26 thoughts on “5 Frugal Tasks Today To Save Money – Simple Dessert, Food Waste, Decluttering”

1. Heidi's Wanderings at

   I think freezer are one of the greatest inventions on earth. Being able to freeze leftovers and use them on another day is fabulous. Hope you have a fantastic day.

   Reply ↓
   1. Texas Homesteader Post author at

      My freezer always has food in tight rotation, I use it pretty heavily to reduce our food waste. Thankfully RancherMan & I are just fine with leftovers for supper the following night (and even on occasion the night after, depending upon the meal) but tossing leftovers in the fridge allows us to enjoy it anew at another time. It also allows me to have homemade supper ready to just heat-n-eat. I currently have charcoal-grilled chicken, meatloaf, homemade ravioli, homemade pasta sauce, pulled pork BBQ and much more just waiting to be inserted into the weekly meal plan. Eating great homemade food cooked from scratch doesn’t have to involve cooking from scratch every day and I LOVE THAT! ~TxH~

      Reply ↓
2. Debbie R. at

   We wrap our homemade artisan bread in a cotton dish towel and then put it in an open freezer bag. Without the plastic freezer bag it dries out a bit, but if we close the freezer bag it gets too moist. It seems to be the best compromise for my teenagers’ tastes. And with them around, our homemade bread is finished in a few days at most. I just might start watching for linen to make those bags.

   Reply ↓
   1. Texas Homesteader Post author at

      I freeze most of the bread after doing a baking session and only bring it out in quantities enough to enjoy in a couple of days. I’m very anxious to see if these linen bags do keep the bread fresh. In any event, I have 3 of them made up! LOL ~TxH~

      Reply ↓
3. Sherry at

   I should follow your lead here and try to save money. I know we waste a lot; I think about it all of the time. Thanks so much for sharing your great tips with us at Merry Monday.

   Reply ↓
   1. Texas Homesteader Post author at

      Don’t beat yourself up too hard Sherry, busyness causes us to rush things – it’s just human nature. But thankfully by stopping just a moment & thinking things out we can make plans to more fully utilize those things we have available to us, usually resulting in less waste & saving money too! ~TxH~

      Reply ↓
4. Jennifer A at

   The warmth from a fire doesn’t compare to the HVAC anyway, I love that heat. It sinks down into your bones. I was frugal today by combining a couple of trips to save on gas. Thanks for sharing on the Homestead Blog Hop, great post!

   Reply ↓
   1. Texas Homesteader Post author at

      YES – heat from a wood-burning fireplace just warms you completely and oh-so-quickly. Love it! ~TxH~

      Reply ↓
5. Mimi at

   Tammy, you are a woman after my own heart. I find donating to charity shops is always returned by the Universe. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve needed a special something, and thought ‘I’ll just check the thrift shop first’ and lo and behold, there is the very thing I need! Great post. Will you come and share it at Five Star Frou-Frou at A Tray of Bliss? We’d love to have you. Love, Mimi xxx

   Reply ↓
   1. Texas Homesteader Post author at

      I have to agree with you Mimi – it’s just good to close that loop. I’ve often said that the charity shops can’t help people in need with your old donated jeans, it’s the money from the SALE of those jeans that goes to help those causes you care about! And thanks for the invite, think I’ll ‘hop’ on over and check it out! ~TxH~

      Reply ↓
      1. Mimi at

         Hi again Tammy. Thanks for sharing at Five Star Frou-Frou this week. I hope you’ll join us again? Love, Mimi xxx

         Reply ↓
6. Grace at

   That’s so interesting about linen for bread bags. I used plastic lined cloth first, but the cloth eventually broke down from washing. Then just cloth, but it was terrible and the bread dried out quickly. Now I just reuse large Ziploc bags. You’ll have to let us know how the linen works for you.

   Reply ↓
   1. Texas Homesteader Post author at

      We’ve had company staying with us for the better part of a week so there’s been no spare time to make bread – we’ve been buying it. Now that our guest has gone home there’s much to do around the ranch to get caught up, but as soon as I’m able to make bread again I’m gonna giver ‘er a go! ~TxH~

      Reply ↓
7. Miranda at

   I hate wasting food as well, this may sound like a duh moment, but I never thought to freeze fruit when I see that its starting to go bad! I do plan on buying fruit in the summer when it is cheaper and freeze it to last throughout the year and seasonal markups.

   Reply ↓
   1. Texas Homesteader Post author at

      I freeze lots of fruit, but I also like to dehydrate it to use in my homemade granola. Either way, a little food waste is eliminated and that makes me happy. ~TxH~

      Reply ↓
8. Judith C at

   When I was a kid, once a week Mom used to warm up every leftover in the fridge. She’d have all sorts of little pyrex dishes with a bit of this and that. Load all the little dishes on a cookie sheet and and stick everything in the over until hot. It was like Furr’s Cafeteria! BTW, smoke from the fireplace isn’t as bad as you think.

   Reply ↓
   1. Texas Homesteader Post author at

      My mom had a similar meal plan when I was growing up, it was great fun for us. ~TxH~

      Reply ↓
9. Margy at

   Re: #3 – We were invited to Thanksgiving dinner at a friend’s house when we were on vacation in Los Angeles. Getting a free meal isn’t my savings tip (even though we did get a great home cooked meal rather than eating out again). When dinner was over I helped clean up and was appalled to see her scrape wonderful leftovers into the trash. Maybe it’s my frugal upbringing by parents who lived through the Depression, but I could have feasted for days if not weeks on what went into the trash. With all the modern technology of a big freezer and a huge refrigerator at hand I just couldn’t understand it. – Margy

   Reply ↓
   1. Texas Homesteader Post author at

      I’ve been shocked before too, Margy, when as a guest at someone’s home for a meal I witnessed all food not served being trashed. I realize not everyone likes to eat the same meal twice but like you, I couldn’t help but to think about all the food that was being wasted. Heck I’d put it in the freezer and serve it in a couple of weeks if my family didn’t like leftovers! Even when the kids were young and still living at home, we never wasted any food. Leftovers were served and it was expected that they would be eaten, and we never had a problem with ‘picky eaters’. ~TxH~

      Reply ↓
10. PK Kirkpatrick at

    When my children were little I would take all the leftovers and heat them for dinner. There may only be a small spoonful of some items, but we may have 6 or 7 items on our plates. We called it our “This and that dinner.” The children actually looked forward to those dinners.
    PK

    Reply ↓
    1. Texas Homesteader Post author at

       I’m very familiar with ‘this and that dinners’ PK, they were some of my faves growing up. So many people have palates that get bored very quickly and the thought of leftovers just doesn’t fly with them. But I have to agree with RancherMan – if it was delicious last night, it’ll be delicious tonight as well! ~TxH~

       Reply ↓
11. ColleenB.~Texas at

    Same here at this household. Don’t like throwing anything away if at all possible and that is why sometimes we have muss-go. In case you’re wondering; muss-go is where we have left-overs and Everything Must-Go; heating and eating up all the left-overs. Growing up, that is what we used to call eating leftovers is; Muss-Go

    Reply ↓
    1. Texas Homesteader Post author at

       Love your “mussgo” meals Colleen! LOL ~TxH~

       Reply ↓
12. Lady Locust at

    Nice!

    Reply ↓
13. Patti at

    Tammy, I’m with you on wasting food. I either make dump soup or dump pie. Doesn’t sound appealing (taste great) but it uses food that would otherwise have died in the frig and gone in the trash. I finally cut the cable cord after my bill hit $180.00 a month. Once the hubby saw what we pay in a year his fishing shows and alien reports were not worth it. ( I hated those shows from day one and so glad they’re gone, so a win win for me). Patti

    Reply ↓
    1. Texas Homesteader Post author at

       Ugh, not sure where my vehement hate for food waste comes from but I fight against it with all I have (and that’s a good thing!) Thankfully my RancherMan does not object to having for supper tomorrow the same thing we had for supper tonight. He says if it was delicious tonight, it’ll be equally delicious tomorrow! That helps a lot too. Congrats on cutting that expensive cable bill Patti! ~TxH~

       Reply ↓

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.