I think I’ve still been reeling from the major changes that my family have recently gone through.  Prayers are still needed in this area, please.  Things have not changed.  We miss our daughter desperately & continue to pray that God will use whatever means necessary to open her eyes to her situation & her heart to Him.

I started to post earlier today and thought, “I really don’t have anything to say.”   Then, while I was checking in with a couple of the groups that I’m part of on FB, I started thinking about frugal living and all the things that a lot of us do on a regular basis that we might not really even think about any more.  We also tend to forget that there are others out there that are still learning (whether by choice or by necessity) ways to save money & help their families.  So, I thought that I would share some of the ones that I do on a regular basis, as well as some that I’ve become very lax in for the  last few months.

Some of the frugal things I try do regularly:

• Keeping the heat turned down a bit in the winter time & layering up/using blankets. (By keeping the heat down, I mean keeping it between 66 – 68*.  If you’re still cold, put on another layer or grab a quilt/blanket.)  Now that it’s warming up, the heat is not needed, so the doors & windows will be opened.  The AC units will only be put in when absolutely necessary, and only used when absolutely necessary!  We have a whole house fan, so this helps us to be able to push this off until mid June, usually.
• Cook meals at home, making enough for lunch the next day, when possible
• Try to use up leftovers
• Try to keep an eye on the fruits/veggies in the fridges to try to use up things before they go bad
• Cut open toothpaste tubes when we are unable to “squeeze” any more out.  You would not BELIEVE how much is still left in those tubes!   I also cut open lotion containers/tubes & scrape the remnants into a small container to be used up.

Frugal things that I really need to get back into the habit of doing more regularly:

• Keep a better eye on the contents of the refrigerators
• Cook more meals from home (I’ve allowed my schedule to dictate whether we end up grabbing fast food instead of my dictating my schedule & making sure that I have something quick & easy to fix or throw in the Crock Pot before leaving for the day.
• Can more foods on a regular basis (whether it be foods that require pressure/water bath canning or dry canning, or even vacuum-sealing foods).
• Now that the weather is turning nice again, I need to get back to hanging ALL laundry out to dry

Here is a list of some frugal activities that I need to complete:

• Finish making my cloth napkins that are already cut out & ready to be sewn together
• Go through each room of our home & purge
• Get the garden ready for planting

I know that there’s more, but this is what’s coming to mind.  One thing that I plan to try to accomplish VERY soon is to can more beans.  We are almost completely out of my canned beans.  This is not a hard job, it’s just very time consuming.  And, I haven’t had enough time to accomplish this from start to finish.

I’d love for you to share some of your favorite frugal activities in the comments with me!  Let’s share & help each other possibly learn new frugal ways!