The Frugal Five
With inflation on the rise and our salaries not being able to keep up, it seems like we have taken a pay cut and must be more careful with our money. The Frugal Five is a series where we celebrate our daily or weekly activities that help us to live a frugal life.
1- Spring Decorations
Changing up your decorations refreshes the soul and provides an opportunity for your creativity to develop. I decorate by season of the year vs. holiday. This allows me to systematically change my home by room without the pressure of getting it down all at once. Since I rarely purchase decorations for my home, I try to use what I have in creative ways to create a stunning yet minimalistic appearance. My process also allows me to sit with my creation and change it according to what I find beautiful at the time.
2- Grocery Budget: Check the discounted Grocery,
Bakery, Meat and Dairy sections each week.
Each week I check my local grocery store’s discounted section to see if there are discounted items that will help me keep my grocery budget in check. Occasionally I will find a meat item that is a great deal, but usually these items are the really expensive cuts of meat. However, I find great deals in the bakery, dairy and grocery sections. This week I found Ricotta Cheese (30 oz) discounted by 91% or $0.50 per container. I picked up 2 containers and plan on making a vegetarian meal and freezer meals with my find. Ricotta cheese has 6 grams of protein in each serving and each container has 15 servings.
3- Hygge: Enjoying the outdoors
March weather is fickle, so we had both snow/hail and bright sunny days this week. The light snow made our view of the pond incredible and we enjoyed our morning coffee with this view. In addition, on the sunny days, our duck family came to visit us. Since we had some cracked corn left over from last year, we gave the ducks a treat. Watching nature from our kitchen table is always an incredible experience and sets us up for a great day.
4- Baking: Energy Balls
Granola bars are increasing in price and decreasing in size. As a result, this week I made energy balls for the freezer. My son will eat the entire recipe by the end of the week for his after school snack. Since I already had all of the ingredients in my pantry for the energy balls, there was no added expense to my grocery budget this week.
5- Packing Lunch Daily
This year my son receives a free lunch each day from the school cafeteria, as do all of the children in our state. However, I am not eligible for this benefit. Therefore, I pack my lunch each day to keep costs down. My lunch normally consists of one or a combination of the following: leftovers, hard boiled egg bento box, yogurt and fruit or a homemade lunchable. I try to keep the cost around a dollar or two.
Please leave a comment below with your ways of saving money this week.
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