Frugal Friday

Homemade dry carpet cleaner

 

Frugality is one of the most beautiful and joyous words in the language, and yet one that we are culturally cut off from understanding and enjoying. ~ Elise Boulding

It's been a while since I've done a Frugal Friday post and thought it was about time. I love a challenge and working to cut corners and save money is fun for me. We live on one income and so, it's also a necessity.

I made the decision years ago when the kids were little to stay at home with them. I grew up in a single parent home where my mom had to work to make ends meet. I truly wanted my children's experience to be different. My husband is a pastor and I had also gone to seminary and was called into ministry. So being home afforded me the opportunity to work alongside him in ministry.

This arrangement has worked for us for the past 20 years. It's been difficult at times, but we've managed to pay our bills and put two children through college. There have been no fancy vacations, our furniture is old, and we don't have a lot of frills, but we are happy and content.

Now that the kids are grown, I could get a full-time job, but the reality is I like my freedom. I'm involved in many ministry things both in our church and at the district level. I do bring in some money between my sewing business and the web design. I wake up each day and am able to set my own schedule. It's full and busy, but it's mine to do with as I please.

I share that here so that it may encourage those of you who are in similar situations. You can do it! It's not always easy, but if you are like me, you'll enjoy the challenge.

Here are some ways I've cut corners the past month or so.

$ Canceled our television streaming service which was skyrocketing and switched to a different no frills one. So instead of paying $69.99 per month, we are now paying $5.99 per month for Peacock TV. I'm fairly certain that will go up over time but since they are new they had a great deal!

$ Bake and cook from scratch. This has been more of a challenge for me lately as most of my my taste and smell has been gone for 7 months. The few things that I do taste periodically has a horrid rotten vegetable taste. It really had taken the enjoyment out of cooking, but I keep at it because that's where the huge savings is.

$ I grew some herbs in pots outside and have been cutting and drying them for the winter months.

$ I make many of my own cleaning products, including a dry carpet cleaner that I used on our church basement carpet. We had a flood with a couple of inches of water. This has taken the mildew smell right out of it. It does need to be replaced because it's about 30+ years old, but in the meantime this helped.

$ Our bathtub has a rough texture on the bottom to prevent slipping. The problem with it is that it's difficult to keep clean. I was distracted with caring for my inlaws and the tub didn't get scrubbed like it normally does. I noticed it was looking dirty and my normal cleaning wasn't working with it. So I sprinkled baking soda over the stains, squeezed a lemon on it and then scrubbed it with a homemade scrubby. After a few minutes the stains came right off! Baking soda and lemon works wonders!

$ I made a bunch of fall placemats with fabric I received from a friend last year.

$ Dan and I found a cute little coffee shop that we like to go to when we want to just sit and chat. They have tables and chairs on their front porch where you can sit.

$ Because I make so many different types of items for my business I'm able to "shop" for a quick gift in my house often. 

$ When I was cleaning out my mom's house she had a bag full of different colors of tissue paper. I brought it home and have used it to wrap up my Etsy orders that come in.

$ I haven't had to shop for thread since last fall because my grandmother and mother had a huge stash of it. I'm still working off of that.

$ I buy meat in the family packs and then break it down into smaller packages for the freezer. It's cheaper to buy it in bulk.

Well, that's about it for this week. I'd love to hear what you do to save or cut corners!