We began “eating out” again! In other words it is picnic season and we spent a fabulous day hiking and picnic-ing at a really great State Park during spring break. We also celebrated opening day with a cookout in the backyard. Homemade pasta, beans, cookies and more combined with fresh fruits and vegies made these picnics so enjoyable while nourishing and going easy on the pocketbook.
I used some frozen zucchini from last years garden to make bread.
I used dry milk to make rolls and cream based soups.
We attended the first Friday Night Red’s game of the season. Rick wrote the arrangement of The Star Spangled Banner that the musical group sang at the beginning of the game. Someone had access through work to free tickets for our whole family to attend the game and so Rick was able to hear his arrangement performed. The tickets would have cost us $133 which means we would not have gone. It happened to be Friday Night Fireworks after the game as well and so we got a fireworks show to rival any 4th of July display too.
We found a “Free” parking spot on the street when we attended the ball game. Rick knows all the hidden free parking spots downtown and we got some nice exercise walking to the stadium. Certainly the walk was worth what we would have spent on a parking garage.
Instead of buying food at the ball game we had an early pizza night before leaving home. We brought bottled water from our food storage which meets post 9-11 safety regulations. Plus this helps us rotate through our bottled water storage.
I started three lilacs from roots to give as an end of the year gift next month to a teacher who loves lilacs and to another who is retiring. I will think of some cute/clever presentation for giving this as a gift. Too often people just throw money into a group gift. I don't have money for that like other parents do and I want it to be personal and thoughtful anyway. Hopefully I can make this fit the bill.
I made almost 12 pints of strawberry lemon jam from strawberries we picked at the farm last year. I still had 3 quarts of strawberries for smoothies but hadn’t yet used them and our jam supply was dwindling. I used jar lids that I bought on clearance at the end of last years harvest season.One of the kids pointed out to me that their friends were amazed that they had spoons in their lunches that resembled those of a local ice cream parlor. How cool!!! Well, that is where they ARE from and we re-use them in lunches a million times before they break.
Haley borrowed a prom dress from an older girl who is out serving a mission for the church right now. It fit her nicely and I made a few minor repairs adding a few stitches to fix some snaps as well as re-stitching some of the sequins and folds on and in the dress.
I made Haley a wrist corsage since she was attending without a date. I used an old but unspoiled doily that I had saved and folded it in quarters. Then I clipped some white and purple flowers along with some greens from out in the yard. Using a small piece of packaging tape, a scrap of sheer white ribbon I had in my ribbon box and a scrap of elastic from my pajama making Christmas project I assembled it and it looked beautiful. It stayed fresh in the refrigerator while I styled and curled Haley’s hair. It was a little limp by the end of her evening. Maybe next time a boy will buy her one but for now she is much too intimidating for these boys.
I started seeds for my garden using plastic planting containers from former years of plants. They are beginning to sprout and will be ready for transplanting in May.I began using vinegar in the dishwasher as a rinse agent. Works beautifully and is something like over a 6,000% savings over purchasing Jet Dry.
Stocked up on toothpaste and deoderant at $1 each. Toothbrushes too!
Soaked dry beans and used homemade taco seasoning in Taco Soup.
Made ice cream with cream that was expiring.
Made dishwasher detergent for the second time. I like how it cleans and the cost is SO much less than purchasing brand name detergent.
Made and used more citrus cleaner from orange/lemon peels.
Kaitlyn and her Dad attended a 1950’s style Father-daughter dance. I dug out a pair of saddle shoes someone had given to me 10 or 11 years ago when my oldest daughter was that age. I did purchase a poodle patch; my only expense for the outfit, which I attached to a cute little 1950’s style skirt given to us by a cousin.
Our biggest, greenest switch this month was the addition of a clothesline to our backyard. Long ago we had some very awful clotheslines that we used when we found their holes mostly buried in the backyard and the posts hidden in the garage but eventually they rendered useless so we had to toss them. Our family has grown a lot since then as well and something like what we had before would not effectively or efficiently dry our clothes. We also have an aging dryer and we would like to prolong its life. So clotheslines and harnessing the sun and wind energy seemed to be our best answer. We did have to purchase materials for this as we had nothing suitable just “lying around” but then that is the end of the expense! Rick did some research, bought his supplies and over spring-break built a wonderful, strong clothesline from lumber with good supports. Now, clotheslines aren’t commercialized because they are simply too inexpensive for anyone to bother advertising and frankly I don’t see too many clotheslines around these days but Rick did manage to find a local supplier where he bought line tighteners, five inch reels and cotton rope for three lines between the posts set 20 feet apart. In the end we did end up with a “leaner” that will have to be re-set in the ground. I’ve also discovered that I really need more line to fit my extra large capacity loads so we will set the post slightly over 20 feet from the first when we get back to it. In the meantime, we have had fantastic weather for line drying clothes in no time at all and I’ve had no trouble drying the required one to two loads a day (except for Sunday). They smell great coming off the line too. Line drying does take a little bit of extra time but my kids are thrilled that I’m outside with them. And who wouldn’t prefer the company of birds and butterflies over a stuffy windowless workplace laboring overtime to pay for a dryer and the utility bill to go with it. And hopefully the life of the dryer will be prolonged so that we still have the option of drying laundry during stretches of inclement weather.What other money saving/green strategies can I successfully come up with next?
