Tuesday, June 18, 2013

Frugal Accomplishments for the Past Week

Here is my list of frugal activities for last week, for the weekly roundup of "what did you do to save money" last week at The Prudent Homemaker -- check out Brandy's posts and all the comments for some great ideas!

- I made roast beef in the crockpot some time last week; the liquid used in the recipe is beef broth, but it only uses a little bit from a can. I've previously saved the leftover broth in the fridge, thinking I'd use it for something -- but never got around to doing so. This time, I put the leftover broth in the freezer! I'll have it for something in the future. I also saved the bone from the roast and put that in the freezer, to be used later for making homemade broth (also in the crockpot).

- Finally had nice weather in Minnesota! I got the plants potted up in containers on our deck. (We shall see how they do ...) Used leftover spinach leaves and radish greens for compost mixed in the soil to feed the tomatoes and strawberry plants, as per the advice of a master gardener at the plant sale this spring. I keep my potting soil in a large tin in the garage -- one of these Christmas-themed ones that probably originally held flavored popcorn. I got it several years ago at a thrift store as "payment" for helping them sort donations.

- Cleaned out the garage (a chore I usually try to complete in April) in time for the free city cleanup day on Saturday, where I was able to donate/recycle batteries, a metal planter that doesn't fit our deck (I tried to Freecycle it but got no takers), Venetian blinds we removed from my daughter's window in favor of curtains, and a small bicycle my mom had found at a garage sale. When our neighbors down the street with a slightly older daughter moved, one of the things they gave us was a bigger bicycle for my daughter!

- The city cleanup day also had free refreshments: hot dogs, chips, and drinks.

- My mom came to visit this weekend and brought rhubarb from her plants and a dish drainer she wasn't using -- I think my dad won it at some event. (Mine was plastic, almost 20 years old, and needed replaced.)

- Went to a city park with a splash pad to play on a hot day.

- Took my daughter to Toys R Us; she had a coupon from the birthday club plus birthday money from two aunts to pick something out. We also happened to be there at the right time to get a free Lego police car build and a Lego poster. She likes Legos and has recently started getting into decorating her room with posters.

- Gave daughter birthday presents purchased earlier in the year on sales, including a Barefoot Books Book of Princesses for which I paid only shipping after receiving the voucher for filling out their survey earlier this spring.

- Switched out winter for summer clothes (finally!) and loaded up a box of my daughter's outgrown stuff to send to my sister for her girls.

3 comments:

  1. It was fun reading through your list. Is encouraging and inspiring to hear how others are also finding ways to save money.

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  2. Great job! There are so many little things you can do to be frugal and to be a good steward of the world around us.

    Thanks for the information about radish tops! We have tons of those and the chickens don't like to eat them. We just put them on the compost pile. So do you just take the green leaves and put them into your potting soil? Would it work to put them in the garden as well, right beside the plants?

    We always freeze the stock we make in the crockpot, and then when I want to make soup, we just toss in a few containers of stock, depending on how much soup I'm making. We also save potato cooking water for the same purpose. It doesn't work in all soups, but is great in strongly flavored ones that could use a wee bit of thickening.

    By the way, we often let some radishes go to seed. The seed pods are absolutely the best, crispy, spicy, and juicy!

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    Replies
    1. Annie Kate,

      Sorry I hadn't checked comments in a while! Yes, you just put the green leaves from the radishes in your potting soil. As per the master gardener's advice, I cut them up into smaller pieces and then just stirred them in. I would assume you could also put them into garden soil next to the plants, as the idea is that it's feeding the soil - if that's where they're "eating" from, it would probably work.

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