Waste Not, Want Not
Part of living on a tight budget is living by some old rules you've probably learned from your grandparents (or great grandparents if you're a younger millenial type reading this here old lady blog). They lived in tougher times where money wasn't free flowing. Hard choices had to be made and as a result they were "Eco" way before that was cool.
I do quite a few things around the house to make sure we aren't wasting anything. For example, this past Friday I made homemade pizza which is a Friday night tradition around here. In the fridge I had about 1/4 cup of tomato paste from earlier in the week when I made a casserole. I mixed the tomato paste with water, basil, rosemary, thyme, salt, pepper and garlic to make pizza sauce. It turned out just as good as the stuff I buy, and I made use of something that would otherwise go to waste.
We also rarely throw away leftovers. My kids cheer when I tell them dinner is "Dinner Surprise". The name itself actually makes me cringe it sounds so disgusting, but kids are strange creatures and they like strange things. Dinner Surprise is when I literally take little bits of all the last of leftovers and assemble them on a plate in little plops. Today, lunch is Lunch Surprise and it consists of a small plop of the last of some MacNCheese from yesterday's lunch, a plop of casserole from earlier this week, a small slice of leftover pizza, some carrots, strawberries and slice of cheddar cheese. This helps me get rid of the last of our food and for some reason these crazies think it's fun.
My last example of thinking outside of the box and making the best out of what would otherwise be considered garbage are crafts for the kids. Prior to The Year of the Poor, I subscribed to a monthly craft box for the kids called Koala Crate. Koala Crates are amazing little boxes that come each month filled with supplies to do 3-5 crafts, along with a book. Each month it fits a theme and really forced me to sit and be creative with my Little's. Well, in light of Kyle not working this was one of many subscriptions I had to cancel.
Last weekend we had an oat container that was headed for the recycle bin, when I searched on Pinterest for "Oat container craft" there were thousands of ideas. I scrolled through with Nixon and he settled on a Barn. Ours looks nothing like the Pinterest version, but we had fun making it and Nixon's been playing with it for a week straight...never mind the fact that he has an actual Little People barn; I guess making your own makes it more special.
I do quite a few things around the house to make sure we aren't wasting anything. For example, this past Friday I made homemade pizza which is a Friday night tradition around here. In the fridge I had about 1/4 cup of tomato paste from earlier in the week when I made a casserole. I mixed the tomato paste with water, basil, rosemary, thyme, salt, pepper and garlic to make pizza sauce. It turned out just as good as the stuff I buy, and I made use of something that would otherwise go to waste.
We also rarely throw away leftovers. My kids cheer when I tell them dinner is "Dinner Surprise". The name itself actually makes me cringe it sounds so disgusting, but kids are strange creatures and they like strange things. Dinner Surprise is when I literally take little bits of all the last of leftovers and assemble them on a plate in little plops. Today, lunch is Lunch Surprise and it consists of a small plop of the last of some MacNCheese from yesterday's lunch, a plop of casserole from earlier this week, a small slice of leftover pizza, some carrots, strawberries and slice of cheddar cheese. This helps me get rid of the last of our food and for some reason these crazies think it's fun.
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| This isn't Dinner Surprise, but it is Hayden setting the table with dirty socks #HouseElf |
My last example of thinking outside of the box and making the best out of what would otherwise be considered garbage are crafts for the kids. Prior to The Year of the Poor, I subscribed to a monthly craft box for the kids called Koala Crate. Koala Crates are amazing little boxes that come each month filled with supplies to do 3-5 crafts, along with a book. Each month it fits a theme and really forced me to sit and be creative with my Little's. Well, in light of Kyle not working this was one of many subscriptions I had to cancel.
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