Frugal Friday Week #43

Here on the blog, I post a 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 my simple/homestead/from scratch/frugal life really looks like. This series was started in 2023 to provide more of a peek into our regular everyday life and how we put things together.

In 2024, I’m changing things up a bit to fit better with our community here at Little House Living. Here’s what I’d like to do!

The format of Frugal Friday will be changing a little. Yes, I will still show some pictures and things from our everyday lives, but this blog isn’t just about me; it’s about the community that we’ve created here! So from here on out, Frugal Friday will also feature your frugal tips and everyday things as well.

Each week, I need you to go to the Forum and post in the most recent Frugal Friday post about your frugal and simple life for the week. Make sure you share a picture with it! Each week when I post Frugal Friday here on the blog, I will feature a handful of the posts from that thread on the forum. I will also use Random.org to select one of the posts to receive a prize for posting. This might be a great book, a homesteading tool, or anything else I can find that we love using.

Scroll down for more details and to read about our frugal week!

Meals We Ate

This was a very simple week as we packed to get on the road and then have been having some issues with our camper while on the road. For breakfasts, we’ve had Waffles, Muffins (a few times), and other soft foods (one of our children had dental surgery this week as well).

For other meals, we’ve eaten several sandwiches (mostly ham and cheese or turkey), Mac and Cheese, Big Plate (fruits, veggies, meats, anything we have on hand on an “un-fancy” charcuterie board, Beans and Rice, and other soft foods. I think we are finally getting past the soft foods phase so we do more regular meals again next week.

How We Lived Frugal This Week

I waited to purchase my groceries for this week until we were on the road again so that I could get them at Trader Joe’s. It’s hard to shop at the expensive grocery stores that we have in South Dakota!

We didn’t have much of a frugal week since we had to pay for the dental surgery out of pocket (no dental insurance). Share tips on saving on dental bills in the comments if you have them!

Other than that, we are on the road for the next few weeks, working on ministry projects until we can get back and fix our new homestead. It’s not a super exciting week, but some are just like that.

Deals I Found This Week

I updated my list of deals from Auguson Farms. You can find that here. Any other sites or brands that you want me to watch for deals on?

The Casserole Cookbook – Free for Kindle (or download the Kindle app to your computer) right now.

There are a bunch of Kitchen Aid accessories on sale on Amazon right now here. I have that cordless food processor and just love it! I only have to charge it about once a month.

New Blog Posts I Wrote This Week

I didn’t have much extra time for writing this week but I managed to sneak in a few posts and updates. Here’s what’s new:

• How Long Does Food Last in the Freezer – I gave this blog post a HUGE update including a new free printable chart.
• Bean with Bacon Soup – This is always a wintertime favorite!
• How to Keep Your Mind Busy During Winter – Winter gets so long, especially this time of year. Here are some new ideas of things to do in your “downtime.”
• Crockpot Lava Cake – This is a favorite recipe I like to make for Valentine’s Day, but it’s fun for any day you want dessert!
• Cheesy French Bread – This “deli copycat” is simple and frugal to make!
• The True Cost of Convenience – I wrote this article a long time ago but updated it this week. It’s a good read!
• Frugal Date Night Tips – These aren’t just tips for date night, they can work for any night or day out with friends as well!
• Southwest Chicken Soup – New soup recipe on the blog this week!
• Tips and Tricks for a No Spend Pantry Challenge – I updated this post with even more tips. We love doing this challenge every year!
• Healthy Foods on a Budget – This article has 24 ideas on how to save money on healthy foods.
• 20 Frugal Cooking Tips from the Great Depression – I loved putting together this article with super frugal cooking tips that my Granny would have used.

Your Frugal Tips/Life This Week

One of the most frugal things I do is to make my husband’s packed lunches on Sundays for the week. This saves us $50-$100 per week! He’s not a sandwich guy and wants a dinner-style meal, so I’ll make him one of our dinners (grilled chicken, beans and rice, for example) and split it up into 5 servings. While it’s not ideal to eat the same thing for lunch all week, with three kids ages 5 and under, that’s all I can do right now. He doesn’t have access to a microwave, so he uses a Hot Logic lunchbox (Hot Logic Mini Portable Oven, Food Warmer Electric Lunch Box with Wall Plug, Mini Personal Heated Box for Cooking and Reheating Meals in Office, Travel, Potlucks, Hotel, Home Kitchen (Black) to reheat his lunch via the cigarette lighter in his work van. He even has a tray table that fits onto his steering wheel to make lunches in his van more convenient. (JUSTTOP Car Steering Wheel Desk for Travel – Car Accessories Stand Tray Table for Eating (Black). – Elizabeth S.

This week, we ate at home except for an inexpensive In and Out burger meal. I had a doctor appointment in the city so we also went to Costco and to Sam’s Club, where I found and bought the last two boxes of holiday (holly design) dish sets that I’d seen at the beginning of Christmas. They were $49 a box then and I bought them for less than $13 a box. I’ll use these year round because they make me smile! I’m replacing my old set of 8 Christmas plates (also used daily), which were from the thrift store about twenty years ago. I offered those to church friends and the pastor’s wife snagged them. They nearly match six plates she has! She’s thrilled because she has enough for her large family now.

This week, I concentrated on making birthday cards for three January b-days. I’m also replenishing my stock of homemade notecards. I use rubber stamps, embossing powder, and a heat gun, plus reusing paper and other embellishments. I color the stamped image with watercolor pencils. Game changer. – Elaine

Happy Midwest NE blizzard day 2.5! All my frugal skills are paying off as we have our 2nd blizzard in a week, each with about 12 inches of snow. Finished updating our freezer inventories and currenting working on the cupboards & closet locations all over the house. Specific to the storm, we are saving laundry for when the sun comes back out to use our solar system; will use the oven’s self-cleaning feature tonight when wind chill temps are to about -50 F. It’s propane and the heat will be used twice- cleaning the oven and heating part of the house; thawing milk from the freezer since there are no roads open; and my lap stays warm as I piece together a granny square lap/wheel chair afghan for our local VA nursing home. Thanking the Lord for all the snow- drought for the past 3 years just might be broken with all this moisture. – IrishStars

This past week has been a stay at home week. With below 0 degrees temperatures this week in Kentucky, it will be another stay at home this coming week.
My shopping has been all online this week. I had two fair sized orders. I feel sorry for my delivery drivers having to be out in this cold. With the cold weather and a dog who needs me at home because of a surgery, I not getting out to shop in person.
I made barbecued chicken in the pressure cooker for sandwiches this week, meatloaf, and a few casseroles. i am limiting myself on baking sweets. We over indulged in sweets over the holidays. It’s time to cutback.
I finished two drying mats that I have been wanting to make for awhile.
I printed Merissa’s decluttering template and have begun getting the house in order and simplified.
Snow Is predicted in two hours. I can’t wait. It’s so pretty. – Leslie

This is where your post and picture could appear next week!

Post over on THIS THREAD on the forum. Next week, I’ll select several posts (from the forum) to feature here on the blog, and one person will even win a set of my favorite measuring spoons just for sharing!

ElizabethS is our winner for this week! Elizabeth, could you please email me at [email protected] to claim your prize? I’ll get that mailed right out to you!

What have you been up to this week? How did you stay frugal over the holidays? Feel free to comment here AND copy and paste your comment on the forum as well!