Five Frugal Things | a free $475 repair, for starters!
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1. I took my laptop in for a free $475 repair.
My Apple laptop (which I bought refurbished some years back) started having a screen issue in the last year. It looks cloudy around the edges, almost like the screen is smudged and needs to be cleaned.
But the problem is under the glass, and no amount of cleaning fixes it.
I googled to see what the problem was and discovered there was a possibility that Apple would fix this for free, despite my laptop being out of warranty.
So, I made an appointment at the Apple store and as it turns out, they do indeed cover the whole repair for free!
I'm getting a brand new screen, and this would normally cost $475.
(!)
One sad bit of news is that I am going to lose my adorable Snoopy laptop decal, but it's ok. A new decal is much cheaper than a new screen.
2. I got a bacon rain check.
It was on sale for $1.99, but all they had left was one iffy-looking package which seemed to have lost its seal.
So, I asked for a rain check, which will work out just fine. I didn't NEED the bacon right now anyway...I was just buying it because it was on sale.
3. I listed four books for sale.
We're done with our homeschool year, which means I can start selling the non-consumable books that Zoe's done with.
(Lisey and Sonia's non-consumable books get handed down, not sold, obviously.)
I know I could probably get more money by selling them mid summer when more homeschool moms are shopping, but I just want them out of the house now!
4. I glued some wooden hangers.
Two of mine started coming apart, so I used some wood glue to put them back together.
You can't really clamp hangers properly because of all of their curved edges (the clamps slip right off!), but I think my glue job is going to hold. Time will tell!
5. I glued the bottom of Lisey's door back together.
Lisey's cat has been scratching at the bottom of her bedroom door, so we bought a cat door (this cute one!)
But the wooden piece at the bottom of the door had come loose, and that needed to be fixed before we installed the cat door.
So, I took the door down, glued the piece in, clamped it, and once it was dry, hung the door back up.
Now we just need to install the actual cat door and we'll be in business.
1) I need dishes when we move this summer, as this is the first time in 15 years I'll be living in a house that doesn't come with them. I was planning on just going to a thrift store and buying whatever (my kids are probably going to just break half of them anyway), but then I mentioned this to my mother-in-law, who mentioned it to her friend, who just happened to have recently helped HER friend de-clutter in what sounded like a real "Hoarders" kind of situation, and he had this HUGE set of dishes that he was getting rid of. More than I need. Good quality, if kind of odd pastel colors. But again, I expect a lot of attrition. 🙂
2) I've been teaching my older boys to clean their bathroom, which means they spray a LOT of cleaner all over the place. Because spraying is the funnest part. However, since their cleaner is just diluted white vinegar, they can spray away and I can just re-fill as needed. Plus, no worries about chemicals in their mouth or eyes or whatever.
3) This one is to help others be frugal: I read the first two books of a trilogy that I got from our library system, but they didn't have the third and final book. Annoying. So I bought it and after I finished it, I donated it to the library.
4) I really want to bring my dog to a groomer to get rid of her winter coat that she's shedding all over the place. Instead, however, I've been diligently brushing her every time I'm outside without a baby in my lap, and I'll wash her with the hose when it gets warm enough. She's really too old to sit in a cage at the groomer's anyway, and I guess this saves me $60 or so.
5) This one is a non-frugal thing: On Saturday we went to the grocery store just before dinner when we were out and about, and I decided FOR ONCE to get prepared food so I wouldn't have to cook. Fifteen dollars later, I had a rotisserie chicken, potato chips, cut-up watermelon, and already shucked corn on the cob (steamed in the microwave, wrapped in a wet towel, so it wasn't really cooking). It was expensive, not particularly healthy, not really enough food for the five of us, and didn't taste great. A good reminder of why I literally almost never buy prepared food.
Chuckling about the attrition. So true in the small kid stage of life.
Hi Kristen! Beautiful days' here in Vancovuer BC! Worth the trip for border folk...
A simple, if off the beaten path kind of frugal suggestion...I have a CNIB white can with black handle and rubber black tip at bottom of cane. The tip of the cane is red paint...I understand the cane reflects of car head lights, so forth.
Anyway, I needed some kind of covering on handle of cane for comfort of the hand i use, (right hand). Fried, Francois, looked around some & found (last week) a cloth painter's glove which he washed, dried, and turned inside-out. Then, Francois scissored-off the fingers' and then fitted the cloth over the curved part of the handle. Hurrah and Praise the Lord and shake Francois' hand (at least treat him to McDonald's, eh?! The cloth fits and is comfortable for now.
Test will come when it rains (could be soon) here in beautiful Vancouver BC. We will see how cloth holds up & then make adjustments as needed.
Best,
Richard W. Zorniak
Vancouver BC, Canada
One tip on library books for future reference - you can request your library buy a certain book and they often will. I tried this recently myself, and I had the book within a week or so of requesting it!
That is good to know, and probably would work in most large libraries. Our village library is so tiny and has such limited funds, I figured it was a good deed to add to their collection myself.
Our tiny library does this. I've requested Ginger Zee's book and another my hubby's former therapist recommended.
1. I finished getting all of my gardens in. I am ready for free homegrown veggies and herbs
2. Made a strawberry garden. Used free compost from the town mixed with the dirt. Used a mix of different stones leftover from various projects as the border. Used a fence that I took from someone's garbage pile several years ago to keep the dogs out. It cost me $6 for the plants.
3. Used digital coupons, paper coupons, rain checks and sales to pay the lowest price possible for our groceries. Then did Ibotta and Kelloggs to get even more back.
4. Did 2 offers from Kelloggs to get free items. 2 Eos lip balms and a reusable water bottle. My girls will love them.
5. Cooking from scratch and making extra for lunches.
The first two frugal things were new ones for me. 1 I made croutons from stale home made bread. 2 Harvested dill from my garden and dried it, right away. I used the oven method to dry it. 3 Made French toast with old bread. 4 Air dried most laundry on racks as it is pollen season and can't hang it out due to allergies. 5 Washed zip bags and cereal liner bags for re-use.
Homemade croutons are so good, aren't they? Very snackable.
We have that cat door and love it. It keeps the dog out of the litterbox room. Don't ask what the dog does with the waste in the litterbox. Ugh.
Ooh, that's good to hear that it's a decent cat door. We read reviews to help us choose one, but that's only so foolproof.
The $400 fix for free sounds awesome!
Hubby and I cleaned up our house and storage this past weekend. We're having a community yard sale this Sat, so I'm looking to earn some extra income hehe. I'll try my best not to buy anything, but the temptation is so real!
Where have you found to be the best place to sell homeschool curriculum? I have some that I’m needing to sell, but can’t decide where I want to list them.
I have the same problem with my macbook screen. I have always been carful when I've touched it for any reason and clean with a glass cloth and yet is is cloudy and streaky all over. I should look into this to see if I can get mine replaced too.
Yes! Take it over to them and see what they say. Totally worth a shot!
My big frugal thing this week was my very cheap treat.
I love smoked salmon. The downside is that I don’t like the price. I was at the supermarket and wandered past the clearance section. There were 10 packages of smoked salmon marked down to 59 cents each - 90% off. I bought all of them. There is no way I was going to pass up a full kilogram of smoked salmon for $5.90. It wouldn’t have been a good deal if they weren’t shrink wrapped, but because they were they freeze beautifully.
That's awesome about the salmon!
1. Our garden is starting to produce lettuce! This is our first plant we are able to harvest this year! I also can't wait for those "free" veggies.
2. Had to work on Saturday for several hours. It is a bummer to work on a Saturday, but the comp time will help with our vacation days!
3. Over the weekend we used some "free attraction" tickets that were found in Easter eggs at our local egg hunt. We were able to ride bumper boats, indoor climbing and go carts all for free! I was appalled at the total cost that I saw on the register! We still have several more freebies for another outing.
4. Another event that we attended this weekend was the Big Apple Circus. I write for a mommy blog and was given tickets. I was pleasantly surprised and how classy this circus turned out to be. The tight rope walker was the guy that walked over the grand canyon!! Amazing stunts and very family friendly (no scary clowns!)
5. My husband gave me heck for this one! My nephew was in town this weekend and we visited the Goodwill. I spotted a pair of vintage Nike's in amazing condition that I intended to sell on Ebay. They turned out to be my nephew's size and he asked to buy them. I looked up my comps and gave him a $10 discount, but I still made $12! (do I feel guilty? nope...he sells on Ebay too and understands the business...plus the boy ate me out of house and home)
Umm, that cat door is gonna be ADORABLE!! I love it. And kitty will too, I'm sure!
We installed that same cat door recently and it's adorable! 🙂
A week of small frugalities at best, and a couple of fails.
1. For the short road trip yesterday, packed sandwiches, a lot of fruit, and drinks. FAIL: realized I was near a place I really like but is too far away to go to, and I bought both bulgogi and black bean shrimp with rice.
2. Bought 2 qts farm-fresh strawberries from a stand. Tasty and inexpensive. FAIL: also bought cheese and 2 jars of tasty things.
3. Called, before making a last-minute dermatologist appt, to see if the dr would get useful info even though the was on the mend. Result: she only wants to see if when the rash is at its worst. Result: no wasted dr appt.
4. Making progress, if slowly, on eating down my freezer and pantry (despite the fail in #1).
5. Prepping to take 1 larger bag rather than my preferred 2 smaller ones on an upcoming trip, in order to save on checked-baggage fee.
6. I took 2 months off from the gym to take of an issue. I made sure my membership was on hold and not being charged. Before restarting my membership, I look a hard look at my summer and decided I would go no more than 2x/week. So when I restarted, I opted for less access/lower fee.
7. The gym will be closed for a week for refurbishment. I will make sure that my membership is discounted accordingly. Word is that the management hasn't thought about this issue yet. (Sheesh. Can you tell it's a small gym?)
1. Made some cash at neighborhood yard sale. More than anything I just wanted to get rid of unneeded stuff.
2. Mother in law was thinning her beets plants, I replanted them in my garden.
3. Didn’t go grocery shopping all week.
4. Made a dessert for potluck from ingredients I already had.
5. Cooked birthday dinner for my husband instead of going out to a restaurant. It was delicious, cost a fraction of the price, and didn’t have to find babysitter.
6. Not a frugal one. Insurance is refusing to cover my infants crazy expensive special formula.
What a cute cat door! I'm super jealous of whomever gets to go through it. 🙂
1) I bought 10lbs of grapes at $0.77/lb. I'm stopping for more today. Frozen grapes are my favorite summer treat and you can't beat that price!
2) I borrowed Spanish language graphic novels from my public library. I am previewing some to maybe use in my Spanish composition course, but they are very hard to purchase inexpensively in the US. Now I can check out some options before taking the plunge and assigning one.
3) I bought my favorite snack veggies (grape tomatoes and sugar snap peas) at Costco instead of at the grocery store. They're significantly cheaper at Costco and are usually higher quality.
4) I checked the work supply closet before buying any more index cards. There were plenty. It's only a $0.50 savings, but I need them for work.
5) I batched errands. Blood work, grocery shopping, mail, library, all in one run. Yay!
We're adjusting into day 1 of summer break & I already need a moment to read blogs:) Pray for us haha!
1) For my daughter's birthday party we hosted breakfast at the park. Muffins & juice were easy & an inexpensive way to feed a crowd. The kids all loved it & clean-up was a breeze. It was great to catch up with friends too.
2) My toddler stepped on my (newish) sandal and broke the ankle strap. Thankfully it's a buckle strap so I tossed the broken part & could still re-buckle it with what's left of the strap. Kids haha!
3) I picked up some clearance writing pads/letter copy work/pencils throughout the year that we can now use for my 1st grader that needs the practice.
4) We had a ton of store reward points that saved us $1/gallon gas recently when the tank was empty.
5) I'm de-cluttering, giving some things as gifts to friends who would appreciate them, and donating the rest to the thrift store. It's free mental/home space cleared up & giving makes you feel good.
Aww, poor kitty! We plan to install a heavy duty cat door in the side of my office. That's a labor of love, but it'll likely save electricity--no more opening and closing the door for Zap.
This week:
1. I checked my local library for books on my to-read list, but left empty handed. Instead of buying new, I went to Half Price Books for new-to-me books. I still spent money, but it was worth the value to me.
2. It was my father in law’s birthday this weekend. We gathered at our house and threw a giant chicken-frying party. I made mashed potatoes and mac ‘n’ cheese. It cost money of course, but nowhere near what it would have cost to go to the movies or eat out.
3. My sister in law brought over some watermelon this weekend because she had too much on her hands. We decided to make wine from it! Hopefully we’ll have watermelon wine in time for the Fourth of July.
4. I took a tedious 6-hour safety course to score a 5% discount on our insurance.
5. I used my freelancing income (which is separate from our normal income) to book myself a solo writing retreat for this weekend. I desperately need some time to myself to recharge and focus on writing. I’m so excited!!
Try masking tape or painter's tape (or duct tape) to hold parts while glue is drying - not as good as clamps, but I've found it works!
The cat door is too cute.
1. By coincidence, our pet door to the outside, which has had a "temporary" flap-fix on it for about five years, finally needed a new flap again. We still haven't found the same size replacement flap anywhere, so I made a new flap out of some flexible plastic again, and put it on the pet door frame. Another five years or so? Maybe. Out of pocket for replacement flap, zero dollars.
2. We often shop for groceries after church, since we are in a bigger town for church, with better stores than the town we live in. We sometimes eat at the store's deli for lunch, but lately, I've been packing lunches from home and heating them in the store's microwave. I always shop there after I eat, so I don't feel I'm taking advantage of them.
3. I gave myself a manicure. I rarely wear polish, so it's just shaping my nails most of the time.
4. We had too many tomatoes to eat at once, so I cooked them into sauce and canned the sauce in a thrift-store stock pot, with a thrift-store little roasting rack in the bottom. It uses much less heat and water than my water-bath canner. I used a Tattler re-usable canning lid.
5. The heat's been fierce, so I cooked a chuck roast in the pressure cooker, to use less energy and produce less heat.
1. Refrained from grabbing breakfast via drive through one morning I was running late. I quickly whipped up some pre diced peppers and onions and scrambled some eggs. Added a little cheese and hot sauce and wrapped it a tortilla to go.
2. Mastered cold brew coffee at home to make iced coffees. This time of year in Texas hot coffee doesn't cut it for me. I figure it's at least a couple bucks saving per drink.
3. Made 14 assorted greeting cards for different holidays and celebrations coming up. At 3-4 per card. That's a lot of savings especially since I used gifted blank cards and scrapbooking materials I already had.
4. Used a gift card to eat out this weekend. It was a restaurant we had never been to. We each got a full meal and a burger to go. There was about $5 left on the card. We are moving soon and won't have this option where we are going so I gave it to a gentleman that came in after us. No sense in wasting free money!
Re: #4, I see you did a nice thing with it. Should it happen again, see if the place will cash in the card's balance. In most states, amounts less than $5.00 have to be cashed out if asked, but purveyors seldom offer. In CA, I think it's $10. Good luck with your move!
1. I froze some quickly browning bananas for smoothies instead of getting grossed out and tossing them.
2. I checked out ebooks from the library and read them on my iPad.
3. I made a travel lego set from a clearance priced lunchbox and legos we already owned (we have SOOOO many legos) as part of my nephew's 3rd birthday present. He and his mom love it!
4. Used some borderline mushy strawberries in a smoothie instead of tossing them out.
5. Took some lemons from our tree. water, and sugar to the park and had the kids make their own lemonade. It was a little activity but a subtle reminder that real food doesn't come naturally from packages.
Just wanted to say that when you are ready for a new decal, let me know! I make them!!
Oh, bummer! I already ordered a replacement Snoopy yesterday. Oy.
While it would've been $475 to repair the laptop through Apple, if they made their devices more repairable it wouldn't have cost near that. Sorry, IT Hardware guy rant over. 😉
Not a lot of frugal stuff for me; just trying to stay afloat as work has been pretty toxic and home hasn't been much fun.
1.) Worked some overtime so ... more money for me.
2.) Decided to finally change up my cash safety net funds and instead of earning 1% in a savings account, I moved a good chunk to a CD. It's not the biggest money maker but it is liquid and literally zero effort and zero risk.
3.) My wife wanted to get AAA but it's stupid expensive for what we'd use it for. For her piece of mind I got roadside assistance through our auto insurance for $1 per month, per car. That's pretty cheap insurance and piece of mind.
4.) Paid for my car insurance in full on my credit card. I got a pay in full bonus and since I never carry a balance on the card, I'll earn points on the transaction!
5.) Umm ... ate leftovers, but that's normal around here. Dinner has been getting pretty uninspired lately.
That's true about the laptop. On the other hand, we've had a bunch of non-Apple laptops in the past, and the build quality is just not as good as the Apple (aside from this screen issue, which they're handling like a recall, kinda.)
Mr. FG is an IT guy too, and he built me a Windows desktop...but for laptops, he really does like Apples better. So far, I'm inclined to agree with his opinion, as long as my Apple doesn't start having other issues.
New to this!
1. Had a small yard sale to unload baby stuff and kids clothes.
2. Wanted to order pizza last night as we often do on Sunday but instead pulled out some frozen $1 supreme personal pizzas for me and the kids with apple slices for dinner much cheaper!
3. Built a compost bin a few weeks ago and have been using regularly. Doesnt save now but hopefully in the future.
4. Bought a $4 bottle of nail polish instead of a beginning of summer pedicure at the salon.
5. Went yard sale shopping and got the kids a couple board games (no missing pieces yea! ) for $1 each. My son loves games.
1. Found more garlic scapes in the garden -- loving that I can cook this part now, and then harvest the garlic in the fall!
2. The kids are loving finding the ripe strawberries in the garden from free plants that we got from family.
3. Not signing my kids up for the many, many expensive summer options. We will stick with community swim lessons ($30/two week session), the library and hiking, along with a couple of extra special day camps that are relatively affordable.
4. Successfully avoided eating out the last several weeks. It's always amazing how quickly that adds up!
5. Turned my oldest's pants into shorts to hand-down to his little brother. They are always out at the knees, but at least I won't have to buy new shorts for the little one.
The eating out...man, I know what you're saying. When you have several kids, it gets pricey in a jiffy.
1. My mom took the kids and I out for dinner when we came to visit. Yay!!
2. We enjoyed the first meal of greens from our garden.
3. We needed a third camping chair for our children and I was able to find one at the thrift for $2.
4. I washed and folded a few loads of laundry without forgetting and having to re-wash or fluff to get the wrinkles out. (I'm going to take that one)
5. I made a boat load of chili for meals and the freezer and to take camping. I LOVE LEFTOVERS!
1. We found a huge box of Duplos for $3 at the thrift store
2. Kroger had nice deals on cheese (32oz for $5), laundry detergent (1.99), and salad dressing ($1.49, but I got 2 for $.99 with a coupon)
3. We found lots of great books for just $.50 each at our library's book sale
4. My daughter had a giftcard to use at Books a million and was delighted to find a huge selection of YA books in the bargain area, which stretched the card even more.
5. I have been slaving away on writing out study guides and assignment sheets for homeschool this upcoming year. I try to spend less than $100 on curriculum each year, so that means a lot of the planning falls on my shoulders...but I kinda like it:)
Let’s see..
1. Was treated to several free meals out this week. A very nice treat!
2. Attended a semi formal 70th Birthday pastry this week. I needed a dress as I’m not a semi formal kind of gal. I found 2 dresses that I loved at a local thrift store, $5 each plus shoes, $3. Both dresses are basic black and classics enough that I can wear them to other things. My husband and I counted the event as our date night and we got to see many of our dear friends.
3, we needed extra flooring for my son’s bearded dragon cage. He had been using felt, which needs washed and takes forever to dry. We were going to buy extra felt carpet to rotate in and out but at almost $20 a piece that seemed a lot. After doing some research we decided to create a slate floor, easy to clean, no real drying time, and it helps keep dragon nail short. We went to a flooring place and they not only gave us the skate for free but cut it to fit free of charge as well!
4. Said yes to some free food my girlfriend had left over. She went on a cooking spree and made too much lol. Enchilada? Yes please!
5. My husband brought a case of bananas home from work, more than we can eat. I’ve been eating them every day and sharing them with everyone I’ve seen this week! Pass the frugal forward!
Summer time! This is the first week of no school for the kids and me!
1) We are in the high season of baseball and softball season. Tonight's dinner it is deli sandwiches in the car on the way to a game in the next town. Saves stopping at fast food on the way.
2) We went thru the generous hand-me-downs for my daughter. She should be good for summer clothes and glancing at the rest of items we will have a nice start on back to school clothes too.
3) This one is an oldie but I will share here since you are talking laptops. I was careless and had liquid around my laptop. The keyboard only has a few letters that actually type their letter 🙁 One old keyboard later and I am back in business. I lost a lot of flexibility but it was a free fix for a 10+ year old laptop.
4) I will need new tires before winter comes. A friend was trying to juggle daycare coverage for her son over the summer. I am watching him for two weeks this month and she is willing to pay. An unexpected paying gig = new tires!
5) Chicken was a loss leader at a store we normally do not use. It was worth the special trip there to stock up. I spent yesterday cutting up and portioning it up. We should be good for several months now!
1. Cleaned out my closet and found two dresses: 1 from my pre-pregnancy days that fits again, albeit a bit differently, and 1 that was damaged when it was put in a washing machine, but I was able to fix it pretty quickly. 2 "new" dresses without spending a dime.
2. Called IKEA customer service and got a decent refund for a really marked up bunk bed that was delivered to our house. If you happen to shop at IKEA, don't opt for delivery; they're not set up to manage the influx of calls, and we spent 2 hours on hold (most of that time we were able to get other stuff done, thankfully.)
3. Menu-planned around what our garden is producing (no idea how exciting it is to say that after thinking we had lost our whole garden to a wind storm!)
4. Made yogurt (never thought I'd be okay with homemade yogurt after growing up on store bought, but now the store stuff is too sweet!), granola, and bread from scratch.
5. In rearranging and redecorating the kids' rooms I reused most of what we had before and painted some things with paint I already own, and generally didn't buy anything except paint, and aforementioned bunk beds. Pretty pleased with current expense for re-doing 2 rooms (but will be less pleased once we buy the trim and carpet. But some things are worth it. And not having splinters or carpet tacs continually hurting us is probably worth it.)
Woohoo for fitting into pre pregnancy clothes!
We have had a hot spell here! Beautiful sunny days but I have not had tons of energy for projects so this week has been more expensive than usual. I do have a few frugal wins though!
1. I cleaned out my closet, washed and repaired all my summer clothes.
2. I baked a blueberry cobbler for a parents´meeting instead of buying refreshments.
3. While going through the kids´old school materials, I tore out the used pages in half-full notebooks and saved the rest for random use.
4. Not at home, but while my students´cleaned out their lockers, we collected all the pens and pencils that were being tossed for use next year. Kids are always losing them anyway.
5. One good attempt but Fail! I planned on bunching a ton of errands together. I made it to the dump but got stuck at my next stop when I realized I had left my wallet at home:((
Thanks for a great blog!
1) I needed gift bags for my daughter's preschool teachers' end of year gifts. I bought plain white bags at the Dollar Tree, they come in a 3 pack and had my daughter decorate them. It was less expensive than buying individual bags and a good activity for here.
2) Dinner has been a hodge podge of random things most nights as I am trying to clean out the freezers.
3) One of my kids has lost interest in karate. We were able to extend her sibling's contract and let her stop. This is saving us $80 a month!
4) Currently we are saving no to camps, lessons, etc over the summer. We have two week long camping trips planned. We plan to take advantage of the library, parks, our pool, craft supplies we have on hand, and our zoo membership. My kids are so busy over the school year that we've found they really enjoy/need downtime in the summer. I am hoping that spending time at home will help make progress on lingering home improvement/decluttering projects.
5) My daughter is wearing a hand me down from her sister for her preschool graduation dress.