Skip to main content

Frugal Five: #115

 


With inflation on the rise and salaries not increasing, our ability to make ends meet is decreasing. Therefore, we must be more careful with our money. The Frugal Five is a series that celebrates the daily or weekly activities that help us live a frugal life.    


I am exploring ways to reduce costs during busy weeks. One strategy is to watch the pennies because they add up. Here are some of my tips and tricks.   


1- Garden Update 


The harvest is starting to come in.   I have picked 3 large heads of cabbage, 3 pounds of carrots, kale, jalapeno peppers, chili peppers, banana peppers, and herbs (sage, chives, and oregano).   The kale was cleaned with stems removed.   Then we used it in salad and made kale chips.   We devoured one cabbage and wrapped the other 2 in plastic bags to keep in the refrigerator.    The rainbow carrots were trimmed, cleaned, wrapped in plastic bags, and kept in the crisper drawer.     I pickled one can of banana peppers.    


2- Our Rich Backyard 


We have enjoyed visiting with family, playing board games, attending lawn concerts, and watching the fireworks.    We savored wine spritzers while eating appetizers such as a cheese and cracker tray.  Finally, our screened-in porch was used daily, and we saw a variety of different wildlife that inhabit our wooded area.  


3-  Free Bees Galore 


This week I was able to find a lot of free bees.    There were 2 different photo deals.    In addition, CVS had sales, coupons, and ECB on Crest products (toothpaste and toothbrush) and CoverGirl Cosmetics.      I was able to pick up 7 items for free.         


4- Library Benefits 


I took advantage of our local library by using one of their conference rooms to meet with my tutee.   I borrowed TV series and books for entertainment, and non-fiction books on my new diet.       Access to our library has saved a lot of money over the years.     


5-  Planted Grass instead of buying Sod


When we updated our back porch, the machines created bare spots in several areas of our lawn. Purchasing sod was very expensive, so we opted to reseed the bare spots, water with loving care, and grow grass ourselves.    The grass is coming in nicely.    


What Free-bees have you been able to pick up this year?   The  2025 Free-Bee Summary has been posted.    If you missed it, then click on the link below.  


Here is my list:

If you want to see my last post, click on the picture for the link. 



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


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Menu Planning #132

Our meals need to be nutritious, clean, flexible, quick and cost effective. Between our work schedules and after school activities, we need to carefully plan our meals so that we do not end up ordering out.   The news is very scary at this time because of all the news of meat plants shutting down, grocery stories limiting the amount of meat a family can purchase and all of the talk about a depression on the horizon.    We have decided to keep our grocery budget the same, but to economize any way we can.     This week we tried to pick up some shrimp that was on sale, but the store was out of shrimp and not expecting to get any more in.    We were grateful to find wild caught salmon for the same price, so we picked that up instead for our Mother’s Day Dinner.    What did we spend?  Week 1: $96.44 Kroger: $96.44 Rebates: $3.55 IBOTTA: $1.35 Kroger Cash: $0.45 Checkout 51: $1.75 ...

Menu Plan #322

  NOTE-  1- Click on the picture and get a link to a post sharing the recipe.  2- Although all prices were correct at the time of the blog postings, the current cost of these dishes may be higher due to inflation and/or location.      Published September 2025:  USDA Thrifty Food Plan According to this plan, our family has a weekly budget of $190.50. Since  October has 5 weeks, our monthly budget is $952.50.   We elevate our dining experiences by including fresh fruits, vegetables, and higher-quality meats.  Since our family has specific dietary needs, we limit our consumption of highly processed food.   Grocery Shopping Tip:     Rethink lunchmeat.     The deli will provide you with thin-sliced meat or presliced deli meat, but you will pay a premium per pound.     ($6.49 to $15.00 per pound) However, if you buy a ½ boneless ham (unsliced or presliced), the price point will drop to between ...

Fruit by the serving: Pineapple ($.06-$.19)

Fruit by the serving: Pineapple ($.06-$.19) Fruit by the serving is a concept that I first read about on Pennies & Pancakes several years ago. The concept is basically how much does each serving of fruit cost you. Apples or bananas may be ch eaper that a larger fruit such as cantaloupe or pineapples, but if you pick one up when it is on sale and cut it yourself, it may actually be cheaper per serving that the apple or banana.   In addition, it will give you a wider variety of food. Furthermore, if you have children who would not eat an entire banana or apple, it may be beneficial to purchase the smaller sized fruit. Pineapple Selection: A lot of pineapples we see in the states are mainly green.  When you find a pineapple with a golden color to the majority of it, there is a good sign that the pineapple will be sweet and delicious.  As with all fruit, check for busing. If a piece of fruit is bruised in the transportation process then ...