Frugality

I just discovered a way for us to save a little money. By way of explanation, I am trying to watch my weight. My diet allows me a Tablespoon or two of peanut butter to count as a protein and fat. So as I munch on an apple or piece of celery, I feel decedent as I eat some peanut butter, and don't feel as deprived.
My favorite is Skippy Honey Roasted Super Chunk Peanut Butter. For some reason it is not available in our Wal Mart. It costs around 2.50 for a small jar in our grocery store. I have purchased so much of it in our lives that my husband's shop is filled with empty jars, now filled with screws, nails and other small things. I buy at Wal Mart when I can, because our small town jacks the prices up so high. I travel to Salt Lake every week for my choir, so while I am there, I shop for anything I need that I cannot acquire here, or anything that is cheaper there than here. I usually save enough to pay for the gas.

So I decided to try an experiment. I purchased the large creamy jar for 6.89. Then I purchased a large can of honey roasted nuts in the snack aisle. It was a little over $4.00 for a large 34.5 oz can. When I got home, I chopped about a cup of nuts in my blender to make them crunchy size, then dumped them and the whole jar of creamy PB into the mixer. I let it whip it together. When done, I scooped it back into the jar and had enough left over to fill another smaller jar as well. After all is said and done, not counting the tiny amount of electricity it took, I figure I saved 4.00 just by taking a little time and effort.
You pay for it one way or another, I figure. Either you let the factories process it and pay that way, or you do it at home and pay in effort and time.

The week before I took a whole can of the peanuts and blended them into peanut butter. That wasn't money-saving. The small jar cost me $4.00, so this week I thought I would try something else.

Now my little friend Katie (love you) who lives in Germany would find a couple things in this blog that she would disagree with, namely, driving to Salt Lake (I'd take the train if there were one provided, believe me.) and buying peanut butter. But since I already do both, I have found a way to save money in my own way.

I do ride my bike all over our tiny town, and get really strange looks, but I much prefer it. Sweet Sailor fixed up our bikes with wonderful baskets, comfy seats and solid tires (no flats), so I take it whenever I can.

Hope you have a nice day.
~a