Research those promotional codes!

Posted by: Tammy

My oldest son has taken up fencing. He’s been using the school’s equipment until I was sure that he was interested and was going to stick with the sport. Being almost a year into things, I decided it was time to buy him his own equipment. I picked out the beginner package and upon checking [...]

Surplus Store Shopping

Posted by: Tammy

My family and I went to a neighborhood part a few weeks ago. I was asking one of our ‘neighbors’ (I use that term loosely because we live in the country where neighbor is a relative term) who works in restaurant supply about obtaining stainless steel lasagna pans for boiling down maple sap in the [...]

Mulling my foraged treasures from this year

Posted by: Tammy

I was enjoying the great fall weather here in New England for an hour or so today. In between serious website work, I went visiting a local college campus to check out their surplus store. The store was closed but I found several fantastic shag bark hickory trees that had rained glorious amounts of nuts [...]

Colorful carrots!

Posted by: Tammy

My middle son, Ben, has a thing for carrots. When we were seed shopping he just kept picking out packets. His favorites were the Purple Haze, a truly purple carrot. The yellow jumbos were also kind of cool he thought. So in the end, he settled on three types. Today we harvested from all three [...]

I guess I CAN teach my mom a few new shopping tricks!

Posted by: Sue

I’m pretty sure I’ve mentioned my mom a time or two on this blog. Or rather, I’ve mentioned her shopping style. The grocery shopping of my childhood was one of the things I had to overcome in my quest for frugality. Now, I’m not sure, but I think my mom’s rules were pretty much as [...]

A milestone in my gardening!

Posted by: Tammy

Today I reached a milestone in my gardening and my quest to be more self-sufficient. Tonight I looked at our dinner plate and realized that everything but the pork tenderloin came our of my garden! We’re not looking to do meat production of any kind at this point so for me, this is about as [...]

Whimsy is Frugal

Posted by: KarenLynn

When I watch decorating shows I always notice that adding whimsy is usually frugal. Whimsy is thinking outside the box and still seeing magic in the simple things. The things right in front of you. Definition of whimsy: Noun 1. pl -sies a fanciful or playful idea: 2. capricious or playful behaviour: Adding [...]

Looking for those side of the road freebies really does pay off….

Posted by: KarenLynn

I have to admit that my husband is the world’s best dumpster diver and I know he could compete with Amy Dacyczyn’s husband anyday. My extended family almost thinks that it is magical or something. My husband will declare that he is looking for a ventilation fan for the greenhouse and the next week [...]

Making your own homemade Vanilla

Posted by: KarenLynn

Today I decided would be a good day to make my own homemade vanilla. First of all it is not a strenuous activity and I don’t have to be out in the heat so I was excited to work on this project. The other thing I like about making this recipe is that it is [...]

Sugar Cookie Playdoh - a Frugal Kid Entertainment!

Posted by: Joy

Today my little girls, ages 6 & 8 each got to have a friend over. Rain prevented a lot of outdoor play, so I mixed up a batch of sugar cookie dough! I gathered a cookie sheet, some flour to powder hands for each set of girls and set them and their imaginations free. You [...]