When Frugal Meets Busy

When I look back over the past five months I really can't tell you just why I found myself in such a tizzy but I do know that I seemed to stay busy day in and day out and was more than exhausted at the end.  My days seemed to consist of making meal one, clean up, making meal two, clean up, making meal three, and clean up.  Between dishes and laundry, minor housekeeping and two little boys,  I often felt overwhelmed and weary.

I've said before that being frugal is work and any of you who are practicing a thrifty life will readily agree that it is indeed work.  So what do you do when you must be frugal and you are super busy?



I'll tell you what I did and didn't do.

I had little control over water and electric usage but I did what I could.   I learned to pack a dishwasher to full capacity and run a load nightly.  This eliminated some handwashing of pots and pans but not all.  I soon learned that we were not going to fit every dish in that dishwasher of mine, so I hand washed those things I knew we'd likely need for the next meal prep.  I used as little water as I could during the handwashing because I did not want to follow my previous bad habit of letting the water just run while I worked.  

We tried to keep laundry to two loads daily. We hung many clothes to dry and we carefully timed dryer loads.  However there was no doubt that even with care our electric usage was far more than we'd been accustomed to.   

Five people using the bathroom daily, showers or baths for a family, dishes and laundry necessitated extra usage.  The television seemed to run day and evening.  Controlling how much the little boys watched was easy enough, but just tell an adult man or woman that the tv must go off!  Harmony demanded skirting such issues.   I was not however, above going into a room where a light or fan had been left running and cutting them off.  Ditto for the television when afternoon naps ensued.

For all my controls however, there were things I simply couldn't control.  Bess enjoyed doing laundry and if we did all the daily stuff then she came back about once a week from the other house with a few loads of clothes she'd gathered from storage and she'd spend a whole morning and afternoon washing and drying in the dryer.

With the house closed up to keep a toddling baby out of messes, we didn't have the air flow required to make our air conditioner work most efficiently.  Our electric costs did rise but I do believe we made some impact on the bill overall just by doing what we could and controlling where we might.  When it became unpleasantly stuffy, I would switch on a fan, not lower the thermostat and make the AC work even harder.  I did find it necessary to call for the annual Spring Freon boost which seems to be the bane of our particular brand of heat pump.

I didn't wash out zippered bags.  I gave that up quickly enough as a waste of my time and proper space for getting them fully dry.  Bess had brought baggies from her home and I had some in the pantry.  We used them as we went along, but once our stock ran low, we used clear glass jars, plastic cold cut meat storage pieces (from the lusher days of living), the nicer take away containers,  saran wrap (not my purchase but it was here on hand), yogurt tubs,  bread sacks, etc.  

We cut down on the use of paper plates, a nice convenience but at an average of 10c each I felt that the cost was better spent on food.  $4 will buy a good deal in food stuffs!   I also cut out the purchase of paper napkins and we used paper towels until our supply ran low at which point I pulled my cloth napkins from the drawer and put them in the center of the table within easy reach.   John has always considered paper products his way of 'saving' me labor but as I pointed out to him when he protested, I was doing at least a load of laundry and a load of dishes a day anyway. 

Porches and siding desperately needed to be washed during these months but honestly, I didn't feel that was a priority when our water/electric use was so much higher than usual.  So big projects for Spring cleaning waited until the family had moved out into their own home and our costs were nearer our usual averages.

Meals were my main area of attack, as well they might have been.  Now, I confess readily that even though I'd trimmed our budget over the past few years, I'd wondered if I might trim it still further and not feel deprived.  The answer is "Yes, I can", proven by the fact that I eventually  fed six on the same budget I'd made for two for over three months.  I went back to my very frugal days and served up the same recipes I'd used back then and it worked beautifully even if I did increase the proteins slightly.

 In the end, it comes down to using what's in season, bulking meals with vegetables and breads, eating some canned fruits instead of fresh,  choosing basic foods and combining with good seasonings  to create filling, appetizing meals.  Our 'big meal' each week was often a roasted whole chicken or turkey breast both of which were far lower in cost than any cut of beef.  And when possible we made sure that big cut of meat lasted through two or three meals.   In fact, we resorted to chicken, fish, and ground beef for most of the main meals.  It didn't take a genius to figure out that 1 pound of ground beef went further than 2 pounds of chuck roast which shrinks so very much in cooking, as much as we liked our roasts.

When I was told the children liked certain foods for their meals, I tried to incorporate those items but many times I discovered that the children were NOT willing to eat those items and after we ended tossing them to the pets,  I stopped purchasing anything that typically went uneaten or were half eaten and purchased only those which they consistently finished off.  Chicken hot dogs were supposed to be Josh's favorite but he seldom ate any brand of them that I bought.  Chicken bologna on the other hand was always greeted with smiles and eaten right up.  This eliminated quite a few dollars in our budget.  Eggs had risen in cost during the spring, but the boys both loved eggs.  It was well worth the cost to buy  a couple of dozen eggs rather than purchase a bag of frozen chicken nuggets or fish sticks which cost about the same as eggs at the time and watch half the food go out for the pets.

We used ALL of the food things.  If I made Shabat bread, we ate every slice.  If we had tops and bottoms of vegetables they went into the broth bag with any chicken bones we had.  The heels of bread got eaten as well as the slices.  We froze fruit for smoothies if it began to look less than appetizing.  I made good use of pureed squash and zucchini that Bess had made for Isaac and put in the freezer.  They were drained of excess liquid and used in muffins.  Isaac had quickly graduated from baby food to regular foods and wanted nothing to do with purees, so this proved to be a good use for those cubes of pureed vegetables.   I cooked chicken and turkey breast carcasses and picked over the bones.  We saved the broth to cook rice, etc. which incidentally made Josh more likely to eat the brown rice.   All of the old frugal kitchen tips were used and we used the few scraps of food that were left to either feed pets, chickens or compost.

Bess soon learned that I don't toss foods just because they appeared less than ideal.  If strawberries froze in the overpacked fridge, then I washed them, and packed them into the freezer to use in smoothies or desserts.  Wrinkled potatoes may not look prime but they mash as well as firm ones.  When two zucchini appeared to be about ready to start getting a little iffy, I urged her to leave them alone.   That afternoon I trimmed one to use in a dish we were eating (bulking another low meat casserole with still more vegetables) and trimmed and then shredded the other to use in spaghetti sauce.  The result of my care in trying to use all of the foods soon resulted in the family having me tag those foods they might toss  rather than eat something I might have already planned for another meal.

I kept foods that were 'free game' for anyone to have for a luncheon in a special basket in the fridge.  Anything in a dish that wasn't in that basket was a 'planned over' for another meal that week.

If I discovered certain foods disappeared more rapidly than others, then I purchased only what I normally would budget for and when we ran out we were out until the next pay period.  This seemed to be most prevalent with cheese.  I'd found a particularly good buy on 2 pound blocks of cheese and purchased three or four.  Three days later I noted there were only two left.  I called the family's attention to this and urged them to slow down.  When we were out of cheese before the pay period was up, I refused to buy more.  I explained that we couldn't afford to use what was intended for a month's use to be gone in a bit over a week.

I did the same when I noted that items I'd purchased specifically for John's lunch were disappearing rapidly.  I try to keep foods he can grab and go if necessary during his work hours.  There were less expensive alternatives for us to eat here at home...However, I found it necessary to package those foods up and send them to work to be placed in his locker.  John likes a glass of soda most days  and we soon found it was less expensive to purchase one liter bottles and he keep them in his locker than to buy them and keep them in the house and have them disappear.

If we found we had a full serving or two of some particular meal leftover I packaged them up for the guys to take to lunch.  I found Sam more likely to take two muffins or a breakfast sandwich with him of a morning if they were made the day before and left handy.  This eliminated the need for him to stop for breakfast later and he often filled a thermos with coffee, just as John did.

Remember my mention of eggs going up so very high in costs?  Six people can demolish a dozen eggs in one meal...In order to save eggs for a quick protein for the little boys when evening meals were less than kid friendly, we ate oatmeal, peanut butter toast, muffins with a smear of cream cheese, pancakes, etc. for our breakfasts.  Cold cereals are well priced at Aldi but I found them still cheaper purchasing the big bulk bags on sale at regular grocery stores.  If the boys had cereal for breakfast they were encouraged to drink the milk left in their bowls so that it did not go to waste.  If we adults ate cereal we did the same!  Manners have their place but not wasting that milk was of more importance.

What I didn't do during these months was to spend a great deal of time baking.  In the warmer months, with half the  house closed off, the main living areas soon were uncomfortably warm and the AC went to work overtime if the oven was used.  I tended to try to get baking done in the early morning if I did any at all.

 Often after a grocery shop the refrigerator was so packed that I had to carefully gauge the foodstuffs to insure there was air flow enough to prevent spoilage or freezing of produce.  That also meant that at times we didn't buy as much as we actually needed for two weeks of eating.  While a packed freezer is as it should be, refrigerated items must have space to allow for air circulation.

I had no time for making anything beyond meals and the weather quickly warmed too much to have the oven going.  I managed Shabat bread using the one hour method once every two weeks and that was about all I could do.  The slow cooker or a stove top frying pan made the bulk of our main dishes.  Had I had time to dig around a bit, I might have baked a cake or pie in the slow cooker or electric frying pan but time was at a premium for me.

We stopped buying the bakery breads I prefer and went back to buying the least expensive loaf bread we could find.  My main dislike of regular loaf bread had been that for myself and John the loaves began to sour before we'd used them.  No problem with that in a family environment. Toast for breakfast and sandwiches for lunch and we could sail through a loaf in less than two days.  I tried to offset the usage, making muffins or biscuits but these both required prepping ahead and rising extra early to do baking the next morning, because one little 1 year old got mighty Hangry when a meal was late.  It was far easier to pop toast into the toaster each morning.

Although I knew it would be less expensive to make yogurt, storage was an issue.  My refrigerator is a good size for us, but it's not big enough to properly store food for six. I didn't make yogurt but I didn't buy individual cups either.  We found quickly enough that both boys would happily eat plain Greek yogurt and didn't require the flavored variety.  Bought in the quart tub, we had plenty for smoothies and sour cream substitutions and just eating.

The boys would drink water at every meal but Bess and I determined that we'd not stint them on their milk.  Milk was pretty much reserved for their use, 2 8-ounce cups a day for Josh and 3 each day for Isaac, along with cheese or yogurt daily saw those needs met.  We also agreed they should eat some fruit as part of their meal.  I used some fresh seasonal fruits and some canned fruits (no sugar added) to meet those dietary needs.   Bess liked the convenience of purchasing those little 4 ounce cups of applesauce and gelatin.  I made these items from scratch or purchased in bulk and served in their own special dinnerware set that John had picked up at a grocery especially for them.

I mixed up powdered milk to use for cooking purposes.  I can't say it was any cheaper but the advantage was that I had it on hand, thereby cutting out the need to make a purchase and it allowed us to reserve the majority of the gallon jugs for the boys.

I didn't purchase special items for anyone regardless of tastes.  We cut out everybody's.  Sodas, candy, cookies were a thing of the past.  Sweets were generally a piece of dark chocolate or a packet of graham crackers or vanilla wafers both of which were very inexpensive to purchase.   Any other sweet treats were homemade or gone without.  We made good use of a big jar of hard candy items that had accumulated over Christmas, Valentines and Easter when anyone just had to have a bite of something sweet or to treat the boys for eating all of their supper.  I made fruit gelatin or pudding or served canned fruit if we wanted something more to add to an especially frugal meal to fill up.

During the last two months, our Aldi was closed for expansion.  Gracious but we missed that store!  Bess made two trips to Macon to visit the store there but we are neither of us fond of it as it's not nearly as well stocked as our own store in Centerville.  We began shopping in a variety of stores. I took advantage of membership card specials, markdowns and special sales.

We dragged our feet about making a trip to any grocery when things got especially snug in the money department.  Sam might pick up a loaf of bread and  gallons of milk in whatever town he was in for the day but Bess and I stayed OUT of the grocery entirely.  It's surprising how much less money is spent if you make it point NOT to go into the store.  We tried to always have bread and milk in the freezer.

We didn't eat take out as a family.  True, John and I might purchase a sandwich to share on grocery day between stores and Sam and Bess occasionally picked up something to snack on when they were at the DIY store, but for the most part, meals were homemade.  Twice when funds were forthcoming we splurged on Chinese and Sam laughed as we packaged up leftovers.  "Bess and I used to eat this much alone...Now we have leftovers after feeding six!"   We all lost weight during this time because  eating more reasonable portions and working hard tends to promote weight loss.  The boys however, did just as they ought to have done, they grew both taller and heavier and so we called our frugalness a success on both scores.  Sam or I would make pizzas here at home as a treat on weekends or we'd splurge on the all beef hot dogs we like best.

All in all these methods worked for us.  I have determined to eliminate the use of zippered plastic bags, have returned to using cloth napkins or paper towels, conceded to John's desire to go back to paper plate usage and we now find ourselves washing clothes and dishes on average about every four days.   The house is open and air circulating well throughout.  We continue to buy regular loaf bread and I freeze in half loaf portions which is just right for our use and his lunches.  And we continue to favor the rather basic but expensive fare we reacquainted ourselves with over the last few months.  Our grocery spending for this month is down by $175 over our previously budget for two.  I'm glad we had the opportunity to determine what was frugal and what has proven to be less than worthwhile over the past 5 months.