Five Frugal Things | Cat: 2, Earbuds: 0
1. I got two pairs of Yurbuds on eBay
I bought a pair of pink earbuds from eBay some years ago. I've mentioned before that I have very small ear canals, which makes most earbuds painfully large.
Yurbuds used to make earbuds that actually fit comfortably in my ears, but they got bought out by JBL a while back, and the new earbuds they make are not quite as comfy.
Anyway...Shelley bit my earbuds several years ago, and the damage was light enough that I was just able to wrap the earbuds with some insulated tape and call it good.
But now, many miles later (I usually wear these while walking!), the cable well and truly split.
I hopped onto eBay to find someone selling the old style of Yurbuds, and I added a few listings to my Watched list. The next day, I got an offer from one of the sellers, which made the price only $8.
YES.
I decided to go ahead and buy two pairs (no extra shipping cost for that) so that I have a backup pair for when these ones give up the ghost.
(or for when a certain cat eats them.)
Want to know something funny? As I was writing this post, I was reminded that Shelley also destroyed my first pair of Yurbuds, and that damage was fatal to that pair immediately.
2. I bought four boxes of shredded wheat
I don't eat a lot of cereal, but occasionally on a rushed morning, I will eat a bowl of plain shredded wheat topped with berries.
Soo, I like to keep a box around.
Aldi used to carry plain shredded wheat, but they stopped a while back.
So I bought it at Lidl, and for a while, it was a decent price.
But last time I was in, a regular-size box of plain shredded wheat was over $4! For the store brand!
That's kinda surprising.
Even more surprising: Safeway had a special where if you bought four boxes of their store-brand plain shredded wheat, they were only $1.99 apiece.
I do not generally expect Safeway to beat a Lidl price, but here we are.
3. I saved some bread odds and ends
I had a couple of bagels, two partial packages of buns, and a partial loaf of bread that were all getting a little dry.
So, I cut them up into cubes and divided them between two glass pans. I froze one pan for future use, and I used the second pan to make a quarter batch of the Pioneer Woman's baked French toast.
I'm definitely in my downsize-the-recipes phase of life!
I'll defrost the other pan of cubes in the future to make a second pan of baked French toast for Zoe and me.
4. I ordered a box of Dinnerly meals
I sat down last Friday to plan out the upcoming week, and once it was all mapped out, I felt rather overwhelmed.
For one thing, I have 22 chapters of reading assigned.
I'm a fast reader, but GEEZ that is going to take a long time. Also, the getting-unmarried process is very time-consuming at the moment.
But I remembered that Dinnerly had sent me a 40% off offer since it's been a long time since I got a box from them, and I thought, "Hmmm, this might be a good time to use that."
The box was something like $36 plus shipping, which is certainly more expensive than me cooking from scratch.
But it is not more expensive than getting takeout all week. And it's gonna take some mental load off of me, so I will count it as a win.
5. I...
- made a batch of this granola
- made a bottle of this simple vinaigrette
- got a free pound of butter through my Safeway app
- used the back of saved paper (it's got printing on the other side) for my math practice
Your turn! What frugal things have you been up to?
P.S. An embarrassing note about the granola: I JUST realized on Saturday that this whole time, the oats measurement has been wrong! I use 5 cups of rolled oats, not 3 cups, and I do not know how in the world I typed 3 and haven't noticed it all this time.
No wonder some of you said, "Man, this granola is awfully sweet!" Ha. I corrected it now, but I did want to acknowledge it here so you all know!
I hope you will be able to get unmarried soon and with little additional worry. As it is - wishing you strength with that - and the 22 chapters.
We spent relatively little last week as I was still clearing out the freezer. I made a meal plan and managed to stick to it, which was very satisfying.
I bought one day old artisan sourdough bread- which keeps exceedingly well and also tastes well toasted.
We had sunny spells, I did several laundry loads on solar power and did not need to put on the heating until the afternoon.
I met with a group of friends from kindergarten and we had a pot luck meal, which suited us all much better than going to a restaurant. Life threw each of us different challenges in our lap and we wanted to make sure everyone could join, also those with strained finances.
I am raking leaves in our garden, putting them on the flower borders and also putting some in a bag as it that is supposed to yield excellent compost. I'll find out next spring if this is indeed the case.
I was browsing through some old pictures and found some from last Christmas with decorations I forgot I had. Making mental note to tidy up the attic in the coming weeks and bringing them to the light.
Reading library books and putting some new titles on hold for later.
I love Shelley. She is so stinkin' cute.
@Kim S., same. So innocent 🙂
1. After years of thinking the local produce and greenhouse establishment is too expensive I found a way to get produce at a good price. They sell boxes of apples and also boxes and small baskets of "seconds". I bought two boxes (one of miscellaneous seconds and one of Empire) apples and also a basket of butternut squash and daikon radishes.
2. Giant Food has upped the special offerings for their flexible rewards. I was very close to getting more points in a couple of categories for the month so I walk to the local store and spent just enough on meat and yogurt to earn several hundred more points.
3. We curbside picked a lamp, mirror, and some planter boxes in the neighborhood. If we decide not to keep them I'll give them away using Freecycle.
4. We sorted our house paint in September. The excess I listed on Freecycle and the untinted paint went quickly. The tinted paint was picked up yesterday. It was a relief to know it did not go in the landfill. Frugal for the planet (and the recipient I guess). I appreciate that Freecycle allows listings to sit for quite a while.
5. DH cleaned out and rearranged the garage. He mounted some Closet Maid shelves I curbside picked 2-3 years ago. SIL had indicated an interest but after all that time... There is now more/better shelving and more room for DH's vehicle. The plastic shelving unit went to a neighbor that will use it in his greenhouse.
I was finally honest with myself and composted some really old, freezer burnt fruits so that I could finish defrosting my freezer. Now the freezer is nice and clean and the contents are very paired down. I still have lots of fruit that wasn't freezer burnt, so I see some overnight oats in our future. I also see some higher grocery bills in the future too because we have eaten up almost all the proteins. Hoping for some good turkey sales.
I turned 5 not so fabulous apples into 2 loaves of apple pecan bread! While It baked I cleaned the kitchen and folded laundry. Then I opened the oven door to add warmth to the upstairs!
I purchased 3 bunches of flowers-2 were roses and 1 was wildflowers- at the local salvage grocery( after Sweetest Day sale). I dropped 1 dozen roses on a friends porch and took the rest home. total paid $4.47!
Stopped by a produce store when out running errands in a town near us and found GREAT fruit and veg deals. Kids are eating lots of strawberries this week and ($5.00 for 5-12oz packages!) and Potatoes are being mixed into many dishes.. 10lbs of russet for 3.99 and 10 lbs of red for $2.00
Been trying to be ON TOP of the December holidays ahead of time... lol Saw a pretty good deal on Bath and Body Works hand soap... used some of my Ibotta money to get a gift card, used the rest of a gift card I had and a coupon and bought 30 soaps for $31 cash out of pocket. Will wrap with a bow and be my little token personal gift at my family party ( LARGE family) gathering that somehow fell onto my shoulders a few years ago! lol
Cleaned and organized the bathroom closet that looked like a hoarders paradise( thanks kids). Disposed of a bag of random items that were pretty much empty, dried out or too old to want to use. Organized the remaining.. Used a face mask on my oldest son that night( much to his dismay) to try to dry out his spots! lol
My tuxedo cat Sweetie did the same thing! I always had 2 pairs on hand because I used them for work calls. I tried to be super careful about putting them away but she’d dig them out of the drawer sometimes!
Yes, ever since, I've been very careful to not leave earbuds lying around!
@Kristen, I think they're irresistible. My mini-dachshund somehow levitated herself up onto a sideboard when we accidentally left earbuds out, and soundly chomped them.
@Suz, am totally picturing your little dog levitating.
@Suz, I’ll see your dachshund and raise you a rabbit…3 lamp cords, 2 sets of Mac computer cords…and a suitcase zipper.
Good thing she’s cute!
22 chapters of not-novel reading-- oof! I remember a few semesters when the stars aligned just right so that the assigned reading was so much that I just. couldn't. stay. awake. while reading. (And reading and eating and going to class was all that happened.) Kudos to you for planning ahead!
*On Sunday I did not want to cook. I had nothing planned. Husband came to the rescue and took me out on a date to the grocery store to find something easy for supper. Store-fried chicken, potato chips, a cabbage and coleslaw dressing, bananas and coconut milk for a smoothie PLUS 3 packages of bacon, smoked hocks, and more (I can't remember what) cost way less than taking our whole family out to eat.
*At the grocery store on Sunday evening, I really wanted to buy a bag or two of coleslaw mix for convenience. I decided I could justify the cost for 2 bags. Then I picked a bag of it up and realized how little was in the bag. I would need at least 3 bags for our family! So I grumbled as I picked out a much less expensive head of cabbage to cut up at home. But then while we were eating supper, I instructed my children about my lesson in frugality. Or bragged about how frugal I was to make myself feel better-- you decide.
*We (the children) picked the last of the garden. Green tomatoes and some lunchbox peppers.
*I sorted many books in boxes in the basement. These are books from book sales. This activity is frugal because it helps me use resources we already have for school.
*I baked bread, made homemade buttermilk, made my own coffee, and cooked and ate all meals at home.
I’ve supported enough friends to know that even amicable divorces are a legal slog by design. Hang in there! HUGS.
FFT
—Our lone window AC was uninstalled, cleaned, and stored in the garage (in a nylon bag) until next summer. Our highest electric bill this year was during the armpit of July, which topped out at $63. Yay, little house!
--A neighbor harvested the last of their tomatoes and offered me 20 lbs! It's been non-stop crock pot soup and pasta sauce action since.
--I made my traditional $15 Extra Bucks raid of CVS' snack aisle sales for my husband's work lunches. I calculated so closely that I owed no money out of pocket.
--A regional organic chain had several freebies in their app. I received free sweet potato puffs and a free chocolate bar, also for my husband's work lunches. The man is a snack machine! 😛
—We hosted an early Friendsgiving this past weekend. We already had everything in our pantry and freezer for the main course, one dessert, and a side, and our guests each brought a side. I bought Halloween paper plates and napkins for 60% off at Michael’s to spare us dishes afterwards, barring our own glasses and silverware. A wonderful time was had by all, and there were enough leftovers to share that everyone had an easy dinner at home afterwards.
And non-amicable divorces are even worse. 😉
@Kristen, wishing you all the best for smoother sailing and a fair - and speedy - outcome that reflects your documented decades of hard work and care for your family.
@Kristen,
A dear friend of mine if going through a non-amicable divorce.....wishing you patience and strength as you work your way through.
@Kristen, HUGS I wish text carried tone. I just meant that even “easy” divorces aren’t, nor did I mean to pry. Meg said it perfectly just below.
Oh, for sure! I wasn't at all offended and I didn't think you were prying. 🙂 All good, friend.
@Kristen,
Believe me, I know. Doubly, triply so when that ex is a narcissist…
@Liz B.,
*is*....sigh.
@Ash,
Which is exactly what my friend is dealing with. If you looked for a definition of "narcissist", a photo of her ex would be there.
@Kristen, HUGS
@Kristen, yes they are!!!
I am for sure NOT in a downsizing recipes phase of my life. 🙂 In fact . . .
--I invited another family with kids similar in age to mine over for dinner tonight so we could all go trick-or-treating together afterwards. And then there were some teachers our sick yesterday, which meant a strong possibility that I would have to work today as a sub. Which would leave me with no time to cook dinner for 11 people in between getting home at 4:30 p.m. and leaving for trick-or-treating at 6 p.m. If I lived in a place where it is a possibility, I would probably have availed myself of take-out pizza tonight. But I do not live in such a place, so instead I made a giant pot of chili last night after work, starting with frozen ground elk. This is where many years of cooking experience comes in handy.
--Our Halloween table decorations (which I posted about in great detail today, because I can) came from my garden: orange calendula blossoms and a tiny, mostly orange and round, immature squash that I carved into the world's cutest jack-o'-lantern.
--My daughter is dressing as her American Girl doll this year, which is the cutest costume ever and was inspired by the fact that she already had a dress similar to her doll's. All I had to buy was a length of ribbon to make the ribbon belt thing, and a piece of lace for the neck of the dress. She already had the black Mary Jane style shoes and black stockings.
--One son wanted to be a werewolf. All the actual werewolf masks were way too scary for an 8-year-old, so I got just a regular wolf one. He's wearing his own clothes, and will be a werewolf in mid-transformation. When we go trick--or-treating tonight, it's going to be really cold, so he decided to wear some raccoon fur mittens my husband made in his trapping days in New York.
--The other younger son is using all the other raccoon skins from the same source, many of which still have the faces on them, and arranging them strategically so it looks as if he's being attacked by raccoons. He is raccoon bait. I had nothing to do with this costume, but it is pretty funny.
And there we have it. Five Frugal Things: Halloween Edition.
Happy Halloween, everyone!
@kristin @ going country, How in the world do you manage trick-or-treating where you are? I'm not nearly as rural as you but I live in a "dark skies" village where the houses are very far apart and have not had a single trick-or-treater in the 20+ years I've been here. The Village arranges a "trunk'n'treat" at the community center and the kids all go there. And kudos to your kids' originality with their costumes, and your husband for having the foresight to hang onto all those animal pelts. ;-}
@JDinNM, There is a small village (around 100 people) ten miles from us. We trick-or-treat there. There are only about a dozen houses that hand out candy, but they give the kids a lot at a time, because there aren't a lot of kids that trick-or-treat there. Last year there were 15 trick-or-teaters. We love it, because our kids can run in the streets in the dark and we don't have to worry about cars. Also, they get enough candy that it feels exciting, but not so much that it's ridiculous. And the older people who hand out the candy really love seeing the kids. It's important to them. Many people drive to the bigger villages or towns to trick-or-treat, but we think it's better to do it as close to home as we can.
@kristin @ going country, Terrific! Fun for one and all, as it should be.
@kristin @ going country, Racoon bait! I LOVE it! hahahaha
I was thinking of you this morning as I'm a long-time reader and know that Halloween was a big deal for your family when the kids were younger; thanks for the reminder that our lives have many chapters (ha! sorry bad joke with the reading you have ahead of you), and that things that have passed can be beautifully filled with new, unexpected things full of meaning xo
@Shelagh, well-said! I agree <3
Nodding here. <3
@Shelagh, This is absolutely beautifully said and oh, so true.
Our weather made a drastic change, including the lake going up 17 feet and the temperature plunging to just above freezing. So a lot of my frugal things are weatherizing.
1. Used an old Amazon envelope, turned inside out, as weatherstripping for an old hole left by a landland phone jack. The original jack was taken out by the previous homeowners and/or phone co., and cold air came through. I was never able to get a solid switchplate on there to stay. The thing is close to my bed and I hate it when cold air seeps in. So I just got one of those envelopes, which are plastic and lined with bubble wrap, and turned it inside out and tacked it around the opening. Since the nightstand is in front of it, no one will know the difference. But it fixed the problem, and better still, it was free....my favorite price:)
2. Instead of calling the plumber, I finally was able to get the gas space heater (faux fireplace) lit. Contacted the manufacturer and they emailed me the PDF of the manual, which another, earlier plumber had taken with him and never returned. I was able to get down on my belly and wear my new reading glasses and use a flashlight to find where you turn on the natural gas and the pilot light. Presto! The flames came up with a great big whoooshing sound -- and I didn't have to pay for a service call!
3. Per my handyman's tip, I was able to use regular bleach from the laundry to scrub away the mold/mildew the ex-roommate had caused under her bathroom sink cabinet. Much cheaper than going to the home improvement store and buying a special product that would've done the same thing. Handyman says bleach will kill the stuff just as good and won't cost as much.
4. Found some plastic-coated insulation Walmart originally used to ship something to the ex-roommate, and used that in 2 windows. One window won't close all the way, and the other one has already been weatherized for summer. Didn't want to take out the shade cloth that blocked the hot sun, want to leave it up permanently, so the old bubblewrap-on-window-pane trick wouldn't work. The insulation, put behind the blinds and thermal drapes, did the trick. Again, it was free....my favorite price:)
5. Dug through the storage rooms and found a lot of good winter helpers:
--the tabletop oven since my kitchen oven isn't working. Will be able to bake biscuits and pizza this winter.
-- 8x10 carpet scrap to use as a rug on the cold tile floor in the den
-- thick comforters from ages past. My bed looks like a production of "The Princess and the Pea," with all those coverings on it, but I'm very comfortable even with the heat turned down.
-- sweatshirts, sweaters, heavy socks and winter clothes. Most are un-fashionable (or should I say thrift store chic?) but no one will notice if I wear them under a long coat when grocery shopping. Or when I wear 'em around the house.
--fuzzy lined new houseshoes, bought last July when temps were in the 100s. The thrift store had new ones on for $5 a pair back then. Now they are nice and warm. It pays to shop out of season!
-- electric radiator and space heater so I won't have to turn the furnace up all over the house. Although wrapping up in the comforters and using the gas "fireplace" may mean I don't have to use them.
--LED flashlights and lanterns just in case we have another electric outage this winter. They are now strategically placed all over the house. And a lot of them were obtained free or super cheap from Harbor Freight when HF was doing those coupon giveaways.
Now that I'm all ready for winter, with my plants covered for our first frost tonight and temps in the high 30s and 40s, I hear it's going to warm up into the 70s and 80s next week.
frugal things this last week---
● ]picked up (local) newspaper to look to see if Apple Valley (local) $5 off $40 coupon in this week newspaper (only does once month) & YES it was--picked up 2 news papers (expires 11/30/23) AND I WILL NEED MEDS.
● used 20% off total Domino's order last weekend (& teen did not want to eat) & earned enough rewards for FREE PIZZA/PASTA/SUB & GOT FREE EMERGENCY PIZZA (expires end of November?? not sure because only said not good 10/31 & 11/24 or 26)
● finally found way for bread to not mold/go bad as quickly---put in fridge until need to use. Admit that we have not been using Bread as quickly as should, so has been getting moldy (birds happy). I remembered that my aunt (in Florida) puts bread in fridge & does well, so decided to try. So far so good.
● finally decided to check out letter teen got earlier this month stating FREE Food $ for last summer. Teen school asked everyone to fill out FREE/REDUCED lunch application even though ALL STUDENTS GET FREE LUNCH 2023-2024 school year (& did last year). Apparently we qualified (normally) for free lunch so teen recieved free food money/card for (what would have been) lunches over summer. Thankfully, does not affect child support receive (called to ask & make sure) & will help with groceries.
● went to Target over weekend to look for new deodorant for teen (decided doesn't like previous one been using for years now) & ended up getting deodorant for FREE. I have earned rewards & gift cards at Target & digital coupons for Degree motion deodorant so figured would be cheapest for me to get deodorant for teen to try. I really like to clear/no white residue on clothes, so been searching for that type deodorant-‐- not as available as thought would be. Anyway, the cashier & I kept having difficulty with fact that deodorant rang up & took coupon off until I paid with my rewards then did not deduct coupon. Ended up just doing without coupon & went to customer service desk for help. They refunded my purchase (rewards refunded) & tried to purchase with coupon & same experience. After multiple tries I just asked for coupon difference on giftcard. Whatever customer service did (not sure) the total for deodorant came to $0 & no rewards used & no giftcard difference for coupon. I have checked my rewards (few times) & nothing since refunding regular price deodorant.
● Found clearance 3 wick citronella candles with $1 off coupon on 2 candles purchased. Bought last 4 at $2.39 each then coupon. I have large candle holder that these fit into & use when picnicking or camping.
● Friendship wool having Halloween flash sale (ends today) on their (limited edition/not usually available) Sprite wool dryer balls 30% off (10% more than highest discount usually offered). I absolutely love these sprite dryer balls (though already bought 2 earlier this year when available) & looking at small wool pet sports balls for dogs (for Christmas). These sprite wool dryer balls also make great Halloween decorations---
Happy Halloween everyone! 46% chance snow during trick or treat hours. Saw first snow flakes yesterday, but didn't stick. We are lucky as areas few hours north of us have already seen snow staying on ground last few days & accumulation in Michigan UP.
First, my sympathies to Kristen on both the unpleasant getting-unmarried process and the humungous reading assignment.
Now, FFT, Eye Update/Miscellaneous Edition:
(1) The Muro 128 ointment recommended by my eye doc last Thursday has done its job of clearing up my corneal edema after the first cataract surgery, and I’m now enjoying myself hugely by taking off my old glasses from time to time and appreciating my new and improved distance vision in the operated eye. (I got the lens that Medicare pays for, and asked for it to correct for distance vision, since I haven’t had any of that since age 7.) I can also now see colors in a whole new way through that eye, as several folks told me I might. Woo hoo!
(2) Inspired by Katy’s chili in one of her frequent recent posts over at the NCA, I made a chili on Sunday that included the following: 12 oz. of RFQS Wegmans turkey sausage that had been in my freezer for a year; 1 can of Wegmans diced tomatoes and 2 cans of Wegmans kidney beans that also needed to be used; and 2/3 of a jar of Wegmans mild salsa that had been in the fridge since the last time I indulged in Wegmans black corn chips. I realize that this sounds like an advertisement for Wegmans, but I doubt that Danny Wegman & Co. will want to put it on the website. 😉
(3) Now that my vision has improved, I’m going to stroll around to the curbside apple tree with the excellently flavored apples tomorrow morning and see if I can bring home any more. The forecast for the next two days is for rain mixed with wet snow.
(4) The recent chilly weather has put an end to my zinnias and other cut flowers from my garden, though we haven’t actually had a killing frost yet. But, like Katy and like Lina in yesterday's Meet a Reader, I have definitely been enjoying making bouquets for self and neighbors all this summer.
(5) And for a desk/appointment calendar for next year, I’m going to use a blank book that JASNA BFF gave me a while back, instead of buying a new one for 2024. $20 or so saved.
Ohhh, I am so happy your vision is getting better. Yay!!!
Thanks for the baked french toast recipe - I know that I'll have some extra cream to use up in the next week or so. My FFT:
1. We went on vacation this past weekend and stayed at a state park. Michigan has a lot of cabin and lodge options and they are definitely more bang for your buck than staying at a hotel or renting a cabin another way. We also passed on the expensive pumpkin patch/petting farm while there, even though it looked fun. My kids had a blast running up and down the sand dunes, playing on playgrounds, and playing games in the cabin. The only activity we paid for was an ice cream outing.
2. Our cabin had a full kitchen and we cooked all of our meals.
3. I borrowed a mobile hotspot from the library so we wouldn't go over our data while away on our trip.
4. For Halloween this year, kid A's costume is borrowed from a friend, kid B's costume was a Christmas gift from his sister last year purchased at 80% off after last Halloween (and a 6yo boy was totally thrilled to get a Spiderman costume for Christmas!), and kid C wanted to wear the same costume she wore last year (that I purchased like-new from a yard sale for $1).
5. I cancelled my free trial of YouTube TV before the free period ran out. Good gracious, the monthly fee for that is expensive! But it was the only way to watch baseball playoffs.
I feel your pain with the getting unmarried part. It took me a year, after 4 years trying to just FIND him, and my ex had the judge soooooooooooooooo angry, that when he agreed to disagree - he could not get him to sign the papers fast enough. It was soooooooooo embarrassing too, going up and telling the truth of how our marriage failed . . . and he went up and said the NASTIEST, off the wall things, craziest stories, TRYING SO HARD to get me in trouble. My attorney was even shocked, and I had pre-warned him. Even more embarrassing is I work in the courthouse (not for them, but I go in there to do work) and I knew the people in there. Such a bad situation. I'm so glad its over. It makes me SERIOUSLY reconsider doing it ever again. I AM MUCH, MUCH HAPPIER BEING SINGLE. But you have my sympathies!
Also, I killed my MacBook Air by spilling a glass of milk on it. I do not recommend this! So I just made my life harder now, having to replace that. So much for saving money, when I need to spend it LOL! Also today is my birthday. Happy birthday to me!
@Michaela, Happy birthday!
I too am much happier being single. I've dated a couple times since my divorce but I just honestly can't be bothered. Pickings are mighty slim out here anyway.
My ex didn't tell awful stories about me to the judge--he told them about our daughter in an effort to get out of paying for her college, per our agreement. His lawyer was so appalled, she fired him as a client. The judge offered to lock him up, if I wanted, but I didn't want our happy marriage to end in such misery and rancor. Oh well. I defended my daughter and kicked my ex's butt anyway.
@Michaela, That stinks about the Macbook. There are places that repair them, though (despite Apple's best efforts to make them unrepairable.) Rossman Repair Group in Austin TX is the biggest one that I know of but there are others (and ones that do mail order.)
Happy birthday to you! And I'm so sorry you went through a terrible and stressful divorce. You must be so happy to have that behind you!
Good thoughts for you on the getting-unmarried, Kristen. Unable to sleep last night, I thought about mine.
I am so glad my kids are older now and I live where I do on Halloween. When my kids were younger the holiday was such a huge stressor, and while I think trick or treaters are cute, the incessant dog barking every time the doorbell rang jangled my nerves. Here the kids just trick or treat at the shops downtown, since so few houses are occupied this time of year.
Frugal? I got nothing. I have barely been able to cook the past week because I am having such severe anxiety. I made ravioli last night and could only eat a mouthful. Well, I can't use my cleaning lady because she's out with surgery until January, so I guess that's one savings. And my son can't help with anything because he hurt his back. I think I'll go for an emergency visit to the $$$ spa this week. I also canceled having Thanksgiving here with my sister and brother.
Sorry for being a downer. Happy Halloween!
@Rose, I'm sorry about your anxiety. I have experienced that too
@Kara, Thanks. Events of the past ten months (BFF's death, illness/hospitalization earlier this year, job loss, my mother's upcoming death) all hit me on Sunday, which was BFF's birthday. Plus, I was told that the kidney damage from the campylobacter poisoning (reason for hospital) is permanent and I might need a donation next week.
My freelance folks are being very understand as is my writers' workshop (since I haven't completed this week's tasks, since I seem unable to write) but I just don't know what to do. And I almost always know what to do.
No, not next week! I was told last week etc etc.
@Rose, So sorry to hear of so much trauma in a short time. I like to remember the Quaker saying, "Way will open," as a way to try to take one step at a time one day at a time. Best wishes for patience with yourself and good decisions one day after another.
@Rose, anxiety can be so limiting and immobilizing when it hits. Are you familiar with pursed lip breathing where you inhale through your nose and open your diaphragm by allowing your stomach to expand and there your exhale slowly through pursed lips? You exhale for twice the count of your inhale. For example, in for 4 out for 8. Helps to stimulate the vagus nerve. If you have a therapist, they may teach you other Bangalore stimulating exercises for anxiety. Be well.
@J, vagal
stimulating, not bangalore(?)
Hi Kristen, have you ever tried warm milk over crushed up shredded wheat? Either use the mini ones or crumble up the big ones. It’s a very nice variation.
Sending warm hugs and prayers for strength in all your efforts.
That is a lot of reading for one week. Glad you got Dinnerly to help you get through the week with less stress.
FFT:
- Bought gas at Sam's using my Walmart+ membership
- BJ's Wholesale Club is opening near home soon. I joined and got rewards almost equal to the membership price. Have never been in BJ's before but will try it out since it's so much closer to home than Costco or Sam's
- Didn't purchase flowers for myself at Trader Joe's last week, even though I love their flowers
- Made a large pot of soup that we ate for several dinners
- Made DS a cloak for Halloween costume using cheap fabric from Walmart and other supplies I had in the house
Random commentary — some frugal, some just commentary.
I helped at the food pantry yesterday because the school food drive is coming right up and there arose a need for extra hands to organize. There are things I just didn't know (because, not to my credit, food pantry anything is simply not on my radar about 11¾ months a year).
It's against state law to give food pantry clients food that's past its best-by date. Right now, I'd say that's 50 percent of our small town's food pantry stock.
Also on the learning curve, the things I'd think to give to the food pantry are not necessarily the things the food pantry needs. Breakfast cereal and pancake mix, no matter what brand, sit on the shelf. Canned corn and canned green beans are around 80 percent of the vegetables there, and between that and canned or dry beans make up maybe 25 percent of everything on the shelf (crazy). So just say no to canned corn, green beans, and beans.
But they would like to have more Progresso-type soups that are fully-cooked meals in a can. And individually-packaged paper towel rolls as well. I need to ask some more pointed questions and learn more. It seems like when it's donation-based, it's hard to ask for specific things because they don't want anyone to feel unappreciated/disenchanted/brushed off/something like that.
Anyway. Good to know going forward. Need to be more tactical.
I guess the frugal side of this is that I brought home five or six boxes of unfrosted shredded wheat. I don't love it, but as always hate to see any food go to waste. I guess I'll start by seeing if the stuff that was best by June is stale or not, and if it's OK, we'll plow through it one month at a time.
I'm not sure I ever actually finished any assigned reading in college. So, gold stars to you. I studied; don't get me wrong. And I'm a reader. But assigned reading? Oh boy. I guess maybe in philosophy classes since it was so discussion-based. But anything science and lecture/lab-based, never. Studying after the fact was much more my rhythm.
And, it seems to me that getting unmarried is much like dealing with an estate. There's a huge rush, and then a huge pause, and then a huge rush, and so on. Best wishes for a smooth week ahead.
@Karen., I usually give cans of meat or fish to the pantry. They tell me they're always appreciated.
Which reminds me, my son and I went to a fundraiser, held outside, for a local food pantry on Saturday. It was utterly delightful, and it didn't hurt that it was sunny and 75 degrees.
@Rose, I noticed there was essentially none of that on the shelf at all, except one can of salmon and a really large can of beef that came from someone's commodities delivery, I think. So I am thinking maybe canned chicken, tuna, maybe shelf-stable bacon bits? Not sure. Need to ask.
@Karen., Canned chicken, tuna, Spam--also things like meaty chili in cans. I sometimes buy a case from Amazon--much cheaper than my local market--and drop it off at the pantry. I've also heard that things like a box cake mix plus a can of frosting is much appreciated, but usually I stick to meat.
@Rose, Ooh, chili with meat. I didn't think of that. Good.
I've also heard cake/frosting, and vegetable oil, and ... I dunno, there's a list going around on facebook. I should print that and ask about those as well.
I can't help but think that while some needs are universal, some may not be. It's a whole new world of things to think about, ha.
@Karen.,
I know a food pantry that always provides "A holiday in a bag" for Thanksgiving, Easter and Christmas, with canned hams, stove top stuffing mix, cranberry sauce in a can, no-bake dessert mixes, canned sweet potatoes, ready-to-serve rolls, that sort of thing. Some of their clients only have a hot plate to cook on.
I volunteered with a food pantry for a while until my job made that impossible. One thing I noticed was that the foods were always generic or discount store brand - whatever is the absolute cheapest. I get it, you can buy more if you buy those and it makes perfect sense. But it bothered me, so my own tiny effort is to donate name-brand and organic foods even though I might buy the store brand version for myself. My money doesn't go as far, I realize, but I just want the pantry clients to know that someone out there thinks they are worth paying a little extra for.
@JD, yes! One of our churches uses some food pantry supplies (corn and beans, lol) and some purchased supplies to do baskets at holidays also, plus a separate/different project for school-identified families over Christmas break who will have kids home but maybe need a little pantry boost over that time.
Also yesterday we talked briefly about name brand and nicer items. Turns out the ladies in the office are super nice but also aware/wary and they advise against it — one said people take things (Tide was her big example) to Walmart and return them for cash. This seems anecdotal, and yet, the lax return policy at Walmart makes it entirely possible. I don't know, and I guess I don't care; I tend to think the best of people whether it's warranted or not; but if true, it's an unfortunate direction for well-meant donations to go. This seems like an individual donor's choice whether to risk that or not, though.
@Karen., I've found this whole thread thought-provoking and inspirational. Thanks for getting me to rethink future food pantry donations.
@Karen., I've been part of many aspects of food pantry/bank. We have helped by collecting food, don!ting food, distributing food & recieving food.
Yes, it is against rules to give out expired food in food box but you can put out (table/public area) for people to take if want. Many items are still good after best by used date.
While your other people have already said! " don't want to ask" maybe you could suggest a public wish list of items in need. Does your food pantry receive any food/money from USDA/food pantry coordinator? That's a good resource to have available.
My child school has each class collect specific food item so to have variety, though will accept any shelf stable food not expired. Personally, when we donate we try to get case of canned Ravioli/Spaghetti O's , Beefaroni/Soup--- something with meat in it.
As far as individual wrapped paper towel, I would guess that it is for safe/sanitary individual distribution. But, it is ok to take unwrapped & put into box(es) when preparing for distribution to person/client.
What a great thing you are doing by helping your local food bank.
@Karen., about that shredded wheat, you can recrisp it on a cookie sheet in the oven for a bit. I've resurrected crackers that way, so it ought to work for cereal too. (Sorry, don't know the times/temps)
@Karen.,
Good heavens, take stuff from the pantry and take it to Walmart? I donate canned goods and items like peanut butter, not the more expensive items such as detergent, so I'll continue to donate as I do. It's worth the risk to me.
@Karen.,
Two thoughts: 1) you might check Pinterest for a recipe to make muffins from the cereal...
2) The Food Pantry in our community is a big deal as we have a lot of food insecure families. Our Master Gardener Club gives home grown produce in the summer. There are two raised beds located in the yard of the Pantry which is manned by one of our members. The Garden and Grow Group at the Extension Center (which is a group of about eight 8-11? y/o kids being taught to garden using plots at the Extension Center) often gives their over abundance. MG's also collect specifically listed products for Christmas baskets at our Christmas party. And as far as the birthday cake kit: an aluminum cake pan, cake mix, a can of soda, container of frosting and some candles are the ideal kit. The soda works in place of water, eggs and oil.
@JD,
I can understand it. Sometimes people need cash to pay the bills-rent, electricity, etc, and cash is harder to come by than food.
@Karen., At our food bank, cereal is so popular and so expensive, we never have enough. We've also discovered people try to return expensive items for cash and a few times, the director of our food bank has discovered people selling the items on FB as well. One way to stop that is to black out the UPC codes on the products. We set out recently expired items and they go fast since they can be taken as extras, in addition to whatever our regular dispersal is for the week.
@Karen., I was so naive when I first started volunteering at the Food Pantry. I didn't understand why someone would choose a small box of Rice-A-Roni rather than the large bag of rice which would go much further and be much healthier, until a client told me she didn't have a pot in which to cook the rice. With larger containers of laundry detergent powder, etc., we divided them into Ziploc bags. For birthdays, we would put together kits with a disposable aluminum pan, cake mix, frosting, sprinkles, candles and colorful paper napkins. It was always a thrill to see the child pick out which kit they wanted.
@Karen., If you need something different to do with the plain shredded wheat, try pouring melted butter and garlic salt on it and then baking it in the oven. It's a very tasty, and reasonably healthy alternative to deep-fried snack foods.
The un-married process...shew! It's rough! I went through that many, many years ago (seems a lifetime ago). I was fortunate that we were young and didn't have much to untangle and sort. I also lived in a state that only required a 30 day separation. Now I live in SC and have been told you have to live in separate spaces for a year! I can't imagine.
Frugal things:
I'm in the middle of dealing with the newly found aneurysm so nothing seems frugal this week.
I did get a power of attorney from the military base updated for my husband just in case anything happens...that was free except scheduling and waiting.
I'm going to set up an appt to update our wills also.
My insurance fully covered my angiogram test so that's a plus!
I have a pork butt and 2 rack of ribs in the smoker right now and will put a beef roast in later today. I will portion it all into cooked meal sizes and freeze for after my embolization as I can't lift anything more than a few pounds for a week or so after.
I'm roasting a turkey I found on a great price today. I will put that in the freezer also for meals, make ahead turkey gravy for Thanksgiving, and will make extra broth needed for dressing/dumplings/etc on Thanksgiving. Slice the breasts for lunch meat this week.
A neighbor gave us some deer summer sausage and apples. I canned the apples and we've been enjoying the summer sausage. I gifted them some jelly and pickles in return.
I buy unopened ribbon whenever I come across it at thrift stores throughout the year. I pulled it all out the other day and I'm set for Christmas without needing to purchase any!
And I came across a great sale at Gap. I got 3 pairs of jeans, a pair of nice pants, a couple pairs of joggers and some socks for my son for Christmas for $79 total.
I think that's all for this week!
On a fail...I lost my earbuds somewhere. I also have hard to fit ears and those were my favorites so 🙁
Yep, the law here was that you had to live apart for a year before filing, although if both parties would agree to sign, then you didn't have to wait the year.
That has changed now, but it's too little too late for me! Oh well...
Dinnerly to the rescue! Good call.
Here are my five frugals. (If there were a blog called The Unfrugal Girl, I would likely have more than five to report.)
1. Based on comments by A. Marie, I checked out the book “Onions in the Stew” from the library. Such a fun read!
2. Received onions, garlic, avocadoes and potatoes from my sister-in-law. Just because.
3. While vacationing, we paid cash for most meals since restaurants were tacking on a 3-4% charge if paying by credit card.
4. Brought small jars to restaurants and used them for taking home leftover dressing, butter and ketchup.
5. Ordered free Covid tests from the government.
@MB in MN, although I thank you for the compliment in your #1, I think it may be Rose--the reak Betty MacDonald fan among us--who deserves it. Me, I've only just gotten around to grabbing a copy of The Egg and I at a library book sale, thanks to Rose's recommendation.
@A. Marie, "reak" should, of course, have been "real." Clearly my eye isn't all the way back yet.
ADORE Betty. I try to spread the Betty love everywhere!
@A. Marie, oops!
@Rose, thanks for the recommendation!
@MB in MN, My absolute favorite of her books is Anybody Can Do Anything, just FYI. (There is a little racism to Native Americans in The Egg and I; just ignore it.) She even wrote a funny, touching book about going to a sanitarium with tuberculosis in The Plague and I.
@Rose, I think Anybody Can Do Anything is also my favourite. She is such a great author!
I share your tiny ear canal issue, and find all types of headphones to be a challenge. I'm also a very light sleeper, and it took a lot of experimentation to find ear plugs that work, but I finally have some. I have teens rolling in for curfew, a husband that snores, etc & the ear plugs really help me sleep.
It wasn't a frugal week at all (college application fees, and coming back from Hawaii). I was also helping my teen with the college application process, in addition to my regular life, so meal planning was not really a priority this week. My goal was to avoid takeout, and we largely supplemented with easy Trader Joes options, so I feel you on that Dinnerly route. Sometimes, you just have to make an imperfect tradeoff that will make your life easier.
A few other things:
1) Leveraged a gift card for groceries
2) Used a Costco card (earned from aforementioned vacation) to restock the house, when we were back from vacation
3) Paid our property taxes on our credit card. (We pay it off each month.) It's rare that the processing cost makes sense, but in this case, our credit card was offering a substantial bonus for X amount of spend, and we earned a few bonus hotel nights, on top of our standard points earn. Altogether, the value will be about $600, after the processing fee. We have a bunch of travel queued up in 2024 (college tours for both DS16 & DS17), so we will use the hotel nights.
4) My work has a small budget we can use for personal development (yoga classes, foreign language lessons, etc) for each of us. It's a bit of a hassle to submit, and I went 9 years working here without even knowing about the benefit. My husband & I took pickle ball classes when we were on vacation, and I submitted the receipt & was approved for reimbursement.
5) Saved a credit card reward for discounted on flight meals. We don't typically buy anything, but the airport in Kona is very tiny, and we knew it would be a long flight. We brought a few snacks, but also ordered meals. Saved a bit off of the cost with the credit card discount.
@Hawaii Planner,
On sleeping earplugs: I had a silicon pair made to measure when I reached menopauze nearly 10 years ago and was sleeping fitfully if at all. The company that makes them also does hearing aids. I think I paid 150 euros for the pair and I still have them and use them when my husband has a cold and snores badly, or for travel etc. I got the pair including a little flask of cleaning liquid (but any soft soap will do) and a little bag with a zipper. I always keep them zipped up because we too have cats!
Back in the dark ages when I had a house phone, my cat chewed the jack cord to the cordless phone base in half. Thanks, cat.
1. When I placed the order for new logo shirts for the office, I went through Swagbucks and earned $14 and change there, while my Capital One Shopping kicked in and gave me $12 and change there. My company pays for the shirts, so I literally made money on that one.
2. We remain sunny and dry here, as we have for a month, so I didn't use my dryer at all again this weekend when I did the week's laundry.
3. I ordered a couple of gifts for Christmas from one vendor and got free shipping for less than $30 worth of items. There was a 35% off sale on one of the items and I earned 54 cents from Capital One as well.
4. I went to our local festival and only spent $12 total, and that was on food that was actually real food - a huge baked sweet potato topped with plenty of smoked pork and shredded cheese (I turned down the sour cream). Parking was free.
5. The back door used to be unsheltered, but we added a porch with roof over it. The exterior light fixture by the door got badly weathered before we added the porch, so this weekend I taped it off, covered the surrounding exterior wall with paper and spray painted the metal portions. I already had the paint, tape and paper. I expect the paint will last for a while, since it's under shelter.
Oh boy I love reading but I am sure it's much different. That's a lot.
1. My first frugal activity is NOT turning on the heat yet. Since we keep the heat at 60 overnight and we are not home all day, it just didn't make sense to turn it on. This morning the temp was 57. That's not too bad.
2. We are spending $$ on attic insulation since this new house has NONE. This doesn't seem frugal up front but it will save us $$ and we will feel warmer.
3. I bought two bookshelves for $70 on facebook marketplace. I consider this frugal as I am not buying new and I was able to bargain with person handling the estate sale. The bookshelves from my former house were wayyyyy too tall for this house.
That is all for now.
@Joyce, #1. October has been so mild, I haven't run the heating or cooling all month. Looking forward to the electric bill for once! But last night got down in the 20s, so I gave up this morning and turned the heat on in just 2 rooms. Time to bring in the firewood and use the wood burning stove, which will heat the whole house once it gets going.
@Joyce, Keep your receipts for insulation. You can write off on your income taxes when you file next year.
As an IT guy who has seen so many things destroyed by cats I really wonder why so hmany IT people have them. They are always complaining about them being so destructive.
Not a lot of spending lately, which is nice but here's what I have done and spent.
1.) Going to attempt to fix my freezer again. The drain line is clogged again with ice for some reason. I need an empty freezer and fridge (or at least free of perishables) so that it can be taken out. So I am working on emptying it. Then I can pour boiling water down the the drain line to melt it. I will also try and blow it out with the shop vac to try
2.) Found a leftover cooked pork tenderloin in the freezer and we thawed and reheated it. It was edible but ... yeah, it was done. We tossed any leftovers.
3.) Working on purging a bunch of items I don't need anymore. Maybe I can make a few dollars off them it will be good but if not, they will just get donated.
4.) Bought some Christmas presents for my nephew. We are only buying for the kids in the family this year so very little will be exchanged.
5.) Had a CD expire and just rolled it into a new one as we're still not finding that house of ours. There is less urgency since my son passed (no extra bedroom needed) but we do hope to someday find that home closer to everything. We're not happy with our local school system and while we'd like to homeschool we're not sure it will be in the cards.
1. I made a halloween costume that matches my kids' theme (Pokemon) out of things we already had around the house.
2. It's a hectic week around here and I need to pick up some chicken tenders for a pre-trick-or-treating get-together. I was planning on picking them up at the grocery store deli and saw that they had a $30 off coupon for first time curbside pick-up. So I loaded up on other groceries we need, clipping online coupons along the way. Checked a few things off my list at one go and saved some dollahs.
3. Have been squeezing the last bit of toothpaste out of the tube. I use an electric brush so I use very little. Everytime I think the tube is empty, I have enough for another cleaning. My husband would have thrown it out literally weeks ago. Funny enough, I saw that my daughter had snipped the end of the tube in her bathroom to get out more. Maybe frugality is innate?
4. Doing Trunk-or-Treat at the kids' school this afternoon. I've been putting aside all the little halloween toys, pencils, notebooks, etc. that the girls didn't use over the last few use and will give some of those away today. We don't get trick-or-treaters in our neighborhood. So, I saved on probably a small bag's worth of candy with all that.
5. The list of errands have been long lately. I've been batching things together, even if it means going in with my daughter (things are always more efficient when I'm by myself), having my husband wait in the car while I run in, or making an extra stop and prolonging how long it takes to get home. I know it's less efficient for the others but it's saving me time (and fuel) and right now, my time feels like it's at a premium.
1. My oldest is Spider-Man for Halloween. I bought the costume for $1 a long time ago and he's been playing in it since he grew into it.
2. A while back I found two boxes of Halloween fruit snacks for half off at Kroger's because the boxes were beat up. They went to school with my oldest for their Halloween party.
3. I don't dress up for Halloween, but wear pumpkin shirts. I've been using the same shirts for years. They were bought brand new for $1 each.
4. I met a friend on her lunch break a couple of times and we went walking. Some fun, free exercise.
5. Found a lot of good clearance at Walmart $1 boxes of Hot Pockets, soft pretzels, 24 count frozen pancakes, $3 large boxes of frozen mozzarella sticks and two packs of Pillsbury cinnamon rolls. May not be the healthiest, but easy options when I'm lacking time or energy to cook.
All that Shelley needs in that picture is her prisoner number across her chest.
Haha, yep!
@Kristen, Isn't there some kind of humiliating kitty costume you can force Shelley into as revenge? Gus is going as a hot dog today.
Pioneer Woman’s baked French toast is our go to for Christmas morning— there are so many variations that one can make and they’re all delicious!
Good luck in your reading!
1. I used leftover black beans and celery, along with home made vegetable stock, to make knock-off Panera Bread black bean soup. I topped the soup with tortilla chip crumbs and sour cream I had left in the refrigerator and it's so yummy!
2. Our 13 year wedding anniversary was this past weekend. Instead of going out to dinner, my husband made amazing Indian curries and homemade naan bread at home.
3. My daughter needed pictures of our family for a school project. CVS is about 1 mile from my house. I ordered the pictures through their website and checked Google for a promo code before cashing out. I was able to find a 30% off promo code.
4. My daughter has been asking for a Paw Patrol headquarters for Christmas, but they are about $100. I happened to see one get listed on Buy Nothing and was able to pick it up last week!
5. I made pear sauce from over-ripe Asian pears our neighbor had let us pick from their trees. My kids will eat is as a snack, but I also mix it into yogurt or use it to make muffins or breads.
@Corrine, Asian pears are the best! My tree sadly died, and now I see the pears at my local Sprouts going for $3 a piece and wrapped in little foam cushions, they're so expensive.
@Corrine, Buy Nothing groups are amazing. So glad your daughter will receive the Paw Patrol headquarters!
Wishing you strength this week!!! All this hard work will pay off.
I found this interesting, though it is preaching to the choir here:
https://wapo.st/3u0SzAc
Sitting here racking my brain at what frugal things I've accomplished this week. After hearing about the 22 chapters and unmarrying challenges, my brain kinda shut down. And cats. I admire people who like cats. I like a cat who will come up and make friends with me first. I noticed two feral (?) cats going in the gap at the center base of the carriage style garage door yesterday and was a little put out. For all practical purposes that means not feeding the birds this winter to keep them from being easy prey. I do hope they keep the mice from coming into the house.
This may not sound frugal, but I take my laundry to the laundromat. There is something about getting it all done at once, putting it all away at once, by handling things as few times as possible. In the long run, it saves me time. And time is still money, right? The proprietor was there and directed me to one of the special washers that takes less change but is very good at washing, so there's that.
I have let the heat come on (it got that chilly) but still have maintained the temp at 64-68. I will work on winterizing (window ac out, plastic over the windows, blankets over the two drafty doors). I have changed the sheets to flannel ones, and dug out my warm pjs. Drinking hot drinks often, usually tea.
I brought in one of the color pots from the front porch to winter over under the fluorescent light in the basement. It is made up of bronze oxalis (perennial) and heliotrope (perennial in the more southern zones). If they survive, I will be ableto divide the oxalis and take cuttings of the heliotrope next spring.
Going to cook a pot of Hambeens today (I add onions, carrots, celery, peppers, tomatoes. too) and freeze some for easy to heat meals.
Signed up for trial of Amazon Prime to get free shipping on a purchase. Will cancel before the trial ends.
I think my TV has died. I suppose this is the biggest frugal win I've ever had. A friend gave it to me about twenty-five, thirty years ago. It is a Zenith Console. It was old then. I was able (myself) to connect it to Cable at that time. This week the picture went into all sideways lines, so it may be done. I do not watch it a lot. We'll see.
Sometimes it is hard to think of frugal actions as frugal, because it is so automatic to not be wasteful.
1. Wrote (yes, by hand in cursive) several letters on the backsides of printed stuff no longer needed (I used to do that to my Grandma, and she replied once by writing on a paper bag!)
2. Husband got some freebie food from the local food pantry (open to all in our little town), tossed most of it (WAY over-the-hill apples, American "cheese". . .) but have been using the onion (ick) bagels for toast for him, along with the frozen strawberries in my yogurt.
3. Made yogurt using husband's almost over-the-hill milk (he has milk for his coffee) instead of buying more.
4. Salvaged some poles from a junk pile at church (good grief, people!) to rebuild the walls around the raised garden bed
5. Renewed some reference books from the library for the 3rd time instead of buying them (even used. . .)
I was in Las Vegas last week for a work trip and I only spent $25 (on a drink, but there is a story behind it which makes it worth it). I ate the meals provided at the conference and within my work’s meal guidelines, I didn’t gamble, I didn’t need souvenirs, I didn’t go to any shows (I was beyond exhausted), and I didn’t buy anything new for the trip. I still had a GREAT time and I don’t feel that I missed out on anything.
I’ve been fighting a little bit of a cold (not Covid, just a boring cold) and I’ve been using up the odds and ends in the medicine cabinet – the gross cough drops no one likes, the last of the cold medicine, and the tea we’ve all be avoiding. Better to use it up before it goes bad.
My cold was in full force when I was menu planning and I didn’t have the energy so we have been eating mostly from the freezer – frozen soups and other leftover that I froze “just in case.” I’m really thankful this week to have a few meals I can pull out when I need them but our grocery bill was ridiculously low this week!
Since Halloween is on a workday this year our office is catering a pizza lunch and encouraged costumes. I’m wearing a hockey jersey that I normally wear to games with my husband. Work appropriate, comfortable, still festive, and something I already own!
I’m continuing to keep my eyes open for small stocking stuffer items when I’m out and about. I’ve found that when I spread them out over a few months (and hide them well at home) December is less stressful.
1) A couple of weeks ago our dryer stopped heating and our dishwasher popped a spring in the door. First I called our cheaper appliance guy, who successfully fixed the dryer a couple of years ago. This time he wasn't as successful, so I brought in the more expensive appliance guy. Unfortunately the parts we need are no longer available because these appliances are so old. For a moment I thought it might finally be time to shell out $1,200 to replace both appliances. But I really like used appliances. New ones seem to die faster and faster. And I will take the design of 1990s appliances over the giant and futuristic-looking appliances of 2023. So instead of spending $1,200, my husband picked up a used dryer for $125 off of FB Marketplace Saturday morning, and we decided that we can just live with the broken dishwasher spring. (It doesn't affect its ability to clean dishes--it just keeps the door from flopping open when you open it.)
2) But then! We realized that the new-to-us dryer is so old that it has a three-prong plug. According to the internet, three-prong plugs were replaced with four-prong plugs twenty years ago for safety reasons. We have a four-prong outlet, so this three-prong jobber was suddenly a no-go. Then we read up a bit more and found out that even when you purchase a brand new appliance, you have to buy and install a power cord on the back of the thing anyway. So why not just take the old (but actually newer) four-prong power cord off of our old dryer (it was in good condition) and install it on the new-to-us dryer. My husband did this with no trouble in about a half hour. And we are back in business without even having to purchase a new dryer cord.
3) Before my husband installed the new dryer cord, I washed and dried two loads of laundry on the line yesterday. After a few weeks of dealing with having no dryer I did not have high hopes that I would have a working dryer today, and rain was in the forecast, so I wanted to take advantage of the sunshine and heat while we had it.
4) There were a few things on my shopping list that Aldi didn't have, so this morning I went to Kroger. I picked up everything I needed, but I was still $15 shy of being able to use a $5 off $50 purchase coupon I had. So I bought King Arthur flour and a few cans of baby corn and coconut milk (all things that Aldi doesn't carry, but our family regularly uses). I also used a coupon I had for a free dozen eggs, and the Halloween candy I bought was on sale. We plan to skip trick or treating tonight because we've already done a couple of Halloween events that involve candy (and it is cold and rainy), and instead plan to eat our favorite candy and watch a Halloween show.
5) Two of the boys need winter coats. After looking at Goodwills and Thredup for a few weeks and coming up empty-handed, I decided I might have to buy new coats. I looked around at places like LLBean, but the reviews for the coats in the $99-$150 price range weren't that great. And I just cannot bring myself to spend more than that on a coat, especially for a kid that is going to grow out of it. I ended up on Amazon and bought coats for $39 each; coats that had good reviews and seemed to fit what we needed. That's not much more than I would pay for a used coat. We will see what they look like when they get here!
1 - My husband & I spent the last three days clearing brush & cutting trees by hand (a chainsaw & a small wagon to haul debris)...in the rain & in the cold.....We saved a few thousand dollars doing the work ourselves even though it could have been done in a day & we still are not finished. And our 30 yr old son came to help us one day...we were so grateful.
2 - We chose not to eat out when we sent to the city for a party on the weekend. I remembered leftovers in the fridge & we chose to go home & enjoy them.
3 - I've been scanning receipts on Fetch, scanning one a day so I can spin for extra points.
4 - I've decided to drop the cabinet over my refrigerator on my kitchen plans (we're building a house). I'm building an unfitted kitchen with lots of vintage pieces for the uppers & new cabinets for the base. I decided the new upper over the fridge just wouldn't look right & saved a few hundred by taking it off the plans.
5 - I made some banana nut chaffles to use up some over ripe bananas....we love these! My husband is a type 1 diabetic & he can eat these with no guilt.
1. Enjoyed a priceless week in the Netherlands and Belgium with my oldest son. Credit card points saved me about $1965, making lodging costs, my airfare, and car rental only about $500.
2. I’ve lost about 20 pounds since the beginning of June which means I am fitting into a lot of clothes that I haven’t for awhile. It’s like getting a new wardrobe without buying a new wardrobe.
3. I bought two pre-made quarts of frozen yogurt on a buy one, get one free deal. They ended up being freezer burned and unusable. The manager allowed me to take two today to make up for the bad ones and one of them I got to fill up fresh with whatever flavor I wanted - hello caramel.
4. I spent 3 hours working on a yard project in my yard (flipping the park strip). I’m paying my 16 year old son (very well) to do the majority of it, but he’s not been getting to it very often. This way I moved the project along while saving some money I would have paid my son.
5. Enjoyed a hike in the mountains with my 8 year old. Free, glorious, red-leafed fun. Bonus was that my dog-loving son got to pet over 20 dogs while on the trail.
I think that there's always a trade-off with frugality. Sometimes we don't have the choice but to go with the most frugal option, but I think that other times, our mental health and wellbeing is well-worth paying the higher price for convenience. I'm glad you took that off your plate!
We're frantically trying to get everything into the ground on our flower farm before everything freezes. It's such a racing act every year! We still had some time to get some frugal wins under our belt, though:
https://www.toloveandtolearn.com/2023/10/31/weekly-frugal-wins-halloween-fall-farm-chores/
Super savings for me on many meals that I prepared for myself over the weekend ~ When I make meatloaf I like a mix of 1 part lamb, 1 part pork and two parts ground beef (not to be confused with hamburger which has a ton of fat in it). In the past when I had a family this was usually all eaten up with in two days yet now it is just a lot of meat even when controlling portions due to only living by myself. So I planned it out by dividing the base meat into three portions (it had only cumin, onion powder and minced garlic).
From there I divided one of the portions into two parts; 1 part for meatloaf which fit into two large crafts (the kind that one would make a small flan in and such). When I get ready to bake them I will put tomato sauce and cheese on top. The second part of the meat portion was made into large balls with cream cheese added to them. Said balls where then wrapped into a biscuit dough that I got a really good deal on (20 packages for 1 dollar). These are meat bombs, lol. Cover with gravy or plain with a salad and you got a meal.
The next portion I decided to make into wanton and rice paper roll ups. I added mince carrots, celery, ginger, oyster sauce, a smidge of coconut amino, roasted sesame oil and cabbage to this mix. With the wanton I added bok choy to as well. The wanton dough is a simple one: flour, water and 1 egg. I made about 24 or so wanton. For the rice roll ups I had some spinach paper so that is what I used to make about 15 or so the roll ups. The last portion of meat I added whole pinto beans, minced garlic and onion, chili powder. I made a sauce out of very finely chopped cabbage, avocado, sweet corn, garlic, onion, carrot, bell pepper, cilantro, tomato powder (dehydrated at home when they are in season), mayo and sour cream. I used corn tortillas to make these tacos up; a smear of the sauce and a nice protion of meat to make about 15 or more tacos. Everything was frozen then packed away in air tight bags for later use
Added bonus~ because to much moisture will ruin the dough/tortillas I used my press to remove as much of the moisture I could from the vegetable time. Said moisture was a tasty mix of juices ( I taste everything to make sure it will be good, lol) so I decided I would use it to cook up the chicken I was planning to use for raviolis soon.
Since making all this up I have tried most everything; Tacos, bombs, roll ups where very very yummy. Wanton tasted off, not bad yet something was missing. When I had the roll ups I decided the wantons were off because not enough bok choy was added; this was compensated with the rice paper being spinach on the roll ups. I have cooked up the chicken yet have not tasted it as of yet because I broke my pasta roller when cleaning it up so now I am waiting on parts before I make the raviolis.
So, how much did I spend...not much because most everything was given to me for free. I get bits and pieces from someone who works in a food bank so I almost always have vegetables and flour to use. I purchased the rice paper, biscuit dough, corn tortilla, beef and pork all on sale for around $15. I think the lamb was the most costly at around $9 for a pound. So all in all less than $25 for several meals for me which is nice because after working all day the last thing I want to do is go stand in the kitchen for another hour or more due to me almost always cooking from scratch.
That's funny about the granola. I've made it several times, always with 3 cups of oats... And liked it that way! Haha.
Frugal things:
- a local fruit farmer had a large excess of apples he was selling cheaply. I got about 2 bushels of 4 varieties of apples for $20. Now to make all the apple things! So far, apple cake, apple butter, and apple pie
- tonight, my kids will all be wearing costumes that we already had on hand for dress up play. This is starting to border on cheap as we've done the same thing year after year and they're starting to care more about their costumes...
- made use of our public library for storytime and checked out lots of books. We've started getting audio books as well since we spend a fair amount of time in the car. Also frugal that we returned everything that we checked out last time, so no fines.
- made it through the weekend without getting takeout.
FINALLY I have some frugality to share! After weeks and months of new-house-related costs, this is exciting.
Normal little things:
- I found a less expensive Plan B (to be honest, more like Plan E) to shower clutter
- I'm using Target dish-drying mats instead of fancy lined placemats on the wood counter
- I made chix & ham stock from extremely cheap frozen chix legs ($0.50/lb) and smoked neck bones ($2.50/lb?). The frugal fail was scorching the first batch of chix stock.
- Sale med-big pumpkins at 2/$7, instead of slightly smaller ones for $6.50.
- I got free(ish) Popeyes while doing 5 hrs of errands yesterday. You have to pay for the big drink - $3 - then get 2 pieces and biscuit.
Slightly bigger, less usual things:
- Michaels went over and above to make up for getting something framed, much later than they should have. That saved me about 20% of the total cost.
- Framebridge "ruined" something I had framed. Since it wasn't something they could replace or fix - it was my goodbye photo from a job I loved - they framed it for free and are giving me a discount on the next thing. I put ruined in quotes because that was their word, I would call it slightly damaged.
Big, very unusual things:
- I realized that the insurance hadn't cancelled coverage on my old house when I told them to, to the tune of $650.
- I got new quotes for all my insurance, including adjusting my car usage and various coverages to reflect my life now. This will save me about $800 annually and a whopping $2900 over last year - when, granted, I couldn't bundle insurance on the new house with existing insurance on old house (there was overlap) and car insurance.
$2900 people!!!!!
Woohooo for that last one!!
@WilliamB, WOW! I get you get the Frugal Oscar here!
@StephanieLD, I *guess* you...
The investment in the right earbuds is important. I call that part of health budget. You still got a deal, and that's great!
Most of my frugal stuff was decluttering: things went to Goodwill, Habitat's Restore and the animal shelter; and keeping grocery costs low by seeing what we had that needed to be used up or would go well together. I baked some awesome pumpkin-prune muffins and made a delicious dish of garlic beef and slivered carrots served over homemade Rice-a-roni.
Applying the first rule of repair (if it's stuck, use WD40), I sprayed the hinges and latch of our hard-to-open dishwasher and hooray, it opens easily now. My arthritic hands are much happier and no money spent on a repair call.
1. Took a pair of snow pants to Play it Again Sports (used sports stuff) and got $10 cash for them. I'd found them in a free pile.
2. Made beans and greens last night and used chopped carrot tops instead of kale. Not my favorite, but they were free organic carrots, complete with all the tops so I wanted to put them to good use. I put the rest of the carrot tops in the vitamix and pureed them, then froze them. I'll add a chunk to winter soups to add nutritional value.
3. Planted some more fava bean seeds, which I get free from seed bank.
4. Still keeping heat off though it's 58 in the house overnight. The days are warm enough for me to open the house up and get it up to 68.
5. Being ruthless and getting rid of clothes that are uncomfortable/unflattering/just don't fit right. Frugal for my mental health! And some of them I'm listing on ebay (Northface sweatshirt that I'd bought on ThredUp) so I may recoup some of the cost.
1. Rescued a browning banana from work, as well as some packets of parmesan cheese and crushed red peppers.
2. Used a free car wash code before it expired.
3. Asked for and received a choir folder from Buy Nothing. I hear these can cost around $30 new so I’m pleased!
4. A neighbor that we know from church gave us some excess garden produce. I’m looking forward to using some leeks (usually so expensive in the store), eggplants, kale, and peppers.
5. Slightly less than frugal: when Mom was in town, we went to Once Upon A Child and bought a ton of clothes for Baby E. When I got home, I remembered that I had a big bin of clothes… and when I opened it I found piles of duplicates from what we’d bought! Now we have way too many pairs of pants, sweatpants, etc. Unfortunately I can only exchange or get store credit for the few duplicates we purchased that still have tags on them… and it’s a longish drive away. But, Mom was happy to buy clothes for Baby E so all is still well. I will give away a bunch of extras to a friend at church.
Wow, 22 chapters is a challenge for sure!
- I started planning for the holidays early to make sure I find good deals.
- We hosted a Halloween party for my kiddo and their friends. We got most of the decorations at the dollar store and borrowed the bigger items from a family member whose a Halloween fiend.
- I'm being very intentional about making meals and snacks that use up odds and ends in the fridge and pantry.
- I did not buy a new planner, despite that end-of-the-year urge to do so. I LOVE planners and would really like to get one from Passion Planner. But it can wait.
- I brought all my lunches from home and didn't get food out at work.
Staples sent me a $10 off coupon so I bought nice pens for the office for 1.68 which included free shipping. I plan on sharing with my co-worker peeps.
Due to new security requirements, work has bought us breakfast for the last 2 days. I am hoping they do it all week.
I did not buy any halloween candy as we never have any kids. First year we lived here I bought 3 bags of candy. I called my neighbor to tell her and she said "You bought 3 bags too many". Chocolate is so expensive, but worth it!
As usual there were a couple of events or meetings at work with left over food.
Rare commenter, routine reader.
We have a 1 year old bunny and the other day he chewed through a bedside lamp cable... a matching lamp set. I was very annoyed at the otherwise adorable bunny. but I've already found and collected some Marketplace lamps that go well with our bedroom. I was heartened to hear it's not just bunnies, but cats too that can destroy items!
We also went heavy on meal kits last week, as the kids bio mum was away, so we had them full time and 5 dinners vs 3 was 'easier' than thinking/shopping. Of course, we didn't eat them in time for today to get 3 more! (we've only got one outstanding... and we ate in yest on my insistence...!)
Thank you for sharing about the granola mixup! I've been making the recipe for years now, and no one here has complained about the sweetness. I may need to incrementally work up to the 5 cups of oats so we don't go into shock with the new/correct proportions. 🙂
Sympathy to you, Kirsten, as getting unmarried is so much harder than getting married. No matter what the circumstances.
Interesting reading others' experiences with food banks and pantries. I have been involved with my church soup kitchen for over five years now, and have learned how much harder life is for many people. We serve 80 or more people every week, and learned, for example, that many have such bad teeth they can't eat crunchy or chewy foods. So our menus have to be soft food, and not too spicy. Our guests often have no kitchen at all, as they are in homeless camps in tents, but they are happy to get breads and peanut butter that don't need refrigeration, to take home. Getting to know them is an experience in thankfulness, that my own troubles are different from these. Vive la difference?
Five frugal things:
* Free COVID test kit from the government.
** Used digital coupon at Kroger to buy butter at $2.49/lb., regular price $6.99 per 2 lbs. Digital coupon is irregularly working, tho, and I learned that they will not issue a rain check if a sale item is sold out.
*** Carefully priced Halloween candy and found great deal at Costco for big tubs of bubble gum. It was cold tonight so we have a lot left over, which will go to the soup kitchen--anything sweet is very welcome. Also the other candy, which my diabetic DH loves but know he shouldn't eat. My favorite trick or treater was an inflated chicken whose 4-year-old "beak" explained that he was a chicken.
**** Bought a bargain pork butt, at 9 lbs., and cut it up to make 2+ pound chunks for future posole and chili. Used one tonight, froze the other three. Crock pot season has begun!
***** Used sale and online discounts for some new sweatshirts, and sorted my closet to get rid of the raggedy old ones. The old ones look especially bad compared to the new ones, so maybe I should have done this sooner, but it feels good to look closer to my best!
1. Slowly continuing to sell more things from my parents' move, was able to make just over $100 this past week. Money in, stuff out!
2. Donated blood a couple weeks ago and declined their free t-shirt. But I get reward points for scheduling a donation and mine have added up to redeem a $25 Amazon gift card.
3. Baked banana bread to use up some rapidly declining bananas and used everything from my pantry.
4. Made sure to use up all my fuel points at Kroger before the end of the month to fill up on gas for the SUV.
5. Brought home some leftover fruit and dessert from a potluck last week. I brought plastic utensils which have been collecting from takeout meals (even though we decline utensils, we still get them!).
Sending you all the love while you’re in The trenches. I wish I could bring you dinner! <3