Frugal Five #8

-

 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- Reusing Grocery Bags


Each week I get several grocery bags from the store when I check out.    These bags could go into the landfill without using them for anything else, but why would I do that?    I use my grocery bags as liners for my trash cans, to wrap paint brushes, use them at Aldi grocery and for so much more.      


2- Grocery Budget: 1 Chicken makes 3 Meals 

   

Meat prices keep going higher and higher, so I tried to make three meals out of one chicken this week.  At Kroger I was able to pick up a 5.25 pound frying chicken for $7.82/$1.49 per pound.     On Sunday, I made a full roasted chicken with extra sides (3 servings).      Then, I used the carcass to make chicken bone broth which was used to make chicken noodle soup for Monday night's dinner (servings).     Finally the remaining chicken was used to make chicken salad for 4 lunches + a snack.  


3- Hygge: Adding Soft Light


A common element of living a Hygge life is embarrassing soft lighting while indoors or letting the natural light in.    I have the best of both worlds.   Our home has large window areas that allow light to enter my kitchen and the view is breathtaking.    In addition, I add the soft glow of candles throughout the space that I occupy to help create a cozy feeling that helps me to remain tranquil.   Since I only pick up candles when they are at garage sales or extremely discounted, this is a very frugal indulgence.   


4- Kitchen Love- Homemade Easter Candy


Easter is filled with treats and all kinds of delights from the kitchen.   This year we made Homemade Easter Peanut Butter Eggs.    It was a fun and economical experience.   We had already picked up the ingredients over the past few months at rock bottom prices or for FREE, so this treat didn’t add to our grocery bill.     


5- Took advantage of a Money and Free Coupons

  


Meijer’s Grocery Store provided me with another $5.00 off of a purchase coupon this month and I took advantage of it.    This week they had Salsa on sale for 2/$3.00 and Canned Vegetables for 4/$2.00.   So I picked up these items, used my coupon, and walked out of the store owing nothing.  In addition, Kroger provided me with several coupons for free items.     Finally, IBOTTA offered a Siggi single yogurt for free after the rebate.      WOW - This week was great for picking up free items!      


Please leave a comment below with your ways of saving money this week.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Keeping Cool Without an AC- Part 5

-
Image
  The news is full of headlines indicating that energy shortages are on the horizon for most of the world. Over the decades, we have become reliant on the coolness of our air conditioners and have forgotten how we survived without them. It is now time to rediscover how to stay cool without our AC. Our 5 part series provides ideas on how to beat the heat this summer without the AC.     House Adjustments- Part 2 By placing house plants, such as English ivy, ficus, and spider plants, throughout your home, you can drop the overall temperature of your house by 10 degrees. In addition, house plants are air purifiers and add oxygen to your home.     For quick relief, create a personal mister to help drop the temperature of your skin: thus making you feel colder. Some people combine a spray bottle and a fan to create a cooling effect. However, I use just the spray bottle with cold water throughout the day and it keeps me cool. In addition, we use cooling clothes to cool us down by placing the
Read more

Frugal Five: #73

-
Image
  The Frugal Five: #73 With inflation on the rise and salaries not increasing, our ability to make ends meet keeps going down.    Therefore, we must be more careful with our money.   The Frugal Five is a series where we celebrate the daily or weekly activities that help us live a frugal life.     1- “Potluck” lunch At work this week, we are having a potluck appetizer/dessert party for a colleague’s 60th birthday.  Everyone is expected to bring an appetizer or dessert for the party.    Since there will be a lot of food provided by everyone, I am not bringing my lunch that day and will eat from whatever people have brought.   In addition, on Friday, our social committee is providing us with a turkey lunch feast.     2- Picking up a Cheap Turkey This week at Kroger, if you spend $25.00, then you can purchase a Kroger turkey for just $0.49 per pound.  Although we do not prefer dark meat, we decided to take advantage of this deal and planned for what to do with the dark meat.     No worries
Read more

Frugal 5: #26

-
Image
  The Frugal Five: #26 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 live a frugal life.     ** Sorry for the lack of pictures. My week has been really busy and I just didn't get around to it. 1- Fall Garden Harvest    With the weather turning cold, we harvested the tomatoes that were left and made dice tomatoes out of them.   This will come in handy for making our taco soup and chili in the upcoming weeks.   In addition, we are able to add a few jalapeno peppers to the dishes.  Our dried mint was placed in containers for making tea this winter and fresh clippings were added to the drying rack.     Finally, our seeds are dried and ready for storage for next season.      It was a lot of work but worth it.  2- Free Item Coupons This week several companies sent me free product coupons, so I
Read more