We're in the midst of birthday season... my husband, mother in law, children, mother, and brother in law all have birthdays this month. With all of the constant celebrations, it can be difficult to contain our spending, so I do my best to celebrate any savings that I can come up with this month!
For the kids' and husbands' birthdays, I always make a cake from scratch. We've had German Chocolate and Lemon Cake, as well as a giant Cookie Cake. It's not a huge savings, but it's a nice touch that lets everyone know that they are special, and they get something special for their birthday.
I made taco soup over the weekend. We were running low on the taco seasoning that I make from scratch, so I tripled the recipe and added it to the container. I buy my spices in bulk, so it really is cheaper to mix up my own spices. PLUS, I know that there aren't any other hidden ingredients mixed into my spice mixes. I save my spice mix in a large container that had previously held spices.
I also mixed up a new batch of apple pie spice. I love oatmeal with apple pie spices! When I cook my oatmeal, I will mix in some applesauce while it's heating, and then add 1/4 tsp. of the spices. If I've got any dehydrated apples sitting around, I will add them to my oatmeal before I add the water.
It's been very cold out here, so I decided to warm up the house. I made a batch of veggie broth. The house smelled great, and it felt warmer! After several hours of simmering, I strained the broth through a colander and froze the contents into muffin tins to make cubes. Any kind of broth cubes add flavor to food. By using my own broth cubes, I pay pennies for my ingredients, and I can use these cubes in place of bullion cubes at a later date. My batch of veggie broth made us a wonderful soup one night, and I froze 40 individual muffin-size cubes to use later.
Salads in a Jar
Last week, I made a week's worth of salads for lunch and stored them in mason jars. Each jar was lunch for one day. I layered in what I had on hand - lettuce, carrots, celery, ham, cheese, frozen peas. I thought it was great. The salad I had on Friday was just as tasty as the one I had on Monday. Success!
I have noticed something, though. Several websites and blogs are now pushing "recipes" for salad in a jar. I've been looking at them, and I'm a bit hesitant to try one of the recipes. Honestly, the entire idea for a salad in a jar was to save money. By using up veggies I keep in my fridge, and adding anything extra I might have laying around the house (I found sunflower seeds on Thursday and added them Thursday and Friday.), I feel like I am keeping my costs down. If I have to go out and track down more ingredients, or buy any specialty ingredients, am I really saving anything on my bottom line? I don't know - it's a question you'll have to ask yourself.
Electricity
We received our electricity bill in the mail this week. We save over $700 over this time last year! I'd love to tell you that was because we heated exclusively with wood, or because I found some magic trick, or that our smart meter finally did it's job. But no, the reality is that our temperatures this winter have been significantly warmer than this time last year. We have lowered the heat in the house by a few degress, so now all of the thermostats sit at 65*.
Textbooks
The book lists are in! We hit up the Used Book Stores in the area over the weekend. Hooray! We found a couple of the books on the list! We paid $20 for each of them. I know, $40 seems like a lot, but when you're looking at a final textbook bill of over $800, I am thrilled to save any money we possibly can on the bottom line!
It doesn't seem like a lot, but each one of these small things does, over time save money and reduce the bottom line. And that's what it's all about!
Stay warm and safe!
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