Accomplishments Nov 24 - Dec 1

This week I accomplished less than on a typical week, but considering that not only did I have a very busy week at work, but I also had surgery on Friday, I feel good that I accomplished anything at all.

The day after my surgery while my husband took L to a watch a hockey game. I mostly rested but managed to make the above DIY advent forest. It's not perfect, but L was very excited about it and it's not bad for crafting under the influence of painkillers!

This week I made (in addition to meals): cleaning wipes, a batch of enchilada sauce, Bacon Bean Chowder (using leftover frozen baked beans), and turkey broth (using a carcass and vegetable and herb scraps), and oatmeal packs.

I picked the bits of leftover meat from the turkey bones after I made broth and blended it with some leftover rice and some cooked carrots from making the broth to make 2 dog meals.

I washed out a plastic freezer bag.

We hung 2 loads of laundry rather than using the dryer.

I used clementine peels to make citrus vinegar for cleaning. (Will be ready in 2 weeks)

I finally ordered some prints online that I've been meaning to for ages! I will use these to update our hall display.

I got some reading done. I don't read nearly as much as I would like to -- I just find that I don't have enough time.

I got an amazing deal on white sugar at .26 per pound. That's by far the least expensive I've ever seen it here, so I stocked up.

My husband and I opened a new credit card. He did a balance transfer from his old one (which he'll be cancelling) to take advantage of 6 months of nominal interest. We are aiming to get the balance paid off in that time. As well, this card is no fee and we earn $ towards free groceries with it, so when we do need to use it -- RESPONSIBLY-- that's a benefit. This is one little step in our debt repayment plan.

This Week's Meal Plan

This week I made two meals ahead of time (Roasted Butternut Squash Lasagna as well as Honey Rosemary Chicken) as I am having surgery on Friday and won't feel up to cooking. It feels good to have meals sorted in advance and I may do make the effort to have one a week prepped in advance which gives me some evening quality time with the kiddo which is often in short supply as evenings always seem to be a rush (although doing this of course makes the weekends even more rushed).

This week I'm trying out a bunch of new recipes. I'll update on how they worked out!

Sunday: Baked Potatoes and Mild Italian Sausages

Monday: Tomato Lentil Soup with Pita and Hummus

Tuesday: Enchiladas and Salad (didn't end up eating this meal last week)

Wednesday: Tuna Navy Bean Salad with Vegetable Fritters (these are both new recipes)

Thursday: Tomato and Sage Spaghetti (new recipe)

Friday: Roasted Butternut Squash Lasagna and Cabbage and Apple Salad (lasagna is a new recipe)

Saturday: Honey Rosemary Chicken over Brown Rice with Carrots (new recipe)

What's your best supper strategy? (And yes, I will steal it!)

Accomplishments Nov 17 to Nov 23

This week was a terrible week health-wise. L and I both had some sort of stomach bug and I really suffered from my migraines (still am). My work life has been really overwhelming this last week as well as I have been tasked with some new major work, which is impacting my role and I need to reevaluate how to manage my time. It's actually these kinds of weeks, where I just feel like staying in bed, where keeping track of small accomplishments feels rewarding. It feels like I didn't do a lot but when I look back, it's nothing to sneeze at!

Made (other than meals): Pumpkin Cranberry Breakfast Biscuits, Italian Vinaigrette, pound cake, 50/50 bread

On Sunday we at supper at my mother-in-law's. She always gives us the leftovers and we bought home leftover lasagna, brownies, and 3 frozen portions of a lentil dish to bring for our lunches.

We brought out our resident Elf on the Shelf, Sunny, after the Santa Clause parade. So far we haven't forgotten to move him once which is a huge improvement on last year when L decided his elf must be lazy!

I purchased a new wallet. I had glued mine back together which allowed me to get several more months of use out of it but it was time. I re-purposed the old one as a toy for L. We filled it with old cards and play money and played 'customer at the store'.

Our microwave developed rust on the inside on the bottom, which is a fire hazard! We purchased a 'new' one of Kijiji for $25 from someone 2 streets over. It works great and is nicer than our old one.

I've done a fair amount of Christmas shopping so far and as of yet have bought everything at a discount and am so far on budget. I have pledged to spend less than half of what we spent last year (which was way too much!) and to spend nothing on wrapping. I'm going to use up what I have already and re-purpose things I find.

I made a crockpot freezer meal for next week as I'm having surgery. I plan to make another before my surgery on Friday so there's easy food ready to cook.

I dropped a carton of eggs as I was bringing it home, breaking 10 of 12. They needed to be used right away if I wanted to salvage them, so I used one in my 50/50 bread, used 6 to make the pictured pound cake, and my husband used 3 to make an omelet for his lunch. I changed my kitchen plans that day but I'm glad I was able to not waste them

Flops this week: On a evening when I was feeling especially craptastic, my husband ordered takeout pizza, which would be fine, but we're over our eating out budget this month (oh well), also I threw out some grapes we wasted. They were delicious but were seeded and turns out my husband hates grapes with seeds (you'd think I'd know that....) and I didn't make enough of an effort to use them up in creative ways so they went into the bin.

What do you do to stay motivated on the tough weeks?

This Week's Meal Plan

Again we are eating a meat dish 3 times this week rather than our typical twice because I'm in dire need of making some room in the freezer! However, the amounts are small, for instance Monday's meal uses 1.5 half cups for 6 servings, Tuesday makes 6 servings with 1 lb and Friday's enchiladas use only about 1/2 pound for 4 servings.

Sunday: Leftovers and Salad (use it up day!)

Monday: Turkey Casserole (using frozen batch cooked turkey) with Cabbage and Apple Slaw

Tuesday: Beefy Asian Rice (from Cheap Fast Good)

Wednesday: Mozzarella and Caramelized Onion Baguettes with Green Salad with Italian Dressing (a

Thursday: Creamy Tomato Tortellini Soup with Toasted Parmesan Muffins

Friday: Beef Enchiladas with Green Salad (using pre-made batch cooked Flex Mex mix)

Saturday: Dinner party at a friend's house!

Accomplishments Nov 10-Nov17

This week I made: batch cooked dry navy beans, Pear and Cranberry crisp, bread, and Bread Crumb Cookies

I divide L's toys into thirds. I third is favourite toys, and then 2 other batches. Only one of the non-favourite toys batches are out at a time and the other is in storage. I've been meaning to flip them for awhile and finally got to it this week. L was excited! It's like getting all new toys because he's largely forgotten about them by the time they reappear.

I cooked a turkey I got on sale inexpensively last month (Canadian Thanksgiving) and froze all the meat for later use.

Found L a nice winter coat in a bigger size (he's outgrown his last year's one, but not the pants) at Value Village and used a 30% off coupon to purchase it.

I also bought my first Christmas gift of the season at Value Village. It cost me $3.15.

I worked on a wall art project.

We went to the science centre as a family for free! We a free MAP (Museum and Art) pass that I picked up from the Toronto Public Library. It would normally be $60 so this was so awesome.

Flops:

I forgot my packed breakfast and lunch beside the door on my way out to work one day and had to purchase food.

I had to take out dog to the vet. He was limping so much he could barely walk. He has either a growth or an infection in his foot (test results in next week) but it's likely an infection and he is on antiobiotics and we're waiting to see if it improves. Sooooo expensive, ugh. I love our pets but not the vet bills -- the cost always seems so inflated. Fingers crossed he gets better soon!

This Week's Meal Plan

I'm going to start to post my meal planning, on the off-chance it helps anyone else who might be new to meal planning. I started meal planning when 3 years ago I decided for the first time to track our spending for 3 months. I discovered that we spent over $1300 in groceries for 3 people! This knowledge lead to starting to plan our meals was just one strategy to make significant reductions to this number. How I meal plan has evolved over this time and continues to do so, as I learn to do things differently to save both money and time. Despite the fact that we have to date, CUT our expenditure in this area by $750 per month, the way we eat doesn't really feel all that different because it was/is a gradual transition. My goal is to trim the amount we spend even more without impacting our quality of life.

We generally eat meat only 2 days per week (this week is more often however, although amounts per dish are very modest) and fish or seafood one day per week and Thursdays needs to be quick as L has swim lessons that evening. I try to make my meal plans to offer variety and nutrition while also keeping our food spending down.

Sunday: ate at my parent's house

Monday: Ham Patties (made with frozen leftover sale ham and stale whole wheat hamburger buns turned into breadcrumbs), Glazed Acorn Squash Rings, and Green Beans

Tuesday: Pork and Vegetable Stir-fry with Rice (using frozen batch cooked pork roast)
(during the day batch cook dried navy beans in slow cooker that will then be used for Wednesday and Saturday suppers)

Wednesday: Slow Cooker Baked Beans with Baked Potatoes topped with Broccoli and Cauliflower, Cheese Sauce and Bacon Bits (bacon bits were cooked and frozen as bits from a few leftover slices last week)

Thursday: Smoky Tomato Soup (in slow cooker) with Aged White Cheddar and Caramelized Onion grilled cheese sandwiches on homemade bread (caramelized onions where batch cooked when I got 10lbs for $1.97 and frozen in 1 cup portions)

Friday: Tuna Pasta Toss

Saturday: Turkey White Chili with Cheesy Toasts (using batch cooked turkey that I bought on sale last month before Canadian Thanksgiving)

Other: Pear and Cranberry Crisp (double batch with some modifications), homemade instant oatmeal packets, 50/50 bread

Accomplishments Nov 3 to Nov 9

Here we go again...let's see if it sticks this time!

I'm now calling these posts 'Accomplishments' instead of 'Frugal Accomplishments' as cutting our expenses, while it remains a big focus right now, is only a small part of what counts towards making each week a success. I had a couple extra days off work this week because I needed to use up some vacay time (yay!) and so I was able to get quite a lot done.

Made from scratch: pumpkin parmesan soup, whole wheat pumpkin pancakes, hot chocolate, savory bread bake (using up leftover stale bread), gingerbread loaf, salmon cakes, pumpkin puree, roasted pumpkin seeds

We are on a big simplifying kick at the moment and are trying to pare down our belongs to only things that we need, are really useful, or we love. To that end, we loaded up the car and dropped off donations at Value Village this weekend. They were having a promotion for Super Savers club members (i.e. me!) for 30% off coupon on anything you purchase if you make a donation. Because our donation was large, they gave us two coupons. I purchased some long-sleeve t-shirts which were on my need list and a sweater for myself, a muffin pan to replace one that is overdue to be retired, as well as a large framed canvas.

The canvas is for a DIY project that I'll post about once I'm done. Stay tuned!

I could not combine coupons but I have more stuff to sort and get rid of and so I'll  likely be able to drop off and use the coupon before it expires. There are still a couple of items on my needs list hat I'm hoping I'll be able to find as thrift items.

We spent some quality family time going leisure skating at a rink nearby on Sunday for an inexpensive outing.

When we were going to the rink, we passed a house that had put our their perfectly good pie pumpkins on the curb for garbage-- now that they were finished using them for decor. I popped them in a bag and brought them home. (the 4th pumpkin in the picture is one L brought home from a farm field trip)

I purged L's closet, getting rid of about a quarter of the stuff in there and organizing what is in there so it's easier to access and use.

While I was cleaning out the closet, I found a few mismatched too-small socks. I used two of them to make simple but appreciated cat toys for our two kitties. I just added a tablespoon or so of catnip into the feet and tightly tied the tops in a knot (tip: filling without getting catnip all over the counter is easiest if you put the sock in a jar and roll the top over the edge - I discovered this by making a mess all over the countertop with the first one).

I started reading The Complete Tightwad Gazette, which I took out from the library (I also picked up several books for L).

I made homemade carpet deodorizer (will post recipe soon!) and used on the rugs.

Flops: delivery pizza, wasted pancake batter (I should have made them and froze them to eat later), L broke a wooden chair (thankfully wasn't hurt at all),

What did you do that you count as a success from last week?

Frugal Accomplishments July 14 to July 20

So life got away from me, as it tends to do (organization is definitely a work in progress, like everything else), and so it's been awhile since I've posted. I'm still however keeping track of the things I am doing each week to save money. We started this journey to manage our money better with the goal of paying down our debts and adding to our savings. This week, one more debt (the second since we started in February) has been eliminated! I feel now like were really making progress even though at first it seemed so daunting.

 My DIY'ed Totoro Party invitations

This week...

I made instead of bought: bread, Mango-Orange popsicles, and French vinaigrette.

L decided that he wanted a party based on My Neighbour Totoro, his current favorite movie. While most of the other kids won't likely be familiar with a Japanese movie from the 80's, it's going to be a fun theme to work with! I DIY'ed these Toroto invitations using this template, MS Paint, and printing them on cardstock from the craft store at home. I think they turned out really well! We are also having his party at home this year to save money, although it will be a bit of a tight squeeze.

This week, L went to his new swim class. Our city-run classes at the nearby community centre are extremely competitive to get into and I was unable to get him a spot of spring or summer, which was unfortunate, because not only is it something he really enjoys, swimming is such a valuable skill. I lucked out on a Groupon deal for a month of one-on-one lessons walking distance from our place. The original cost of these lessons would be $175 and with the deal it cost us $49!

I ordered contacts online as I usually do. I'm lucky in that I can claim the amount under my work health spending account, however tax and shipping are not covered so it costs me $20. I did a 90 second internet search and found a code that gave me free shipping, which means I only had to pay $10.

I ran out of toilet bowl cleaner last week and instead of buying more, I'm just using baking soda and vinegar.

My mother-in-law is moving and she found some old books that belonged to my husband and his sisters when they were kids and passed them on for L to enjoy. She used to buy them all the Caldecott award winners, so there were some great books in the bag.

Frugal Accomplishments June 2 to June 8

This week I ...

Made instead of bought: Strawberry Mango Popsicles and Rosemary Bread.

Hung clothes on a rack to dry.

Harvested lettuce from my 'garden' (aka a couple pots on my tiny patio)

Spent the weekend doing inexpensive outings, including lots of time at the park and on the trails as well as at the library (I LOVE the library) where I took out a movie for me, one for L, kids books centered around current interests (namely space and tortoises), and a cook book.

Continued to use up hotel toiletries instead of opening new full bottles.

I got my hair cut by a student at a salon academy.

How did you do?

Frugal Accomplishments May 26 to June 1

This week I didn't do as many things that were especially frugal.

I made a yummy dessert for 6 (pictured above) for $2.15 total. It was Caramelized Pineapple with French Vanilla Ice Cream. Very basic but tasty. A new premium ice cream was selling for $1/pint in order to promote it and pineapples were on sale for $1 as well. Butter and brown sugar I had.

We used up some of our many leftover hotel toiletries this week (shampoo, body wash, and lotion).

My husband was down to only one pair of shorts. I got him a pair of J. Crew shorts for 7.99.

I made:  DIY instant oatmeal packets in two flavours -- Cinnamon & Brown Sugar and Cardamom Apricot with Almonds.

I wore an outfit this past Friday that cost me a grand total of $2.50!

Unfortunately my workplace experienced a significant flood this past Wednesday. The store on site had a lot of toys that had damaged packaging. I was given 2 Green Toys brand toys that were about to be thrown out, a dump truck and a submarine for the bath. I thoroughly cleaned and disinfected them, which was easy since they're plastic.

For May we were significantly under budget for food and household spending. HOWEVER, we were WAY over budget for eating out. We treated my mother-in-law to two meals out so that had a lot to do with it. It about evens out and means that we stayed on budget this past month.

How about you?

Grocery List Template

I'm continuously making efforts to get my life more organized, but grocery shopping is something I've nailed. I've always shopped with a list, but it was just a scribbly jumbled thing and inevitably I would get home and discover that I forgot 5 items and then would waste time and money going out to a shop to pick those things up. Enter the spreadsheet!

This template follows the general order of most grocery stores. As you complete one section of the store you can fold that part under to make it more visually streamlined. I often do this and I find that it's helpful. Also, sometimes I have a trip to two stores planned or am picking things up at the Farmers Market (I only go to two stores if one store lies along a route I'd be taking anyway that week). In that case I'll highlight items in two colors so it  becomes two lists in one. I post mine on the fridge for us to add things that we run low and then as I do my meal planning for the week (more on meal planning soon!) I fill out the rest.

Download my grocery list template here!




This simple list has saved me loads of time that I can then spend doing more interesting things than grocery shopping. It means I rarely have to backtrack in the store and I need to make less trips elsewhere to pick up items I didn't get.

The template prints two lists per sheet. Print on paper that's already used on side to make it more eco and budget friendly!

I hope someone else finds this template as useful as Ido.

Frugal Accomplishments May 19 to May 25

our 'new' sofa

This week I wasn't so much frugal as very lucky!

This week of great luck started out with a Community Clothing Swap where I had very good success. Swaps are such a fantastic idea. I took in some of our items that don't fit us well anymore and some that I find myself just never wearing and in exchange scored: 3 shirts and a pair of pj pants for L, a pair of Citizens of Humanity jeans (which I need to get taken up but are otherwise perfect), a summer skirt, and three summer tops for myself. So 9 free and really nice pieces of clothing.

The week ended with the mother (in-law) lode of luck. My mother-in-law is moving this summer from a house to a much smaller townhouse and needed to re-home much of her furniture. She offered us lots of her very nice furniture (she has great taste) for free, we just had to move it-- which is what we did this Saturday. She could have easily sold all of it and I am so appreciative of the fact that she just gave all these items to us. We picked up: a sofa (pictured above), a solid oak dining table and 6 chairs, an 11x8 ft wool rug (now in our room, framing our bed), and a solid oak armoire made by my husband's grandfather. We sold our old furniture which wasn't nearly so nice and used the money to cover the cost of renting a moving truck and we're going to use some of the surplus to purchase a new shoe cabinet (I find it impossible to currently keep our entrance tidy) and the last extra money to put towards debt.

Made instead of bought: wipes, chicken broth. I made the chicken broth from leftover bones and vegetable scraps that I collect in the freezer in a gallon bag  until it's full.

When we went to a baseball game, we were give a card for .5 cent off every liter of gas for 50 liters.

I made several very economical meals, including: Tomato and Lentil Soup served with Pita and Hummus and Ham and Brocolli Pasta Toss (made with the last bit of Easter ham left in the freezer).

 That's it for this week, what about you?

Frugal Accomplishments May 12 to May 18

I went thrift shopping a Value Village for their 50% off sale, because I have one of their Super Savers cards, we were able to beat the crowds and the deal a day early. I really usually only go once every couple of months, but I've been Spring purging at home so have had lots to drop off, so I end up exchanging those items for things that are more useful to us right now. Above is a game I bought for L for 1.99 that he's been playing ALL WEEK. It's a well-made knock-off of Hungry Hungry Hippos (but with frogs). I also got 2 pairs of shorts for him and some summer tops and a dress for myself, all for very very little money.

Made instead of bought: vinaigrette and brownies.

We used a movie pass for two that I was gifted as a thank you after doing someone a favour to go see a movie as a family, so it only cost us $8 (just for one child) for us all to go.

I got some great grocery deals this week like tissues for the best price I've ever found and strawberries. I stocked up on strawberries and froze some whole for smoothies and baking and I also froze some as strawberry coulis to use over greek yogurt, lemon pound cake, or ice cream for dessert or pancakes or waffles for breakfast.

For the first time ever I picked up some produce from from the reduced rack. I had always been too embarrassed to even look at what was there. However, I got a bunch of bananas that were almost ripe for very very cheap. While the ones in the store were bright green, these were ready to eat in a day. I always thought that the reduced food would be nearly rotting -- but there was absolutely nothing wrong with the bananas I bought. We ate them before they were past their prime, but if we hadn't, we could have just thrown them in the freezer to use later in smoothies and baking.

So that's about it for me, what did you do this week to save money?

DIY: Poster to Canvas Wall Art

I was cleaning out a cupboard that had evaded any sort of de-cluttering for a very long time (I'm currently on a big purging kick), and I found a map of the world that had been a free pull-out from a National Geographic a few years ago.

I had been trying to think of something to use an old canvas for to put on L's bedroom wall, so it seemed like it could be a perfect match. This project cost me absolutely nothing as I used all things I already had around. However, even if you were purchasing all the materials, it would still be very inexpensive.

What you need:

- Mod Podge
- brush
- poster
- stretched canvas
- paint of choice (optional)
- spray sealer (I used this one because that's what I had)

How to:

1. Prep your canvas. For mine this meant painting it with leftover paint, however if you'd prefer to leave it white or if your poster is an exact fit, skip this step.

2. Working very quickly, use a brush to coat surface of canvas in mod podge. Wet your poster well. This is the important step when working with paper. Apply poster to canvas and position. Once positioned don't move it around but use your hands or a roller to smooth out air bubbles. Don't stress too much though, they'll get better as it dries and it's impossible to get it absolutely perfect. Allow to dry fully.

3. Brush over entire surface one or more layers of mod podge.

4. Let dry then spray surface with spray sealer.

5. Hang!

Frugal Accomplishments May 5 to 11

This week was a bit of a struggle. The first week back to work after vacation is always a bear! I really struggled with my chronic migraines this week just to make it extra fun. Here's to a better next week!

What we made instead of buying: I made Italian breadsticks and my husband made homemade tartar sauce (to use on yummy Po'Boy sandwiches!)

I regrew green onions from the leftover roots.

I washed out some freezer bags to use again. I try to cut down on our plastic use (although I fall short of completely elimiating it at this point) since the fact that every piece of plastic ever produced still exists in the world and will persist for centuries is something I find really depressing.

I used the peels from our oranges to make homemade Citrus Cleaner, which since I started making, I always try to keep some around since works awesome for cleaning and disinfecting kitchen counters.

I used items I already had to make new artwork for Luc's room for free.

Our family used some of the MANY hotel toiletries we have had hanging around this week to use some of them up.

I ordered a couple of useful coupons from save.ca

What did you do to be frugal this week?

Good Deal

My best score thrift shopping last week was this pair of Citizens of Humanity Avedon super skinny jeans, which retail for about $200 for $9.09 (they were $12.99 but I had a 30% off coupon).They look like they've never been worn.

They fit so absolutely perfectly that when I tried them on I actually made a small squeal of delight in the change room. My son L was with me, he looked confused for a second then asked 'Mommy, what's wrong? Did the pants hurt you?".  No honey, everything's just fine!

Storing Parsley to Last for Weeks

I recently discovered a way to keep parsley fresh and ready to use for 3 weeks at a time. I got the idea from An Everlasting Meal, which is an absolutely wonderful book.

This method is a little tedious, but it really only takes 1/2 an hour once every 3 weeks and you can watch TV at the same time. For this batch I actually played Monopoly while I was doing it!

Step 1: Wash the parsley, stems and all, and dry as much as possible using a salad spinner.

Step 2: Pick all the leaves of the stems (this is the tedious part). Add the stems to your vegetable scraps for making broth another day.

Step 3: If the leaves aren't totally dry spread them out on a surface until they are. Pack them in a clean air-tight container and store in the fridge.

Step 4: Chop as needed and use to add brightness to nearly everything you make!

I use a repurposed pickle jar as my vessel of choice. For one, it's just the right size to hold an average bunch of parsley and secondly, it's clear so there's no chance of me forgetting that this parsley is in the fridge since I see it every time I go in.

Frugal Accomplishments Apr 28 to May4

Lancaster County, PA

For the past couple of months, I've been keeping a small notebook where I track my frugal accomplishments for the week. I was inspired by the Prudent Homemaker blog, although I will never reach her impressive level of thriftiness, this simple act has helped to keep me on track with making smarter choices on daily basis. I figure that by posting them on here where someone could actually see my list, I'll be encouraging myself to do even better. Well, that's the theory anyway!

This week was not a particularly frugal one as my husband and I drove down (L stayed with his grandparents) to visit his grandmother in Pennsylvania, which included lots of eating out and some shopping. However, we stayed more or less on budget and we saved for this trip in advance -- which is something that we never used to do.

When my parents left our place (they were also dog and cat sitting!), they left lots of food, including bread, fruit, juice, and vegetables -- so that meant I didn't have to buy as much this week.

This week I made: zucchini bread (to use up an extra zucchini leftover from a meal) and Italian Dressing.

Repaired my wallet with superglue to get a few more months of use out of it before I need to buy a replacement.

Donated items to Value Village to get 30% off coupon. Scored some especially great deals (including pants for Luc, shorts, shirts, jeans for me, a toy, and a board game) and saved $18.86 on what I would have bought anyways.

I made a couple of servings of dog food using some freezer burned cooked roast beef, part of a badly bruised apple, part of a old carrot and some leftover sushi rice and mixed it all up in the food processor. Our dog doesn't do well with meat by itself and he'll pick out the meat if I don't blend it together. I got 3 meals for him out of this food that would otherwise go to waste.

What did you do this week to save money?