February 18 - March 18
Within the last month the kids and I made a trip to New Mexico to visit with family, Maceo and I have been planning our trip to the UK for his college auditions and life continued to happen (ie. senior photos, etc.). So, I can't say that this past month has been the most frugal month of my life; however, even in the midst of large adventures and expenses I have had some successes.
I did my best to make good decisions while on the trip. We drove straight through so that there were no hotel accommodations to pay for. We did eat out a couple of times (I was in New Mexico, I did have to have green chile) but largely ate what was prepared for us by our wonderful hosts and diligently worked on eating all of the leftovers. We went to Old Town to a couple of museums. We paid for the natural history and rattlesnake museums but, fortunately, the art museum was free. We went to Santa Fe and simply walked through galleries and such which was free. We played a lot of games and did some hiking and visited with family - all free!
I immediately bought corned beef when it went on sale. I bought three of them. As crazy as the month of March has been it was great to have it on hand for St. Patricks Day without having to really plan or think about it when it snuck up on me. Two remain for future use as we love them.
I also purchased the cabbage on sale and a ham that is awaiting Easter.
I was cleaning out the bathroom cabinets and found quite a bit of epsom salts that were several years old. I knew an ice storm was heading our way and we were out of ice melt so I began to wonder if the epsom salts could be used for ice melt and the answer is yes! According to my research sugar will also work. I added a bit of sugar to my epsom salts to extend its use, applied it to my sidewalks before the storm arrived and it worked marvelously!
Before I went to New Mexico I got a lot of work done on Maceo's scrapbook, again using what I had on hand. I won't work on it again until after we get back from Maceo's auditions but I'm really happy with where I'm at on this project.
I continue to work my way through some of my stock of sample products.
Towards the end of February I was really trying not to go to the store for groceries. I brainstormed with Herb how to use what we have on hand and, overall, it was really quite effective. I did agree to let Herb go buy onions and garlic because he determined that he can't possibly live without them and, definitely a small victory, he did stick to the shopping list.
A victory regarding creating meals that don't require a trip to the grocery store was making taco puffs for dinner one day. We had ground beef but no tortillas or bread or pasta but we did have puff pastry so I made little taco puffs. When I make taco puffs I usually make a jalapeno cilantro sour cream but, alas, there was no sour cream. Instead, I made a dip using plain yogurt. I also pulled out some old chipotle salsa that was languishing in the pantry. The meal was a success, altogether.
We used our home warranty to get a brand new sump pump and, thank goodness, as the basement was flooding. Sigh.
I know that there was more, way more, but life was moving so fast I didn't get it documented.
More...sigh!
Alas.
Within the last month the kids and I made a trip to New Mexico to visit with family, Maceo and I have been planning our trip to the UK for his college auditions and life continued to happen (ie. senior photos, etc.). So, I can't say that this past month has been the most frugal month of my life; however, even in the midst of large adventures and expenses I have had some successes.
I did my best to make good decisions while on the trip. We drove straight through so that there were no hotel accommodations to pay for. We did eat out a couple of times (I was in New Mexico, I did have to have green chile) but largely ate what was prepared for us by our wonderful hosts and diligently worked on eating all of the leftovers. We went to Old Town to a couple of museums. We paid for the natural history and rattlesnake museums but, fortunately, the art museum was free. We went to Santa Fe and simply walked through galleries and such which was free. We played a lot of games and did some hiking and visited with family - all free!
I immediately bought corned beef when it went on sale. I bought three of them. As crazy as the month of March has been it was great to have it on hand for St. Patricks Day without having to really plan or think about it when it snuck up on me. Two remain for future use as we love them.
I also purchased the cabbage on sale and a ham that is awaiting Easter.
I was cleaning out the bathroom cabinets and found quite a bit of epsom salts that were several years old. I knew an ice storm was heading our way and we were out of ice melt so I began to wonder if the epsom salts could be used for ice melt and the answer is yes! According to my research sugar will also work. I added a bit of sugar to my epsom salts to extend its use, applied it to my sidewalks before the storm arrived and it worked marvelously!
Before I went to New Mexico I got a lot of work done on Maceo's scrapbook, again using what I had on hand. I won't work on it again until after we get back from Maceo's auditions but I'm really happy with where I'm at on this project.
I continue to work my way through some of my stock of sample products.
Towards the end of February I was really trying not to go to the store for groceries. I brainstormed with Herb how to use what we have on hand and, overall, it was really quite effective. I did agree to let Herb go buy onions and garlic because he determined that he can't possibly live without them and, definitely a small victory, he did stick to the shopping list.
A victory regarding creating meals that don't require a trip to the grocery store was making taco puffs for dinner one day. We had ground beef but no tortillas or bread or pasta but we did have puff pastry so I made little taco puffs. When I make taco puffs I usually make a jalapeno cilantro sour cream but, alas, there was no sour cream. Instead, I made a dip using plain yogurt. I also pulled out some old chipotle salsa that was languishing in the pantry. The meal was a success, altogether.
We used our home warranty to get a brand new sump pump and, thank goodness, as the basement was flooding. Sigh.
I know that there was more, way more, but life was moving so fast I didn't get it documented.
More...sigh!
Alas.
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