Five Frugal Things | a Halloween freebie
1. I got a free Reese's pumpkin
I noticed that my Royal Farms app was offering me a free Reese's pumpkin yesterday...so when I was out to pick up milk, I popped in and got my freebie.
A slightly related note: these homemade peanut squares are kind of like a Reese's experience, except cheaper. And they're really easy!
2. I bought a pink knife because it was cheaper
I have been making do with two paring knives; a Good Grips knife I've had since 1997, and a wood-handled knife I rescued from the abandoned house.
But man, I feel like I am always washing them because I guess I use paring knives a lot!
So, I looked at the best buy recommended by America's Test Kitchen, and they gave high marks to this Victorinox knife.
It came in a lot of different colors and I noticed the pink one was cheaper. So, that's what I ordered. 😉
A lot of times this is true on Amazon...if you scroll around through the different colors, the price can sometimes vary a lot!
3. I made granola
I haven't made my clustery granola since I moved here (and not for a while before that either, since I wasn't at my house.)
I've almost grabbed a package of premade granola at Aldi a few times, but I got the necessary ingredients for my homemade granola last time I was at the store and I made a batch on Saturday.
I'd forgotten how quick and easy this is; it seriously takes about 5 minutes to mix it up, and then once it's in the pan, you just have to bake it, with no stirring required.
Super easy!
And way, way, way cheaper than premade granola.
Also: very delicious.
4. I submitted a rebate for my contact lenses
I got my year's supply, and there's a $100 rebate on this brand.
So naturally, I was not going to pass that by. $100 is a very worthwhile rebate amount.
Happily, I was able to do it all online in about 10-15 minutes, including scanning my receipt and the contact lens UPCs. That's a good return on my time!
5. I...
- got another $5 reward through my Erie insurance app
- used Get Upside to fill my gas tank (use code AFF25 to get $0.25 off per gallon on your first fillup)
- used scrap paper to make to-do lists
- made coffee at home
- cooked lots of meals at home
—I used a 40% off coupon and a $5 rewards voucher to get a frame for 42 cents at Michael’s. I’d tried thrifting for one, but 9 x 12” frames just don’t turn up that often. The text notifying me of the $5 voucher arrived literally as I was walking into the store to get the frame, thinking only of my 40% coupon—timing!
—Fresh whole onions were cheaper by the pound than frozen, diced onions, so I bought several to dice and freeze, myself.
—More kitchen victories: Past Me did Future Me a solid by marinating pork chops, making hardboiled eggs, and packing my husband’s work lunches for several days running. The pork chops were waiting for us after what I knew would be a long day, and the work lunches saved me when several dinners didn’t result in an extra serving to pack for the next day.
—We stopped by a local pumpkin patch on Halloween, when they were clearing out the leftovers. Carving pumpkins were buy one, get one, and pie pumpkins were only $1 each. We limited ourselves to two big carving pumpkins and four pie pumpkins, for a grand total of $9. LOTS of pumpkin purée in the crockpot, coming up!
—Several heirloom seed stores were having 50% off sales, so I stocked up on a vegetable garden starter kit and several varieties of bird, bee, and butterfly friendly wildflowers. Next year’s big project is converting our lawn to clover and local wildflowers, with a vegetable garden and a recycled stone patio in the backyard. I refuse to water plain old grass when we live in a naturally dry area, and mowing is the enemy.
—Bonus future frugality: My husband is on a specialty medication that requires monthly labs—or at least, it did! We just passed 18 months, which means he can do quarterly labs instead. These labs aren’t covered by insurance this year, so we’ll happily take fewer!
@N,
I'm fascinated with the idea of converting lawn to clover. I need to look into this....we have a lot of lawn that we don't water, and it always looks terrible. Not just because of not watering, but the soil is poor, the builders of our home used grass seed instead of sod, it's riddled with weeds of all kinds....sigh.
@Liz B., It is SO easy. Buy a few pounds of clover seed online, and when it's planning to be rainy (or you can water, whatever), scatter it and you will see results. I've advised friends about it and done it myself. I scatter it by hand, nothing fancy needed. Just make sure it gets a decent amount of water afterwards and then again a bit later.
I've been a reader of yours for a while and just now commenting with Five Frugal Things.
--needed a new apron as the old one wore a hole in the middle (from rubbing against the counters?). I found one I had cut out but never sewed together in the fabric stash and will sew that one to use.
--used a 50% off JoAnn coupon to purchase more bias tape for the apron.
--brought a big homemade green salad and homemade dressings to the Halloween potluck at work.
--hubby and I walked trails around an old canal in our area, a place we both had never been to, but close to home.
--walked to the grocery store that's about 1 mile away when I needed just a few things. The cost of the items wasn't as low as other places, but no gas was spent and free exercise!
Kristen, keep up the good work of keeping us all accountable for our frugality. It truly helps having a like-minded community to share ideas and celebrate all the little wins!
@Heidi,
I agree, it is so nice to have a place where the mundane little things that add up over time are celebrated. And I love skimming through and getting inspired from all the things people are doing!
With regards to our leakage: It was hard to find a plumber due to the scarcity of skilled workers. We called a number of companies that told me they do not take on new customers. This means you are last in line if you 've not had any problems in the recent past. Then I spoke to a company who could not plan any time before January 23 (!), but referred us to two larger companies a little further away. One of them took pity on us, added us to their customer database, and planned a survey of the leakage. And then the repair. We did not call around for competitive fees as their fee sounded reasonable and they have been professional in dealing with us so far. We are relieved to have this sorted out so we can use running water again!
FFT:
Until we had our leakage fixed, we did not use bottled water for drinking water but refilled kettles and bottles that were suitable for beverages;
We also still cooked at home, mostly one pot dishes to limit the washing up;
I upcycled a cardigan by sewing on pretty buttons that I had taken off a wornout cardigan;
I did not swith on the tv at night because I recognized I was tempted to watch only because I was restless (because of leakage etc) and it is not good for my sleep;
I resisted the tempation to "buy lives" in the otherwise free app I use to study Spanish. Half an hour a day is sufficient to make progress, and there are (free) series on Netflix and books in the library to challenge myself a bit further. The app has a Leader scoreboard which adds a competitive element, but does not necessarily contribute to my learning goals.
1. went through Rakuten to buy Halloween candy at Walgreens, using their in app coupons. So got great deals and money back through Rakuten and then my Fetch App.
2. FINALLY got my $310 rebate from my year supply of contacts. I will agree the updated rebate processes are so very easy! Loved just scanning all the info and UPC via my phone!
3. Scored some great markdown pricing on bone in chicken on Sunday. Tossed it all into a dutch oven with aromatics and cooked it down. Cooled and broke it all down. 3 quarts of shredded chicken and broth and 3 pints of just broth into the freezer for future easy meals! (had to do it right away as it was trash night!)
4. NEEDED an oil change so went to Walmart after work yesterday. wandered the store with my Ibotta app open. snagged a bunch of "free after" items, stuff for a baby gift and grabbed stuff I needed to get for work also( frugal on my time cause I dropped off at work on my way home!)
5. spent time on my grocery apps clipping coupons that bring sale items stupid cheap! Stopped in and picked those items up!
@jes, I use the Fetch app to scan receipts and I was wondering when you do a grocery pickup order if there is a way to get credit for it in the Fetch app. There is not a true receipt to scan in so I am losing out on all of those potential points every time I do grocery pickup!
The latch on my son’s lunchbox broke and I messaged the company and they are sending us a new one.
Used up a whole bag of Costco power greens in time without throwing any away! Eating that much baby spinach and kale before it goes bad is always a challenge but we didn’t waste any.
Stopped at the more expensive further away grocery store on my way home for work. There wasn’t a ton of clearance but I got two heads of iceberg lettuce marked down and three packages of chicken breasts marked down as well.
Used our state park pass to hike in the beautiful fall colors as a family.
Trimmed my bangs at home.
We've not been in our normal routine as we had to travel for a wedding this past weekend, but. . .
-I hardboiled eggs to eat on our trip for breakfast and baked some homemade bread (using up leftover cornmeal mush) for our lunch on the road.
-This is a long one. Last spring we canned a bunch of beets we'd acquired cheaply. We followed the canning instructions, but they turned out way too salty to eat enjoyably. We recently finished a large jar of refrigerator pickles my husband made this summer with cucumbers from our garden, so I tried an experiment. I reboiled the pickle juice, added a little more sugar, drained the salty beets, and added them to the pickle juice. I brought it to a boil and then put the beets and juice in a clean jar and put it in the refrigerator. Yesterday we tested out the beets, and they are nicely pickled and must tastier than before!
-I planned a meal for supper last night with what we had on hand instead of running to town for needed/wanted groceries.
-I checked out an app on my husband's phone while we were driving home so that I could see gas for more than 10 cents a gallon cheaper just a few miles down the road.
-We read library books, wore thrifted clothes, ate leftovers, and happily accepted beets from my in-laws from their garden.
@Jody S., Great save on the beets! The year I oversalted my canned beets, we ate a lot of borscht because I could leave out the salt and the beets would compensate. Your solution is genius.
Yum. I looooooooooove pickled beets.
@Jody S., Excellent beet save! Whoo hoo!
@Lindsey, Oooh, borscht is a great idea; we like borscht. Okay, my dad doesn't, but he can eat something else. Thank you for the idea!
1.) I got a deal on some cheap batteries at Target. Oddly enough it didn't include AAA which is what I really needed but I got some AAs. I use rechargables for most things but my thermostats and some clocks really only worth with the Alkaline cells.
2.) Used some Target Cartwheel offers. I got a $5 off gift card, 25% off a single toy and also some sales were had on some stuffed animals. So my niece and nephews are all done as far as Christmas shopping goes.
3.) Wife's car battery finally got replaced. We found a battery at Walmart for around $100. The local mechanics wanted over $200! So the moral of the story is to test it and find a good price on a battery before you're stranded.
4.) We got stuck out one night with no dinner, little time and zero desire to cook. We picked up an Aldi pizza instead of getting one from a restaurant. So not perfectly frugal but saved us a few bucks.
5.) Sold a pair of Converse my kid outgrew and barely wore. So at least I got some of my money back on them.
@Battra92, We have a local battery place (Battery Warehouse) that sells all sorts of batteries-- including car batteries. My husband has found their batteries to be way cheaper than anywhere else. . . and they install them, too. We have had zero complaints. Maybe you have a local battery chain store that is similar?
@Jody S., Nothing near me but I know of the stores you talked about.
Only two kids are young enough to want to dress up for Halloween, and we've saved enough costume pieces over the years that they were able to put together costumes without buying anything! Woo.
We only got about four trick-or-treaters (it was rainy and cool, and we're on a very quiet little cul de sac with no streetlights), so the leftover candy will be handy for occasional treats/desserts for quite a while. 😉 We are new to the neighborhood and didn't know how many kids usually roam the streets, so bought enough to make sure.
My youngest always likes to make Halloween into a "party", which consisted of me making mummy dogs, homemade popcorn, and watching Ghostbusters (which we bought years ago on Prime). My husband hauled out some old decorations, and we reused some electric lanterns to light the pumpkins. We played a card game and had a scavenger hunt, and he proclaimed it an "awesome" party.
We're planning a trip using a toll road, and my husband saved us money by getting transponders for the toll booths. I don't know quite how it works, but it is saving us money.
I forgot! I saved the seeds from the pumpkins and roasted them, as I do every year. They got gobbled up (as they always do)!
@Karen A., Oh yes, re roasted pumpkin seeds as well. So good!
@Battra92 and @Karen A., I'd be doing roast pumpkin seeds too if not for my recent gum grafting (big crunchy seeds are still a no-no). But I'm still looking forward to my annual Feast of the Abandoned Pumpkins, in which I pick pumpkins that look like especially good eating off curbs as soon as the homeowners discard them, and roast and freeze the flesh for future soups and other uses.
@Karen A., The transponder should save time as well. My impression of toll roads now is that they don't even have a cash line, or they have only one placed inconveniently to the side.
@A. Marie,
I've read through the comments about a half dozen times today since I'm home sick, and every time I read "the Feast of the Abandoned Pumpkins," I laugh out loud! Love that it's your annual tradition!
@A. Marie, In Keene, NH, they have rebranded their annual Halloween Festival as "The Gathering of the Gourds", which makes me laugh. I used to save the flesh and cook them as well, but aside from pumpkin pie nobody likes to eat pumpkin around here--and you can only eat so many pumpkin pies!
FFT, Treats (and One Trick) Edition:
(1) Sunday was DH's and my 43rd wedding anniversary, and Halloween is the Bestest Neighbors' 35th anniversary. The BNs treated me to an Indian takeout dinner at their house to celebrate both. DH's and my anniversary is a bittersweet occasion now, of course, but it's more sweet and less bitter to remember it with good friends.
(2) I used my leftover rice and tandoori dipping sauce on Monday afternoon to make a chicken, cauliflower, and carrot stew. Can't really call it a "curry," I suppose, but it was mighty good anyway.
(3) The one trick: I had to wait on Monday for a visit from my HVAC company, since the condenser box on my furnace went bust on Sunday morning. But since the company had inspected the furnace only 3 weeks ago, I was charged only for the new box and not for the labor. A small treat to offset the trick.
(4) I then put my house lights out at dusk and went down to another neighbor's who had invited interested adults over for drinks and a viewing of his collection of life-size automated Halloween puppets that moan, howl, etc. I was the only neighbor who took him up on the drinks, but we did get a handful of trick-or-treaters who were properly delighted with the puppets.
(5) And our autumn weather remains mild. Here in Central NY, we'll take all the mild weather we can scoop up before the snow flies.
@A. Marie,
Happy anniversary to you both. I hope you were able to see your husband on that day.
@A. Marie,
Our first wedding anniversary, which was the 43rd, after moving my husband out to assisted living, felt very odd, and I think bittersweet is a good way to describe it. My warmest thoughts to you both as you go through this.
@A. Marie, Happy Anniversary. I'm glad the neighbors made it a bit more festive for you.
I caught the cold from "heck" and my 25 year old vaporizer went up in smoke. Hubs offered to run and pick one up but I noticed a 35% off coupon for a pick up order at Rite Aid so that saved $10.
The girl I used to baby sit when she was a child owns Ethels and brought us a large bag of treats. They were delish!
Found more onions in my garden I missed digging up.
Improvised with making Shrimp Carbonara with what I had on hand. Still turned out yummy.
Used wood on hand to make a small wood shelter for our yard feral. It has a heated pad in it. He has an insulated one too.
@Mar, Wait - do you mean Ethel's Baking company? I just (for the first time) bought one of their treats (pecan pie bar). It was delicious!
1. I now have, for the first time, my very own (drumroll please) office!!! Today I brought in my own mug, tea, and milk (for the kitchen) and hopefully continue my stretch of not buying tea at work.
2. I made a ton of chicken and veggie dumplings for the freezer. I used to make plain chicken, but adding equal volume of vegetables both stretches the meat (which is 25% more costly now) and adds vegetables so that I don't have to make a side dish when we eat them 🙂
3. Similarly, I made bolognese l, using up some tired-looking mushrooms and the zucchini that I bought in a fit of optimism. I froze half.
4. Since we're now both back at work after parental leaves, it was time to take another look the the old budget. Whew, inflation is hitting hard. Had a good convo with my husband about it.
5. Since looking at the budget, I decided to set myself a challenge of not buying any food at work for the month of November (with the exception of my two call shifts this week.) We'll see how it goes!
@Meira @ meirathebear, I was so excited when I got my first office! I felt like the end of "Working Girl."
I guess I can say it was frugal of our past selves to decide to live in the country, where we get zero trick or treaters. I save on candy every year.
1. I found a nickel on the ground, something I never see anymore.
2. I'm packing an Operation Christmas Child box and found I had some things at home I could add. Some were left over from last year, like colorful hair ties, since the package I bought last year had about a zillion in it, or like the stickers I had bought this summer to give to the grandkids but never had. I check clearance shelves and racks, too, as the fall and summer stuff gets moved out. I've had good luck so far.
3. One of the things I found on clearance shelves was a 10-pack of little girls' underwear, but none of that particular size/style were priced, and they didn't ring up as clearance, which I pointed out. Some packs in different styles were priced at $5, so the clerk pondered a minute and asked me if I would pay $5 for the ones I had chosen. Why yes, I will. I thanked him profusely.
4. I cut up the good parts of an apple and a pear that had some bruising and roasted them with cubed sweet potatoes for a nice side dish.
5. I was hungry on Sunday after going to church then visiting DH, and I had an hour's ride home that took me right past Firehouse Subs, where they have gluten-free bread. I kept on driving and ate when I got home at 2:00, seven and a half hours after breakfast. It wasn't easy, but I hung in there.
--Inadvertent frugal thing: We were all going to go to the volleyball game directly after school yesterday and then go from there to trick or treat in the village. My plan was just to get everyone dinner at the concession stand. But then my daughter got sick, so we went home instead and everyone had bean and cheese quesadillas. Still would've rather been able to go to the game, though, despite the savings.
--I actually tried your granola recipe this weekend when I saw you had posted it. I haven't made granola in years. I wanted to use it for more bars, though, so I made a larger quantity--about 1.5 the recipe--and pressed it firmly into the pan before baking, then scored it when it was just out of the oven so I could break it more cleanly for bars. It worked pretty well. There's always some of crumbly bits that end up in a jar, but as some of my children prefer granola with just milk or in yogurt, they're happy with that. And I can send the bars to school for my youngest son's snack. Having another non-purchased option for that is always good. Especially one that uses the large quantity of quick oats and dried fruit we tend to get from the excess commodities deliveries.
--With the exception of a 12-dollar Tom Brady jersey/shirt thing, all Halloween costumes this year were either homemade or ones we already had.
--We got a whole flat of peaches from the excess commodities that unfortunately suffered from Commercial Peach Disease (i.e., simultaneously hard and dry and yet going bad). I peeled and cut them up and cooked them like baked apples, which made them at least edible.
--After pressure-canning a whole bunch of dried pinto beans, beans are once again being eaten somewhat regularly by my children. I find if they're not just ready to go in jars, I just don't want to deal with them with any frequency. I have to buy the lids for the jars, of course, but the convenience of having the beans ready to use is worth it to me. And anything that will supplement meat (nothing in our house will actually replace it 🙂 is a bonus.
@kristin @ going country, thanks for the idea with the 1-1/2 times granola recipe pressed into potential bars, gonna try that for #1 daughter who does a LOT of frugal wingeing at the store yet wants to have some grab-it bars for her late night gaming. If it works here, I will send them down with her next time she visits, to show her I love her.
As for the pressure canning of dried beans, I concur - if there are jars of cooked canned beans, they are used. if there are dry beans in the cupboard, they stay there ignored. Last week I finally soaked 8 cups each of black and garbanzo beans and canned them up the next day - my supplies were scraping the barrel and we use a lot of both. Pintos are next on the list..
1. A friend of the family's husband passed away last year. She had 2 lawn tractors. One was a John Deere that only had 200 hours on it and in great shape. It needed a new battery, one tire kept losing air and the seat had a small tear. She offered us the mower for free. Hubby went and picked it up. He bought a removable, sturdy seat cover, a new battery & "gunk" to fix the tire & only spent $90 for those items and now we have a riding lawn mower for home (we had taken our riding mower to camp since we have more acreage there). We just had a push mower for home. I'm so glad my husband is so handy!
2. Takeout dinner was calling our name last week. Instead, we cooked at home & only had to purchase some buns to go with a late dinner & saved a bit of $.
3. I drove a few more feet down the road to our Sam's club and got gas for $.43/gallon cheaper than stations just down the road.
4. Dropped off leaf sucker to father-in-law that we had borrowed last Friday and mother-in-law served us all homemade pizza for dinner. We help them out plenty of other times with other things, so this was nice!
5. I needed some health & beauty items and can usually get them at Dollar general with manufacturer's coupons cheaper than I can at Walmart. I saved $12 using coupons on my purchase.
6. My co-worker offered for me to look at some bags of clothes she was going to take to consignment store. I went thru them last night.....tons of items still had tags on them. I scored 7 pairs of pants....some jeans, work pants and capris (in smaller size than my normal since I've recently lost some weight) and 8 tops. My youngest daughter also chose 5 tops for herself. I gave the bags of clothing back to co-worker to take to consignment store. I thanked her for letting us look first.
Frugal stuff:
Continue to use grocery pickup. Stick to list. No impulse buys.
Used kohls cash to buy 3 Christmas presents.
Cook and eat at home! Serving soup every Saturday ( soup is frugal) until someone complains! Switching up the soup recipes. But my family does not love soup like I do.
Walk dog for exercise.
Packing lunch every day. Hate packing lunches!
@Stephanie, I am a big fan of grocery pick-up as well. It saves me from buying stuff that I don't need (usually dessert or bakery items).
I'm sick. Again. So I'm using more sick leave which is eventually frugal because I don't want to have a lot accumulated when I retire since they only pay out a portion of it. I'm not that close to retiring yet, but good to think ahead.
Bought groceries using the what can fit in the bag I'm carrying trick. Spent only 30 bucks at Aldi, so I can attest that this trick DOES work.
Roasted pumpkin seeds and made pumpkin pancakes again using one of last year's butternut squashes. Only have one big neck pumpkin and a few sad sweet potatoes left from last year's farm shares and I think they'll get used up.
The kids made their Halloween costumes at home, and they trick or treated the rooms at home instead of going out since we were sick. We just pretended each room was a different house. It meant they had less candy this way and didn't have leftovers for days on end.
Found Halloween pasta on clearance at Aldi, so we had that for dinner with frozen meatballs and jarred sauce. Easy, peasey, Halloween squeezey.
I can't seem to get the link for the knife to work. Just checking to see if the link is maybe broken or is there something wrong on my side? Thanks!
I was in Las Vegas for work last week, but I didn’t spend anything out of pocket. All my meals were covered by my company and I avoided all gambling. I didn’t pick up anything new for my trip, which is always tempting. I didn’t bring home any souvenirs which was fine with me and my family.
My husband and I are going on a much needed vacation this weekend. Again, I’m not picking up anything new for our trip and I’ve avoided going to the grocery store for meals this week. We’re doing a fridge/freezer clean out before we leave.
While we are out of town my parents will be housing/dog/grandson-sitting. I’ll make sure they have the staples that they will need in the kitchen to make meals for the three of them. This will be a huge cost saving for us to not have to board the dogs and gives my son extra time with his grandparents.
Since I was out of town right before Halloween we didn’t get a chance to carve our pumpkins (which I picked up from Aldi) so they will be around to be used as Thanksgiving decorations!
Continuing to read library books, make coffee at home, take leftovers for work lunches, work from home when I can to avoid gas consumption, stream free movies, use up samples of beauty products, making seasoning mixes and salad dressing from scratch, and repairing what I can before replacing.
I don't have five frugal things, just two hints. It is not just Amazon that discounts items because of color. I have saved over $30 on two bras by ordering an unpopular color from the manufacturer. Also, I have made the no bake peanut butter bars and they are fantastic. If you don't have enough graham crackers, you can sub round butter crackers such as Ritz for up to half the graham crackers. Still delicious.
I've been pretty frugal this past week other than higher than normal gas usage because I seemed to be driving my daughter everywhere lately. Granted, she's been very busy and we live rural so it's not like she can walk or ride her bike. I'm hoping with school field hockey season over, things will settle for her somewhat.
1. Bought very cheap harvest vegetables and spent the time to cut up and freeze. I did not blanch them as most will be used in soups and stews etc as we are not big fans of frozen vegetables. In my freezer I have in freezer bags - 6 heads of chopped cauliflower, 6 heads of chopped broccoli, 4 spaghetti squash (this is precooked), 10 lbs of cubed sweet potatoes, 10 lbs of sliced carrots, 10 lbs of diced onions. I paid 44 cents a head for cauliflower, and they paid me 12 cents for every head of broccoli. I did this by price matching these and used my grocery store point card, that's why they were so cheap for me. 10 lbs of onions, 10 lbs of carrots, 10 lbs of beets, 10 lbs of potatoes for $1.99 each at my No Frills. Sweet potatoes were $3.99. So when the prices go crazy this winter/spring I will be prepared because last year I refused to but cauliflower at $8.99 a head! I pan to pickle my beets too. Does anyone have any success with freezing potatoes?
2. Sold some more of my daughter's outgrown clothes. Put the money into the chickpea tin for something special....
3. One of our cats, Primrose, has to have special cat food from the vet for urine crystals (it just went up to $166 a bag! although it does last for about 3 months and cheaper than vet bills for urine crystals). Our vet is 20 minutes away but she is always closed when we drive right by for hockey. I ordered the food over the phone, paid by e-transfer and they put it out on their porch for me to pick up at 8 pm when driving my daughter to hockey. Living in the country really makes one think about unnecessary trips, especially right now with the ridiculous cost of fuel.
4. Ate at home every day, made coffee at home, packed lunches for my daughter, even for timekeeping in the evenings.
5. Picked up a pack of two personal size (16 inches) tower fans in clearance at Costco for $9.97, so that's $5 a fan. We are big fan lovers for sleep here so this is a great deal as we never seem to have enough and with my older daughter moving all her stuff to Toronto, we have even less now. So we're prepared for next summer's heat.
I guess that's it for me. I actually am taking a week off from chemo (or deferring my treatment by a week) to finish off the purge here. Will sell items of greater value and donate the rest. So I will hopefully have a very cleaned out house by next week.
@Leann,
RE: freezing potatoes. I've had some that were fine after cooking and freezing, but I had some that were so horrible once thawed that I ended up tossing them. Mushy doesn't even begin to describe it. I would advise looking up the varieties that freeze well before I tried it. Obviously some freeze well, or we wouldn't see so many bags of frozen fries, hash and tator tots.
@JD, That's been my experience too, some are good and some are beyond awful. I now make an extra one or two of a shepherd's pie base when we have it on the menu and do not add the potatoes. I do them the day we use the frozen base because of experiencing watery, runny thawed potatoes. Yuck.
1. I bought 2 packages of meat 50% off using the FlashFood app. If anyone wants to try it & get $8 their first purchase of $10 or more, use my referral code: BETH3WPYM
2. Between store coupons, sales, a $10 coupon that a grocery store sent me & Ibotta, I was able to get $43 of food for $9.
3. Used up the last of some congee (about 1/2 cup) that I made by adding it to tomato soup, making it tomato rice soup.
4. Last night, I gave out my stash of candy bars that I had bought using Swagbucks and thus were free. (I actually made about 5 cents profit per candy bar.) It took me real strength to not eat them!
5. Had dinner at my parent's house. As part of the meal, we reheated and shared the French fries that I had to order the day previously for a mystery shop.
BONUS: making fried green tomatoes with the last of them from the garden. We still have kale left & have replanted 2 parsley plants to pots and brought them indoors.
Forgot one other: I saw online that my partner's deodorant was on sale at Walgreen's $6.99 for a twin pack with 2nd 50% off. I sent my partner to get four. When he came back, I saw that he had paid $9.99 for the twin pack (!!!) with the 2nd half off. Since it is only a 7 minute walk to the store, I walked them back and found out that the online prices are often different (cheaper) than the in-store prices. So... I walked back home, ordered the exact same thing, walked back to the store and picked them up, saving $10.
@BettafrmdaVille, Now that's frugal dedication! Great job on the deodorant!
I must thank Kristen for introducing me to the sweater shaver because I used mine to clean up the inside of a pair of winter pajamas that had gotten pilly. Then ran new elastic through the waistband and now have such a comfy pair of pajamas.
For the other four frugal things, I cut my husband's hair; mended the toe of my suede house slippers that had a tiny hole: it now matches the other one that was mended previously; did a lot of price comparisons to find the best deals and stocked up on dishwasher detergent, bar soap, cat treats, cereal, and coffee because it's not like stuff is going to get cheaper in the next nine months; and salvaged three abandoned apples from the office fridge.
1. Nerds are my 8yo's favorite candy and Aldi had a bunch marked half off today. I got some for her Christmas stocking and some to put in the piñata for her birthday party in February.
2. We made caramel apples with a bag of caramels (marked down to $2) and a bag of apples (on sale for $0.99).
3. I had to buy new kneepads for my daughter (we lost one over the last year! Ugh!) but I remembered to use my 10% off discount card when I purchased them.
4. I've been canning lots of applesauce with the apples that were $0.99/3lb bag. I noticed this morning that between the salsa, stewed tomatoes, peaches, and applesauce I'm nearing the end of my jar supply! It's been a number of years since I've canned that much!
5. Aldi had some Play-doh kits and a puzzle marked down ($2 and $1) today and they'll make good Christmas gifts. I'm keeping a list in my planner of what I've purchased and what I've spent so I don't forget what I bought ahead!
I love that pink knife! In fact, I have bought the set of 4 off Amazon for myself (twice) and as gifts for my daughter and daughter in law. The four pack come in pink, green, orange, and yellow. It's very cheery to cut with colorful paring knives!
That Victoriknox knife is my favorite.I have three of them.
1. My father's estate took a long time to clear out and since he had moved to Nevada I was not around to help. This week I received a box of books from my childhood: Cherry Ames Student Nurse, volumes 1-20. I was more of a Nancy Drew fan so these got a scant look from me as a kid but as a result they were almost pristine. All 20 volumes sold within a few hours of listing them, to one buyer.
2. No food waste for the last two weeks.
3. Sold a couple dozen eggs for $3 a dozen, which gives me a small profit and gets the extras out of my hair.
4. Did a grocery store shop, for $32 of free groceries.
5. As I write this, pumpkins are in the oven so I will have plenty of pumpkin pulp for future breads. I also throw some in chili, since it can hide in there without being discovered by the chief chili consumer, the husband. More nutrients and adds bulk so the hamburger is stretched to cover another meal.
@Lindsey, my oldest sister (who knew she wanted to be a nurse before she reached kindergarten age) was a big fan of the Cherry Ames series. Like Nancy Drew, Cherry didn't seem to be subject to the normal laws of aging--but the awkward thing was that she *did* join the Army in WWII (unlike Nancy, who wasn't tethered to any particular point in time, as far as I know). I lost interest in the series once I got to about book #8 and Cherry still hadn't revealed her secret of eternal youth.
My mom insisted I read the same Nancy Drews she had, from the 20s, with roadsters. That was OK but the Bobbsey Twins, not so much. (insert sick face here)
and basically I ditched Nancy when I was about 9 and got sick of the lack of murders in the books. Moved on to Agatha Christie, and I will never be sick of her.
@A. Marie,
I wanted to BE Nancy Drew - no homework, no real job, a boyfriend far enough away to not interfere with daily life - instead I'd have a roadster (I wanted that so much as a kid), an indulgent dad, best friends who were there when I wanted, a housekeeper, and a flair for detective work.
@JD, I don't necessarily want to be Nancy Drew. I just want all those things you mention. Especially the housekeeper.
@JD, "a boyfriend far enough away to not interfere with daily life" - that totally cracked me up.
Indulgent dad--I think you mean "prominent attorney Carson Drew."
Me and YouTube did a bunch of plumbing investigating and replaced a pull down faucet, some washers and pipe fittings. Since I saved a bazillion dollars I think I'll go to Chipotle this week.
The siren song of 1/2 of 1/2 Name Brand Clothing has been calling out to me. They messaged me that thousands of items were 10 cents on the dollar. 10 dollar allbirds! 4 dollar tops! I resisted but did buy a Madewell merino and alpaca cardigan for 10. Its so warm and cozy its like being covered in fluffy kittens. >^..^<
My aldi's lasagna with meat sauce didn't have any noodles! I chatted with them and they are sending a couple of coupons to try it again.
@Tiana, hahahaha, "lasagna" would seem implied in the name. I ordered my mom meat lasagna for my weekly treat for her, and she reported there wasn't any cheese. Double You Tee Eff. This is Long Island--lasagna is OUR food. Strongly worded email to follow.
Five Frugal Things:
1) made a menu, shopped the cupboards/ pantry first, then placed a grocery order.
2) I work at said grocery store, so during my first break, I walked over to check out the discounted bread rack. I bought one and canceled the full price loaf from my order.
3) My husband made homemade bread. Mmm
4) our dryer has been slowly aging until yesterday when it decided to stop working. My husband took it apart, we order parts (they came just a day later), and my husband has it fixed already!
5) I didn't preplan my lunch for today, but instead of eating out, I made a pbj, I made homemade cookies for school lunches (from ingredients we already have) vs buying snack cakes, we ate turning the heater off during the warmer day, we didn't go on the road trip we talked about, and I remembered to cancel our free trial to the streaming channel before it was no longer free.
I have a $15000 E.R. bill for my two kids after a bat exposure. Nothing feels frugal (or like there is any point to it). I guess the good news is that we have met our deductible now?
I have made homemade pumpkin bread, shopped mainly at Dollar Store/Grocery Outlet, and cancelled an expensive cell phone plan.
Ohhhh, my goodness. I am so very sorry to hear about this!!
@Kristen, yeah it was a bummer... Regretting my choices in purchasing high deductible insurance (but who would know? My kids normally don't need any medical care other than vaccines)
@Sarah K,
Oh my word!!! My heart dropped when I read that!!! I'm so sorry you have such a horrendous bill! I'm wondering if there are any programs that help families to pay a bill like this since presumably it would be in the interest of public health to take wild animal exposure seriously. Have you called the billing department of the hospital and asked? They might say no, but if you don't ask, the answer is always no... You could also try asking your local health department maybe...just two ideas. Maybe someone else has better suggestions.
@Becca, thanks for your kind words. I haven't given up on getting the bill reduced (and have not paid them). It happened while we were travelling and we are hoping to get some of it covered by a travel insurance, but they have been incredibly slow to respond (stressful in itself).
@Sarah K,
I hope you get some relief soon! Definitely keep us posted!
1. Received $180 in various gift cards through my health insurance’s wellness program. I’ll use most for Christmas shopping and the rest will go in my sons’ Christmas stockings.
2. Enjoyed free medium pizza coupon at Pizza Hut from a coupon book I received as a present last year.
3. Free lunches last week (and some of the leftovers for dinner) courtesy of pharmacy vendors who visit our work.
4. Made a Halloween wreath with materials purchased last year at Michaels when they were 90% off.
5. Froze green beans (free), peppers (from garden), and squash (purchased at ALDIs pretty cheaply) to use this winter.
I discovered a new pork butt recipe and cooked it! cheap meat and it tasted fantastic.
My friend taught me how to compost using materials I already own (instead of a fancy container).
Another friend gave us rabbit droppings to use as fertilizer. (We have very poor soil quality and are desperate to improve things.)
Free limes and pomegranates from my composting friend.
I ate spaghetti squash for lunch to use up some produce a friend gave me before she left town.
1. We wanted to get the kids bathrobes and slippers for Christmas. The bathrobes were $25 each on Amazon and slippers around the same price. We found bathrobes and slippers for $20 total at Walmart.
2. I used a chicken carcass to make soup for lunch for my husband and I this week.
3. My kids ran a race this weekend. They were giving away sugar pumpkins to the kids and wanted them all gone. We took home 5. They will get cooked and pureed.
4. I picked up 2 pairs of shoes off Buy Nothing for my daughter next year.
5. My aunt gave us a bunch of pajamas for my daughter for winter.
I have a couple big items this week. This doesn’t happen to me often!
1) When my husband bought a new-to-us electric car this summer, he applied for a $4000 rebate our state was offering. The check arrived in the mail this week and it’s already in the bank.
2) We are having some work done on two of our bathrooms due to poor ventilation and mold. When I saw the estimate included $800+ for painting, I told them I could do it myself if they prepped the walls for me. I’m not the perfect painter, but I’ve been painting my own walls since I was a teenager and am 100% sure I can take on the task for significantly less than $800.
Oh, I'm cheering you on with the painting. Yay you!!
1. I cooked all of our meals at home. We ate up food in some odd combinations by the end of the week.
2. I used scrap paper for to do lists.
3. I continue to work on my leftover yarn scarf. I sorted jeans that kids outgrew into pass on and cut up piles.
4. I borrowed a rarely needed tool from a family member.
5. We enjoyed free/cheap entertainment.
6. I took some cute pictures of my child who recently had a birthday.
7. I sent off a rebate form.
8. We reused gift bags again. And tissue paper for the gift bags.
9. I've used the same homemade math facts flashcards for all my kids so far. I've remade a few that ripped, but most are original.
10. I saved empty toilet paper rolls for a cheap (and hopefully cute) project.
11. I filled up gas at the station with the loyalty program.
I...
1. Redeemed by credit card rewards for items I'd already purchased.
2. Made burger buns yesterday using Kristen's recipe because we were out and I had all the ingredients here...now I have plenty of buns!
3. Used my golf membership to play 9 holes for $0 yesterday (walking, of course).
4. Froze the last of some cooked brown rice that was in the fridge.
5. I am STILL getting fresh red tomatoes from the green ones I brought in when we had our first freeze!
Somehow, I missed getting on here yesterday, but this helps me stay accountable, so here's to a day late:
1) I finally started posting items on ebay and honestly don't know why I waited so long. The phone app makes it super easy now. It's crazy what sells...long expired 35mm film and really old CD players for instance. In the last 10 days, I've profited almost $300 selling items I planned to toss or take to SalVal.
2) I've been able to use all recycled packaging for above ebay sales. It's worth it to keep all that bubble wrap and peanuts.
3) I've been experimenting (this is my 3rd month) with writing out a dinner menu for the whole month. It has worked surprisingly well and isn't as hard as I anticipated. I start with my freezer and pantry and it has really helped me keep those areas cleaned out.
4) I gave away a complete bed set today to someone I thought could use it. That felt so good, and the genuinely grateful smile was all I needed.
5) I went for my annual check up last week, and while I was there, I got my shots all updated.
6) I've been getting some great deals at Walgreens combining coupons/rebates/fetch/ibotta. Free products are great for stocking stuffers.
This morning, I bought two turkeys at Lidl. A 13 pound Shady Brook turkey cost 49 cents per pound with a $25 purchase of other groceries which was easily accomplished. The other 16 pound Butterball turkey was 98 cents per pound with no attached conditions.
Giant is also selling Shady Brook turkeys at 39 cents per pound with $25 purchase of other groceries. But, Giant’s groceries are much higher than Lidl. Nevertheless, still tempting, but I think I have sufficient food for the holidays.
Both turkeys are now in the freezer. Many good meals anticipated at Thanksgiving and Christmas or cold winter nights.
I use the Fetch app to scan receipts and I was wondering when you do a grocery pickup order if there is a way to get credit for it in the Fetch app. There is not a true receipt to scan in so I am losing out on all of those potential points every time I do grocery pickup!
@Sara, Depending on which store it is, you may be able to print the order/receipt at home. I have done this, and Fetch has accepted it as a receipt. Just make sure it has the store name, date and total.