Five Frugal Things | Starting with a veggie bowl
1. I made a use-it-up lunch bowl
I cut the bad spots out of two peppers and sautéed them with the last of a red onion.
Then I added a sweet potato from Hungry Harvest and some black beans (the beans were free because there were extras at the food pantry)
I finished it off with a fried egg, some cilantro, and some leftover sauce from when I made these chipotle kebabs.
10/10, would recommend.
2. I buzzed Zoe's undercut myself
This was before I replaced the broken blade on our buzzer with one from eBay
I usually buzz it here at home unless she's getting an actual haircut. But last month, we took her to a shop to get the undercut buzzed + a simple design in the undercut.
And um, whoa, it was expensive! Like as much as a whole haircut.
So now I am feeling very frugal when I buzz her undercut myself.
3. I sold a camera charger, lickety-split
During last week's decluttering, I found an old point-and-shoot camera battery charger. I kinda doubted these were still selling on eBay, but I checked, and lo and behold, they were.
Mine sold less than 24 hours after I listed it!
$7 in my pocket, less clutter in my house, plus I know the charger is going to a home where it will be used.
Win, win, win.
(Whenever possible, I like to declutter without creating trash.)
Luckily, I had saved a small padded envelope in my stash, and it was perfect for shipping the charger.
4. I timed my bread to use the oven while it was hot
Sonia requested beef au jus sandwiches, which we usually eat on homemade French bread.
A lot of the electricity required to heat an oven comes from the initial heating phase, so I timed my bread to be ready to bake when the beef came out of the oven.
Might as well make good use of the heat!
Oh, and I threw in a huge foil-wrapped sweet potato as well.
5. I...
- made my own chia drinks, which are 75% cheaper than the bottled ones
- filled up on gas while I was near BJ's
- bought a bunch of $0.99 cherries at Aldi
- ate lots of oatmeal topped with bruised peaches
- got another Local Flavor voucher for a date night
Kristin, this may be a dumb question, but what do you do about shipping for the things you sell on eBay? Do you go to the post office for each one or has it been worth it for you to invest in a scale and postage machine? I’d like to sell our used homeschool curricula, but can’t fathom dragging three young kids with me to the post office every time I need to send something by out.
@Anne, I can't speak for Kristen but personally I use my kitchen scale for small items and really large ones I use a bathroom scale. Once you hit a pound the price only increments every pound after that. I've found that eBay is also really good at
The Post Office will do a pickup on some items (particularly small ones) for free. If you ship a larger item via UPS (usually only for very large specific items) you can do a drop off at a place like Michael's or Staples.
Yep, that's how I do it too! For a large package, I weigh myself on the scale, holding the package. Then I weigh myself without the package and subtract the latter from the former.
Then I just print the labels right from eBay's site (cheaper than USPS prices anyway!). If the package is small enough, I put it in my mailbox. If it's larger, I either try to catch the mailperson when they drive by, or I drop it in the post office drop box when I'm nearby.
Way easier than standing in line at the post office!
@Kristen, and @Battra92 thank you!
1. Picked/froze green beans and blackberries from the garden. Total cost was about $3.00 for the seed packet of green beans and we already had the blackberry bushes.
2. Packed my lunch for work every day. My husband's too!
3. My daughter and I made her bday cake-something she enjoys doing and is significantly cheaper than purchasing one!
4. Did my own mani/pedi this month.
5. Booked my daughter's 2022 summer camp-which saves me over $100.00 if I book a year in advance.
1. I purchased several bushels of produce from a local farmer & from my state farmer's market and got it all either canned or frozen over the course of the last week. Combined I spent under $100 and it yielded enough pickles, pickle relish, squash, sofrito, peach salsa, canned peaches, salsa verde, red & green peppers and corn to last my family at least a year.
2. I used the last of a container of chicken broth, leftover rice, and leftover cilantro to make a pot of chicken and rice soup which fed us for several days.
3. I used the last of a container of beef broth to stew some pork chops from the freezer in the crockpot.
4. I made several quarts of homemade yogurt over the course of the week - which most of us love. I like to make it Greek style which reduces the total yield when using a half gallon of milk. Does anyone have any tips on how I can make this in larger quantities? All the recipes seem to use the instant pot which is what I have been doing but that only holds a half gallon of milk at a time and the process, while hands off, is a long one.
5. I canned and froze all the tomatoes we are getting from our garden which over the course of a week is a little over a bushel. I also processed and froze several gallons of green beans from the garden as well. I am weary in seeing my kitchen filled with produce waiting to be processed but grateful for the bounty we have seen. I also know that all these veggies will be a welcome addition to our table when fall and winter sets in.
Enjoy the week everyone!
@Angie, I got amazed as I kept reading all you processed in the last week - congrats on getting so much done; all those delicious treats will be great tastes of summer, later!
Wow, Angie! Amazing work in the kitchen this week.
I make yogurt a gallon at a time just using regular kitchen equipment: https://www.thefrugalgirl.com/how-to-make-homemade-yogurt-2/ Maybe worth a try?
Angie, I think if you make a gallon at a time, and strain overnight, you should end up with greek yogurt at almost a full gallon.
I use the IP for mine, but I have no need for a full gallon. But when I made it by the gallon, I always ended up with a bit more than that before straining.
Be careful though! Too much straining, and you might end up with sour cream or cream cheese:)
@Angie, how big is your instant pot? I have a 6qt and it will hold an entire gallon of milk for yogurt making. Also, if you add a can of sweetened condensed milk to your milk for yogurt it will help to thicken it and eliminate the need for straining. It doesn’t really sweeten the yogurt much. It’s technically Vietnamese yogurt when you do this. I just dump the milks and yogurt into my instant pot and set it for 18 hrs on yogurt setting. Then I chill it for a few hours (the longer the thicker) and then ladle it into jars for storage. I use 1/2 cup canning jars as they are the perfect serving size.
@Judith, This is great info! I have a 6 quart instant pot but I thought that could only make yogurt one half gallon of milk at a time. I boil the milk first bringing it to 180 degrees then lower the temp to 110 degrees, remove the skin and stir in the yogurt cultures mixed with a bit of the warmed milk. Then the mixture sits in the pot for 8 hours, then to the fridge over cheesecloth to strain for 8 hours. Today I added some sweetened condensed milk just to try something different. I may try it today without straining to see if I can increase the yield without the length of time & hopefully an increase in volume.
@Kristen, Thanks! I will give the yogurt a try in a pot on the stove and see how it goes.
@Suz, Thanks!
I spent the week eating green chile bull soup for breakfast. Because I had a LOT leftover when I made it for dinner, and breakfast is the only time it's cool enough to be reasonable to eat soup. Luckily, I'm pretty flexible with my definition of "breakfast foods."
We ate the first of the accidentally-purchased meat chickens (they were labeled as something else at the farm store). It was 7.6 pounds ready to go in the oven, which is a substantial return on the little effort involved in raising them. We have chickens already, so they just went right in with the others. Looks like we'll be raising meat chickens every spring now.
I think we've finally disposed of the last bull snake that's been eating our chicken's eggs before we get them. There have been five bull snakes around so far this summer. I should now get five eggs a day instead of one or two.
My two older sons can now read some of my books. They read a LOT, and go through books so fast, which is is great, but means I spend a lot buying books in the absence of a library. So it's nice they're at a reading level now that I can give them my favorite books to read that I already have. And since they're my books, I know which ones are appropriate for them (their reading level is way beyond their maturity in other areas). So I don't have to buy them so many books. Plus, it's fun to share my favorites with them.
I still have my two big book/cases of CDs, even though I haven't had a functioning CD player in like four years. However, my son recently bought a CD player for his room, so now he has several dozen CDs to choose from for free. And I get to listen to some of my music again, because he seems to like a lot of the ones that were my favorites.
So, I can see eating a green chile soup for breakfast, but the "bull" part does give me pause. Ha. I can manage a number of meats at breakfast, but beef is not usually one of them. So, hats off to you!
@kristin @ going country,
My brother gave my daughter a CD player he got and she's been having a lot of fun with it. She is really enjoying Lisa Loeb which makes 90s me very happy.
@kristin @ going country, I thought the "bull" in the soup description was an autocorrect or typo--until I remembered that, given your home and lifestyle, it wouldn't be! And it's even more awesome that you ate it for breakfast. Repeatedly.
Re: CDs, I'm "old school" and never have stopped listening to mine. In fact, since the thrift stores in my area are all lowering their prices on books and media, I can now routinely pick up CDs for 99 cents and DVDs for 1.99.
We would probably believe Kristin no matter WHAT she said she ate for breakfast! Unless she said she ate something like pop tarts. Heh.
@A. Marie, I wouldn't have stopped listening to mine, either, except the CD player in my van broke a few years ago. That was the only place I was ever even occasionally alone to listen to them. (I don't listen to music when my kids are around, because they ratchet up their--considerable--level of noise to go over the sound of the music.) I really miss listening to music, though, so it's nice to hear my music coming from my son's room.
1 My car finally died. I had it for 18 years and it was paid off for quite a few years. I had planned to drive it till it died even though 3 of the 4 four locks worked off and on, my seat panel was zip tied together (just the replacement part alone would have been $250) and various other things were wonky. Shopped around and found a much newer model of the same vehicle (Honda Pilot) at a great price with lots of fun upgrades! I pick it up in two days. Paid cash so no car payments.
2. Brought leftovers home from dinner out and ate them for lunch yesterday.
3. Spending tine at our camper which is parked by a creek. Lots of tubing, campfires, and lazy days. Saw two bald eagles and several blue heron in addition to other birds.
4. Found some change in the ground.
5. Staying cool in the creek.
@Julia, It's rough having to buy a new car but kudos on you for keeping your old one for so long! I'm sure the upgrade will feel like luxury now.
That's what I was thinking; good on you for driving your car until it was quite literally worn out.
@Julia, I join Battra92 and Kristen in saluting you for keeping the old car going so long. And I'm also impressed that you found a newer model for a good price, considering the state of the used-car market these days. Me, I'm planning to drive DH's 2010 Honda Element (66.3K miles, only just getting broken in!) into the ground.
@Julia, Fellow Pilot owner here. Mine is a 2010 with 105K miles on it. Glad to hear that yours lasted so long. I'm planning to drive mine until it dies!
@Julia,
right with you about driving cars until they die! We sold (sold!) our 2004 Echo this summer. 17 years of loyal service! We had bought a second (new) car in 2018, so the Echo was only for a backup since then, but still.... A side view mirror fell and it was 125$ for a replacement one. Almost more than the value of the car! So I bought a regular rounded shape mirror at the dollar store, some black electric tape, and went to work! I saved 122$! At the end, the muffler was stored in the trunk (it fell off) and we were driving it with open windows only. And NEVER over 50km/h. Yeah, it was time to get a new one. Still made 300$ selling it to a guy that knocked on our door one day, asking if it was for sale! Good investment.
We've been enjoying the link to the chia drink. We used up the leftover chia seeds that I always forgot to put on my oats, and even went and bought more as we liked is so much. Thanks!
1.) Went to a town-wide garage sale event last weekend which resulted in a lot of finds. I got some tools, some nice things for my wife and daughter as well as a Closetmaid Reversible White Wire Closet Shelf (had to Google the exact name as it's hard to describe.) Anyway, this shelf retails new for $30. I paid $3 (along with some books and a pillowcase.) It did require a little bit of cleaning but five minutes of labor was worth saving the $27!
It's now hanging above my washer and holding my unopened bottles of detergent.
2.) Sold a Blu-ray on eBay so there's extra money in my bank account! I have more to list as well, I just need to find the time.
3.) Getting multiple quotes on some home projects I really didn't want to do this year but it looks like we'll have to. We also have an emergency fund and several contractors have told me that if we pay via check they will give us a discount (which is to say they just jacked up the rates for those using credit.)
4.) Adjusting my lifestyle a bit as inflation is really hitting us in the grocery bills, even with places like Aldi and BJs at our disposal. Mostly it involves me cutting back on things like deli meat (which is more expensive than good steak per lb. when you think about it.) I do still spend on things like vegetables and fruit at least.
5.) Just doing the normal mundane things. I'm drinking out of an old jar right now. I'm line drying my clothing when it's not raining. I'm washing them on cold. I'm still using dishtowels my mother gave me from her stash when I moved out a dozen years ago (though most have been retired by now.) In short, I'm basically doing the same stuff I've done for as long as reading this blog. Sometimes it's just easy to lose sight of all the things we do, I guess.
Speaking of prices: I bought a chuck roast at Aldi yesterday after not having bought one for probably a year or two and whoa, I was surprised at how expensive it was!
@Battra92, For things like the dentist or other service providers, I always ask if I can get a discount for paying in cash instead of the credit card. It doesn't always work but recently we had some work done and the total was $2000. They gave me $200 off for paying in cash---literally in cash, not by check. (which makes me think it will not get reported...)
1. I’d forgotten to sign up for a flexible spending account for childcare when it was open enrollment last year. Due to Covid though, my work reopened it for signups since they figured people may not have signed up last year but now that more childcare/schools have reopened they may need it. So that’ll save a bit of money paying for my sons preschool!
2. Trying to get back into gardening since I used to grow a lot and then once I had kids, found it more difficult to make time for it. Im still not growing as much as I used to but I have a ton of sugar snap peas and green beans right now so that’s something.
3. Last weekend, we went to a playground and the library so all free entertainment.
4. My 1 year old has become very attached to this little blanket that has a stuffed animal attached, I think they are called security blankets. I was about to order a second one as a backup since she uses it for comfort throughout the day and to fall asleep now, when I remembered my 3 year old had received a couple as a baby and never was interested. I dug through his closet and found 2 in unused condition.
5. Drinking coffee at home everyday
Do you have a link for the homemade chia drink? Looks delish!
I basically do it like this, sans the maple syrup. https://prettybirdkitchen.com/easy-fruity-chia-drink-copycat-mamma-chia/
I'm putting together a whole chia drink price breakdown post because I was super curious how the cost of homemade compares to the bottled drinks.
@Kristen, I always read the comments but I was specifically scouring for more info on your chia drink, so thank you! Plus it looks like you’ve introduced me to another plant based blog so double thanks!!
I enjoyed my sister’s pool on Saturday in the 95 degree heat.
I cooked food for my gluten free daughter to take to an end of season swim banquet since the catered meal wasn’t safe for her.
I placed a pickup order for groceries when the heat had exhausted me on the weekend which was only $5 extra and saved us from take out. The $5 fee is more than covered by no impulse buys.
I was having trouble getting an Rx filled due to supply chain issues but worked with my insurance company to switch to mail order. Cheaper, easier and in stock!
Planning a family grad party for our new college grad. Sent evites with photo instead of printed invitations.
@Susan, Glad you were able to find your Rx cheaper with mail order. But beware, with all the slowdown for USPS, our mail order Rx were not coming in a timely manner so we had to switch back to brick and mortar for them.
Went to use our "free" tickets to Kennedy Space Center this week. Last year, we went during the pandemic, when all the displays were not open, so they gave everyone a free ticket to come back this year ($54. value). We went on Saturday and it still wasn't as crowded as usual and protocols were still in place (except the mask mandate, but we are vaccinated and I did wear my mask when inside). We got to see what we missed last year. Very enjoyable! Highly recommend when in Florida.
First we stopped at Costco to fill up and it turned out that the regular gas pumps were being fixed, so they had the premium gas at regular gas price. People were driving away without filling up because they didn't stop to see the price of the premium gas. We filled up. Cost the same as regular gas.
Went to get a hotel room thru our Marriott Points and they had a discount for Florida residents (save $20). So we added that to our weekend and saved the points for another time. It had a nice pool to relax near as well. And no rain!
We ate the free breakfast at the hotel.
We brought our already paid for bikes and then went to a bike trail and rode 32 miles. A very enjoyable weekend without spending a lot of money. Used cash for dinners.
Took advantage of a free 8x10 photo at Walgreens on-line which ends today. Use the code JULY8X10. (all caps). Freebie ends today!!!
Now to make dinner at home this whole week and start saving for our next time away!
I love all the frugal things about your trip!
@Kristen, Thanks! I have to give credit to my husband. He really did a nice job on the weekend. We had a lot of fun.
@Maureen, I just ordered my free print! Thanks for the info!
Not exactly sure what an "undercut" looks like. Any chance your daughter would let you take a picture and you could show us?
Haha, Zoe said yes, she's willing. I'll try to snag a photo of her once she's got her hair done.
Basically, it's that the portion of the hair toward the back/bottom of the head is buzzed pretty short. Zoe has incredibly thick hair, and she's been wanting to grow it out. But it gets so, so heavy. The undercut removes some of the bulk, which makes her ponytails hurt her head less.
And the undercut works for her skater girl vibes. 🙂
When she has her hair down, you can't even tell that it's there. But when she puts her hair up, then you can see it.
@Kristen, Flashback to the 90s . . .
1 - I am patiently waiting for our broken dishwasher to be repaired under warranty. COVID meant first available was six weeks out. It's been four weeks so far, only two to go! Since I was able to tell them what part is broken I'm really hoping they just have it on the truck and don't need to do separate trips for diagnosis & repair.
2 - With that in mind I've been focusing on cooking meals that don't require many pots/pans/dishes. I really hate hand washing. But, I'm not ordering out either.
3 - This week we did Cobb salad. That requires one pan for the chicken plus one cutting board & knife. Plus, it's really a clean everything out of the fridge meal.
4 - Since I was heating up the oven for the chicken already, I made some no-knead bread to go with the salad. No-knead = fewer dishes.
5 - My kids have been requesting hard boiled eggs a lot lately - inexpensive & washing the pot that basically only had water in it isn't hard.
FFT, This and That Edition:
(1) I've finally wound up the project of rescuing/resuscitating my late friend's houseplants (see my previous FFT). Again, I think I've salvaged several hundred dollars' worth of plants and unusual pots--all with my friend's widow's blessing. She's said more than once that she's glad to see them go to a home where they'll be appreciated.
(2) It's high season for refrigerator dill pickles with home-grown ingredients here: I've got the cucumbers, I've got the garlic, and boy have I got the dill. I actually started to run low on quart jars at one point, but Ms. Bestest Neighbor and the local Thrifty Shopper outlet store came to my rescue; I got 5 Ball jars from Ms. BN and 5 from the TS outlet.
(3) I'm making gradual headway on clearing out some of DH's tools and other stuff. In particular, I sold a shotgun that DH insisted on buying 15 years ago (and never used) to one of his best friends. I'm even more relieved to have it out of the house than I am to have the money.
(4) I'm also trying to donate two boxes of stuff (both DH's and mine) a week to charity. Wegmans is running a pre-back-to-school donation drive for school supplies just now, so I was happy to put together a box of stuff left over from DH's business and my former copyediting job for this drive.
(5) And one bit of self-indulgence: I found a nice pair of NWT Chico's black crop pants for 7.99 at the Thrifty Shopper boutique store in the university area. I'm almost as delighted that I still wear the same Chico's size as I did pre-pandemic.
@A. Marie, I'm jealous of your refrigerator dills. I am very impatiently waiting for my cucumbers to be bigger than half an inch so I can make some. I have the garlic and dill already. Come on, cucumbers!
@A. Marie, I have an explosion of cucumbers. My water bath canning pan developed a leak so I am scouting garage sales and the thrift shop for a replacement. Meanwhile, I made some refrigerator pickles but only three jars as I read someplace that they don't last beyond two weeks or so. Is that not true? I would make many more jars if they lasted a while...any info would be appreciated. Do you use something like Mrs. Wages or make your own brine. I usually make my own but thought I might try Mrs. Wages.
@Lindsey, I tried Mrs Wages for the first time this year. Last year I made homemade brines for my pickles and we lost quite a few of them. So I am experimenting this year. I also used the ball recipe for bread & butter pickles. Both came out really well. I will say that Mrs Wages was super easy.
@Lindsey, I use the "Refrigerator Quick Dills" recipe on p. 205 of Andrea Chesman's book The Pickled Pantry. This one's so easy I can do it in my sleep and almost have recently--and these pickles do keep a couple of months, although the friends in my enchanted pickle circle report that they rarely last that long. According to Dr. and Ms. Bestest Neighbor, Dr. BN's 9-year-old great-granddaughter could polish off an entire quart at one sitting if she weren't carefully supervised!
@Lindsey, I keep them in the refrigerator for several months. At least four or five. I make my own brine, which is pretty strong on the vinegar, so maybe that's why.
Speaking of eBay. I had a couple of old don’t ask me from where. But eyeglass case. Put on eBay and sold. Didn’t get much but it wasn’t making anything in the drawer.
We've had a super busy (for us) week, but it's been full of fun! Let's see if I can come up with 5 fun things...
1) We went to the zoo on Friday with 3 families from our church small group (there were 5 adults plus 11 kids ages 7 and under!) Since we have a membership, it was free to get in. After our last visit, I called to talk to them about their policy on their website that says no outside food and beverage and they said that they're actually fine if we bring in food and drinks as long as it's in a backpack-type cooler and not a large cooler. That phone call saved me a bunch of money! We packed lunches.
2) We did one extra fun thing at the zoo and split the cost with another family to feed the giraffes.
3) At a spring fundraiser auction this year I used some of the money we were planning to donate anyways to purchase a gift basket that included a gift certificate for 2 dozen cupcakes. I used it last weekend for my son's birthday party. The lady who donated it is one of our librarians who has a bakery on the side and we know her fairly well. She shaped the cupcakes into a giant airplane and made my son's birthday party way cooler.
4) We've been eating lots of party leftovers.
5) Our garden is doing great this year! This morning (before it got hot) I made a quadruple batch of zucchini bread. I like to freeze mini loaves as they make a perfect after-school snack throughout the year.
Oo, would you be willing to do a post about how you make your chia drinks? Sounds interesting!!
1. Ate left over Rice and Beans for lunch today.
2. Took our coffee carafe camping which was such a brilliant idea as we could make a whole pot in our french press and then put it in the carafe for the day.
3. My daughter discovered an extra bike helmet we had tucked away and it fits her perfectly. And she likes it! Super win as hers was getting too small.
4. Used up some leftover lemon dill dipping sauce and it tastes just divine with our fish tacos.
5. Ate leftovers on our last day of camping for lunch and supper which resulted in less food waste, less to buy and less food to cart along.
1. I went to visit relatives and took some sale steaks from the freezer with me. We had them on the grill with vegetables at hand and a gifted Key Lime Pie for dessert. It was a lot less than a restaurant meal, and very delicious.
2. I wore thrifted outfits the entire visit, except for one dress I had bought on clearance.
3. I had lost a small pair of not-cheap scissors that were perfect for trimming plants and deadheading flowers. I put off replacing them, and finally found them, 3 months later, in a jacket pocket.
4. I just filed the pre-need burial application for a National Veterans' Cemetery near us. Burial or use of the columbarium will be free to my husband and me, since he is an honorably discharged veteran. By planning ahead and also making use of services available to veterans, our funerals' costs combined will be under $8000, and they will be paid for already. That's our final gift to our kids and grandkids.
5. I was gifted some clothing that didn't fit the giver but will fit me. It had been bought second-hand, which doesn't bother me at all.
1. Hubby sold some old artwork online and we used packing materials saved from other stuff we received as padding to ship it instead of buying some.
2. Invested in an insulated canteen so I won't have to buy bottled water when I have to go back to the office part time. (I wouldn't have bought it anyway so I would have been really thirsty. I just can't fathom buying bottled water unless it's an emergency situation.)
3. Planned for lots of leftovers to take to work for lunch.
4. More clothing repair to extend the wear of hubby's t-shirts.
5. Traded plant cuttings with a co-worker so I don't have to buy a plant for an empty pot I now have.
Oh, I just love all your tips!!
1. I'm considering stopping dying my hair. This won't save a lot as I usually do it at home and not very often, but I'm thinking I'll grow my grays out for a while and see what I think. I can always dye it back.
2. I've discovered leftover cooked Oatmeal tastes OK in smoothies, which is good since that is something I tend to waste a lot of.
3. We purchased some international airline tickets. Saving up ahead of time and being able to purchase early means we probably spent less than if we waited.
4. A vase with fake flowers got broken by a chicken who came in trying to roost... I know it's bizarre. Anyway, I got an empty glass ketchup bottle, took the label off, put a ribbon on it, then put the flowers back in. Free replacement vase!
5. I bought a 50 cent used jacket and passed my other jacket onto my daughter who is outgrowing hers. For the record the reason I'm keeping the new one is, it's more my style than hers... not that I don't buy her clothes too.
@Katy in Africa, Love the chicken episode! : ) Chickens are funny... The grass is always greener somewhere else. Our neighbor's chickens keep flopping over the fence into our yard, like the grass / bugs taste better... Anyway good save on your vase of flowers!
Ohhh, what is the chia drink recipe?
I make mine like this, sans the maple syrup. https://prettybirdkitchen.com/easy-fruity-chia-drink-copycat-mamma-chia/
5 Frugal Things
1. Froze leftover coffee into ice cubes. Perfect for making iced coffee without watering it down with regular ice.
2. Rescued a head of lettuce that was past it’s prime by having a big salad for lunch.
3. I have been reading a lot lately after falling out of the habit for years. So I am reading through my Kindle library, which includes books I purchased, but never got around to reading and books I haven’t read in 10+ years. After I work through the Kindle content, I will join the local library.
4. My husband had an apple pie craving, so we worked together to make from scratch with ingredients we already had. We resisted going to the store to get vanilla ice cream.
5. In preparation for vacation, I am not doing my usual big shop (I shop every 2 weeks.) Instead, I will fill in with some essentials, like milk and eggs, and eat through the CSA delivery, freezer and pantry.
Lots of interesting frugal things this week for everyone!
This week: we did not go to the near by outdoor water amusement park. 40 per person (x4), gas money for the 1.25 hour drive, food, and the possibility the staffing is poor and rides are limited. We drove 10 minutes to the Great Lake we live near, and spent time there instead. Felt wonderful!
Paid off our lawn mowers. No interest paid!
Did not buy blueberries as our blueberry bush still has some ripening berries.
Made plans to stay at my mom's house after my husband's sister's wedding. It is across the state, but all in our hometown, Convenient, we get to see both families, and no hotel fees--and a homemade breakfast.
Used my employee discount for a hotel stay for a night when we will be on our 20th anniversary vacation. We have a vrbo for the whole time, but will be spending two full days on the other side of the island and decided the hotel just makes more sense instead of driving 6 hours each day there and back.
Frugal fail: ordered a cheese pizza and salad for dinner last night-- delivered no less. Tossed the bad lettuce and peppers from the fridge... good intentions, no follow through.
PS I have a good sized advertisement on the bottom half of this post, and when I try to minimize it, it goes to the ad.
1. Sold a set of books my kids no longer read on the OfferUp app - the buyer asked if I could meet him at work and it turns out that he works at an italian ice place. In addition to the $100 for the books (that were just taking up space at our house), he hooked me up with probably $50+ in italian ice and ice cream sandwiches. I was just happy that someone could use the books and he was so happy that he got a great deal! Then his dad (who owns the place) came out and gave me a VIP card for even more free ice because he was grateful that his granddaughter would have more books to read.
2. Got a few quotes on our big house painting project and saved a couple thousand dollars.
3. Have been diligent about charging the cars and using the big appliances only during off-peak hours.
4. Have only used the air conditioner in the house three times this entire summer.
5. Kept checking back for pricing and scored better airline rates (saved ~$500), free shipping for my weight set, and saved $50 on my birthday present (which I found myself) all because of timing of purchase.
@CrunchyCake,
wow you did really well!
1. My son borrowed some books from the library, which I returned on time. I got an email from the library a week later saying that one of the books was over due. I found it behind his dresser, returned it, and found out our City libraries are not charging late fees for kid's books. How nice! When we were at the library, we also picked up a really cool, free STEM activity for him to complete.
2. I made pesto, to put on homemade pizzas, using garlic and basil from our garden. The pizzas will also have tomatoes and onions from our garden on them. I am eating leftovers for lunch this week. Breakfast is yogurt with raspberries, that I froze, after my kids didn't eat them.
3. I picked up garlic scapes from Buy Nothing. These will get sauteed with asparagus and served with steaks my in-laws gave us.
4. My husband traveled for work this week. They are allowed $20 per day for lunch or dinner. My husband bought a pot roast and vegetables from the grocery store, instead of buying a meal from a restaurant. This will feed us dinner for a couple of days!
5. We bought a camper and SUV to tow it, using money my in-laws gifted my husband. They insisted we could only use the money for these two items (we had been thinking about buying a camper for many years). We bought the camper off Marketplace used. We traded in 2 cars to buy the SUV. My husband installed the hitch on the SUV saving us $400. Our car insurance is actually $200 per year cheaper than before and we have money left over from the gift my in-laws gave us. The camper is already bringing us so much joy, which is the most important thing!
1. Trying to sell things I've decluttered. Some progress, lots more to go. Realized I probably can sell the family china to Replacements.com.
2. (Not mine) Roommate discovered that some of his Lego kits sell for ridiculous amounts of money. The best one: unopened Lego Technic Space Shuttle for which he paid $70, sells for over $500.
3. Took neighbors' leftover boxes for donations rather than using my good moving boxes or buying anything.
4. More about environmental friendliness than saving money: I decluttered a half dozen book packing boxes of old class notes and textbooks. I spent hours going through each sheet in the binders to separate out the pages I could use in the printer (non-lined, one clean side, no ink leakthroughs, no bad grades on the other side) (vanity strikes). I saved 3-4 reams of paper from waste. I "earned" maybe $5/hr doing this. I separated out the paper clips, sorted the office supplies, and cleaned the binders so others can use them. Finally, I ripped apart the hardback books from their bindings so I could recycle them.
5. Found some more good peelies at the grocery store - $1/2 half gal of Organic Valley milk.
6. Returned two bags of veggies to the grocery store because they went bad too quickly.
7. Continued to brown bag, combine errands, keep the house a little warmer than I prefer, not buy clothes, and all the other little things.
@WilliamB, especially proud of you for number four.
Wow, yogurt making and canning! Those techniques are priceless! We are having lots of produce shortages right now ( berries, cilantro, broccoli, and the list goes on) that having the ability to pickle/can/dry these foods is smart.
Here's my Fab Five:
1) A glass sliding door on the shower took a hard bump and shattered (I didn't do it!). The frame came loose and the other glass door was off the track. We could either have the frame repaired and the doors replaced or tear all of it down and hang a curtain. We chose the latter and we did it ourselves. Savings- $300+
2) I got some seeds from ebay and have tons of basil and carrots growing. I'll end up drying the basil to use during the Winter. Savings- $15+
3) I purchased cereal and got free bags of marshmallows. The mallows will be donated to the food bank ($6).
4) We found great prices on clearance meats. Savings- $3- $5/lb.
5) I was out of Christmas/birthday wrap and tired of spending big $ on birthday cards. I ordered from a company and saved on shipping too. Savings- $65+
1) I celebrated my birthday combined with my daughter’s and my cat’s! We had a friend over and ate popcorn, grapes, and fruit ice cream. My cat ate catnip.
2) I helped my hubby enclose our breezeway. We are not finished yet, but got the two doors up and didn’t have to hire the job done. This will give us a place to remove shoes and will save on carpet wear and tear.
3) I learned how to save tomato seeds and saved some!
4) I made homemade fruit “jam.”
5) I picked peaches and apples off of our own trees.
More and lots of pictures on my blog at: https://chickadeecove.blogspot.com/2021/07/frugal-friday-week-of-july-18-24-2021.html
Last Wednesday was my deal day for sure!
Bought gas at Sams club- had been waiting to go there due to lower pricing!
Stopped at my local store really early one morning and loaded up on just discounted meat! Came home and proceeded to trim, divide and freeze my bounty.
Snagged 10lbs of bread flour for $1.98!! I wrapped each package in a bag and tossed into the freezer for now! That will be great in cooler weather when I want to bake!
Bought an insane and unnecessary amount of laundry detergent.. Had no intention but attempting to leave the grocery store ( with my meat and flour) I saw the glow of the clearance tags... Apparently they were downsizing the detergent aisle.. So many tags.. 50% off or more... which is not amazing.. BUT the grocery store app has coupons for anywhere from $2.00-$5.00 off!! I matched and clicked a coupon for every item I put in my cart.. so I bought 9 containers/bags of laundry detergent for less than $23.00.. I stopped at figuring per cycle cost..lol
Scanned all my receipts into Ibotta (Made a few dollars back) and Fetch and grabbed a TON of points.
Controversial?- I ALWAYS grab any randomly tossed receipts when I do self checkout and scan them into my Fetch... Made a couple hundred points last week due to someone else's shopping! lol
@Jessica, really impressed with the detergent savings.
We ate party leftovers for 2 weeks now, I may never want to see a nacho chip in my life again. We had so much food left over even though I sent food home with everyone. luckily I had 8 mouths to feed for the week.
Getting free produce from a friend, things I did not grow in my garden.
Friend gave me 8 puzzles to do, did most and passed them on.
Now that Goodwill has color discounts back I got some toys and puzzles for cheap.
My sons dog had a cruddy ear, I showed them how to pull the fur out, he had a huge ball of hair stuck in it. We treated with meds I already had = an ear itch free dog.
1) I put out a request on our local Buy Nothing for mailing envelopes, as we've gone through all of ours. I got a TON of interest, and people are thrilled that someone will re-use what would otherwise be recycled/tossed.
2) Sold a few things on eBay. I have a similar philosophy to Kristen, and really just try to keep things out of the landfill. A small amount of profit is a side benefit.
3) Continue to use a bunch of stuff from our garden. Pickled a big mix of peppers & chiles, made a triple batch of pico de gallo from tomatoes & jalapenos, and making smoothies out of the bruised up fruit.
4) Used miles to book a flight for my parents, when they are visiting us & taking care of the kids on our anniversary.
5) Kept the A/C off by cooling the house down during the evenings/early part of the day, & then closing everything up during the hotter part.
* Grand-parents took the kids on vacation for the last 2 weeks. Our cost : a gift for them (about 30$) and gas to go bring them and pick them up.
* Barely bought groceries in those last 2 weeks. We are eating our from the freezers and pantry mostly. No food waste.
* Coming back to work after 6 weeks unpaid sickness, it's great to get paid again!
* Back to school shopping is coming up. Will look through what we have leftover from last year and only buy what is needed. Also, got DD a ""new"" backpack from Goodwill for 11$ (instead of...40$?)
* Been reusing the same outfits for work for at least a year (health care worker ; no need to be fancy) and will continue to do so until they really need to be refreshed.
Hello once again. I gave up all but a half hour of screen time per day for Lent and it's been a crazy five months since. I didn't post, but I never stopped reading!!! Here's my five frugal things for the week:
1. My youngest daughter wanted a sewing machine to take to college. I found an older, solid, workhorse machine in a garage sale for $15. I cleaned and oiled it and it purrs like a kitten. At the same neighborhood garage sale, I paid $7 a really cool looking three-tier wicker basket filled with sewing supplies. In it were five pairs of scissors worth between $60-$100 per pair. They are solid steel and most were still sharp. They will last her a lifetime. I also discovered the basket was actually an antique Chinese wedding basket and worth about $120.
2. Had a plethora of ripe bananas. I made three loaves of bread and 24 muffins.
3. Opted to hit the local farmer's market instead of the grocery store this week for super fresh produce. Between that and my pantry and freezer, I saved some cash.
4. My car broke down...ugh...I saved $25 on the towing bill by paying cash. I did, however, use that $25 toward the bill to replace two bad sensors. I guess that's a win and a fail!
5. Saved $2506 by going through my daughter's fall college bill line by line. It's amazing what they forget to put in there (one of her scholarships) and what optional "services" they added!!!
Welcome back!
And your #5; wow! That is such a huge financial win.
Surgery recovery edition:
1. My mother in law gave us dinner one night, my mom brought us food and my dad brought me chocolate covered strawberries when he came to visit. My daughter’s boyfriend’s mom brought us dinner too. Was so nice since I wasn’t on my foot for 3 weeks.
2. One day while Out getting the mail, my neighbor asked if we’d like some zucchini. I said sure and he picked four fresh for us.
3. I borrowed a scooter to get around plus a walker and a shower chair to help with my recovery. Nice not to have to buy anything.
4. I received 2 care baskets, flowers, cards, texts etc. was nice to be thought of when I felt so miserable.
5. I needed to get a script filled and got a “discount card” from the hospital to use. On a $120, I only had to pay $10.
Plus with not being very mobile, I wasn’t shopping at stores saving me money.
Oh, it is so nice when people feed you during recovery!
How are you feeling now?