Frugal Friday

    I have been wanting to write a frugal Friday post for quite a while now and just haven't gotten it done. It wouldn't have had to be a Friday post obviously but I think it is fun to share different ways that we have been frugal lately. I know that is probably one of the biggest ways blogging has impacted my life and that is through me reading about various frugal things that other people have done and getting the idea to try it for our family too. Something work for us and some don't but it doesn't hurt to try. By living frugally in many different ways it allows us to have more freedom of choice financially. We can spend a little more in some areas because we have saved in others. I like having a choice!

  So with hopes of have a post like this every week again we shall begin....
Here are some odds and ends of ways we have been frugal in the last few weeks:

 -Mara and I went to a free Violin Master Class (we were able to observe a college violin teacher teaching 6 different students - this was great for helping both of us - me as a teacher and both of us as violin players- learn too) and a Violin and Harpsichord concert at our local university.

 There was a break in between the Master Class and the concert so Mara and I had fun exploring the building where I used to take Violin lessons. We had fun checking out the practice rooms and found this Xylophone in one of them.

-I cut the boys hair.

-We used cloth napkins

-We didn't do any grocery shopping in January except for Milk and butter (because it was on sale and I had been waiting for a sale to stock up again as it has been so expensive lately. I was also very nearly out) and one bunch of bananas. I really think the challenge of using what we have food wise is pretty fun. I have gone shopping again now that February is here and the kids were pretty excited when I came home with fresh fruit.

-I patched a bunch of pairs of socks.

 -We went downhill skiing - now that in itself is not a money saving thing - in fact it is a kind of expensive sport but we did save money on it by going on Friday nights which is a much better deal than going on Saturday. The first time I also packed us a supper which saved us a considerable amount of money. This evening I didn't end up having time to pack a supper so we bought stuff there but we did at least figure out a way to save money by buying a coupon book and getting meals from that. I also brought along fruit and cookies to supplement our purchased supper.

-Aaron want a tube scarf thing for skiing so he made one this afternoon from an old sweatshirt.

-I used homemade laundry detergent.

-We drank a lot of herbal tea (made from herbs that we dried this Summer) so that we didn't need as much milk and could save money that way.

- I have been using water (or squash) instead of milk in all of my baking or pancakes lately. It works find and saves money.

-I made some cards from scraps of paper that I had saved.

- I made some gifts to give away rather than buying them. I made Fudge, Granola and a Nursing cover all to use as gifts lately.

-We have been burning wood in our fireplace a lot to help to heat our house and reduce our propane or electric usage.

-We have made many supplies for Sunday School classes using things that we already had on hand.

-I baked my own bread.

-I called the Motel (that we needed to stay at when going to Jonathan's Robotics tournament out of town) rather than booking online and discovered that we didn't have to get 2 rooms after all and also that I could get a AAA discount.

-I used a 7 cents off per gallon coupon whenever I bought gas. That doesn't save a ton but it all adds up.

That is a few of the ways we have saved money lately. Now, how about you? What have you done to save money? Do you find it interesting to read how others are saving money?