1. Shopping: We went to Aldi this week, and I spent $14.31. You can watch my haul video below:
3. Garden stuff: I spent a lot of time this week in the garden. I transplanted some strawberry plants into my raised bed(s), transplanted some raspberry canes into the chicken pasture, and saved some volunteer cilantro in pots before Hubs tilled an area. Most of my garden is in raised beds, but I will be planting sweet corn, lettuce and carrots in a traditional tilled patch. I also moved manure from the chicken coop up to the garden (this will be compost for later!) and planted some lettuce seeds in a pot on the porch.
I am hoping to do a Youtube garden update to show you all the wonderful things that have come up without any work on my part. There are so many fruits, herbs and flowers that only need planted once, and they will come up year after year. I spent $4.00 on strawberry roots the first year we were married, and my plan is to just keep on transplanting those as long as possible. I brought over some raspberry canes from my parents' house (purchased when I was a teenager), and those too have just kept multiplying... for free. A lot of people plant vegetable gardens every year, but I think the BIG money can be saved on fruit, herbs, and flowers. Not only are they a better investment, but they're a lot less work. I've literally had some of my plants for ten years, and they are still saving me money. If you divide the cost of a $3.00 plant between 10 years, you only have to save $0.30 per year to break even. If you spend that money on perennial seeds and get 10 plants, the packet will pay for itself in just three years.
4. Line dried two loads of laundry.
5. Went to three garage sales! I was able to cross two things off my list; a recipe card holder (for herbal recipes) and a kiddie pool for my ducks. I also found three shirts, sewing notions, plastic disposable dinnerware, party streamers and a spatula.
When I'm at garage sales, I try to only get stuff that I would buy anyway. Thread is one thing I find myself buying retail, even for little projects that don't need a whole $2.00 spool. So frustrating! I love when I can get four or five colors for a mere $0.25. Another thing I try to buy is consumables like paper products. Usually I don't buy clothes at garage sales unless they are very cheap. The shirts I got were $0.25 and $0.10 each.
The ducks sure loved their new pond!
7. Collected cans while on my walks. This week was great; I probably got at least $2.00 worth of cans.
8. Sold my baby goats! I ended up selling them for $75.00 each. Two are going as pets, and one as a breeding buck. $75.00 x 3 = $225.00. That is going to be really good for my hobby farm finances!
I think that's about it for this week. How did you do in the frugal department?