No.622: A List of February’s Frugal Accomplishments

FEBRUARY’S FRUGAL ACCOMPLISHMENTS

My Goal: Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without.
And if you have to spend money, do it with intention.

+ I bought a merino wool sweater for $4, but one of the leather elbow patches was coming undone.  My son didn’t care for the patches anyway, so I pulled the stitches out of both and the sweater is good as new!

+ Our hens have been laying regularly all winter, which has been a huge blessing.  We average 9-11 eggs a day.

+ I made fodder for the chickens.  With all of the snow and mud, they seem desperate for anything green and it was a welcomed treat!  It also helps a tiny bit with feed costs.

+ I gave my hair a trim.  In other hair news, I am trying to train my hair to shampoo less often.  If I can deal with greasy hair for a little bit, I think I’ll have healthier hair and save some money on shampoo too!

+ I made chicken stock from a roasted chicken carcass and a bunch of vegetable odds and ends that I keep in the freezer.  Still using my favorite Souper Cubes (affiliate link).

+ We keep the thermostat relatively low and are just piling on the sweaters and quilts.  I seem to feel the cold more than any other family member; I have teenage boys happily walking around in shorts and t-shirts!

+ I used up a big bag of frozen blueberries and made a batch of blueberry butter.  I used the recipe from this book (affiliate link), but didn’t end up canning them.  A lot of work and my kitchen looked like a blueberry blood bath (hands dyed blue!  dishcloths dyed blue!  everything blue!) but the end result was delicious.  We have used it as a spread for toast as well as swirled into oatmeal and plain Greek yogurt.  We’re planning to top our pancakes with it next.