Five Frugal Things
Just five random frugal things I've done lately.
(A hat-tip to my friend Katy for the blog post theme.)
1. I got a Big Fat Check.
From Ebates, of course.
The name of their checks is always funny to me, because depending on how much shopping I've done or whether I've gotten any referrals, sometimes the Big Fat Check is kind of...not so big.
But I'll take a $15 check anytime someone wants to send me one. 😉
By the way, if you're an Ebates member, you might want to find two friends to refer, because if you do so before 9/30, you get $50.
Which is equivalent to a whole lot of shopping cashback.
(Incidentally, I do frequently find that TopCashBack has better cashback shopping rates. But sometimes they don't have a merchant I'm looking for, so then I revert to Ebates.)
2. I bought more bruised peaches.
There's this produce stand near my house that almost always has a box of bruised peaches available at a discount. A totally full box is $20, but when it's less than full, they just kind of make up a price, and it's usually ridiculously low.
The peaches are still so, so good, it would be crazy for me to buy the un-bruised ones.
Plus, when I'm done with the peaches, I bring the box back and they reuse it.
There is just nothing to dislike about this arrangement.
3. I returned a skirt.
This is not earth-shaking, but here you go:
My sister has this great skirt from Athleta, and when it went on sale, I ordered one too. Sadly, the leg openings of the shorts were too tight so off it went in exchange for a larger size.
The larger size fit my legs perfectly, but the the skirt was a bit too large in the hips which made it look kind of...not cute.
Apparently my hips and my legs are two different sizes?
The fit was close, and I almost decided to keep the skirt but then I realized it was sort of silly to pay $30+ for a skirt that didn't fit perfectly.
Fortunately, I'd ordered the skirt when I ordered a swimsuit, which meant I qualified for free shipping, and Athleta offers free return and exchange shipping. That means the whole skirt thing ended up costing me nothing except some time.
I really try to only add things I seriously love to my wardrobe because that helps me to avoid owning eleventy billion items of clothing. So if something is a little iffy, I usually decide against it.
(Incidentally, this is even trickier to do at Goodwill because it's easy to justify purchasing an almost-right piece of clothing because it's only $3. But even a $3 ill-fitting piece of clothing is a poor bargain because I won't wear it that often and it'll just take up space in my closet.)
4. I saved some sweet potatoes.
This past winter, I bought a bunch of organic sweet potatoes from a local farm, and somehow, the last of them never got used.
By this time they were very, um, not moist, so I peeled, boiled, and mashed them.
(I figured boiling would restore some of the long-gone moisture!)
And then I made a batch of pumpkin chocolate chip muffins, subbing the sweet potato for the pumpkin.
I actually think these muffins are even tastier with sweet potato than pumpkin.
I had enough sweet potato to freeze for a future second batch, which is good news for my children.
5. I organized without buying anything.
Sonia and Zoe's closet was kinda out of control. Basically, you couldn't even see the floor, and the closet shelves were stuffed to the gills.
But they didn't really need a new organizational system.
They just needed less stuff.
So we got rid of stuff.
Their closet still has the cheap wire shelving that no one lusts after, but by golly, you can see the floor now.
And there is space! For things!
Organization containers do need to be bought sometimes, but 95% of the time, I find that I can organize a space very nicely simply by getting rid of excess stuff and utilizing existing storage.
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Alrighty. That's it for me. How about you?
If you'd like to join me, just comment listing five frugal things you've been up to lately.
(If you can't think of five, 3 is totally ok. Or 4. Or 1. Or 2. We're pretty flexible around here. )
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I just received $8.00 from TopCashBack for buying $20 worth of gas Labor Day weekend. It was a Snap & Save offer. I usually compare eBates, TopCashBack, Swagbucks, and Discover before I order anything online.
I made some black bean soup using an old bag of black beans instead of four cans of beans.
We are pretty much eating what we have this week. I spent $12 at Aldi for produce but other than that I have not shopped.
A friend wanted to take me out for lunch for my birthday. Since her family owns a restaurant we went there (my choice). I like saving everybody money and we were able to order off the menu.
I had a bag of dried up baby carrots. They were still good (use by date-wise) so instead of returning them to the store (where they would have thrown them out I used some in soup and some in carrot cake.
Ooh, nice! $12 is very impressive.
1. Last April, I bought a membership through Living Social to the Maryland Science Center. All summer, as we've traveled to different cities, we've stopped at other science centers using the Maryland Science Center membership to get us in for free! Yesterday, we drove out to the Shenandoah Discovery Museum and had free admission there, too! Since we carpooled, packed food and drinks for the whole day, and played in a free water area in town, the trip cost me nothing but gas!
2. I made time to attend our library's free-used children's book sale to stock up our homeschooling library. I acquired 50ish books (some of them brand new that will be gifts) for $101, after tax!
3. I waited for acrylic paint to go on sale at Michaels so that then I could use my homeschooler teacher discount on top of the sale. If I had just used a 40% off coupon, then I couldn't have used the discount, too.
4. I cook. And cook. And cook. Even when I'm tired and don't know how I'm going to produce a dinner out of the food in my house, I cook so that we don't spend money by eating out.
5. I bought an all-new winter wardrobe (including snow pants!) at Goodwill. In our area, they have all donated clothes 25% off on Tuesdays so a few Tuesdays this summer I went shopping to load up on new clothes. I completely agree that if it doesn't fit perfectly, then it's not a bargain soooooo I decided that I'd use the low price of the clothes to motivate me to learn how to make alterations. Thus far, I've altered sweaters, blouses, pants, and two lined skirts. I've saved money shopping, and I've learned how to make alterations.
I didn't know Michael's offered that for homeschoolers! How do you get signed up for a discount as a homeschooler?
At Michael's, you just need to show a homeschooler ID at checkout, no sign-up required. I've used the ID that the Organization of Virginia Homeschoolers sends out with membership, and I've also used the letter from the county recognizing homeschool enrollment.
In case you didn't know, you can use these same documents at Barnes and Noble, Joann's, and some museums for a discount! Depending on the museum, showing these documents will get you discounts including free entry and reduced prices on shows. For example, the Smithsonian Museums provide me with a free ticket to an educational IMAX as a teacher.
I mended a seam in one of my daughter's favorite skirts, used up some extra cucumbers from the garden by making hamburger sliced dill pickles, made salsa with homegrown tomatoes and peppers, and used the shredded zucchini I had in the fridge in two loaves of whole wheat zucchini herb bread from here: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/whole-wheat-zucchini-herb-bread/ (It was a bit of a change from the traditional sweet bread, which I love, but have had an awful lot of lately! I thought it was good.)
1. Chopping and dicing almost wasted carrots, celery and onion - popping it in my crockpot with some water and seasoning and slow cooking up 'nail soup'!
2. Gratefully taking receipt of a dance outfit that's been handed down to my Son.
That's it so far for me - but have been typing up Food Waste Friday and have only just had lunch.
Oh maybe that's number 3 - toasting up some semi-dry bread with cheese for lunch - No Waste Tastes Great!
I'm curious, Kirsten, how did you store your sweet potatoes for so long before using them for your muffins?
oh my goodness, I typed that and didn't notice it'd autocorrected your name!
So sorry, Kristen! (from someone who is quite used to being spelled incorrectly!)
No worries on the spelling!
I stored them in my unfinished laundry room, which remains quite cool year round, so perhaps that helped?
Right. I don't think we have anywhere in our home that is cool all year (it rarely drops into single figures (Celcius, so rarely below 50F) here, even in winter)
Thanks though. Maybe I'll see if I can seek out a cool corner in a few months when it cools off 🙂
#1 I too received an Ebates cheque for 20 something dollars!! Thanks to you for the Ebate tip.
#2. Sold a bunch of stuff with an online flea market group.
#3 Freecycled A LOT of stuff which has made it so much easier to keep my house tidy and stop me from wanted to fill it with more unnecessary stuff.
#4 Making almost ALL my own bread (including soft hamburger buns) and many thanks to you for your many inspirational bread posts.
#5 Grew lots of plants this year from seeds (some saved from last summer) instead of buying from a nursery. Herbs and nasturtiums are VERY easy to grow.
I cooked all day yesterday. 🙂 Lots of yummy food in the fridge and freezer now. And today I'm making banana muffins with some overripe bananas.
1. Sold a bunch of clothes and toys at a mothers of multiples consignment sale and bought several things in the next size up for my twins. It's hard to get organized for this as I work full-time, but it's satisfying to declutter and at the same time break even when buying clothes for the kids.
2. Took unsold items to our local consignment shop where I shop for clothes for myself, nice to know next time I shop there in the winter I will have a small discount waiting.
3. Worked an extra day from home this week, save time and money from commuting.
4. When refueling the car, was happy to save a lot using Safeway points.
5. A lot of our meals this week have been harvested from our garden, butternut squash soup, butternut patties, cherry tomato and herb salad, etc.
1. Finally learned how to make real rice instead of the expensive minute rice!
2. Preparing for my son's birthday party this weekend:
- Bought presents a while back off of the clearance rack at Walmart when I spotted something he would love.
- Baking the cake myself.
- Having family over to our home instead of some crazy, blinking, expensive party place.
- Resisted buying cheap-plastic-party-favor-clutter for the cousins that are coming.
This year we bougth a house, now we discovered we have cherry tomatoes in the backyard... I've been used this for my husband's lunch.
I'm learning new recipes, in order to be efficient on kitchen and spend less time cooking (and using gas)
We made some updates to the heating sistem of our house, it's supposed this winter we are gonna spend less gas to keep the house warm. My brother in law made it , so, we did'nt pay full price.
I decorated my house for fall by less then $10! I just reused things I had in previous years and moved furniture around and it just looks and feels great especially since I didn't have to spend money.
I got an ebates check also a few weeks ago. Less then $10, but I'll take it!
Used up some bananas in some zucchini muffins.
Didn't go shopping all week long.
Oh and I went through my daughter's winter clothes before looking around and shopping. Turns out I saved/pre-bought enough clothes last year so all we have to buy is pjs and boots!
1. Cooked a lot (I have arthritis so that's not always easy)
2. Cleaned out hallway closet, found some high quality flowers that I had forgotten about - perfect for floor vase arrangement of fall flowers.
3. Made cookies for meeting at home.
4. Carefully going through wardrobe, to write down which pieces of clothing I need for fall/winter, rather than just gong to store and "looking around."
5. Eating from pantry and freezer (which includes using those two sweet potatoes hanging around to make muffins! 🙂 )
1. Been busy mending: 1 sundress that needed new strap adjusters, 1 T-shirt of my husband's, and a couple pants that needed iron-on patches.
2. Selling cloth diapers on BabyCenter's Cloth Diaper Swap. I already have about $35 coming my way and I have lots more diapers to sell.
3. Used leftover Kohl's gift card and discount code to get badly needed new Dearfoams for $3 out of pocket.
4. Finally used up half the quinoa in the freezer, plus half the frozen mozzarella blocks and some of the green onions (all things that had stymied me so far)
5. Got my money back at Costco for some shredded cheese that went bad in the fridge (unopened) before its date. Since I had already eaten the other half (it's two big packages) I got a particularly good deal :-).
I am... wondering why you're letting a clothing manufacturer decide what is the "normal" kind of body. Who says they didn't produce a skort using two different sizes?
Thanks, William, we women need to hear that.
I was watching a television program last night where every woman was about 5' 8" and weighed about 110. Seriously, people, no wonder we have body image issues.
I was actually surprised we weren't reading about how Kristen had tailored her new clothes to fit, since she has all those great mending posts about hand-me-downs and Goodwill finds. (Not judging, though. Time, effort, the daring... 🙂 )
And my first thought was that Kristen must be a runner, because they develop such great thigh muscles!
I totally don't mind doing some modding/mending if the item was free or a steal. But I balk at the idea of modding a brand new $35 item, especially one with multiple layers like this one. I wouldn't even know when to start to reduce the size of the problematic panel.
I guess I feel more brave when I'm working on a free or practically free item. If I mess it up, I'm no worse off than when I started. But I would really hate to mess up a slightly expensive item.
Well, I'd think this was an exception, except that I've run into this problem before with other clothing manufacturers too. I mean, my waist/leg proportions are what they are (and I'm fine with that), but my proportions do seem to be a bit different than what manufacturers expect them to be.
I sort of can't fault the manufacturers, though. I mean, it's pretty much impossible to make sizes that will fit everybody!
This isn't really anything frugal, but your recent posts on organizing got me motivated to clean our bathroom closet last night. I did spend a few dollars on storage bins (what we had in there wasn't working & I have other plans to use those) but everything is much more user friendly now. And I found some great smelling body wash that I forgot I had!
1. Been scrubbing/shining the doorknobs in the house. I don't think they've been shined in the past 60 years. Takes about an hour per knob set and the work does a number on one's skin. New ones are $10-20 new ... it's starting to look damn temping.
2. Eating down the freezer continues. The easy stuff is all gone, I need to differentiate between what won't get used up at once (such as the gallon bag of spices) and what can but is hard (like the beef tongue the butcher gave me).
3. I painted some of my rooms. It was twice as much work as expected because they don't sell that exact type of paint anymore - it can't be perfectly matched in a different brand or style - so I needed to do two coats rather than one and have to do an entire room instead of just the walls that need it. It also made me realize, yet again, what a lousy job the painters did. They painted over the lightswitch plates,the vents, and doorknobs. (Which is what started me on scrubbing, of course.)
1. Joined Costco with their Living Social deal for $5 (after rebates).
2. Picked up a load of kitchen items that my neighbor was throwing out in the garbage, a lot of vintage Fire King & Pyrex that is being rehomed. In excellent condition too.
3. Froze most of my tomatoes before a blight wiped them out, grated & froze the zucchini too.
4. My son is moving out of state, I am splitting all my kitchenware with him so he will not have to purchase anything, look at Goodwill for what else he might need.
5. This will be my second week of NO FOOD WASTE...YAY!!!!
6. Most important, helped my neighbor with rehoming 2 homeless dogs. My neighbor has a heart of gold 🙂
I'm:
Eating leftover stew and biscuits for lunch. I made the stew with half the meat, and it's just as good as the original.
Persevered for three days and got my money back for an online bill pay that went into cyberspace and got lost. It was "only" $25.00, but it was MY $25.00, and I made a ton of phone calls to push the bank and the payee to prove it was lost for real.
Going to the store after work to pick up five pounds of pre-ordered grass-fed locally raised ground beef, saving $3 per pound. We like to eat as organically and locally-grown as possible, and sales like this are rare.
Looking forward to a free concert tonight by a professional music group, at our church.
Athleta has awesome customer service. I purchased one of their swimsuits (clearance), wore it and realized it was annoying. (It had an inner and outer layer, and water would get trapped between causing a bubble.) I was able to return it for a refund with no problems, months after I purchased it.
Hmm . . . let me think.
My husband and I went to a lovely cafe housed in an old church yesterday for a day-date. I had a coupon for a free coffee, so I *splurged* on a latte, and he had a regular drip coffee.
We're doing another round of decluttering, and have realized that our younger son is never going to pick up his saxophone again, and that it's okay to sell it.
I picked up two library movies yesterday, so we're now set for Friday movie night here at Casa Wolk-Stanley.
I made two pans of destuffed potatoes yesterday, (one to eat, one for the freezer.) The potatoes were super cheap from Safeway, and the cottage cheese was super cheap at Fred Meyer.
Yesterday was hot and windy, and I was able to hang two loads of laundry in a single day.
My husband and I yesterday spent a couple of hours doing home maintenance/improvement jobs around the house, with the only rule being that it had to be with supplies we already owned.
I have not been able to open your blog or its comments since the 5th. I thought the problem was on your end??????
I'm assuming now that it must be my computer..
Nope, it's not you! There's something going on with her blog, and she's aware of it.
1. Made some oatmeal bread. http://www.owlhaven.net/?s=oatmeal+bread
2. Made some banana muffins for the freezer (this is super handy to throw in the kids' lunch boxes).
3. Been earning me some swagbucks, I get about 20-30 a day. I"ll probably be using these at Christmas for gifts.
4. Right now I'm looking at some free cards on Shutterfly I might get.
5. And I can't think of a good 5th one. 🙂
We use BigCrumbs and get quite a lot of cash back. But we'll have to check out TopCashBack. Thanks!
I have been keeping track of my frugal life lately. Writing it down more.
1. Picked dandelions and used the greens for juice and salad and the roots I am drying out to make dandelion coffee
2. Used coupons for points during my grocery shopping
3. Free goody bags at my daughters day care ( which produced waste but did give us some fun items we might not purchase)
4. I received a free Reiki session from a friend
5.Making vinegar and lemon peel cleaner
6.Walked everywhere this week
7. Got a cheap book for my daughter from a book club ( $2 which is normally $10 or more)
Frugal is my thing. Thanks for sharing yours!
1. My oldest had a growth spurt, so I acquired a whole new wordrobe for him of hand me downs, goodwill and consignment purchases.
2. I bought a rack for my bike before realizing we had the same rack on another bike. My husband switched them out, and I returned the one I bought.
3. The fridge door stopped shutting all the way. My husband googled it, and, fingers crossed, will be repairing it this weekend without spending a dime.
4. I had an idea for a financial literacy column, wrote it up, and it was purchased by a local news website.
5. I just started grad school and life has gotten crazy as expected. However, I've found that a simple home made supper is faster and easier than getting takeout. And it's cheaper and healthier.
1. I was so tempted to buy takeout twice this week, but came home and made something from ingredients on hand instead. It helps that I have a very accommodating husband who will eat anything.
2. Used coupons and earned loyalty rewards for several grocery items I was purchasing anyway.
3. Used the lighter of two shoeboxes to mail a parcel. Seriously, there was a big difference in the two boxes! The difference in postage might have been small, but it's the principle of the thing - if you're watching and thinking all the time about these issues, they become second nature.
4. The parcel was full of maternity tops for my daughter, all of which came from thrift stores, all of which were in great shape, some of which needed altering - which I did.
5. Read all the great ideas in this post and in the comments, to see if I can use any in the future 🙂
So this isn't my list of frugal things, but a question:
How do you get your children to let go of "stuff"? I've tried and failed so many times!
I think I'll write a post about how I've approached that with my kids. It's not anything earthshaking, but maybe it would be helpful.
I'm looking forward to it because I fail, fail, fail at motivating them to get rid of toys.
1. collected all the birthday party goodie bag toys and prizes that the kids drag home and donated 3 big boxes (yes, that much!) of it to a kindergarten teacher in Richmond, VA. She uses them as prizes for her resource-poor students. Apparently, they love the treats, while my kids have long-forgotten about them.
2. Cooked 2 lbs of kidney beans in my slow cooker, which yielded 6-16 oz tubs of cooked beans. Half of the beans became enough chili to a) eat, b) freeze, and c) pack for a new mom at church (along with some of Kristen's cornmeal yeast bread).
3. Cooked 3 lbs of pork into breakfast patties (homemade= no nitrites). Enough to last my kids for 8 breakfasts. Whew!
4. Was really tempted to buy a new series of books for my kids (My Weird School, anyone?) but persevered and ordered them at the library instead. They will be at my local library in less than a week.
You couldn't see the floor in Zoe's CLOSET? When my daughter was Zoe's age you couldn't see the floor in her ROOM! 🙂
It's hard to believe but now that she is the mother of four plus two large dogs, and some hamsters, not to mention the fish, her home looks like a
Martha Stewart ad!
It was virtually impossible to get her to pick u anything when she lived at home! Now with 4 children, pets and two jobs her home is disgustingly perfect! Go figure. 🙂
1We made a double batch of banana muffins to freeze for later. My almost six year old is learning how to bake. And we used up brown bananas and yogurt from the fridge.
2 I used vanilla I made last year.....you place slit vanilla beans in a bottle of vodka. It takes a couple months, and seems expensive at first. Ends up cheaper in the long run.
3 Rented movies and books from the library. A couple of the books are crafts for kids. A lot of it I already have at home. Gives me some ideas for fun holiday or any day crafts.
4 It's been a busy week. Felt like carryout, but still went home and made food w what we had.
5 I keep a well stocked kitchen. I'm able to pretty much get mostly what's on sale. I have half a gallon of milk that just went sour. Thinking of baking or maybe some pudding ...maybe both.lol
6 I did just finish straining some vinegar that was soaked w orange peels. I forgot about it and it sat for a month. I made a full quart jar.(2 quart jars stuffed w peels and topped w vinegar). Haven't tried it yet, but thought it was a neat idea.
7 Working at decluttering my home. This is the hardest part. I'm a single mom and my daughter is always home w me. She's learning to help, but it slows me down or I lose rhythm.
1. We had a potluck at work yesterday and had two sleeves of saltines leftover. They asked if anyone wanted them so I took them to use for the chili I already had in the crockpot for last night's supper.
2. I've stopped buying Pam spray and have been using the bacon grease I save.
3. We rented some movies last night from redbox and I remembered I had a code for rent one get one free. Also chose dvd over blu ray to save an additional 60 cents to total.
4. I've washed 4 loads of laundry this morning and was able to wash them all in cold water and hang them all out on the line to dry.
5. Making homemade pizza tonight for supper instead of ordering out.
I used to do a similar post on my blog titled The Frugal Five. Anyway, love your post and I did some organizing myself, frugally of course.
http://themagicthatisthrift.blogspot.com/2014/09/rainy-day-kitchen-re-org-school-snack.html
1. Went shopping at discount store, used lots of coupons, points. Then got a coupon for discount off of gas - saved $10.50! 🙂 They also gave me a $3 for the next time I shop at the store.
2. Came home and used a rebate form for a dishwashing product, so should get a cheque to cover that item free.
3. Just spent the afternoon making home made applesauce. It freezes beautifully and is delicious!
4. Went outside and picked the last of my tomatoes.
5. Cut back the last of the rhubarb and cut it up and froze , will make home made pie or crumble for Thanksgiving.
6. Just finally joined e-bates(been meaning to check this out for a while!)
I think I did pretty well the last few days! Thanks for the inspiration Kristen!
Going to clean out youngest son's room tomorrow so he is better organized. I'll start with his book closet. I cleaned out alot from when he was a kindie and have piles more for him to sort through. Then trying to clean the closet and desk. The closet has toys everywhere and the desk has overflowing drawers. So he packs stuff on top of his dresser which is a huge pile of mess. Gotta sort it. Having a community garage sale in a few weeks.......
Gonna cook scalloped potatoes and ham. Cooked a big ham a few days ago and have leftovers....
I've been doing some holiday shopping using rewards points. Got some gift cards so they were free. Found a website to do surveys and get free merchandise as well. I'm scoring big time this year. Husband out of work and it's been a issue.
1. I picked kale from my garden to use in last night's soup and used dried beans in it too.
2. I did a bunch of work cleaning up my yard for the upcoming winter. I didn't feel this was particularly frugal until I was working in the front yard and noticed how many people on my street hire out even basic yard work like mowing.
3. I made a meal plan for the rest of the month.
4. We picked out a free place for the upcoming weekend's camping trip.
5. I sauteed up some leftover mushrooms and part of a zucchini to have as a snack at work today.
1. crazy busy canning, freezing, and cooking the garden bounty we have.
2. my husband was away for the weekend, so I volunteered to work an extra weekend at my part-time job.
3. regularly checking out our local thrift store netted me some new-to-me work-out clothes for myself, a fall coat for hubby, and a fix it and forget it cookbook.
4. collecting frozen dinner boxes from people at work to enter the pincodes on the company website and save up points for fabulous prizes.
5. making a grocery shopping list before I go, checking for things on sale and price matching flyers and using coupons when I can.
Frugal Girl,
Nice 5 things! I'm all about ebates as well and have earned about $200 back from referrals, purchasing items for people and buying my own items, it's awesome.
How the heck did you think of making cookies with sweet potatoes?! That sounds and looks amazing, jealous and am hungry as heck thinking about it.
I love your blog, all about frugal living, seeing value purchases and deciding between want vs needs. Hope you're having a great week, talk soon!
-Lanny
Yay for frugal things. I bought a box of peaches at Costco, and unfortunately they are mealy and not good tasting. If I freeze them, will they taste OK in smoothies or on ice cream? Seems a shame to dump them but no one wants to eat them.
Yes! Freeze them and use them in smoothies. They won't add tons of great flavor (mealy peaches usually don't have much flavor) but at least you won't have to throw them out.
If it is not too much of a hassle for you, I would return them to Costco, they have a great return policy. Why should you have to put up with yucky tasty food when it is not your fault?