Last Week's Frugality

   Hello All,

  I hope this post finds you happy and healthy!  It has been a long hard week for me and things have happened that make my frugal endeavors so much more important. 

  I have had to rewrite the budget and stop indulging my family and myself as much. Not that we were very spendy anyway!  Bottom line we have to cut back to the bone and I mean the bone.

  I have to get my emergency fund built back up ASAP!  This is imperative to my emotional wellbeing.

So here is what I have done this week to save money.

 I have packed my lunch 4 days out of 5. I have packed my son’s lunch 4 days out of 5 also. 

     I stopped at the store and only bought essentials—bread, milk and TP.  Oh yes, I also found a quart of heavy cream reduced and made butter from it!  We are having to make do with what’s in the pantry.  That is not such a problem because it is well stocked, just not what we want to eat right now.  But we will not go hungry!  Sure, I would love a quarter pounder from McD’s, but it isn’t possible.

  DH doesn’t like leftovers as a rule, but he ate them and then asked for seconds!  This was the left over black eyed peas and ham!  I have found a new cheap hearty meal that he loves!  Score one for me and frugality!

  One evening, I had Ramen noodles and parmesan cheese for supper. This wasn’t a big hardship because it is one of my favorites from my poor younger years!  We may even revisit Ramen Noodle Surprise in the next few weeks! That is ¼ lb of burger or ground turkey browned, with ramen noodles cooked in the skillet and tossing in whatever veggies you happen to have on hand!  A meal also from our younger, poorer days!

  We had bologna sandwiches one night. This is a favorite sandwich when I have mayo and sliced tomato on it. So that really wasn’t so bad either!  My kids were not impressed though.

  Our hot water heater went out and I haven’t been in a hurry to have it repaired/replaced because everyone is taking very short cold showers.  This will help with the water bill, but I so look forward to a hot shower soon! We surely do take things for granted!

  I dried my peas and carrots and got them stored away.

 

  I also started drying some of the 60lb of potatoes I bought a few weeks ago.  I definitely could use more trays but I will be making do with those that I have.

  We have not installed an AC unit as of yet.  Still trying to wait until June!  I do not know about you but my electric bill has increased lately so we are trying to suffer through as long as we can!  

  The bucket is still in the shower—just not catching as much water but enough for a flush here and there.

   I received several more samples this week and also signed up for a few.  I have been impressed by the amount of freebies I have been getting! Every little bit helps, right? 

  Several books I liked were free on Amazon and I downloaded them.

   I feel like so much has changed in the last week but upon rereading this, it isn’t so very much different from the normal frugal things I do.  I guess the biggest frugal change this past week was the change in our mindsets and not spending anything we don’t have to.  I must say this week has been hard and let me tell you I sure didn’t want to eat left over black eyed peas for supper one night, but I did not order pizza!  I felt very satisfied by using up and making do with what we had.

  In the next few months, I know we are going to struggle with our self-imposed frugality (can you say deprivation?) but I hope seeing the Emergency Fund build back up will leave us feeling even more satisfied and secure!  I hope!

Frugal Blessings,

Lisa