The Thrifty Lady

Waste in the kitchen is an easy way to throw money away. It happens to everybody. We over buy, or we don’t pay attention to what’s in the fridge and it gets wasted.

With my oldest daughter selling at the local farmer’s market, we have lots of leftovers coming home. If we don’t push hard and take care of them right away, they spoil in the heat and humidity of summer.

I missed one plate of cinnamon rolls last week. Things got busy and I didn’t notice them on the counter for 2 days. (I blush to confess this, but it really was a busy week!) They hadn’t spoiled, but they had gotten quite dry.

I didn’t want to throw them away, so I experimented! I cut each roll in half, soaked it in my favorite French Toast batter and fried them up. I served them for breakfast with butter and syrup.

The family loved them!

The Thrifty Idea for today is to be creative and turn those left-overs into something new and delicious!

It’s hot in my house today. I’m afraid the weather forecast doesn’t give much hope for the rest of the week. It’s gonna stay hot and humid.

What do you do when you’re living in an old farmhouse with no A/C?

You adjust.

We have.

We usually wake up early and work in the cool hours of the early morning, and then rest in the heat of the day.

We let the kids play outside after supper until dark so they get their fresh air when its cooler.

We try to keep fans running on us when we are inside.

We don’t run the oven. I use my crock pots, the electric skillet, or the stove top, or even just eat a cold meal.

I try to do something special in the afternoons so the kids have a treat to look forward too. It might something cold and special for snack time in the afternoon, like a homemade popsicle or pudding pop, a root beer float, a slushie,  or just even a glass of cold lemonade.

When the kids were younger it was time in the wading pool under the shade tree (mom, too!).

Now we sit and watch a movie in the heat of the day, with the shades pulled and fans blowing on us. It’s a nice rest and by the time the movie is over, things have cooled off a little and we’re ready to work again.

Most of all, we have learned to give ourselves a little “grace” during these hot spells. We accomplish what we can and know that our energy level will be better as soon as the mercury lowers.

One of the biggest secrets to thrifty living is learning to make do.

A truly frugal soul always looks for a way to “fix” a problem before they go out and buy new. They will find a way to improvise, substitute or adjust.

That’s why we have mongrel mowers. When a part breaks on one, my husband looks over the fleet and adjusts, borrowing parts from other nonworking machines. He might pair a front axle from one machine with the cutting blade of another.

When he says we need another mower, I have every confidence that we truly need another mower because duct tape and baling wire didn’t work this time.

I can also be sure he’ll buy the best used mower he can find at the cheapest price.

I have the same philosophy in the house. I don’t change my decor every 2 years because I’m tired of it. But I’m very glad other people do! I pick up their things cheap at garage sales to keep my decor fresh and updated.

Same things with our clothing, the kids toys and books, even our vehicles.

Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without.

Traditions.

When you need to do birthdays on a budget, especially multiple birthdays, the secret is to start some inexpensive traditions.

Remember that the object here is to honor the birthday child, have fun and make some memories!

Take the birthday cake for example. you really don’t need to visit the bakery and spend a lot of money on a beautifully decorated cake. Be creative!

My oldest sister always made a chocolate cake (from a box) and cut it into the first letter of the birthday child’s name. Then she frosted it with chocolate frosting (from a can) and decorated it with a bag of M & M’s. Cheap, child friendly, and a memory that her kids will remember for a long time.

When they were younger my children wanted special cakes, like a forest fire cake, a butterfly cake or a race track cake. I found the easiest thing to do was to bake a 9 x 13 cake and frost it. This creates your canvas. Then we used plastic toys, legos, duplos, matchbox cars, etc… with M & M’s, colored sugar, sprinkles, and marshmallows to create a masterpiece.

The best part was that we created it together. We didn’t just make a cake, we made a memory! And…since the birthday child helped, they thought it was the most amazing cake ever!

You can see one of our amazing creations on my chocolate blog at:

http://thechocolateladydishes.blogspot.com/2007/11/buddys-7th-birthday-cake.html

Remember that creating memories doesn’t have to mean spending lots of money!

We have 2 birthdays back to back this week and that can be a real budget breaker. One small way we’ve saved some money is in decorating.

We have very simple parties. My goal is to honor the birthday child, not overwhelm them or wow them. We want our children to know we love them and think they are wonderful.

That takes time and traditions, not a lot of money.

We always hang a few balloons and a large Happy Birthday sign. I have occasionally found some fun decorations at garage sales, such as a plastic Thomas the Tank Engine tablecloth that we’ve used for years until it finally disintegrated.

But one of my favorite purchases was The Birthday Plate. I bought it from Current several years ago when my oldest was quite young and we have it used it ever since.

It’s a sturdy plastic so it can be washed and reused again and again.The birthday child gets to use it for every meal on his/her birthday.

Since it doesn’t actually say “Birthday” it could even be used for other special days- like the first day in big girl undies, or the first time he wrote the bike without training wheels, or just because they need a little encouragement.

The plate cost me less than $10 and has been used hundreds of times. It’s still in great shape so it will see many, many more special meals.

This one plate not only makes a birthday meal something special, it has become a family tradition that will continue on as a special memory long after my children leave home.