Five Frugal Things | I cropped a shirt
1. I turn a shirt into a cropped version
I had bought this tee years ago at H&M (my first time ever buying something there) and man, I am not impressed. Almost from the start, it twisted in the wash (even though I line-dried it!), and that made the curved hem go off-kilter.
You can see what I mean in this photo:
And it's only gotten worse since then.
I pulled it out the other day before I went to the gym and I decided it was too twisted even for a workout shirt!
So then I got my scissors out, thinking I would cut it up to add to my pile of trusty t-shirt rags.
But it occurred to me that I could just cut the problematic part out, and wear it as a cropped tee with high-waisted jeans. No need to hem it since it's knit fabric.
I figured I could always just go ahead with the rag idea if the crop didn't work. But I'm happy to say that I do like it this way!
Bonus: there was a small hole in the bottom of the tee, and now it's gone.
2. I'm using up lots of potatoes
My last two Hungry Harvest boxes were disproportionately heavy on the potatoes (I forgot to customize the boxes!), so I have had a bit of a potato backlog.
So, I've been par-cooking a batch of potato cubes, browning some for breakfast, and then storing the rest in the fridge to use for an easy potato dish the next morning.
This has also been a helpful vehicle for using up random little containers of sauce in my fridge.
And I have discovered that most sauces work fine on potato cubes.
Also: I like to rinse and save those little sauce containers; they're really handy if you have a few seeds to save, or if you need a spot to stash a few screws from a project.
3. I sold a nutmeg grater
This was in a box of stuff from the abandoned house, and at first, I didn't know what it was! But I did some googling and discovered it's a nutmeg grater.
It was mostly in good condition; just needed some cleaning and a minor repair to the lid.
(Click here to see more small abandoned house treasures!)
I sold it on eBay, and of course, I shipped it in a reused package.
4. I helped Zoe file her taxes for free
2022 was her first year having a job, so this was her first tax go-round! I helped her through the process, and it only took something like 10-15 minutes.
Since her return is super simple, she gets to use the free version of TurboTax, which is just lovely.
I also helped Sonia with her taxes this year (maybe I mentioned that already), using TurboTax as well.
5. I took Zoe to Coinstar
She had two big containers of coins (sometimes her tips at work come in the form of coins), so we went to a Coinstar machine and exchanged her coins for an Amazon gift card.
As long as you choose a gift card, Coinstar doesn't charge a fee. And Zoe wanted some earbuds from Amazon anyway, so it worked out just fine!
(My girls were really small the first time we used Coinstar. Whoa.)
That shirt turned out cute, and I loved the trip down coinstar memory lane! 😉
—I had a long errand day in the nearest city, so I made sure to pack a leftovers for lunch. I confess to getting coffee out, but there are no coffee shops in our village, so I excuse the once in a while splurge. My favorite independent coffee shop lets me do a refill for $1, too!
—Target has been doing a hardcore clearance of their children's bedroom items, which means that useful things with fun colors can be had for cheap. I found two orange and cream basket/tote/hamper things in clearance for $4.50 instead of $15. They are now happily containing shipping supplies in my color explosion of an office. No more cascades of bubble wrap!
—Target still remains the cheapest place I’ve found to buy heavy whipping cream, where a quart can be had for $6. We use heavy whipping cream for morning coffee and in cooking all the time since a little goes a long way, and it keeps forever.
--Speaking of Target, unbeknownst to me, a recent app update no longer allows one to stack offers ($5 off $20, say) with individual coupons (40% off bacon, for example). I thought my total was $10+ too high but waited until I was in the car to go over my receipt without being in the way. I'd purposefully built my list around 50% off produce items and a $5 off $30 in groceries offer, so it was a big difference! The customer service rep explained the app update--which I appreciated, as the fine print didn't mention the change--but still refunded the difference since the update was so recent. Noted for next time!
—I was at Whole Foods for loss leaders (only the ones that would be a good price anywhere—hello, $7.99/lb lamb!) and noticed they had some fancy jam on clearance—$4 instead of $12! The best by date is 2025, so I’m tucking these away for my husband’s birthday and/or stocking stuffers. Food gifts are always a safe bet with him, especially this many years into the doctor-mandated dietary crackdown. New foods/flavors he can have are always welcome! The jam and fancy clearance syrup I picked up on a different trip (also BB 2025) has me thinking a breakfast theme to go with the soccer jersey I already nabbed on clearance. Watching European football is a long-standing weekend morning tradition of ours, so the jersey fits in perfectly with the jam, syrup, and whatever else I find in the next few months! 🙂
@N, thanks for the notes about your Target finds. I was thinking the other day that I might need to buy another laundry hamper for my boys so they can each have one instead of sharing. I'll have to go check my local store.
Also, thanks for the heads up about the new app updates. I hadn't noticed that, so I'll be sure to make sure I pay attention next time. We have a Target a few blocks from our house, and it's where I buy most of my stuff because it's so convenient.
I thrifted an Old Navy shirt that has a tie that is supposed to be in the middle, but it's off to the side. I didn't realize the issue when I bought it but it's a shirt I wear around the house so it doesn't really bother me. It's not an issue with washing so much as how the fabric was cut at the factory.
I buy my groceries with cash and don't spend the change. I save my change and exchange it for Amazon gift cards. I keep thinking I'll save up for something big but then I end up buying smaller things I need from Amazon.
-My pastor-husband felt like he needed a day off yesterday, so we packed the van and headed to a national park for the day. We also packed lunch and snacks and extra water.
-We used the Gas Buddy app to find the cheapest gas on our route. Twice.
-After leaving the park, we stopped at an Aldi and picked up a treat-- a box of ice cream cones. There were 8 of us and 8 cones. Perfect. We also picked up a couple of bags of those grapes to bring home.
-On the way home at supper time, we struggled with figuring out what to do. Instead of going to a restaurant, we opted for grocery store frozen pizzas and bagged salad. This was more expensive than some options, but it was getting late and it was way cheaper than eating at a restaurant.
-I went shopping in the totes in our basement for clothes for my growing 10-year-old. Then I hemmed a pair of slacks for church on Friday and Sunday.
**p. s. I would happily eat at your house daily if you made eggs and potatoes for me. I think that might be my favorite meal-- the one I could exist on for days without complaining.
@Jody S., so glad your family could get some rest yesterday. Pastors and their families are so busy leading up to Easter.
I thought the same thing when I read Jody's comment! Easter week is a tough one for church staff.
@Jody S., I know that pastors work hard to make Resurrection Sunday, aka Easter, a meaningful and memorial worship experience for their flock. Even though I'm not a member of your congregation and have no idea where your church is, please be sure to convey my appreciation to him for all he does. Pastors don't get thanked enough IMO.
@Fru-gal Lisa, Thank you. He has worked hard all through Lent, for sure. And you know what, sometimes a simple thank you really helps (in case anybody is wondering how to appreciate your pastor).
I haven't purchased a bag of potatoes in a while, but when I noticed they were getting a little old I would make mashed potatoes (which freeze really well), and twice baked potatoes (which also freeze well). You can store them in dividual portions and they reheat beautifully. Yesterday, after a hard day on Black Rock, I bought a bucket of KFC chicken and made sides for it at home. I froze half the chicken for another hard day in the future. Dinner also included a marked down bag of mixed brocc/cauli/carrots, and some buttery rice. I guess I could have bought the sides at the chicken place, too, but I already had sides at home and mine are usually better than KFC's.
One of these days I'm going to set up my Ebay seller account...
Husband realized we had a leaking pipe in the laundry room over the weekend. After some looking around determined where it originated and went to Home Depot for parts. (#1 frugal-less than a plumber)
Due to Husband having a shoulder injury the only kid not at work was woken up to help dad repair the pipe. They were able to get the piece removed, replaced and repaired.
(#2 frugal- kid has decided against going to school to be a plumber-no money lost trying to figure this out lol)
Husband joined a weight loss competition at work and I am tagging along. His $20 investment could reap $200 and he is COMMITTED.
(So Frugal #3 is no lunches out during work week as we are packing food we already have. No food waste here!)
We did go out to eat for the first time in 2 weeks and shared a fajita platter at a local Mexican place- So good! We even ate less than 10 tortilla chips-brought them home for kids.
(Frugal #4-cheaper date night with sharing a larger meal and no margs!)
We have a quite a few local businesses that are Amazon resale. One does everything through FB auction. I saw they were bidding on 2 boxes of Smart lightbulbs. I verified with the husband they were the ones he has previously purchased and their value. I placed the final bid 1 minute before it closed and paid $15 for 2 boxes of bulbs... that are usually around $20 a box!
(Frugal #5-husband very happy)
@jes, it so helps when your spouse is also committed to the weight loss journey. You can motivate each other. My husband is the ice cream buyer.
@jes, I had a plumber at my house this morning for a job that was above my skill level. Not looking forward to paying that bill ...
Plumbing bills can be atrocious.
@Battra92,
I feel your pain....we had to have our hot water heater replaced several years ago (pre-Covid)...the bill was horrendous.
I love how the shirt turned out!
My husband left me, which has changed my financial situation pretty significantly. I have been really careful with my spending but the biggest frugal wins I’ve seen this week are from choices/habits I made in the past that are still paying off today:
-choosing to buy Birkenstocks years ago instead of cheaper summer shoe. I won’t need to buy shoes for the summer. This also applies to some other summer clothes.
-teaching kids from an early age that wanting something isn’t the primary reason for buying it and having money conversations with them. They understand that we need to be careful with money and have helped come up with free activities that we can do.
-tracking my spending so I know where money is going. This saves so much.
-limiting trips to stores that are easy to spend money at (Target, Costco)
-incorporating vegetarian meals into my week. Not having to cook meat every single night makes me more likely to eat at home and not buying meat is helping the grocery budget.
@Kaitlin, I may have missed your big news before, and I am so, so sorry. I wish for you strength for the very difficult time ahead, and peace sooner rather than later.
@Kaitlin,
Wishing you strength and peace as you travel this difficult path.
@Kaitlin, know that other’s think of you as you navigate this new reality. You’ve done great going back to substitute teaching. Keep up the indoor rowing , it’s a great stress reliever and meditation spot. Lean in on any and all services available to your family especially for your son. You are a great Mama.
@Kaitlin, You have a great attitude. I am sorry for the difficulties you're facing. You are in my prayers.
Sending you more and more hugs. We are here for you whenever you need some encouragement.
@Kaitlin, best wishes from all of us here at The FG who have lost a spouse, for whatever reason. We're cheering you on.
Isn't it true that there are so, so many ways for this to happen? I think of the range of experiences represented by those of us here...and how there are overlaps in the heartbreak we experience, no matter how our loss came about.
@Kaitlin, I will step around the large sad issue here and just congratulate you on the brilliance and simplicity of teaching your kids "wanting something isn't the primary reason for buying it".
@Kaitlin, I'm so, so sorry. Please feel free to reach out to me personally if you need a willing ear to yell and scream at. (Maybe that was just me....) Or just sympathy, of which I have a ton too.
Also, I love "wanting something isn’t the primary reason for buying it." Hm. That's a new one for me, and very thought-compelling.
@A. Marie, I love how you phrased this. There are many ways one can lose a spouse and I have friends who represent a few of those ways. Stories may be different, but grief and lose are fairly universal.
Thank you for your words of comfort.
@Kaitlin,
I can only echo what others have said already....I'm so very sorry you're facing this new reality. You've got a great attitude, and I love what you're teaching your kids about wanting something not being the primary reason to buy something - and that they're helping find free things to do.
@Kaitlin, I wish I had something original and helpful to say, but I can only add long distance support during this difficult time.
@Kaitlin, I'm so very, very sorry.
@Kaitlin, I have read all your posts and know that you are a smart, strong and resilient woman; an inspiring mother and role model for your children; and you will have amazed yourself when you come out the other side of all of this. You amaze me, for sure.
@Kaitlin, I join the community of those who wish you Godspeed on this journey. You will crush it as we can already tell from your list.
@Kaitlin, also lending my support. Those free activities with the kids will create great memories for them.
@Kaitlin, you sound like a woman with a good head on your shoulders - I wish you much peace and good luck for whatever life throws at you. You can handle it, but that doesn't change the $hittyness of the situation for you. Thinking of you as you walk this new and challenging path!
@Kaitlin, firstly I want to say that I’m so sorry that this happened to you. Secondly, as I’ve read your comments it sounds like you have a great attitude and strength that will help you get through this difficult time.
1. I counted the coins I found in the first three months of 2023: $5.37. I'll just spend them and hopefully collect more in the next three months.
2. Our Easter candy was candy purchased majorly on clearance after Halloween and Christmas. The use by dates are still months away. We don't have Easter favorites.
3. We thought about going out for Easter but there was no where that sounded good. I cooked some salmon, quinoa, vegetables, etc. Both cheaper and healthier.
4. Our daughter used a copy of the TurboTax software I bought. I saved the copy of the state return for her to use. She had to pay to submit the state return but it will be worth it for avoiding the hassle of dealing with it last minute.
5. I made a pot lentil soup. I used chicken sausage I'd frozen before the use by date, an onion that was not in good shape, the dregs of a couple of marinara sauce jars and a ketchup bottle as well as other ingredients called for. I recently saw that lentil production is very low on an environmental impact scale. I stored it in glass jars saved from sunflower butter. It will make for some quick lunches this week.
Can I get Five Frugal Easter Things? Let's see!
--Same baskets we've used for . . . uh, maybe five years now? The contents of the baskets included a book for each child, which I purchased used.
--I didn't buy anything new to wear to Easter Mass. For myself, anyway. I did buy my daughter a dress, because dressing a little girl for special occasions is an absolute joy. Her dress was all of seven dollars on a re-sale site. And so cute. (Full disclosure: Then I had to buy her tights and a sweater, because the dress was absolutely not warm enough. All three things can be used again, though. And she was so adorable and made everyone who saw her smile, so I regret nothing.)
--I didn't buy anything special for Easter dinner. We already had a ham in the freezer, and I made the rest of the meal around what I had.
--I don't buy egg dyeing kits, instead using whatever I have that's food safe and will color eggs. This year, that was paprika (orange), yellow curry powder (yellow, of course), and the juice from a jar of my pickled beets (purpley pink). I saved the sludgy spices from the bottom of the bowls, too, and used the paprika already to make something like goulash. Something with curry coming up this week. 🙂
--I never buy seasonal decor, because I don't have anywhere to store it and don't like dealing with it. We decorated our Easter table with the dyed eggs and a bunny my daughter made at preschool.
There it it! FFET.
@kristin @ going country,
I actually bought an Easter Dress that I did not wear. Living in Florida, we attend sunrise service at the beach on Easter Morning. The weather this time of year is usually calm and thousands attend this service. However, this year things were different. A front had moved through on Saturday and parked itself off the coast in the Atlantic. We had 30 mph winds from the northeast, rain squalls and coastal flooding the night before. I wore a quilted rain jacket, rain boots and a hat. The crowd was small, but those who attended were happy to be there. It was a reminder that sometimes life is stormy, but God is always present.
@kristin @ going country, a friend once did some magical egg dying using the skins from red onions. That might be worth investigating.
@kristin @ going country, there's definitely something about seeing little girls in pretty dresses on Easter that makes one smile!
I love the t-shirt fix! I've never thought to try that. Noted.
Our neighbor gave us a big box of groceries because "someone gave us more than we can use." It included at least 10 huge tomatoes, turnip, squash, a gallon of milk, a bag of apples, a bag of oranges and at least a dozen eggs, (both chicken and duck). In turn, I will share, because it's more than I can use also!
I replanted a few seeds that didn't come up on first try.
We went back to an abandoned house that a friend of ours is selling. It reminds of the one Kristen's brother bought, except not so dirty. He said we could take anything. It's been sitting for over ten years, so the mice and squirrels have done a number on it. It looks like gramma left to go to an appointment and never came back. Everything just as she left it--a time capsule from 2010, but with 70s decor. We got some great dishes and tools and misc things. It's rather unnerving going through a person's whole life like that. Gives you pause to look at all your stuff in a different light.
My husband replaced a side mirror, a headlight and a windshield wiper (the whole thing, not just the blade) on his truck (deer damage, mostly) using You Tube tutorials. It really is amazing what you can do using the internet. He's pretty handy anyway, but he said it was so helpful watching first and saved him a few headaches. Then he ended with giving all the vehicles a good wash since it was our first 60 degree day since last fall.
I finally was able to hang clothes on the line this week! My sheets smelled divine climbing into bed last night. Ahhh, FINALLY spring in Maine.
Counterintuitive but effective: I'm spending some money to make more money. Specifically, I hired a company to help me pack a lot of my art so I can put my home on the market this month - when there are a lot of buyers - instead of in late summer.
The bonus from this effort is learning that I prefer having less stuff in my home. Good lesson for my next place.
I'm not surprised that an H&M garment went wonky; they're known for cheap clothes, not stury ones.
FG, what made you decide to sell a small item such as the nutmeg grater and how much did it sell for? How do you decide what's worth selling and what isn't?
@WilliamB, the process of readying a house for the market is not easy! Kudos to you for getting some help. May your sale be successful! And may your next house be just empty/full enough for your delight.
@WilliamB, Friends of ours rented a small storage unit and combined packing and decluttering-for-house-showings by filling that over several weeks. When it came time to load the truck up to go, it was probably easier to have the stuff all there than to have to carry it out of the house on one day, as well as easier to see how much there was. Good luck with your preparing for selling!
(I'm trying to remember: I think the last time we moved, I put some boxes or the full clothes basket in the trunk of my car or took them to my office to get the clutter out of the house).
@Heidi Louise, I couldn't agree more. I have a storage unit for things I nabbed after my mother died last fall and I will be moving certain things to the new house in the 3 months between when I have access and when I leave my current place. First on the list: laying the rugs and moving the books.[1] Then as much decor as I can manage because a place looks like a home once the art is up, no matter how many boxes there are.
[1] I have about 12 full-sized bookcases full of carefully-organized books. To avoid losing the organization, I'm moving them a few at a time: move a couple of bookcases, fill them in the new place just as the books are arranged now; lather, rinse, repeat.
@WilliamB, Makes sense!
Another friend moved one or two precious/fragile items every time she visited the new house, so as not to have to obsessively package them for transit, as she could watch them more closely in small groupings.
@WilliamB, Here's hoping you share your moving and new house progress as it unfolds, bringing us along on the journey.
@WilliamB,
When we packed up our apartment to move I realized how much I love having no junk on the fridge and the coffee tables. We have managed to keep our fridge junk-free for a year.
It’s so cute as a crop top!
Not really frugal because I had to buy the items, but I was a "who needs whiskers" weekend!
I installed a bathroom light all by myself. It's a little crystal chandelier that is between the washer/dryer and toilet. It doesn't give off a lot of light, but its pretty and there are other lights in the bathroom. Because we all need beauty while going to the pot and doing laundry!
I installed a wall light by my recliner. The only real light in our living room is from the huge ceiling fan. I wanted something near my recliner at night. No wiring was involved because it came with a plug in wire which is just what I wanted. Its very bright!
I removed some ugly, cracked and dirty vertical blinds in our bedroom and put up a curtain rod using the holes that were already there that went into wood for hold. I bought the curtain rod at Home Goods for $20. and the curtain panels at Aldi for I think less than $15 each. I really should have another curtain panel, but I don't think Aldi has any more since these were on sale approx 3 months ago. Oh well, I can make do with 2 panels. Its to keep the bright sun out in the morning so I can sleep late on the weekends.
I bought my husband his early birthday present, which was a new smoker. I bought it at Menards and they are currently having their 11% rebate sale. Once you send it a copy of the receipt, you get 11% back in a check, so be sure to shop at Menards if you can. On Sunday he put it together and yesterday was his day off and he smoked a pork butt, ribs and a whole chicken. There was enough pulled pork for 4 meals, leftover ribs and a whole chicken for dinner tonight. Stocked everything in the freezer!
Made a Mexican lasagna the other day, which serves 8. Plenty of leftovers there too.
@Maureen, "Because we all need beauty while going to the pot and doing laundry!" Indeed! 😉
I love Coinstar. I just wish I had more coins saved up to go there!
1. The shredding disc attachment on my Ninja food processor broke--the plastic ring that holds it in place just shattered, probably through some rough usage (side-eye to helpful child who loves to use the food processor but can be a bit heavy handed at times). Happily, Ninja sells replacement discs on their website, and I even got a coupon code that took care of taxes, so for $23 my food processor is working again. A new processor would be over $100, so that's quite a savings. I know to most frugalites this seems like a no-brainer, but a few years ago it wouldn't have occurred to me to look for replacement parts online; I would have just assumed I needed a new one.
2. Hung towels in the laundry room with a fan to dry overnight, rather than use the dryer--we need to dry them fully each night, and our bathrooms don't have windows or very good ventilation. I used to just toss them in the dryer, but my handy husband figured out how to put up temporary laundry lines each night, and it works great.
3. Another fan usage: HH put up strong fans on each end of the house, over the attic vents--this house has a small attic area that stretches across the house, and luckily it has nice big vents. These fans will blow the air through the attic, keeping warm air from building up on sunny/warm days, and make the house easier to cool. We saw a difference the very first day; it was a sunny day and we have no trees over the house, and usually we would feel like turning the AC on by the afternoon, but the house felt great all day. Hopefully this will lower our cooling costs this summer!
4. I waited and used Amazon points for a new toaster oven roasting pan, some sketchbooks for my son, and some books I had been wanting.
5. We're eating mostly leftovers for dinner these past two nights.
FFT, Spring Things Edition:
(1) See yesterday's FFT at the NCA for several scores on found food. "Curb-shopping" season has arrived here in Central NY.
(2) Bottlepicking season is also ramping up: The secrets of many former snowdrifts, in the form of NY State 5-cent deposit containers, are being revealed. (And if NYS ever gets around to raising the container deposit to 10 cents, I will have myself a real side hustle!)
(3) In addition to the bargain-priced Easter ham I bought at Aldi last week, I picked up some lamb bargains at Price Chopper: two 2-lb. portions of boneless leg at $5.99/lb., and a nice 5-lb. piece of semi-boneless leg at $4.99/lb. The semi-boneless went immediately into the freezer for next Christmas Eve's Two Fat Ladies lamb dinner.
(4) Although I'm not going all-out on garden cleanup till night temperatures get more consistently above freezing (some of my tenderer herbs still need the protection of last fall's leaves), I'm getting a good start on it--as my 67.5-year-old back can attest!
(5) I put away the snow shovel, the snow broom, and the ice melter this morning. Not exactly frugal, just spirit-lifting!
@A. Marie, Re: #2 always park near the melting snow piles in large parking lots, it's like treasure hunting. I don't look for bottles, but I've found plenty of dirty coins.
@Bobi, last winter I found so many coins in/near one melting snowpile that I called it the First National Snowbank.
Also, my main thrill from Coinstar = the coins I occasionally find in the reject slot. My success rate is probably only about 5%, but, hey, it never hurts to try.
@Bobi, this is genius! I have never thought about finding coins, but after this winter we have loads of snowdrifts that are rapidly melting this week.
@A. Marie, I once found abandoned coins in the change slot at a self-checkout at Kroger. Since there hadn't been anyone checking out when I got there, I figured the customer was long gone and I earned 7 cents that day. 😉
@A. Marie, shhh! I found .62 last Saturday but let's not tell anyone else. Of course I've also found my share of foreign coins and tokens including a few of those naughty ones! 🙂
@Karen A., now you've done it: I'm going to start checking the change slots at the self-checkouts at my regular supermarkets (whenever I can elude the supervisor's eagle eye)!
@A. Marie, about 20 years ago, when payphones were still around, I was waiting for my parents in the library lobby and happened to look inside the payphone coin return slot. There was probably about $4-5 worth of quarters in there! I was no longer annoyed at having to wait for my parents that day!
FYI Turbo Tax has lobbied HARD to keep the tax process exactly the way it is--complicated and largely unnecessary. (Most countries don't have complicated tax filing processes like the US, and we have a complicated process because of Turbo Tax's lobbying to keep it that way. The IRS already has our income/tax information in their system.) The IRS has a listing for free ways to file, other than Turbo Tax. I'd recommend any of them. ONLY get the list from the IRS website. https://www.irs.gov/filing/free-file-do-your-federal-taxes-for-free
@Mary, I know about TurboTax lobbying, but it's hardly their fault the US tax code is so Byzantine. That's because of Congress. Decades of pork and subsidies and giveaways until it's just impenetrable. Personally I think we should completely rip up the tax code and start fresh, but there's no political will for that.
@Mary, I used Tax Hawk online yesterday for my taxes. I’ve used them the past 4 years. Free for federal and $18 to file my state taxes. My brother told me about them and it’s been fine. They file everything and I’ve already received confirmation they’ve been accepted by IRS and state.
@Rose, there's no political will for much of anything anymore. 🙁
1. All the grocery stores were out of lamb before Easter so involuntarily saved that money. Served moose steak from the freezer instead.
2. Also involuntarily, this has been a very low cost Easter since I woke up with low back pain a week ago so we have just been home and my partner has finished renovating my old sewing room.
3. Sold a Stressless recliner. Our robotcleaner gets stuck in the base and I figured it will be a long time before I’m lifting the chair up on the table as I’ve been doing.
4. Propagating plants to the newly finished room upstairs. It will be a combined wardrobe and training room, but also a small sitting area so some plants will make it a lot cozier.
5. There was some good deals to be made before Easter. Bought two whole chickens and coffee to last my partner for several months at 40% discount.
@Gunn from Northern Norway, As disorganized as my freezer can be, I am absolutely certain I could not have pulled a moose steak out of there in a pinch. Absolute best frugal thing I have ever read on this blog. Congratulations!!! We have a winner!!!
@JDinNM, thank you but there was actually very little achievement in that since my partner is a hunter and our freezers is practically overflowing with moose 😉 It would have been a nice change with a leg of lamb!
- We helped our son do his taxes with our copy of TurboTax. He didn't want to pay to file, so he printed and mailed them in. Watching him address the envelope made me realize that I have failed him because he had no idea how to do it!
- I won a $10 gift card at my office's Easter egg hunt. I will use it towards upcoming birthday gift for our son. I also won a package of sour jellybeans which I gave to our son when he came over to do taxes.
- My contributions to Easter meal were all side dishes and desserts and were based on what I had in the refrigerator; MIL provided the main dishes. Took leftover containers I found (and washed!) in Mom's hoarder house so everyone got to take home food but won't have to worry about returning containers.
- BFF had bought too many girl scout cookies (I didn't know that was a thing!), so she shared with me. I took one of the boxes as a secondary dessert for Easter.
- Used the same Easter baskets for our grown kids that they have had since preschool. All candy for the baskets was purchased on sale. BFF gave me two $5 gift cards she wasn't going to use so those went into the Easter baskets.
@Beverly,
Your #1: my office is required to do mandatory public notice mailouts for some of our projects, and of course, we have the college student interns stuff, label and seal the envelopes. It's as if I was handing them a live snake when I hand them notice printouts, labels, envelopes and the moistener gadget to seal the envelopes. I've learned to avoid embarrassing them by showing them first "how we like to do it." I do a sample fold and stuff and put the labels on the envelope then I'll moisten it and seal it. I discovered most don't know where the address goes, where the return address goes, how to fold a letter to fit a #10 envelope, which way the letter faces, or where the stamp goes. At first I thought it was incredible, then found out that most of them have never mailed anything in their lives - they didn't even mail any high school graduation announcements. They pay and communicate with companies online. And they never, ever write checks.
@JD, That is incredible! I know that most kids can't read or write cursive, or write checks, but I didn't realize they can't fold, address, stamp or mail a letter. Good grief!
@JD, Your experience with interns mirror my experience with our son. He did not know where to put the address (he wrote it on the left side of the envelope), he thought the return address had to be the address from which the letter was mailed (realized that when I offered to mail it from my office), and he had no idea how to fold paperwork to put in the envelope. After being shocked at his lack of knowledge, I realized he has probably never mailed anything himself before!
@JD, that is incredible and sad. Obviously you can add most have never sent thank you notes. Reminds me that one of my grandsons was looking rather quizzically at the message I’d written on a graduation card. I wondered if I had said something bothersome, but realized much later that he couldn’t read handwriting.
@JD, I bet none of them can read a paper map (and forget about folding it!), a face clock, a traditional thermometer, find things in a real dictionary, look up a number in a phone book, or have a clue about a phone with a rotary dial. AND, I bet not a single one has memorized a phone number. Yikes.
@Shirley, I feel a little bad that I didn't realize for a long time that my late BFF was offended that my kids never sent her handwritten thank you notes. (They emailed.) (Of course BFF could have said something instead of stewing quietly...) It's the 21st century. Things are different now.
@Beverly, I thought I was a mean mom making my kids helping me do Christmas cards every year. They always did the envelopes for me.
@Beverly, I called my mom today to help me navigate the USPS mailing rates for an envelope. I can mail a postcard or simple letter independently because email barely existed in my childhood, but anything beyond that stumps me. And I’m an old millennial, not even a young one anymore!
@Beverly, I was listening to a podcast on essential lifeskills for teens and one of them was teaching them how to address a letter!!
@DebbieR,
Note to self: start holding "adulting" classes at home for my newly teenage son! He did learn cursive in school, though he doesn't use it on a daily basis. I'm positive he does not know how to address an envelope!
The t-shirt looks really cute like that.
My FF:
1) I called the Physical Therapy office to get back an overpayment on my account. The insurance allowed them less than I paid, so I was due a refund.
2) After 2 hours of run-around I was finally able to cancel a business wireless account at AT&T. Never again. They kept sending me to different departments and giving me numbers to call that didn't work. So Finally it's closed and no more monthly bill for that.
3) I harvested tomatoes and lettuce from the container garden.
4) My neighbor gave me a dozen pasture raised eggs from her farm.
5) I purchased plane tickets for my son and his girlfriend using Capital One Venture points, so they were free. This is their return flight home from teaching in Spain the past school year.
@Sandy Beach, about #2: AT&T is a nightmare. They are the only landline provider for our seasonal cabin, and it usually takes me about 6 phone calls to get the phone reconnected each spring. It is around $80/month, so I figure it is worth all the horrible phone time to save $560-640 for the months we aren't there.
When we had them for a landline at home, if I needed service, instead of calling 611, I would drive around town until I saw the AT&T service vehicle. Then I'd say "Hey Justin, when you are in my neighborhood, will you stop by?" They do have fantastic repair guys.
1. We finished our flooring project for this year! We ripped up the carpet in the hallway and my son's room, rented a drum sander, and refinished the hardwood that was under the carpet. We did the work ourselves and it was cheaper than it would have been to recarpet the floors.
2. I had forgotten how very- not- fun flooring projects are for kids, so after our Good Friday thing at church we got dinner from KFC and took it to a park. We were surprised to find that it was actually cheaper to buy 5 meals than a family meal deal. Glad we price compared!
That's all my brain has for today. I was sick yesterday and am not back to 100% yet!
@Ruth T, kudos on redoing the floor. I am finishing up the same process, and as beautiful as it is turning out to be, it has been a challenge to find time and energy to finish it will taking care of my kids!
@Kaitlin, I thought of you as I was working on it since I thought you had said something about redoing hardwood floors! It was an encouragement to me to know that you also tackled this project with kids in the house.
This is definitely one of those long- term benefit projects. I hope you are able to find the time you need for it and have peace about the pace of the project.
I really like your fix on the shirt. I have a few knitted shirts that are a bit longer than I'd like, so this seems like a quick solution. And, yes, H&M is not associated with quality. It's a brand of "fast fashion," which I really hope goes out of fashion. 😉
Five frugal things:
1) I've been attempting to make some meals based on freezer ingredients (e.g., burritos using cooked beans, quinoa, and leftover taco mix)
2) I purchased some groceries using the Flashfood app, which is available locally for the first time. The items are basically 50% off.
3) I roasted a butternut squash and sweet potatoes together as they were at risk of going bad.
4) I trimmed the ends of my hair
5) I'm starting tomato, pepper, and some other plants indoors this year rather than purchasing the plants from a garden center
My frugal things were the usual: mending and altering clothing, baking bread, doing our own yard work, and cooking/eating at home.
After keeping our grocery budget below $360 a month for 2.5 adults for a number of months, I finally had to loosen it up and go to $400 this month. Partly this is because we ran through the supply of condiments, which are expensive to replace, and I bought some easy-to-fix items so that we still eat when my arthritis is being bad.
A trick my mother-in-law taught me was that most savory sauces work equally well over potatoes, rice, and pasta. It's something their family does at every big family gathering, actually --- they make a huge meat sauce of some kind (like a beef stroganoff or chicken pot pie filling or meatballs with sauce) and then you pick your bottom carb to eat it over (potatoes, rice, or pasta). It's a trick I now use regularly in my meal planning to make it seem like we have more variety 🙂 The potato dish you made looks super good. It's making me rethink what I'm going to eat for breakfast!
Here are my own frugal wins for this last week:
https://www.toloveandtolearn.com/2023/04/11/weekly-frugal-wins-diy-portraits-telehealth-consults/
My frugal five:
1.When a department store opened up nearby, I resisted opening day, went to GW instead, and found some bowls and a top that was on my "thrift list".
2. Found two bags of potatoes on rewrap, a dollar a bag. Made potato skins to take to a party, made potato salad for company, and roasted some potato cubes as part of our Easter dinner for two.
3. Used an easter basket we've had for years, gave DH one bag of candy, filled it with other practical things, like nuts he loves and a GC to his favorite fast food place. I buy GCs at the store to get my gas points up. Now he gets to go for a treat and I don't have to go.
4. The handle on the lid of my indoor compost bin (I use it to save scraps then empty it into my outdoor compost tumbler) broke. Its a thrifted cookie jar. I went to GW to get another cookie jar and the price was $8. I went home and decided to glue the lid back on. $8 seems steep for a used cookie jar.
Its funny how my price range often depends on where I am. I might think $8 is a good price at a retail shop. Either way, I decided to make do with what I already have.
5. Purged my platters. Between what I've been given and inherited, I had too much and it was a pain to reach the platters I love. Now it makes me happy to look in my cabinet and only see what I love and use often. Didn't save me any money, but it saves me the hassle.
@MommaJo, Love your #5. For me, it's not just the hassle but the visual clutter. I've been on a New Year Resolution binge of going through the entire house, room by room, closet by closet, drawer by drawer, bookshelf by bookshelf (painful but necessary), and even family photographs to pass along to younger generations (yes, some-- but not all -- want these things, and are really into genealogy and family trees), or donate or whatever. But I am just getting started on the -- horrors! -- garage. I've always been able to park my car in my garage (unlike some neighbors with 4-car garages who still park their cars on the driveway) but I really need to sort and organize the tools and the yard + garden stuff. Maybe now that the weather is warmer ...
@JDinNM, garages are the hardest, I think! For photos, I purged my "doubles" (remember those from the 80s?) by putting out a bin for each adult kid, one for me, and one for the trash (as in who the heck is in that pic anyway?). I went through them really fast, throwing them in to one of the bins. Then I put the bins away for another day, and one snowy day I put together three little photo albums for the kids and one for me.
I did the same when my mom gave me her photo albums now that she is in her 90s. A bin for me, and a bin for each sibling. I've gone through the bin process, now they are sitting there until I have time to put them in albums. I'm thinking for Christmas.
I have a nutmeg Gründer very similar to yours and I use it all the time. Freshly ground nutmeg is so much more flavourful than the powdery stuff.
I went through my wardrobe and did some decluttering. Some of the old stuff I cut into rags - so handy and much better than buying papertowels.
For the last 10 days or so I had virtually no food waste.
Spring here - and in the woods so many greens to pick and forage which I add to salads/soups/patties etc
Was offered to pick up twice the weekly farmshare of a friend who went on a vacation. All the vegetables, potatoes and eggs have been used and eaten up.
That's all I can think of right now.
Have a nice day!
Fresh herbs and spices are often so much better! I feel that way about pepper...I do not want to live without my pepper grinder.
@Kristen, Ah, yes. PEPPER!
On Good Friday I was preparing my little Easter basket for my hubby. As I was opening a new bag of Easter grass, I noticed something in the bag…it was a roach! Blah! Chucked that bag and pulled out some shredding scissors we use for cutting up personal info, found some green tissue paper in my gift wrapping box and made my own grass.
I finally made my own liquid laundry soap from a recipe on Pinterest. It does a great job and so much cheaper than what you buy in the store.
We used our gift card we earned from Ibotta the other night at Carrabas.
@Barb Pothuisje, "... made my own grass." So great!
@Barb Pothuisje, Would love for you to share your laundry soap recipe.
My five will look familiar to those who also read The Non-Consumer Advocate blog:
1. Picked up items that went unsold at the consignment shop. Will be posting on Craigslist before donating.
2. Received a bag of dog treats from the boarding kennel after they misplaced (and later found and sent to us) one of our dog’s toys from her stay during our move.
3. Saved $100 fee from Xfinity by installing modem myself using their guidance via telephone – a one-hour call. Frustrating process that I’m glad is over with.
4. Able to return some things we purchased for the apartment after we realized we didn’t need them after all.
5. Went to our moving company’s warehouse to pick up an item that they missed delivering to us in our move to the temporary apartment. Most of our possessions are stored there until we find a house. While there they helped me find some additional needed items within these huge crates that they use, and they didn’t charge me anything. I tipped their very helpful staff.
Your shirt looks fantastic! Great job! I forgot that tip about Coinstar. I may need to gather up my spare change.
Since you didn't know what the nutmeg grater was, I'm assuming you've not yet been inducted into the cult of Townsends. Seriously, you should check them out on YouTube for really comforting shows about history and real life.
I still roll my quarters but the problem is I have a stash of rolled quarters and I rarely can get to the inside of a bank AND remember to bring my quarters.
But here's my frugal finds and events:
1.) Mended a wool sweater I got from Goodwill. It was great but wool is so tricky that after one wash (on delicate inside of a bag) it got holes under the arms. I darned it with some wool that pretty closely matches.
2.) Got my daughter some needed clothing that was marked down.
3.) Got some parts to replace the thumbsticks on my wife's cousin's Nintendo Switch (he broke it so it's not covered under any warranty.)
4.) Got a deal on a Nintendo gift card at Costco. $50 in credit for $40. My wife and I each got some. We prefer physical games but there are some good cheap indie titles only available digitally. So this is basically another 20% off.
5.) Eating leftovers and just generally eating from the freezer.
@Battra92, Eek! Wool in the washing machine! My mother-in-law taught me to wash wool sweaters: A sinkful of warm water and Dawn to soak for a few minutes, then gently swish and squeeze the sweater in the water. Rinse with cool water (a few times to get all the soap out), gently squeeze with your hands to get out most of the water. Then place flat on a towel on the floor, roll it up all together and step on the towel to squeeze out more water. Dry flat and shaped (however it's shaped is how it will look dry) on another towel.
Actually, I'm due to wash my own wool sweaters for spring, and I should probably do a how-to post on my blog. I don't believe it's very common knowledge anymore. Certainly I didn't know how to do it until my MiL taught me as an adult.
@kristin @ going country, I still have a bottle of Woolite for washing delicate or unusual things. It worked great on a pair of goatskin suede gardening gloves that got stained and dried wet and muddy. I have small hands and they are the only gloves that have ever fit me right.
The shirt is super cute. I somehow have lots of change, mostly collected from doing the laundry of teens, and/or found on the floor of the car. I'm at a lot of high schools for sporting events, and tend to find a lot of change on the ground. I take mine to Coinstar as well, and turn it into Amazon gift cards.
Mine are all pretty travel related, as we were on a college tour this weekend:
1) I skipped dinner on Friday (we were at the airport) & made do with snacks I'd packed.
2) I used free points for our hotel room on Friday night. We did have to pay for parking, but the room also came with free breakfast, which was a win.
3) Found a very inexpensive hotel for Saturday night.
4) My husband brought us to/from the airport, saving the cost of Uber or parking.
5) We left early & had lunch at the airport, vs at a fun restaurant on Sunday. We had heard too many horror stories of people getting stuck at the rental car return, or security & missing their flights. While the food wasn't as good as a non airport restaurant, it was fine, and we avoided the stress & any costs associated with a missed flight. Hurrah.
6) Bonus: I used a free drink coupon on Southwest, both directions of our flights.
1. Took my new fabric shaver to some thrifted-but-new sweatpants that immediately pilled after wearing- not totally fixed, but much better.
2. I needed a few specific house items at Target and TJ Maxx. At Target, I was able to return a scented candle I’d received as a gift (I am sensitive to fragrances) and get a $14 merchandise credit that I used on my purchase. At TJ Maxx, I remembered to use the $13 remaining on a gift card.
3. While in the area filled a thermos of coffee for free from Panera, as I have another two free months of their Sip Club.
4. Continue to use sour milk from our freezer for the occasional baking I do.
5. I’m prioritizing using some hair product samples I’ve received to keep the clutter levels down.
I love how the shirt came out. My credit union has a coin counter that puts it directly into my account. I suggested it several years ago on a customer survey.
That was a good save on the shirt! I can't stand it when clothes twist, especially jean legs.
1. My grandkids get nice Easter baskets from their parents and I am understandably discouraged from buying more candy to add to it. This year I bought cute, tiny jars of Nutella with colorful lids from the Dollar Tree. I tied a sale-priced candy-flavored lip balm to each jar with bright ribbon I found for 47 cents for a whole spool. The kids enjoyed them and my cash outlay - as well as the sugar load - was minimal.
2. I found fresh strawberries on 50% off sale to top my Easter cake.
3. I discovered an edge of a hand towel was losing its stitching, so I re-stitched it.
4. I used saved leftover grain-free gravy to top my dogs' dry food instead of throwing that half-cup or so out. At least I didn't waste it. I normally put a farm-bought raw topper on their dry food, so it saved me a few tablespoons of the topper, I suppose.
5. I bought a few pounds of butter on sale. The price might go down later, but I'm not counting on it.
1. My third pair of jeans started ripping above the knee, so this time, instead of tossing them or turning them into cutoffs, I sewed big patches of denim over that part. (Hand sewing through several layers of denim—I need a trophy for this!)
2. Found some mushy apples and a couple of over-the-hill pears hiding in the fridge so I turned them into applesauce, which didn't taste very good so. . .
3. . . . I turned it into Applesauce Coffee Cake, a recipe from the old red and white checked Better Homes cookbook.
4. Because my old jeans that actually fit are no longer made, I found 2 pairs of the same style on eBay!
5. One of the sellers accepted my lower offer.
I am impressed you managed to sew through the denim! Did you have a thimble?
@Kristen, for a smart girl, sometimes I am quite dumb. I might have a thimble, but it never crossed my mind. Arrrrghhhh.
I bought tights and a skirt at the Assistance League shop. Hopefully these will last me through the next 6-8 weeks of pregnancy.
I used leftover bell peppers to create a rice, beans, veggie salad with lemon vinaigrette. Lunch for a whole week!
We decided that we will not learn if we are expecting a baby boy or a baby girl. This has already saved me from buying cute (or handsome) baby clothing. (I anticipate getting leftover baby clothes from family members.
I turned leftover sauce from pork vindaloo into potato and pea curry for more lunch leftovers.
I am keeping us supplied with boiled eggs so we always have a high-protein snack available.
@Rebekah in SoCal, Congratulations!
@Jody S.,
Thank you. This is something I didn't think would actually happen and it is fun that we can now share our news.
Your coinstar comment reminded me of my cousin who owned a Laundromat. His profits came in coins; in fact, that was pretty much his whole business (except for the dollar bill changer). He was constantly having to change banks because the financial institutions would suddenly start charging him to take in coins, even when he rolled them himself. Oh, did that make him angry! Can't say I blame him. After all, aren't banks SUPPOSED to take in money???
Anyway, here are my 5 frugals:
1. Last week, I heard on the news that OPEC was going to ratchet down the oil production, which would make gas prices go up. That was right when my tank was heading toward empty. So I looked around for cheaper gas. Already, the pump prices were rising. Gas Buddy said a supermarket near me was the cheapest on my side of town. I went over there and already it was $2.95 (I drove by yesterday and it was $3.04). There was quite a line, so I decided to drive around and see if I could find an even cheaper station. The third one I saw had gas for $2.87 so I filled up there.
2. Our area is still in severe drought conditions and the city has imposed watering restrictions -- we can only water the lawn twice a week. My roommate will pour a large (non-alcoholic) drink when she works on her computer and then leave it until the soda is flat and the ice has melted. So instead of letting that go down the drain, she has been pouring out the leftover contents of her drinking glasses into a bucket. When it's half-full, I take the bucket out and pour it on the roses, trees or what little grass we still have. Every little bit helps!
3. For Easter, instead of buying new greeting cards, I used what I had to wish faraway friends a happy Easter. I have a box full of cards that need to be used, anyway. (Many were bought at thrift stores and estate sales. VERY cheap! I also got a bundle from a Little Free Library, no charge.) There were a couple of Easter cards, but the rest were "thinking of you" cards, so I just wrote "hope you have a wonderful Easter," before signing my name. One of my friends called and said she loved her (non-Easter themed) card since the picture on it depicted things she was interested in.
4. Although I shopped (at thrift stores) for an Easter dress, I decided to just wear a "dressy" dress that was my Easter outfit before the pandemic. I figured no one would know the difference, and I was right. During my shopping spree, I found two Lulemon wear-around-the-house type summer dresses (brand new, tags still attached, but half-price), so I bought them and a nice bracelet for $13; I also got my discount card punched -- and completely filled -- so next time I shop at that charity thrift shop, I'll get $5 off.
5. Volunteered to work during Easter weekend at my second job, a retail store. It was closed on Easter Sunday, but I was able to pick up some Friday and Monday hours from fellow cashiers -- mothers who wanted to spend time with their kids during the school holiday. Can't substitute teach when school is closed, so this was a win-win situation for all of us. Even better, my Good Friday work hours were sandwiched between the church service times so I got to work and also go to worship. Oh, and speaking of church, I got to eat the free breakfast Easter Sunday morning. Yum!
@Fru-gal Lisa, I worked at a Woolworth's when I was in high school and college, and once I had a customer come up to my till and pay me for a not-small-amount of purchases in all rolled coins. My checkout manager was actually delighted, because I often had to call somebody to bring me rolls of coins to make change...I don't think I had to all for any change that day! Ha!
1. Our HVAC has been turned off again. I am celebrating every chance I have to do this as I know summer is coming when this savings will not be an option.
2. My little guy wanted Chinese food takeout but I made a deal with him to let me cook it once we got home from our trip. Takeout is expensive so I saved a bundle and we have delicious cashew chicken for leftovers tonight.
3. I took advantage of a sale on mulch to order what we needed for our yard for the season ahead. The sale price allowed me to save $297 over the regular price! Love it when I can find these kind of deals.
4. I did not cook a large Easter dinner but did purchase a small ham on sale that I will cook later and slice for sandwiches. I also did not buy Easter candy for a basket since we were traveling but did purchase some chocolate goodness for my son at 50-75% off yesterday. He was happy as a clam and so was my wallet.
5. Our family vacation is in May and we have decided to leave our dogs at home with a family member. This will save us pet fees and allow us to have more freedom when choosing a location since we don't have to worry about dog-friendly beaches & close proximity to our rental to walk them etc.
This is a frugal question that I need to post to the hive mind as I don't know who else to ask. I live in the desert and the summers are brutal. Of course we use an air conditioner during the day, but at night we just open the bedroom window. However the walls have absorbed heat all day and it is still uncomfortably warm. I keep hearing about "cooling" blankets and pillows, and I saw a cooling blanket advertised for $70 the other day. Does anybody have any actual experience with these products?
Cooling yourself with a blanket seems pretty counter intuitive to me.
Unless it's a blanket with refrigerant running through it, I have a hard time imagining a blanket helping!
@Anne, My dog who had Cushing's disease* had a cooling dog bed. It had a rubber inside that you filled with water.
*makes dogs overheat even in mild weather. In fact, she died during a heat wave one summer. She did live for ten years with that terrible disease, which the vets couldn't believe. She was a queen and we adored her. Always was fiercely protective of everyone, including our older dog, even when a giant Rottweiler was trying to start a fight with our old dog. That beagle puppy gave the Rottie the frights quickly! And she was magnificent with children.
@Anne, I don't know about cooling blankets, so I'll be curious to hear if you do try. But we have friends who swear by swamp coolers (evaporative coolers), which are easy to google and DIY if you don't mind having the wacky bucket/fan apparatus in your room. I find a lot of relief just by using a small fan and keeping a damp washcloth by the bed, to put on my head/back of my neck or wherever - that air flow on damp skin really helps!
Invest in some laundry nets. The helped me prevent a lot of shirts getting twisted and socks getting lost in the washing machine.
Nothing whatsoever was frugal this weekend. We had nine people to brunch and my brother insisted on picking up the check (hate to think how much it was because practically everyone had multiple alcoholic drinks, including me, but I should have stopped at one Bloody). I guess not paying was frugal for me, except for paying for my mother's medical transport to the restaurant. I got to see my nephew and godson who I hardly ever get to see.
Spa day: ashamed to mention the price. Birthday: we kept having take out, ditto.
I did give up on my handyman, except he's the cheaper option than the carpenter, because the handyman keeps not showing up. I guess I will have to hang shelves in the kitchen myself, but I'm not happy about it. Had my son hang my new neon sign in the kitchen.
We could use a nutmeg grater around here! We just use the fine grater for nutmeg. I say "we," but it's really my daughter. I am perfectly fine buying my nutmeg grated.
Okay, I’m diving in here!
1. Spring break so saving on gas not driving to work daily!
2. Did my taxes yesterday. Free (except for what I owed) and the $18 charge for doing and e-filing state taxes.
3. Bathed my dog the other day and will be shaving him down today. He’s 11 pounds and let’s me do it as long as jar of treats is nearby.
4. Pulled a Frugal Girl and heated up leftover rice and topped with a fried egg this morning. Yum!
5. Lots of yard work! Pulling weeds and making space for a raised bed. Trimming trees back.
6. Free morning walks on beach with my friend and our dogs! It was supposed to be a warm week, but we are getting true beach weather with low marine layer and lows of 50s/highs in 60s. Love it.
Made roasted potatoes at Easter. Googled a couple of recipes. One from Gordon Ramsey looked do-able. Hmmm, wait, it says to toss with Semolina after parboiling. Don't have that. Google says Polena is the best substitute. Hmmm...I only have the kind you slice and fry, so that won't work. Back to Google to discover dry Polenta is called...Cornmeal. Well gosh, I have plenty of that on hand, I can do that. The potatoes were excellently crispy with plenty left over for future meals. But now I'm out of potatoes.
I got nothing because I did next to nothing except spring yard cleanup and assembling big boxes of business and personal files for shredding these last few days.
But all this talk of taxes reminded me that, because my taxes and those of some family members' estates I am probating are kinda complicated, I wanted to put my hands on the actual printed instruction booklets the IRS publishes, because (1) it is a pain to have to toggle back and forth on the computer to read this stuff online and (2) you end up having to print out a ton of forms and instructions. So I stopped by our IRS taxpayer assistance office (yes! there is such a thing! with real people! who help you in person! so you don't have to spend hours on hold on the telephone! what a concept!) and picked up the forms and instruction booklets I needed. Now I just have to do the returns (or, more likely, file for extensions to file).
And I did find the least expensive (and best) place to take my hundred+ pounds of documents for shredding: There's a nonprofit that assists people with disabilities and the elderly that operates what they call "social enterprises" that earn money to help fund their mission (in addition to state and federal grants and private contributions). And they have a big document destruction/shredding operation that some of their disabled clients help run and it has the best pricing of any business I could find. So win-win!
@JDinNM, Good luck with the estate taxes. I wound up hiring an accountant, worth every expensive penny for my sanity! But then, wouldn't you know, my state required a check for estate taxes, no electronic payments allowed. So the accountant fixed an envelope for me and I paid $9 to send it 50 miles away to the state capital via certified mail. But the post office had other ideas and sent the envelope on a 2000 mile odyssey across the country and it took a month for the check to clear so I could close the estate Argh!
This year I’d been planning to purchase a compost bin for outside for our kitchen scraps and the other day our next door neighbors set one out on their curb. Today we noticed a free sign on it so we carried it to our backyard. So very excited for it!
The weather is finally warm enough so we were able to start walking with our son to school again. (Free! And exercise!)
Ah, so as a sewing person I can explain what happened with the shirt! Shirts twist like that when they are cut incorrectly. Instead of being cut straight up-and-down, the pattern piece was askew when the shirt was cut. Fabric "wants" to hang straight, though (because of gravity,) so over the course of wear, the fabric straightens out and it pulls the side seams out of alignment. It's not really fixable and as Kristen saw, often gets worse! Good way of dealing with the problem.
My FFT:
1. Made new clothes for Passover without buying anything. The stash provided!
2. Ate leftovers from the seder for days.
3. I worked on Sunday and brought my lunch, dinner, and snacks instead of buying dinner as I usually do.
4. Entertained twice on the weekend with inexpensive crowd-pleasers. Lentil soup with veggie sides one night, chicken and chickpea curry with rice and also gobi another night.
5. I made chicken soup for the seder. What a cheap contribution! (We also made an expensive contribution but it's about balance!) At kosher stores they often sell chicken bones (including the neck) for about 2 dollars specifically for soup making. Is that something that exists elsewhere?
@Meira @ meirathebear, *aloo gobi, not also gobi!
@Meira @ meirathebear, Yes, I've seen that here in NY often. Also chicken feet. (which they say makes the best broth but I am far too much of a wimp to boil them.)
@Meira @ meirathebear, also schmaltz (chicken fat), which a chef friend of mine uses to make pastry for chicken pot pie, but I never have. One a dese days.
@Meira @ meirathebear, “the stash provided!” Love it! I may hang up a sign that says, “the stash will provide!”
Here' s my five.
1. Filled the growlers we use as water jugs during summer events with tap water instead of buying a gallon or so of water since we work from home and the city had to shut off our neighborhood's water to fix a water main break during office hours. We didn't use it since we made coffee early and always have reusable water bottles in the fridge. Instead of dumping the water I used it to refill the sports bottles.
2. The weather is finally warm enough to replace our too gone for this world porch lights. I bought them with a Christmas gift card and installed them myself.
3. We had to upgrade our security cameras and waited for a sale to make the purchase. I really wanted to add solar panels to each camera to recharge the batteries because recharging and changing batteries in bad weather is *not fun.* The reviews for OEM panels made to work with the new cameras had good reviews and were much cheaper. They work great! Naturally I installed the new cameras and panels myself.
4. While I was busy with projects involving ladders (my husband is not a fan of heights) my husband did some maintenance in our home office on our computer network. Very important since we both work from home.
5. The grow light we bought for seed starting came with a power cord without an adapter. Luckily, the USB power cord adapter we had from our cell phone works in a pinch. I have a USB wall outlet that I bought for another part of the house that I haven't gotten around to replacing since the temporary solutions are working fine. I'll use the USB outlet to replace the wall outlet in Plant Corner for a free fix.
Kristen- The Coinstar was a great idea! Plus, I like your thinking on the tee!
Jody- I love gas buddy too!
Kaitlin- Sending hugs your way during this difficult time.
Maureen- You installed lights?! I wish I could learn that!
Now, for the fab five. Most of it is home repair stuff:
1) The furnace was making noise so I called a company out to look at it. Basically, they said they would replace the furnace and air conditioner for $22,000. And if I only wanted the furnace, then they are not the business that I need to hire. So, I called a different place and they said the AC is fine but the furnace needs replacement. Cost is $6,000. I know which one we will go with......
2) Our 20+ year old bath faucets needed replacing. I called the manufacturer and they sent new ones for free ($86 ea). They were not the right color, so I got clearance prices on 4 faucets/2 showerheads/2 drains/8 cabinet pulls from an online source. I may sell the free ones.
3) A part of the driveway needs a surface repair and I called a contractor to get a price. He quoted $500 and a repair kit costs $50. We will do this ourselves.
4) We got a free box of frosted flakes cereal with a coupon.
5) Our youngest is graduating next month and has applied to colleges for his MS. The one that he wants to attend told him that there are 10 free rides available and he will know this week, if his tuition/living expenses will be covered. That is a savings of $56,000.
1. My mom loves to bake and cook. She made us a Pascha bread and Polish sweet bread for Easter and my daughter picked it up on her way home from student teaching, saving me a trip. Thanks, MOM! Delicious!
2. I made a little bit of overtime $ last week when I stayed for a meeting and took the minutes.
3. The food pantry in our area operates out of the basement of my work building. The volunteers are all sweet to me as I am to them. They offer me items left over that will not store well til the next time. Thursday I got 2 loaves of Tuscan bread and a gallon of whole milk close to use by date (used a bit of it on Easter goodies this weekend).
4. We save our fuel perks for husband's vehicle which has a bigger gas tank than mine. This weekend he redeemed $1.10 off a gallon of gas and filled up....30 gallon maximum for the discount.
5. A resident in our community stopped by with a peace offering for a co-worker, but the co-worker gifted the daffodils and hyacinths to me. My office smells lovely.
Nice way to update the t shirt! I have thought about refashioning some t shirts into exercise shirts by cutting out the sleeves. My kids have a collection of old baseball t shirts I'm trying to figure out what to do with. A quilt, perhaps? I've also seen ideas for making a cloth bag out of t shirts.
Also, for H&M, I do like their basic organic cotton shirts and joggers for my kids. I bring old clothes to recycle at their facility (bonus that they don't have to be in great shape, I think they recycle the fabric) and get 15% off for a purchase.
-Finally bit the bullet and ordered a new couch that I've been looking at for months. Before the sale was final I asked about any offers that could be applied on the couch. I figured it never hurts to ask for a large purchase such as this, and ended up saving 15% off the price I was going to pay anyway.
-I often neglect to use the extra bucks I get from CVS, as I go there pretty infrequently these days. I made sure to go back and buy our Easter candy from there and use up my $5 in Extra Bucks before it expired.
-I emptied my sons' closets for any clothes they no longer wear or have outgrown. Some were more gently used and I sold off a nice spring clothing package on FB Marketplace.
-Planted lettuce, spinach and leeks in my garden, and experimentally brussel sprouts. Also planted new herbs in addition to the perennial ones we have growing in the garden.
- thought I didn't have any sunglasses and was going to buy some soon, then found a pair while cleaning out the car!
- managed to avoid anything being destroyed while puppy sitting for the past week
- frugal for others... I am thinning out our very crowded hostas and giving away some that I've dug out
- enjoying a few days of gorgeous weather where we need neither heat nor air conditioning! Ok... I do admit to turning on the heat briefly this morning when it was 58 in the living room...
- kept the kids Easter baskets pretty simple- some candy and a few things from the dollar store. My 4+5 yr old girls were thrilled with "special" pens and their own pad of sticky notes!
Thank you for posting that you cropped a t-shirt. I had a t-shirt that was too long, as well as the short sleeves being longer than I liked, so I cut them and actually now wear said t-shirt. Also thank you for the reminder to roll my coins and take them to the bank to go into my account.
My decidedly unfrugal week.
- Frugal: the many Easter chocolates I received from HB's family. Not so great: the accompanying weight gain, my clothes are feeling a little tighter, So back to cutting out all the crap I have been eating to hopefully drop back to my clothes fitting better.
- Not frugal: Purchased chocs for HB's family; I have decided that I only like/want the better quality chocs, so The Bay department store had Lindt Lindor Easter chocs at less 35%. When I went to pay I found that I could redeem $57.00 from points, so the cost for all of this was less than $20.00. (For my non-Canadian friends, Canada is mega expensive!)
- Frugal/not frugal: The cheese I like (Balderson) had a points offer of 600 pts (value of .60c) for every $3.00 spent. I bought 2 x 500g of the 1 year old cheddar cheese ($15.99 ea) and 2 x 250g of the Double smoked cheddar ($9.49 ea), and while it was an expensive endeavor, and I had no cheese left, I did get back 10,200 pts (value of $10.20), and the cheese will last me a long time.
- Very very unfrugal: I decided to treat myself to a bottle of perfume ($$$). I haven't bought perfume in eons, as I don't wear fragrance in the summer due to it being a mosquito magnet, and they just hone in on me anyway, even sans fragrance! This bottle will last years. I will mention that a weird thing happened to me in Sept 2019 when we flew to the west coast when our mother passed away. I noticed shortly thereafter that I had lost my sense of smell, specifically to perfume, for about 2 years (it may have been psychosomatic). It appears to be happening again, as I am having a difficult time being able to smell my new perfume. So.... I dunno.
- Again, not a frugal one: I got a parking ticket for parking on the street at HB's family Easter dinner, we stay overnight. Ticket was for parking between 2 and 6:00am, between Nov 1 and April 15. Winter rules in this small town. Happy that ticket was only $45.00 and not more. I mailed off a cheque today so as to not get dinged on next license renewal.
Five Frugal Things
1. We fixed our own water heater. Well, my husband did! Still frugal. And I cleaned out the inside of the fridge. I don't know why, but this feels frugal too. Protecting our investments?
2. I made a two week menu plan and tried to use up food we already had.
3. A local place was doing a bit of free food on their app, so I got some for the kids. Free burgers and fries for the win!
4. We have been wanting to see a few different theater movies lately, but frugally we have been choosing to wait and just watch other movies at home from the library or Netflix. Because taking a family of 6 to the theater is like $80! We still might go to a local $5 theater for one of them soon....
5. Staying out of stores & having a recently deleted Amazon Prime has helped me be more frugal lately too!
@Maggie, staying out of stores is one of the best things I've ever done to save money. I used to read ads, then go get all the things that were on sale, thinking I was really saving money. Turns out that not spending it at all is a much more effective method.
5 frugal things, Easter edition! I found a dress, new with tags ($80) for $5 at a thrift shop. Later I found a pairs of Clark's sandals (a must for my high arches) that would have been at least $90 -$110 new for $8!! Both the dress and sandals are classic and will last me for years! I also picked up a ham for .89 per pound. Used things from the freezer to round out the meal. Baked my own dessert instead of using something from the bakery.
1. Had an extra Easter basket sitting around and gave it away on Buy Nothing.
2. In my slow, but never-ending decluttering of the house, I gathered up all the old cell phones and tablets to be recycled and found an organization to send them off to. They send a free shipping label if you have 5 or more items to send. I found 5 in our house and added 2 more from my parents. Used an old box to ship them off.
3. Had to buy a book for our Sunday School class, found a used copy on ebay with free shipping (cheaper than other used bookstores/Amazon) and paid with a Visa gift card from my topcashback earnings.
4. Finished planting my garden last week before the predicted rains came, so I didn't have to water them myself (and pay for the water)!
5. Have a potluck on Thursday, planning to bring mini quiches which I already had in my freezer, so don't have to buy anything out of pocket!
-I packed picnics for the park with my grandson. We've had glorious weather & have spent 2 or 3 hours at the park every day. We always take a blanket & some apple slices to dip in PB with raisins & m & ms.
-We're eating our Easter eggs. I'm not a fan of old boiled eggs but we're using them up in egg salad.
-I got a free sitz bath...I'd ordered one & it got delayed during shipping. I really needed one & tried to find one in person but none could be had anywhere! After it was delayed I called my local family pharmacy & they had one ordered & in overnight for almost half the cost of the one I'd ordered! So I asked for refund. The company said it was too much to ship it back & gave me a refund anyway. So now I have a cheap one from the pharmacy & a free snazzy one.
-We're in the planning stages of building a home & I've cut back on quite a few things during the planning stages just to save money. So I guess that counts? We decided no vaulted ceilings, no pantry doorway, shower insert instead of tile, ect. Every time I find a cheaper product that I will be happy with I'm glad to save. We aren't going rock bottom but we've found we can be very content with much simpler things than we used to be.
Oh! I love my nuttmeg grater! If you use nutmeg at all as I do in almost any dish that has spinach, a nutmeg grater and a fresh nutmeg is amazing!
I like the crop!
FFT:
1. Signed up for Noom and am actually using it! I did do an initial sign up then didn’t commit and got a better offer. Pleased with my results so far.
2. Shopped the freezer before the store this week.
3. Forgot to return something on time but clerk let me exchange at current price. Picked out an Easter gift for my daughter which salvaged my initial spend.
4. Rented a summer storage unit in my kid’s college town. Went a little further from campus and got a good rate.
5. Getting some free exercise/recreation walking with my husband in the beautiful weather this week.
- I sold two more items on Etsy, packaged them in envelopes/boxes I already had, and dropped them at the post office as I drove by for other things. Happy to have had more than the usual number of sales lately.
- I used decade old plastic eggs for our egg hunt, filled with air because my kids care not about having stuff in them.
- We also used decade old baskets to collect eggs.
- We had a nice meal with relatives, but spent nothing special to achieve that. The only "Easter" thing I've bought is one pack of Cadbury Cream Eggs on clearance after Easter.
- I did stock up on beef roasts on the amazing Friday sale. I bought the most allowed. Three went into the freezer; one will be eaten this week.
Your shirt turned out cute! We are in week 2 of settling into our new house so rather a spendy week but also some frugal wins.
1. My husband was able to fix a number of small things - a bath drain that didn’t close, stove fan vent that was disconnected, large gap around an outlet under the kitchen sink and more.
2. I solved the frig/freezer not being cold enough with an inexpensive thermometer and resulting setting changes following the online owner’s manual instructions.
3. We have found new uses for items we already owned that didn’t fit into the same rooms as before.
4. Joined the local very active Buy Nothing group and have given away moving supplies which is frugal for others.
5. Returned a rather expensive kitchen faucet we had thought we would install in place of what was already there.
1. I made our meals at home and accepted food from my parents.
2. We enjoyed free entertainment, including seeing new animals at the zoo.
3. I sold some unneeded items. I only spent money that I planned to spend.
4. I worked on a quilt using materials I had on hand.
5. I didn't buy anyone new clothes.
Let’s see if I can come up with five things…
1. I took inspiration from Kristen and rescued my first attempt at rice pudding. It turns out it just needed to cook a little longer with more milk to achieve the right texture.
2. I had a backpack strap tear and it’s my very favorite bag - I always get lots of compliments on it. Since I got it as a Christmas present 5 years ago, I didn’t have the receipt. However, I wrote a nice note to customer service and they sent me a shipping label to return the damaged item free of charge AND a gift voucher for the value of the backpack so I could select another one. Pretty amazing that I didn’t have to pay €90 to replace it!
3. I did some urban gardening on the balcony, trying to nurture the plants that didn’t die out there this winter. The space is now tidy and a few pots are ready for spring planting.
4. Eating at home for breakfast, lunch and dinner. This feels easy because I’m recovering from surgery and going out doesn’t even sound appealing right now. Since I can’t lift anything heavy, I’ve been making do with what’s in the pantry and freezer so my husband doesn’t have to make extra trips to the store.
5. Feeling thankful for the French healthcare system. I’ve received excellent care and my only out of pocket expense has been a €30 charge from the anesthesiologist. Also, no paperwork to speak of which is a relief for people like me.
I planted some basil seeds so will see how that turns out.
I also used some birthday coupons to get a couple free meals-one benefit of growing older every year!
Our bank takes our coins and deposits them a few days later into our account so your post is a good reminder to go do that.
Bought a Costco clearance entertainment center that I needed so that was a win!
I totally save the little sauce containers too - we use them for all kinds of things here! I just used two this morning in fact, to save the last little bits from some nearly-empty face wash tubes that were getting hard to squeeze out. Also, wanted to say I LOVE your t-shirt save! What a creative idea to just crop it like that. As a frugalista, that must feel super satisfying. Thanks for sharing that!
So thankful for….
A tax refund
Hot rollers
New Bible Study “ We Saved You a Seat”
Easter Brunch with family and mimosas
Learning how to embroider