Five Frugal Things | a free quilt!

Let’s start with some smaller stuff first, and then we’ll get to the quilt.

1. I threw some blackberries into a smoothie

My container of blackberries was hiding behind a big bag of kale (whoops) so I accidentally let them get kind of squishy. 

So, I made a smoothie, using some homemade yogurt, a banana, the blackberries, and some mango I’d frozen when I had too many ripe mangoes at once (no one should feel sorry for me about that. Ha.) 

2. I prepped breakfast, coffee, and lunch for all 4 work shifts

In the last six days, I worked two days on, two days off, two days on (all 12-hour shifts this go-round), and to avoid spending money at work, I:

• made a batch of copycat Starbucks egg bites (for breakfast, with some toast and fruit)

• made coffee ahead of time and put it in the fridge for iced coffee

• put an Rx bar (lately the Aldi version) in my bag each day for a mid-morning snack because lunch is late at work!
• packed lunches of fruit, cottage cheese, a salad with a protein (chicken or shrimp), and chocolate

This does save me money, I am sure.

But honestly, I mainly do this so I have filling food options that don’t give me a blood sugar crash at work. I don’t want an after-breakfast or after-lunch slump! 

3. I got a free donut

I stopped into Safeway to buy some chicken, but I noticed there was a free donut offer in the app. So I said, “well, yes please.” and picked out an apple fritter. 

Because a girl can’t subsist entirely on produce, whole grains, and protein. 

A little treat is in order every now and then. 😉 

However, I did eat a bowl of chicken salad before the doughnut because that helps me not have a blood sugar crash. 🙂 

4. I used my free pizza coupon

I had gotten a free Ledo’s cheese pizza coupon back in December when I donated blood at my hospital. And I remembered it expires at the end of June.

So after one of my shifts, I stopped by a nearby Ledo’s and got my pizza. Free dinner for me, no thinking required.

5. I mended a free quilt

I got this quilt (which needed mending) on my Buy Nothing group months ago.

It has just sat here ever since, waiting for me to get around to it.

(We all know why.)

But now that I do have some time, I tackled it.

I was able to sew up the blue binding that remained, but it did not entirely cover the edge. 

In the spirit of quilting (a use-up-fabric art!), I cut a piece from some blue cloth in my rag bag that was vaguely close to the binding color.

I sewed it on, rather imperfectly. And the color is imperfect.

However, the repair is unremarkable from a distance, and besides, I can just put that edge of the quilt in an inconspicuous spot on my bed. The important part is that it is functionally repaired.

And now I have a more summer-appropriate covering for my bed (my down comforter is a little too toasty for summertime!)

I found the thread for this repair in the sewing caddy from the abandoned house.

It’s full of random thread colors, which are very handy for mending!

And a final bit of quilt frugality: the quilt came to me in a trash bag, so I put it to use after fixing the quilt. 😉 

Something just occurred to me: this repair is reminiscent of the time I fixed Zoe’s fish quilt (also imperfectly!)

Your turn! What frugal things have you been up to lately?