Frugal Five: #60

 The Frugal Five: #60

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 the daily or weekly activities that help us live a frugal life.    

1- Garden Harvesting

Our garden is growing fast and it is starting to produce food for harvesting.    At this point, I have a lot of yellow squash to harvest, share and preserve.   We are eating a lot of steamed, sauteed, and squash casseroles.   I am trying new recipes and may even try my hand at picking some squash this season.   In addition, my tomatoes are starting to develop a lot of fruit, so I am preparing to preserve gravy, salsa, diced tomatoes, and more.   

2- Sales and Loss Leaders 

This week ground beef (90/10) and Kielbasa were at a rock-bottom price, so I picked up as much as possible within my grocery budget.   In addition, I was able to score 4 ice creams for free after sales, rebates, and coupons.     How lucky was I this week!   

Each week there are so many things that are available for free.   Come on over and check out what I have been able to get this year.    

  3- Homecooked Dinners 

This week we are making a huge effort to eat at home and save some money.    For example, if we went out for hamburgers and french fries, it would cost our family approximately $20.00.  The same amount of food cost us $5.00 and we used higher-quality meat for our burgers.   

  

4- Homemade Frappuccino

Our family loves Starbucks Frappuccinos but at $6.00 each, it is a costly treat.    This week I experimented with making homemade Frappuccinos.   By saving the leftover coffee from our morning pot and placing it in the refrigerator with some Almond Milk, the base of our Frappuccino will be ready by the afternoon.     In the afternoon when the temperature is hot, we add some ice and Hershey chocolate syrup and blend in our Vitamix to make the Frappuccino.  I like to add a little whip to the top and it tastes similar to a Starbucks Frappuccino.   Yummy! 

5- Continuous Planting 

Although our garden is exploding with growing vegetables, it is important to continuously plant or seed your garden throughout the growing season for a fall harvest.   I pulled our pea plants and that side of the trellis is empty, so I planted more beans.    I haven’t had a lot of luck this year with bean plants, but hopefully, this planting will produce a lot of green beans.   

July and August 2023- Living Large in the Cheap Seats is out.   Our area is rich in artistic events.   It has free concerts, movies, and museum events to take in.  There are events for all ages and interests.     

Check out all of the free or cheap things to do in the Cincinnati area or just for ideas of where to look for free/cheap things in your area. 

Do you want to see what we did last week?   

Just click on the picture for the link. 

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