Five Frugal Things | Chalkboard paint, freezer saves, a Valentine's card and more
1. I made overnight French Toast.
I was cleaning out my freezer and found a bag of slightly dry honey-glazed pan rolls.
So, I used them to make a pan of the Pioneer Woman's overnight French toast for a slightly special Valentine's Day breakfast.
No one complained. 😉 And I saved some bread that would not otherwise have been eaten.
I used Bees Wrap (which I got in my Mighty Fix one month) to cover the pan as it sat in the fridge overnight. I can never get that stuff to cling to my pans very well, especially in the winter, so I just used a rubber band to secure it over the pan.
2. I made a Valentine's cards for my kids
The cards I make are never anything very fancy, but they get the job done. And I always think what you write in the card is more important than the card itself.
3. I spray painted my menu board.
I hadn't properly seasoned it when I first made it, so we were having shadowing issues.
Luckily, we got a warm day, so I took the glass out of the frame and gave it a couple of fresh coats of chalkboard paint.
I seasoned it this time, so hopefully we won't run into problems in the future.
Time will tell!
By the way, here's how I made my chalkboards out of ugly Goodwill paintings.
4. I decided to compost some bananas.
I know that sounds not frugal...but as I was cleaning out my freezer, I found 4-5 bananas of dubious age. Since I didn't know how long they'd been in the freezer, I thought they would taste freezer burnt (they were in my fridge freezer, which self-defrosts).
So, instead of making banana muffins and taking the risk of wasting other perfectly good ingredients, I decided to compost them.
And I vowed to do a better job of keeping track of my bananas.
5. I....
made chicken broth, made rice pudding with cooked rice from the freezer, froze some slightly squishy grapes and berries for use in smoothies, and revived wilty lettuce by soaking it in cold water.
How about you? Share your own Five Frugal Things in the comments.
Great job rescuing those freezer foods! I started saving any questionable bananas in a big freezer bag. When it gets full I use the bananas to make a brown sugar caramel banana crepe filling. It's not healthy, but holy cow is it delicious and cheap. 🙂
This week:
1. Mr. Picky Pincher and I cooked a Valentine's dinner at home with on-sale lobster tails instead of eating out. I discovered I hate lobster, apparently, so Mr. Picky Pincher got two lobster tails out of the whole deal.
2. We went to the library on Valentine's day to check out a movie. I also rented quite a few more cookbooks to keep our menu fresh.
3. Today I get to work from home (aw yeah!), which means no commuting costs for me today. It also means I can get more chores done around the house in my off-time.
4. I sprayed homemade "Febreeze" on our sheets and couches this morning. It's just a combination of vodka and lavender essential oil. It gives the house a general "clean" smell with less weird chemicals (and costs) than store bought air freshener.
5. I plan to eat leftovers for lunch today.
Not liking lobster is a very frugal thing. 😉
1. Cooked a steak dinner for Valentine's Day. I got my daughter a book used on eBay as her Valentine's Day gift. My family was very frugal and gave me nothing.
2.) Made five loaves of bread during our big Noreaster last weekend. It kept the house warm and now we have food.
3.) Thanks to snow and everything else, I really haven't left the house except for work and errands. No chances to spend money on anything.
4.) Took advantage of a sale and some gift cards I was hoarding to pick up some Blu Rays I've been wanting.
5.) Still not buying soda at the convenience store like I was. I'm still drinking soda (it's an insanely difficult habit for me to break) but at least I'm not spending so much on it.
Kristen,
You do the coolest frugal things. I am not very frugal & read your blog for inspiration. I did learn to make homemade yogurt from you!
1. bring my breakfast to work everyday (usually oatmeal & chopped apples)
2. bring my lunch & eat at my desk (usually leftovers from dinner but today is just peanut butter & jelly)
3. do my own housecleaning instead of paying someone $150 a week
4. had hubby buy only two front tires instead of all 4 new tires. We can get another 5,000 miles out of back tires (have a new driver & I refused to put off getting front tires for front wheel drive car)
5. went to the mall last weekend to meet a friend for lunch. Didn't spend any money except for the salad. We actually walked around the mall & I didn't buy anything!
Hi Kirsten:
I have been following you for about two months now and this is the first time I am posting a reply. It is so nice to read your posts which gives me plenty of ideas about how to live a simple and meaningful life. I am a boring person who always have been frugal since I was young. My cousins always called me cheap growing up but they do not understand the difference between being frugal and being cheap. 🙂 Anyhow, I just wanted to share 5 frugal things I did this week.
1. Followed up with the HVAC contractor to see if they filled out the $300 rebate form for the new unit that we installed 6 months ago. They sure like to take their time.
2. Going to use the prepaid restaurant gift certificates that I purchased a year go. It is one of those free vacation companies that makes you put up the money then gave you back the same amount in gift certificates in return. The catch is you have to spend minimum of twice as much as the gift certificate. The hubby thought it was a good deal at the time and paid it. Never again.
3. Cooked all the veggies from the produce box that we receive once a week.
4. Pack our lunches everyday.
5. Menu planning for the rest of the week with the remaining produce.
Welcome, welcome! I'm so glad you de-lurked.
🙂 You inspired me to sign up for produce box service in my area and I love it so far.
Be careful. Our rebate had a time limit. Yes, some words were spoken...
I know. It said 90 days on the energy company website. Our contractor told us they filed the form but when I followed up they said we did not qualify then they called back and said we did. smh!
I love lobster! I wish I'd been there, Mrs. PP, I would have helped you out. But yes, it's not very frugal.
Way to go on the freezer clean out Kristen! When I find bread in the freezer that needs to go, I make bread pudding, but that overnight dish sounds yummy.
1. My worm farm is growing more worms. I finally see quite a few in there, after starting out with only a handful. This should speed up the process of vermicomposting, which is good, since I want the castings for the veggies we are starting.
2. I made more shampoo last night. It's just unscented Dr. Bronner's diluted with water, with a couple dollops of aloe gel and a few drops of essential oil, usually rosemary or lavender, depending on my mood, mostly.
3. Our special dinner for Valentine's day was grilled hamburgers on homemade buns. Not so exciting, but it was good, frugal, and we didn't have to fight any crowds at restaurants.
4. I packed my lunch for work, of course.
5. I spent just over 50% of the grocery budget for the first two weeks of the month. I divide my months in half, so we'll see how I do on the grocery budget for the second half. Eating what you have is very cheap, but I know the time is near to do a freezer re-fill. That won't be cheap, but I only do it twice a year.
I cannot imagine ever buying greeting cards. I agree what you write on the inside is the part that counts anyway.
1) I made lunch from veggies and eggs in the fridge. Still eating up the sweet potatoes my cousin gave me.
2) I got our corporate tax returns back from our accountant. Total expense for his time was $585, which sounds very not frugal. But our business has gotten way too big and complicated for me to trust Turbo Tax, and every year he seems to find some new tax write off that saves us way more than $585. I plugged the numbers into our personal returns on Turbo Tax and just watched the refund ticker sail away! (Which also means I can ratchet down our monthly tax payments and have more room in the 2017 budget.)
3) Watched PBS on our apple tv with the kids last night. My husband got me the $5/month PBS contribution for Christmas, which gives us access to endless educational and interesting documentaries. I'm so glad our kids care less about cartoons than shows about science. Last night we watched a documentary about the construction of a cruise ship. I highly recommend it.
4) I'm starting back plugging what I eat into my Lose It! app. I find budgeting calories is a lot like budgeting money. I'm already pretty frugal money and calorie-wise, but if I really want to lose that last ten pounds of baby weight, or a save a little bit more, I'm going to need the focus a budget gives me. Being a healthy weight is always more frugal.
5) Last night I went through my comprehensive exam lists and noted which library has which of the last few books I need. Luckily the libraries I can access (which is several) have copies of the books I need. But being organized keeps me from having to make an extra trip to a university several miles away. I'm also taking advantage of all the books my home university library has online. I used to not like to read online, but the more I do it the more natural it feels, and that is one less book I have to lug home and then lug back to campus.
I just started using the Lose It app as well and I really like it so far! And it's FREE!
1. I cut my husband's mop last week rather than paying $12 for the haircut. I'm not great at it yet, but he's not picky since he wears a hat 99% of the time.
2. On Tuesdays, I bowl in a league. I pick my daughter up from daycare and meet my husband near his work to swap the kid. (It doesn't make sense for me to drive all the way back home, and he gets off too late for daycare pick up). We usually stop by my grandfather's to hang out. In the past, we had been grabbing some fast food for a quick dinner before heading our separate directions. It was getting old and expensive. So, I brought a crockpot to work yesterday with a roast and potatoes and let it cook all day -- and we had dinner with my grandfather. It was lovely!
3. We received a tax return and put it directly onto debt. Slowly but surely chipping away!
4. I only spent $25 on groceries last week.
5. Sold a few purses that were laying around on eBay!
Savannah, that's a great idea about the dinner & then sharing with your grandfather. Warms my heart! And you also did a great job on your grocery spending & applying tax refund to debt! Go you!
You seasoned your chalkboard painted frames? What's that?
I was wondering as well! Thanks
So, chalkboard paint is porous, which means that chalk can get into the teeny tiny holes in it and leave marks. So to season it, you color all over it, both directions, using the wide side of a piece of chalk. That fills in the tiny holes. Then you wipe it off and use like usual.
Sounds easy enough! Thanks!
1. I ate leftovers for lunch.
2. I borrowed some books from the library.
3. I am wearing a pair of super nice jeans that I got from Goodwill.
4. I menu planned and most of it is stuff that we already have.
5. I have used 2 cloth diapers so far today for my baby. There's about 32 cents saved. 😉
OH! And 6. I haven't made yogurt in a long time because we went using it all up, but I had been thinking of starting again and making smaller batches. Yesterday I went to Aldi and they had the gallons of whole milk marked down to 50 cents!! And the date on the jug is still two weeks away! I conveniently have some plain yogurt in my fridge, so I'm totally making yogurt soon!
I have been using cloth diapers since my baby is two month old. She is now 28 months. 🙂 Love cloth diapers.
My husband and my anniversary of meeting is February 15. That means that if he's going to get me flowers, he has an excuse to do it the day *after* Valentine's Day, thus saving much $$, thanks to the laws of economics.
I'm totally with you on the greeting card thing. I sprung for some engraved stationery with my name on it from Crane a few years ago, which sounds very not frugal, but then I use those for all my occasions when I might normally send a card, and write a note to the person rather than some canned sentiment, and the cost is less than $2/per as opposed to the $3-5 a greeting card often runs.
Ooh, that IS really wonderful! The chocolate and flowers are just as good on February 15th. 😉
I bought Crane stationery too and use it a lot in place of cards. Glad to hear someone else did that too. I also bought inexpensive printed calling cards and use them for gift enclosures for showers, weddings and so forth. It gives the recipient our name and address and I hand write a greeting on it.
Trader Joes sells all types of cards for 99 cents. We buy all our cards there for weddings, birthdays, baby showers, etc.
On the note of frugality and intentional living....I know you've mentioned before that your wood floors are from Home Depot, but do you recall what brand, and are you happy with them? Buying new floors now (a car drove through my dining room, yep, you heard that right). I want to make an educated decision that's a good value but also sturdy and good for the environment (sustainable and low voc emissions). EVERYONE has strong opinions on whether wood is a good choice or not. I'm just having such a tough time getting real good information! I've even checked consumer reports but they don't even have all of the current flooring options out there.
Our original ones were from Home Depot. But when we put hardwoods all over our main level in 2015, we bought our flooring from an independent, local shop that buys huge quantities of flooring and sells them at low prices. They sell the same stuff Home Depot sells at a fraction of the price. Like literally half as expensive.
Ours are solid red oak hardwood and the brand is Forest Glen. We had to go with red oak to match our stairs and railings, but if we hadn't had to do that, I'd have looked hard at the solid bamboo flooring. There are some really beautiful options out there that don't look like typical bamboo floors!
Thanks! I'm leaning towards bamboo too...
Whatever you choose do NOT get a shiny/glossy finish! I moved into my house a few months ago and it has beautiful shiny wood floors. They look stunning - for about five minutes after I've washed them! They show every mark. Paw prints. Dog drool. Foot prints. Sticky baby fingers! You name it and it shows.
Don't do it!! Matte surface only! 🙂
One of my favourite flooring options is cork. It's warm, easily maintained (damp mopping is all it needs), hides imperfections and is flexible. Many shades available. And your dishes might survive if they hit it (unlike ceramic floors... )! It's been around for centuries, but not many consider it when choosing a new floor.
I have cork tiles in my bathroom and I LOVE it!! I recommend it.
My week was not super frugal, but I think I can make it to five...
1 Ate leftover and French toast lunches
2 Bought a top at Goodwill - at less than 10% of the retail price. Like new, so wearing it to the office!
3 We were given next to new curtains by an elderly relative moving into a home. They fit our bedroom perfectly and will be replacing curtains that we have had for 28 years. Keeping them though, since our kids (twens) will be moving out this year . You never know, they may be in need of some curtains!
4 Got new heels for my shoes
5 Biked to the shop
And my frugal fail was a stop at Starbucks after work.
Lets see...
1 I made yogurt, 'Luna-ish bars' and granola
2 we went to the library
3 I used a coupon code to buy handcare and lip balm products to gift my parents (I could have made them but, well)
4 all meals at home this week
5 we met with my in laws' financial advisor and have a plan to save for college and retirement.
1. I examined our Amazon.com membership for all benefits we were not using. I downloaded several books for pleasure and several resource books for my next classes. I also created a music list for myself.
2. I gathered up all the healthcare and beauty supplies and relocated them to one location. Allergies are starting in my home and there was stuff in every bathroom, closet, nightstand etc..... Now I dont need to buy any.
3. Reviewed all accounts. Made any financial adjustments. Directed everthing to a new email and linked to a better reward credit card. All accounts are paid in full each month.
4. I switched to a new school to finish my next degree. It is cheaper tuition. Closer to home. Require s less time and includes more of my requisite s.
5. I brought home 12 trash bags of clothes from my daughters sorority that the girls were throwing out. First bag I opened had a new Brita pitcher in it and a Coach handbag. I am sorting items for Goodwill and Plato,s closet. I hope to make some money from my time. Sadly many of these young ladies are incredibly wasteful.
Wow -- great haul at the sorority! Their wastefulness was your hot score!
I love reading all these frugal things - gives me lots of perspective and new ideas!! Today I turned off the heater and let the sunshine warm the house, ate leftovers for lunch (which is becoming habit now and I don't even think about going out for lunch anymore), made out menus keeping in mind how I could make twice as much of something and freeze half. (I am planning on meals where I can use up some ingredients I already have on hand) I also sent off a cracked screen protector to Zagg, who offers a lifetime warranty and sends a new screen for the price of postage. Now I'm going to go fix a cheapie dinner that my peeps love: Coney Island Hot Dogs with homemade turkey chili, tots on the dies. (:
I need to do that with Zagg! The protector for my SLR camera screen peeled off in places and I need a new one.
I remembered to make and freeze some chicken broth this weekend after we had a rotisserie chicken. I haven't had homemade broth in a while; I forgot how superior it is to storebought!
So love this feature and am jones-ing for french toast! Not my most frugal week but let's see . .
1. Told out of town husband no Flowers so instead I woke up to really adorable animated (free!) giphy's along with a sweet text that made me so happy -- so true about writing ur own message.
2. Free Bran cereal and grapefruits for breakfast.
3. V-Day party at school necessitated some shopping at dollar store -- at least it was a bit cheaper plus I used up lots of decorations, cards, stickers, etc. from years past. We even pulled out paper doily's from my daughter's card-making years and the kids made adorable, sloppy, construction paper valentines that made us all smile.
4. Did not buy a new top to impress my principal during an observation. Laundered my perfectly fine $3.00 Walmart top and not new pants and tried to focus on the kids 😉
5. Frugal Fails -- ate out several meals after some very good weeks. Will get back to my robo-meals and shopping and cooking . . .
The black speckles on the 80s frames are supposed to look like woodworm, from antique wood. (This is from the previous post about chalkboard frames, but comments are closed there.)
1 Polished off bits of end of life chips and assorted snack stashed from NYE to Superbowl Sunday... a smorgasbord of snackies ! ...and cleaned out the cupboard all in one swoop.
2. Have taken up printing grocery coupons from MyPoints..have not done that for years....I saved $10 in January Worthwhile. ..stacked with cartwheel.. made for some good dele of things I was going to buy anyway.
3. Found some really simple white (and black) long sleeve tops at Walmart .. very cute..on sale for $3 each... great for wearing under a cardigan to work on a Friday... with jeans or with pajama pants for a polished, comfy look at home. I bought 2 of each for me ...and some for a gift box for next Christmas for my daughters..
4.Target Red Card,I love you..Returned a Christmas gift I bought in error in November. No receipt, no tag, but I received a full refund!
5.Split a steak special at one of our favorite brewpubs last evening. We split it. A massive ribeye. $22...My husband thought it was average . I thought it was nicely grilled. Maybe I am just easy to please from the lazy joy of not cooking.
I love reading these lists! Here are my 5 things:
1) Did NOT celebrate Valentine's Day with my husband this year. Neither of us are very fond of the holiday and we try to express love to each other throughout the year. However, we had a nice dinner at home with our son and my mother, and shared some chocolate cake.
2) My mother brought over the cake. 😉
3) Continued eating cooked oatmeal with cinnamon frozen blueberries from the freezer each morning. It's healthy and very frugal. I picked the berries last summer.
4) I've been taking lentils and rice for lunch--very healthy and frugal! However, there have been so many snacks around work that one lunch lasted me for three days.
5) I'm trying to remember to turn off my battery operated wireless mouse when not in use! This will save battery life. A small thing, but the small things are important.
Because my dietitian has me on the FODMAP diet I am having to cook every meal. My food expense has increased while my dining out costs have dropped. The weather has cooled so the air conditioners are having a little break. We have been running the main system at 28 centigrade as well. That feels significantly cooler than the outdoors temp. I am planning a trip to Costco and will be taking a list in hand. My haircut will happen at the same time. We have run out of bottled water. Every guest who visits is offered water and I know there are cheaper ways of doing this but this is my choice for now. The family have been drinking from reusable containers.
Good luck everyone.
I can imagine how hard the FODMAP is!
1. Valentine's dinner was inexpensive Italian take out fromlocal mom and pop restaurant rather than going out for an expensive meal.
2. Excepted the gift of my parents 2003 Toyota with very low mileage rather than replacing one of our two higher mileage cars with a new car with monthly payments!!!!
3. Made meal plan, shopped grocery sales, cooked meals
4. Packed lunches.
5 bought cheap belt at thrift store for the leather. Son needs leather "strop" to sharpen whittling knife. Belt was 1/2 off, $2!!!!
Yay for a free car!!
These past two weeks have been an up and down roller coaster for us financially, so I feel like one week I may have splurged and now this week I'm pinching every penny I can. It is very odd to know that my frugal mindset keeps me thinking about "every thing I do" and asking myself if it is frugal or not. At some times I feel as though I over think it and drive myself crazy, but I know, in the end, that I'm saving us money. So here are my frugal wins and fails of the past week or so.
I'll start with my frugal fails first:
1. Spent about $16 for myself and two kids to go to the local museum on Saturday. Our 2 year old is free, so I only had to pay for myself and the 4 year old. Yes, I did spend the money but the kids had a blast and we really needed something different to do on a Saturday morning. It was nice to get out on a cold winter day. Here is the frugal part of it: I learned that our local library has museum passes that you can check out for the week, so if we decide to go again, we will check out the passes from the library. I just love our little library!
2. That same day I decided that we would go to a restaurant that we never go to because I had a BOGO coupon. Though I did pay a bit more than what I had expected to pay for fast food, I came home with another meal for myself.
3. Still on that same day (oh boy, that wasn't the best day) I went into an outlet store (now, this is a true outlet...not a brand name retail store) and got my son a John Deere shirt (which he wears almost every day) as well as two shirts on clearance for my daughter. I needed warmer socks (because we are keeping the heater lower in our house) so I found some on clearance as well. I spent 19.99 for all. Again, not great.
Ok, onto what went GREAT this week.
1. Valentine's Day was celebrated by the kids and I dipping Oreo's in white chocolate and covering them in sprinkles (all ingredients we already had) for daddy as well as using cards that I had in my stash. The kids had a valentine's day party at daycare and again, we used cards that I already had. Last year I purchased some kids cards when they were super cheap after the holiday. And I made the decision NOT to send a treat (lollipop, etc.) with the cards. I donated juice boxes to their class party and decided that was enough. The majority of those treats that came home with my kids, were stuff that I'm not interested in them eating.
2. My mother sent the kids cards in the mail and sent along with their cards some leftover valentine's that she had laying around her house. So my stash is stocked!
3. The BEST BEST BEST frugal thing to talk about is the fact that my raise (2 years waiting for it to happen) will finally take effect in our pay tomorrow! It's not much, but it is a bit more each month.
4. I submitted paperwork to my student loan holder to be considered for their Public Servant Loan Forgiveness program. I work for a state university and if I am accepted, I will have all of my loans forgiven (and my monthly payment cut by 60%) in 10 years. Pray for me!
A raise is a super duper wonderful thing! Yay!
It's all in the eye of the beholder,but I would not categorize the museum fee as a frugal fail. Quality, educational entertainment and time together is a worthy investment in my book.
Museums rock! We finally got a yearly membership to save money. We get into the museum for free AND the planetarium! I wish our library had admissions to check out. What a neat concept!! I think you did well at the outlet, 3 new shirts and warm socks for $20!!!
Since I'm largely dependent on rideshare services I compare lyft and Uber prices when I need to get somewhere. Yesterday morning the combination of waiting until after rush hour and comparing prices saved me $19.
We were worried my illness was progressing unusually quickly – turns out I was simply not eating or drinking enough! That's very easy and frugal to fix – more so than testing and medication.
I have a girls weekend with my sister, and her military discount saves us a ton of cash.
Despite being insanely busy my husband has been cooking more. God bless.
I am so glad that you were able to feel better by fixing eating and drinking. Yay!!