Weekly Savings

Monday - I used a new homemade laundry detergent, a powder.  While it is slightly more expensive than the liquid variety, I think it will last much longer.  I only use 1 tablespoon for a regular load and 2 tablespoons for a very dirty load. 


Tuesday  - I made homemade mayonnaise using ingredients that I had on hand.  I am not certain it was more frugal than mayo purchased on sale.  Since I was out and it was not on sale, homemade was the better option.


Wednesday - I had a private lesson to teach at the local technical college.  I combined this with my grocery shopping.  I am trying to only go to the grocery store every other week.  This requires some planning ahead but saves both time and money.


We have an abundance of garden produce, especially tomatoes.  I decided to make a pot of spaghetti sauce.  I used tomatoes, zucchini, peppers, onion, carrots, eggplant, and fresh herbs.  Only the carrots and onion were purchased; the rest of the ingredients came from the garden.  I divided this mixture into freezer bags.  When I am ready to serve, I will combine the vegetable mixture with tomato paste. 


Thursday - I made a third trip to town.  This is very unusual.  I went with W to a nearby town to run errands.  We also went to visit a former neighbor at a nursing home in the area.  We went to CVS to use a couple of store coupons. 


I made chocolate chip cookie dough and oatmeal cookie dough.  I scooped out the dough onto waxed paper lined cookie sheets and froze the dough.  These balls of cookie dough went into the freezer.  Now I can quickly have fresh baked cookies without the expense of the store bought dough. 


W cut some scrap wood into squares for me.  I am planning to make wood matching games as Christmas gifts this year.  I do need to sand each piece but am happy to be starting out this project with no spending.


Friday - W and I went through the items leftover from Vacation Bible School at our church.  We were able to find several items that could be put into the Christmas shoeboxes.  All of the stuff was headed to the trash, and I hate to be wasteful.  We also kept several sturdy boxes. 


I was back in the kitchen dealing with more garden produce.  I canned two batches of sweet pickle relish.  We had also picked peaches from our peach tree.  About half were no good.  I did get a large bowl of peach slices which I treated with Fruit Fresh and froze.  I will use these in ice cream, smoothies, or cobblers. 


Saturday - Finally a quiet day at home!  I did very little as I felt a bit under the weather.  I worked on a couple of craft projects using ingredients I had on hand.  We had a light supper and a heavy discussion about the size of our new house project.  (Our current house is about 950 square feet, and we are pretty much definite on a 1500 square foot house.)  Downsizing slightly from our original plan will save over $20,000 on the building costs plus more long term.