Five Frugal Things | are croutons a garnish?
1. I made a single serving of croutons for my soup
I made a pot of this butternut squash soup for myself, to use a squash that came in my Hungry Harvest box.
Zoe doesn't like butternut squash, so it's all up to me in this department.
I noticed there was a small piece of baguette left, so I cut it up and made some quick skillet croutons to put on top of my soup.
I always think pureed soups are better with a little crunchy condiment (garnish? what in the world do you call a crouton on top of soup??)
2. I made more flash cards with abandoned house notecards
I rescued several unopened packs of notecards when my sister in law and I combed through the abandoned house.
Even though they were in shrink wrap, they did still initially smell kind of bad. But by now, two years later, they smell very normal, and I am currently using them to learn types of needles for injections.
(Forrrrr instance: 29 gauge, ½ inch for insulin injections, which are given subcutaneously, often in the abdomen. But with hospital patients, we should consider using sites such as the back of upper arms, since patients can't reach those themselves, and this way we can offer more injection site rotation. IN CASE YOU WANTED TO KNOW.)
3. I fixed a knitted dishcloth
Sonia had knitted these a while back, and the pink and white one sprouted a hole.
Luckily, I had a little bit of white cotton yarn in my drawer, and I found a big needle in the sewing box I had grabbed from the abandoned house.
So, I was able to sew it up, and while my fix is not beautiful, it IS functional, and that is what matters when it comes to dishcloths.
(Relatedly, here are 8 ways to keep towels and dishcloths sanitary.)
4. I fixed a hole in my jeans
I was sitting in class yesterday and when I reached back to adjust my shirt, I realized that OH NO there was a hole above the back pocket of my jeans.
So I cut a square of black fabric from my scrap bag, pinned it on the inside of the pants, and sewed it on, mostly over the existing seams (that way my repair seams are kind of hidden.)
I had to use my reading glasses to thread the needle. My mid-40s are showing!
After fixing the first hole, then I realized that there was a hole above another pocket corner. And another.
So, I fixed them all.
Here's the inside.
Then I put my jeans back on and wore them the rest of the day!
5. I...`
- scanned my receipts with my Fetch app (that's my referral link, and it will give you 500 points to start off)
- listed a pair of Zoe's old eyeglasses on eBay
- packed my lunch
- was organized enough to make a stock-up trip to Aldi (which helps me avoid random Safeway runs)
Your turn! What frugal things have you been up to lately?
P.S. In last week's Five Frugal Things post, some of you wondered if Zoe's skirt was gray or blue. I would say that it's a blue-ish gray, and the last picture of it hanging by the fireplace is the most accurate color-wise. 🙂
1. A friend invited me to bring a lunch to her house as she was planning to eat leftovers and I am tough to feed given that I avoid gluten. We went to a local nursery that also sells a lot of local produce. I discovered they have boxes of "imperfect" produce. I bought a box of apples for $12 and counted 56 apples, most of them quite large, when I emptied the box. I made a batch of applesauce in the slow cooker yesterday and have enjoyed many fresh apples as well. I also discovered that you can buy a box of apples, of any variety they carry, for about half the price of buying them by the pound. I informed my friend and a neighbor that like to buy produce there and they were happy to learn of the opportunity.
2. Safeway has a promotion this week where you earn a $10 coupon towards a future purchase when you spend $50 or more on certain gift cards. Both DH and I bought $50 worth of gift cards that we'll use and then used the coupons for sale produce.
3. I gave a neighbor a very large reusable tote bag to use as a gift bag. It is made from recycled plastic from the ocean but I have more bags than I can use, including some that are more than 30 years old.
4. I tried a new yoga class last week since most of my regular classes were cancelled. I really liked the class and the teacher, and the class time is reasonable. It looks like I will keep my monthly membership, which is the cheapest way to attend classes.
5. I didn't buy a new house or a new fall wardrobe.
@K D, Your wardrobe comment gave me a fun flashback to being invited to a friend's house to help her decide what color her "summer wardrobe" should be - they were going to Europe and her mom had given her two general color scheme choices. I was flummoxed because a) what's this wardrobe idea? we're kids.. b) people go on vacation for the whole summer? and c) oh, how to choose between the color schemes of khaki and red OR pink and green, when you're 12... (yes of course: the 80s)
--Our can opener wasn't performing its sole function in life, so I soaked the business end in a half cup of vinegar overnight. This and an old toothbrush worked loose the accumulated gunk around the gears and the blade. Our can opener is now merrily cutting again! If memory serves, this particular opener once belonged to my MIL? At any rate, it's been around!
--Once the can opener was again operational, I reused the same half cup of vinegar combined with boiling water in our french press. The sieve portion is a bear to clean, especially after flavored coffee, but half a day in a hot vinegar bath does the trick nicely.
--Needed things bought on sale don't count as frugal until they're actually up and functioning! We bought LED lights for by the fuse boxes (one in the house, one in the garage) and battery-powered push lights for similarly important dark corners, but because Life Happens (TM), they hadn't been installed yet. I dedicated half an hour to doing just that the other day.
—I went through our clothes and either threw away or ragged worn out socks and shirts.
—ThredUp sent a coupon for 45% off and free shipping. I don’t need any clothes, but I do need a new purse. I only have one purse at any time, and the current iteration is worn beyond what I can mend. I haven’t spotted any good replacements while thrifting, so I used the coupon to get a bag in my preferred style—wide strap, pockets, pockets, pockets—for $10 and free shipping. It was Kipling brand, which apparently retails for $90+ new!
@N,
Love Kipling bags. They have proved very durable for me.
Snagged some laundry products off the discount shelf at the grocery store-Only after I saw they were on Ibotta! Bonus- one of the items also was in my digital coupons for that store!
Made banana bread(to add heat to the frigid house) over the weekend using too ripe bananas brought home from work last week( I overbought fruit OR the preschoolers just did not eat as much- one will never know)
I checked prices on my local grocer apps looking for the price on Pork shoulder. Drove to the store that had the lower cost only to find out that app was incorrect... Asked the butcher just in case, showed the app and he told me to grab what I was buying and he would price match what the app actually said. Saved me a few bucks in the end!
(Not mine) but my oldest paid off his recently purchased (new to him used) car... The prius our oldest becoming a money pit so husband put it on the market and it sold fairly swiftly.. Son borrowed grandmas extra car for 2 weeks while they car searched and found a car in great condition, not the worst mileage and husband helped negotiate the sale. Dealership was impressed with his credit score at 21-lol. First payment was not due until 10-31. Paid off 10-6 saving over $2500 in interest!
@jes, Three cheers for your son and his fantastic credit rating, and good frugal habits! That's awesome!
1. We bought a bunch (3 big boxes) of chicken breasts on sale and froze/canned them for future use.
2. I decided to make my own sourdough starter. I don't actually know if it's sourdough starter, to be honest. I guess it's at least bread starter of some kind-- some flour (scraped up after making biscuits), water, and less than a tsp. of yeast. It's bubbly, at least, after several feedings.
3. I am making bread for supper with the starter. I didn't add any additional yeast.
4. I shopped in the basement for clothes for cold weather for my children.
5. I shopped in the basement/shed for shoes for my children.
Bonus: I used credit card points to get a gift card to buy 2 pairs of new jeans online for my daughter who has none that fit because I can't go shopping this week (maybe...I don't know. I may or may not have to report for jury duty this week.).
@Jody S., If you ever wanted to try it, you can get sourdough starter that a family has saved since their ancestors used it on the Oregon Trail - there's a group that keeps it going and will send a freeze-dried starter for free (you just send a self-addressed stamped envelope). I did it when my daughter was young and it was also a fun way to learn about the Oregon Trail times - google Carl Griffith 1847 Oregon Trail sourdough starter.
@Suz, That sounds really neat!
Five Frugal Things, partly travel edition:
1. Walked to the Little Free Library in my neighborhood and picked up a packet of blank notecards. Usually I make my own notecards, but these will be nice for quick letters when I don't have time.
2. Went on a quick weekend trip to visit a friend I haven't seen in 10 (!) years. We timed the long drive out there for the weekend when we usually fast, so on the way we didn't need to worry about stopping for food (or packing food), just gas and bathroom trips.
3. Mostly free activities while visiting my friend; we went for a walk around the lake near her house, went to Mass, and sat and had a cup of tea at her house.
4. Splurge that was worth it: a nice dinner out with my friend and her family, but as per usual DH and I stuck to water, no drinks, and no dessert.
5. Happily, we had fuel points from Kroger we were able to use, and had enough gas to make it on the way back to a Kroger fuel station and saved $30 on the fill-up.
Here are my five:
1) My small garden is producing pie pumpkins and squash. I'll bake the pumpkins today and make a bread or muffins.
2) I transferred to a different department at work. I can now work 40 hours instead of 20.
3) With our youngest working at a local pizza shop, we get free pizza. Oe salad.
4) I'm having free flooring samples sent to my home.
5) I'm getting great deals on ebay and even making offers on items. Some were accepted!
--We got that whole elk cut up and packaged for the freezer last Friday. That's a lot of pounds of meat. We don't own any special butchering equipment except for a manual meat grinder my husband bought for $60 on Ali Baba, and that has paid for itself many times over already.
--My son's two surgeries will both be fully covered by his Medicaid health insurance. The doctor told me that these are actually considered "elective" surgeries--doesn't seem so elective if a 13-year-old kid can't walk, but whatever--and I bet if we had private insurance of any kind for him, it wouldn't be covered. Certainly not fully. This is the first time any of my kids has ever needed anything medical other than a vaccination, so we're finally getting some use out of the insurance. And SO relieved it's covered. That would have been quite a bill otherwise.
--My husband continues to order parts online and fix my middle son's bike for him. My kids are hard on bikes, so he'll probably need a new one eventually, but it's hanging on for now.
--We started our woodstove a couple of nights this week, burning wood my husband cut from one neighbor's place where he had uprooted some big cedars, and also cedar fenceposts another neighbor wanted to get off her property.
--Yet another neighbor a few miles away has a daughter just a little older than mine who
is also on the elementary cheer squad. They have practice after school on Tuesdays and have to be picked up at 4:45. I had asked the neighbor if he wanted to trade off weeks picking the girls up and bringing them home because it seemed kind of dumb for us to be doing it separately, and he told me he stays at the school anyway to clean (he's one of the maintenance guys) those days, so he can just bring my daughter home every Tuesday. YAY. Saves me twenty miles of driving every week. I owe him a loaf of bread, for sure.
We have really good neighbors.
@kristin @ going country, to call your son's foot surgery "elective" just boggles my mind. I'm kind of a fierce person about injustice and I probably would have gone to the mat over this one. Glad it worked out.
@Anne, Well, I should have perhaps qualified the statement that he can't walk with "he can't walk without significant pain." The problem is this condition manifests with large variations in severity, so I guess for a lot of people, it would be a mostly elective sort of thing. It's not for him, though, so I'm very glad he can have this surgery and it will be paid for.
@kristin @ going country, congratulations again on the elk harvest. I can only imagine how much work that was.
FFT, A Legend in My Own Time Edition:
(1) A friend of the Bestest Neighbors has co-written a “cabaret” of comic songs about various aspects of life in our dear old Rust Belt city. (It’s the Allan Sherman/Weird Al Jankovic/etc. approach to such topics as deer, snow removal, etc.) I attended the cabaret’s premiere with the BNs on Friday night, and we were greatly amused by a song about a lady who buys clothes, votive candles, and our formerly famous brand of local china at Thrifty Shopper stores. Since I can’t imagine who else our co-author could possibly have meant, I’m returning the compliment with a small platter of this china, bought Monday morning for 99 cents. (The only small failure in verisimilitude was that I bought it at a Salvation Army instead of a Thrifty Shopper.) I will present it to her the next time I see her.
(2) Another thrifting-related item: The friend with whom I’m watching out for the next-door neighbor with cognitive problems has, at my request, knitted me an XL men’s cap (I have a huge head) with some extra-chunky Lion Brand yarn I found at the SA a couple of weeks ago. This friend (she's the one who knits like Madame Defarge) must make two or three caps a day, so it was no real trouble for her to work mine into the queue–and I’m delighted to have a winter cap that fits.
(3) And Ms. Bestest Neighbor is shortening the sleeves on a thrifted Eddie Bauer men’s XL Polartec jacket that otherwise fits me, in return for the box of thread I got her at the Cat Coalition/Feline Justice League garage sale.
(3a) Non-Consumer Advocate note: I shared the three items above at the NCA yesterday, and Katy replied, "I got a giggle picturing your XL head and short arms! Love you!" So now I'm going to claim to be a Halloween legend: Beware the Short-Armed Pumpkinhead! 😀
(4) I also made two good meals and described those on the NCA, but I'll save those for this week's WIA portion of the Friday WIS/WIA, since my meal descriptions tend to be a bit skimpy.
(5) And I'm being hugely entertained by the antics of the blue jays at my platform-style bird feeder, where I put unsalted peanuts in the shell out for them once a day. Yesterday, one jay actually horked three whole in-shell peanuts down its gullet and flew off with a fourth in its beak. (Cacheing them for winter, I'm sure.) For me, this is more fun than TV--and the peanuts are actually cheaper at Ollie's than at Country Max. (Ollie's for the win once again, Ruby!)
@A. Marie, our birdbath is a wide, deep pasta bowl from Ollie's artfully seated atop two large square stones. The cats delight in watching the jays jump into it for a good bath. And I read your comment while sipping a cup of Ollie's discounted Harry & David coffee. Ah, the finer things in life!
@A. Marie, wow - our very own A. Marie is a cabaret queen!
@A. Marie, if you happen to see a piece of the formerly famous local china that is mostly plain white except for a small black Montauk Lighthouse on top, buy it for me! I collect it and it's rare as hen's teeth. I'll PayPal/venmo/send a carrier pigeon with cash/tuck it in a beagle's collar etc.
@A. Marie,
I love your #1!
Your #2 is cracking me up. Not only does my DH also have an XL head, his is "square" shaped. Even he refers to the "corners of his head". His late mother used to claim that the two "corners" of his forehead were where his horns were going to eventually grow. (He was a bit of a handful as a kid and teen)
@JD, we ALL have XL heads in our family. My son did say, though, that his father had lost weight after giving up Coke, and "his head looks less cubical."
@A. Marie, oh, Alan Sherman, what a memory. I am STILL occasionally humming "Hello mudda, hello fadda, here I am at Camp Granada." I was just singing it the other day. I first heard, and adored, it as a kid.....and now I'm in my 70s.
@Anne, My kids love that song. I sing it all the time, because I remember it from the Dr. Demento radio show my brother used to listen to every week.
@A. Marie, Syracuse China? Our dinner plates are old ones from there that my MiL gave me, and though they are very good quality, they are SO HEAVY. Maybe that's why she gave them to me? Good thing I'm so strong. 🙂
@Rose, A. Marie and JD, I frequently quote Sherlock Holmes to my husband about his head. "A man with so large a head must have something in it."
@Ava, The blue carbuncle! One of my favorites.
Well, we're large all over. Long gorilla arms, very tall, big feet, big hands, we're just plain big. The problem is most hats are one size, so we have to buy the expensive kinds that come in sizes.
@A. Marie says: Thanks to everybody for the comments and compliments. Responses to various things:
Re: Syracuse China: Yep, that's it. I've Googled Rose's request and will keep an eye peeled for the Montauk Lighthouse, although this is a pattern I'm not likely to find except at an antiques show. And what kristin @ going country says about the weight of the restaurant china is true--but I like it for that very reason.
Re: the XL head: At least one of my four nephews seems to have inherited it. His older brothers explained it thus, when he was a precocious toddler: "It's all that hard drive."
And re: Allan Sherman: Almost the only time I managed to impress a group of younger cousins was when I sang them "Hello Muddah, Hello Faddah" from memory. And to this day, I wish I'd been a fly on the wall at the parent-teacher conversation where my choice to sing "Won't You Come Home, Disraeli" (from the "My Son the Celebrity" album) during a second-grade rainy-day recess period was discussed.
Made our reservations for Spain. When we booked our summer 2023 trip, we kept watching the price of the airfare. Well it went down $700. and we called and got e-credits that have to be used by March 2024. So we are going to visit a cousin in his villa for a week. And we still have some e-credit left (less than $20.). All we will need money for is food and excursions.
Went to NY for the weekend and filled up the gas tank in Jersey going there and back. PA and NY both add a lot of taxes to their fuel per gallon, and Jersey doesn't. Plus they pump the gas too!
Smoked a pork butt last week. It was on sale for 99 cents/lb, so I bought 2 and froze them. When I split up the remaining smoked pork, I got 3 more meals out of it and into the freezer it went.
Have not turned the heat on yet, but have started the woodstove as the nights are down in the 40's now and it gets chilly in the house. We had wood delivered and will be moving and stacking it into the wood shed this Friday when my husband and I are both off. Then we will be ready for the next order that will probably come next week.
Have planned my dinners for this week and its all using what we have on hand. For instance, I made unstuffed cabbage roll soup last night and it was very good. I even used a jar of tomato juice from when I canned my tomato puree this summer. And, enough leftovers to be put in the freezer for when we don't feel like cooking.
Will also be baking muffins this week to keep the house warm too!
@Maureen, if I have this right, New Jersey and Oregon are the only two states that still don't allow self pumping. We didn't know this, and coming from California we pulled over to buy gas shortly after we crossed the border. We jumped out to pump and were severely chastised. 😀
@Anne, I thought NJ changed that recently?
@Nan, I think Maureen said she just bought gas in NJ and it was pumped for her. I don't really know. Anybody else have that info?
@Anne, I have a friend in Oregon and apparently that's now changed. Self pumping only now.
@Brianne, yep. I was there in June, and there were a few attendants hanging around, offering to pump. Guess they hadn't been laid off yet.
@Brianne, there are a few places in Oregon that it was deemed too expensive to pay an attendant so in those small towns people pump their own but in Portland and all the other major cities there is still an attendant who does it. I grew up in CA and this was quite a change for me when i moved here
I should figure out better tracking for this particular prompt. I feel like there some counter points for some of these.
Frugal: I went to a party and brought home scores of leftovers, enough food for the week. Fail: I left the vat of salad on my countertop instead of bringing it into work to share, and now I don't feel like I can salvage it because of the cheese on top, and the length of time it was out of the fridge. I'll compost it at the local commercial composter, but still a disappointment.
Frugal: I helped my friend pick up her veggie share, and she shared some of her extras with me, so free vegetables this week! I didn't get to all the veggies from last week so I had to compost some. I am writing if only to remember next time to make a plan to not waste food.
I will be having multiple meals with family this week which helps save time and money, and I get to spend time with them as well.
Apparently not a whole lot to report, so I will keep better tallies for next week!
FFT: the wedding edition, mostly
1. Returned the shoes I bought for the wedding since they were too large.
2. Dug in the bottom of the closet and found a pair of flats that will work for the wedding. Are they perfect, no, but what's the worst thing that could happen, people I don't know talking about my "ugly" shoes? 😉
3. Asked our son to watch the dog while we are out of town for the wedding instead of paying to have her boarded.
4. Purchased a few snacks at Trader Joe's to have as car snacks for the trip to the wedding.
5. Made a large pot of tomato soup that we had for dinner 3 days in a row.
Nothing frugal, just a question. When I was PG in 2000, I developed gestational diabetes and had to give myself two injections daily. I did mine in my thigh as it was painless. Is that not done anymore? Just wondering because it would freak my family out every time! I enjoyed their reactions a little too much.
@Jennifer, I had gestational diabetes and didn't have to do insulin but 10 years later was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. I do my injections in belly on the side above and below my belly button. Do my Repatha injections in my thighs which leave a nasty bruise as I'm also on blood thinners.
@Jennifer, u can inject in the thigh as long as u inject into the fat. As a nurse, I like upper arms cause I don't have to a. Pull the gown aside to help preserve a pts modesty. B. If you're afraid of needles, it's harder to see as a pt.
1. We had friends over for dinner--we don't really go out to eat much. We bought fresh pasta and some produce at the local market, but otherwise cooked from scratch with ordinary staples--but it came out feeling like a special meal. Our guests brought dessert (and it was delicious!)
2. I cleaned out my closet and switched it for fall/winter, clearing out three cubic feet of clothes. Some stuff given away, some to live in storage; these are the years of my life where my size changes frequently due to childbearing. It's nice to know that when I gain weight, I'll still have clothes that I like.
3. Our dishwasher broke (again.) On the bright side, we are renters, so it is inconvenient but we don't have to pay anything.
4. I did a meal plan and flyer check, leading to a good-value-for-money grocery shop. Very satisfying.
5. We have yearly passes to a local aquarium. We have found it to be worthwhile, because we live in an urban apartment and it's hard to find things to do when the weather is dark/cold/wet--which is most of fall and winter in our area. We went for the first time of the season, and my daughter LOVED it.
@Meira Bear, Oh, and one other. I bought a Walmart brand bag of frozen broccoli to cook with, to see if the lower cost was good value. It was NOT! The whole bag was chopped stem, with about 4 florets. It was ok for my quiche, but I won't buy it again.
@Meira Bear, Walmart sells bags of just the broccoli florets. Much better for cooking and eating. You may have to root around in the store freezer.
1) Prepped a bunch of food over the weekend, after being out of town for a bunch of trips & our food/freezer inventory getting out of control. Made applesauce muffins, chocolate chip banana bread, 5 lbs of taco meat, and prepped chicken shawarma for dinner.
2) Planned ahead for a day when we had a long drive for a soccer game. Brought snacks for myself (fed the soccer player a large early lunch) & had the chicken in a marinade & all of the sides prepped. When my husband got home from the airport, he baked the chicken & we were ready to eat. It would have been easy to buy takeout for one if not two meals that day, so I was proud of my pre-planning.
3) Booked the first version of our holiday travel, & did a good job minimizing costs, even thought it's *incredibly* expensive. Then, two days later, Southwest had a sale, so I cancelled our original flights, and used the elaborate Southwest spreadsheet I'd created (tracking flight credits, gift cards, LUV vouchers, etc) to buy the tickets at zero out of pocket costs. However, the initial flights were on a different airline, and we now have a large Alaska credit. I've added those to our tracker, so we use the credits before they expire. We don't mind carrying the travel credits (in this case, we saved $550), if the value between the two is significant. You just really have to stay on top of tracking, so you don't lose anything.
4) Did a gift card inventory, and travel status tracker, so I could see how much we had. I also had spent time on Friday inventorying all of our Southwest credits, which came in really handy a few days later. I try to stay on top of our travel points/credits/miles, so I know what we have available & use them wisely. I travel a lot for work, so this is actually a pretty significant amount, and worth spending time tracking & using wisely.
5) I ran a calculation of our recent credit card (it has a paid annual fee) to ensure it was worth the cost, and tracked all of that. (It was, but it was nice to verify that.)
1. We finally had cool weather! So I got out my fall items and found I could pair an old skirt I had (bought so many years ago, I don't remember where I got it) with a new-to-me thrift shop pullover sweater. Wore my "new" ensemble to church and got lots of compliments.
2. Since I'm going to substitute teach high school English tomorrow, I found my new-to-me Halloween T-shirt to wear. Got it last June at the "GW Boutique" aka Goodwill. It has witches' hats and black cats on it and two sentences: "Let's eat children." And "Let's eat, children." Below that it says, "Punctuation Saves Lives!" I have jury duty the day before Halloween, so no guarantee I will get to teach on Oct. 31. So I'm wearing it now.
3. Took advantage of a sale: bought a huge bottle of laundry detergent, good for 116 loads of wash, for $6.12 at the drugstore where I work. It's that Xtra brand, which tends to be cheaper than the other brands. (All of which were several dollars more expensive for a lesser amount.) I've used it before and can't tell any difference in performance. Also bought a pair of reading glasses for $3.99, since I'm still having trouble seeing littlebitty print.
4. The lady (former motel maid) who cleaned out my garage and ex-roommate's area is an incredible cleaning lady. Hired her to come every week and clean for $25 (she usually charges $40); I am also letting her do her laundry at my place, and told her that she gets first dibs on anything I'm planning to donate to the charity thrift stores. (In addition to the garage, I'm cleaning out a lot of closets and stuff.) She lives in a low-income apartment and doesn't have a car, so I will drive her home each time; she catches a ride over here with a neighbor. My health conditions are such that I just can't do all this stuff anymore. This might not be frugal per se, but it has greatly contributed to lowering my stress level and improving my quality of life. So I feel it's well worth it!
5. Have done a lot of "little" improvements to my home: set up a coffee bar on the kitchen counter, the half of the kitchen that was the roommate's area; organized my shoes and got a new pocket shoe holder for all my flip-flops, thus freeing the other shoe holder for my loafers and tennis shoes and dress shoes; arranged to have my ex-roommate's filthy bathroom sterilized and steam cleaned and my ductwork vacuumed out; bug bombed her room and am getting it ready to repaint; took my old prescription eyeglasses to the Lion's Club collection site, where they will be distributed to Third World and/or needy people; and more.
@Fru-gal Lisa, $25! What a bargain.
@Rose, Yes! Part of her payment is use of my laundry room and free rides (I take her to the grocery store) and items that I need gone (I'm in a major declutter cycle). I've been able to "pay" her with food my roommate left behind (perfectly good food that I'm allergic to or that I have too much of), a comforter and pillow shams that won't fit my king-sized bed, and Daddy's old TV/digital converter/indoor antenna from the garage. This time, she'd asked for any scented candles I didn't want, and I was only too happy to give her some that I'd received as "white elephant" gifts. Now that the automatic icemaker is fixed, she also got the ice cube trays, and I told her we can fill up a container with ice crescents when I take her home each Thursday. So both of us are greatly benefitting, and I get a major $ discount.
@Fru-gal Lisa, Does she feel like coming to Long Island at all? Because i pay mine $200-300 a pop.
@Fru-gal Lisa, Good for you for deciding to give yourself some relief by having a housekeeper. I know it can be a hard choice but my life (and the husband's!) became immeasurably better when I hired someone. I was a maid to help pay my way through college, so I know what it takes to clean well and I just don't have it in me anymore. I did ask her if she wanted to be given first dibs on items I was going to give away, because I have cringy memories of my father's second American wife offering the housekeeper rags like they were riches. But this woman laughed and said she was happy to shop at my conveniently located second hand shop. She takes bags of stuff and what she does not want, she gives away or takes to Good Will. Sometimes she does her laundry here and some days she brings her granddaughter if the child cannot be in day care for some reason. It has been over four years now and we both seem happy with the arrangement. When we went on our Last Hurrah Tour I paid her the regular rate and she did stuff like shampooed the carpets and cleaned the windows. I live in fear of the day she decides to retire!!
Frugal Thing? Frugal Fail? It started last Friday with a question to the Frugal Girl Commentariat: Was I the last person on earth who didn’t have an air fryer? Should I get one? Was it worth the counter space? The poll results were decidedly mixed! Some loved their air fryers and used them all the time. Some couldn’t see the point and refused to give up valuable real estate on their kitchen counters.
Then I spotted a blurb online that said Target was selling a $229.99 Cuisinart air fryer + convection oven for $99.99. So I went online to see if I could order one but they wanted an extra $9+ delivery charge. So I hopped in the car and went to the nearest Target and they had 3 left. (Down from 4 when I had logged in online.) So I bought one, and used my Target charge card for an extra 5% off, and used a $15 gift card I had earned earlier in the week. So I got the $229.99 Cuisinart air fryer+ for $79.99. Frugal, yes?
BUT then I saw Becca’s comment that the new oven they bought actually had an air fryer in it! WHOA!!! I have been needing to replace my 26-year old oven (the cooktop still works but the oven doesn’t) but I haven’t been seriously shopping for a new one and it didn’t occur to me how different ovens may be nowadays. So I found a Samsung “bespoke 6.3 cu. Ft. 5-element smart slide-in range with self-cleaning convection oven AND AIR FRYER in white glass”, originally $2450 now $1598 (35% off) at Home Depot.
So … I haven’t taken the Cuisinart out of the box and won’t until I decide whether to get the Samsung. Which, on sale, costs just about what I paid for my KitchenAid oven 26 years ago. And it’s in stock (no supply chain issue) and ready for (free) delivery. And I can gift the $79.99 Cuisinart to one of my nieces. But I can't decide...
@JDinNM, decisions like that just paralyze me. I have a rule for my kitchen: No one-function stuff, and a maxim I live by: The more stuff I own, the more stuff breaks. So, unless the air fryer does many functions, it would be a NO. And the oven that also has an air fryer would be a YES, although the more functions an item has, the more likely it is to fail.
I guess we have it pretty good when these are actually options, eh?
@Central Calif. Artist Jana, My "big" kitchen appliances (refrigerator/freezer, dishwasher) are also 26 years old and after hearing friends' troubles with their new ones (like the LG refrigerators that have to have all their compressors replaced -- there's even an ongoing consumer class action against LG) I have no desire or intention to replace them. And the cooktop on the oven still works just fine.
@JDinNM, If you return the air fryer (which I would & use money towards stove) remember to point out to clerk your $15 gift card to be reissued, a common oversight.
If you get the new stove (bigger space to air fryer bigger amounts) ask if any (mail in) rebates available.
@JDinNM, I’m not sure how appliance repair is where you are, but here Samsung and LG appliances have been difficult to be repaired and difficult to find someone to work on them. It may be worth checking with folks in your area who do repairs.
@JDinNM,
Get them both. You will not be sorry. And you can always regift the smaller one.
@JDinNM, I live in the super hot and humid area of the mid-South and won't return to life with out an airfryer. Our's is a two person household.
The airfryer let's me enjoy oven baked crunchyness without heating up the entire house. The heat and humidity just ended a week ago. I have little counter space, but sacrifice it for the lower utility bills.
1. We found a house! Finally, after two years of searching and almost a year of transitional living. It’s in a nice area where it will hold its value, especially after some frugal exterior renovations that should reap future rewards, either by helping to fund the care we may need in our final years or by leaving more money to our heirs. There’s nothing on the interior that we’ll need to change. We are giddy and in love!
2. Picked up a brand-new baby gate from a free pile which we’ll use to keep our dog out of certain spaces in our new home.
3. Bought a compact bread maker at Target using a 15% off online offer and around $5 in Target Circle earnings. This appliance will more than pay for itself.
4. Went to a Belgian waffle breakfast put on by the Lions Club. Delicious, fun and frugal.
5. My Buy Nothing group continues to be the gift that keeps on giving. Although one of my treasures turned out to be a too-big sun hat that had such a floppy brim, I looked like a basset hound.
@MB in MN, Yay, a house! I have a great aversion to temporary residences, so I can imagine your relief at having a permanent home to move into and make your own. Congratulations.
@MB in MN, Maybe you could wear the basset hound hat for Halloween, then regift it on the BN group....or donate it to a charitable thrift store. Or just donate it before Halloween -- a lot of thrift stores rake in the dough putting out crazy fashion items every October....
Or even cut the hat brim down to more manageable size.
Congratulations on the house!
@kristin @ going country, I've always wanted my own house, and here it is-- more than 19 years living in the same temporary residence 🙂
Kristen, my son always wears his jeans out at the pocket corners. If not caught and mended soon enough, a rip develops straight from the hole down through the seat, which is a lot harder to fix.
Five frugal things:
1. Scored two free bags of raisins and two of prunes at Walgreens yesterday, combining a clearance sale with Walgreens rewards. My husband drily remarked that I was the only person he knew who got excited about prunes.
2. Got out our make your own K cup supplies and made 13 homemade K cups from a 4 oz bag of Jim Beam vanilla bourbon (non-alcoholic) coffee from Dollar Tree. That works out to less than 10 cents per cup for a few minutes time.
3. Read several free e-books from the library.
4. Decluttered yet more stuff from our catch-all closet, took it to Goodwill and did not go shopping while there.
5. Used up the last of some frozen vegetables to create homemade heat and eat lunches for myself.
Croutons are a garnish.
I wish I liked squash better, because so many fall recipes involve it. I'll eat if that's what there is, but I don't especially like it and both my kids will reject it.
Frugal: a friend of mine redid my resume for me for free to work with today's keywords, etc. It looks and sounds awful to me, but as I always say, if you ask someone for their expertise, then follow their advice. So I submitted for what seems like a really good job for me. IDK. I wasn't going to start looking for work yet, freelance or otherwise, because of everything else going on, but this job was too good to ignore.
Not so frugal: I ordered some of the Christmas shortbread cookies I really like, so we'd have plenty for the festive season, and then I ate a box of them. They were so GOOD.
@Rose, I give early ordered items, like special Christmas cookies or Halloween candy to the neighbor who will keep it safe from my mouth until the night before I need them. Honestly, it is humiliating but years of over-indulgence have taught me that needs must...Once I baked a cake and ate so much of it before the husband got home that I was so ashamed I put the rest down the garbage disposal and made a new cake. I ended up confessing my gluttony but I have not forgotten the feeling of shame.
I know I am being a curmudgeon here, but doggone it -- denim used to last for years, if not decades. What happened??? Ok, off my soapbox...
Butternut squash soup is so yummy! I sometimes add a little rice to make it a bit more interesting. I am gluten intolerant.
On to frugal things:
1 - I am sitting at home enjoying a LOVELY cup of tea in a favorite mug, not wasting gas and money to go hang out with the cool kids at Starbucks.
2 - On the way home after a lovely walk earlier this cool morning, I stopped at my favorite natural food store to peruse the bulk spices and got things needed to make my family's favorite spice mix, a seasoned salt that my husband puts in everything he cooks. Mixing your own spices is not only frugal but fun. My favorite part is smelling the spices, each one is different. And the satisfaction of self-reliance is joyous.
3 - Like K D, I am making applesauce. Unlike K D, our apples were very pricey. There are no more farms in my area any more so my husband and I drove 50 miles to another county to a farm and picked apples, cabbages, and broccoli ourselves. Not thrifty, but so much fun! And the apples are heavenly.
4 - It's a pretty exciting week at the N household - dried bean cooking week. I don't like the gooky liquid in canned beans - does anyone know exactly what it is? I prefer to cook dried beans but I don't always plan ahead to have the beans ready when I need them. So yesterday I cooked black beans (which need no soaking) and soaked red kidney beans. Today I will freeze the black beans in small batches, cook the red kidney beans and soak white beans. Tomorrow the white beans get cooked. I like cooking in the crock pot because even when boiling, it doesn't break up the beans. If I'm still inspired, I'll soak garbanzo beans tomorrow.
5 - The biggest frugal thing for the week is menu planning. I always admire how Kristen menu plans and many times I've started, gone a week or two at the most and then fallen off the wagon. So this week I went online, printed out four weekly menu planning forms (free of course) and added a task to the calendar for four Sunday afternoons to plan for the week. My husband doesn't like the rigidity but I've assured him that we can eat other things (or eat out) no problem, however I will have the supplies needed for the meals on the plan. There will always be something good available so we don't HAVE TO go out to eat. I plan to evaluate the meal planning process on November 12 (one week's planning is suspended due to travel). Wish me luck! Or keep me accountable.
I hope everyone is enjoying the change of seasons as I am.
@Elaine N, Denim used to be made in the US and there were rivets on the pockets to keep them from ripping. Now clothing is made for super cheap in Southeast Asia.
@Elaine N, "the satisfaction of self-reliance is joyous" —amen, sister!!
The "gooky liquid in canned beans" is called "aquafaba", and there all sorts of recipes online for using it. I saved some in the freezer, but haven't tried any recipes yet. It might fall into the category of Self-Reliance. . . using it as an egg substitute, using it to make your own mayonnaise. . . really fascinating to my frugal self.
@Central Calif. Artist Jana, it's interesting that aquafaba is useful. Of course there are all sorts of contradictory online opinions. This site says that it has three anti-nutrients - plastic, sugar and phytic acid. https://www.meghantelpner.com/blog/what-is-aquafaba-and-why-i-wont-use-it/
@Elaine N, I don't know if this person has any legit nutritional science credentials, but according to the nutritionist my doctor sent me to (meaning they have a real degree and everything) aquafaba is perfectly fine to use and eat
I think part of the problem with modern jeans is that they are thin and stretchy. This is good for making a flexible pair of jeans but not so good for longevity of said jeans.
@Lazy Budget Chef, a vegan friend uses it as egg replacement
Not any frugal activities but a question. Which sewing machine do you use, Kristen? I am looking for recommendations if any reader has them for a reliable sewing machine that keeps its thread tension, can patch up jeans, and can be used to sew knit fabrics such as jersey. Nothing too fancy as its primary job will be to mend ripped seams, but I would like to get my kids into sewing simple projects without anyone losing their temper on messed up thread 🙂
@Kristina M.,
I bought two Singers that both lost their ability to hold tension. These were definitely lower-end Singers, so that may be the problem. A website I go to (Applegreen Cottage) suggests Janome for a simple but reliable machine that I think is around $200 and Amazon has them. It's her basic machine that she uses for a lot of ordinary sewing. I bought a machine a while back from Bernina for about $500, and so far, I love it. I hear good things about Brother, but I haven't owned one. Note to Kristen, they have self-threaders now on machines. 🙂
@Kristina M.,
I would look in local thrift stores for anything older (1960-1980) that is very basic. After that point the machines are made with too many plastic internal parts or too many fancy bits, and computers, that fail at the drop of a hat. For the work you are describing, a really good machine can be had for $30. Check for Bernina, Singer and Kenmore.
@Elizabeth, yes, you are right. I still miss my mother's old Bernina that I used in the 1980s. It was a real workhorse.
@JD, Bernina would be my choice if I could justify the price (I don't sew enough for it). Janome is not a familiar brand to me but I saw some good reviews on it as well. Thanks for the tip to stay away from the lower-end Singers.
@Kristina M., I have been very happy with my Janome sewing machine.
My machine is an old model from Walmart that I got back in 2002. Sonia's got a newer one, though, that she uses all the time to sew clothes. Lemme text her and find out what the model is and I'll let you know.
Update! I looked in my order history and found it. Her pink one isn't available anymore, but this is the white version: https://amzn.to/3LQDKGM (affiliate link)
@Elizabeth, look at estate/yard sales also. I got an vintage/antique from an avid sewer that had to stop due to her hands. She maintained it regularly & had just had it serviced, AND all metal parts except plastic storage/travel cover. I paid $30.
@Kristina M., You will find a more reliable machine if you get an older one-- thrifted or at an (online) auction. I am into the Singers of the 50's and 60's. You can usually find one in decent working condition for less than $100-- sometimes far less. No computer problems. All metal parts. Fixable. Even if you need to fix one, it's not terribly expensive to get repaired. I've been told by sewing machine repair guy (and another repair guy), "There. It's all ready. That'll last you the rest of your life."
@Beverly, thanks, I need to check into that brand 🙂
@Regina, I do love going to estate sales, so this is one more reason 🙂
My grandmother had a manual pedal sewing machine, I always marveled at it as a child.
@Jody S., nice! I should wait and look around, and not buy one immediately new.
@Kristen, thank you for the link! I will bookmark it as I'm looking around for options. The price point is perfect, and glad to hear Sonia has been able to use it without problems. Would be lovely to see some of the clothes she has made.
I had a basic sewing machine that I got at Target years ago, but I was decluttering in a move and unfortunately gave it away.
I will ask her if she wants to share!
Sort of on topic about learning how to give injections: DH once had an endocrinologist who was not diabetic, but who for several weeks wore an insulin pump that had saline instead of insulin in it. He said he needed to see how it felt to live with one, so he could really help his patients. He even used the finger pricks to regularly test his blood glucose, just like real diabetics had to do, too. Continuous glucose monitors weren't available yet. He impressed us. We have found far too many medical personnel outside of endocrinology aren't taught nearly enough about insulin pumps, or even the possible perils of maintaining blood glucose. I feel like I should have a degree for all the training I've given to people in hospitals, medical offices, physical therapy units and nursing homes.
Frugal things:
1. My old ironing board was not staying folded up, getting wobbly, and the plastic caps on its feet were just disintegrating, leaving raw cut metal ends to scrape my floor. I'd tried to find caps that fit but none had. I happened to go into a Goodwill and there was a nice ironing board, good caps on the feet, an extra thick, unstained pad on top, and a sturdy clip to hold the board folded. "Made in USA" was stamped right in the metal. $8 and it was mine.
2. I picked a bucket full of roselle calyces to make jam or jelly or tea or "Florida cranberry sauce" or syrup or... My plants are still covered in the calyces, so I can make all of that; it's just deciding which one I want to try first. All of this for the price of six seeds.
3. I batch cooked again this past weekend. We actually had two nights in the upper 40's, so I could use my oven. Don't worry, we'll have nights with low temps around 70 before week's end, but this was nice.
4. I turned off the a/c but didn't turn on the heat. I switched my water heater from efficiency to hybrid, because efficiency isn't as efficient once the weather is no longer hot and so humid; hybrid is actually more efficient currently. I hope to keep both heat and a/c off for a while.
5. I'd like to eventually run plumbing to my garden patch, but for now, I drag a hose out there and run sprinklers and soaker hoses, all of which I already owned.
Sort of frugal:
1. Saved torn jeans with non-sticking iron-on patches in order to sew real patches on them. Ugly as sin, but functional, and if they get covered in mural paint, it won't matter.
2. Haven't had a haircut in 2 years, hoping to save my braid just in case I need it someday (the last time I sent to Locks of Love, I heard NOTHING. . . did they even get my hair??)
3. Haven't tossed 4 non-working watches yet, in spite of hearing NOTHING from Veterans Watchmaker Initiative, either email or snail mail.
4. Combining errands into one long hair-on-fire day down the hill. . . ugh, but with gas at $5.59 for the least expensive, it only makes sense.
5. Stopped looking for a "new" car; 248,000 miles, with new radiator and new catalytic converter—it is still running, and I can use our "good" pickup (a 2003) if I need to do longer trips.
@Central Calif. Artist Jana, Locks of Love sells or discards about 80% of the hair it gets.
@Central Calif. Artist Jana, ouch! I knew that gas is more expensive in CA but that's about $2.30 more than discount places in MD.
@Elaine N, I am in shock every time I drive past a gas station. Unbelievable, and there is never a good explanation for the continual increases.
1. I used $5 extra care rewards to pick up two cold drinks when we were out and about for $0 out of pocket expense.
2. Our first camping trip with Scouts is this coming weekend. Since we have never camped before there were several items we had to invest in. We researched, borrowed what we could, and shopped sales for the rest. We were able to find a great deal on a really nice tent and all that was purchased will be used on 4 different trips this year alone so it will be well worth it in the long run.
3. Meals at home. This is the largest savings for us as eating out has become insane and really not that good unless you are going to a high end restaurant. This may have something to do with the fact that I have been eating healthy meals and my palette has changed.
4. Fall has finally arrived and I was so excited to turn the HVAC off! The house gets a bit warm in the afternoon but nothing unbearable and the cool evening air tames it very quickly.
5. Gassed up my car using $0.03 off per gallon - every cent counts. Bought day old bread at a discount to use in french toast casserole. Brown bananas thrown in freezer for bread later in the season. Shopped our pantry and freezer for ingredients to make treats for our campout and meals.
My son and I have been keeping an eye open for a coffee table for his place. I came across one at goodwill this week for $15. It had a few places on top that needed fixing, but I sanded them and had stain to match so it is great.
The same day I came across a vintage kitchen stool seat with the steps attached for $3! I have been looking for a stool for the garage and this is perfect.
My mom had cataract surgery. I was going there to help for a few days. I made all the supper meals ahead of time and took them with me to save my wallet and waistline from eating out while there.
We replaced the vent above our stovetop, but did the work ourselves to not pay the install fee.
I hemmed some pants, repaired a couple dog toys and replaced the squeakers in them (I buy a bag of squeakers from amazon and replace as needed rather than replace the whole toy), I brought back some cuttings from my mom's flowerbeds for my yard and my daughter-in-law's.
I made a menu for the week and will stay out of the grocery for the next week! (hopefully!)
1. We are having a social hour at work with themed food stations this week. (Store bought items are welcome for those that aren’t up to baking/cooking.) My team was in charge of desserts so I looked through my pantry and decided to make Snickerdoodles. The team in charge of the savory station was going to have low attendance for various reasons so I made some focaccia bread and pulled out a jar of pickled veggies from the pantry to help out. No need to go to the store!
2. We had family pictures taken this weekend. While overall family pictures aren’t frugal, I did book a mini session which is a cheaper option. Also, our family has never had professional pictures taken together so this was very important to me. The photographer was a former coworker so I was happy to support her side business, and she does beautiful work.
3. While unpacking our fall décor I found last year’s clearance purchased Thanksgiving paper plates and napkins! Thank you past me!
4. With the cooler weather coming in I was getting the urge to make our living spaces a little more cozy. I did some rearranging of linens in the rooms to freshen things up and change some colors around and now things look more welcoming for fall and winter – not a dollar was spent!
5. We were invited to an annual event that is really just nibbles, drinks, music, and mingling (free to us). I was looking forward to going because it was something different to do but my husband was on the fence. I told him we didn’t have to go but he would have to come up with dinner because the event was my dinner plan. We ended up going and we had a wonderful time – I think he had a better time than I did!
1. Stacked some savings using my grocery store app and the coupons that were mailed to me, including a free bag of potato chips that my daughter likes and some vegetarian "sausage" that I like but that has become so expensive. I even used the coupons for produce like avocados and strawberries.
2. Used the Target circle app to stack some savings on some birthday presents for my niece and a friend's son. They were last minute gifts so they could have been way more expensive. It's so satisfying to know you stretched your dollars.
3. Sewed up a hole in my husband's shirt. He had ordered a custom shirt and it had a hole within the first week. He asked for a replacement but instead they just refunded him. He was going to either keep wearing it or throw it away but I didn't like either of those options. Two minutes of work and it's good to go - luckily it was along a seam.
4. Started piecing together younger daughter's costume. The cosplay version costs over $100 for a simple costume. I think we can put together a not-embarrassing, decent replica for about $25.
5. Years ago (once my kids were done nursing and my weight stabilized), I had gone to Nordstrom for a bra fitting since my body had fluctuated so much within a five year period. I was shocked to see how off I was with the size I thought I was but the sales associate did a really great job fitting me with the right size and type so I splurged and used a gift card from a friend to buy it. A few days later I happened to be in a Nordstrom Rack and noticed the same Natori bra on the rack while walking by (wasn't even looking since i had just bought one) and saw that they were half the price as Nordstrom. I've been buying them from Nordstrom Rack since and just purchased another this week. I love it.
Oh! And the costume will include pieces that she can wear after Halloween so even if we spend $25, it won't be for just one wear.
I'd never even considered listing old glasses on eBay! Are people mostly just buying them for the frames, I guess, or are you listing the prescription on there as well? I am fascinated by that!
Your note about the needles made about half of us cringe, I'm sure, ha ha 🙂
Here are my frugal wins for the week:
https://www.toloveandtolearn.com/2023/10/10/weekly-frugal-wins-family-hikes-cold-cycles/
This week I spent far less on groceries and eating out, PLUS I'm not driving as much, so the gas in my tank will last longer. And while the guy is here tiling the bathroom, I am kind of stuck at my desk, but using some of the free time to make plans on how to have a more frugal holiday season. If I plan this in advance, it works a little better for me, financially. And I made croutons recently, too and whatever you want to call them, they were delicious!
1. My major frugal score this week was selling a car that has a cracked axle that is dangerous to drive and more expensive to fix than the car is worth for scrap metal. The best part is they came to pick it up so no one had to risk life or limb to drive it to the yard.
2. I got a free flu shot, Covid booster, and 20 minute massage on a shoulder that has been sore and bothering me at a heath fair.
3. I patched a couple of holes in an old bathmat. It isn't pretty but it works as a doormat inside of my camping tent.
4. I tried a backpacking hack of filling a Nagelene water bottle that I had with hot water and covering it with a wool sock (which I also had) to use as a hot water bottle in my sleeping bag to keep warm when it got down to 40 degrees overnight when tent camping during the Side Hustle Show. With the hot water bottle, a good sleeping bag, and extra blankets I was toasty warm. By the time I finished my hair and makeup while still in the sleeping bag (inside of breakfast in bed, I makeuped in bed) it was decently warm to get up and make breakfast.
5. A stiff wind damaged an essential prop for my side hustle stage show Saturday which I can't easily replace and especially not for the Sunday show day. A show shop owner heard about my problem and offered me a quick fix the following morning that worked. I offered to buy him a coffee or breakfast or something as a thank you but he refused. I am grateful for the community surrounding the folks working the side hustle show.
I started nursing just as my old age eyesight was catching up to me. (in my 40s). I spent the $$ to get bifocals so that I don't have to take reading glasses on and off while at work (I have 20/20 distance vision so the top 1/2 are clear). There are so many things that have tiny writing and numbers!! I was so thankful for my bifocals during COVID times when I was in a mask and visor all the time.
This is totally not frugal, but 100% helpful!
How do you list glasses? All of our children and my husband wear them and this would be great to do each time we buy them new.
I am listing them because people want the frames, so I just include all the frame size info (found on the tiny print on the inside of the earpieces!) and the brand and they usually do eventually sell.
Five frugal things:
1. A table lamp in my living room was going wonky with flashing. Dh found another lamp upstairs in the walk in closet so we got rid of the wonky one and replaced it with the old one.
2. Got a free travel size Bath and Body Works body lotion. Put in the Christmas bag.
3. I did one day of Walgreens Days last week but didn't do any other. Walgreens is trying my patience as they always offer the same things on sale.
4. Got a free medium pan pizza from Pizza Hut using points.
5. Ordered a $250 Disney gift card from my credit card rewards. Dh and I are going towards the end of the month and I figure this gift card will pay for our food. I'm a cheap date due to my gastric sleeve surgery and not being able to eat too much. The Food and Wine festival will still be going on so we can go around Epcot and try out small plates of international food.
I love butternut squash!
1. I listed last year's Halloween costumes and an old smart watch on Facebook marketplace. The watch has sold for $25 already.
2. We had some decking delivered and some of it was damaged. Lowes refunded us the price of the damaged decking and our delivery fee ($70!). We also had a grill delivered that had some damaged parts. The maker of the grill shipped us new parts free of charge.
3. A co-worker gave me 2 free tickets to see the Broadway show Frozen that had some to our city. The tickets are expensive. My daughter and I went and it was awesome!
4. We did some expensive home improvements recently. I opened 2 different credit cards to get the introductory bonuses (total bonuses will be $900). I will pay the cards off in full once the bonus is added to the account and close the card (opening credit cards for the introductory bonus is not recommended if you are going to be needing a loan/mortgage any time soon).
5. I made more sundried tomatoes using the cherry tomatoes from our garden, I made more pickles using cucumbers from our garden, and I dried all of our oregano and thyme from our garden.
In our house, soup croutons get dusted with parmesan after they are baked. Salads, soups, casserole toppings, tasty snacks. Cut them a little bigger and serve along side a charcuterie board.
I made a baby zombie out of a doll that was in a free box that some youngster had cut all her hair off to a buzz cut. Some paint, drywall spackle, fake worms and bugs...zombie baby for the neighbor's tricked out house.
I bought 4 solar powered spot lights at a garage sale. These replaced my old wired ones on the shop and barn...they are incredibly bright and only cost me $15/4 fixtures.
I bartered 2 bushels of apples for a 10 lbs of garlic from a friend at church.
I reupholstered the tractor seat with a man's 4 x leather coat I picked up at a community rummage sale, cost me $5. 30 years ago we had it reupholstered for $60. I found a youtube tutorial that walked me thru it using my commercial sewing machine.
I will be raking leaves for weeks now, better than going to the gym.
@Blue Gate Farmgirl, A friend of mine every year does a large Halloween display that consists of a large fake spiderweb, a huge hair black spider on the web, and a baby doll in a "cocoon" of spiderweb with only its head sticking out. Really creepy and easy to put together.
My five frugal things for this week, I had to think really hard to come up with five!
1. We went away for a couple of days on a foliage trip (Not frugal, but fun!) and on the way home stopped to fill up the gas tank where gas was 35 cents a gallon cheaper than at home!
2. Used my Hannaford rewards at the store, saving $10.75 this week.
3. Bought a rotisserie chicken (not frugal, but they were all out of whole chickens @.99/lb, and we wanted chicken for dinner) anyway, it had a $1.00 coupon on it, so I don’t feel quite as bad.
4. Found some very cute Halloween gifts for my little grandchildren at the second hand store that appear to be brand new! Books for the littlest and T-shirt for the oldest, who is 8. We no longer give them candy, per the parents requests.
5. Got my flu shot and Covid booster for free, and I got a Hershey kiss for being brave!
Frugal things this last week---
1. Since the weather has definitely changed to COLD our rescue dogs sleep overnight in dining (sun) room/back of house in kennel. We already had 2 single fleece blankets in kennel but cooler weather needed more blankets. Looked through donation boxes & found more (free in mail) & teen decided doesn't want old (never used) knitted blankets, SO dogs now have 6-8 blankets in kennel. I have to kennel overnight otherwise they get up when we get up for bathroom in middle night & bedrooms upstairs so worry about falling on stairs.
2. Had to replace tires earlier than expected/wanted. Of course don't carry tires currently have so had to slightly upgrade. Did not get off road tires (truck) but got normal tires this time (hope don't regret later). Applied for credit card that has 0% intrest for 6/9/12 months. Was able to use immediately with screenshot of account information. Now will make monthly payments intrest free until paid off. *Bonus--- credit score only dropped 2 points for hard inquiry/credit card. Really didn't affect my credit score until balance reported.
3. Since had to get tires, finished shopping (next door) while waited. Was not able to get whipped cream ($1/sale) but did get pink lemonade ($1/sale). Took total from $100 down to $71 with coupons/promotions/discounts. I still had to call Meijer customer support because always doesn't use all clipped coupons for products purchased and cashiers can't/won't adjust for digital coupons, only paper coupons.
4. Since should not drive vehicle far until repaired been trying to finish up Fall to do lists (in between rain). Was able to get teen help me move grill & outside table into garage---did not buy outside furniture coverings. Lifting heavy things lately has caused extreme stress/pain on my stomach/abdomen--and my hurnea(s). Hoping to get last raised garden/strawberry bed finished before too late.
5. Been eating at home all week, using what already have & only purchased sale items at store.
6. Called student loan servicer to ask about temporary forbearance (since currently not working) & was given temporary 60 days until application process complete. Possibly reduced or 0% intrest or forgiveness.
Frugal fails---
1. Did not return items to Meijer because overwhelmed by unexpected tire replacement & store super busy (like Thanksgiving time).
2. Found out need front end/suspension work done as seen when replaced tires. My mechanic moved over summer & I believe is open but unable to get answer at new shop, leaving multiple messages over last few weeks. So will go to new back up mechanic that will get me in, but more exspensive which will have to go on credit card. 🙁
3. Because of auto repairs needed can not look to schedule interviews/apply new job(s) until repairs done.
1. I've been using my pressure cooker more lately. It uses so much less gas. I've cooked up big hunks of beef, chicken, beans and potato soup.
2. Made mint tea from mint I'm growing.
3. Trimmed my daughter's bangs.
4. Collected lots of rain water.
5. Made a batch of granola.
Other than grocery shopping we did not go anywhere this weekend, the weather was yucky so we watched movies.
There was free food at work. The chef for a group party at work made fruit parfait and they were so good! He is cranky but such a great chef!
I needed a bunkie board for a bed for the grands and did not want to buy one. Instead I tore an old mattress foundation apart and used the wood to make the base. It worked out really well. I also used all the fabric from the foundation too. The only part left was the metal frame and hubs will scrap it.
This weekend we got free tickets to the children's party at a local park- pony rides, bounce house etc. The grands are coming up so we all go together along with the other grandparents.
I had a couple of perks with my Meijer credit card and used them to pay for the vet bill. That saved an additional 35.
I'm not sure but I think croutons on soup would fall in the category of a garnish.
Since you mentioned dishcloths, here’s my super-frugal tip to keep them sanitary: zap wet ones each day in the microwave for 60 seconds and then hang to dry. So easy!
Hit up our local Kroger affiliate store yesterday. I checked the clearance section and found canned corned beef for $1.25 each. Needless to say, I grabbed all 6 cans as they were dated 11/2027.
Ok, I only really have one today, but it's a great humble brag, so here it is: I talked my husband into making what I'm calling "freezer chili." This was a crock pot meal that used up some really old veggies I froze mostly in (gasp) 2016. He used a bag of roma tomatoes that I froze whole, two quart sized bags of tomato paste I had made from large tomatoes, 1 quart sized bag of sliced and very freezer burnt red pepper pieces, and one sandwich sized bag of green onions that had been grilled along with burgers on our vacation about two years ago. Because the vegetables were so old and were probably u-picked or from the farm share cull table originally, I am considering their cost to be zero. This means that the only ingredients he added that cost anything at all was a can of black beans, one onion that he sauteed with some butter and flour to make a roux (he needed something to thicken up all the liquid) and a small amount of spices. Basically this pot of chili cost about one dollar. And it also gave us a way to use up the scrapings of a sour cream container, about a quarter cup of leftover salsa and a baggie of tortilla chip crumbs. We had it for two nights in a row and it was just delicious. If you count the cost of two bricks of cheese and one more bag of chips, the entire cost for two dinners that fed four people twice plus my mom once was only ten bucks. And we have no more leftovers, plus it helped clear out the fridge and freezer. That's my idea of frugal.
@Becca, That is brilliant & so satisfying
What a satisfying meal!
Thanks for the crouton reminder! It's getting cool here too so I turned some bread that was getting a bit tough into warm, yummy ones for our salad tonight.
1. Signed my kiddo up for driver's education this week. It's not mandatory in our state, so we have to pay out of pocket, but vehicle operation is not coming intuitively to him, and we're hoping it'll pay off down the road in both insurance reduction and being a safer driver.
2. Resigned ourselves to being out all day, every day while he's in class this week, bc the commute is 1 hour each way. Yesterday the other kids and I went to a customer appreciation day at our electric cooperative for free food and bounce house time while I donated blood (free t-shirt received). We went to a few stores and got some screaming deals on early Christmas gifts and supplies for Operation Christmas Child boxes. Today we met friends and piggybacked on their membership for an entire day at the local botanical gardens. The weather was perfect, we didn't spend any $, and their company was great. Best of all, started the crock pot with supper before I left and am packing lunches so we can resist the siren song of fast food.
3. Changed our Christmas gift plan a bit this year to use what we had - an embarrassment of free strawberries and canning jars/lids. We usually give semi-homemade pickles, but strawberry jam it is this year. I found a great pectin-free recipe and canned almost 60 pints over the weekend to get ready for Christmas early. I'm making fabric gift bags with scraps, since jars can be heavy, and I usually tuck in one or two other goodies with them (for teachers and such).
4. Gladly received and butchered venison a just friend got during bow season. We've learned how to process our own, so we not only save $, but also know it's done in a sanitary way.
5. Paid cash for another work truck when my husband's got past its repair life. It was a need, but we'd saved, so the note was $0 - a grace.
Small but made me smile. My oldest is working thru college and paying his own way, and the saving gene is strong in him too. He went to a nearby Dirt Cheap, and using their scanning app to pre-check prices, got a $50 bike helmet he needed for 25 cents, a $100 cookware set for 50 cents, and a $250 weighted blanket for $2. He said the cashier couldn't believe it and had to get the manager's approval, but they were the legitimate prices. It made me smile for him!
@Amanda P,
*A friend just got, not just friend, oy!
@Amanda P, If it makes you feel any better, driver's ed. is required in our state, and we still have to pay out-of-pocket.
Same here!
@Jody S., that does help. Ouch!
1. Took part in the community garage sale this past Saturday. No need for additional advertising since our address was listed on the community garage sale map and there was another neighbor down the street also participating, so we got a decent amount of traffic. Sales were ok, but I was surprised at WHAT some people bought. Posted some of the leftovers online and sold most of them in the past 2 days. Took a trunkful of boxes to the thrift store to donate.
2. My husband and I went out to dinner for our anniversary. We love sushi and chose a restaurant that we had a 10% coupon for that was part of our kid's orchestra fundraising coupon book.
3. My son wants to go on a school sponsored overseas trip in 2 years, so after attending the informational meeting, we signed up right away to get a $300 discount (deposit is still fully refundable until Friday in case we change our minds). Our kids don't ask for *that much* now that they're older but we prioritize travel and wanted to give them this experience. They've setup monthly payments so that we can slowly pay for the large amount over the next 2 years.
4. During the garage sale, I had a "free box" sitting out with random items and many got taken (much easier than putting on freecycle!).
5. Ordered my son a new hoodie and chose free pickup at the local store instead of paying for shipping, saving $8.
Canadian Thanksgiving Edition
1. My 93 year old mom is (her words) “beginning to lose it”. She had a lovely laughing-at-herself story about a 16 pound turkey in the common freezer at her seniors condo building. Everyone was complaining about it taking up space and nobody was claiming it. Finally, someone looked more closely and found Mom's name on it! She had purchased it for Christmas last year and I already had a turkey, so she had stored it and forgotten it. WIN for us! She defrosted it and brought it up for me to cook for our Thanksgiving.
2. The potatoes, carrots, broccoli, squash, and apples for the crumble desert at thanksgiving were all from my gardens- something I am very grateful to be able to provide for my family (and speaking of thankful, although I cooked or provided much of the meal, my #1 son and Daughter outlaw hosted which is a HUGE thing for me to not have to clean my house for!)
3. The stock pot is making broth tonight, and soup is on the menu for tomorrow. I have a lot of meat picked off the bones, so am meal planning to ensure we don't waste any. I plan to make up some pot-pie mix and taco turkey meat and freeze for future Ecoteri to benefit from
4. my tomatoes are mostly harvested, many are in boxes slowly ripening, there are too many cherry tomatoes but many of those need to ripen, too. I have some in the dehydrator, and as the rest ripen I am roasting them, running through the food mill, and canning the resulting lovely thick flavourful sauce. I think I have canned at least 20 quarts of sauce (most plain, some gussied up as ready-to-go pizza/spaghetti sauce)
5. The apples we picked 3 weeks ago are really ready to be 'dealt with' so tomorrow is another kitchen day – applesauce (made for fresh eating and canned) and more crumble, I imagine! There are two trees still to pick so #2 son and I will need to rain-gear up, the rain has begun but we want to get the fruit harvested and not wasted
@Ecoteri, I think that it is ok if somewhere in her 93 years, a turkey or two has slipped your mother's mind. Glad it was found for your family!
We call those options "toppings." As in, toppings on a salad: croutons, other crunchies, cheese, sunflower seeds. Toppings on a taco: hot sauce, salsa, extra cheese, jalepenos. Items that each individual adds to their taste, "topping" their serving.
I have a pattern for a dishcloth but no cotton yarn. I tried with the regular yarn (acrylic?) but it did NOT work. I was terrible. So now I am on the hunt for cotton yarn. I have two dishcloths but they are soooo ragedy.
We had a busy couple of weeks, so I'm combining several weeks' worth here!
1. I picked up an unopened bottle of red wine vinegar from BN. I also picked up a box of food that someone else was offering. I told the donor I wouldn’t be able to use some of it but that I would pass along what I couldn’t. I was thrilled to have some items we really will enjoy like canned salmon and a can of wild blueberries that will go on waffles, and the rest will be donated to our church food drive.
2. Ordered more free Covid tests from USPS. We have about 4 tests left from previous orders, but I would feel more comfortable going into the fall virus season with more on hand.
3. Our local convenience store had butter for $2.49/lb which is better than the usual $4/lb prices around here.
4. Dropped off two items at the consignment shop and picked up a check for $48. Hopefully that’s the last time I’ll go there, as I’ve consigned the items my mom wanted me to, and also cleared out anything in my own closet that was worth consigning. I’ve already left a SASE for the last check they will issue.
5. Some of the same weekly items: eating out of the freezer/pantry, cutting open tubes of hair gel/toothpaste etc. to get out the last bits, using a skinny small spatula to clean out peanut butter jars, etc.
6. Had a free dessert for some reason in my Red Lobster app, and was able to redeem it while out and about to share with family, no purchase required.
1. We made all our meals at home. The kids and I packed all of our lunches.
2. We forgot to get food for a dessert potluck. Oops! But, I remembered to pull something out of the freezer for the allergy kid. (I refuse to feel bad that we forgot this one time.) This is frugal because an allergy-friendly cupcake is like $10... for 1 cupcake.
3. I fixed my jean jacket, bought in 2005, with some scrape denim.
4. I fixed my son's pants and my husband's shirt.
5. I bought a few Christmas presents during recent sales.
Hi Kristen, I am an over 10 year reader finally commenting! My kids taught me about Quizlet, a free online app for study notecards. You have to create them, just like your own paper ones, but you can quiz yourself AND it saves paper. For when your free notecards run out.
Oh, yes, my microbio professor last fall had a bunch of Quizlets premade for us and I used those so much! I did the matching games over and over. So handy.
And I'm so glad you commented!