Peek into My Morningby Mary Ann Romans | More from this Blogger 23 Jan 2008 07:32 AM I am always so curious for a glimpse into the lives of others. The domestic every day life of my fellow humans tends to fascinate me. I suppose that is why I read so many blogs, especially the frugal ones, of course. Sometimes I get great tips on things that I can do around my house or with my family. Other times I just have an appreciation for other ways of living. So, I thought I would share some of the things we will do today, from a frugal standpoint. This may give you a good idea of some of the frugal practices that we put in place for our daily living. Last night, I prepared a double batch of the dry mix part of chocolate chip muffins. This way, I knew that I could quickly prepare a treat for breakfast that was inexpensive. And my husband could take a "loaf" of the chocolate chip muffins to work, eliminating the need to buy breakfast or snacks. As I was mixing last night, Tom came in with a cheeky grin on his face and asked, "What's this?" So I wound up just making the whole batch of muffins from start to finish, and the muffins became a last-night snack as well. This morning, I've already thrown a load of laundry into the washer (using cold water and about half of the recommended detergent) and swept up the dining room (saves on using the vacuum). I still have the dishes to do. Our dishwasher saves more water than hand washing would. Later, I'll grab some socks to darn. I'll try to get this done while supervising the little kids in the bath. This saves on buying new ones (socks, not kids). We may have a play date here today before lunch. This is a frugal way to get some socialization and visiting in without spending money on a kids activity place. And my kids like showing off their toys. If the play date doesn't pan out, we will head outside to look for pine cones. I think it takes longer to bundle them up than it does playing outside. Tomorrow morning, we can turn the pine cones into frugal bird feeders using peanut butter and seed. No, I'm not Martha Stewart by a long shot, but the pine cones will provide a frugal educational activity. That is pretty much all I can fit in during the morning, including the usual trips to the potty, diaper changes, nursing, serving snacks, etc. What is your morning like? Mary Ann Romans writes about everything related to saving money in the Frugal Blog, technology in the Computing Blog, and creating a home in the Home Blog. You can read more of her articles by clicking here. Related Articles: Frugal Lessons from The Amish: Rising Early to Cook Learn more about Mary Ann Romans  Mary Ann Romans is a freelance writer and mother of three children. She lives in Pennsylvania with her husband, the kids and a 16-pound cat. Relevantfrugal tags User Comments LadyLuck1337 (55) 24 Jan 2008 02:39 PMWell, in the morning I generally pack my fiance's lunch while he takes a quick shower under a watersaver shower head. He goes to work really early so by 6:00am I have the apartment to myself. If it's winter, after my shower, I bundle up. We have electric heat so I never turn it on if I can help it. My neighbours are nice enough to use up a lot of heat so I get heat by proxy. I take the dog for a walk while I think about dinner. When we get back, I take what I need out of the freezer to thaw. I then sit down and do my work. (I work from home.) After I get a sizable dent into my writing, I start to bake whatever needs baking; usually bread, muffins or refurbishing some stew into meat buns. We eat a lot of stew. Hubby loves it and I like the "throw it all in and see if it floats" approach to cooking. I also make dinners for some of the elderly people and people with new babies in our building. By that time it's noon and the morning is over. lessstress (15) 28 Jan 2008 07:25 AMAny good morning usually starts the night before. I set up the Automatic coffee pot (my husband had a nasty mini-mart coffee addiction- that was quite costly).I put the dog food up in bowls for the morning and get lunches ready for me and my daughter to take to school and work the next day. My husband sets up his oatmeal in a dish to be microwaved in the morning (we buy oatmeal in bulk- it is usually better health wise to bu the whole oats instead of the quick oats at the local grocery store). All un-dog worthy or un human usable go in a bowl for the chickens. We sell chicken eggs at the local food co-op and the money from the eggs offsets the cost of the grain, shavings and electricity for the chickens in the winter). Then the next moring I can make oatmeal for me and toast with cashew butter and bananas for my daughter while I letting the dogs in and out. I go and water the chickens and collect the eggs. With one kid in college and one in the teen years with the pressures of a consumer based society we fight hard to live in an very un American way- with -in our means! The tricky part about the frugal life is the balance between saving money and taking care of our bodies. The cheapest peanut butter may be loaded with trans-fats, refined white flour is fine in moderation, but too much is not used effectively by my body. You get the picture.  Mary Ann Romans (26791) 28 Jan 2008 07:26 AMThanks for sharing your morning! I keep the heat low myself. Look for a future article on surviving a low thermostat! How lovely that you share your meals. I would love to hear more. Mary Ann Romans (26791) 28 Jan 2008 07:28 AMHow wonderful less! I can just picture you going about your day. Another great way to enjoy oatmeal is in the crockpot. There are some overnight recipes that you can use. jonesx6 (1606) 28 Jan 2008 01:58 PMMy morning usually begins between 5:30 and 6:00. I like to grab my coffee and Bible. Mornings are the only time it is quiet around here. I usually like to spend an hour or so quietly reading my Bible. By 7:00 I get all my older children up so that they can get their school day started. While they are eating I shower and then usually come down to the kitchen grab something out of the freezer for dinner, make a loaf of bread, start laundry, check email, and whatever else needs to be done before we get start with homeschooling. By 8:30 or so we all sit down to do a devotion and pray together. Our morning usually ends by 11:30 w/ hungry kids ready for a noon lunch. lol Pretty boring. ;o) Laura Mary Ann Romans (26791) 28 Jan 2008 02:04 PMWell, I can see a number of frugal practices in there, such as making bread, and making dinner from scratch. The morning goes so quickly with kids at home, doesn't it? Community Tags frugal, family, Kids, mom, thrifty Discuss this article
|
Frugal categories |
