Five Frugal Things | old standbys

Some weeks, I have new and interesting frugal things to share. Other times, it’s just steady plodding with the same ol’, same ol’.

And this is (mostly) one of the latter.

1. I decrystallized my honey AGAIN

As I have told you before, I regret buying this huge container of honey. Zoe and I do not eat enough peanut butter and honey sandwiches to get us through such a large bottle before it crystallizes.

I have decrystallized this particular container several times before, but here we are again.

Soak the bottle in hot water and the crystals disappear

Happily, it is emptier now, so I can just stick it in my 4-cup measuring cup rather than having to lay it down sideways in a pan like before!

I am 100% never buying such a big honey container again. Ha.

2. I’m watering plants with my dehumidifier water

I had been using it to wash down various outside areas of my house:

Oh hey, they’re all white again!

But now that the weather has been less rainy here, I’ve been using it to water my non-edible plants.*

purple hyacinth bean leaf in need of water

*Non-edible plants only, because dehumidifier water can contain bacteria and mold spores, and that might not be safe for the soil of a plant that produces something you eat.

3. I keep coloring my bleached scrubs with a Sharpie

I have a set of black scrubs and somehow, I have gotten some bleach spots on them at work. We have bleach wipes that we use for our glucometers, and while I try super hard to be careful not to get any on my clothes, it’s hard to avoid.

Luckily, this has only happened with my black scrubs, and the spots are small enough for me to just color with a Sharpie before I put them on.

The Sharpie does fade in the wash, but it’s easy enough to redo each time I wear them. And the fix is totally invisible from a distance:

I probably will end up using bleach wipes a little less as a nurse than I did as a tech, so maybe I can avoid making any new orange spots!

(Related: I tried dying bleach spots on a dress before, with Rit dye; click here to see how it turned out.)

4. I’ve been bringing all my lunches, drinks, and snacks to orientation

Orientation is in a different hospital campus building, away from my usual lunchroom refrigerator and microwave.

Some days I pack a lunch that doesn’t need to be heated, but I discovered that there are some microwaves in the building, so I’ve been using those here and there.

And since we have no fridge in the education building, I just put extra ice packs in my lunchbox to keep it cold until lunch break.

I am here to get paid, not to spend money. 😉

(Ok, obviously I did not become a nurse just to get paid. But I still don’t wanna give part of my paycheck to the cafeteria on the regular.)

5. I filled out a class action settlement form

Apparently, there’s some suit against Capital One 360 that I qualify for. However, it sounds like the payouts will be small and if it’s less than $5, they won’t mail you a check.

If you want your money that’s under $5, you need to opt in for an electronic payment. So, that’s what I did and we shall see what comes of it.

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

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Joyce

Wednesday 3rd of September 2025

Oh Kristen, I thought the bean plant you have was a Castor Bean Plant so I bought some this year and, while the plant is beautiful, reading this post revealed that is NOT the plant you have. I will now have to get some of the hyacinth bean seeds. This seems so funny to me. :)

Kristen

Thursday 4th of September 2025

Hahaha, oh no! At least the castor bean plant is also beautiful. ;)

T-Ann

Thursday 21st of August 2025

I use paper coffee filters for more than just making coffee. I'm talking the round white or unbleached tan ones. I'll grab one to put a hand full of nuts, popcorn, fruit eg: cherries or grapes in. Cheese and crackers, etc. No bowl to wash and, once used, I put it into my compost. They are, also, great for putting over food that goes into the microwave or, even, over a fry pan. They stop the splatters and, again - compostable. One thing I discovered is, coffee filters are perfect for cleaning windows. Vinegar & water - into compost. Windex type cleaners - into garbage. Enjoy!

Wednesday 20th of August 2025

Bleach tie-dye items that get accidently bleached.

holly

Cook with the honey! i use it in place of sugar for baked goods as well as in my granola that i make on the regular. Mine is a simple recipe of coconut oil, honey and oats. Thats it! You can go through honey much faster that way

Nikki

1. I meal planned. I made meals at home. Although I picked up lunch twice, it was planned (and I very rarely each out). I will not pick up lunch again for the foreseeable future (maybe the end of September, maybe later?). We brewed coffee at home. We ate up food that needed to be eaten. 2. Everyone is continuing to use the same backpacks. Backpacks range from 1 year to 15 years old. Mine (the oldest) was patched last spring. One kid needed headphones with a microphone, but everyone else still is still using their headphones that are at least 4 years old. 3. I was gifted some old musicals on VHS. I have a working VHS player and a kid who loves musicals. 4. We used the library for book and movies. 5. I remembered to return something to the store on time. It was $64, so I'm glad that I didn't forget that. I also checked with a store about an item that had a discount tag, but it turns out that it wasn't actually discounted. 6. We used our zoo pass to visit another zoo for discounted price. We always support our local zoo, and it comes with the added benefit of being able to visit other zoos for free or half price.