Five (early morning) Frugal Things
The Nonconsumer Advocate posts Five Frugal Things lists all the time, and I do 'em every now and again too. But today I thought it would be fun to see if I can come up with five frugal things I've done before 8:30 am.
Ready?
1. I made a batch of yogurt.
It's not finished incubating, obviously (I'm not THAT much of a morning person!), but all of the work is done and now it's just sitting in the cooler for several hours.
2. I packed a lunch for Mr. FG.
I made paninis for dinner last night and they don't make good leftovers, so I sent him a ham sandwich instead, plus peaches, pistachios, and organic grapes (from Aldi. Natch.)
And of course, I packed everything in reusable containers. Because that's how I do lunches.
3. I unbuttoned a shirt collar before washing it.
Remember how I realized that washing 'em without unbuttoning is bad news? Well, I've turned over a new leaf and I'd say I remember to unbutton them about 98% of the time.
4. I got dressed in frugally-obtained clothes.
I'm currently wearing an American Giant t-shirt, which only cost me $10 because one of you dear people used my referral link to buy something, and that gave me a $15 credit. Yay!
I'm also wearing a stretchy black skirt from Athleta, which I bought on clearance.
(You can get American Giant referral credits too, by the way. It's not a blogger thing!)
5. Ummmm...
I'm kind of drawing a blank for a fifth thing. I haven't bought anything? But, uh, that's not super hard before 8:30 am.
How about this? I'm gonna go make myself a breakfast of an egg, an avocado that needs to be used, plus sliced tomatoes, which I have a bunch of from my parents' garden. And I'll probably drink a cup of chai, brewed from a tea bag, which is way cheaper than buying a mix or a container of concentrate.
So. That's five. Phew.
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Have you done anything frugal yet today? Do share!
(1) Read a library book in the sunroom while the pets vied for my attention in their different ways. (I'm at the beginning of The Martian, by Andy Weir.)
(2) The fans are moving the air in the converted attic, which reduces my dependency on air conditioning. For the temperature at least; humidity is another, sadder story around these parts.
(3) I rode my bike to work even though I really wanted to drive. It's only 2 miles, but going there is uphill so it does take a mental effort to convince myself.
(4) Granola with milk at the office from the grocery store, instead of buying something out - not even a $1.50 breakfast sandwich. Although I poured the granola like it was regular cereal, and ended up throwing away a lot of it... Such a Wednesday brain-fart moment.
(5) Drinking water from a reusable Nalgene bottle, though I also have loose tea I could make in my Christmas-present steeping mug. But I am very much a water-drinker.
I'm reading this while eating an omelet made from: a duck egg from our backyard ducks, the good parts of a bruised tomato from our garden, and some leftover black beans in the fridge that were left when my husband added black beans to the salsa I made, needing to use up some garden tomatoes and peppers. And it's delicious.
About to take grandkids swimming at free area pool.
Ate store-brand cereal.
Made coffee and not with a Keurig!
Read lib. book.
Went to gym free as Silver Sneakers member.
Called brother on Vonage phone.
Well you're ahead of me, I guess. All I did this morning was a couple of Mechanical Turks on Amazon (making maybe a dollar or two) and maxing out my Bing Rewards credits for the day (I use it for my Hulu subscription.) and I started using my new DIY notebook which resembles a Field Notes style but instead I made myself out of 6 sheets of graph paper and a reclaimed hanging folder.
I'm using an unopened, unexpired, box of Codral cold and flu tablets instead of buying a new box.
The gravity driven water filter is filtering the excess manganese and other impurities out of the tap water.
I'm eating a slice of 6 day old rye sour dough.
I'm sitting on the lounge under a blanket (it's around 3 degrees Celsius currently) so I am warm enough with 1 bar of the heater turned on.
I'm going to turn everything off and go to bed soon.
Thank you for the this post... it's fun to think about frugality as an all-day practice!
I'm not a morning person, but I booked an early-morning freelance assignment that was done by 8:15a.m. So I've already earned money, and am back at home!
I wore yesterday's work clothes to save on laundry. I only wore them for a few hours yesterday, and at a different location, so no one knows I wore the same thing twice in a row! Today I wore them for one whole hour.
My husband has farther to drive today, so we switched cars to make sure he's driving the more fuel-efficient one (although they're both small!).
I took coffee & a bagel from home, instead of getting breakfast on the road. And used a cloth napkin, of course!
I encouraged a friend who is a new pet-owner to pursue a less-expensive option for getting her cat micro-chipped. Saving money is a community effort!
I madè blueberry muffins from bulk blueberries I had vacuum sealed and frozen. My daughter and son in law dropped their kids, (3&1) off while they go to their 20-week ultrasound for the new baby. So I packed them some muffins to take along, thereby saving them a stop and a little money. I'm also wearing the top I wore yesterday, I do this frequently, but less often in the summer, for obvious reasons, ha! But this one was worn in the air conditioning only, so it's ok. Made a peach cobbler, again from peaches from my freezer, to take to the staff at the care center where my dear, way-too-young-for-this sister is living now. Now I'm sitting with the babies while the one year old plays with toys from Once Upon a Child, and the three year old makes a card to take to my sister today ( her Aunt Susan). That list took some thinking! I admit I never would've thought of listing the "wearing clothes twice before washing" one without Elizabeth Vega's inspiration, but it's worthy!
Sandy, thank you for the shout-out! I was hoping that I wasn't the only one willing to cop to the clothes re-wearing thing! And thanks for the reminder about freezing blueberries... I've got some in the fridge that need to be frozen!
I made a new recipe for apple oatmeal bars for breakfast. My son loved it and it was a super frugal recipe since most of the ingredients came from Aldi
Made my lunch from leftovers and a cucumber and grape tomatoes that needed to be used
Made my own coffee
Put bratwurst in the fridge to thaw for dinner. We are using free tickets to go to a baseball game tonight and we will eat brats at home first - I think that alone will save us about $15.00.
Put water bottles in the fridge to take with us tonight , with the snacks I bought from Aldi last night. Keeps the kids happy and saves money.
Traveling currently, so here is a rules-of-road frugal list to consider:
- We carry insulated mugs in our car so we can fill from where we are sytaying (if provided) or buy one large coffee and share.
- We also carry insulated Hydroflask so we can take advantage of ice cold water fountains and courtesy water whenver we find them.
- We eat easy no-cook breakfasts, pack a sack lunch most days, and reserve our food spend for mid afternoon beverage breaks and dinner
- We look to local, state and federal properties as much as we can for endless historical, recreational and scenic options at either no, or very low, cost.
- We frequent Visitor Centers to learn about free local events during our stay, particularly evening events involving music . . . we love live music!
I made blueberry muffins with blueberries we picked for free on the nearby blueberry barrens last week.
I picked summer squash and zucchini from the garden to cook up with supper tonight.
I went through a bag of hand-me-down clothes someone gave us and found a bunch the kids could use.
I patched a pair of boys' work jeans that had a couple of tears a bit too big to just leave.
I shopped around for auto insurance and saved a ton of money over just re-upping through our local agent. (I HATE insurance shopping, but we just added on a young driver, and it was well worth the time I spent--hours, literally. Saved us hundreds and hundreds of dollars, and left me a little bit disenchanted with our agent...)
Yes, I hate shopping for things like insurance. Such a headache.
And probably, similar to Katie, you did not buy a Lear Jet!
Well, yes. But then again, I rarely buy Lear jets before 8:30, so I felt I didn't deserve any credit for that! 😉
1. Made a sandwich out of leftover crockpot chicken for my one of my teens to take to band camp. Since it was "saucy," I lightly buttered the bread so it will prevent sogginess and the sandwich would be "edible."
2. Made plans to skip the grocery store today; I was going to go.
3. Used our reusable Kcups for our Kuerig - saves about 70 % over premade cups and no landfill waste!
4. Spent a half hour organizing my rubber stamp/ink stuff so that I can readily make homemade cards (which I enjoy) rather than paying $$$$ for store bought.
5. Planned 2 possible dinners for tonight after inspecting contents of fridge (chicken stir fry over quinoa or baked ziti with fresh basil from garden.)
Thank you for using the reusable Kcups!
Hi Kristen! question about your avocados - do you eat the whole thing? I LOVE them, but if it's just me available to eat them, I'm conflicted about them. I will eat a whole one, but they don't stay for me and I cannot bear to throw half of one out. Do you have a magic trick to keep your avocados fresh after cutting?
Sometimes I eat a whole one and sometimes I don't. If I have a half left, I put it unpeeled, cut-side down in a glass bowl. The cut side will brown most of the time, but it's just a cosmetic issue and the avocado tastes just fine when I use it.
I read somewhere--can't remember where--that if you leave the pit in the half you are going to put in the fridge, it helps keep it from browning up as much.
The pit doesn't actually help prevent browning; keeping air away from the avocado flesh does. I remove the pit and lay the avocado half face-down in a glass container. It still gets a bit brown, though, unless you press plastic wrap or waxed paper/parchment against the fruit to form a seal.
And if I have lemon or lime a little squeeze prevents the browning. So 2 days of avocado toast 😉
If you lightly spray the cut side with cooking spray before putting it in an airtight container, it will keep and not brown.
Ah! I'll have to try that. Thank you!
im home sick today and slept in so I haven't done anything frugal yet! However if I'm feeling up to it later I'll probably wash sheets and hang them on the line.
We did a decidedly unfrugal thing this weekend and bought a new car. However, we leased it, which lowered our monthly payments and fully intend on buying it out in 3 years. Plus it's Toyota, so we'll drive it forever. We shopped around and it took us over a month to decide so it definitely wasn't an impulse buy. It replaced a 13 year old car I've had for almost 9 years, so I feel like we were due. (The old car needed a repair that cost way more than it was worth!)
Aww, I'm sorry you're sick! Feel better soon.
Let's see if I can come up with 5 frugal things before 8h30 am.....
We got up at 6h am
* Fed my kids organic cereals that I bought for 0.99$ instead of 7$ (imperfect packaging)
* Put on a bra bought at Value Village for 7,99. Regular price for this bra is 65$.
* Put on Burt' bee's lip gloss that I got on clearance for 2$ instead of 13$.
* Dressed my kids with cute thrift store clothes
* Inflated my car tire. The tire is at the end of it's life, so I'm trying to inflate it (slow leak) instead of buying a new one right away (I need to get the tires changed for winter ones in couple months). Rided in my paid-for 2004 Toyota Echo.
* Ate free breakfast at work (toasts, peanut butter, milk, juice)
Looks like I had a frugal morning after all!
1. I packed lunches for my husband and daughter to take to work. One lunch included homemade pizza I froze (so it wouldn't spoil) and part of a $1.29 Aldi cantaloupe (cubed) mixed with organic red Aldi grapes.
2. I walked to the local bread store and bought two loaves of half price bread. The trip is about three miles round trip.
3. I ate oatmeal for breakfast. I added a serving of canned pumpkin (purchased at a great clearance price in January) and topped it with blueberries ($1.29/pint at Aldi) and a peach (purchased in bulk at an orchard). Three servings of fruits and vegetables for breakfast. I also ate a couple squares of Ghirardelli dark chocolate (I purchased a few bags at SAM'S Club last week - the large bags (~19 ounces) were $.51).
4. I had used $10 worth of Amazon credit (for slower shipping than Prime) to get an appliance timer for about $2. It arrived yesterday and I plugged the dehumidifier into it so that it doesn't run at night (occasionally it freezes us when it runs continuously). I checked on it the morning and it is working correctly.
5. I looked at the grocery ads that came with the newspaper. We have a $10/year subscription that gives us newspaper delivery on Wednesday, Saturday, and Sunday.
I went to the mall to let my toddler play on the indoor play gym, and I bought nothing. Nothing! I walked past Starbucks, Chick-fil-A, and my favorite local donut place. This may not sound like a huge achievement, but it was. Mall food is my weakness!
I can't wait to move into our new house. We will have a bigger kitchen and I'll have room to make yogurt. Yay!
1. Made from-scratch pancakes and added the last of our Aldi blueberries, which were getting close to spoiling.
2. Wore a nursing bra I bought at a consignment sale and a thrifted shirt.
3. Sent my husband with leftover to eat for lunch.
4. Saved water by not taking a shower (I took one yesterday and don't have a need for a daily shower unless I get really sweaty).
5. Brewed cheap coffee in my Mr. Coffee coffee pot.
Well, I read this at about 6:15 this morning and I could only think of a couple of things I'd done so far, so I thought I'd wait until later in the day to reply.
1. Got up at 5:00 and made DH's breakfast with ingredients from Grocery Outlet, 99 Only, and Costco.
2. Made/packed his lunch with foods from same.
3. In a reusable lunchbox and washed-out zippy bags, of course.
4. Walked him to work (no gas, free exercise) and returned home by 6:10. Checked my in box, saw this post. Couldn't think of one more thing, so I went back to sleep.
Eleven hours later, I can't think of another, but I haven't gone anywhere or bought anything today (including a Lear Jet), so I'm calling it a win. I guess if I count the non-airplane, I'm at 5, because I hadn't done that at 6:15 this morning either.
Hmmmm. Kind of a wakeup call since I got nothin'! I got dressed for work, packed my suitcase (meetings then more meetings 5 hours away) and headed out the door. Meals are all paid for by my company today and some of tomorrow. Does it count that I brought a book from Goodwill to be my entertainment? But last night, after work:
Ate dinner at home with my niece. Sometimes we go out but she really wanted my spaghetti sauce.
Started pricing items for a yard sale.
Took niece to her babysitting job (hey, it's in the realm of understanding what money is worth!).
Made sure I have my magazines together to swap (I get one, my friend gets another, and we save up for a few months and swap).
1. Made iced coffee at home with my lil 1 crupper that I purchased for $8. Used free coffee samples from previous hotel stays and creamer purchased on sale with a coupon. (Does this count for more than one)
2. Ate a breakfast of cinnamon rolls that I had gotten for free previously. I had cooked them in the crockpot instead of the oven. Double win. Less expensive and it didn't heat up the house.
3. Packed my lunch for work in my thrifted vintage thermos lunch box. The old school plastic kind that is not insulated. I have a fridge at work so keeping it cold is not necessary. It cost me 99cents. (Side note. This particular lunch box is selling on eBay for $40! I just can't part with it yet)
4. Lunch consisted of a lil dab of hummus and veggies, the last of the block cheese and a few crackers, and some fruit that was going to spoil.
5. Dressed in thrifted clothes from head to toe. Which is how I always dress. I get tone of compliments on my clothes and they are all thrifted. Very few are purchased on clearance. Love being thrifty and trend setting:)
This isn't a daily frugal task, but I had to share. We have had a small 4-place kitchen table since we were first married. I bought it new, but it was not high quality. I believe a paid $200 for the 5-piece set. Well, we are expecting our 3rd child now, and not to mention the other table was tiny and not the easiest to appreciate when having people over for dinner. I happened to see a great-looking table with 6 chairs on Craigslist one day for a great price and quickly snagged it. Then I proceeded to sell my smaller table for the same price I paid for the bigger one, a week later!
Whoa, that is excellent! You made money AND improved your situation.