Skip to Content

Five Frugal Things | Schoolbooks already?

1. I bought some 2017-2018 schoolbooks

Regular readers know I usually tackle the task of ordering schoolbooks somewhere around August.

(!)

Nothing like last-minute. 😉

But I got an email saying that the science books I want to use this fall were on sale for a few days.

So, I added them to my cart, and an $8 shipping fee showed up.

I googled for a free shipping code and found one, but it required a $100 minimum spend.

No problem! I added Sonia and Zoe’s Easy Grammar and Wordly Wise books to my cart and my total hit $103.

Perfect.

2. I gave Sonia a haircut.

Sonia’s hair pattern is this: We let her hair grow out all school year long so that she can have a bun at ballet recital time.

Then we chop it all off for a fresh summer haircut.

Zoe’s still waffling about whether or not she wants to get her hair cut.   But I am totally not handling that task myself…her super thick, straight hair is beyond my skill level and has been for many years!

Sonia inherited my not-so-thick-and-also-slightly-wavy hair, though, which makes a DIY-haircut a 15-minute project, tops.

Related: Here’s how I do a simple at-home bob haircut.

I use these awesome Tweezerman scissors to do haircuts and also to trim my bangs.   SO MUCH BETTER than those scissors that come with hair-buzzer kits.

Or, heaven forbid, the household scissors you use for any other task besides hair.

3. I sold a schoolbook on half.com

Last spring, I listed a hardcover science book on half.com and promptly forgot about it.   But I got the lovely, “You made a sale!” email from half.com and now I have $21 in my account.

I love that there’s no time limit on half.com listings…you can just put it up there and forget about it until someone buys your book.

I packaged the book in a padded envelope I’d saved from an online order, of course.

I noticed it had a rip in the back after I’d already packaged up the book, so I just put some tape over the rip and it should be fine.

4. I am usin’ up my Hungry Harvest produce like a boss.

Hungry Harvest exists to save food from being wasted…so, using up what I get in my box feels pretty important to me.

If you follow me on Instagram (I’m thefrugalgirl over there.   Come join me!), you know we’ve been busy using our Hungry Harvest avocados to make avocado toast.

I grilled up some yellow squash, even though I’m not a huge fan of yellow squash, so, gold stars for me!

I’m slowly using up the kale in our daily breakfast smoothies (love that kale lasts for so long in the fridge.)

 

And I planted my last three green onions so they could grow instead of going bad in my fridge.

(If you want to try Hungry Harvest, use code FRUGALGIRL for 25% off your first box.)

5. I kept herbs alive since January!

My house is pretty dark in the winter, which makes indoor plant growing very challenging.

But remember how I tried the Thai Beef salad recipe in January? I had to buy a mint plant and a basil plant to supply the necessary herbs, and you guys, I kept those two plants alive until now!

This is amazing for me and my black thumb, especially considering that basil doesn’t really love being indoors.

Anyway, yesterday I took them out of their teeny original containers and planted them in a pot that I got for free from a neighbor.

I think they’ll be much happier that way.

Your turn!

Share your own Five Frugal Things in the comments.   What money-saving stuff have you been up to?

Save

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

isabelle

Thursday 25th of May 2017

* We had a plumber come in to inspect a drain. We thought we would have to have it repaired by digging into the concret, etc, costing about 2000$, but it ended up being something minor costing only 115$! Yay!!!! So we will put this money saved-up on the mortgage instead. * Hubby will be doing some work himself on the land this week-end, saving us about 1000$ on labor fees * Birthday of a little friend. Got some Paw Patrol stuff for 20$ and rounded up the gift with a ballon, a book and crayons we got for free

((And I have an happy non-frugal one to share : my 1st grade daughter has been invited to something like 15 birthday parties this year. So this is not cheap at about 20$ gift each party. But I'm SO happy about this! I'm SO happy that she has all these friends and gets included like this, it makes my heart sing! This is totally worth it. I'm thinking about this because I have 2 gifts to go shop for this week.))

Kristen

Thursday 25th of May 2017

Woohoo about the lower bill!

Adriana @MoneyJourney

Wednesday 24th of May 2017

I've tried keeping spice plants alive, but they all died. All of them. Even the rosemary plant, that isn't pretentious. Oh well, at least I kept what was left and stocked up on spices for a little while.

I'm also the family's hairstylist :D To save money, I learned how to use the haircut trimmer. In addition to saving money, it's actually kind of fun!

We also saved a ton by not eating out this week. I cooked at home every day and learned how to make homemade peanut butter. Yumm!

Dede

Wednesday 24th of May 2017

It's been a very unfrugal week. :) I got an Instant Pot and a Vitamix. But that's the reason I try to be frugal the rest of the time. :) It has been a very healthy food week. Plus I'm having a great time making hot soup in the Vitamix. :)

WilliamB

Wednesday 24th of May 2017

Spending a lot of money isn't necessarily unfrugal. There are multiple definitions of frugal, but one of the best is that you spend your money wisely and deliberately, and look for bargains when you do buy a thing.

Young and Finance

Tuesday 23rd of May 2017

First time I've ever heard about Hungry Harvest...I'll definitely have to check it out and that Egg/Avocado sandwich looked pretty good.

MommaL

Tuesday 23rd of May 2017

1. My tv shopping channel SIL gave me a whole box full of beautiful tops. I chose 5 and took the rest to work. My coworkers snapped them up. 2. Made chili and "leftovers soup" last weekend. I save all of our leftover beans, cooked veggies, and rice in a freezer container. When its full, I add home grown herbs and marked down beef bits. 3. A friend gave me a few dozen magazines. I kept a few and took the rest to work, where they were also snapped up quickly. 4. DS stayed for the weekend, instead of going out to eat, I made a roast I had in the freezer, the next day we ate the leftover soup and sent some home with him. 5. A candy rep stopped by work and gave us a shopping bag of samples. I chose a few, brought some home for DH, and distributed the rest to coworkers.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.