Frugal Friday

 Do your days fly by quickly too? Here it is already Friday again- it is amazing to me! I have been missing writing Frugal Friday posts as my time just seems to get away from me. But I remembered today so here it is.

Our house has been looking in need of landscaping since we finished it. I wanted to landscape but didn't feel like now was a good time to put a lot of money into the project as we have more important projects waiting.

 The other day my sweet neighbor, Alice offered for me to get a bunch of plants from her as hers were needing dividing. Life has been busy and I wasn't sure when exactly I would get it done but I did want them and am exceedingly grateful.

 We had a bunch of rocks left over from making the fireplace - so I am using those to go around the beds. So far I have transplanted Astilbe, Hostas, Bee Balm, Daisies and more from Alice's garden. I have also transplanted some wild things from the woods (wild but beautiful!) and have planted some seeds in the gardens. I am still quite a ways from done but it is looking better already and it was all free! (Except for a few seeds).

 It has been so fun to check out perennial things that we planted. These are producing food for us which is definitely a cost savings. The above picture is one of our highbush cranberry bushes.

 Here is our lovely rhubarb plant. We were able to harvest a little from it today to make a lovely rhubarb crisp. I am so thankful for our garden and all that it can produce and the money we are able to save from that.

I am also very thankful for our big kitchen that a bunch of us can work in easily - making yummy and healthy food very frugally. This picture is from this evening and I took it because I was just feeling very blessed. We had a lot going on in that room but we weren't feeling crowded or overwhelmed. It was just fun working together. Over on the left Jonathan was making oatmeal raisin cookies. Next to him on the counter was the crockpot holding a beef brisket (- I am so thankful that we are able to purchase beef in bulk!) for our supper. Next to that is a bowl of cream (we found a farmer that we can get raw cows milk from - Hooray! The kids and I are still primarily drinking goats milk from my parents - which they give us free!- but I started buying the raw cowsmilk for Ken and we are all enjoying the cream) which we made into butter. Over on and round the stove I was making mashed potatoes and peas for supper, boiled eggs for another day and a rhubarb crisp for this evening. On the Island Megan was making pumpkin bread. I am very thank-ful to have kids that enjoy baking/cooking and are willing to help in that area. Cooking from scratch saves a lot of money.

Some other ways we have saved money lately:

• I used a gift card that I had won to buy a watch for me (the one I fixed up ended up stopping too) and an undergarment for Mara. It was nice not to have to spend any money out of pocket for things that we needed.
• I have been having fun using a lot of repurposed items to make fun Bible story toys for my little tots Sunday school class. We like that class to be very interactive and so I was able to use old lids and such to make story toys for Noah's Ark and The Tower of Babel. I will try to take pictures sometime.
• I was able to wear a pair of shoes out completely. It is nice to feel that you truly got your money's worth out of something. This pair of shoes had actually come from my Mom so I didn't even have to buy them. :-)
• We started up our Summer Homeschool Baseball gatherings. It is a nice way for the kids to get to play baseball without paying anything (or running every day)!

I know there have been other frugal activities too but I am to tired to think of them right now. I would love to hear about your frugal activities though and meanwhile I will head to bed!