Here is a roundup of this week's frugal wins:
(1) This has been a expense-free week. I did not spend any money this week. This is not usual. It helped that I had stocked up on groceries a couple of weeks ago.
(2) Most of my meals this week were made from the veggies and herbs from my summer garden. I preserve (mostly by freezing) loads of veggies between July and September, and this feeds me through most of the year.
(3) I started reading another free book I got on Hoopla through the library. I recommend it. It is "Playing with FIRE" by Scott Rieckens. It documents the author's family's journey towards financial independence. There is a documentary based on this too, but I was not able to find it streaming anywhere. You can rent it or buy it, but I no longer rent or buy DVDs or videos - I only watch things on my two subscriptions (Netflix and Amazon Prime), and borrow things from the library.
(4) I set up my Christmas tree. It's a 4-foot fake tree that I bought in 2004, right after I started grad school when I moved in to my very first roommate-free home. I bought it for $20, and if I get four more years out of it, I will have spent about $1/year on it. Thankfully, it is still sturdy and in great shape, and I think I shall get at least another 5-10 years out of it. It is pre-lit with fiber optic strands, and comes with three color schemes. So each year, I can choose a different look for the tree. I mostly use the same ornaments each year and only buy new ones if I really particularly like something (and then I probably buy them at after-christmas sales).
(5) I gave away a paper shredder, some Christmas wrapping paper, and a couple of food storage barrels on Buy Nothing. They were all picked up within two days.
Weekly Frugal List - 12/05/20
December 5th, 2020 at 05:48 pm
December 6th, 2020 at 07:35 pm 1607283356
Good plan on the vegetables. Do you have a large garden area? I canned tomatoes and froze bell peppers from DH's garden. I bought apples and made applesauce and apple juice and canned it. I know our pantry has saved us a lot of money and over the summer, we had so many tomatoes, I rarely bought vegetables because we had sliced tomatoes for so many meals as well as onions and bell peppers.
I refuse to buy new books. I did buy some from the thrift store off and on because our library was closed for many months, reopened, but is closed again. I don't like reading stuff online, but once I go through these books, I may not have a choice. I will have to check out Hoopla. Thanks for the suggestion.
December 7th, 2020 at 02:10 am 1607307047