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I'm Back! A Grocery Haul and New Purchases

6/26/2018

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​Usually I'm a pretty happy person and love my life, but I'm not sorry to be kissing June goodbye. I'm sniffling and coughing as I write this (second cold in a month) and the house is a mess. I stayed home from church on Sunday and spent most of the day binge-watching "Call the Midwife" on Netflix and eating cereal with Baby, coughing and sniffling. We haven't had a free weekend in so long, I'm beginning to forget what one looks like. I've been nagging myself to get out and check my bees; I thought for sure it had been at least a month since I was out there last. I checked my calendar, and it had only been two weeks. A looooong two weeks.

While there aren't quite enough accomplishments to make this a "Frugal Accomplishments" post, there are still a few things I wanted to share with you from last week.

Groceries: I did a full grocery haul for the first time in a few weeks, shopping at Kroger. Total spent was $26.54. The best deal I got was cheese for $2.00 per pound (2.5 lbs.). Pineapples were also $0.88 each so I got one of those, and a box of cereal for $0.99 (which wasn't a spectacular deal, but it was a decent price). Bagels were free, Little Debbies were $0.99 each. The herbal teas were $4.49 each ($0.30 per bag... ouch!) but they taste good and I feel like they really work for soothing a sore throat. If I were truly frugal I'd probably mixing my own herbal teas, but then I'd have to buy a whole bunch of new herbs. Which would probably cost more than the bagged tea. Hmmm....


New Purchases

After one failed attempt, I was able to grow a new kombucha mushroom from a bottle of store-bought kombucha. GT's is the ONLY way to go if you're trying to grow a scoby, folks! Don't waste your money on store brand sugary pink lemonade kombucha, because it won't work.

Anyway, I bought some new swing-top bottles for flavored kombucha. They weren't cheap at $3.17 per bottle, but now I won't have to worry about exploding bottles. Not only that, but these are clear bottles so they'll be easier to clean. I think this was a good purchase.

Next, I bought a little baby-sized set of silverware on Amazon, for Baby. This was recommended by a Montessori blogger I follow, to help with eating solids. At $3.20 per piece, I was a little disappointed at how wide the the spoons, forks and knives were, for being "baby" sized. They're more like regular forks and spoons that have been shortened a little. 
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Normal silverware beside special, $3 per piece baby silverware.
The motherly part of me says, "You've bought the very best for your baby! This set of silverware will make her smarter, cleaner and better than all of the other babies." The thrifty person inside of me says, "Yeah, you really got duped. I'm pretty sure the kid doesn't care whether her cutlery is stainless steel or plastic. Except the stainless steel does make a louder noise when she bangs it on the table." I'm going to keep an eye out for small-sized non-plastic silverware at thrift stores to see if there isn't a cheaper way to do this part of Montessori*.

I'm starting to keep track of frugal accomplishments again, so hopefully I'll have some more interesting things to blog about next week. 

*For those who aren't aware, the Montessori Method eschews the use of artificial materials like plastic. "Real" items made of wood, glass, metal or cotton are preferred. If you're not creative, you can go to a special Montessori store and spend a fortune on toys, tools and supplies. If you don't want to spend a fortune, you have to think outside of the box or make everything yourself. 
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Strawberries and Kitties

6/15/2018

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It's strawberry season around here! Actually, our berries are starting to wind down; something I'm thankful for, in a way. I'm starting to get a little bit exhausted. And tired of eating berries... even the biggest, reddest, juiciest and best of them.

Doing the stand as opposed to a farmers market was such a good fit for us. As you can see below, Baby had a grand time "helping" me (as in, eating berries and playing with the cats).
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We also have some new baby kittens around here! They are super cute.
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Doing the strawberry stand has been taking up most of my "project" time. After strawberries, making meals, doing dishes, laundry, regular social engagements and cleaning up after all of that, I'm pretty tired at the end of the day. Yesterday Hubs and I went on a walk; something we haven't done in weeks. He is also super busy this time of year. I'm looking forward to July, when things will (hopefully) slow down a bit for us. Baby Girl is not slowing down. She started clapping, waving and playing peekaboo, not to mention scooting around like mad. Not crawling, just scooting. But trust me, she gets around.

The great thing about being so busy is that you don't spend a lot of money. No time to look for deals. I did use a rain check to buy five boxes of ice cream sandwiches for $0.99 each. That's $0.08 per sandwich!! No wonder Kroger was sold out the first time.

Last of all, our internet has been crummy since I posted last. I'd hoped to get more Youtube videos up, but they didn't upload to Google drive until a day or two ago. So maybe after strawberries are done, I'll be able to update my channel. I filmed a grocery haul, garden update and cloth diapering video. So... soon, maybe soon.

Until then,
-Bethany
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Pardon My Dust!

6/5/2018

2 Comments

 
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Hi everyone! I'm going to skip Frugal Accomplishments for the next couple weeks in order to clean up some loose ends. I'll be posting monthly updates and working on content for my Youtube channel, as well as gardening and doing house projects that I've been putting off.

Congratulations to Judy from Denver, who won the May giveaway! The next email newsletter may be a bit delayed, so you all have time to sign up for my updates if you haven't already.

I sold my first 15 quarts of strawberries today and pocketed over fifty bucks!! For the next few weeks, it's going to be 5:30 a.m. mornings and early nights for me until all of those strawberries are picked. As you can see in the picture above, I'm also starting to harvest some things from my vegetable garden. I need to cook up those radishes before they wilt!!

I've been making grocery haul videos and taking pictures of what I buy, so don't worry; those things will still show up next month on June's spending report. Until then, expect to see a few sporadic, random posts from me.

Til next time,
-Bethany
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    Bethany

    Housewife, happy wife, and mama to one. :)

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    The Housewife's Guide to Frugal Food
    How to Eat for $10.00
    ​per Week

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    The Housewife's Guide to Menu Planning
    A Weekly Menu to Save
    Time & Money
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    The Housewife's Guide to
    Frugal Fruits and Vegetables

    No Garden? No Problem!

    Watch Meals From the Bunker:

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