Save! Save! Save!

Yesterday, when the sun was hot, there was a bit of a breeze and no rain forecast, I washed a heavy wool blanket in cold water and put it on the deck to sun-dry, thereby saving at least $15.00 of dry cleaning fees.  After the blanket was dry (quicker than you could imagine), I air-fluffed it in the dryer and stuck it into the cedar closet for the summer. 

With house guests here for a month, we have been trying to keep grocery bills under control while catering to their needs:  one vegetarian, one picky eater.   My Significant Other and me are voracious and eat basically anything that's food.  So we have been buying cage-free eggs, organic whole milk, and a host of other pricey groceries.  You would think not buying much meat would be cheap, but you would be wrong.  Today, we're having farfalle with mascarpone, hazelnuts, and asparagus.  It's a delicious vegetarian dish, but the ingredients are expensive.  I'm hoping to get two meals or one meal and a lunch out of it.  

The day after, we're having re fried rice with some cheaper ingredients.  For the carnivores, I will grill a small cheap sirloin and chop it up for us to put over the rice.  Tasty and cheap.  Last night we had bratwurst, sauerkraut  and fried potatoes.   I "doctor" my sauerkraut with onion,  brown sugar, bacon, caraway seed, bay leaf and paprika.  Lots of white wine.  I buy a huge jar at Ocean State Job lot for $2.00.  Of course potatoes are cheap and I got some baby ones on sale.  The vegetarian ate Morningstar Farms Buffalo Nuggets ($4.99 for a box).  We had a HUGE fruit salad with 7 different fruits for dessert.  So tasty and nutritious.  Spell check hates this post.  WTF? 

We are also finding that shopping every three days, with some visits to the supermarket, Whole Foods and Walmart is helping.  We also do not bring the guests along to toss stuff into the shopping cart.   Ya do what ya can.   Just about anything is cheaper than taking four to dinner. 

It is amazing how much terminology a 10 year old doesn't know.  Greasy spoon?  Not playing with a full deck?  All sorts of expressions. 

I have to go up and iron the stuff I used to send to the cleaners.  Being cheap has become a way of life.

Cheers