Frugal Fun-Making Peanut Butter

Many of us are facing hard financial times. I see people doing many of the things that seem familiar to me (From the ages of 6-14 I lived with a woman in her then 70-80's who grew up during the Great Depression) Im tired. I don't have that extended family and support that came with the time, but I could really use the saved pennies so hear I am:)

So what can I do?
You may have seen my post on Laundry Soap--not very enlightening but I am trying here:)

I figured out how much we spend on food a month. Right around $1000. I nearly fell off my chair until I broke down a rough average of 30 days per month (that's between 30 and $40 a day) and 3 meals a day (a little over $10 per meal) for 7 people (now its getting tight and $1000 doesnt sound like so much.) Felt a little better.

We stick by our tried and true favorites and tend to have peanut butter EVERY single day. So that would be a good way to save some pennies and I'm dreaming of adding coconut oil and raw honey in there for fun. I am worried about the qualify of the food processor. That could be a problem.
Have any of you made peanut butter? Do you have any enlightening words and wisdom for me. I bought a Black and Decker Food Processor CHEAP and I found bulk peants. It is an investment of $70.00. Hmm...

We are pretty frugal and green. We use cloth diapers and cloth napkins and rags instead of paper towels (for the most pasrt)But there is more we could do:)

Any other ideas for me?

Im dreaming of a garden and working on getting rid of the gophers in the yard and have started a Vermiculture bin. Thinking about growing potatoes in a trash can or trash bag.

We can't have a clothes line because of our HOA. BUT I did find an incredible scratch and dent gas dryer when our electric one died.



linking up at Hop a long Friday The 45th Penny Pinching Party Frugal Fridays and The Green Blog Hop

laundry soap

It seems that everyone is making their own laundry soap. I researched it. I saved up for a food processor. I did price comparisons and figured out cost per load (that is approximate because I don't pay full price if I can help it)

I considered our needs: hard water, allergies to everything, not too much time to devote to this.
I researched many many different recipes:
this one looked good

I bought some "homemade" laundry soap from a neat lady on Etsy.

I beat myself up over and over for all the money I was "wasting" by not being cool enough to make my own laundry soap.

I have five children. I have three in different stages of puberty and two in toddler hood. Two in cloth diapers. We do ALOT of laundry. We make most of our food from scratch. I home school. Our laundry used to be done down our driveway in our garage in a anot so nice neighborhood, only during the day and not in the rain. We moved. We moved into a huge house. Not the problems I ahd beofre, but yet new things taking up all my time:) I'm trying to impress upon you that my time is limited. but really. Im just really not that person.

I looked into trying Charlies Soap. It sounded just about right. but there was a big investment. My husband was ordering some vitamins on Amazon and needed $9.99 more to qualify for Super Saver Shipping. I found this "trial of Charlies Soap:

So far it is working really really well.


Who knows. Maybe someday I'll have an empty house and make loads and loads of soap to deliver to my childrens' homes.OOH and design cute little labels for the cool unbreakable jars I put it in...but, at least for now, Charlies is a good fit for us.