1. Lisey taught Zoe how to change her oil
Zoe drives a little Civic and it needed an oil change. So, Lisey went out into the driveway with her and helped Zoe do it.
Don’t worry; jack stands are in place!
And now we are a household of women that know how to do oil changes, all thanks to Lisey. 🙂
I really like how Lisey has adopted the whole “You don’t need whiskers to do that.” attitude.
2. Zoe and I used our carpet cleaner
She had some spots on her bedroom rug that needed cleaning, and I wanted to clean a kitchen rug (that I’d gotten from the Buy Nothing group) and the laundry room rug that was already here at the rental house when I moved in.
A carpet cleaner definitely pays for itself over time as compared to renting, particularly if you have wall to wall carpet (which I did in some areas of my other house.)
And even at this house, which has hard floors everywhere, it is handy to have the carpet cleaner for cleaning area rugs.
Plus, if you own a carpet cleaner, you can get it out for relatively small jobs like Zoe and I did. If you rent one, then you feel like you gotta clean every carpet in the whole house that day!
(I have a very old Hoover carpet cleaner; this current Hoover model looks pretty similar to what I have.)
3. I mended a pair of jeans
This pair of Old Navy jeans has* been with me for many years, and they’re mostly fine, aside from a hole that’s sprouting by the zipper.
*autocorrect is telling me that I should use “have” here. Isn’t that wrong? I thought you figure this out by mentally removing the prepositional phrase (of Old Navy jeans) and then choosing the form of “have”. Like, you’d say, “This pair has been with me.”, not, “This pair have been with me.”
ANYWAY.
I cut out a scrap of old denim fabric from my rag bag, pinned it on the inside of the jeans, and then sewed it on, disguising my stitches as much as possible over the existing stitches.
The fix is slightly noticeable if you look closely, but presumably, no one is going to be inspecting the zipper area of my jeans that closely when I am out and about (!!).
So, I’m not fussed about it.
(Scroll down to item #2 in this post for more details on doing a mostly invisible inside patch on clothing.)
4. I got some throw pillows from a “free stuff” group
I am part of my Buy Nothing group but there’s also another free stuff Facebook group I’m in.
Someone there was offering some neutral throw pillows, and lucky me, I was the first one to respond!
I threw them into the washing machine when I got home, fluffed them in the dryer, let them air dry, and now they’re on my previously pillow-less couch. Yay!
Throw pillows are a nice but not necessary thing, so I don’t know that I would have gone out to buy these. But for free? I’m totally happy to have them.
No money out of my pocket, and now my house is slightly homier. That’s a win for me.
So many of my freebie efforts this last year have been centered around making my house into a comfy home.
And now, almost a year in, things are looking pretty nice in here! Lots of small efforts have added up over time.
5. I…
- made iced coffee with yesterday’s leftover coffee
- bought some clearance bar soap at Sam’s for $0.49/bar
- ate lots of homemade yogurt (a ridiculously cheap food!)
Nora8
Friday 7th of April 2023
1. I picked up my two free items of the month at the grocery store. Everyone is excited by the hot honey, but we haven't actually tried it yet. Nobody likes the cookies. 2. I made two sales on Etsy, packaged them in envelopes I already had, and promptly dropped them at the post office one of the many times per day I drive right past it. 3. I moved a child to a bigger size soccer cleats that were already in my hand-me-down closet. 4. I got out the next size hand-me-down shirts for another child, moved his current size shirts down to yet a different kid, and set aside some of the shirts this last kid won't wear for my nephew. 5. I declared that two re-useable shopping bags that the bagger rejected for holes were still plenty useable when I'm bagging my own groceries (which is most of the time).
Isa
Wednesday 5th of April 2023
* I tested positive for Covid yesterday. It cancels out our plans to travel next week-end for Easter. I'm not 'happy' about it, but I'm not devastated... I choose to see it as a little frugal win (namely, gas money not spent on the 12 hours drive). And resting time for the whole family. I've got plenty of library books, Netflix shows, Advils and a comfy bed to keep me company for the next couple of days!
* Daughter picked out 11 pieces of clothing from a gigantic bag of clothes given on my Buy Nothing group : 9 shirts, 1 pair of short and 1 coat. It's pretty difficult when it comes to dressing herself (sensory issues), so this is a big win in my book
Frugal fail : not being allowed back to work for 7 to 1o days and having no paid sick days. Another fail : I bought tickets for a show with a friend. Obviously I won't be going, so I decided to gift my ticket to her husband
Kristen
Wednesday 5th of April 2023
Aww, I'm so sorry you got sick! I hope you feel better soon.
Auntiali
Wednesday 5th of April 2023
Let's see if I can come up with 5 frugals: 1. Got a free 14 lb turkey from the grocery store for spending $400 in 4 weeks. Not too hard to do these days. Will use turkey for Easter dinner. Invited dsil for dinner. 2. I had two coupons for Bath and Body Works. Today I got a body lotion and a small tube of lotion for my purse. Used it and hated the smell of it. I will go back and exchange it. 3. Used two of my allowance dollars to get a 2 minute (?) long massage at one of the massage chairs in the mall. 4. Cooked at home all last week and will this week. No take away pizza. It's up to $15 now for half pepperoni and dh can make it for about $7. 5. Bought socks at Aldi but I don't really like them, plus I have socks, so they will go back.
Bonus - had my colonoscopy on 3/29 and got a lovely purple bruise on my arm from the i.v. It's huge!
Lindsay B
Tuesday 4th of April 2023
1. We are finally close to eating up food from when the in-laws were here. This week we’ve finished off the potatoes and the lunch meat. Still working on a lone sweet potato and cream cheese.
2. Transferred money to my Roth IRA account. I’m grateful to be working enough to do this.
3. Eating foods from the freezer, preventing wasted food due to freezer burn and helping us go longer between store runs.
4. My husband is a groomsman in a wedding out of state this summer, and flights are expensive. We were able to do a little “travel hacking” by using miles to travel one way (plus $12 in fees), and then a lower-priced (but not cheap) regional airline the other way. It feels especially good to use miles because I feel like they are getting harder and harder to use.
5. I volunteered at a local emergency preparedness simulation. At the end I was able to take home four bananas, two popcorn snacks, and received a $5 gift card. I enjoyed the simulation and hope it was helpful to the local emergency preparedness groups.
Jenny Young
Tuesday 4th of April 2023
My list - 1) I cut my husband's hair. 2) I cut my own hair 3) I got a second bid from a builder rather than just take the first one I'm getting three bids....it looks like it will be the first one anyway. 4) I bought winglets on sale at the grocery store 5) I made all of my lattes at home this week 6) I colored Easter eggs with my grandson using what I had on hand.