Provident Living in April

So far I am really excited about sort of keeping tabs on the things I do to save money, perhaps because it makes the whole saving money thing a little more tangible.  Here is what I did in April that helped keep our budget in check and what helped make the whole month a celebration of “Earth Day”.

We began “eating out” again!  In other words it is picnic season and we spent a fabulous day hiking and picnic-ing at a really great State Park during spring break.  We also celebrated opening day with a cookout in the backyard.  Homemade pasta, beans, cookies and more combined with fresh fruits and vegies made these picnics so enjoyable while nourishing and going easy on the pocketbook.
I used some frozen zucchini from last years garden to make bread.
I used dry milk to make rolls and cream based soups.
We attended the first Friday Night Red’s game of the season.  Rick wrote the arrangement of The Star Spangled Banner that the musical group sang at the beginning of the game.  Someone had access through work to free tickets for our whole family to attend the game and so Rick was able to hear his arrangement performed.  The tickets would have cost us $133 which means we would not have gone.  It happened to be Friday Night Fireworks after the game as well and so we got a fireworks show to rival any 4th of July display too.
We found a “Free” parking spot on the street when we attended the ball game.  Rick knows all the hidden free parking spots downtown and we got some nice exercise walking to the stadium.  Certainly the walk was worth what we would have spent on a parking garage.
Instead of buying food at the ball game we had an early pizza night before leaving home.  We brought bottled water from our food storage which meets post 9-11 safety regulations.  Plus this helps us rotate through our bottled water storage.
I started two lilacs from roots to give as an end of the year gift next month to a teacher who loves lilacs.
I made almost 12 pints of strawberry lemon jam from strawberries we picked at the farm last year.  I still had 3 quarts of strawberries for smoothies but hadn’t yet used them and our jam supply was dwindling.  I used jar lids that I bought on clearance at the end of last years harvest season.

One of the kids pointed out to me that their friends were amazed that they had spoons in their lunches that resembled those of a local ice cream parlor.  How cool!!!  Well, that is where they ARE from and we re-use them in lunches a million times before they break.
Haley borrowed a prom dress from an older girl who is out serving a mission for the church right now.  It fit her nicely and I made a few minor repairs adding a few stitches to fix some snaps as well as re-stitching some of the sequins and folds on and in the dress.
I made Haley a wrist corsage since she was attending without a date.  I used an old but unspoiled doily that I had saved and folded it in quarters.  Then I clipped some white and purple flowers along with some greens from out in the yard.  Using a small piece of packaging tape, a scrap of sheer white ribbon I had in my ribbon box and a scrap of elastic from my pajama making Christmas project I assembled it and it looked beautiful.  It stayed fresh in the refrigerator while I styled and curled Haley’s hair.  It was a little limp by the end of her evening.  Maybe next time a boy will buy her one but for  now she is much too intimidating for these boys.
I started seeds for my garden using plastic planting containers from former years of plants.  They are beginning to sprout and will be ready for transplanting in May.
I began using vinegar in the dishwasher as a rinse agent.  Works beautifully and is something like over a 6,000% savings over purchasing Jet Dry.
Stocked up on toothpaste and deoderant at $1 each.  Toothbrushes too!
Soaked dry beans and used homemade taco seasoning in Taco Soup.
Made ice cream with cream that was expiring.
Made dishwasher detergent for the second time.  I like how it cleans and the cost is SO much less than purchasing brand name detergent.
Made and used more citrus cleaner from orange/lemon peels.
Kaitlyn and her Dad attended a 1950’s style Father-daughter dance.  I dug out a pair of saddle shoes someone had given to me 10 or 11 years ago when my oldest daughter was that age.  I did purchase a poodle patch which I attached to a 50’s style skirt given to us by a cousin.
Our biggest, greenest switch this month was the addition of a clothesline to our backyard.  Long ago we had some very awful clotheslines that we used when we found their holes mostly buried in the backyard and the posts hidden in the garage but eventually they rendered useless so we had to toss them.  Our family has grown a lot since then as well and something like what we had before would not effectively or efficiently dry our clothes.  We also have an aging dryer and we would like to prolong its life.  So clotheslines and harnessing the sun and wind energy seemed to be our best answer.  We did have to purchase materials for this as we had nothing suitable just “lying around” but then that is the end of the expense!  Rick did some research, bought his supplies and over spring-break built a wonderful, strong clothesline from lumber with good supports.  Now, clotheslines aren’t commercialized because they are simply too inexpensive for anyone to bother advertising and frankly I don’t see too many clotheslines around these days but Rick did manage to find a local supplier where he bought line tighteners, five inch reels and cotton rope for three lines between the posts set 20 feet apart.  In the end we did end up with a “leaner” that will have to be re-set in the ground.  I’ve also discovered that I really need more line to fit my extra large capacity loads so we will set the post slightly over 20 feet from the first when we get back to it.  In the meantime, we have had fantastic weather for line drying clothes in no time at all and I’ve had no trouble drying the required one to two loads a day (except for Sunday).  They smell great coming off the line too.  Line drying does take a little bit of extra time but my kids are thrilled that I’m outside with them.  And who wouldn’t prefer the company of birds and butterflies over a stuffy windowless workplace laboring overtime to pay for a dryer and the utility bill to go with it.  And hopefully the life of the dryer will be prolonged so that we still have the option of drying laundry during stretches of inclement weather.

Provident Living - March

As you can tell from the pictures below, no one is suffering terribly from making an effort to live providently.  In fact, we think life is more creative, tastier, smarter, fulfilling and more responsible or practical when we are able to use our resources with care.  The children are thriving on being “energy savers” which is a compliment in our home and getting extra attention from friends with their homemade lunches from bread to applesauce to cookies or brownies.  Or PICKLES!  So here’s how our month measured up…

Our dryer quit working – Rick began taking the dryer apart (dangerous, I know) and found instructions for the repairman embedded that instructed him on how to further take the rest of the dryer apart.  He NEVER would have figured it out without the hidden instructions.  The dryer just needed to have its underside cleaned out, reachable only by the “repairman”.  While Rick has cleaned out the dryer hose annually to biannually we were lucky not to have started a fire because of the lint in the hidden area of the dryer.  When Rick put the cleaned out dryer back together it worked like new!
I used my home made citrus cleaner for the first time after it “aged” in my fridge for the proper amount of time.  To my surprise the cleaner had turned into a syrup like consistency as I strained it and funneled it into my spray bottle.  It had a fresh clean scent and cleaned beautifully.  I used my homemade all purpose citrus cleaner on my floors AND it is completely safe for cleaning my toothbrush holders and pet areas.  Clean and fresh smelling, made from next to nothing this cost me pennies for an entire bottle of disinfecting cleaner.
I read that vinegar has the same effect in the final laundry rinse as expensive chemical filled fabric softeners. I couldn’t believe it so I had to try it.  NO static cling!!!  There is virtually no vinegar scent in the clothing either.  Once again a huge cost cutter next to even the least expensive liquid fabric softeners and none of the chemicals of dryer sheets. Who knew?
I got a dozen eggs for free as well as a free box of wheat thins.
I made homemade graham crackers!  They were delicious, not too hard and a fraction of the cost!  They tasted better after the first day… perfect!

I MADE brown sugar.  While this is not the most cost effective way to obtain brown sugar I only had money left in my grocery budget for milk and when I went to my brown sugar barrel I found it empty.  (Someone forgot to mark that on the list).  I only needed a small amount of sugar Sooooo… I had white sugar and a bit of Molasses.  Mix the combination together and you get brown sugar!
I made my own garlic spice pack for garlic rolls/bread.

Rick tapped our Maple tree.  We collected its sap for 2 weeks and had fun experimenting making what turned out to be maple sugar instead of syrup.  I’ll be more careful next time but we all got a taste and it was sooooo delicious. 

I used powdered milk to make a cream based soup.
I made the switch finally and purchased a 4 1/2 lb. container of Parmesan for just under $19.  The 1 1/2 lb. bottle had been costing me almost $9.  We use it all the time for pasta, pizza and salad dressings and will have no trouble using it by its expiration.
Homemade granola drops were a hit at the “healthy snack table” at an event at school.  They were full of oats, raisins, powdered milk and were the one single thing on the table that didn’t come pre-packaged or at least pre-cut and packaged. 

Peanut Butter Cups… here’s the story;

My son wanted to make “chocolate covered candy” for Family Night treats so I went to a library book I had out to get a recipe for homemade Peanut Butter Cups.  These were SO good at a fraction of the cost of that many store bought ones.  And we got to have fun making them together.

I used mini cupcake wrappers that I got free from a lost and found table on its last day before the items were tossed or donated and they’d been there for weeks.  There were bunches of these wrappers still sealed in their original packaging.  The wrappers made wonderful ridges in the homemade peanut butter cups just like the ridges on Reece’s.

I made “blankets” for our hot dogs instead of purchasing hot dog buns.
FREE MANURE!  I think my garden is happy now.  And I will spare you a picture of that.
Greek Style Chocolate Yogurt… Heavenly!  Made in the crock pot and kept warm on my oven’s “proof” setting.

Plain yogurt was used in the place of sour cream for many dishes making it lower fat for us and giving our budget a break as we utilized the leftover plain yogurt we had.  I made a version of “chocolate underground” greek yogurt.  Mmmmm!

I made raspberry yogurt with a plain starter I’d kept from my last batch of yogurt.  I added chocolate chips for a treat in lunches one day.  The kids loved this unanimously. 
After constantly battling the dishwasher, its detergent and hopelessly hard water I studied up on the chemistry of hard water with natural bio-friendly cleaners and made my own dishwasher detergent.  What do you know?  Cleaner dishes and a happier dishwasher!  We also utilized the extended warranty we’d purchased for the dishwasher (since my dishwasher works many times more often than the average dishwasher we had figured this might be a smart purchase), sent for the repairman who returned to us the following week with a new pump for the dishwasher.  After a good cleanout with CLR it works like new and isn’t getting gunked up with sediment anymore.
I brought my husband dinner when he had to work late on several occasions and I had to pick up my kids from school right there anyway.  We also ate dinner with him in his classroom one night when we had a concert and he had a meeting after work so he had no time to leave and come back before the concert.  We got a family dinner in, the kids got to see their Dad, play games together and watch a movie before the concert began.  We were ON TIME!  It saved gas money too.
I made my own pie crusts, wheat bread, french bread, pizza crusts, pizza sauce and spaghetti sauce.
We checked some information books out of the library.
I re-used a large “bulk” sized cornstarch container to hold my dishwasher detergent.
We got out the “new” toys!  Every month I rotate a themed box of toys out of storage for a box of themed toys, books and puzzles in storage.  We typically have any given box of toys out for about a month and the toys and books are rotated completely about every six months.  It is so exciting around here when we switch the toys around that it is as exciting as if I’d gone to Toys R Us and spent tons of money for tons of brand new toys every single month.  In reality many of these toys are between 10 and 16 years old although the newer ones have made it into the mix as well.  I clean the toys, organize them and find the lost pieces.  They are contained in their labeled (by month and theme) storage box until the next time they are needed.  I also try to do activities centered around the theme for the month whether it’s art work or a trip out somewhere.  Rotating toys in and out of play helps eliminate the “mine” with the toys, books and puzzles as well.  Certainly the kids have ownership over a few special items.  But rotating toys is awesome.
I started a compost for the garden finally.  It’s been on my mind to this for the past several years as a more natural and responsible way to feed my garden, not to mention more healthful.  But life is busy with five kids and I was a little confused on doing it properly.  Several years ago we were “issued” garbage dumpsters by the city.  Our old garbage cans help us out every so often with holding sticks or leaves for garbage day but mostly they sit upside down and empty out next to the garage.  Our very first garbage can is so old now that it has huge gaping holes in the bottom from being dragged back and forth to the curb so many times.  So I took that one and gave it the new job of holding compost.  I spent virtually no money on this and didn’t feel like I was wrecking something new that I paid for by putting holes in the bottom of it.
Paid cash to replace the cracked radiator in the old car.  That felt good.
My husband and I went on a date to one of our favorite “mom & pop” hole-in-the-wall places.  They were getting ready to close for the weekend as we were getting up to leave and they told us we could take as many bags of bagels as we wanted on our way out… they were just going to toss them.  So we thanked them and took three dozen.  Can’t beat wonderful bagels for free!  Some we ate the next morning for breakfast and some we froze.
Juice concentrate went on sale at .90 a can FINALLY!  Hooray!  I bought 33 cans; as much as I had room and money for, and the cashier asked if I left any in the case.  Hee!  Hee!  I told her in all seriousness there was still plenty.  (Really they should just be grateful that they are selling it.  It doesn’t matter to who as long as they get their money and the store put no limit on the sale.  Store limits mean Rick and I go in every couple days for the item as long as the store is nearby and the item is needed… like MILK!)
I made a triple batch of home made laundry detergent.  I’ve been using this recipe for a year now and have just now re-stocked my detergent making supplies.  I now spend in one year what I used to spend on laundry in one month.  I’m really happy with its performance both with cleaning the clothes and working in my he machine. 
Roasted the last of the autumn’s pumpkins from the farm and supplied the Kindergarten snack one week with homemade pumpkin muffins along with dollar bags of pretzels and a sack of goldfish from the bulk package I bought wholesale.
I made homemade salad dressing mixes in pint jars; Ranch, French and Italian.
A parent of one of Rick’s students offered us FREE Reds tickets for Friday evening after opening day in April for our whole family.  We usually earn 4 Reds tickets from Straight A report cards some years or from the kids volunteering at the library.  Once a year we usually end up being able to go to a ball game but we’ve never gotten to go within the first week!
Dyed Easter Eggs using the Paas coloring kit that we purchased for .25 during an after Easter clearance a year or so ago.
I bought no meat for the entire month of March.  There were some really good sales on other things that I put my money toward and meat didn’t seem to be a part of those good deals.  Meat must be $2 per pound or less or I don’t buy it.  I do make an exception for canned tuna because I think we should have a supply of canned protein but even that I only buy on really good sales so it probably comes close to the mark.  Also, I had plenty of meat in my freezer and we also eat a lot of beans as well, so it was fine.  Just something I noticed that I don’t think has happened before.

And that was my contribution to living providently and responsibly for the month of March.

Provident Living-January & February

I decided it might be interesting to try to note some of the money saving measures I have taken each month.  My husband’s paycheck keeps going down (it just did again) despite more experience and years of service, increased extra jobs taken and increased responsibility.  By nature I am a saver.  I still like to have fun and there are certain things or times when I will plan to make splurges but mostly I am simply a saver.  Through experience as well as taking responsibility I have decided that saving money is more than a good thing too.  It’s absolutely necessary.  We’ve got some mouths to feed!  We have some old debt to pay off though we have closed most of those accounts and we have dreams to follow that don’t involve living at a job.  And so I work to save.  Many, many things I do now I do out of habit and they mostly came because of either necessity or out of a personal challenge to myself to learn or try something new and different or may just even be a kinder more responsible choice in the care of our Earth; all of which can make our money stretch farther and enable us to do more with what we have.  It’s been baby steps over years with an occasional leap.  I am always looking for ways to be more self sufficient and ways to be kinder to the Earth.  Hardship?  No!  Challenging?  Yes!  Smart?  Yes!  Responsible?  Yes!    My budget… FIRM!  It’s a choice and I am enjoying the challenge.  It is like a game and the attitude is positive.  My husband is by nature more of a free spirit.  I am slowly winning him over and we are working through life’s challenges together and we are reaping the rewards for changing habits.
It is interesting to note here that we figured out we actually qualify for a free government issued cell phone plan.  We did not go looking for handouts here but we merely received a mailer one day and we happened to actually read it out of curiousity.  No we are not poverty ridden.  The mathematical formula is based on the percentage of income in relation to the poverty line and number of people in household.  Our kids could get a free cell phone too!  Don’t tell ‘em though!!!  The plan has lots of minutes, free texting AND song downloads!  Internet capabilities???  Can’t live without all that!!!  While it never occurred to me that we would qualify for this plan that I have an utter distaste for already I will say that I am seriously amazed that the plan includes so much!  People should be able to call 911.  I would agree to that.  But here I was on a pay-per-minute plan because it was cheaper for us than the plan with the minutes we never used.  Cell phones are for emergencies or a quick relay of tremendously important information ("buy more milk, please, while you’re out" or "I'm in labor and need you to come home NOW").  They are handy when we are out of town too.  But they are NOT necessity.   And we are keeping with our current plan.  One that does not include the kids and one that we pay for.  It is the honorable thing to do (just as paying on a house that has lost value too) and I draw the line.
OK.  So here is my list of frugal accomplishments (do I qualify for a raise???) and it’s way longer than I expected:
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We continued to eat home canned pickles, peaches, pears, applesauce and jam.  And salsa!
I saved peels of citrus fruits and combined them with vinegar in a canning jar to make an all natural disinfectant cleaner that will be good to use in 4 weeks.
I made a triple recipe of home made laundry detergent.  I haven’t done the exact math on this but my detergent expenditure for a whole year now is about what I used to pay for a one month supply of laundry detergent!  It cleans well and smells great too, is hypoallergenic, all natural and safe for high efficiency washers.  It takes me about 10 minutes to make which is a shorter time than it takes me to get to the store and back.
I made my daughter’s birthday cheesecake out of cream cheese purchased earlier when it was on sale for .90 a package.  Yup!  Philly cream cheese!  It keeps well with an expiration months away and so I always buy a lot of it when it goes on sale now.  The caramels for the cake were purchased several months ago when they were on sale for $1.00.
I made homemade ice cream for the birthday girl using items found in my pantry instead of using our “milk” money to buy some.
I used a coupon and got a dozen eggs for free!
I turned the furnace off for a couple of days when it got warm.
We had a meal from dried black beans and homemade tortillas.  It was delicious!
I made my daughter’s requested pasta dinner for her birthday with bow tie pasta that I purchased at .90 a pound.  This is the second best price I come across all year.  A couple of times a year I can buy it for .49 a pound.  I store it in glass jars so the bugs, rodents and moisture don’t get into it.
I used homegrown sundried tomatoes that I dehydrated myself last autumn for the pasta dinner.
I had to purchase some vanilla wafers for the birthday cake.  The store brand was 50% lower in cost than the name brand.
We used leftovers for some lunches.
We used some hamburger buns for dinner that our next door neighbor gave us for free from her office party.  We ate scalloped potatoes she gave us from the office party with a few meals as well.
I purchased chicken patties when they were just $1 per package (or $2 per pound).
I found 3 pieces of baked chicken in my freezer from large packages I had purchased on sale at 1.99 per pound.  I used them to feed my family of seven for two meals + leftovers in a chicken fettuccine dish and a chicken pot pie.
I bought a shirt for my son on clearance at 70% off of its 30% markdown; next to nothing.
I found a clearance sale at The Children’s Place and got my other son a church outfit (currently he only has one in the right size).  The sweater, dress pants and matching socks to the sweater plus another pair of socks for little brother cost me less than the original price of the sweater alone.
My old mixer died.  I use my mixer constantly and need a good quality work horse that can handle the load.  After a couple of days looking around I found an overstock sale of Kitchen Aids on the internet.  I was able to get $100 off the price of my Professional Series Kitchen Aid with 14 cup flour power.  That is the usual price of the Artisan Series mixer.  I got a free splash guard with it ($25 value), free shipping and a rebate for a free ice cream bowl ($90 value).  The mixer arrived on my front porch 2 days later.  The ice cream bowl arrived a week later and I am thrilled with the mixer.  It handles everything I give it with ease.  This was the best deal out there… and the mixer is PINK!
I made homemade salad dressing; French, Ranch AND Blue Cheese.  The blue cheese itself was offered to us for free from a teenager at church after some sort of overstock with a fundraiser a few months ago, a whole BOX of it!  I put it in my freezer and it makes GREAT salad dressing.  All of these flavors of dressings are so much better tasting than what you can buy at the store, they take hardly any time to make and the ingredients are simple things right off the spice shelf.  All spices I buy are purchased in bulk.
Made homemade chocolate syrup.
Nathan and I collected the parts of our old bird feeder that we’ve had for years.  The squirrels hanging from it and generally abusing it finally did it in.  We cleaned up the pieces, collected some nails from Ricks work bench, grabbed a hammer and we had a blast sitting outside one afternoon repairing it and nailing it back together.  Nathan loves tools and any real reason to use them.
We fed the birds putting seed in the feeder that we got for free in a gigantic bucket from a friend.  Several years ago the seed was used for children’s playtime in a sandbox (instead of sand).  The seed had just been sitting there ever since but the birds seem to still love it.
I used some crusty heels of bread and a single leftover roll I had stowed in the freezer for homemade salad croutons.
I made a new dessert to take somewhere with some lemons I still had on hand that desperately needed to be used along with my free eggs and sale cream cheese.
I made all of our bread, rolls and pizzas from scratch.
We borrowed two movies from the library that we wanted to see for movie night.
My husband and I went out for a nice dinner date a little early for Valentine’s Day and used a coupon for $5 off of our dinners keeping us within our small budget for dates. 
I made dinner for two nights for my family of 7 plus two more gallon bags of turkey broth for the freezer using turkey bones.
I learned how to successfully make yogurt and it was good.
I made homemade granola trying a new recipe with very simple ingredients and without expensive add-ins.
I purchased pasta at .49 per pound which only happens once or maybe twice a year here.  Since I can get thin spaghetti pretty inexpensively at Sam’s Club whenever I want or need it I utilized my dollars for that shopping trip on spiral, shells, bow ties, macaroni and penne.  I transferred the pasta out of boxes and put it into Mason jars with cleaned used lids and large plastic pretzel barrels to keep insects and rodents out.  I learned that my .49 pasta wasn’t such a deal one year the hard way when I ended up having to throw a bunch of it out.   If you keep moisture, rodents and insects out of pasta it has a shelf life of 10 years despite what the packaging might tell you.  Unless it’s wheat pasta.
I used coupons to purchase dental floss bringing the cost of each to 7 cents a piece.  With my receipt came a store coupon for a dollar off my next purchase from them courtesy of the company making the dental floss.  Because I buy milk at that store all the time they in essence paid me 86 cents to take the dental floss off the shelf and out of the store. 
I bought two hand towels and two containers of holiday sprinkles at 50% off.
While Rick was in Columbus for a conference that his work paid for completely, including gas, he made an appointment at the Storehouse and was able to purchase 25 lbs. oats, 25 lbs. black beans, 25 lbs. of fruit drink mix and 50 lbs. of powdered milk on his way home without taking the extra time and gas money for a special trip up there.  My best deal on powdered milk in Cincinnati only buys me 12 1/2 pounds of powdered milk for the same price as 25 pounds of milk that I can get at the storehouse.  The beans and oats have a 30 year shelf life if stored properly (which they are) and I have no bulk supplier in this city for those items.  The milk has a 20 year shelf life if stored properly (which it is) so they are long term storage items that I use regularly and will rotate through.  The drink mix has a two year shelf life and is meant for short term storage.  We have been drinking more of that lately at breakfast instead of including it just once in a while since it has been a while since frozen fruit juice concentrate has gone on sale. 
I purchased a 1 lb. bag of frozen vegies and a large bag of M&M’s for FREE with a coupon.
I was given a large bag of spaghetti and sauce already cooked and two bags of bread/rolls from the Blue and Gold banquet to take home at the end of the event.  The spaghetti was enough to fill to overflowing two pie plates.  The food, initially, was pretty bland and so I doctored it up adding a 1 block of cream cheese and a two dollar pound bag of meatballs.  I added an onion and a half cup of frozen red pepper from last years garden plus some garlic and a bit of mozzarella.  The bread was doctored up and toasted with a few shreds of mozzarella, garlic and olive oil and basil.  I added a salad and for just over $3 this meal fed us Sunday dinner with leftovers to take in thermoses for lunch the next day.
I received an Amish Friendship bread starter.  This gave us two loaves of bread, another two starters and two starters to give away to friends.  My friends were thrilled to get this from me.
We attended Maple Sugar Days; a free family activity. 
I checked out several gardening/home/craft information books from the library that I’ve wanted to look at instead of purchasing them.  I may purchase them with a gift card later if I decide they would be helpful enough.  Or I might put them on my birthday wish list and hope they can be found at the local used bookstore.
We tapped our Maple Tree in the front yard.  In the first two days we got a pint of sap from it.  We strained it with cheesecloth and boiled it.  We might have enough to make Maple butter or Maple Dressing with it if the weather continues.
The price of butter has been tremendous.  I’ve nearly run out of butter several times now and so when we are on butter restrictions I find alternatives.  And I’m sure we eat too much butter anyway.  I made our favorite muffins using applesauce in place of the butter.  Whenever we put the breaks on butter we always end up with a little bit left on the plate still by shopping day.
I cleaned out a freezer, an overstuffed drawer FULL of trial sized toiletries given to us and a medicine cabinet; reorganized and labeled.  EMPOWERING!
I made homemade de-tangler for free with a trial size conditioner given as a gift.  A bottle of this is $2.99-$3.99 in the store when I paused to consider buying some. 
We got our home energy report and we were $8 over the typical house this size in this area for the month.  Considering most families are only 4 people in size and most of the people I know in houses this size in this area live alone or have one other person in the house I think we are doing pretty good in the energy saver department.  One thing the report suggested was that we cook our small amounts in the microwave instead of on the stove.  Then I thought about the option between cooking on my stovetop OR one $35 – $40 trip to McDonalds for my family.  Then I felt just fine about spending $8 extra on the gas and electric bill for the month.  Plus we run three de-humidifiers in the house with this type of in between weather.
I took one of my daughters shopping for new pants with a gift card from Christmas.  I encouraged her to look at a pair of jeans on the clearance rack.  She didn’t think she liked the style paying attention only to the name but tried them on because the price was so good and it turns out they were a favorite style of hers on a pair of jeans long outgrown but she didn’t know what kind they were.  Re-united they look super cute on her and the price was fantastic. 
Used frozen pumpkin from last year’s garden to make muffins.
Made sweet potato fries from sweet potatoes I bought at .17 per pound a while ago.  Last weeks circular had them at .79 per pound.
Made steak fries with potatoes bought at .20 per pound.
Made and used homemade taco seasoning mix.
Used beans in place of ground beef in recipes calling for ground beef.  (Can’t remember when we last had ground beef in the house).
Had fun “making” wrapping paper with my three year old by paint-stamping a brown paper bag to cover a gift for his cousin’s birthday.
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Actively searching and open to learning new ways to save money and be more self sufficient, this was what I remembered to write down for the months of January and February.