Five Frugal Things | CVS "savings" are inflated.
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See item #2 regarding CVS!
1. I used the wifi at the dermatology office to research CVS deals.
I had to get my stitches out (I had a mole removed, not cancerous, thankfully!), and while I waited, I used the free wifi to figure out what to buy at CVS.
(I had a $10 coupon that was due to expire yesterday, so I had to go buy something, obviously. And of course I wanted to buy things that were on sale.)
Anyway, since I'm on Ting Wireless, I try to minimize my data use as much as possible so as to keep our bill low.
2. I used $29 of CVS coupons.
That brought my purchase total down to $1.76.
And I got $5 ExtraBucks added to my account after my purchase. Yay!
$10 was from my monthly Carepass account (so I paid $5 for that), $10 was from a survey I took, and the rest of the coupons were from the app.
Of course, CVS's prices are too high to begin with, so these savings are somewhat inflated.
Which is why when you deal shop there, you have to focus on your total out of pocket expenditures, not on your "savings".
3. I made a pot of chicken broth.
My freezer was starting to get stuffed with chicken carcasses, so I took advantage of the cool weather to make a pot of broth.
I couldn't fit all the chicken bones into a single pot, so I still have two more carcasses in the freezer.
Here's how I make chicken broth.
4. I filled my tank at Costco.
I had to get a few things in bulk for a camping trip, so while I was there, I filled up my gas tank.
I don't like to drive out of my way to get Costco gas (it eats up the savings in a hurry), but if I'm there, I will almost always fill up.
5. We figured out a cheap costume work-around.
Mr. FG is dressing up as the Mad Hatter (I'm going to be the queen of hearts!), and his costume didn't come with the pictured tall boots.
I thought about looking for boots for him, but then when I looked at photos of Tim Burton's Mad Hatter, I realized he wears low boots with tall stripey socks.
As it turns out, Mr. FG already owns low boots!
So I ordered some stripey socks, which means that the costume footwear situation is now taken care of for only $10.
SWEET.
One big one. I needed a shingles shot and was told my insurance didn't cover it. After calling around to get prices that ranged from $300-$500 I called my insurance. Why yes this is covered 100%. She was even nice enough to give me the codes they needed to apply. It really does pay to double check information for yourself.
Becareful my shingles shot has an age requirement.
1. Been taking my lunch to work.
2. Been eating suppers at HOME
3. Been drinking lots of water from the sink.
4. Did a bath and body stock up suggested on a deal site. Preparing for Xmas. Each handsoap cost around 2.24. I bought 12. I only do this once a year!
5. Got a free to me flu shot at Walgreens.
1. Made a few ebay and local facebook marketplace sales. Only several dollars for each item, but every little bit counts.
2. The insurance estimate is in from the hail damage we had over the summer. The estimate is much higher than we anticipated, so I hope we can squeeze in one more new window before winter sets in.
3. Hubby is not good at keeping up with normal maintenance of things. Our tractor is starting to act funny. I hope his dad can figure out that it is something simple to fix (and then tell him to start taking care of stuff!)
4. We are just starting to need warmer clothes here. I carried up the bins of winter clothing for my kids and found that we only needed jeans for my son. Very difficult to find elastic waist jeans, but we found them and that is it! All of the hand me downs from friends have paid off.
5. We are going camping this weekend (for the final time of the year) and there is an awesome Goodwill close to the campground. I don't shop much at normal stores anymore, but get giddy over a different Goodwill. How crazy does that sound? Can't wait to see what I find.
Jenelle, that's not crazy at all. I love discovering new thrift stores!
1. I came back from a weekend trip with a cold. I have been doing the essentials but lying low otherwise. So very little spending and very simple meals using what we have in the house.
2. I had a DEXA scan last week. The results are the same as they were seven years ago (very slight osteopenia). It seems that doing yoga (and Pilates) is helpful in your late 50s and early 60s. It is much better than taking meds (in my opinion).
3. The weather has cooled down so no money spent on cooling and very little spent on heating.
4. I am welcoming the change in weather as it is nice to switch clothing. It is always a relief to me that my clothes from previous years still fit. I do not like shopping for clothes. On a related note, I borrowed The Conscious Closet from the library.
5. I received a rebate card from Pep Boys, earned by buying wiper blades. It is worthwhile to have good wiper blades.
Re # 5: Indeed.
Unfortunately, it is a truth of the universe that the driver's side wiper always goes bad first. Never the passenger's side.
1) Avoided the siren song of In & Out after a super late soccer game for the kiddos. Instead came home to dinner I'd already prepped ahead.
2) Chased $30 of grocery store rewards that didn't correctly apply to my account
3) Called Costco & received $400 of compensation for our ongoing fridge problems. (Fridge was from Costco)
4) Sold an item on eBay
5) Made my own coleslaw mix vs buying.
I have found that not only is the home made cole slaw mix is cheaper, but tastes better,too.
1. We have moved into a newly built house. My husband wants a workbench. We got an estimate to have one built, a whopping $1500! My son found one at Home Depot my husband liked, but we missed the sale, so it was $438. A great savings, but . . . last night I saw it on sale again for $316! We jumped on that price. We'll have to pick it up and put it together, but the savings are well worth the trouble.
2. Cooked all dinners at home this week and ate leftovers from the meals we ate out last weekend for lunch except for one provided by my company.
3. Returned an item to Amazon. Bought it for only a couple of dollars, but instead of giving it away or just keeping it, I am returning it and getting my money back.
4. One of my nonfrugal things is buying books for my kindle/iPad. I'm determined to not buy any book that costs more than $1 and I got a library card for the library near our new home. Checked out and am enjoying a new book. It's so convenient to just download an ebook that it's a great temptation. I've decided to ignore those temptations from now on.
5. I bought a used copy of the ATK Quick Family Cookbook, so yes, I spent money on it, but I've already seen a couple of recipes and a few techniques I want to try. I'm a little bored with my cooking right now, so want to do some new things.
Check to see if your new library has ebooks. Look on their website for ways to download books. It can sometimes take a little time to figure out how it works but I find if all the apps are on my Kindle, it is pretty easy to "checkout" a library ebook. The biggest problem is waiting, publishers force libraries to only allow one person at a time to use a library ebook license so there is still a wait for best sellers.
Yes, I have the information to check out library ebooks and will probably do so eventually. However, I'm retiring soon and one of my fun things planned for retirement is to have time to wander around the library and find books that strike my fancy.
And once you get that book from the library on your Kindle, if you don't finish it before the loan period is up, simply turn off your wifi. That "keeps" the book on your Kindle for you, but because your loan period is up, the next person in line still gets it.
And bonus that on aiplane mode, you get days more battery life. 🙂
1) Completed the necessary steps to get a discount on our health insurance for next year and earn money for our HSA for this year.
2) Held off going to Costco until I was in the area for a doctors appointment. I also filled up on gas.
3) Slowly introducing more plant based meals to find some that my more selective eaters like.
4) Started going through winter clothing to see what my kids will need and what can be reused or handed down.
5) Checked out a number of Halloween themed movies from the library for our October family movie nights.
About 3): Cooking more plant based allowed me to save a lot in the last months without having to compromise on taste. Everything was so delicious and I always have a lot more leftovers so that I also do not have to buy extra food for lunch. I also feel fitter when eating more plant based.
Same here! The rest of my family is not always thrilled to eat meatless meals but we are trying out new recipes and hopefully moving in that direction.
I have also noticed how it's not worth shopping at CVS unless you have a lot of coupons/rewards combined with sales. That said, I often buy their smaller packages of soaps or toilet paper when I have coupons, as these often become cheaper per unit price than the larger warehouse packages.
-This week I also shopped at CVS with 50% savings from the (high) original price.
-Deposited a check of $140 into savings from my consignment sale proceedings. Not bad when I originally thought I have "nothing" to sell.
-I had purchased a couple of unopened toys from the consignment sale that I'm saving for Christmas. Bought one more online to make the gift a whole set.
-Had a couple of meals featuring butternut squash from our garden.
-Renewed my freelancer contract for some extra work on the side.
-Arranged carpooling for my son's orchestra rehearsals, which is great now when he has two rehearsals a week.
Yes! Which is exactly why I was using the free wifi to do some research before I went there to spend my $10 coupon. Otherwise I felt like I'd just be wasting it.
I have found CVS sales to be less than stellar much of the time. Like you said, you have to really focus on what you spent, not on what you saved. Their prices are high - even with a CVS coupon and a sale, I would have paid more per capsule for an OTC vitamin formula for eyes at CVS than I could pay at Walmart. I have to carefully price compare, which is a pain sometimes, plus, the stores aren't on my normal route, and CVS doesn't carry very many of the cruelty-free brands that I prefer.
Let's see how much I can come up with from the recent past.
1. I may have mentioned this, but I found a walk-through pet gate that I can use on my staircase at our local Goodwill. It's the arched black metal gate that I found online for $70 - $85. I paid $7.99 plus tax. I need to keep my dog downstairs, and this works well.
2. There were two of the gates. I needed one, so I bought one. They were missing the wall fasteners, which I didn't need, but which I figured would negatively affect resale value if I bought the second one with an eye to resale.
3. I asked the VA for a hospital bed for my mostly disabled husband, and they sent me one. I should have no co-pay. It truly never hurts to ask.
4. I made another five-gallon bucket of laundry detergent. The last bucket lasted over three months, even with the extra laundry of bedding and pajamas that I have to do often for my husband.
5. I invited a friend to come over for an evening, instead of meeting her at a restaurant, while my husband is away in rehab. She'll come over on Friday, after we've both had time to eat.
1. Bought frozen dinners for this week while our house is being shown. It's more expensive than cooking from scratch, but seeing that showings are scheduled during the dinner hours, this is the cheapest, fastest option I could find.
2. Spent time at the library, the park, and running required errands during house showings, rather than going places that require us to spend extra money.
3. Poked around for free boxes for moving and found enough to get us started for self packing. Also grabbed the paper that was delivered to our house (we don't regularly get one) to keep for packing purposes.
4. Spent time at my son's therapy (2 hours) working on work stuff I needed to finish. Doesn't make a financial difference outright, but time well spent at therapy gives me more time at home with children or baking or cooking.
5. Packed lunches for all of us this week, kept lights turned off as much as possible, opened windows to cool of the home rather than running the air
At Michael's, all their breakable items arrive wrapped in foam sheets, apparently. When we moved recently, I noticed this and asked if I could have some. In both my old city and new town, Michael's will just give me a huge garbage-size bag full of those foam wrapping sheets for free. Well worth it to ask, if you have one nearby.
Supermarkets can be good sources for boxes - the person you want to talk with is the receiving manager. If the sale item comes in a box then it's extra nice because you get a lot of boxes that are all the same size, which makes loading the truck and hand-cart much more efficient. Just be sure to take away the boxes that day because stores don't have space to store excess cardboard.
1. Made lentil sandwhiches with leftover lentils, it was very yummy.
2. Ordered another $3 Amazon giftcard from swagbucks. I'm saving up my Amazon credit hoping to use it towards school books.
3. My kids saved on wrapping paper. Instead of wrapping a friend's birthday gift, they set up clues to lead him to where his present was hidden.
4. Paid 2 medical bills with our HSA. I'm so thankful we ended up getting an HSA.
5. Made breakfast rice with leftover rice.
Katy how do you make lentil sandwiches? please share recipe
Your costume plans mean that I now have Juice Newton stuck in my head. Thank you. 😛
1.) Finally broke down and decided to get some proper needles for mending instead of just stealing err borrowing my wife's sewing needles. I found a set of Japanese sashiko needles on eBay for less than $4 shipped. They are much more expensive anywhere else I've seen then. No idea how a guy my age suddenly decided to take up traditional Japanese embroidery mending techniques but here I am.
2.) Will be swapping out some electrical outlets myself this week.
3.) My microwave died in a rather spectacular fashion (luckily no fires or anything) and instead of my usual "research and go big or go home" attitude, I'm taking a wait and see approach to see what I actually need in a replacement.
4.) Got a flu shot at work and they gave me a $5 off coupon for Target! So I'll be healthier and can treat myself at the same time (or at least offset what I'm already going to buy.) Speaking of Target, I've been contemplating getting a Red Card at least for the free shipping. but I'd probably get Debit since I don't need more credit cards in my life.
5.) Have been eating out of my freezer for a while and generally avoiding buying more food when I have enough at home.
I have the Target debit card! Like you, I wanted the benefits but I did not want another credit card to keep track of. The debit card is perfect for me.
Ha, love the Juice Newton reference!
My first reaction was to make a reference about Company of Thieves but I know no one would get that.
I also looked into Japanese sashiko recently. I want to start to mend more things instead of throwing them out and buying new ones. However, most of my clothes are relatively sturdy and it's my socks that get holes and I'm not sure if I can mend them. I guess I will have to try.
If you have wool socks, you can totally darn them. It's not super hard and you can learn via YouTube tutorials.
I wonder if everyone knows you can return Amazon items for free at Kohl's stores. It's a wonderful, easy service.
And UPS! Free, fast, and easy.
I went to CVS last night to use my $2 extra bucks on some breathe right strips. I didn't get the strips because they were sold out and I still spent $40. I always overspend in CVS and Target. I think it's best I just stay away from both those stores.
1. I utilized the school fundraisers to get some Christmas presents instead of stuff we don't need.
2. I am getting better about meal planning and have been using the crock pot a lot. It allows us to go to the park after school and enjoy the beautiful autumn.
3. Turned the AC off and using minimal heat right now.
4. Bought some pants for work at half price.
5. Reading library books!
“...you have to focus on your total out of pocket expenditures, not on your “savings”.
So true. Whenever I buy something at kohl’s and they hold up my receipt to show me how much I “saved” I’m like, Yeah, that means nothing. I’m more interested in how much I spent!
That is true 100% of the time at Kohl's!
Kristen- What great ways of getting items for pennies at CVS! Lots of things are overpriced, in my opinion, anymore but overall, you did fantastic!!
CC- That was so smart to call your insurance company! Great savings!
Sarahbeth- So true. Unless the "savings" is put in a savings account, what really matters is what we spend. Because, honestly, if it wasn't on sale, we probably wouldn't have made the purchase in the first place....
Stephanie- That's great that you supported the school's fundraisers by getting Christmas gifts! Double bonus!
Battra- Japanese embroidery for socks? Sounds interesting...Maybe embroider a design on the worn areas? I'm liking it.....It's kinda like a tattoo for socks...LOL
Here's my Fab Frugal Five:
1) Got 3 free bagels from Einstein's for doing a survey. Savings- $4
2) Got the total out of pocket amounts for surgery that I had in August. The surgeons wanted $12,000 if you don't have insurance. That price doesn't include the $2,000 for anesthesia. For a $14,000 surgery, my insurance covered most of it and I ended up paying $1,700.
Savings- $12,300.
3) Our youngest has a pass to use public transportation from home to college. He uses the bus and a train, several times a day. For a whole year, the cost would be $2,000 out of pocket. The college gives us a discount and charges us $240. Savings- $1,760
4) I've sold some stuff on ebay. A few bucks here and there.
5) We are refinancing. We'll lock in for 20 years instead of 30. Savings- $4800/yr + pay down 10 yrs quicker
1. We didn't eat out this weekend like normal. We are choosing to eat at home and then go to an indoor playground at a restaurant like Chicfila. Kids are already fed so no need to buy anything at Chicfila.
2. Taking inventory of last years clothes for fall and winter. Hoping some of them still fit the kids. Couldn't believe that my son's jacket still fits. Thankfully my youngest daughter just gets the oldest daughter's clothes.
3. Bought a nice size case of playdough for 50 cents a can of playdough. Glad kids still like playdough.
4. Ordering diapers online because it's cheaper than buying at the store.
5. We are moving and taking inventory of the things we might can sell at an upcoming community yard sale.
I shop at Goodwill in an up-scale area near us. This is a great time of year to find gently used ski clothes. I maintain the family ski closet, so all of my friends and family can use items they need. The big bonus for me is that I always get invited on the ski trips, so I get a free day-cation to sit in the warm lodge and enjoy my grandkids. I also crochet so all family gifts are hand made and enjoyed. I only purchase supplies from thrift stores/Joanne's when they have 1/2 price sales. Retirement only means that you have time to enjoy being frugal and going others become comfortable with frugality. Costco card helps on my $20/wk gas budget and I'm shopping my prescription prices after reading about CVS here. I also shopped my car insurance rates and have just switched insurers, saving $27/mo with same coverages and fewer miles, now that I'm not working. Good habits can actually be fun and freeing.
1. Only bargains I have found at c v s are flu shots and shingle shots and pneumonia shot. Store is right at end of my street. I use and rewards bucks on ruffled potato chips as my reward for getting my shots. 2. Ordered 2 lights for kitchen online from lowes. Free delivery. A man is building me three shelves to install at same time and using salvaged brackets from an old job. If I can see I can cook everyday! 3. Moving lilies and all plants growing near house where a new porch is being put in early next year. 4. Sorted clothes and got a big box for american kidney society. Working on more boxes for them now. The cleaner the house the more frugal I can be with entertaining myself and others. 5. Don't know how but 50 daffodil bulbs in yellow and 35 in smaller dwarf ones arrived in boxes on my porch. Must have been drunk on 1.00 canned margarita when I ordered. planting a huge swath out around bushes that will be bare in spring...toss and bury technique...Natures way of planting
1. Blew a piston in my car. Fortunately covered under warranty. Dealership gave us a pick up truck as a service vehicle. Used the truck to buy bulk mulch for the yard!
2. Sold a house plant and old cell phone on Facebook marketplace- made $40
3. Got a free flu shot at work
4. Husband put air in his car tires for free and caulked a window for us
5. Only spent $65 on groceries this week for a family of 4
My daughter and I are renovating our kitchen. We have taken out the upper cabinets, the double wall oven and the drop in range and the “fake island”. We also stripped the flooring (non-asbestos). Tomorrow we are buying unfinished lower cabinets for the sink area, and counter top, and new sink. I can do all the old work for the electric, but not the plumbing, so my Dads plumber is doing my kitchen as a side job for a cheaper price. Have to move some stuff to get the sink out of the corner and under the window!
We are cooking in our $ 23 microwave (Goodwill), and using paper plates( not foam).
Walmart sent a $10 coupon to use for their grocery app, so I let them do my shopping this past month. Our grocery bill is about $110/month and we don’t eat out as neither of us enjoy that.
I am reading “Dutch Girl” a biography of Audrey Hepburn that I reserved at my library. I volunteer there once a week, and pick up my books at the same time.
The rest of the week I am at my father’s house, driving him places, doing laundry, house work, and whatever he needs. Mom passed a year ago April, and he’s 93 now so I am there for him.
1. Sold a few baby things on Facebook. Made $6 and I'm pretty sure I didn't spend that much when I bought the items originally.
2. I made dinner for a friend that recently had twins (to go with her 4yo and 2yo) and kept it pretty cheap. Used pork from my freezer, made muffins she loves, devilled eggs, and grapes. Eggs are 40 cents/dozen at Aldi here and grapes are on sale this week. I wanted something somewhat labor-intensive that she wouldn't have the time to do herself right now, so the eggs and prepping the grapes fit that requirement.
3. Had leftovers for lunch even when I didn't really want to.
4. Over the weekend I made applesauce again... Another 60 pounds of apples. I filled 34 squeeze pouches that are in my freezer for the days where I want one and don't have time to fill out reusable ones. Also canned 14 quarts and have a bunch in the fridge.
5. Menu planned and stuck to it.
I love reading all your replies and ideas!
1. Spent a weeknight in the SanFran Bay Area last weekend. Not exactly frugal but 4 of us split a $153.00 nite in a nice Marriott suite property. It also had lots of free parking and coffee and tea in lobby 24/7. Nice full kitchenette but since it was our first “girls nite weekend”, we just used it to prepare hot/cold drinks and fridge to keep our snacks.
2. Went to a bead show where we all got in Free with our Govt IDs. Reg price was $8.00 apiece!
3. Bought a bunch of semi precious gemstones. Spent ab $150.00 but I got 14 full strands of smoky quartz, amethysts, rubies, lemon quartz, mixed lavender/lemon/clear quartz, green garnet and a few others. I love jewelry and besides making myself a few pieces, I also make gifts for family and friends. So not frugal, but kind of frugal... People tell ,e to sell them but I don’t want to hassle with resale license and paperwork.
4. Everyone chipped in for gas so that was huge help.
5. Finally trying to use up excess leave at work before end of year so it’ll be 2 days of not having to drive in. Saves me ab 100 miles total.
1. Sorted through the rediculous number of children’s books we own and sold some to Powell’s. Earned enough credit to purchase a Christmas present.
2. Decorated our shop with cuttings from our trees and a big vase we already had. Seasonally appropriate and free!
3. Kept to our shopping list and ate down things in the pantry - grocery bill this week is half the usual amount.
4. Both kids’ winter jackets fit again this year!
5. Repurposed a bookshelf for our son’s room. His room feels newly redone and all we did was move the furniture around and add a bookshelf we already had. I’m thinking the next time I get the itch to redecorate and buy something I should just trying moving the furniture around first.
I hav head a busy week with the hosting of three birthday parties. My eldest and youngest share a birthday and Miss Pip had never had her own party. So she was given a surprise party and for that party I made her the cupcakes she had told me she would like months ago. For the second a friend volunteered to do the cake. I accepted and was so pleased with the result that I ordered one for my son and daughter's birthday yesterday. For the final party, yesterday, I cooked a massive roast dinner and transported it to another location.
So mu five frugal efforts are.
1. Waking super early and shopping solo and sticking to the list.
2. I had kept an eye out for meat reductions and I scored a six pound leg of lamb with a saving of about $10. This was the meat for last night's feast.
3. Buying some items for Christmas and putting them away.
4. I have been sorting through stuff and have found so many crafting items I don't think I will have to shop for those for the rest of my life.
5. Working diligently to make sure our food waste is minimal. My son now has some chickens so I have some where to send those scraps that are good for chickens. I probably won't get any eggs as he knows I am allergic to yolk. But his sister was tickled pink when he gave her three fresh home grown eggs for today's breakfast.
My family did a short vacation at college break.
#1 Brought my own sandwiches and snacks for the plane ride. Avoiding airport prices.
#2 Ordered water at restaurants. Refilled water bottles to go. I actually have come to want water not soda with meals
#3 Took the gift card instead of maid service at hotel. I can clean up after myself.
#4 Made a PBJ in room breakfast.
#5 Tutored my daughter in her college software class. The prof did not teach how to troubleshoot code so I did. This allowed her to complete the work herself and to keep up with the class. My daughter getting a good grade in a STEM class …. priceless. Realizing my software skills are still relevant … priceless.
oh gosh i love #5 -- you GO!
Aaannd, i don't even really know what you are talking about but am deeply impressed all the same 🙂
1. Packed a lunch on our trip to a farm harvest festival so we wouldn’t be tempted to buy food there. Still an expensive day but now a little less so.
2. Made homemade granola bars for school lunches and snacks instead of buying them.
3. Hubby got a bunch of free lunch meat & cheese from work which we used all week. (He is an accountant for a local sub chain)
4. Used our zoo pass and packed lunches for a free day of fun with some friends of ours.
5. Made a homemade robot Halloween costume for my eldest so we bought gray jammies that can be used the rest of the year instead of a costume. It can also be used for the Christmas play when he is going to be a donkey or sheep.
Am looking into Craigslist instead of new, for the large dining table and chairs that I want. I wonder how many dinings-in I need to host, to make up for the cost of buying a table?
my recent 5FF.....
1. My cousin passed away last fall & my aunt called me up the other day asking my husband to come over and go thru hunting and fishing clothing before she donated it all. Hubby and I went to visit and look thru clothing. Hubby got new with tags Carhartt bibs and a jacket both worth almost $200, a few sweatshirts and some camo hunting clothing. Hubby was thrilled. Plus she gifted the girls and I with a basket she won at a Chinese auction that she really didn't want. Girls and I pulled out a few things we wanted & I listed the rest for sale. Will use proceeds towards Christmas shopping.
2. Coworker ordered treats for her dog & company accidentally shipped her a whole case of them, so she shared them with me and another co-worker who have dogs.
3. A resident in our township gifted a few of us at work with bouquets of flowers because he said we always treat him well. Was a nice surprise!
4. My parents gifted us money on our recent 21 year anniversary that we used towards a special dinner to celebrate.
5. Recently we went to Moe's and were charged extra for buffalo sauce my husband wanted on his chicken plus there service was super slow. I went online to enter complaint and they gifted us a $10 reward for our inconvenience.
6. Our dog food we normally buy was $10 less a bag this week, so i purchased a bag since we need it this week anyway.
Good point about CVS. I recognize that the prices are higher than they are at somewhere like Walmart, but if I factor in the fact that the closest Walmart is a 20-minute drive from my house and the CVS is next to the metro station near my office, it becomes a savings in both time and gas to shop at CVS. I always buy the store brand and use coupons.
I stopped buying the flavored seltzer (even the store brand, which is cheapest) and instead started making shrubs with fruit from my freezer that I bought on sale and ACV. The flavor is phenomenal and tastes great with a little added to seltzer made with the SodaStream (which of course is not completely free to use, but is cheaper -- and better for the environment -- than buying soda cans).
I set up a nice-looking bookshelf that I got from Buy Nothing in my living room so that I could have a nice place to store all my gardening books. They are my favorite thing to look for at used book stores lately. I got one on lasagne gardening over the weekend. I'm all fired up to use my compost and leaf mold to create my own lasagne garden plots!