Five Frugal Things | Is this even frugal?
1. I repurposed a notebook wire
I don't even know if this really is very frugal, but I wanted to tell you about it.
So here we are.
I was taking the wire out of Sonia's used math notebook (I figure notebooks are easier to recycle if the wires are removed) and I noticed it made a nice loose spiral shape.
And it occurred to me that it would be perfect for helping my hyacinth vine grow around the deck support post.
It's working fabulously so far!
(Hyacinth vines do a great job of naturally curling around anything thin, but they struggle more with thicker posts/poles.)
And relatedly, here's why I love hyacinth vines.
2. I fixed Lisey's closet door
In the process of helping her move out, I noticed her one closet door was sitting down on the carpet, making it hard to move.
I thought it just needed to be adjusted, so I took the door down to look.
Then I saw that half of the bottom of the door was split, so the "foot" of the door had been shoved up into the door.
And that's why the door was dragging on the carpet!
So, I glued it, clamped it overnight, and then re-installed it.
And at least for now, we are good to go.
I don't anticipate that the door will be used much now that Lisey has moved out, so I think my fix is going to hold up just fine.
3. I'm spackling all the holes in Lisey's walls
The removal of her shelves and mirror and such left a lot of holes in the walls.
So, I'm in the midst of spackling them all and then I will paint over the spackle. I saved the paint from when I initially painted her room, and hopefully it's still good.
The end plan is to move my desk into that room so that Mr. FG has our regular office to work in, and I have a quiet place of my own to work in.
That way I won't have to do my online college class sessions at the kitchen table anymore.
But I wanted to get all the messy spackle work done in that room before we move anything.
4. I listed more stuff for sale
Some of it was stuff left from Lisey (a cat door we never used, some old textbooks) and some was from Sonia cleaning out her room.
The listing is always the hardest part for me, so I am giving myself a pat on the back for tackling that!
5. The usual...
- made coffee at home
- added some random peppers to my scrambled eggs to use them up
- made a menu plan for the week
- took a cool shower after working out
Your turn! Share your five frugal things in the comments.
Can I hire you to paint like three feet of my living room wall? My husband finally fixed the hole that my son accidentally kicked in it (boys wrestling is not good for home decor), and now it needs to be painted. I hate painting and have been putting it off for a week now. Probably gonna put it off another week. 🙂
I have been doing more-virtuous things, though.
My son started football practice this week, which has meant Hunger with a capital H. My husband happened to be at the store last week, so I asked him to get something son could fill up on when he got home, thinking maybe deli meat for sandwiches or something. Instead, husband returned with ground beef (we used all of ours from the neighbor's cow already) and a ton of eggs. I baked extra bread Sunday and made the beef into individual patties that I froze. So now son has an egg sandwich every morning before 6 a.m. practice (ugh) and a cheeseburger when he gets home. And his friend who comes home with him until his mom can pick him up has two cheeseburgers. 🙂
Same son also needs a LOT of water, since a 5-hour practice in the middle of our heat wave is definitely no joke. He's bringing an Igloo water jug that holds a full gallon and that was my husband's when he was a kid. Take that, Marie Kondo.
He did say, though, that he has trouble drinking enough plain water to hydrate without throwing up, with all the running they're doing. I don't have Gatorade or anything (or any way to get it easily), so I made him switchel. Switchel is the original Gatorade, and my husband used to drink it when he was haying with his grandpa. It's water, ginger, vinegar, sweetener (I used maple syrup), and usually some citrus juice, which I didn't have. I don't know if it's traditional, but I added a small amount of salt, too. It doesn't taste like Gatorade, but it's drinkable and should help him stay hydrated.
@kristin @ going country, Pretty sure we have that Igloo cooler too - used to live in the basement at my house growing up; now it's on a high shelf here - don't use it all the time, but when we need it, it's priceless! : )
When Lisey has worked outdoor jobs in the summer, she's sometimes bought a big container of powdered Gatorade; I wonder if something like that is available where you live, if he gets tired of switchel.
I would totally paint your wall if you lived near me. 🙂
When I taught an 8:00am class, the football players who had to "lift" at six or seven would come in with their protein pack breakfasts and eat them during class: hardboiled eggs, bananas (I suppose for potassium?), and chocolate milk.
@Heidi Louise,
Our pediatrician told us that chocolate milk was a good "recover" food after soccer/lacrosse practice.
@kristin @ going country, I'm laughing at the hole in the wall from the wrestling kids. My youngest son and his friends were on the wrestling team in high school, and whenever they were in the same room they jumped on each other like puppies. One day husband and I came home from an errand and son and friend were sitting on the couch with guilty looks on their faces. The house looked pretty neat so I couldn't quite figure out what was "off." Finally I found one of the family pictures no longer had any glass in the frame. Well, at least they cleaned up after the mayhem.
@kristin @ going country, I feel you about hating painting!
We re-did the downstairs bathroom about, hmmm, 6 months ago? Primed the walls for paint. They were white underneath, so it does not REALLY show.... I`ve been putting it off, thinking ``well, primer IS white, so technically....``.... Yeah.... nope! I`ll hire Kristen too!
@kristin @ going country, I just got an estimate to get some painting done (I need post-electric-work plastering and painted so I thought I'd price out some want-to-haves). It's rather more expensive than I anticipated.
Oh, that's interesting. I've done all my own wall painting and I have never thought of it as a particularly money-saving activity. But apparently I was wrong!
Love reading your post. I find them very encouraging and helpful
Aww, I am so glad to hear that. Yay!!
My list for the week:
1. Planned and cooked dinner at home every day last week.
2. Purchased a Groupon for 15 Yoga classes. Cost of the Groupon was less than ONE class. I've already used 3 classes, so this is definitely a win.
3. I gave up soda last week... saved me more $$ than I care to admit just in one week.
4. Cooked dinner using the in-season veggies from our garden.
5. I began drying some of my seeds for our veggie garden next year.
6. Used a Starbuck GC that I've had for months for a coffee/tea date w/my son.
Hubby fixed the lawnmower himself with a YouTube tutorial instead of paying someone.
Mended a swimsuit where the elastic had ripped and a seam on the pockets of my scrub jacket.
Picked up a bunch of extra hours at work for time and a half, weekend pay, and charge pay.
Made lots of salads with fresh lettuce we grew in our garden.
Went to the farther away cheaper grocery store and picked up a bunch of clearance produce & dry goods.
I don't FEEL like it has been a very frugal time ramping up for back to school.. but I have a few things...
Salvaged fruit- The strawberries and peaches that were not getting eaten fast enough were sliced down and tossed into the freezer on trays for a flash freeze - future frozen adult beverages or tossed into my oatmeal... There were quite a few bruised apples in my bag from the store so I peel and chunked them down and cooked with some butter, cinnamon and brown sugar for a snack!
School supplies- most of the stuff I am sending the kids with is salvaged and being reused- plastic folders, tab dividers, all the looseleaf they did not use.. lol I did purchase a few items on tax free weekend but if they need anything specific I will find out after they get back into class.
Sold, on a local moms page, a few pieces of clothing the boy no longer fits...
Bought the kids new socks on tax free weekend through Ibotta app to earn back 8% ( Rakuten was only 4%) then picked up in store
Cheered up a majorly stressed out and hormonal teen ( volleyball tryout week) with a few errands and a trip to Bath and Body Works.. I had a stack of Free item and discount coupons.. multiple transactions later we spent maybe $7.00 for a bunch of stuff! lol
1. Returned some unworn shoes to Nordstrom for $350 back in my pocket.
2. My habit of walking all the supermarket aisles paid off: many things I like (including drinks and candy) were on sale and there were a lot of peelies including $5 off dog food that usually cost $25 a bag.
3. It took a while to find a way to do it efficiently, but I can now scan books' bar codes, making it easier to sell them to Powell's Books in Portland, Oregon. Why Powell's? Because they pay for the shipping. So far they've wanted only a quarter of the books; I'll re-offer them later. I'm shipping the books in boxes from my neighbor, who gets a lot of shipments. About $45 in store credit so far.
4. Continued to declutter and organize. There's now room to work in the attic, I moved a lot of stuff out of the place, and very little went into the trash. (The benefits were partially diminished by all the take-out I got while doing this, because I wanted to keep working and I was tired and it was very hot.)
- found some things I forgot I had or had gotten lost in the clutter;
- sold some items, with many more to list; $105 so far;
- gave away a lot of packing material;
- gave fabric I'll never use to a friend who does costuming (she paid for shipping);
- gave upholstery fabric to a friend with a heavy-duty sewing machine for cushions for her houseboat (she paid for shipping);
- spent a ridiculous amount of time leafing through every page of 6 boxes of schoolwork to separate out paper that's clean on the back to use in my printer, I "earned" less than $5/hr but it kept several reams' worth of paper in use;
- roommate found a disassembled bookcase that is perfect for a difficult spot: it's backless so I can put it in front of the heating vent, leaving the space in front of the vent empty.
5. "Fixed" broken laundry baskets by stacking them: the breaks are in different places so they balance out.
6. Used my mumblety-years old stereo (it has a tape deck) as a sound system for the new TV.
- Did I mention the TV already? I got it to go with the rowing machine that my roommate needs for PT. I got it on sale, using some store credit, and opened a store credit card for an additional 10% off.
7. Trying to use the delay start on the dishwasher and washing machine. I can't always do it but every little bit helps.
8. My handy roommate fixed numerous things that I would have have to pay someone to do.
I don't know if this is a frugal win or a frugal fail: I mistook when a store credit expired (credit given for bad service, so "free" credit) and therefore couldn't buy $100 pants for $25. Since I'm not sure I needed them at all, this could go either way.
Another mixed item is that I finally organized the freezers. I shouldn't've let them get this disorganized in the first place but now I know what I have and there will be less temptation to get take-out.
Fail: I've been wasting a lot of food, through being discouraged about something, worn out from the pandemic, and tired from decluttering.
I always forget something: got a used DVD spindle from the IT department, to store the 150 boxless DVDs my parents gave me when they moved. No money out of my pocket, fewer things in the trash.
@WilliamB, Wow! You have been super productive and have done a great job or re-homing things. Powell’s is a great source. I often also use the app BookScouter when doing a book clearance or buying for resale. You scan the barcode and it gives you a list of buyers with the source paying the highest at the top. All buyers pay shipping. However, there are sometimes minimum requirements from the buyer.
In doing this, I have run across books of value that are selling well on eBay that I had not considered listing. Although you probably know this, be careful with older books. They may be first editions or special printings. They often don’t have bar codes. I have picked up some gems over the years.
Goodness, that's a lot of frugal things! Good for you!
Tell me about the delay start; is electricity cheaper for you if you run things late at night?
@Kristen, I don't know if it's cheaper for me. I do know that it's more efficient for the electricity system as a whole (which is why it's often cheaper).
I don't know how to explain briefly so here's the long version.
1. The cost of electricity varies depending on how it's powered and how flexible the supply is. At one end of the spectrum is gas-powered, which is cheap to build and easy to start and stop, but the marginal cost of the electricity is quite high. At the other end is nuclear power, which is very expensive to build (even leaving out the protests, etc) and almost impossible to start and stop, but once it's running the marginal cost of the electricity is almost nothing.
2. Plants at the inflexible-and-cheap end are called base power plants.
3. The supply and the demand for electricity needs to be balanced every single minute of the day as there's no way to store "excess" generated electricity. As far as I'm concerned, this is magic and I don't know how they do it.
4. For this reason, utilities are cautious about how much base power they build, even though it's more efficient (cost efficient for sure, whether it's energy efficient and environmentally efficient depends on the power source and plant details). The less base power they have, the more expensive the electricity is.
5. This is why utilities encourage customers to shift energy use from high-demand times, such as daytime in the summer, to low demand times.
BTW, this calculation will likely change as renewables such as solar and wind become increasingly common. Their cost/flexibility profiles are different. For example, during the daytime in summer, demand is high but that's also (usually) the best time to generate solar power. The result is that solar is most available when it's most needed, and so likely will reduce the relative cost of daytime summer electricity.
Ohhh, I see. No direct financial benefit to you; you are just thinking of the greater good. Which is admirable!
@Kristen, @WilliamB, I have a new-to-me solar array, and live on the rainy in winter west coast of Canada. Currently, with our over-the-top sunshine, I am generating more power than I can use and so am sending it back to BC Hydro through our grid tie system (they don't pay well and are reducing it, but they do PAY a bit). With this in mind, I am really rethinking when I run things like ovens or dishwashers or laundry or even the instant pot. Cooking during the day, turning off the AC at night. Still learning but I intend to get my electricity use below my production.....
@WilliamB, I've never thought about the big picture side of energy production like that; that's interesting!
We chose time-of-use metering for our house, with 3 tiers of cost based on time of day + season. I've run the figures a few times over the years and it does save us money, but only if you're able to plan your big energy drains around their off-peak rates. Easy enough for us now, so it's a money saver, but at some seasons of life I'm sure we ended up paying the same/more, since we had no bandwidth to plan our energy use that way.
@WilliamB, I really appreciated this breakdown—thanks for taking the time! I never fail to learn things in Kristen's blog, whether from her or her commenters.
@Bee, I 2nd the vote for Bookscouter! A couple of months ago I cleared out a bunch of books using Bookscouter - ended up selling to 3 different companies (all free shipping). Powell's paid best but took longest; a 2nd company had good prices on textbook/educational type books and paid fast; a 3rd wanted books the others didn't. A bit fiddly to parcel them out that way, and I'm sure you could make more money listing them yourself - but, if you want them out of your house, one-and-done in a day, it's a great option!
@WilliamB, Wow! thanks for such an informative and detailed post. I had no idea.
@WilliamB, that is great to know about Powell's. I have a bunch of books that need re-homing, and that would be a good thing to do with them.
Our old washing machine does not have delayed start, but the dishwasher does. Power usage costs for us drop after 9 p.m., but I am usually too tired after work to take advantage of that. I should try harder!
@Erika JS, William B et al -- so true! I never knew these things so thank you!
@WilliamB, my husband works in the nuclear field. The next generation of reactors are addressing most if not all of the issues above. The largest problem remains the protests. Most people look to high profile failures that happened in the 70s and 80s. If you look at the long term statistics, nuclear energy is one of the safest and cleanest ways to produce power. I cringe when I hear how great wind power is (not saying you did that). The fact that those giant windmills never produce enough power to cover what was used to make them is a huge issue to me. The second being that at this time there is no way to recycle the blades, so all those used blades ( if I remember correctly, they are about the length of a football field) gets buried in massive land fills. Not helping our environment at all.
Sorry for the long winded comment! It is just frustrating to know that we could easily supply safe, reliable, affordable energy for the entire country if we could build more of the next generation reactors!
@Cheryl, I used to be in the power biz and my father used to be in the nuclear regulatory business so I know a little, and I'm positive your husband knows a lot more.
There are two problems with nuclear which I'm not sure we'll ever crack: the first is that a disaster can be extremely dangerous, far more than a coal or natural gas disaster. Fukushima illustrated that for us.
The second is the problem of dealing with nuclear waste. Even the ideal engineering solutions have serious flaws, and because of politics none of them are being implemented. Instead, spent nuclear fuel rods are generally stored in pools onsite, at least for a few decades. (https://what-if.xkcd.com/29/ for an amusing and factual look at spent rod pools.)
As for the wind power blades - I agree they're a problem right now. I don't know if that's a great environmental hazard than the fuel they replace. I do believe that they'll be more environmentally friendly in the future. Just look at how solar has improved over the past 20 years: a lot cheaper, cleaner manufacturing, and cleaner disposal.
Today is my kids' birthday (yes there were both born on the same date, just two years apart) and I feel like I've been spending so much to prepare for their party.
-I did force myself to save money every payday to pay for their party and presents...so that wasn't an issue this year.
-I wrapped all of their presents in wrapping paper that we already owned.
-Horded all of the gift bags that their gifts came in from their party. We already used one for a birthday party my son is going to this weekend.
-My son is playing football and needed mouth guards. The ones I ordered on Amazon are Way too small for him. I am returning them. No way will I accept something that is the size of an infants mouth!
-Friends and co-workers have been giving me clothing donations to go through to sell on Ebay. One co-worker gave me enough Disney shirts for my husband that I don't need to buy or make him any for our trip in January.
-Another person gave me clothes and some upholstery fabric samples. Does anyone have any good craft ideas for this type of material? It is very pretty and I can't imagine it just being thrown away.
Oh, that's so funny that you had babies on the same date twice! Zoe was born on Mr. FG's birthday, so they share a day too.
My brother's birthday is the day after mine, so we shared birthday celebrations growing up. And Mr. FG's sister's birthday is two days after his, so they had the same type of situation.
@Kristen, My daughter was born on my anniversary so that gets a bit overshadowed and we don't really get to celebrate it.
@Battra92, My sister was born on my parents' anniversary, and my husband was as well. Both sets of parents' seemed to have lost their anniversaries to the birthdays, but as we get older, we try to make a bigger deal of the anniversaries.
@Jenelle, I've used upholstery fabric to make simple bags. Like a purse or a camera bag. Nothing too intricate, because it can be a bulky fabric. I've seen it used for the front sections of a vest. Great for costumes if you know any kids. Possibly simple slippers too. The pattern can help you decide. You could make pillow covers.
Would work for a pet cover for furniture, sewing machine/bread machine/whatever machine cover.
@Jenelle,
Do you have any friends who teach preschool? Send it their way! We were BLESSED with a preschool family whose aunt watched the kids and her job while they were with us was an interior designer! She brought us SO MANY amazing things - One item was fabric books. Our toddler teacher poured through those books and took a sheet of plywood and her husband cut circles in the wood and she made a sensory wall of all the materials and their different textures and looks.. keeps all the kids busy! This summer in our daycamp program I tossed those books at our older school aged kids along with scissors and other materials and they crafted for days! (My favorite HOT afternoon was spent inside playing *train accident* at pick up all these kids left with self created casts, eye patches and bandages.. The one mom laughed and asked what we allowed them to watch in there. The nurse mom next to her laughed and said she knew we did not have tv in there.. and preferred them pretend playing MASS CASULTY ER games and using their minds! lol
-Listed 2 shoes on ebay that I can’t wear (actually my sweet husband did this for me!)
-Using vinegar/salt mix to kill off part of our backyard that is all weeds. Works wonderfully!
-Found a “value sized” creamer that we use at Hy-Vee.
-Found 4 books on thrift books.com for $20!
-Working on menu plan for next week- tomorrow is payday!
1. Made a big pork roast in the crockpot. Shredded it and made BBQ pulled pork. Keep enough out for two meals and froze the rest for later.
2. Went back to cooking at least a day ahead so I’m not so rushed at meal times. Not rushing allows me to use more of what is in hand and not waste as much.
3. Needed new socks. Got 8 pairs for $2.99.
4. Swimming in the creek at our campsite (20 minutes from our house, same distance from the pool we usually join) even if we just go for the day. Saved $180 by not joining the pool this year. Plus it’s a small private campground. Very quiet, green, with eagles that fly overhead as we lounge in the creek. Much more peaceful than the pool.
5. Car died. Took time to find a new to us car. So much better and nicer than my old one! Paid most of it in cash. Only needed a tiny loan which we will pay off quickly and it will increase my credit score.
Since you didn't buy the wire to wind your bean plant on, I call it frugal.
1. With the back to school sales and tax free days here recently, I picked up a few school supplies for a grand total of $1.97 that will be little items to toss in with bigger Christmas gifts for young grandkids.
2. The company that handles my husband's care plan sent us a big box of wipes and gloves for free, after I asked if we could get some.
3. I watched a movie at home using my digital credits earned by choosing slower shipping on Prime. I found out about that here.
4. I repaired a seam on a protective bed pad. Buying the big heavy duty waterproofed cloth pads almost two years ago was money upfront that was well-spent. I bought them using some Swagbucks to lower the price, too.
5. I rescued a stained skirt by getting the stain out; it took 3 attempts, but it's gone.
@JD, I was thinking I didn't do anything particularly frugal this past week--you reminded me that I got the stains out of two clothing items. One was blueberry syrup that my soon-to-leave-for-college son spilled on his shorts--I showed him the hot water on fruit stains trick and not only did we save the shorts, he learned a new skill!
Oh, that's a good tip. I usually leave food-stained clothes in the sunshine and that works pretty well. But I will try the hot water thing too.
1. I ordered parts to get my Miele vacuum back in working order rather than dropping off for repair.
2. Kitchen pulldown faucet hose sprung a leak. Difficult to find a hose with the right connectors, but my husband found one online so we didn't have to install the $300 replacement faucet I had bought just in case.
3. Did a round of car maintenance for the 3 out of 4 cars before 2 of them go off to college which will hopefully be frugal in the long run.
4. Meal planned and made my own coffee.
5. Saved a knife block from the donation pile once I realized my daughter could use it.
Thanks for the tips on selling books, previous commenters! I'll have to check those out.
1) Continued to sell things here & there on eBay
2) Found someone who needed club soccer gear that the kids have outgrown. Not frugal for me, but avoids waste, and saves money for others.
3) Made the kids lunch out of scraps from the fridge. I rarely make them lunch (they are teens, and more than capable), but some days I'd prefer to help them along & steer them towards future potential waste. Everyone was happy.
4) Continue to give away a ton of garden produce (neighbors, friends, Buy Nothing group) & eat a bunch as well. We're enjoying so much cucumber, zucchini, herbs, tomatoes, etc.
5) My son tried out a new pizza recipe last night, and it was delicious.
6) Finally found yeast again at Costco. I will freeze most of it. Buying it at Costco in a huge bag is about the same price as two individual envelopes at our grocery store.
7) Took advantage of a freebie offer on Fetch, and scored three ice cream cakes, for zero out of pocket. They are tiny, so used them when the kids had a friend over. First time having people to swim in our pool, thanks to COVID. (They are all vaccinated.)
1. Cooked dinner at home despite having a non-functioning cooktop/oven (was emitting kerosene smell and carbon monoxide. City gas man disconnected it for us). Here’s hoping the fix isn’t crazy expensive.
2. Inventoried supplies at home for back to school before purchasing.
3. Filed paperwork and played phone tag to get son’s toileting supplies covered by insurance. Saves us about $65/month
4. Accessed Olympics through something with my husband’s job. We got to watch any sport whenever we wanted for free. Found I really enjoyed watching sport climbing and archery.
5. Searched for cheapest price when buying curtains. I saved $25 per set from the original price I found. So crazy how different prices can be from store to store for the same item.
@Kaitlin, I LOVED THE SPORT CLIMBING TOO! #newevent
I love that you found a purpose for the spirals in a notebook. Super creative!
I am away from home this week. My daughter had surgery. Although her significant other is taking very good care of her, I couldn’t stay home. I have been able to cook, help with the shopping and exercise the dog. Besides sometimes you just want your mom.
1) I am staying at the hotel around the corner. I am getting Hilton Honors points, eating a lovely free breakfast, and drinking free coffee. There is a great coffee shop across the street, but I’m ignoring that.
2) Before I left, I picked up 2 books that I had on hold at the library. This passes the time when I am not busy.
3) I downloaded two books on the Libby and Hoopla Apps to listen to when I drove. Eight hours in the car with no company is the pits.
4) I packed my lunch, water, coffee and snacks. No need to stop for those things. Just in and out of the rest stops.
5) I brought a stack of magazines for my daughter to enjoy. These were shared with me and now I will share them with her.
Have a great and frugal week everyone.
@Bee, Good for you with helping your daughter and her SO! My husband had knee surgery last week and I am standing by for whatever help is needed, (pillows, food, beverages, pills, hoisting, clothing, washing, driving, etc.), including trying to think of creative places to sit, be entertained, etc. I'm stressed and tired, and I don't know how people who live alone can do it alone after surgery! Care coming in an hour a day wouldn't be anywhere near enough.
Aww, that is nice of you to come help your daughter. Good for you. I hope she's 100% soon!
@Heidi Louise, I hope your husband heals quickly. Knee surgery can be tough. In a few weeks, I am sure he’ll be as good as new.
@Kristen, Thank you. She is doing very well. It doesn’t matter how old your children get; they are always your babies.
Most of these are about my kids this week!
1. We took out the box with all the extra school supplies and went through it. We do need a few things for back to school, like graph paper (there was none) and highlighters (the ones we saved are now dried up), but not very much at all. My high school daughter may need a few other items once school starts but I think my middle schooler is all set.
2. My daughters got LL Bean gift cards as a holiday gift from a relative. They didn't see anything they wanted to buy at the time so they saved them until now and both of them bought themselves a new backpack. Their old backpacks were serviceable but getting pretty beat up. I think we will list the old ones on our Buy Nothing group.
3. Older daughter wanted to make a little "thinking of you" gift for a friend whose grandma recently passed away. She made her a necklace and some sugar exfoliating scrub from items we have in the house and then bought her a fun magazine to go with.
4. Both of my girls are going to achieve the financial goals they set for the summer (earn a particular amount and save a percentage of it). 16 year old will significantly surpass her goal!
5. We are going out of town next week so we are planning to eat up fridge and freezer items before we go. This will create some strange meals, but my family is fine with having weeks like that occasionally.
1. A few, but not much, from traveling: We got a ride to/from the airport, my husband found a couple $20 bills while waiting for our ride, we ate the snacks given out on the plane rather than buying food at the airport, we split a few takeout restaurant meals.
2. A friend and I are meeting for lunch today and I chose the better, cheaper, and closer, restaurant.
3. I bought all the groceries we need from the closest grocery store yesterday. It saves time and the price difference is not much when you're only feeding two older adults. I pack a lunch for my husband every morning since he is back at the office.
4. I continue to read and listen to digital books borrowed from the library. We watch shows on DVD borrowed from the library. I am near the library two days a week anyway so it does not take a special trip.
5. I'm continuing to use the slow cooker, outside, on hot days to cook chicken in various iterations.
I'm trying to be frugal by selling a few gift cards.
I want to try to sell them online, since I don't know anyone locally who will buy them from me. Looking for recommendations
for online sellers, please. 🙂
Great notebook wire reuse!
1. Due to events that have occurred, we have shortened an upcoming trip. This will also save us about $200 in lodging though.
2. For this trip we plan to eat out 2 times and cook our own simple meals the rest of the time.
3. Iade rice porridge for breakfast with leftover rice.
4. I was given some coconuts and manioc roots. I cooked the manioc and plan to regift the coconuts.
5. I still haven't redyed my roots.
1) I packed sandwiches, fruit and snacks to take on a road trip to avoid eating out, which is nearly cost prohibitive these days. Yikes!
2) I got 2 free products using the ibotta app. (I don't need a 24 pack of crayons, but they will be a nice addition to the Christmas Shoebox gift I always do.)
3) I looked on thrift books, abe books, amazon and ebay and found 2 books my husband has been asking for at a considerably lower price than buying new. Thankfully, he doesn't mind used editions.
4) I picked some kale and beet greens that a neighbor offered for free even though I knew I couldn't use them right away. It meant coming home and processing them to freeze as I was trying to pack for a trip, but I know I'll appreciate adding them to soups this winter!
5) I ordered 3 rolls of postage stamps through the Be Frugal app for only $42.00 a roll. Prices will soon be $58 a roll, so I consider this a good win!
I went to see my daughter and son-in-law in New York last week so there were a lot of unfrugal things, but we did a few things to save money.
1. I asked my sister to take me to the airport and a friend picked me up a week later so no cost there.
2. I took 2 peanut butter sandwiches and some Chex Mix in my backpack to eat on the planes (2 legs in the trip). I'm glad I had the second sandwich as my second flight was sooooo delayed that I didn't get to my daughter's until 1 a.m.!!
3. I slept 3 nights at daughter's apartment but then spendt a ridiculous amount of money on 1 hotel night and 2 nights in a lovely little beach cottage in Connecticut. I did take the small toiletry items which will be a small (very!) offset to the expense. I got 2 shampoos, 2 conditioners, 1 body wash, 2 small bar soaps, 2 shower caps and 3 make-up remover wipes which I will gift to my sister.
4. We took breakfast and lunch foods with us on our trip through Connecticut and ate leftovers from the take-out meals we got.
5. We got discount tickets to one of the museums we visited saving us $6.
Honestly, I don't care how much it cost. I was just so happy to see my girl!! I do all the frugal things I can 99.9% of the time so that I can enjoy times like this!
Yep, exactly. This is one of the reasons you save money on other things!
@Kristen, absolutely!
@BarbG, I try to be frugal most of the time so I can afford to see my far away children some of the time!!very motivating
@Stephanie, I totally agree! So worth it!
My 5 Frugals are …
1. Got doughnuts on sale for a mom & kids breakfast get together.
2. Used up a $75 gift card we won at a raffle for groceries at Walmart.
3. Fixed a couple of broken toys at home so my kids can play with again.
4. Mended a small hole in my shirt.
5. Decided not to renew a membership to a club I wasn’t using much off.
6. Maybe not frugal but more about lessening food waste. Gave a bunch of overripe apples and oranges to a lady at church to feed her farm animals.
Let's see:
1.) I got a Costco membership for the first time since before Covid. We took advantage of a deal they were running where you get a $40 GC in the mail after signing up and some other coupons. The real frugal part is that I checked the price of generic Claritin D there and it was ~$4.50 for a 15 day supply. Locally it is about $10-$15 for a ten day supply!
2.) Sold a few more items on eBay. I agree with you that the listing is the hardest part. Since I am great at record keeping I can see that I actually sold them for more than I paid for them. I just kinda had to store them for 15 years or so ...
3.) Not going to an event next week because honestly, I'm just tired of the new pointless Covid restrictions. I'm vaccinated and I'm not going back to masks. So they can lose out on my ticket that I was going to spend and I can keep my $15.
4.) Trying to be creative with my cooking lately so that I don't need to heat the whole house up. It's been pretty hot here lately (and will continue to be so for the next few days) so anything I can save on AC is welcome.
5.) A rather stupid one but I'm proud of it. My belt's buckle broke. The leather (full grain - basically the whole thickness of the cow's hide) itself is still in great shape. Well come to find out a "Lifetime warranty" is only good when the company is still in business. Instead of buying a new buckle (which was at minimum $10) I went to my local Goodwill, bought a belt for $2, took the buckle off of it and tossed the GW belt in the trash (it was fake leather on cardboard so no real loss.)
Oh and a bonus one. We are getting quotes on our roof and a high pressure salesman was trying to sell us a metal roof for a stupid amount of money. It was awkward and difficult but ultimately rewarding to tell him (and the follow up call from his manager) to pound sand.
@Battra92,
Good going on the belt. Real leather belts are so expensive! You'd think the buckles would last longer than they do. My husband's expensive ostrich leather belt (it was a gift from his boss) had a buckle that peeled most of its finish. I absolutely replaced the buckle with a nice one I found on sale online for a surprising $6; I wasn't about to throw out a very nice belt.
@Battra92, ugh about the roof salesman. The first estimate I got was from a local big-name company and the hard sell was astonishing. Glad I resisted it - initially on principle and then after looked at their ratings on the various websites.
I priced a metal roof for my house (not from the hard-sell company). It was THREE TIMES the price of a good asphalt one. I know it was more expensive but that differential just floored me.
Good job on the Claritin and the belt buckle.
@JD, it's crazy that they cheap out on the one part that sees the most wear!
@WilliamB, I like the idea of quality if you can afford it. A good metal roof is good for (in theory) the lifetime of the house. An asphalt roof is good for a few decades at best.
My wife and I decided that if we ever build a dream home we will look again at a metal roof but in our house we won't see the return on investment ever unless we stay there until we're 80. If we're doing "dream home" then yeah, go for what we really want.
1) I cut my two year old's mess of hair last night. He is finally old enough to sit still and not think I am murdering him.
2) I bought an old but very solid large cherry dresser off FB marketplace.
3) I needed the dresser because I just received a ton of kids clothes I ordered from Thredup. Now that the kids are going back to school and church in person we suddenly need more than two outfits for each person in the house.
4) I just finished a PhD and a favorite professor offered me the used regalia of a friend of his who retired last year and then sadly passed away. I jumped at the opportunity because not only would wearing the regalia allow me to honor the legacy of a legendary scholar, but it would save me at least $800.
5) I planned meals, shopped at Aldi, started bread in the bread machine and chicken in the crock pot for later, signed a lease on a super cheap apartment in the city to which I will be commuting during the academic year, and returned broken Skull Candy headphones for credit.
@Amanda, Congratulations, Doctor Amanda! Great accomplishment!
And great luck on the regalia. After you march in a few processions, you will see how many academics wear cobbled-together outfits, because that stuff is so expensive.
I like how you just casually slipped that in..."I just finished a PhD." That calls for major celebration! Woohoo for you!
@Amanda, Congrats on the doctorate!
@Amanda, CONGRATULATIONS!!! That's huge!
@Heidi Louise, yep, my husband is one of those cobbled-together folks. I might have to break down and get him a real mortar board since his is starting to get a bit threadbare after 21 years of graduation ceremonies. 🙂
1. I've been trying to use coupons and codes on most purchases lately. I saved $77.07 just in the past week or so.
2. We had gone to a friend's picnic as a thank you for working on his house. He gifted us almost a full case of beer to go home with as he doesn't drink it. He just bought it for his guests. He also sent us home with 4 2-liters of pop.
3. My oldest daughter brought home some clothes that the consignment store didn't take on exchange. I looked thru the bag and picked out 3 articles of clothing (2 still had tags on them)
4. My co-worker, neighbor and sister and sister-in-law have gifted us with extra bounty from their gardens. We received cucumbers, yellow squash and lots of zucchini.
1. A fisher neighbor was gone for two weeks and we watered his huge garden and fed his cat and let his tiny dog stay here. He came back with the full allowance of salmon and gave us 10 in payment, already cleaned and beheaded.
2. Still eating out of the garden, no grocery shopping except for milk and sour cream.
3. Finished Christmas gifts for my siblings. A few weeks ago I discovered a bunch of old letters from him, written when I was in boarding school. I put them together with another stash I had found some time earlier and reread them all. I picked out the ones that best represented him and made a book, with the original letter in his handwriting copied on one side, and the English translation for them on the opposing side. I added photos I had of him, including one when he was in a displaced person camp and another taken by his sponsor as he finished being processed on Ellis Island and walked out into the U.S. for the first time. A local printer was having a sale and gave me a very good price for all five of them. I did not include all the letters because there were so many of them and also because, especially when I first went off to school my father spent a lot of energy hectoring me: study hard, if you don't take advantage of every opportunity in this country then your mother and I should have died in the camps so someone with better children could live here, don't date morons...and some of the letters had specific complaints about one or another of my siblings that they don't need to see decades later. Anyway, I would never have thought of making books if not for reading some of your posts were you talked about putting them together for your family, so thanks for that. And with the sale, this ended up being a very thrifty gift.
4. Did two gas shops.
5. The library, always the library.
Lindsey, it’s interesting you said that’s a thrifty gift, because it sounds like priceless treasure to me! I hope your siblings love the book as much as I imagine I would.
@Lindsey, your #3 has a claim to becoming the Great American Novel. And special kudos on the tactful editing job for your sibs; you wanted to give a gift, not start a round of Family Feud.
We went to Orlando last week-not so cheap, but we did stay in a nice resort at a lower cost because we agreed to a listen to a timeshare presentation and got a 500 gift card-we did not cave in to the pitch. Packed fixings for a picnic lunch for the trip. Drove instead of flew. Consolidated our remaining consumer debt with a best egg loan at 4%. Used a target gift card to replace my sunglasses which were broken after a day at an Amusement park (the day at the park definitely not frugal)
That was a very clever use of the notebook wire. Good luck with painting the wall: I hope the paint is still good. It will be so nice when you have a desk and a quiet room.
I spent a little bit of money this week at Office Depot buying a wall file for papers that was mounted on the side of the fridge with magnets we already had, thus cleaning up the messy corner of the kitchen counter. The clerk gave me 10% off because the file had been in the store a long time and was dirty. I had rubbed it with a finger and determined it would clean up fine, which I told him but he insisted, so the discount was nice.
Freeing up the counter space made my weekly use-it-up Sunday cookfest so much easier. I turned speckled bananas into banana muffins with flaxseed and sunflower seeds, peeled and diced all the fruit no one was eating to make yogurt parfaits, and turned a very small chicken into ten large chicken-black bean-sweet potato burritos. Also brewed a jug of tea to use up a box of tea bags that had been open for a while. The cookfest keeps us from wasting food and makes for some fun lunches and breakfasts for me.
Other than that, I wore mostly thrifted outfits from head to toe, brown-bagged my lunch and beverages, hung my laundry to dry, and drove my car ever so gently so that she may last me many years.
I love the wire recycling! I do things like this all the time for the frugal win. I save old socks that cannot be repaired and use them to tie up my tomato plants- soft, stretchy, and they last over and over. No need for purpose bought plant ties. I love it when the solution to something is in my house, or recycling bin.
Other frugals....I repaired my favourite, very old, thrift store purchased Chaco flip flops with shoe glue and clamps. They will last another few seasons I’m sure.
We took a frugal vacation by camping on our island, so no ferry fees, and cooking at the campsite for five day. Provincial parks are still the cheapest (and most fun!) way to vacation.
I’m drinking a delicious iced coffee leftover from my morning brew as I write.
I won a grocery store gift card in a draw, so I’ll get a good discount on my next shop.
My parents cleaned off their balcony, and I was the recipient of some plants that really needed to be in the ground, so I popped them in my garden.
I found a watering can minus the spout in a free pile, so I took it home to pair up with the lone spout I had in my shed.
That’s it!
Last week seemed to go by so fast that it was hard to remember what frugal things I'd done, but here we go.
1. We've been eating tomato everything! They all ripened at once.
2. Printed out free clothing patterns to go with No. 3
3. My daughter and I went to Goodwill for a thrifted challenge. We each chose an item that the other has to upcycled into something new. She picked out green and purple plaid curtains for me and I picked a hunter green tablecloth for her. Stay tuned for what we make, hahaha.
4. While at Goodwill I found a nice dress for my class reunion in September.
5. Used leftover pickle juice and baking soda to clean the kitchen sink drains.
Recently I have: hung clothes on the clothes line---today, my husband had clothes hanging!!
I rode with my husband to drop our son off at work. All the fast food places are up the road, and we planned to get some iced coffees... but their machine had sprung a water leak! Came home and had coffee instead.
We've finally got our pool (it has a leak-patched so it will last the rest of this year) full and ready to swim in, so we used our pool instead of driving to the Great Lake we live near.
A different day, we did go to the beach, and did not give in to the urge to buy pizza on the way home. I don't recall what we had instead, but I'm sure it was good.
I didn't call in to work today, even though I woke up at 12:15 and never fell back to sleep. I did leave 30 minutes early, but that is a much smaller pay loss than calling in.
1. I used bread ends to make baked french toast, I dehydrated grapes that were going bad to make raisins, I made tomato puree using tomatoes from our garden, and I made a large amount of chicken stock from chicken bones and vegetable scraps
2. I found $1 on the ground dropping my daughter off at daycare
3. My husband picked up 3 shirts for himself off Buy Nothing
4. I purchased all of my son's school supplies already, which only cost $19. It pays to shop early! Now I just need to finish sharpening the 50 pencils.
5. We went camping this weekend. We pack all of our food and drink water from the tap. So, it was a very cheap weekend.
@Corrine, I still have my late father's electric pencil sharpener. Used it a lot when the kids were in school. Now it has a sentimental value.
I am a retired Nurse, an NP actually, and I would ove to know more about your progress towards your nursing pursuits!! I think you will be an incredible asset to the profession!! Let us know what you’re up to,class wise, and your goals..??
Love your blog! I can tell you,from experience, frugal ways that are learned early on , pay off big time when it’s time to retire!!!!
Not really totally frugal, but it still feels like a win. Went to Vancouver from Vancouver Island for a fabulous day trip to see a Virtual Van Gogh exhibition. I have often just said 'gah' and taken my truck or car over, but this time I travelled with my exuberant friend who is adventuresome, so instead I drove to the ferry (and hour plus drive) and we walked on ($17.50 rather than around $100) then bought a day bus pass on the ferry ($12.50). I did eat a meal on the ferry but we didn't pay for any parking, and the travel from the ferry to downtown wasn't intimidating because I was with my friend. we had one delicious bowl meal and thoroughly enjoyed the show. I bought a couple of coffees at McD's for under $2 rather than splurging on a latte, and then got myself all alone back to the ferry via bus and skytrain/metro. Another $17.50 for the ferry, and another hour plus drive, but I figure I saved at least $200 plus parking by doing it on the cheap. The show was expensive and totally worth it, because with the timed entry we weren't dealing with huge crowds, and there wasn't a timed exit so we sat through the video loops three times..
2. My buddy came over for Sunday Tidy with Teri, we are alternating when we can. We tackled the room that should be my office, figured out how to fold up my rowing machine, and she was a virtual sorting queen - love to have the friend energy to keep me going. Have posted two sets of things on our free facebook marketplace - padded envelopes and some huge craft envelopes, plus cork board and whiteboards from my old business. I don't need them and they are messing up my mojo stuck in a corner. We also filled my recycle bin with random papers and have consolidated things for me to sort into 3 boxes.
3. FOUND $10 already in the stuff to sort (hence the reason I won't just dump the entire boxes). Great way to encourage me to dig deeper! LOL
I think the spiral notebook hack is genius -- and certainly frugal!
I am a teacher and going back to work soon so I have been trying to preserve/prep a little something every day to help my future self!
1. Found three bunches of green onions for 50cents total. Snipped and froze the tops. I put the frozen tops in a repurposed Parm cheese container. They shake out beautifully when frozen. I then used some of the onions in a stir fry and planted some of the onions out in my herb garden. I will harvest them in early October. Freeze the tops again and eat the onions.
2. Froze and bagged getting soft banana chunks for future smoothies.
3. Harvested all my basil and parsley and made 3 batches of pesto. We ate some with green beans and orzo ( all mixed up!) and froze 7 small containers. I also use walnuts instead of pine nuts to be more frugal. If in a real pinch, you can use roasted unsalted sunflower seeds.
4. I usually get a new on sale or thrifted first day of school dress and took a pass this year. Less is more!
5. Getting a lot of routine health screenings scheduled now that we have met our deductible.
1) We had two lonely ears of corn that needed used up. Found a recipe for something called cowboy caviar- it calls for beans, but we are not a fan of them so substituted a little rice- turned out really good! It is a good way to use up any extra produce that this season is currently producing.
2) Ahh farmer stands on the side of the road- Red Haven Peaches are so yummy. I follow a local stand that admits it is the "kids college fund" so I always try and shop there. Not sure if it is the frugalist, but I enjoy supporting the local economy.
3) Back to school shopping- the tween and teen are doing well clothes wise- not much needed. Also by this age, school supplies are a bit smaller and we can recycle most of the items from last year.
4) Our church is having a shoe drive. Scored a great deal with discounts, tax free weekend, and Kohl's cash. A good solid pair of shoes are off to a new home.
5) We went to the zoo this week. Trying to get an end of summer fun day. The best part, is was free! We have a yearly membership and after two visits it pays for itself so, any visit is free. We went over spring break, once at the beginning of summer so this visit was free. I am sure we will get there at least one time over Christmas break too.
Congrats on fixing the door! The wall will look great when it's done! It's rewarding to fill in the holes on the wall and get it close to perfect!
Here's my 5:
1) I received a lovely gift card to a supermarket as a birthday gift and got a few things that were splurges (like a slice of cake). Savings- $15
2) I got my niece a pair of earrings from JCP limited time sale for $10 for her birthday. Savings- $40
3) I also got my niece a $50 gift card for free by using CC rewards. Savings- $50
4) I got my son a $50 gift card to Amazon using CC rewards. Savings- $50
5) I bought 2 t-shirts from Champion that had a sale for 40% off and free shipping. Savings- $22
I definitely consider recycling the used wire as frugal, plus repurposing helps keep things out of the land fills so win-win-win!
Happy that you are going to have your own little office/study space now! When my son fledged, his old bedroom has now turned into my “Music Room” where I can practice my violin without being interrupted by others walking through the room that I am practicing in. Even when they are very quiet and don’t talk to me or anything, it really interrupts my concentration (I have very little concentration, so need every bit I can get!). I know you are going to love having your own space as well!
1. We drove several states away to be with my mom for her 82nd birthday. It was less expensive than flying the three of us there.
2. I packed all our own food for our trip, so no stopping to eat out along the way. Since it was a 12 hour drive, this helped not make it even longer as it saved time and we drove while we ate our food.
3. My brother who lives in a completely different direction from us met us at my parent’s house, so win-win, I got to see him as well as my parents, and didn’t cost me anything extra to go make a special trip to see him.
4. One of the stores in Michigan had a horse ride for 1 cent. The store even gave you the penny to take the horse ride. Come on now, a 1 cent horse ride has GOT to “count” as a frugal, fun activity!
5. When eating out to celebrate my mom’s birthday, I ordered a salad but also brought in to the restaurant a little of my own food, since I have some pretty severe food allergies. (I consider ending up in the ER from eating foods that I react to as “severe.”) My salad cost a lot less than the chicken dinners that the restaurant is famous for, and I was happy to have food that I could relax and enjoy without fear of becoming sick!
More plus lots of pictures on my blog at: https://chickadeecove.blogspot.com/2021/08/frugal-friday-week-of-july-25-august-7.html