Your hacks

Posted by: kimc on Monday, November 5th, 2007

From Bare Bones Gardener:

Next time you are down at the Supermarket, bypass your usual detour into the gardening aisle and check out the pet aisle for all your propagating needs. Because what you are looking for is Cat Litter.

From Matt: a great hack for avoiding the accumulation of stuff

Boltbabe has a post on what to do when finances take a sudden southward turn, followed up by a recipe for baked applesauce.  Anything that makes my house smell this good and saves money is on my to-do list!

And reader SarahMay has a great question that falls somewhat outside of my own personal experience:

I would love to see an entry sometime on how to be frugal when you're physically limited.

I am currently on semi-restriction with a twin pregnancy. Normally, I love to cook things from scratch, browse second-hand shops for needed items, and go to several different grocery stores for the best deals... but it's just not feasible right now.

Finances are really tight, so it's not like we can say, "It's just a temporary struggle right now before the babies come, so we'll eat out and spend a little more for a few things, then get back on the frugal bandwagon afterwards." The money just isn't available for that.

Can you share some ideas for her?

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Topics: money-saving hacks

4 Responses to “Your hacks”

Jenny Says:
November 5th, 2007 at 12:25 pm

Definitely try Freecycle.org or put an add in Craigslist for free or cheap used baby goods. Have hubby or someone else do a pick up for you. You can also shop from your couch or bed using ebay or some other cheap source (get free shipping/coupon codes for standard department store sites).

As for cooking… you can do a lot of chopping and mixing sitting down. You can assemble a lot of meals sitting at the kitchen table to get by for a week. Have hubby help you to brown a pound or two of hamburger to use for tacos, lasagnas, burritos, etc. to use for the whole week. Foods like tuna and egg salad make for a quick and easy dinner and don’t require a lot of cooking other than boiling eggs.

Avlor Says:
November 5th, 2007 at 1:11 pm

For SarahMay: Perhaps if asked about baby shower gifts, you could ask that some of the things be done for you. (Cooking would be a great way for people to help you out right now. And they could help stock your freezer when bringing food.)

Marianne Says:
November 5th, 2007 at 2:47 pm

I echo Avlor–do you have people around that you an ask for help? It seems like when babies come, people want to give gifts. But maybe in lieu of stuff, you could ask for help with duties. Many people want to help and only need direction. Then, they too feel like they are part of this exciting time in your life. Also, this is a good time to start building a support system to help you through having twin newborns!

SarahMay Says:
November 7th, 2007 at 9:48 am

Thanks for the helpful comments! I love the idea about assembling a weeks’ worth of meals. (That would save on dishes, too, which would be great!)

We do have a good support network (family, church). In fact, a few friends have done freezer meals already… but I think the intention was to use them AFTER the babies come!

Thank you for the help. This gets my creative juices flowing and I’m encouraged already!

 

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