Five Frugal Things | I killed weeds with water!

1. I poured boiling water on driveway weeds

After I mowed my yard the other day, I got motivated to pull some curb and driveway weeds. But some of them are so tightly wedged in the asphalt, it is extremely difficult to pull them out.

I could use weed killer on them, of course, but that is not very kind to the earth, and also, I’d have to pay for weed killer. 

So, I heated up some water in my trusty electric kettle, and slowly poured it over the weeds.

At first they turned bright green, like lightly sauteed spinach.

But after about 24 hours, they started to get nice and brown.

And they are well and truly dead now. 

2. I sold my NCLEX prep book

Obviously, I have no use for this anymore, since, you know (casually flips hair) I ALREADY PASSED MY NCLEX. 

Hehe. 

I listed it on eBay for $33 and it sold in less than an hour, which is crazy. 

I packaged it in reused packing materials, printed the label on my ink-saving printer, and dropped it off at my post office. 

And hopefully someone out there will be on their way to passing the NCLEX soon too. 🙂

3. I microwaved my Parmesan ends to make crisps

I saw this tip somewhere on the internet and it actually works!

I know you can also use Parmesan ends in soups, but let’s be real, it is not soup weather in the northern hemisphere right now. 

Basically, you just slice the ends very thin and then microwave for about 30 seconds.

I have found that this works best if you do a thin, even slice. And you have to remove the crisp from the plate before it is fully cooled; otherwise, it will just shatter. 

I don’t know if these would keep very long in humid weather, but I just ate mine promptly. 😉 

4. I modified the sleeves of a work shirt

On my unit, we are allowed to wear some t-shirts, like the ones my hospital orders for Nurse’s Week. I got one a little while back and I have never loved it because the sleeves are quite obviously designed for someone with biceps about 3x as large as mine. 

And since the fabric is a thick cotton, the sleeves always stick out at a weird angle.

So, I laid the shirt, inside out, over a t-shirt that does fit properly.

I sewed the sleeves at an angle that matched the other t-shirt, cut the excess fabric, and now the sleeves fit me better.

It is a slight change, probably only noticeable to me, but this little change makes me more prone to actually use my t-shirt. 

In case you were wondering YES CHIQUITA WAS THERE. 😉 

I could also change the shape of the torso of this shirt to be a little more fitted, but I haven’t decided yet if I want to bother. The torso isn’t bothering me nearly as much as the sleeves were!

5. I have been using my dehumidifier water

This is a VERY tiny one, but here you go:

My landlords have a dehumidifier here that runs almost constantly in the basement during the summer months.

It produces quite a bit of water, and instead of dumping it down the drain, I have been using it, plus a scrub brush, to do little bits of cleaning outside.

I know dehumidifier water is not safe to use for drinking or for watering edible plants, but it works just fine for cleaning things like dirty outdoor stair risers. 😉 

Also, this is helping me to get the outside of my house cleaned up, one bit at a time. 

Your turn! What frugal things have you been up to lately?