What did you do to save $ today?

[ORChick]

Well, not really a saving as such, since I spent some money at the Farmers' Market this morning to buy some wild mushrooms. DH is inordinately fond of mushrooms, and, I must admit, so am I . But a little saving in the face of spending for the mushrooms. I trimmed the ends before cooking them this evening, and cut a few bits off that weren't so lovely. The trimmed bits went into the dehydrator, and, later, will go into the jar of mushroom "bits and bobs". When I want some extra mushroom flavor later on I will soak some of these "bits and bobs", and use the resulting mushroom broth. The bits can be composted at that point, having given up their goodness. I would have saved more not buying the mushrooms, but this way at least I get full value for what I bought

 

[ORChick]

Just discovered my rose geranium leaves lose their fragrance...I went to add my newly dried ones to the jar of leaves I dried in July, and they had NO scent, kept in a tightly closed glass jar.

I've found that as well. The scent does not hold well at all, unfortunately.
Maybe not what you need, but a few ways my mother used rose geranium was in apple jelly, and in pound cake. She would put a fresh leaf in every jar of jelly, for Rose Geranium Jelly; it scented the jelly nicely. And a few leaves in the bottom of the pan for pound cake also adds a nice nuance.

 

[VT-Chicklit]

Friday, I re-homed the two kittens that were born on my front porch in May. I have had them living in my bedroom and bathroom (I already had 2 indoor cats that have the run of the rest of the house) since the middle of July, when we took them from their mother. The mother was a stray that adopted us last year and has been living on my porch since then. After bringing the kittens inside, we had Ma Kat spayed so that there would be no more kittens on the porch. I had been trying to find homes for Sadie and Sally (the kittens) since they became bedroom cats without success.

I had to take one of my other cats to the vet a couple of weeks ago. My vet was on vacation and had thevet from one of the shelters in our state covering for him. I got to chatting with the vet and told him about my "bedroom kitties" and how I was having trouble re-homeing them. By that time they had been in my bedroom for about 6 weeks! I told him about how cute they were and how they would sleep between DH and I at night . . . until they got a case of the cat crazies and climbed my drapes, quilted wall hanging or dressers. I told him about the 3 AM race track that they had around the bedroom and how they thought it was "great fun" to play slappies under the door with my other cats, who were on the other side, bashing into the door. I guess the vet had pitty on my plight and suggested that I call the shelter that he worked at part time. I told him that I was concerned about bringing them to a selter that was not a "No Kill" shelter. He said that this shelter did not kill any animal that could be saved.

I called the shelter 2 weeks ago and was told that they would have room for the girls on Sept 25, they have many cats to re-home. Friday, I placed them in the carrier. They were scared and I cried. I kind of felt like a surrogate mother to them. On the way to the shelter, I stopped at KFC and bought a chicken breast and shared it with the girls. They loved it! After leaving them at the shelter, I headed home. By finding a new home for these two kittens I have saved $4 a week in litter and $6 in canned cat food. I have also gotten a happier husband and better sleep. Unfortunatly with these gains, I have also lost a little of the joy that they gave me with their antics.

 

[FarmerDenise]

VT-Chicklit,
You did a good thing by taking care of all those kitties. I foster bottle babies for our shelter and it is always hard to give them up. And they do provide a lot of entertainment, albeit sometimes at a time of night when us two legged critters would rather be sleeping.
You might consider fostering kittens for your shelter. That way you'll get to have the little kitten fun stuff, without the long term kitten responsibilites. But you would be parting with those little cuties when they are ready for adoption.
So you not only saved money by giving them up, but you saved lives by taking care of them and their mama.

I froze and dehydrated a bezillion peppers today. Then I used leftovers to make us a chinese style dinner. It turned out great. I made eggrolls. Way too many eggrolls for the two of us. SO actually asked me to freeze them, so he could have them as a snack another time. SO does not eat leftovers!!!! He also wanted me to save the fried rice for lunch tomorrow, usually he would suggest I give it to the chickens (the chinese restaurant stuff) It did taste really good. I think it is because I made it with our homegrown vegies, everything tastes so much better, when we use our own vegetables.

 

[dragonlaurel]

Went thrift shopping. Got a heavy brass candle lamp that I love- for $ 1.00.
And
I got canning jars. 12 - Qt size with rings , 1 - pint size, Golden Harvest
and 4 pretty (Ball) half pints.
Need 1 ring and seals to go with them.
I paid $ 2.00 for the whole batch of jars.
Need to go to the farmers market soon and see what will end up in them. On the lookout for a canner soon but I can do the short jars in pans I have.

 

[delia_peterson]

 

[freemotion]

I have been wanting a new ice cream maker and found one in a salvage store today for $18.99! There were two left with very broken boxes, so I opened both boxes and put together one machine that looks ok. I will try it out tomorrow just to be sure.

 

[FarmerDenise]

I took SO to the archery shop to pick up his bow, after it got restrung. Then we went to the vintner's store to get some yeast for making wine. I had tried to go there a month ago, but couldn't find it. This time I googled it and we did find it. The owner said he really didn't have any yeast left, because the season is pretty much over. Then I explained that I was just doing it for fun for home use. That I was just going to use different fruit I had available and maybe some table grapes. That I might be making maybe 5 gallons.
He said he could help me and that I would like the price. He came back out with two packages of different yeast and told me they were free. They were too old for a winery to use, but should be perfectly good for me. He said he should have thrown them out, but can't get himself to throw anything out. He said I might want to double up the amount requested in the recipe.
I told him he made my day.
free is good!

Oh, and both stores are north of town and close to each other, so by combining our trips, we saved on gas.

 

[dragonlaurel]

Enjoy- I miss plum wine. Might have to get some.

 

[xpc]

I have been wanting a new ice cream maker and found one in a salvage store today for $18.99! There were two left with very broken boxes, so I opened both boxes and put together one machine that looks ok. I will try it out tomorrow just to be sure.

Ha Ha! I like the way you work - can you do that with trucks too?