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Five Frugal Things | in the week of the freezer challenge

Since I’ve been working on whittling down my freezer contents this week, some of these will be freezer-challenge related.

1. I made chicken broth.

I used up the bones from my freezer (so, check one for the freezer challenge!), plus two onion ends from the fridge.

(Here’s how I make my chicken broth.)

Every time I make broth, I feel like I’m working magic.   That something so nutritious can come from something you’d otherwise throw away…well, it just feels rather magical to me.

2. Joshua and I made ramen for dinner.

We used some of the broth I made, some of the bok choy from my Hungry Harvest box, and also the shrimp from the freezer challenge photo.

Last time Joshua made from scratch ramen, several of you wondered if I could share the recipe.

So, you’ll be happy to know that I took pictures this time and I’ve got the recipe to share in a future post.

3. I made zucchini bread.

I had two in the fridge and they happened to be the perfect amount for a single loaf.

I’ve only been officially doing a freezer challenge this week, but I’ve been doing pretty well at working through the food in my fridge too!

4. I sorted through Sonia and Zoe’s fall clothes.

I needed to do the seasonal switch anyway, and before I buy new clothes, I like to see what we have on hand.

After the big sort, Zoe is pretty much good to go (having two older sisters and all!)

Sonia will still need a few things, but a lot of her wardrobe needs were filled after we looked through the boxes in the closet.

I took out all the clothes Zoe outgrew, plus any hand-me-downs that don’t seem like they’ll ever fit Sonia and Zoe, and bagged them up for various destinations (some to my siblings’ children, some to Goodwill).

5. I…

promptly shipped back a costume that didn’t fit*, put library books on hold to coordinate with our history studies, stayed out of the stores, cut up random fruits from the fridge so they’d get eaten, and used fallen tree branches to build a fire in our fire pit.

*putting off returns an expensive procrastination because it’s easy to keep the item until the return period has expired.

Your turn, frugal friends. Share your own FFT in the comments!

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Jenelle

Friday 20th of October 2017

I am a few days late in doing this (as always) but here are mine: 1. We are taking advantage of free halloween/fall events this coming weekend. Our church has a "Great Pumpkin" festival that is always fun and my employer (a university) has a trick or treat in the residence halls for little kids. Free and fun.

2. Halloween costumes, wow, I will say we are 50/50 frugal on that one. I ended up buying my daughter's costume at Cracker Barrel (of all places, I know) and I'm creating my son's John Deere Monster Truck costume out of items we had around the house. Boxes, glue, spray paint and a few printables. It's looking much better than I thought I could make on my own.

3. I was tempted about 6 times to order something from Wish.com, but emptied my cart and decided against it. Not sure how I feel about that site yet. Glad I emptied the cart.

4. The one not-so-frugal online purchase I did make today was for two Christmas Presents (I guess are needed, but it is a purchase) Macy's has a few of their small appliances on sale and their is a rebate to go along with them. Though I spent $45, I will be getting $20 back in rebates. I tend to use those rebates for Christmas money.

5. Next week I am away for work the entire week and my employer will be footing the bill for my food and travel, so I will get some money back for mileage.

Amy

Friday 20th of October 2017

1) We made spaghetti sauce with the end of garden tomatoes. There was not enough sauce for a pasta meal, but enough to coat meatballs... so meatball subs for dinner! 2) My birthday was yesterday. We splurged for Red Robin. I got my free birthday burger . 3) I got a Red Robin gift card in May as a thank you. We saved it till my birthday to help pay for the rest of our meal. 4) I bought Halloween candy to use a coupon before expired. The bag is still un-opened. Yay us for the self control. Normally we cannot have bags of candy in the house! The frugal willpower will prevent the need to buy another bag prior to trick or treat. 5) Hubby took leftover for lunch vs buying.

Kristen

Friday 20th of October 2017

Happy, happy birthday!

Alison

Friday 20th of October 2017

1. Our kids really want Pokemon cards for Christmas, so we bought some from a local teen who was selling them to earn money to buy Christmas gifts for his family. Win-win! 2. My husband and I took a 5-day trip while my mother watched our four daughters. It was a splurge (but worth it to maintain a healthy, loving marriage!) We chose a location within driving distance, stayed in an AirBnB condo, packed our food for both travel days, shopped at the grocery store and cooked all but two (planned) meals. We did a couple of amazing experiences, (a Scandinavian spa and a treetop/zip lining outing) but enjoyed really simple things other than that, like hiking together, drinking coffee and chatting, reading library books, wandering around the little shops. It was so refreshing! 3. We made a pot of tomato soup using up all the last of our garden tomatoes, some carrots, onions and garlic, and a big tub of chicken broth that was in the freezer. We ate a bunch of odds and ends of bread with it. :) 4. I recently discovered that my library offers a digital subscription to hundreds of magazines! I really wanted a subscription to Clean Eating, but now I can download the last year's worth of issues for free... and no extra clutter. 5. A repair that we feared would be enormous was actually only a $4.99 part. So happy! 6. Bonus... It might not seem like a frugal win, but I think you'll understand. We bought a "last year's model" Phil & Ted's stroller 10 years ago, before our first baby was born. It has been used at least 5 days a week ever since! And yesterday it finally died, after helping us raise 4 babies. My youngest is nearly 3, so I was just using it when I wanted to go for long walks and actually get some exercise for me... so it's not a necessity anymore. It feels pretty good to have gotten so much use out of it!

Kristen

Friday 20th of October 2017

I completely understand number 6! It's a good feeling when you buy something that serves you well for a long time.

Katie

Friday 20th of October 2017

1. I used Shoe Goo to repair a pair of kids sandals. Shoe Goo is definitely my new favorite product. I've used it to fix more than just shoes! 2. We're harvesting green beans from our tiny backyard garden, so I was able to make a variation of German potato salad with potatoes, green beans, and leftover white beans I had in the fridge. We had it for our main dish, and my kids liked it! 3. I used old bananas from my freezer to make two loaves of banana bread for breakfast tomorrow to keep my kids from eating up the $12 bag of cereal too quickly. 4. I sewed up the holes in a pile of ripped kids clothing so my kids can still wear them. 5. I gave a bag of chicken bones to my house helper so she could make chicken broth for her family. She also picked a bag full of green bean leaves from our garden to cook in the broth.

Jenny

Monday 23rd of October 2017

That's so great! See what we learn here? Green bean leaves in broth!! Sounds healthy and good, though I wouldn't ever have thought about it if I hadn't read Katie's note here.

Deidre

Friday 20th of October 2017

1. I Bought some liquid tight containers (after a sad workbag yoghurt incident) a couple of weeks ago to divide up a big tub joghurt for work rather than buying individual serve. Worked out this week it stays much fresher when measured out daily and the fruit I have is added just before eating. I buy a low sugar low fat vanilla yoghurt that goes with all fruit. (I tried to eat natural yoghurt because I know it's even better for me but I just don't like it). A friend has given me a recipe for homemade yoghurt that I thought was delicious and when I have time I'll try making it but that's a future goal right now)

2. Started keeping fruit in the crisper instead of in a bowl on the bench where it goes sad before I can eat it, and now I am in the habit of having fruit and yoghurt for morning tea I will remember it is there.

3. Finished returning all my unwanted online shops - yay!

4. Started campaign to leave for work earlier to miss heavier traffic and use less petrol, failed today but mostly improving.

5. Washed my car with microfibre cloths to reduce water use and resisted urge to pay for carwash.

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