Five Frugal Things | some travel frugalities

I’m the most frugal person. I bought my wedding dress at the community aid and spent less than 500 on my wedding and it was a nice wedding plenty of food.

A doctor who lives in my neighborhood is retiring and closing up shop. His wife had a bunch of office supplies up for grabs on our neighborhood facebook group. I scooped up a bunch of highlighters, pens, and pencils. When I told her that I was a teacher and all these would go to my students, she also gave me a huge pile of colored printer paper. Colored printer paper is such a luxury for teachers. And any paper that I don’t have to ask my school for is always a bonus! We are a month in to the school year and I’ve barely dented the amount of pencils that she gave me. My school is majority low income and kids often don’t have the basics. So this was such a gift. I shared the vast amount of pens with my community schools coordinator for their Forms Fill Out Night and THEN… She got 80 hot dogs donated to our school’s band program for our big outdoor concert at the end of October! We are all helping each other make our school the best for everyone.

I also went garage sale wondering with a friend a couple of weeks ago and picked up a replica green glass library table lamp for $5. Works great!

I’ve been working through my UFOs… un-finished objects… projects. I went over to a friend’s house for a crafting day and I worked on a crochet shawl while she worked on Halloween crafts.

Canned a bunch of homegrown tomatoes! And made homemade pizza… with your pizza dough recipe. :) posted it on instagram a week or so ago. :)

We reuse clothes for occasions and themed days too!

My Frugal 5s+ ~ Did reverse meal planning so we've been cooking from home and slowing going through food we already had. Held off going to the grocery store to restock for 2 weeks. Will bring homemade cornbread to the potluck this Sunday. - Used less utilities last month, particularly the last couple weeks since it's been cooler and we're down 1 person in the household. Also used the toaster to heat up bread instead of the oven. ~ Got free lunch and I brought home a package of muffins, a couple raisin cookies and a bowl of cherry tomatoes from the food pantry after my day of volunteering. My girls loved eating the muffins as an after school snack. ~ Mended clothing with ripped seams and small holes. ~ Rewore clothes a few times a week, especially when it's cooler and we haven't been out much. ~ Girls wore clothes they already had for Hawaiian theme day at school. My youngest, who's 7, wore a toddler dress as her shirt. ~ Bid and brought off eBay, for the lowest price I could find online - winter gear coats and snow boots; games as future gifts; and my bible study book. Got a pair of boots for my middle girl from Facebook Marketplace. ~ Left vehicles out in the rain this week for a free semi car wash. ~ Did free at home entertainment with things we already had: read books; watched holiday themed movies; played games, played with toys; draw and craft. ~ Fixed broken toys. ~ Borrowed books from the library and my bible study book through there and Libby. ~ Will go through educational materials we already have at home with my youngest since she needs the extra practice. ~ Took the girls to the start of bi-weekly art classes at the library and sign my youngest up for their monthly lego club. Will be doing a lot more library events these upcoming months.

I love what you did with the Duplo.

I'm so intrigued by the whole Fincon thing and all the stuff surrounding blogging. It's like a whole underground world I never heard of. And how nice you were able to say with, was it a blogging friend?, for free. We all learned a bit by traveling saving tips. Thanks for sharing. And I've never heard of a Goodwill bin store. I'll have to Google that. Here's my fft --

I have the cutest 2025 wall calendar that I got at Dollar Tree last year. Each month has a positive expression and the art is adorable. So I got a 12x12 frame for 50% off at Hobby Lobby to display them. The pages all fit inside the frame so I can store them and switch out the art as I want. I've already hung it up.

I froze half of a batch of crockpot chicken burrito filling to use later.

I repaired a rip in one of my favorite pairs of summer pants so they're wearable again. I also used iron-on patches to fix holes in pockets of a pair of my husband's cargo shorts. They were rubbed thread-bare by keys he carries.

I stocked up on Walmart's Great Value English muffins, buying 3 pkgs. for the freezer. They are about half the price ($1.62 per pkg.) of most name brand English muffins and they're just as good. I use some of them to make breakfast sandwiches and freeze them. They sell out a lot, so when I see them, I get them

My husband and son cringe but I love steak sauce with my steak! I've been out, steak and was appalled that it now runs $4.29 for a 10 oz bottle! Then I saw a discontinued sticker on the shelf at Kroger for Texas Roadhouse steak sauce for $2.62 a bottle. Of course they were all pushed to the back of the shelf. where no one could see them and there was no one to help me. I used a stocker's step stool that was in the aisle to reach 2 bottles for me and pulled a few more forward. They have 2027 expiration dates. When I use these up, I'll make my own.