Frugal Accomplishments

I have been trying to keep a list of my Frugal Accomplishments. When you are frugal to begin with you don't always acknowledge what you are doing is frugal.

I finished canning the green beans that we had bought at the produce auction.The cost without the hours of my time (243 pints of green beans, I had pint jars so I didn't go buy anymore). The cost came out to 26¢ a pint, a lot cheaper than buying green beans at the store.

We bought acorn squash and spaghetti squash for 50¢ each that weighed about 2 lbs each.They are running about 79¢ a pound at the farmers' markets which is cheaper than the stores. I haven't been able to grow squash for what ever reason. This is now in the section of the basement that winter squash and potatoes hold well through the winter. I will still pick up butternut, delicata and maybe some kind of hubbard.

I am recording humidity levels in other parts of the basement to find another area for "root cellar" food.

I gave some strawberry starters to our friends so I would have more room in my strawberry bed.

I hung my first strand of onions that our friends gave us. I buy the cheapest panty hose or stockings I can find to store my onions in . Tie a knot between each (I cut panty hose in half) and hang from the beams in the basement. Helps keep them during the winter. If one goes bad it doesn't affect the others and I can just cut an onion off the bottom when I need one. We use 7-10 onions a week.A 3 lb bag from the store doesn't last the week. My onions didn't do well this year.Gave us enough for fresh but not for storage.

I took the hem out of a couple of Pat's pants.

We got the wringer washer set up and usable (I can change water every wash and have hot and cold water to fill with without lugging water)...I timed it yesterday when I used it and I spent an extra hour doing the rinse by hand(Hubby rigged it like a rain barrel so I can drain it without lifting it) and it took the dryer the same amount of time of laundry done at the laundromat which is twice as long as a home washer. I used the clothes line all week except yesterday...was wet here. Since Hubby can actually fix this, no computer YEA!!! I feel the $90 spent on it is well worth the price of my extra hour's time doing laundry comparing to going to the laundromat. AND I got the a lot of fall cleaning done in the basement during loads.Maybe next year I will look for a new washer and deal with computer boards again. Right now I am okay with this.

I gathered seeds from my lettuce plant to replant next year.

I gathered some of the green beans that I let dry on the vine to plant next year. I grow heirloom most of the time. I make sure I mark what is NOT heirloom so I don't waste my time letting it go to seed and gathering it. I have 5 varieties of beans I plant each year.

I made a list of the gag gifts we will be giving for Christmas. We have a large family. The budget has remained the same even as the family quad-tripled. Over half will be made with things we already have on hand. The list helps me keep focused on what I need to keep and do. I try to do 10 gag gifts per person...that's over 400 gifts. Not counting Hubby's guys under him at work we get for.

I didn't list anything else...got to focus on that some more.Make sure that I am keeping things as frugal as I can.

Blessed Be