Five Frugal Things | So, my tire had a hole
1. I got my tire fixed for free
My driver's side front tire got low this past May.
Then it was fine until a few weeks ago, around the time I got my ankle stung by yellow jackets.
It was only a few pounds low, and I thought, "Hmm, it's been four months since the last time. Maybe it's fine?"
But then this past week, the low tire pressure light came on again.
Sooo, I pumped it up with my Slime pump, and then I took it over to Midas since they do a free flat repair service.
My tire wasn't exactly flat, but they checked it and initially thought it was intact. I re-explained the history, and the guy double-checked it with a higher PSI.
Sure enough, there was a pinhole leak in it.
So, they repaired it for me, and I was on my way. Whew.
I think this is the third time I've had Midas fix a tire for me. 10/10!
Not every Midas shop in my area does the free flat fixes, so call around if you need this service.
And if you don't have a Midas near you, Lisey says that Sam's Club offers this service (she used to work in their tire department), so that's another idea to try.
By the way last time I shared about my Slime tire pump, some of you didn't see that I'd shared a link. Soooo....click here to see most current Slime tire pump model.
(it looks slightly different than mine but it is just the newest version.)
2. I "made" a new rice sock
We had one here, but last spring Lisey dropped it outside in the rain, and the rice spilled everywhere.
So, I bought a bag of super cheap white rice and filled two old socks. You can use a single sock, but I prefer to use two to make it more sturdy.
You could sew the sock shut (and maybe one day I will), but the advantage of a rubber band closure is that you can just pop off the outer sock and wash it when it gets dirty.
We use these when someone has a sore muscle; you just put it in the microwave for a few minutes, shake it up, and apply it to the sore spot.
The shape of a sock is particularly nice for when you need a heating pad around your neck!
3. I fixed Zoe's skirt
She'd thrifted this long skirt (so 90s!) but the first time she wore it, it split by the slit.
The fabric split above the slit as well, so it was sort of a mess.
So, I got out my sewing machine and did a quick repair for her.
I reinforced the other slit too, since both of them are going to be a point of stress for the material. I sewed a tiny bit of scrap denim on the underside, and then did some stitching to hold it in place.
Hopefully that'll help the skirt to withstand the slit stress caused by walking.
Since the denim is on the underside, no one will be the wiser. 🙂
4. I fixed a catnip mouse
When I went to do laundry the other day, I saw that one of Shelly's catnip mice was in the laundry room.
And I also noticed that the bottom seam on this mouse had come apart.
So, I grabbed a needle and some thread (both from the abandoned house).
I added a little fresh catnip inside and then sewed the mouse up.
By the way, I have to give a shoutout to these little these little catnip mice.
Shelly, being an older feline, is often not much for toys. But she loves these mice! She turns into a young cat when she plays with them.
5. I made pudding and bread with my extra milk
I inadvertently purchased an excess of milk (still adjusting to a household of two over here!), so I used some of the extra to make this chocolate pudding, and also two loaves of cinnamon bread.
Sometimes my swirls are really uneven but look how tidy this swirl is! I was a little bit proud.
I'm not winning any awards in the Use Up Milk In A Healthy Way competition, but cinnamon bread and chocolate pudding do deliver in the joy department. 😉
Our large chest freezer started making an alarming rattling sound, so we set ourselves the goal of eating down the contents to make it easier to defrost it and service it if needed. I made an inventory of the items and sorted them into categories so that I could quickly and easily relocate the high value items (proteins, mainly) into my smaller freezer if necessary. After sorting and moving items around, the rattling stopped, but we are still going ahead with the eat down the freezer plan just in case. This should have a frugal effect on our grocery bills because we are also not buying any freezer items for a while.
Love your sewing skills! I have been repurposing leftovers that a friend couldn't use into great meals so far this week (fish and chicken!). Our 2-adult family continues for the moment to function with one vehicle while we wait for the "right" one to come along. My husband rearranged our house, so a free re-design (with plenty of coordinating, not matching things re: yesterday's post).
"Kris-ten, Kris-ten, Kris-ten" (that's me cheering for you in nursing school this week).
Take care, everyone!
We have those same mice, gifted to us by friends. (Our cats are the ones who get host gifts, which is fine by us. :P) 2/3 cats enjoy them; the third plays exclusively with plastic jingle balls that he will chase for an hour at a shot and cry if one gets stuck behind furniture.
—Another CVS trip, another $16+ purchase brought down to $1.12 via the power of sales, coupons, and CVS Extra Bucks. I bought two boxes of granola bars for my husband’s work lunches, two bags of healthy munchies for the same, and lip gloss for me. I don’t wear much make up, but I feel naked without lip gloss, even around the house.
—I spruced up our spare flannel sheet set with the power of dye! The pale lavender sheets had seen better days--I bought them on clearance an easy decade ago--but were physically still in good shape. I had a full bottle of purple RIT dye from a free pile, so I’m only out the cost of salt (one cup, un-iodized) and rubber bands ($1.50 for a bag), with which I dyed a flat sheet, fitted sheet, two pillowcases, and a shirt I tie-dyed for good measure. The sheets now decorate my office couch/our guest bed.
—Bonus frugality: I prefer dying in the washer and so plan clothing alchemy for when the washer needs a deep clean, anyway. Once the dye load is done, it’s time to scrub the whole inside down with bleach using an old sponge or dish cloth, then run a full hot water cycle with a full cup of bleach and a normal amount of detergent. Hasn’t failed me yet! Indeed, my occasional dye escapades are exactly why I wanted a top load washer when we moved to our house.
—Bonus frugality, continued: Since the newly dyed sheets went to the office couch/guest bed, that meant its previous cover could move to our couch. My husband has been gently lobbying for the peridot green velvet comforter to move to the living room since I first thrifted it, and it certainly goes with our “Victorian hodge-pudge meets Halloween” aesthetic. New looks all round, next to $0 spent.
—Chewy had their “Spend $100 and get a $30 gift card” sale again. We handily needed litter, the boys’ dry food, and their wet food, so the timing was perfect. I’ve always tried to shop a month ahead for both pets and people so if there’s a bad storm, illness, life, etc., we’re all okay.
@N, a few years ago i received a tie dye kit as a gift. Hadn’t did it since the 1960’s.lol We tied dyed anything not nailed down. T-shirts, socks, pair pull on pants, a fitted sheet that goes on an air mattress, napkins, just anything cotton. It was a lot of fun and I still have a few of these. Later I used the black dye to refresh some work pants.
@N, Your idea to shop a month ahead for things is BRILLIANT! I'm going to start doing that. I ran out of milk and canned dog food yesterday; my German shepherd was ready to disown me.
@cc, I do have to limit myself when dying, or I'll also tie dye everything not nailed down! LOL I always use a full package of dye, be it bottle or box, and so make sure to include enough items in a load to make it worth the fuss. I'm currently trying to brainstorm for a round of hunter green, as there are pillowcases I need to dye for the couch.
@Fru-gal Lisa, It honestly developed out of the fact I do not enjoy shopping or trying to track a pile of receipts. I much prefer stocking us up and not having to care for weeks at a time, so that's my natural pattern. I make an exception for fresh fruits and vegetables, which are restocked once weekly now that the garden's done. Pet-wise, two out of three can eat anything, but our former street cat is short most of his upper teeth, which impacts which soft food he can have (pate and flaked are okay, chunks or grilled strips get stuck). Life's just easier by the case vs. hoping what we need is in stock at the store.
@N, Stocking up and not having to care for weeks at a time....sounds like a good plan to me!!!
Worked on using random items from the freezer, it has way too much in there. Turned different types of flours and grains, nuts, seeds and bananas into breads, muffins, and cakes. I cut these into serving size and froze for a quick snack.
I tried your egg bread recipe. I’ve wanted to try it for awhile so when I got a great deal on eggs I made it. The family really liked it, thanks for sharing.
I’m organizing craft supplies and want some magazine holders. I going to try making them from some old board games.
I’m making place mats from old black cotton work pants I was going to toss out. I’ve made them before using old jeans so I thought why not try these. The place mats are just three rectangles sewed together with a solid backing. Will use old pillow cases this time.
Put together a table display using two dark blue pottery bowls I bought years ago thrift shopping. A cobalt fiestawear pitcher someone gave me, found at a garage sale for $5. And a pie pumpkin. I really like it.
@cc, You can repurpose empty cereal boxes into magazine holders as well!
@Cheryl, I thought of that but I don’t have any. We don’t eat cereal often and I just recycled the one I had last week. I should have thought ahead.lol But I just started organizing the magazines this week. And since I like to craft with recycled items it would quickly become a mess around here if I kept everything. So whenever I want something I try to look at what is here to use.
I only use milk for cooking (and in instant mac and cheese), and nobody drinks it here, so very often I have extra milk, which turns into chocolate pudding around here. Or sometimes biscuits or popovers.
1. My daily walks around the neighborhood have been fruitful. I found a very good Husky utility knife on the road the other day. The blade was a little rusty, but after Googling I was able to flip it around and now I have a handy knife for opening boxes, etc.
2. Found a quarter and a penny while walking, as well.
3. Gave four home haircuts to my kids. Am growing my own hair out so I haven't had to have a haircut in quite a few months.
4. Keeping up with homemade/whole food snacks rather than store bought: popcorn, fruit, homemade pudding/brownies.
5. I decided to finally look into opting out of those people-finder search engines, and found that both WhitePages and Spokeo will let you opt out for free, so I have more peace of mind that I won't be found through an online search. I'm sure there's other people-finder engines, and I'll figure that out, but I feel like I made a big step!
Forgot a couple food-related ones: Some strawberries were looking a bit past it, so I cut them up and flash-froze them to store for smoothies (or just snacking; I like frozen berries); did the same for some celery to use for soup later (today, actually). Snagged a coupon for 99 cents/ 18 eggs, it was a coupon you could use up to five times, but I didn't think even we could use five big cartons of eggs up before they went bad. But my youngest has been wanting egg burritos for breakfast lately, and another kid is having wisdom teeth out today, so I got three cartons because scrambled eggs are a nice thing to have when you can't chew very much.
@Karen A., thank you for the tip on opting out of people-finder sites. I will attempt this!
About too many eggs, I have this ridiculous anxiety about running out of eggs and buy 3 x 18 whenever I am down the hill in the big town near Winco. I think there is a way to freeze eggs, but I haven't needed to figure it out.
@Central Calif. Artist Jana, It was simple once I figured out some little loopholes. One caveat: With Whitepages, they wanted a phone number to call with a verification code, but my current number didn't match the one they had on file, so it wouldn't work. After banging my head against my desk just once, I decided to call their support number, and the very nice lady emailed me a link and we did it that way. My husband was able to do it with his phone number since it matched what they had on file.
With Spokeo, they will want the URL of your personal listing. The way i did this was to look myself up and "generate a report" that was emailed to me, and then I went to the link sent to my email. Of course they redact some stuff, until you pay 95 cents (and sign up for their sneaky "7 day trial" after which they'll charge you every month), but I was able to verify it was my listing based on the cities they mentioned, and use the URL anyway without paying. I hope that makes sense!
@Central Calif. Artist Jana, Ooh freezing eggs...you just prompted me to look it up in my Complete Tightwad Gazette: "Lightly mix 1 cup of raw eggs (about five large ones) with 1 teaspoon salt and store in an airtight freezer container. Thaw overnight in refrigerator. Properly frozen, eggs will keep for up to six months. Three tablespoons of egg mixture equals one large-sized egg. Good for scrambled eggs, omelets, and baking."
I use flaxseed for baking instead of eggs, but maybe next time I get a good deal I will freeze some to use for scrambled eggs. Obviously this wouldn't do if you needed hardboiled eggs or just egg yolk for a recipe!
@Central Calif. Artist Jana., You can look the directions up for yourself -- Complete Tightwad Gazette is online in pdf form.
@Karen A.,
I've frozen eggs before. I just cracked them into a bowl, beat them and bagged them. I didn't bother to add salt or anything and I put them in snack size ziplock bags with just two eggs each for baking and bigger ziplocks with six eggs each for scrambling. Then I froze them flat so they would stack. I kept them in the freezer much longer than six months...think I ate the oldest ones like four years later? They were totally fine. Only caveat was that it was a little annoying to scrape raw egg out of the Ziplock after they had thawed. Not that big of a deal, though. Only reason I didn't do it again is that eggs are pretty cheap now and they keep in the fridge for a really long time, so it seemed like more trouble than it was worth.
@Karen A., How do you opt out? I get regular emails stating ____ about me & changes (funny how I don't do anything new/diffetent) and ___ people have searched me on last 30 days.
Would love to stop that.
@Regina, For Whitepages, try this link: https://www.whitepages.com/suppression-requests
First, you'll have to search yourself, then copy and paste the URL of your listing into that space. This will work IF the phone number they have in your online record is the same one you're going to use in a later step. For me, it didn't work because they didn't have my cell number (ha!). So I had to call their help desk at 1 800 916 7806 and talk to a nice Indian lady who took my email, then sent me an email with instructions on how to opt out via email. My husband was able to do it with his phone and it took him five minutes.
Spokeo was a little trickier; I had to run a search on myself, then 'generate a report' that came to my email, and of course most of it was redacted until you pay a buck and get sneakily signed up for their service. Instead, I looked at the redacted form, and saw all the cities I had lived in, and knew it was mine, so I just copied and pasted that URL into the space on this page:
https://www.spokeo.com/optout (Scroll to the bottom).
I hope this helps you! I'm sure there's other people search engines, and I intend to investigate those, but these are the two big ones. I also finally deleted my linkedin account I made ages ago; I don't have a career, so what do I need a LinkedIn for? Ha.
@Regina, And for Intelius, another search engine, try this link: https://suppression.peopleconnect.us/login
This'll be super fast while I drink my coffee before I take my dad in for knee replacement surgery!
*I made my own coffee to take today.
*I roasted potatoes in chicken fat I saved from making broth. This was the first time using the chicken fat, and it was tasty!
*I made my own chicken broth which featured ends of onion, celery, and carrots.
*Oops. Time to go!
@Jody S., Tell Dad I hope he gets better real soon. Guess he's bionic, now that he has a new knee, LOL.
@Jody S., good luck to your Dad for his surgery and his recovery!
@Jody S., best wishes to your dad for successful surgery. And try to keep him from doing too much too soon. Good recovery takes time, patience, and PT.
@Jody S., Good luck to Dad!
And chicken fat is called schmaltz in Yiddish. And that's where "schmaltzy" comes from--the old Yiddish theater, with excessively sentimental works.
In fact, you could pick up a nice piece of rendered chicken skin as a snack while enjoying your schmaltzy show.
@Jody S., If you are making something with chicken broth/gravy such as chicken pot pie, chicken a la king, green chicken enchiladas, etc., try using the chicken fat as the fat base for the white sauce. It gives lots of extra chicken flavour to the dish and also saves on not needing to use extra butter (which is super expensive where I live right now).
@Rose, Thank you for the etymology lesson. And thank you to all the well-wishers. Dad's surgery went well, he's home, and it's time for putting work into recovery 🙂
@Lisa K., Yes. I don't normally use butter to roast potatoes, but the price of the butter has made me think twice before throwing out a lot of the meat fats.
1. I helped a neighbor that was overwhelmed by folding several loads of laundry. Initially she wanted a shoulder to cry on but I knew household tasks were hanging over her head so I talked her into letting me help her deal with a few of them. Sometimes a gift of your time is the best gift you can give, and it costs little to nothing.
2. I ran errands with a family member and that included a stop at Target. We eyed the stuffed pumpkins at the front of the store and they were cute but I didn't buy any. Later I put out my fall decorations and they are fine. The nice thing about seasonal decorations is that since you don't see them for months at a time they feel fresh every year.
3. DH saw a few tiny ants in the basement bathroom sink. I had a Borax sugar water in a jar from years ago. I saturated a cotton wad (from a pill bottle) with the mixture and left it on the edge of the sink. Problem solved.
4. It has been a sweet few weeks where the house has been comfortable without running the heat or the A/C. That should be good for the utility bill.
5. I was near the Grocery Outlet store on Thursday and stopped in to get more RxBars while they had them. I also bought pears and onions since they were a good price.
Congratulations on adding joy to your family on multiple fronts: I'm thinking the cinnamon bread and the fresh mouse for Shelly are at the top of the list!
My contribution to family joy today: I made a fresh batch of diy hot chocolate with cinnamon this morning and green tomatoes are prepped to fry for breakfast.
That cinnamon bread is making me hungry! Looks delicious! And I'm glad Shelly's toy had a tag on it; otherwise, I would've thought it was a real dead mouse -- yuck!
Here are my frugal wins this week:
1. Maybe it's not officially "frugal," but it IS a win: yesterday, I upped my Wordle score to 90 %. Woo-hoo! This, after 400 games. I'd been stuck at 89 for almost forever. Wordle, the online word game posted by the New York Times, is free to play and lots of fun. Also mildly addictive. (Tip: There is a similar site called WordGuessr that does not limit you to one game per day. The only other difference is that the colors of the squares are different.)
2. I had a "lightbulb moment," as Oprah would say, that solved a longstanding problem. I'd bought a round metal table/plant stand at an estate sale, wanting to use it on the patio. Problem was, it was just the frame and didn't have a table top. I kept thinking I'll find a round glass top at a (discount or thrift) store... or I'll go to the glass place with the measurements and get them to cut an acrylic top for it. But I never got around to it. When I was re-arranging my kitchen in the wake of my roommate's departure, I decided to relocate the coffee maker from an old wooden buffet to the kitchen counter on "her" side of the room. In doing so, I no longer needed the old microwave turntable I'd been using as a tray. It'd been salvaged from one of those gigantic old microwaves (bought at a church garage sale for $20 and used for several years before going on the blink). In picking it up, I wondered where else I could use it. Lightbulb moment! I took it out to the garage and voila! Turns out it fit perfectly on the metal plant stand. Which is now on the covered patio next to the chaise lounger. Ready for cooler weather so I can go out there and read; now I have a good side table for my coffee or tea.
3. Also in wake of roommate's moving out, she'd left behind some food items including several boxes of opened oatmeal. Researched what to do with the oatmeal besides eating it. (She was not the cleanest of people and I didn't want to use it for food or bathing.) Turns out you can use it in your compost pile as "brown" material. So I did! (It's supposed to add iron and other good stuff into the soil.)
Bonus: in doing this research, I discovered that they've now put The Complete Tightwad Gazette by Amy Daczyczn online in pdf form. Which you can access for FREE. If you haven't read it, it's a frugal classic! Highly recommended.
4. Asked neighbors if I could put extra bags of garbage in their trash cans on trash pickup day, as mine was full and overflowing. (Result of garage cleanout.) They said yes. This saved me from being charged extra fees by the city.
5. Worked extra hours at the store when a new hire was a no-show.
@Fru-gal Lisa, great job using the microwave turntable. We have had small microwaves and I always save them as they make great cake plates. I use my salad spinner clear acrylic bowl for a top. Works great and I don’t have a cake holder hanging around. Also if I need to take something on a platter the microwave turntable works well and I don’t worry about getting it back.
@cc, One of our local thrift stores used to sell the microwave turntables. That's what inspired me to keep mine.
@Fru-gal Lisa, I use random microwave turntables under outdoor and indoor plant pots.
@Fru-gal Lisa, It's good to know TG is now immortally in pdf. Thanks for the info.
@T, Great idea!
@Bobi, Yes! I have a very dog-eared copy, and anytime I see one for sale, I snatch it up. I think I have all 3 earlier editions plus the "complete" one. I re-read it a lot. Some of the stuff is out of date, such as cheap long distance calls on your landline rotary dial phone. But other ideas are timeless. I particularly like the one where she made her little boy a robot costume for Halloween. It's one of the all-time best costume ideas ever, IMO, and anyone needing something super cute and unique should go look it up.
@cc, I use the glass turntables from dead microwaves under plants t catch the drips
My first thought on seeing that catnip mouse was that I would ALWAYS think it was a real mouse when I saw it on the floor. Because we are constantly battling mice in our house. That toy would make me jump multiple times a day. 🙂
Our big frugal thing this week was my husband taking my middle son (11 years old) elk hunting, which resulted in a huge bull elk for our freezer. (Yay, son!) Some of you may remember the last bull elk I dealt with and how displeased I was with its overwhelming musky taste. I have hopes this one won't be like that, because it was not in rut. And it didn't smell like that other one when it was being field dressed.
Anyway, we now have around 200 pounds of meat awaiting processing when I can help on Friday. And for the low, low price of an in-state hunting tag and one bullet. And a lot of time and effort on the part of my husband, who packed all 200 pounds of meat out a mile to the car on his back. (Yay, husband!)
@kristin @ going country, congratulations to your young mighty hunter and his extremely strong dad! And I'm eagerly looking forward to your reports of elk stew, elkburgers, etc.
@kristin @ going country, 200 pounds on his back!! This brings to mind something from a book I read recently, "The Comfort Crisis" by Michael Easter. Great book. Your husband is a BEAST! 😎
@kristin @ going country, Congrats!! that is fantastic. I don't mind the taste of elk meat, but have read that you can soak it in buttermilk to remove any gamey taste. Hope it helps. 🙂
@kristin @ going country, Reading this makes me hungry for elk parmesan. My dad and brother used to go out west and elk hunt when we were just kids. Always looked forward to them bringing elk meat home for elk parmesan.
@JC, If you never made it and want to try. Here's the recipe. https://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/elk-parmesan/
@kristin @ going country, would you jump if the catnip mouse weren't mouse-colored? There's nothing that says it has to be grey.
@WilliamB, A dear friend of mine makes various cat toys by hand, adding a little embroidered eye, if needed, aand sells them for $5. (Granted, I live in More-Money-Than-Sense-Dom.) She buys old coats, wool sweaters and the like, felts them, cuts them out in various shapes (I designed the whale), stuffs them with her homegrown catnip, etc. They can be any color and they're just busywork while she's doing something else.
Actually she's the same person making the jams. I even have A. Marie's merlot jelly here and I need to send it to her.
@Central Calif. Artist Jana, Well, he did it in two trips, so not quite THAT beast-like. But still. Hiking two miles with a hundred pounds, plus the trip back and the hiking for the actual hunting, is still a LOT of exertion.
@Cheryl 90, Nothing helped that last elk, but this one might be improved by a soak. We'll see!
@JC, My husband's favorite preparation for any kind of meat is fried and then covered in tomato sauce and cheese. I made something similar to your recipe with our last elk, but I called it "pizza elk." 🙂
@WilliamB, Probably not. But since I don't have an indoor cat--or any cat--it's a moot point, I guess. Although if I had one, I also probably wouldn't have so many mice . . .
Nothing I merited but frugal all the same - I was late with returning a library book and the librarions kindly did not fine me. I love my local library!
FFT, Thrifting Fun Edition (many items repeated from yesterday's FFT at the NCA, as usual):
(1) On Friday, I attended the local Cat Coalition/Feline Justice League garage sale to which I donated twice (see earlier comments). The young lady who did both of my pickups was at the cash-out table and was surprised to see me; I replied, “Hey, this is a two-way street!”
Anyway, I made out like a bandit at the sale: two handmade-in-USA baskets priced the same as the made-in-China junk (I will resell at least one of these to my young friend at the new local resale shop); a winter’s supply of votives and other small candles (I like to burn votives in the winter predawn hours–my way of praying for the state of the world, I suppose); assorted toiletries; and a box of thread that I will pass on to Ms. Bestest Neighbor, my alterations lady. Total cost = $15.
(2) Oddly enough, I didn't buy any cat toys at the CC sale--but Betty has fished one of her old toy mice out from under furniture and laid it neatly in the middle of the living room rug for me. I think I'm supposed to think she killed it, since that's what she did with the one real mouse she's killed. (Which I discovered in the darkened room at 5 am with my bare feet.)
(3) After the garage sale, I hit the Thrifty Shopper store in the same area, and found two more votives plus six skeins of yarn for the friend who’s helping me keep my next-door neighbor with the cognitive issues afloat. The friend knits like Madame Defarge in A Tale of Two Cities and is always happy to get thrifted yarn–and I’m happy to keep her happy.
(4) On Sunday, I went to the used-book sale at the local branch library near a popular annual local street fair, and again made out like a bandit. Love me these library sales.
(5) And the library let me park my purchases behind the desk while I enjoyed the street fair. I managed to soak up the atmosphere and the lovely day while not buying anything else.
@A. Marie, love the Madame DeFarge reference. I can still remember my 15 year old shock when it was revealed what she was knitting.
@A. Marie,
Your thrifting sounds like so much fun!
@Anne, @A.Marie
In the podcast Noble Blood, the Sept 18th( part 1) and Sept. 26th( part 2)told a two part story of the arsenic wife a Marie Lafarge that occurred in 1840. It is said the Dickens was familiar with the story and with a twist on the name gave his character in The Tale of Two Cities the name Madame Defarge.
@Anne, did your 10th-grade English teacher make you memorize the first paragraph of A Tale..., as mine did? I think I can still do it: "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness..."
@A. Marie, Whan that April with his showres soote
The droughte of March hath perced to the roote,
And bathed every veine in swich licour,
Of which vertu engendred is the flowr;
Whan Zephyrus eek with his sweete breethe
Inspired hath in every holt and heethe & cetera
Still not sure why I had to memorize the opening lines, and then recite them aloud in college. And freaking Middle English is so freaking annoying to pronounce. HATH PIERC-ED TO THE ROOT-EH? I'LL PIERCE YOU TO THE ROOT-EH.
@A. Marie, I don't believe we were required to memorize it, but I'm sure she elaborated on it and I have heard it quoted hundreds of times over my long life. I believe teach's name was Adrian Manassi. Why am I remembering that?
As always, a less than frugal week here. But today I noticed that the overlay on another of my bras is coming apart, as well as a seam on a washcloth, so I will pull my machine out and fix those up. Buying groceries in person with an eye to healthy foods and marked down meats to freeze. Stopping by UPS for an Amazon return of some things I ordered for my mom that came the day before her funeral. ): Going to a Great Clips later for a long overdue haircut and will scout out a coupon for it. Will work off some energy later by mowing my grass myself as we are going to get rain tomorrow. Will to use the free carwash vac to clean out my car while I'm doing said errands. And lastly, calling my insurance agent to go over the new bundled auto/home policies on which I am saving over 3K.
I usually donate old socks, but lately I think I should find uses for them!
@Gina from The Cannary Family, I’m sorry about your mother. It’s hard to do these type of things when there’s so many other things going on. I returned some parts my brother had ordered. It wasn’t that much money but I honestly didn’t know what to do with them other than put them in the trash.
@Gina from The Cannary Family, Speaking from experience, this is a good time to give yourself grace. It's why we're frugal most of the time - to deal with the times we can't or don't want to be.
I sew cherry pit bags similar to your rice sock that I use hot (microwave) or cold (freezer). I bought a 40 lb bag of pits years ago, and I'm still working my way through it, as each bag I make has about 1.5 lb of pits in it. I have used mine a lot lately on my sprained ankle (hot) and pulled calf muscle (cold).
FFT:
- Roasted some potatoes that were starting to go soft.
- I decided that wearing heals to the wedding DH is officiating next weekend is out of the question with my sprained ankle. I found a pair of sparkly flats to wear that were on sale and had free shipping. Hopefully I can wear them for holiday parties as well.
- Made a large pot of soup that we ate on Saturday and Sunday, so we resisted the urge to get take-out over the weekend.
- Purchased eye cream when it was on sale for 20% off.
- Planned meals around what was in the pantry and freezer.
@Beverly, why did you buy 40 lbs. of cherry pits??
And great decision on not wearing heels with a sprained ankle!
@Central Calif. Artist Jana, I think cherry pits are only sold in quantity. They DO hold heat longer than rice or other fillings so it's a good choice.
@Cynthia, are there other uses? Because 40# is so much!
@Central Calif. Artist Jana, Some people use them decoratively, to make wreaths and such, or so I've read.
@Central Calif. Artist Jana,
I did the math. 40 lbs at approximately 1.5 lbs per warming bag only makes about 26 bags, so you could easily get through 40 lbs if you were making Christmas gifts or something.
It feels like less of a frugal week with some home organizing purchases that I hope I don't regret.
1. Waited until the first of the month to grocery shop as to try to stick within the budget. I get wooed with the dates close to the first of the month to stock up, but the sales on some items weren't things that were worth it. While I spent more than intended, and have purchased things at several stores over the last few days, I am still within the months budget (so far).
2. Purchased the more inexpensive clothing baskets to try a new method of laundry sorting. Saved $12 over the baskets the person who inspired me uses, but those work with her system, and mine will hopefully work with mine.
3. Purchased two baskets from HomeGoods for my tv stand. Saved $5/basket over the similar baskets at Target. (I do realize that spending money is not saving money, but sometimes sanity and the goal of peace is worthwhile :))
4. Didn't spend the entirety of my gas budget last month. Those funds will go to a longer trip I have coming this month, and I will hopefully stay within the combined funds for October.
5. -Saved on photo shipping by combining a purchase with a friend. Have been wanting to print several photos, so I was able to do so for a reasonable amount.
-Split a CSA with the same friend. It costs a decent amount now, but will hopefully save me grocery budget money over the winter, is cheaper than an entire share myself, and means less produce goes to waste for both of us.
- Rolled over a race fee for next year instead of just not going. Future ElbowGrease will be pleased to not purchase entry, and will hopefully be able to participate.
I love those mice. I gifted them to a friend's cat that gets excited to see me and he loved them!
My frugal win this week would be not buying the $999 painting I saw/ loved at CB2!!!
Here's the painting-
https://havenly.com/products/details/River-Rocks-Framed-Acrylic-Painting-Reproduction-by-Jeffrey-Fitzgerald-31-x41-RESTOCK-in-late-August-2023-CB2-118118555
@Farhana, Dude. Buy an original for not much more. Most galleries let you pay over time, too.
https://bowersockgallery.com/artist-works.php?artistId=315484&artist=Jeffrey+Fitzgerald&page=2
@Farhana, Lovely painting
1. We borrowed books and games from our local library.
2. We also picked up some free craft kits at the library.
3. My child used our zoo pass to go with some friends.
4. We didn't buy any new fall or Halloween decor.
5. We fixed some blinds. They'll need to get replaced sooner rather than later, but they're functional (at least for now).
1. I have a gift card for going out to eat from July from my birthday. I have yet to use it as when I want to, I try to talk myself out of it by eating things at home. I am taking my goddaughter out to eat for her birthday and shopping for her gift, so maybe I'll use it that day....
2. I donated blood recently. Sometimes they have giveaways from local businesses as a thank you. This time I got a tshirt and a free mum.
3. My oldest daughter was gifted a grocery bag of green beans from a coworker. She shared some with us. I used some for a dinner one night and froze the rest for future meals. I got 3 bags for later.
4. We hosted a football party a week ago. One guest left me with extra jellies and grapes from the charcuterie board she made. I've been eating them up.
5. I placed an order for the free COVID tests online.
6. My work was gifted a bunch of puzzles from someone in the community. I took pictures of them and showed my daughters who love doing puzzles. I ended up taking 7 puzzles home for them to enjoy.
@Gina, just got our free Covid tests on mail & THEY ARE ALL EXPIRED! DATES FROM JUNE 2023. So much for sending new replacements.
@Regina,
They are finding that the initial expiration dates were too conservative. Ones from June should still be good for some months. There are several websites you can go to to find out what the new dates are.
Ohh, that bread looks so good!
1. Biggest win: I got my daughter a 5$ snowsuit on Fb marketplace. It has a tiny little hole that will be easily fixed. Hurrah! New--and even many used--snowsuits cost way too much.
2. We went apple-picking this weekend. With costs rising, I'd say that it cost as much as a restaurant meal for us, but it provided hours of entertainment and 25 lbs of apples.
3. I finally bought a pair of scrubs. I've come to dislike providing my own "business casual" work clothes for clinic and using ill-fitting hospital scrubs for inpatient work. Having my own scrubs means that I can basically stop buying work clothes. Yay!
4. When I bought my scrubs, in a fit of spendiness I ordered to have them monogrammed with my name. Alas, the system glitched and ordered me the plain scrubs. Turns out, the more frugal choice was better, since my union gave me a free lanyard with my name on it.
5. Got a frozen pizza instead of takeout on a busy night. Fed the three of us for the cost of one takeout sandwich; definitely worth it!
Five non frugal things:
After complaining yesterday about my Alessi flatware, I went on eBay, saw someone selling four place settings for about what I paid in 2000, new and unused, so I snapped them up.
Bought a black dress for my mom's future funeral. I have plenty of black dresses but they look like sacks on me now. Nagged Daughter to get decent dress.
Paid the handyman to cut up two washers and a dryer out of a closet. (Not sure if I mentioned this before, I'm very scatterbrained lately.) Could not be removed whole as they don't fit through the closet door. Now there's much more room.
Bought a few things to decorate the cottage with. Decided to prioritize my own happiness and rent just for the summer, so friends and relatives can enjoy it off season.
Purchased discounted gift cards off FB Marketplace for a massage. I guess that sounds suspiciously frugal, but there's nothing frugal about the local spa.
@Rose, I had to reread the sentence about two washers and a dryer being almost walled up in a closet, and it still didn't make any sense. But, it would make for a hilarious, semi-scary, tongue-in-cheek movie about a mad laundress who kidnaps appliances and keeps them prisoner in her ancient, wooden house.
(This site is good for so much more than frugal hacks.)
@Anne, It makes no sense whatsoever. It's not as if there's a hookup in there or anything. Yet another inexplicable thing about this house. They'd been there since we bought the place, so almost 25 years now. I'm glad I finally got around to having them removed.
I picked up some new coffee creamer to try and I did not like it at all. I tried to muscle through but I started to dread my morning cup of coffee. Instead of throwing it out I decided to make a Dutch Baby for breakfast on Saturday morning. The recipe used most of the creamer and as a bonus I was also able to use some of the eggs that were getting close to past their prime. I topped the Dutch Baby with a super yummy cinnamon apple topping using the abundance of apples we have been receiving in our CSA.
I took home a huge unopened container of feta from a work meeting over the weekend. I portioned it out it and popped it in the freezer.
I experimented with propagating basil this summer and I have a few plants thriving on my deck. One of my coworkers mentioned that her basil plant was looking a little brown and she was sure it was done for the year so I brought her one of my plants – propagating was more “for fun” for me and I know she likes to use fresh basil more than I do. I also showed her how I was able to get so many plants just in case she wants to try it out.
Saturday night my husband and I watched a movie that I picked up from the library this weekend. We had homemade leek and potato soup for dinner along with homemade focaccia bread. Dinner and a movie, without the price tag.
A few months ago I started a crochet project that I ended up hating. I took it apart and
rewound the yarn. This weekend I scoured some craft books for a new project using the same type of yarn that I might like better. I found one that has promise and got started. So far, I’m enjoying this project much more AND it could even turn into a lovely Christmas gift.
@Geneva, I started propagating my basil this summer and it was definitely a (cheap) thrill! (I'm easily amused)
1.Yesterday I was the only one in my office - everyone else was playing in a charity golf tournament and our interns were in classes. I had already scheduled my car's oil change for yesterday so I used the free ride service to get to my work then back to my car.
2. At my oil change they saw a headlight low-beam bulb was out. I declined the offer to supply and install one for me and bought one at Advanced Auto after I got home and installed it myself, saving over $8. Both headlight bulbs are easy to replace, thankfully. I once had a car that the the entire headlight assembly had to be removed to replace a bulb, which is NOT frugal.
3. I ended up staying at work quite a bit longer than I thought I would, and I hadn't brought my lunch. I left work at 3 and decided to use some reward points at Firehouse that I earned somehow even though I almost never eat out. Their system couldn't find my claimed points that my mobile app confirmed I had just used, and after three attempts, the manager let me have my sandwich for free. I already had a (free) drink from work with me, so my lunch cost was $0.00.
4. I'm keeping my fingers crossed on my fall garden and happy to see the green beans have already sprouted.
5. Now, the big one: my roof with 30 year shingles is almost 24 years old and I planned to replace it in 2 years as it had remained tight till now. The hurricane knocked a number of shingles off, though, plus, I knew they were getting brittle, as evidenced by the ones I picked up in the yard. My insurance denied a new roof and would only allow replacing the missing shingles even though my roof didn't meet current code and was compromised by the storm. The cost they figured for repairs would, of course, be less than my hurricane deductible, so I would pay for all the repair. My roofer wrote a polite, well-reasoned and well-written email to Claims to say why I should be getting a new roof, and I spoke to the adjuster on the phone as well. The appeal was denied. When the adjuster called to tell me the appeal was denied, I asked him to consider that the hurricane has pushed up my replacement time-line and it made no sense to repair such an old roof. I added that I didn't make a hurricane happen just so I could get help paying for a new roof. Whatever the reason, I got a call yesterday, telling me that I WILL get assistance for an entire new roof (less my hurricane deductible, of course) and they put the majority of the money they were allotting in my account already. The rest will come when the contractor completes the work.
@JD, hurray for your #5 in particular! Politeness and persistence for the win.
Hello Frugal Girl Community,
I asked this yesterday on Nonconsumer Advocate, and A. Marie kindly responded with her feedback on her service with them. I have a question for you all. Is anyone a customer of Consumer Cellular for their cellphone service? We are thinking of joining as we can get a good deal through AARP. Currently we have At&T which is sky-high. Any feedback regarding CC's service, or, if you switched from another service, how the experience of switching over was for you, would be appreciated. Clark Howard's website gave them a good rating but I would still be grateful to hear of anyone's experience.
Thanks!
@Valee, I am also trying to figure out how to dump AT&T. It is virtually impossible to ever reach a human when one needs assistance, a great irony considering they are a communications company.
@Central Calif. Artist Jana,
I was wondering if Consumer Cellular would help with the dumping aspect. I haven't tried getting in touch with AT&T yet, but mostly because I have to make sure my hubby is okay with switching. You would think saving over $50 a month would make it easy choice, but there are times when we all don't want to change something just because of the hassle of it.
@Valee, it took me 6 weeks of working with both AT&T and Spectrum to keep the phone # I'd had for 17 years. Everyone is Sweetness & Light when selling, but when it comes to actually helping execute the terms of the sale, no one knows a thing. It was the "porting" of a number that seemed to be the black hole of ignorance. So, like your husband, I am fighting an internal battle of Is It Worth The Trouble, but like you, the savings is very appealing.
@Valee, My husband has both his smartphone and our son's flip phone with Consumer Cellular. They are easy to call and talk to, and the phones really do come ready to use. The phones also have pretty good service out here in the hinterlands. For people like us who actually hate cell phones and want as little to do with them as possible, they seem to be a good company. 🙂
Great idea on the rice sock! I have heating bag made of wheat kernels, and it gives off a nice toasty smell when heated.
This week our car gave us trouble as well as the electrical systems conked out. We replaced the old battery that had had some corrosion, and promptly took it to the store where we bought the new battery to get a small refund.
Our son had been looking into buying a used car from a neighbor. We encouraged him to have it checked out by a mechanic before purchasing. Fortunate for his bank account but unfortunate for the car, it turned out to have some major issues that would have significantly lowered the value and caused some headaches. Instead, he bought a new bike 🙂
Ordered some household goods like cleaning supplies by shipping from Target. Figured there was fewer chances of impulse buying when not stepping into the store. Minus side is that you also see more deals online and I won't say I didn't take advantage of one, so in one way you can call it impulse buying...
Went to a street market with fun crafts and vintage clothes, but decided not to buy anything but food and some inexpensive art cards. I like to keep a stash of cards in my stationary, which are nicer to send than more expensive Hallmark cards.
My younger son has a habit of losing or breaking his phones (two in the last year). Instead of buying a new one, we gave my husband's old phone for him to use for now. He had also gone without a phone for a while, so this was not an immediate replacement of the old one.
Plus, shopped at Whole Foods as we happened to be near one when we needed groceries, but managed to come out with only the items we needed and are good buys at WF, rather than falling for some of their yummy displays.
Good day All, we are finally enjoying some lovely Fall weather here in Northern Calif. Love the cool nights... Five frugal things: 1. Our entire office moved a few weeks ago. Been brownbagging lunch every day! So much healthier and frugal! 2. I bring coffee from home each day or just make hot tea when I get to office. 3. Got my my free flu shot at Costco. 4. Been cooking using up freezer and pantry items. 5. My dog has been sick so it warrants a vet visit (def NOT frugal!) but otherwise I’ve been staying home the past 3 days so No Spend plus saving gas is a rational thought for me. Plus so sad to see my girl sick. I will just have to bite the bullet and be glad I am able to set aside funds for when we do have to see the vet.
1. I used gift cards from Verizon Up to save $20 off a 30oz Yeti. Every month, Verizon will usually pop a gift card into the Verizon Up and you have to claim them. A month or two ago, they had $5 to Cabelas and Bass Pro Shops. Between my boyfriend and myself, we were able to claim both cards for a total of $20.
2. I was able to get a 2024 desk calendar using Amazon gift cards that I had in my account. No money out of pocket.
3. I used the library to get October's book club selection and the latest Thursday Murder Club mystery. I also picked up a puzzle from the puzzle exchange and some National Geographics from the "expired magazines" pile. I adore my library.
4. Cashed out my Upside money to go straight to savings. Only about $20, but every little bit helps.
5. Did a lot of "nots." I did not go into Goodwill. I did not sign up for gym classes (the gym is free, the classes are not). I did not get Starbucks. I did not go out for lunch. I did not buy new gel sparkle pens. It feels like a negative thing - all these "nots"- but it is a positive thing!
@Angel, I appreciate your list of "nots". I always have trouble coming up with frugal wins. But the best ones are always "nots". Those negatives are super POSITIVE.
This week I tried to stay diligent:
1. I wanted to eat out more because I was tired but meal planning and buying the right amount of groceries helped to give options and we ended up eating in.
2. I used up some spinach and parsley that were going to go bad in a spanikopita and now I'm enjoying the left overs. Did the same with some zucchini that was starting to go soft. Didn't feel like cooking either but did both anyway.
3. Received a notice that the price of the kids' art classes was going up. Paid for a stack of classes in advance at the lower price and then realized the sibling discount hadn't been applied. I emailed them and got about $85 back. Not bad for the price of a quick email.
4. Pulled out the cute decorative pumpkins I had bought last winter after Thanksgiving at a steep discount. My daughters were both delighted by them when they saw them. It was really cute and their delight delighted us. They're 10 & 12 so the wonder of childhood doesn't show up as often as it used to. Last year I hesitated buying them because I'm an underbuyer and I'm trying to reduce the amount of clutter and STUFF but it turns out these were worth every penny.
5. I went to the grocery store and was in a rush and forgot to hand the cashier the coupons that the store had mailed me (they're customized based on my buying habits). There was no line so I went back to the cashier and apologized profusely for my mistake and asked if he could apply them. He said it was no problem so he scanned the coupons and handed me the $5.15 in cash instead of re-doing the whole receipt. Old me would have said 'forget it-too much hassle.'
@CrunchyCake, my real self is "forget-it-too-much-hassle", but this blog helps me fight that instinct. Good for you for spurring us on. . .
1. I took care of my neighbors chickens while they were away and have some really wonderful eggs to enjoy - 18 to be exact. Plus I love the chickens. Their sounds when they see me coming bring me lots of happiness.
2. I spoke with the same neighbor and will go in with him 50% as he is going to add to his flock. I will get eggs and chickens I can name...Gertrude, Gloria, Harriet, and Betty are all on my list so far and I can spoil them with loveliness from my garden/table scraps. I can't have chickens in our yard because if Lacie sees a chicken the KFC sign flashes in her head and the pursuit begins.
3. I made a huge batch of homemade granola. Far tastier & cheaper than store bought plus SO healthy for you!
4. I washed and waxed my car at home rather than paying someone else to clean it. I had all the supplies on hand and the task gave me a bit of a workout plus I got a sunshine bath.
5. Cooked at home, made coffee at home. Enjoyed both immensely.
1. Designed the 2024 calendar (I make one to sell every year) and am waiting to order until the printing company issues a coupon for free shipping
2. Someone gave us a weird tool kit for making shakes (for roofing) and I found the right person to pass it to.
3. My cabin neighbor brought me some fantastic Fuji apples from her home tree and I taught her how to build fires in the wood cook stove of the cabin she was staying in.
4. The terrible road to our cabin causes people to lose hubcaps; I am now looking for owners of 2 of those hubcaps, rather than putting them in the trash.
5. Crocs in my size and go-to color (navy) were almost half price so I bought a back-up pair. I really burn through those shoes—wearing them almost everywhere makes the soles so thin that every sharp rock (or goatheads) poke right through.
@Central Calif. Artist Jana, Ha! The Cross-Bronx Expressway, regularly voted the worst highway in America, tends to be littered, seriously, with hubcaps on the side. I hate it so much, but take perverse pride in how horrible it is.
And not one person is discussing: Is the skirt actually blue or gray? since it looks like both in the pictures! 🙂
Your rice socks reminded me of my car socks. I have a lot of trouble with interior car humidity. It always seems to take my defrosters (front & back) so long to defog my windows, then I read a hack about filling socks with silica gel (the little balls that come packed with medicine and shoes and is also used for drying flowers.) Anyway, just fill socks with silica gel and leave them in your rear window and/or on dashboard. They do a great job of keeping the humidity down in your car, especially in humid areas.
@Bobi,
I had never heard that sock/silica trick! My car is often humid, so I'm going to try this.
@Bobi, I am so glad you asked. I was wondering too, but did not want to get caught up in another black/blue or gold/white controversy. (I'm assuming the lighting is affecting the color, but that's a real difference in tones.).
Some frugal things:
-I called hospital billing about two bills that seemed a little high, they said they definitely were, and applied the appropriate 70% (!) discount to them.
-I bought some clothes at our local thrift store for my toddler and expected baby girl, always a great deal for $1 each.
-I did some serious decluttering and realized that a few things I’d been tempted to buy more of were simply hidden.
-My Oxo electric kettle had a melt/short situational, so I made a warranty claim and received a new one only a few days later.
1.) Eating from the freezer and limiting our food purchases. Unfortunately because of inflation worries and general stress I got into stock up mode.
2.) Speaking of stocking up I put some carrots in the freezer for making chicken stock. They were still fine for stock but not so great for just regular eating.
3.) Got a bit fed up with my Amazon Firestick acting up, locking up etc. so I ended up replacing it with a $20 streaming device from Walmart (Onn brand.) It gets a lot of good reviews and is easily modified to hide all the homescreen ads.
That's about all.
@Battra92, you're not alone in the inflation worries and stocking up. Or in the quest to eat down some of the stores. I find it's a fine balance between having a little extra and feeling like I have lost myself in the worry.
1. Renewed annual TIME magazine subscription for our nephew for just $25/year and also renewed our own for the same discounted rate. This is half of what we paid last year.
2. Received coupon in the mail for a free car wash at the new place in town.
3. Noticed at the grocery store check-out that the small parmesan cheese wedge I chose was $13. Wowzer. Had them remove it from my bill. The next day I was at another store and found a huge wedge for $8 – still a lot of money but not as eye-popping.
4. Invested in a new pantry shelving unit for our temporary apartment. Repurposed a small closet for it. It’s a versatile unit so I’m sure we’ll have a place for it somewhere in our next home if it can’t be a pantry.
5. Repurposed glass jars that once held store-bought peaches into nice pantry jars. Painted the tops black to make them prettier and used my trusty label-maker to finish this OCD-satisfying project.
1. Hubby and I slept at our daughter's house instead of getting a hotel room. Attended her FIL's memorial service. Brought food and drinks for the drive both ways. Was given leftovers and a mum plant to take home. Our SIL offered us his dad's inversion table. Hubby has wanted one for a while so we happily took it. They also sent us home with 2 boxes of cereal that they got in a grocery order that they did not order. Our youngest watched our dog while we were gone.
2. Paid extra to the mortgage.
3. Paid a medical bill by phone. If I mailed it I would have used a stamp. If I did it by computer there was a $3 service fee. Calling it in was $0 extra.
4. Figs are going crazy. We are all eating them and sharing with friends and neighbors.
5. Been decluttering and cleaning out drawers and closets since it has been raining so much. Hubby had put hair gel on the shopping list. I found several open bottles. I don't know how this happens.
Those little mice are the only toy my cat plays with. He LOVES them. He mostly loves to shove them under the dryer or fridge and then scream for me to get them back out haha
I'm being less unfrugal by not buying many new things for my new house, having spent to make some non-trivial cosmetic changes before I moved in - the original fireplace mantle was a horror! I haven't bought any new rugs, furniture, art, bedding, etc., even though my new home is close to twice the size of my old home.[1] I'm hoping to get existing glass tabletops recut; possible with regular glass, not with tempered glass.
I'm eating out less and eating more produce than when we first moved. I'm not sure how much money that's saving me though, since I'm buying at the farmer's market. I bought a lot of seconds this time around, including worm-damaged corn. I still haven't started cooking.
I have my new library card.
I did something wonderfully frugal and I can't remember what, all I remember is thinking "I need to remember this for FG". I'll probably remember right after I hit "comment."
[1] Keeping it honest - I saw something on my trip to Quebec that I still might get, even though it's quite expensive. I'd be thinking about if even if I hadn't moved so that doesn't count as furnishing the new house per se.
And I remembered what it was, about 90 seconds later.
I unintentionally made friends with the plumber. He now either doesn't charge us for the small things (like the 10 minutes unhooking some sink fixtures when he was here anyway), or finds a way to charge us less (pointing out a fix would be covered by the insurance plan and the plan cost less than the fix). Protip: young men still really like customers who feed them homebaked treats when they make service calls.
FFT-
1. I was gifted some produce from our next door neighbors who left on vacation for 10 days. Yay for free food.
2. I made banana bread out of the soon to be too-far-gone bananas.
3. I ordered the free Covid tests.
4. I re-organized our pantry finally. It’s necessary every 3 months usually so that nothing gets lost in the very back of “no man’s land”.
5. I had a couple of days where I really, really wanted to swing into some stores & mindlessly shop. I resisted since I don’t need anything new right now. Plus I really don’t like to shop normally. Not sure why I even felt the urge.
(1) There is an election where I live today. My mother always worked them when I was growing up. In speaking with one of my children this afternoon she mentioned reminiscing with her sister how many elections they worked while at university.
My mother also worked at the post office sorting mail during the Christmas season.
(2) I went to pick up a flash food produce box, but someone else had accidentally taken it. I thought I’d have to go in the app for a refund but the fellow at the service desk phoned the produce department. The nice young man in produce looked at the photo of the box and recreated it for me from regular produce. He then showed it to me and mentioned he threw in some extras for my inconvenience.
(3)Family members use our address( someone always home and a sheltered front entry) for deliveries. One person forgot to cancel their Hello Fresh box but said to keep it.
We were under the weather and it was appreciated.
(4) While under the weather watched a number of free streaming services. Reached my limit on a series for September on Hoopla, went into the library site and ordered the second season on DVD.
(5) Started watching season 9 of Father Brown on Kanopy. I just let it continue to automatically move to the next episode and watched 6 episodes for my last remaining Kanopy credit for September.
1. I made more sundried tomatoes from my garden. I also made more pickled beans from my garden. I pickled some leftover carrots too. Homemade pickled carrots are my new obsession.
2. I made chicken soup using chicken carcasses. For the stock I made vegetable stock using vegetable peels/scraps I had frozen. The soup fed my husband and I 2 nights for dinner.
3. I picked a huge bag of Asian pears. Someone on my Buy Nothing group was offering to pick them in their back yard! They will be eaten raw and also made into pear sauce.
4. We took the kids to a free tour of our local rock quarry. It incuded ice cream, cider, donuts, tours, and other events for kids. We had alot of fun.
5. We have decided to redo our back deck and add a hot tub and kitchen area. I opened a credit card that will give us $600 back. We will use the credit card to pay for the hot tub and pay the bill off immediately. We dug the landing for the hot tub ourselves and added the crushed stone. My husband is putting in the Trex decking, which cost $1200 only. Someone off Facebook picked up all the old decking, which saved on disposal fees. My husband ordered the kitchen online and will build it once it gets here. The hot tub and kitchen are not necessities, but we saved a ton of money doing most of it ourselves.
JOY is VERY important!
Need to check to see why I'm not getting your notifications of new posts because just checked at 9pm to see what you did today.
Five frugal things---
1. Bought groceries last week ($1]0/store) & did not amount to much, but picked up 2 Sam's club rotisserie chicken & 2 pumpkin pie. After eating for dinner took all the meat off both chickens & froze (shredded & chicken breast in individual bags to pull out for sandwiches/main course. NO CHICKEN WASTE OR THROWN AWAY. Also picked up 2 multi package of clearance extra absorbent napkins. We are good for awhile.
2. Found more items to return (Meijer) that did not end up using. $9 for large roll reusable shelf liner then found 2 pack same shelf liner $4. Bought extra to do all cupboards/shelves.
3. Got spray paint out (teen picked color) & repainted MSU drink holder (yard) & flag stand got at yard sales. They look almost new again.
4. Ordered Lilly plant Lego & got free Halloween lego with purchase. Teen still enjoys building Legos AND have some nice adult sets.
5. Found some new reusable my 31 snack bags 2 for $10 & $3.99 shipping (first buyer from that vendor). Shipping price did not adjust (from normal $7.o7 flat rate shipping). I filed problems/inquiry immediately & was issued credit (instead of partial refund to my credit card). Looking forward to snack bags.
6. Only ate out once (yesterday) using Subway coupon (3 footlong subs $17.99) . The local high school/college kids work & are very accommodating for my teen (container) pickles on side so I always give $1 tip. Teen studying for mid term exam & I was exhausted.
Otherwise ate at home/freezer.
7. Stayed home & walked locally if needed to go anywhere. Gas went up $3.49 to $3.79 (again).
8. Went to dentist & got front tooth filled $25. Still coughing lots from Bronchitis & Phenomena so only did that tooth. Will go this month to do 2 small fillings next to each other.
Nice skirt!
* Hubby wanted to replace our defective bread machine but not pay full price. I asked many times on my Buy Nothing group, to no avail. But a member spotted one at the thrift store and sent me the infos. I got the machine for 5$ (using a 20% off coupon too), tried it out and, yay, it works 🙂
* With my quick weight loss comes too big clothes fast, so I'm very happy to be able to dig into my preciously 'too small' bags of clothes received on my Buy Nothing group while I'm losing instead of having to pay and then replace clothes before being at goal weight. Already lost a size ij the last 3 weeks, yay!
* Sticking to bare bones grocery budget this month, using up what we already have on hands. Pantry and chest freezer are full, that will be easy.
* trying (I have teenagers so the word here really is "trying "!) to shut the lights whenever we don't use them. No need for lights on in the kitchen while we are in the living room, right?
* Very warm day today but I resisted putting the AC on.
* The sole of my cheap sandal has a hole. I just want to be able ti finish this season with them so duck tape it is! Not apparent when I'm wearing them
The first picture the skirt is definitely blue all the rest of the pictures the skirt is grey. What is the true color?
Love your mending skills.
The gray is most accurate!
I also made swirl bread this week, but mine did not turn out nearly as perfect looking as yours! Well done!
Also, great tip on the free flat tires fixes -- I had no idea.
I'm late getting up my own frugal wins, but I had a good reason!
https://www.toloveandtolearn.com/2023/10/04/weekly-frugal-wins-pitching-for-gold-more-land/
I shopped my closet to find something suitable for a wedding we’re attending this weekend. And I do have a nice dress so no need to buy a new one.
It’s my birthday month so I’m redeeming a few freebies or special discounts on items I use or desire.
I hemmed 2 pairs of dressy pants that I could have been wearing if they hadn’t been so long. Glad to have them as options now.
Used a senior discount on a basic haircut. Glad to have that done.
I’ve made two batches of chicken soup this week( starting last weekend) in hopes we would all find some relief from seasonal allergies. Our grocery bill was much less than usual.
I love those Slime air pumps!! I bought two after you recommended it (one for each car) and it's already come in handy 2-3 times 🙂 So thank you!!
Such lovely weather in my area and things that have been put off for years is now making it time to get it done. Like, tree trimming....
1) Two trees needed a haircut. In a major way. I got a group out for a quote and at $1150, it was a no-go. The second group wanted $400. They got hired. Savings-$750
2) We purchased a 1/4 cow last September and paid $5/lb for various steaks/roasts/ground, etc. We still have a ways to go before getting thru all of it. Maybe another 6 months?
3) Our oldest had 2 smoke detectors in need of new batteries. He called us for a ladder so he wouldn't have to buy his own or call a handyman. Savings- $100
4) I purchased pie pumpkin seeds from ebay and planted in the spring. So far, 11 pumpkins are growing nicely. I cooked one and made muffins. I'll pick more this weekend. The stores are selling pie pumpkins for $5 each. I paid $2.29 for 15 seeds. I planted half. Savings- $50 +
5) We purchased 2 concrete repair kits for the driveway and completed half the work ourselves. The rest will be done this weekend. A contractor wanted $500 to do the repair. Savings- $470