugal.
This week our menu was a bit off..
Grilled cheese sandwiches
Salads
Chicken & baked potatoes
Menudo & garlic bread
Grilled steak w/ refried beans
Pizza
I want to learn to make bread…I’m nervous, not gonna lie…but I’m going to try your mom’s recipe.
I’m sorry to hear about your baby lambs not making it. That breaks my heart.
We have 1 acre that we share with 2 horses, 2 meat steers, 2 dogs, a feral cat that chose us as his friends so it lives here now…and 12 chickens!
We’ve raised our own meat for the last 5 years(?) Beef & pork, then hunt for elk & deer when we are drawn. I have not figured out for the life of me how to butcher our chickens. I want to kill about 5-6 to put in the freezer…but what stopping me? I haven’t the foggiest idea on what to do with the chicken blood! I don’t want to draw in predators!
I’m sorry this is long. You are wonderful and will be reading all your frugal Fridays! Juat know that I APPRECIATE YOU!
I enjoy your frugal fridays. We have been eating out of our pantry. We do buy milk weekly because I make milk kefir every week and once a month yogurt. We are empty nesters and retired so we do not have to spend much on groceries. My husband, my dog and I go for a nice long walk daily. We have so much snow that it is quite the exercise. I also enjoy your videos.
Good evening.
Today was busy. This morning I made drop biscuits along with eggs and sausage. After breakfast I started dinner. Tried a new beef stew recipe. I let it cook all day in a 250 degree oven. It turned out really good. I never follow a recipe to the letter…I enjoy adding my own twist. We were out of bone broth so we started some beef bone broth this morning in the crock pot. My husband works from home on Fridays and it was time to take a round bail of hay out to our 4 cows. Since the weather was warm and dry today we decided to clean out the chicken barn and put the manure in the garden at the end where we plant corn.
After dinner we finished up with trimming some bushes in front of the porch.
My daughter started bread this morning. She’s doing artisan bread so the dough had to rise all day. She’s planning on baking the loafs in the morning.
As for our week it was pretty much the same with doing barn chores, cooking meals, checking on our parents and delivering eggs. We’re still going through our house and cleaning out items we’re not using. The older I get I realize the joy of living a similar life. Freeing up time and space to be able to spend more time with those I love.
We’ll I’ll say goodnight. Hope everyone has a good weekend.
Blessings
I took the last of the tomatoes from last season’s garden and canned tomato soup (your recipe, which is delicious). I found a ham in the freezer (that I’d forgotten about) I cooked it for dinner one night, the ham bone is in the slow cooker now. I will use the broth to can ham and beans tomorrow afternoon. I’ve been looking at canning books to see what else I can can this winter to add shelf stable meals to my pantry. I’ve also been working on decluttering my house to make life easier, I work outside the home and I’m a mom of 4, and my home more relaxing and cozy! I’m hoping to organize my freezers this weekend.
This week we had crazy weather, but in the opposite direction. It got up into the 70s one day here in WV! (But today it snowed a bit. Never a dull moment!) I am really gearing up for garden season. We keep looking after our baby spring seedlings. I also got the pepper seeds in pots as well as some herbs. We’re hoping to grow loads more for dried teas and herbal remedies. The greatest blessing of the week was a dump truck load of FREE wood chips for our very large garden! I am SOOO thankful for that (even though I’ll be moving and shoveling mulch for weeks to come!)
We are basically snowed in this week, didn’t go anywhere as the roads were bad or closed. That’s okay, gives one a chance to work on projects.
I am knitting socks for daughter, self and a dear friend. I love this activity and the socks are most welcome. Trying to curb my yarn buying tendencies so will try to use up all the sock yarn I currently have.
Trying to use up the odds and ends in the deep freeze. Made a soup I created with a few pieces of leftover sirloin steak, some rather old frozen green beans, some carrots that need to be used up as well as a can of tomatoes and various seasonings. Will try for some desserts this week with odds and ends of fruit in the deep freeze.
Good monday morning everyone!! As Iwrite this its a gray start to the day ,going to head off to work in a half hour.Was a busy week this past week ,had a busy Saturday cooking and baking. We do family fun nite once a month,everyone brings board games and have supper together and visit.This months meal was shredded barbecued chicken on homemade hamburger buns ,salads and for desert homemade pumpkin sheet cake.
didnt work Thursday because of the weather the school had an E learning day and no school Monday because of presidents day so was a 3 day work week.Thursday spent part of the day doing freezer cleaning and organizing.Blessings to everyone this week!!!
This week was based around accepting change. Mon thru Wednesday were set aside to make my time away from the family go smoothly. When Thursday showed up and it was time for my Mom and I to head north, a huge snow storm blew into our path and made the trip impossible. But, I had already done ALL this work! So I went to plan B and told mom we are going West instead of North. There was still snow but not anything like we would have been driving into. We spent two amazing nights on the coast right in the town we were visiting and could walk to everything! My mom who is in her 70s exclaimed that it was “The Bomb”. Cue teenage groan from a 40 year old.