the Renaissance Housewife
  • Home
  • Topics
    • Saving >
      • Kitchen >
        • Food >
          • Recipes
      • Bath & Laundry
      • Medicine Cabinet
      • Office
      • Electricity
      • Gardening
      • Foraging
      • Animals
      • Weekly F. A.'s
      • Printables & Downloads
    • Earning
    • Investing
  • Books
  • About
    • RH Recommends
    • Newsletter & Updates
    • Travel
    • Beta Readers
    • Legal Stuff

Frugal Accomplishments Last Week

9/10/2018

0 Comments

 
Picture
Pear tart with free pears!
​1. Groceries: We spent $34.25 on groceries this week, all from Kroger. You can see a picture of my haul below. There were so many manager's specials this week! Everything except the sugar and chicken breasts came from several different clearance sections.

You can see there are quite a few random/abnormal things:
Picture
The Halo Top ice cream was terrible! It had little gelatin chunks in it that I don't think were supposed to be in there.
2. Garden: I harvested beets, tomatoes, Chinese long beans, Borlotto bean seeds and a few ornamental squashes from the garden. I also foraged purslane for green smoothies.

3. Cooking: I made tomato marmalade with extra tomatoes from the garden. It tastes a lot like ketchup, but... fruitier. I plan on using this in the same way as barbeque sauce, plus I want to use it with grilled cheese.

I saved celery leaves/ends and put them in ham and potato soup. 

I measured out oatmeal into 1-cup mason jars for quick single-serving Instant Pot oatmeal. I made nine jars. While at it, I transferred my muffin-in-a-mug mixes from plastic bags to more little jars, so they too will be ready for the Instant Pot at a moment's notice. Filling the jars en-masse saved time because I only had to get the oatmeal out once, only had to find the lids and rings once, and only had to wash the measuring cup once. You wouldn't think it would save that much time, but if you figure it takes one minute to fill each jar, I saved probably seven minutes by filling them all at once. Again, it doesn't sound like much, but that's eight minutes that I could spend reading or doing something that I enjoy. Plus, having the jars ready means I'm more likely to chose oatmeal as a snack instead of something unhealthy.
Picture
Lastly, I made a pear tart from free pears out of our little orchard, for a total cost of $1.41. The only ingredients were pears, sugar, flour, salt and butter. Lots of butter. I LOVE pear tart but haven't made it since I did the farmers' market two years ago. I haven't baked at all much since I did the farmers' market and burned myself out. I do enjoy baking though, and I want to start baking something again once a week. So the pear tart was a start.

4. Garage sales: Baby and I went to several garage sales over the weekend. I was able to find some toys, baskets, a sippy cup,  LOTS of books, a little folding chair, a shirt for me, and some salt and pepper shakers. 

5. Time management: Over the last week I've been rearranging my daily activities to increase efficiency. I did this because nap time would come every day, and I had to decide which two of the three urgent activities I should do. Something was always being left undone. Not only that, but leisure time was almost nothing. 

I think the best thing I tried last week was moving dish-washing time to 9:15 p.m., when Hubs is at home, instead of trying to do it during the day. Not only does this free up nap time, but it gives me 20-60 more minutes during the day to do other things. The second change I made was to start waking up a little earlier than Baby each morning. Usually (but not always) Baby wakes up around 8:00 a.m. Instead of waking up with her, I got up right after her last feeding (between 6:00-8:00 a.m.) to have some "Bethany" time for reading, prayer, a cup of tea, etc. I set the alarm on my phone for 8:00 a.m., so I would not oversleep even if Baby did.

The combination of doing dishes at night, waking up a little earlier than Baby and not sleeping past 8:00 a.m. made a big difference in how rushed or rested I felt during the day. I don't love getting up early and doing dishes at night, but it does make for a happier and more productive day. So I think I'll keep doing it. 

How did you all do this week?

Til next time,
—Bethany
0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Picture

    Bethany

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

    Picture

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

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

    No Garden? No Problem!

    Watch Meals From the Bunker:

    Picture

    Check out my Youtube Channel!

    RSS Feed


    Picture
    Baby Girl's Birth Story
    Picture
    8 Cheap Ways to Eat Healthy
    Picture

    Categories

    All
    Animals
    Book Reviews
    Books
    Christmas
    Cleaning
    Clothing
    Cooking
    Couponing
    Education
    Ego
    Electricity
    Farmers Market
    Finance
    Foraging
    Frugal
    Frugal Accomplishments
    Frugality
    Garage Sales
    Gardening
    Gifts
    Grocery Budget
    Grocery Shopping
    Herbs
    History
    Hobby Farm
    Home Based Business
    Home-based Business
    Home Decorating
    Housekeeping
    Industry
    Languages
    Laundry
    Marriage
    Meal Planning
    Medicine
    Minimalist
    Network Marketing
    Organization
    Plants
    Product Reviews
    Quotes
    Recipes
    ROI
    Rv
    Sewing
    Simplicity
    Spanish
    Spending Report
    Travel

    Archives

    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    August 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014

    Full Disclosure & Disclaimer

    Picture
    Picture
    I get cash back for many online purchases including wedding gifts and Ebay stuff!

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
Photos used under Creative Commons from dasWebweib, amanessinger, thewritingreader, diakosmein