7 Ways I Saved in February
Once again, I enjoyed thinking back about specific frugal things I did in February to save us money. I shared 8 ways that I saved in January and now here are 7 ways I saved in February. A lot of my savings took place in the kitchen because that is where I am working hard to save us money this year. I hope it reminds you that there are countless ways we can save – big and small!
1. I turned wrinkly apples into homemade applesauce. For some reason, we had some apples in the produce drawer that went wrinkly before we could eat them. I peeled them, cored them and simmered them to make homemade applesauce. After a quick touch of my immersion blender, we had a couple meals of applesauce from the apples that nobody wanted to eat.
2. I made 2 batches of homemade yogurt. I am loving the ability to make my own yogurt! If you missed it, read about how I make vanilla yogurt in my slow cooker. It’s so easy and delicious. Best of all? This time around, I paid $1 to make 4 plus cups of yogurt – with no artificial ingredients. That’s a savings of at least $2 compared to the store prices! I also have almost enough whey leftover to try making ricotta cheese, too.
3. I froze milk and cheese. Milk was on sale for $1 a half gallon at Kroger and I bought two extra cartons to freeze for more yogurt down the road. I poured out a half cup or so from each carton before freezing it, but milk freezes great! I also bought lots of cheese for $1.49/lb. I grated some and froze it to be ready for the next time I need grated cheese in a pinch. I still have several blocks in the fridge too. (Note: I don’t freeze blocks of cheese – only slices or grated, if you want to try this yourself.)
4. I baked more homemade bread. I am perfecting the process, baking two loaves at once. One we eat right away and the other I wrap in foil and freeze. It’s nice to know I have bread in the freezer when I realize we need some. Nathan loves to eat homemade bread toast for breakfast – just like his Mommy!
5. I cut my dryer sheets in half. This is a frugal tip from my sister to use less and make them last longer. My Mom gave me wool dryer balls for Christmas and I do think they help shorten the drying time. However, right now with the dry winter air, our clothes were quite static-y so I am tossing in half a dryer sheet with the dryer balls. It was one of the tips in my 31 Days of Simple Savings series that I hadn’t implemented as regularly. Every little bit saved adds up!
6. We turned our heat down to 64 degrees (or lower) at night. First, I better say that we have a little electric heater that we keep in Nathan’s room at night so his room stays between 71 and 74 degrees to keep him quite cozy in his fleece pajamas. This allows us to turn down the heat in the rest of the house and save money that way. Besides, I sleep better when it’s cooler and I’m tucked in under blankets. If you turn it down right before you go to bed, you won’t even notice the different – until you get up in the morning. Ha. Yes, we still do this even when the temperatures and wind chills are in the negatives!
7. I used my Kroger fuel rewards to get $0.30 off a gallon. I had accumulated quite a few rewards last month, due to a bonus 200 point offer, plus shopping and a grocery survey. I don’t usually get this many points to use. Since all the gas had jumped again, and it was the end of the month, I went to Kroger to fill up. I must say that it was so nice to fill up for $2.03 a gallon and thanks to the rewards points, a quarter cheaper than anyplace else! Plus, I was able to fill my completely empty tank for under $30!
There you have it – a few of the ways I saved this month. What do YOU do to save money in February?
I’m going to have to try freezing milk! I freeze blocks of cheese with no issues. You just have to factor in thawing time if you need it. I made yogurt with your crockpot recipe twice! Definitely my favorite way to use up milk that is close to expiring (will look into freezing)
Freezing milk (if you have the space) works great! Just be sure to pour a half a cup out or so before freezing. And good point about cheese. You indeed can freeze blocks of cheese. I’ve found my blocks tend to crumble after frozen so I prefer to grate or slice them first. I’m SO glad you’ve made the yogurt – and are enjoying it. I’m loving it, too!
I love hearing how others are saving money. $1 for a half gallon of milk is a great price! Rumor has it Kroger is buying out Winn-Dixie which is what we have where I live. I hope they start putting some Kroger stores here because it sounds like they have great sales! I also got a great deal on cheese this week. It was BOGO plus I had $3 worth of coupons. 🙂
Ohhh, that would be exciting. I have nothing against Winn-Dixie, but Kroger really does have great sales! I’m glad you got a good deal on cheese. That is one thing I ALWAYS keep in my fridge. Cheese makes everything better, right? Right! 🙂
What a great idea to freeze blocks of cheese – I have never done that. I also need to start cutting my dryer sheets in half… simple, great ideas.
I freeze cheese a lot! I tend to grate it first, because freezing whole blocks of cheese (while you can do it), does make cheese crumble when it thaws. The little things do add up to great savings!
You always have such good tips! And every little bit really does count! We do several of these and we keep the heat lower, even during the daytime. However, our youngest is 12 and she knows if she is cold to put on slippers and a sweatshirt. Yet… often the girls are all so active, they are in shorts and t-shirts. Even I use it as a gage… if I am reading or working on the computer and get chilled, it’s time to go flip laundry, clean, just get moving. We turn it up when people visit, or we get to babysit my sweet baby niece. 🙂
Have you tried apple butter? I do the same with apples, part is being frugal and part is I just despise wasting food. I do apple butter in a small crock and you just cook it until it’s darker and thicker. I don’t personally add sugar or cinnamon, but you could. Aldi has apples for $.99 for 3 lbs this week, so we dried a bunch too. Those are delicious and easy to throw in lunches!
I applaud your continued efforts to save everywhere! It’s so refreshing in these times!
Thanks, Christina! I haven’t tried making apple butter, but I do want to dry apples again. I love snacking on them too! Do you have a food dehydrator or do you dry them in your oven? A food dehydrator is on my “someday” wish list. Until then, I keep watching garage sales for one! We keep the house cooler during the daytime, as we have a wall heater in the one room where Nathan and I spend most of our time. We, too, turn up the heat when we have company…since not everyone is used to the cooler temperatures like we are! 🙂
I do have a dehydrator, my Mom bought it for Christmas many years ago, but you can do them in the oven! Just low and slow. One daughter doesn’t eat fruit, but will eat it if I dry it, so we dry lots of fruit! I have seen dehydrators thrift shopping too, so keep looking girl!
Happy Friday! Spring is coming!
I will keep looking – that’s for sure! Spring is coming soon! Yay! Happy Friday to you as well, Christina!
Great job saving! I have heard good things about the wool dryer balls but haven’t tried them. I might just have to give them a try. Our clothes are still static-y sometime with 1 dryer sheet.
I feel like the static is coming from our dry winter. I feel like I’ll be able to give the dryer balls a more objective review when the weather warms up. I love the idea so I hope they cut down on the static when there is more moisture in the air!