Five Frugal Things | excessive mending alert

Let’s start with the mending, shall we?

1. I mended a 23 year old tea towel.

This is the part where I tell you about something I don’t necessarily recommend!

I got this tea towel as a wedding shower gift 23 years ago, and at this point, I mainly use it to squeeze shredded zucchini.

(which helps zucchini bread to not be soggy in the middle)

It’s green and it’s old, so I don’t care if it gets stained, you know?

It got three holes on one end of it, though, so I figured I’d cut that part off and then make a new hem.

So I did, and that still left me with another hole.

At which point I realized, hey, I could patch that with the fabric I cut off the top of the towel.

So I did.

And I gave all the frayed edges a fresh hem.

Does this make tons of sense in terms of time spent?

Not really. I probably spent 15 minutes repairing a tea towel that could have been replaced at Ikea for less than a dollar.

But my frugal heart found this to be a satisfying project, and my tea towel will live to see another day.

Plus, my time is not SO tight that I can’t spare 15 minutes.

2. Zoe and I cut the cat’s nails.

In the 2+ years we’ve owned our cat, we have cut her nails successfully exactly zero times.

She’s always been too wiggly and I think when we first got her, we were just a little too timid to do this with any sort of authority.

She probably felt our fear. 😉

So, we’ve taken her to the vet to get a trim here and there.

But since that is not currently an option, I thought we should give this another go.

Zoe bravely volunteered to hold the cat while I did the clipping, and I must say, she did an excellent job. We got all of the cat’s nails trimmed in one try!

This is going to save us money and time in the future, so I’m pretty pleased.

3. I bought book club books on eBay.

Normally I get book club selections at the library, but that is not currently an option.

So, I’ve been buying them, reading them, and then reselling them on eBay.

We had book club last Saturday, so I immediately listed the one we just finished (Born a Crime) and also ordered the next two titles (Into Thin Air and Born on a Blue Day).

I got them each for $3.84 with free shipping, which is more expensive than the library, but still very affordable.

4. I got two extra contact lenses.

Somehow, I have two more for my right eye and none for my left. I think I must have had issues with my left lens a few times over the last year.

So I called my eye doctor, and they are ordering two more for me, free of charge. Yay!

This also means I can put off my eye exam for at least another two months, which is good for staying away from other people as much as possible.

5. I…

• made another 2 week menu plan
• contacted an eBay seller about a mis-charge I got
• made coffee at home every day
• used extra paper (from printing eBay labels) for to-do lists
• used almost no cellular data (home wifi for the win!)

Your turn. Share your five frugal things in the comments!

P.S. I am also wondering: would you have fixed the tea towel? Or would you have done the more logical thing and thrown it away?