Five Frugal Things | thanks to my dad's attic
1. I got a wheelbarrow from my Buy Nothing group
Someone was moving out of town and offered up a rather old wheelbarrow with a flat tire. It was also missing the nuts that hold the wheel assembly on...oddly, someone had just used a bunch of duct tape instead of just getting some new nuts.
Which is weird because it's not like nuts are hard to find. And they're not expensive either. I think they spent more in duct tape than they would have on brand-new nuts!
2. My dad fixed up my wheelbarrow
I was really not too sure how to tackle the flat tire, so I brought the wheelbarrow over to my dad, where he inspected it and delivered bad news: the wheel bearings were also shot, so it really needed a whole new wheel assembly.
Also, he noticed that it was missing the wheelbarrow wedges entirely. I had actually never noticed these on wheelbarrows before! They're shaped like this and they go underneath the tub part of the wheelbarrow.
My dad has an impressive collection of trash-picked and rehabbed wheelbarrows, so this was hardly his first rodeo. And luckily for me, he'd saved some parts from some of the wheelbarrows he's rehabbed.
He went up into his attic and found a wheel assembly, AND amazingly enough, he had a pair of wheelbarrow wedges. Yay!!
So now my wheelbarrow is nice and functional and I didn't even have to buy any new parts!
The new-to-me tire is a bit dry-rotted, so I might have to replace that eventually. But that won't be expensive; it'll be way less than the price of a new wheelbarrow!
3. I bought a secondhand floor fan for Zoe
The other two fans I bought went into rooms upstairs, but I thought Zoe would appreciate one in her room as well.
So I kept browsing Facebook Marketplace for another one and sure enough, one popped up, marked down from $30 to $20.
I picked it up, and of course, I will be popping by my dad's garage at some point to blow it out with his air compressor.
Gotta get the other people's dust out of there in order to make room for our own dust. Heh.
And this time I will record the flight of the dust bunnies. 😉
4. I poured my light pink paint into a glass jar
After I finished painting the Ikea Jules chair, I used the rest of the paint in my paint tray to put a fresh coat on the top of the nightstand in Lisey's old bedroom.
That's a nightstand from the abandoned house and man, I don't think I ever posted about it. Hmm. Gonna have to dig through my old photos and put together some before, during, and after pictures.
By the way, you can see that this paint IS actually pink when you look at the contrast of the white bed.
Anyway! The original paint can was in pretty bad shape by now and it couldn't maintain an airtight seal. So I poured the last bit of paint into a kombucha jar I'd saved, labeled it with a sharpie, and put it on my paint shelf downstairs.
Speaking of....that shelf is also a free item I rehabbed, but I don't think I ever showed it to you.
Gonna put that on my to-do list.
Man, my house is chock-full of free things I've rehabbed and repurposed!
5. I bought a box of bruised peaches
I know, I know...I'm working through my frozen peach stash!
But frozen peaches are not the same as fresh peaches, and I will be sad if the only peaches I eat this summer are my frozen ones.
So, I am eating peaches like mad right now, and I probably will freeze some to replace the frozen ones I've been putting in smoothies.
Chiquita is so cute and so funny! Surely a lovely - and lively - addition to your household!
@Lea, Chiquita should get her own sitcom. Or maybe a YouTube channel! She could earn enough money to pay for all that cat litter she kicks out of her litter box.
I’m loving the touches of light pink your rehabbed pieces add to your home, Kristen! I look forward to seeing those pieces transform once you’ve found your photos. You have such a good eye for something’s potential, no matter the state you find it in.
FFT, spending money to save money--in theory, at least! 😛
--I joined our local fitness center, which is $10/month and all of three blocks from our house. I much prefer hiking, but the never-ending wildfire haze triggers my otherwise dormant asthma, so I've been cooped up all summer. The fitness center is open 24 hrs with a key card, so it's easy to go when no one or only a few people are there. Diabetes runs in the family, plus I'm trying to keep ahead of my slowing metabolism, so much as I didn't want to spend the money, it was time.
--Our cloth napkins were well and truly worn out beyond what could be washed or repaired. Thrifting hadn't turned up any, and most store-bought napkins aren't as absorbent as I'd like. Buying handmade flannel napkins from Etsy cost the same as ordering the same number of napkins from Amazon, so Etsy won! I much prefer paying an actual person when both money and options align.
--My favorite heirloom seed seller is also on Etsy and was having a 50% off sale. What began as a mission to replace my beefsteak tomato seeds (I accidentally washed the packet in my gardening pants--sigh) ended up with my husband and I easily hitting the $35 free shipping threshold! We'd already planned to expand the garden next year, plus seeds keep well when not put through the wash.
—Michael's clearance section had thread spools for 25 cents and a bottle of RIT green dye for $2--all things I needed! My favorite green coat needs refreshed, and I already used some of the thread to embroider stars over small holes in my work pants.
--It is officially HOT here! My husband’s outdoor work sends everyone home when the heat index reaches 100 degrees—the guys’ safety always comes first. We knew the forecast would be awful the first part of this week, so rather than commute to work only half days and face a shorter check, my husband is using some of his paid vacation time to get paid for full days in his pajamas. 😛
1. I listed several items on Freecycle on two different days. Somehow clutter disposal feels frugal to me. Among the give aways were items rescued from the curb on trash pick up days. I'm try to help save the environment one action at a time.
2. We ate at home and packed lunches. We are loving the golden honey dew melons I bought. I hope Lidl will have more of them. I'll check when I am near there today.
3. A friend clued me onto a jigsaw puzzle brand that features paintings in their puzzles (Pomegranate brand). A search for them led to the Puzzle Warehouse where there was a nice selection of puzzles on sale. I only bought the made in USA puzzles.
4. We took a Saturday evening walk on the reopened trail at a local state park. It had been closed since last fall for bridge replacements. We used our Golden Age passes for entry ($10 for the rest of your life once you are 62 years old).
5. I paid our property tax bill in full. There is a discount if you pay for twelve months instead of six.
@K D, Thank you for supporting USA-made products. If we all did that, more of our fellow citizens would have jobs, not only in the puzzle factory but elsewhere as well.
@Fru-gal Lisa,
I'll have to see if my town will give a discount with property taxes paid for all in a once a year payment.
1. Found a large bookshelf on marketplace for $25. It’s pretty ugly but it was just the size I needed for storage.
2. Obtained free tickets to a local attraction and took my sister to visit.
3. Painted a room with supplies (including paint) I had on hand.
4. Rearranged and decorated some spaces to improve functionality using almost nothing from outside the house.
5. Made bread, ate through freezer, bunched errands, spent time outside, packed lunches when out of the house
@Kaitlin,
I don't know if those storage shelves can be seen in a "good" part of your home, but if so, you might try covering them up with a cloth (bedsheet? table cloth?) fastened to the top front. Allow it to hang down like a cover on a closet. A lot of teachers do this, and it hides quite a bit of clutter.
Peaches! My eldest daughter said this week (as she bit into a ripe peach), "It finally feels like summer because we went swimming and now we have peaches."
This week:
*We bought "soft" peaches for a reduced price.
*I decided to return a baby outfit that I bought for a gift because I really paid too much for it. I will find a different cute baby outfit for a less expensive price. I think I need to continue to let my husband shop for the baby outfit gifts because I went into Kohl's baby section and was lost in there for a while. And even as I was buying the outfit, I knew I should pay that much-- but it was like some crazy maternal feeling came over me. And I think the only reason I went ahead with this purchase was that I remember receiving a similar outfit as a first-time mom? I don't know. I think I might be over-analyzing this purchase, but isn't figuring out why I overspend important?
*We walked through the garden and picked up some zucchini and green peppers instead of just letting it all rot after we put the effort into planting and tending a garden.
*Last evening after I dropped my son off for driver's ed, I bought a coffee drink. This was way less expensive than eating a meal out. I enjoyed it more, too.
*I made a sweet potato salad for potluck with potatoes that were given to us and the last can of chickpeas that were given to us quite a while ago. (It takes us quite a while to get through a flat of chickpeas.)
*I went to Ollies and bought some books as gifts for little kids. It's good stuff, cheap.
@Jody S., I stopped buying expensive baby outfits for newborns after one young mother opened my gift and said "Oh, this is beautiful. I can't wait to see him throw up all over it."
@JDinNM,
WOW, can't believe she said that! oh my!
@JDinNM, Wow, that is rude. I decided that this child will probably (at most) wear such an outfit 3 time. It was $28. (I know this might not be expensive to some, buy I have such buyers regret now.) I could definitely use that money to buy a cute outfit PLUS something else useful.
In Life Among the Savages, Shirlry Jackson, when having her third, wrote, "We received only one pair of booties, and those were a pair of rosebud-covered white ones that someone had sent Laurie when he was born and which I had given, still in their original pink tissue paper, to a friend when her first child was born; she had subsequently sent them to her cousin in Texas for a second baby and the cousin sent them back East on the occasion of a mutual friend's twins; the mutual friend gave them to me, with a card saying "Love to Baby" and the pink tissue paper hardly ruffled. I set them carefully aside, because I knew someone who was having a baby in June. "
Haha, I love it!
@ellen, She was joking. Kinda. Sorta. But she had a point, and this baby wasn't her first.
@Jody S.,
I'm trying to avoid people buying baby clothes b/c they are $1 a piece on the "used but clean" market. Most of the people selling baby clothes say "worn once" or "never used." I told relatives that I didn't need clothing--we haven't revealed the gender which I thought would pause the clothing purchases--and only added a few toddler pieces to the registry (because I haven't purchased toddler clothing) and wrote a note on the registry that "clean but used is great" . . . The result was that I got yelled at several times for spoiling people's fun. Really, I would rather people just buy the practical stuff.
You can't win.
@Rebekah in SoCal, I also got yelled at for spoiling people’s fun with clothes! My second was a girl (first was a boy), I’d saved some of his more neutral clothes and a friend gave me a literal garbage sack full of baby girl clothes from her daughter, all in barely worn condition. So I told people no baby clothes, I was all set, and the outrage it caused! Depriving them of buying “cute girl clothes” I still was given a lot of brand new clothes, most of which did not get worn much so a bit of a waste but I guess they still got their fun that way.
@LB,
The waste around babies makes me crazy. And, in my opinion, most of the "cute" clothes are pretty tacky.
I'm hoping that in the coming years I can train the grandparents to ask before they give us stuff that we don't need or don't want our kids to have.
@JDinNM, that is so real and so funny! Reminds me of a friend shopping for a negligee with her husband. He squished one up and threw it on the floor of the store because he said he wanted to see how it would end up!
Bbbbbbut I love buying cute baby clothes.
OK FINE THEN. I hope you like this giant Steiff stuffed animal instead.
@Central Calif. Artist, Funny!
@Central Calif. Artist, Lol!!!! ha ha ha ha ha ha! 🙂
@Jody S.,
Do you mind sharing what you put in your sweet potato salad?
@Rebekah in SoCal,
My sisters nagged the heck out of me when I was having my first. They wanted to know the gender and my husband and I wanted to be surprised. they complained that they couldn't get gender specific clothing. As it was we received too much clothing. I kept our son's gender neutral clothes for the next baby, which was our daughter, and she wore her brother's jeans and tshirt hand me downs.
As always, Chiquita is adorable. It's like she knew she'd look cute in that pink table.
Around here:
For my 50th birthday, DH asked what I would like to do and I said I wanted to shop at Trader Joes. This is a treat I reserve for special occasions, because most of what they sell we either don't eat or need, but I really like their skin care products, so I stocked up on SPF and moisturizer, and their decaf teas, which are nice. Next door to TJ's is a secondhand bookstore and I found quite a few Star Trek books I used to own and enjoy, so I got those for a fraction of the cost they'd be on Amazon.
Speaking of Amazon, we had quite a few points because of work purchases DH made, so I used those to "splurge" on some birthday presents for myself. A new hairdryer, since the switch on my old one was so busted I just plugged the dryer in to turn it on, some new made in the USA measuring spoons and cups (my old ones were about 20 years old), and some Swedish dishcloths. I really party hard on my birthdays.
We had dinner at home on my birthday, but the next week I went down to volunteer and met up with my best friend, and we ate out at a cafeteria-type place that was nicer than fast food, but cheaper than a regular restaurant. They had water dispensers with free water, so I used that instead of buying a drink.
I gave everybody except myself haircuts. If I had one frugal tip to give anybody, it would be, learn how to give home haircuts, at least for the men in your family. Five haircuts would have cost, around here, about $80. I've been doing this for 24 years, so we figure on average I've saved us around $12,000. YMMV depending on how many kids you have.
@Karen A., Happy birthday to you!
@Karen A., Happy birthday! I like how you celebrate.
@Karen A.,
You are right about haircuts for men at least. It save a lot of money.
@Karen A., happy birthday! Sounds like something I would have chosen to do for a treat. There is no TJ's in my county and I agree about it being full of snacks and fun non-essentials. On my last trip there I was thrilled to find something called "3 in 1" or something like that. It is shampoo, conditioner, and body wash all in one formula in one bottle. Haven't tried it yet, but it speaks to my longing for simplicity.
@Central Calif. Artist, we used to use that 3 in one bodywash! I loved the scent and it worked pretty well. I just don't get to TJ often enough to use it on the regular.
And thanks everyone for the birthday wishes!
@Karen A., good to know about that 3 in 1 stuff. I have many other (on sale) items in the queue ahead of it, but might just go ahead and let it take cuts in line.
Wow. That is a lot of peaches. You’ve been cooking for a bunch of people since high school so a huge box of peaches is your norm. I wanted home grown vine ripe tomatoes so I went to the farmers market. They don’t sell just one tomato, I asked. So I have a little basket of perfectly ripe delicious tomatoes. And even though one kid is living here they don’t care that these tomatoes are special. I’m on my own with these tomatoes that look at me every time I walk in the kitchen or open the refrigerator. I make wonderful BLT’s and tomatoes as a side but they are so huge and so many I barely make a dent. I’m determined not to freeze them, that makes them like every other ordinary frozen tomato. Gazpacho? It will be delicious but bottomless. Is it still frugal if it becomes a chore or a regret?
At the goodwill bins I spent $2.48 and got a set of pretty liberty print sheets, a bright cotton sun dress, a blue and white cotton top, and a very soft pinky cotton knit tee.
@Tiana, When my dad had his Square Foot Garden, and tons of tomatoes, one of my favorite snacks was just to eat a tomato at the kitchen sink. (The sink caught the drips, as the tomatoes were very big and red and extra juicy.) We kept a salt shaker nearby, and the flavor was just out of this world delicious! So you might want to snack on a tomato every now and then before they go bad.
@Fru-gal Lisa, That does sound good. My best friends mother would tell me to grab a salt shaker and we’d head out to the garden pick our tomato, sit on the stone bench, and share the salt shaker. Thanks for bringing back that memory and here’s to you Lois!
Do you like a caprese salad? Like sliced tomatoes, sliced fresh mozzarella, basil, drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled with salt and pepper?
@Tiana,
In the south big slices of tomato on bread with mayo, eaten over the sink, is a summer treat.
@Tiana, do you know anyone who would love farmers market eats but doesn't have time to get there to share with? I would love someone to share their bounty.
@JD, don't forget to toast the bread so it doesn't get soggy! And lots of pepper! lol
@StephanieLD,
Hubby eats his tomato sandwiches like that. Toasted bread, mayo and sliced tomatoes.
@Auntiali, I love my SUMMER ONLY tomato sandwiches in nontoasted bread. I like the soggy but I do eat them over the sink. White bread. Garden tomato. Dukes Mayo. Salt. Pepper!
FFT, Taking Positive Steps Edition. (Several of these are retreads from yesterday's FFT at the NCA.)
(1) As time goes on, I find I feel more like reading again. (I've noted in earlier comments that I’ve had the attention span of a gnat for a good while now.) So I’ve taken two steps that should (a) have me reading more and (b) help me kick the Amazon habit. First, I’ve renewed my long-dormant Barnes & Noble membership, which is now slightly more expensive but includes more benefits. This will help when I feel I absolutely have to buy a new book. (Also, the only times I ever buy myself coffee out are the monthly meetings of my local JASNA region at the B&N in the next city over, and the membership will get me deals at the in-store Starbucks.)
(2) Second, I’ve gotten myself my first-ever county library card. This card is good at all the excellent suburban libraries in our county as well as the not-so-good city branch libraries–and I’ve discovered that there’s more to even our closest city branch than first met my eye. So, as all you long-time library users out there know, this should save me a pile over the long haul. (A reader at the NCA has listed various digital media and apps that should be available, but I expect I'll be borrowing primarily physical books, CDs, and DVDs. Just call me the Gutenberg Kid.)
(3) The first book I checked out was Marie Kondo's Kurashi at Home. So far, I don't feel terribly inspired to wipe the soles of my shoes before bedtime for good luck and so on, but I'll reserve judgment till I've finished the book. And I may yet glean some tips for decluttering beyond those I found in her first book.
(4) On Saturday, I attended an “everything must go” moving sale at DH’s and my first house. The couple who bought the house from DH and me back in 1985 is now, sadly, moving because one partner’s physical disabilities have gotten so bad that he now needs a single-level house. But it was great to reconnect with folks I haven’t seen in a while, to have a chance to say “hail and farewell” to the old digs, and (of course) to buy some great stuff. The female half of the couple and I have always had similar tastes in junque. (And this is all stuff I can either use myself or give as gifts, so it wasn’t just impulse buying.)
(5) Finally, I continue to eat locally (a lot of my food dollars are going to the Regional Market these days) and to work down the freezer and pantry. And, yes, I’m still putting weeds into stir-frys!
@A. Marie, This would definitely NOT be frugal, but I immediately thought of you when the St. James Tearoom sent me an email for their August offering of "Tea with Mr. Darcy": "It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a teatime companion..." On offer are Mr. Collins' Crustless Quiche, Mr. Bingley's Rocket & Blackberry Salad, Jane's Traditional Cucumber Tea Sandwich, Mr. Darcy's Cheddar Scone, Wickham's Pecan Chess Pie, and so on. Of course, it takes "a good fortune" to, as the Tearoom suggests, "[e]nter the gates of Pemberley and be guided through a traditional British afternoon teatime with an exquisite menu including ... Lydia's Chocolate Indulgence."
@JDinNM, I'm chuckling over all the Tearoom's offerings, especially Lydia's Chocolate Indulgence and Mr. Collins's Crustless Quiche. (If Lady Catherine de Bourgh had anything to do with it, she'd probably make Mr. Collins eat a Quicheless Quiche, for the sake of his health.)
@A. Marie, speaking of reading I just finished the book The Other Bennet Sister, author Janice Hadlow about Mary Bennet.
I thought of you, have you read it? I thought the book was well done. Long in some parts esp. the middle. But over all an enjoyable read.
Curious to hear your final judgment on the Marie Kondo book! I read that she's loosened up a bit since having children.
@Kristen, I believe it is a truth universally acknowledged that, yes, neat freaks loosen up quite a bit once they have children. For their own sakes (as well as the children's).
It is a matter of survival. And saving your sanity! lol
@A. Marie, Have you tried Libby? Many libraries, like mine in Maryland, offer free books on the Libby app. I have Libby on my phone and find it helpful listen to a book when hours of sleep allude me or when traveling. Sometimes you have to put a book on hold and wait for it's arrival, but there are always plenty of great books available.
@A. Marie,
Your number 4 - I've been hankering to go back to my childhood home. Someone is living in it and it's a long way away, but I still want to see inside it again. My dad built it, with some contractor help and help from his dad and brother. Then he helped his brother build his own house. This was not long after WWII. My uncle's house had heated tile floors. I loved going barefoot in their house.
@karen, I haven't read the Hadlow book--mainly because friends who have read it reported that it was overly long and needed a good editor. (Of course, as a retired copyeditor, I'm a tough audience to begin with.) But if I come across it at one of our libraries, I'll give it a try.
@JD, My great grandmother's house, where I spent summers as a kid, is just three doors down from me. When I bought this house in 1999, I considered stealing Nana's welcome mat, which I remembered so well from my childhood and which was still there, decades later. I decided that it should stay where it was. Then one day it was gone.
I made friends with the current owners, mentioned the welcome mat to them, and they said, "If you'd asked for it, of course we'd have given it to you...." The house still has a lot of Nana's furniture in it, which I hint strongly about once a summer or so. "If you ever want to have a garage sale..." etc. Heck, I'd swap a very nice table and chairs set for the 1920s one where I used to hide my Judy Blume novels as a kid. (You shove them under a leaf.)
@A. Marie, I recently discovered that my local library branch has a YARN LIBRARY. You can take 8 skeins of donated yarn a MONTH!! For FREEE!!!!
I may have danced in delight and immediately told a friend.
@Molly, I NEED the address of your library!!!
I find all your rehab transformations so amazing and encouraging. Makes me look on our buy nothing group of things I can transform.
My FFT: vacation planning edition
1) We need a pet sitter while we are on vacation and BFF recommended one that was half price of the one we had selected. That adds up since we'll be gone a week. A plus is the pet sitter is the groomer at the vet where our dog goes to daycare, so the sitter already knew us and our dog.
2) We were procrastinating on reserving the rental house for vacation. Turned out to be a good thing since the one we were interested in dropped in price significantly since we booked within 2 weeks of travel.
3) Did some research and found a slightly cheaper price on a rental car. I was surprised that AAA got us a better deal than Costco.
4) Did some research and found a city pass for attractions we want to visit on vacation. The pass allows us to visit 5 attractions for what 2 of them would have cost.
5) Not vacation related: Turned off autorenewal for the exercise streaming service I use. They run a special for the 1st year for $12 but renewal was going to be $199. I can't see paying that much more. Last year, I didn't renew and they sent me a special offer to rejoin. I'm willing to go without for a month to see if I can get a cheaper price.
It really is a nice shade of pink! I like how soft it is.
For me:
1. My friend and I were going to take a workout class together, but we started having second thoughts about the cost and the risk of signing up for something and not liking it. Instead, she's going to come over once a week and we'll just go to my building's gym for free.
2. We've been enjoying the season and getting lots of fruit and veggies for low prices. No need to eat anything too fancy when cucumbers are 88c each and delicious!
3. We don't do classes with our daughter. I didn't realize that most of my colleagues with babies take them to baby swim classes or baby music classes. No judgment; it sounds fun for the people who like it, but we don't want to spend money or time that way right now, so we don't!
4. We joined a synagogue. Most synagogues fund themselves by asking people to pay a membership fee (which is often stepped relative to one's age and income; no one is turned away if they can't pay.) It is a significant cost in money, but I see it as a contribution to community life, for my own family and for others.
5. Mr. B and I don't always socialize together. It's nice, because it means we don't have to hire a babysitter! He will see Oppenheimer with an old work friend this weekend and talk politics all night. I wouldn't enjoy it anyway, so I have a few hours alone with our toddler and then I'll stay up late sewing (...a dress to wear to my brother's wedding in two weeks. Another frugal venture, hopefully to report back on next week!)
Love the wheelbarrow fix!
1. I’ve been really lucky on the Buy Nothing (BN) front lately. First, I am the grateful recipient of a gorgeous banker’s desk chair. It has a round leather seat, nailhead trim, cane back, swivels, and wheels. Swoon. I believe it is worth several hundred dollars.
2. Next I received 5 lbs. of potatoes from my BN group. Used most of them to make potato salad for a family get-together.
3. Then I received a small side table from my BN group. The price sticker was still on the bottom – a $50 value. The table has come in extra handy as most of our furniture is in storage while we hunt for a house.
4. Returned a broken fan to Target after just six months of use. I’m happy with the full merchandise credit they gave me and promptly used it to buy groceries and some over-the-counter meds.
5. Bought another fan online that I hope will be the last one we buy in our lifetime, given how much we paid for it.
Someone had a white painted banker's chair sitting out next to their trash can in my neighborhood and it broke my heart! I didn't have time to stop and pick it up (I'd have given it away).
Your dad's work shops are like his own personal Smithsonian of useful stuff. Great work on the wheelbarrow!
In the past week, I made more homemade bread, rack dried a bunch of laundry, shaved $120 off the planned purchase of a daybed for our home office by comparing prices online, bought seven loaves of fancy sandwich bread on manager's special (put six in the freezer, eating one now), and turned a $1.25 book bin from Dollar Tree into a CD holder in my car with the application of some extra strength Velcro. The bin keeps me from having a mess of CD cases strewn across the passenger seat.
Actually, I have a frugal question to ask the group--I hope it's ok, Kristen! I'll report back on the effects next Tuesday 🙂
What's a frugal, kid-friendly picnic meal for hot weather? We are meeting another family at a splash pad and bringing food to share, but I don't know what to bring. It has to be vegetarian, and ok with just ice packs in a cooler. What do experienced picnickers do?
@Meira Bear, PB & J. Because it's hot and kids are too excited to eat anyway. Cut up some fruit. Add a few baby carrots. Drinks.
@Meira Bear, how about something snacky like cheese, crackers, veggies to dip into hummus or other sauce, nuts/chips/popcorn or similar, fruit, cookies/treats? I always like PB&Js but maybe that's too boring for kiddos. Hope it's fun!
@Meira Bear, pb & j. Use fun cookie cutters to cut them into shapes so they are "fancy". Watermelon cubes, bring toothpicks for them to spear the cubes. Celery and carrot sticks. animal crackers for something sweet buy not sticky. hope you have a blast!
@Meira Bear, I asked my husband what kind of food to bring, since he has told me stories of his mother taking the three boys on picnics. He said they always had peanut butter, mayo, and pickle sandwiches. I tried not to gag. He then reminded me that I went to school with sandwiches of raw onion on black bread spread with either bacon grease or lard, so I was not in a position to be horrified by his food.
I heard of those peanut butter sandwiches recently and like you, I was horrified.
Your husband's comeback is hilarious though!
@Lindsey, Aren't peanut butter, mayo and pickles the three major food groups?
@Meira Bear, If I had been offered little snacky- fancy cut- hors d'oeuvre-y things when I was little, especially if they were on little plates or divided serving dishes or had toothpicks or fancy forks or those little plastic swords, I would have thought it the Coolest Thing Ever, thus making you the coolest parent friend ever.
Hors d'oeuvres are my favorite food group now as well, when someone else makes them, of course.
@Lindsey, I’m laughing so hard. Raw onion and lard. I wish I could go back in time and send my kids to school with that. I wish my mom had given me that and my dad yelled You won’t leave the table young lady till that plate is clean.
I guess I feel like quoting from favorite books today. From Lark Rise to Candleford, which is free on gutenberg.ca, "For other meals they depended largely on bread and butter, or, more often, bread and lard, eaten with any relish that happened to be at hand. Fresh butter was too costly for general use, but a pound was sometimes purchased in the summer, when it cost tenpence. Margarine, then called 'butterine', was already on the market, but was little used there, as most people preferred lard, especially when it was their own home-made lard flavoured with rosemary leaves. In summer there was always plenty [Pg 17]of green food from the garden and home-made jam as long as it lasted, and sometimes an egg or two, where fowls were kept, or when eggs were plentiful and sold at twenty a shilling."
@Lindsey, I haven't tried the mayo version, but peanut butter and pickles is surprisingly delicious! I was skeptical too before I tried it.
@Meira Bear, I would always pack generic wheat thin crackers. Cut up string cheese. And Turkey pepperoni with cut up fruit and ice water!
Oh, how I miss my dad and his workshop! Like yours, he could fix or build just about anything.
Here are my frugal wins:
1. I have a west-facing bedroom window and it has no afternoon shade. I'm in Texas, where the heat dome is making things not only miserable but dangerous as well. I used to put foil up in that window until the next door neighbor complained. Ditto, cardboard. So I took everything down and only had mini-blinds and my insulating drapes up there. That was OK for winter and spring, but in this weather, my bedroom was a lot hotter than the rest of the house, like walking into an oven. So I scrounged the garage and found an old trash-picked rollup window shade; I had intended to sell that in a garage sale we never got around to. My window is horizontal and the shade was too narrow. Unless you unfurl it sideways, which I did. I took it off the roller and cut off the bottom wood and just used its material. I put it up behind the blinds. From the outside, it looks like white fabric (which it is, of course). It is hidden behind the blinds and drapes inside, so you only see the drapes. Just like before. But it made a huge difference! My bedroom was much, much cooler yesterday afternoon, and I didn't spend a dime!
2. I lost one battle on this one but will win the next: I am getting "premium" cataract surgery and Medicare only pays $200-and-change for each eye. Far less than the thousands it'll cost. I went to the eye doctor yesterday for my measurements, and also had to pay. I was able to put part of it on my Humana Advantage dental and vision card; this took off $1,000 from the total bill. But that was only about 1/8 of the cost. Last week, I had an inspired idea to see if I could pay the rest with a credit card and get 5% cashback. Discover said I could, if I had a cell phone and "virtual wallet." I don't have a cell phone. So that was out. I have a bank card, too. But my bank said no, I didn't have enough of a credit line to cover the cost and it'd take 2 or 3 weeks to get the credit limit increased. So I went ahead and paid the eye doctor with a cashier's check from my savings account. But....the surgery center's fee will be well within the bank credit card limit, and I am going to go over to the bank and tell them I want to put it on the card. (Which will be paid off immediately.) Iplan to tell 'em that if they want to keep my business, they will honor the cash back thing, or I'll switch to a credit union or another bank. Theirs is only 4% but it will still knock some money off the bill.
2 1/2. I talked the lady at the eye doctor's into providing me with free samples. Those eye drops are expensive!
3. I think I previously told you about The Roommate From Hell, who has moved out. Among many other damages, TRFH plopped a cast-iron skillet on my glass-top built-in electric range and broke it. If we try to turn it on, it sparks. So we cooked everything in the microwave. To replace the range would cost upwards of $400 -- some models are $1,000 or more. TRFH has refused to pay for anything she's damaged (that's another story). So I bought a two-burner hot plate from Walmart for $35, I think it was, and it works fine. (See next item.)
4. My church had a potluck this Sunday. We were told to bring something "cold" so they wouldn't have to fire up the massive gas stove in the fellowship hall's kitchen. TRFH has failed to come pick up her stuff, and her family refuses to do so. Her doctors say she will have to live in assisted living or a nursing home from now on, so it is doubtful she will cook her own meals; I therefore decided anything edible in the kitchen was fair game. So I found a recipe online, and used the 5-pound bag of frozen vegetables crowding the freezer, plus several cans of kidney beans taking up room in the pantry. I also used part of the massive-sized commercial bag of sugar she decided to order during the pandemic. All I had to buy was cornstarch and apple cider vinegar. Using my trusty Walmart hotplate to cook the dressing, I made a tasty and colorful vegetable and bean salad, enough to fill my biggest mixing bowl, and most of it was free.
5. Confession: I was terribly tempted to buy a very pretty kimono jacket to wear over my pants outfit at a fancy birthday party I was invited to. It was for sale at the store I work at, which is a hotbed of temptation as far as the good stuff they sell. It was only about $20, not too awfully high a price for something so chic. But I reminded myself that fad fashions go out of style rather quickly. (Think cold shoulder blouses). So instead, I just wore some nice clothes I already had, in a new combination. I had just as much fun, and saved some cash.
5 1/2. I also used a birthday card I already had, instead of going out and buying one. That saved a few more dollars.
Oh man, I'm so sorry that your stovetop is broken too! Good solution though...that's smart.
Can you get your dad to do a "Meet a Reader"?
@Anne, ooohhh... Or even better, rent him out? Like "Rent Mr. Fixit"? Like Fru-Gal Lisa, I miss my Dad. But I do have a lot of his tools. And his voice in my head ("Don't disconnect an appliance by yanking on the cord! Pull the plug!) (he was an electrical engineer-who graduated from appliances into the space program).
@Anne, I've been clamoring for Kristen's dad to do a Meet a a Reader for some time now. Let's all put our voices together!
I don’t usually participate but have a few things today!
1) My son needed a bigger backpack for kindergarten (he has a tiny preschool size one) I showed him all the options and he said he wanted his exact tiny backpack just in a bigger size. The backpack is pottery barn, so they do make the same design in multiple sizes but unfortunately they stopped making that particular design. I was able to find the next size up on eBay so cheaper and using something that already exists!
2) My kids have been missing having a dog ever since ours passed away. I told them we needed a pet break though (as much as we loved him, it was a lot of added mess on top of the mess from 2 little kids and the expense, he racked up a lot of vet bills at the end) The family of one of my son’s friends had their dog sitter cancel very last minute and were in a pinch, I reached out and said we’d watch their dog at our house. They were so grateful and my kids are so excited to have a dog here again, even temporarily.
3) I don’t really like using door dash, the few times I have in the past it’s very expensive and usually it took a very long time. Someone had given us a gift card though and I’d been planning to use it to place a pickup order at least but then my son and I were home sick on Sunday while my husband and daughter were gone at a family party. I decided to give it a try with delivery since I didn’t feel like leaving the house and it was a positive experience this time at least. I think some restaurants have a sponsored or more “linked” relationship with door dash, this restaurant had no delivery fee and the food arrived in 20 minutes (and it’s a 10 minute drive from our house) I still wouldn’t use my own money on it, but I’m glad I got the gift card used up and it was a good experience.
4) Can’t really take credit for this but where we live, it does not get hot in the summer, so we don’t even have AC so no increased electric bill due to AC use (although we basically don’t get a summer either so guess that’s the trade off)
5) picked up an assortment of free seeds from my buy nothing group
@LB, "it doesn't get hot in the summer"!! May I board with you through September?? Sigh. 105 here today. Again.
@Central Calif. Artist, I have thought of doing a house swap with someone who lives somewhere hot in summer. Just a week or so, they’d get a break from the heat and my kids would get to do some summer things (wear shorts, splash around in a kiddie pool, eat popsicles)
@LB, let me know if you'd like to visit Sequoia National Park. My house is a 1-bdrm and has no swimming pool, but we might be able to make arrangements for the neighbor's pool!
Where are you? (In general, because this is the World Wide Web)
I wonder if Kristen's mother has ever fussed at Kristen's dad about hanging on to all the spare parts and bits and pieces; my mother fussed at my dad about it for sure, but it didn't faze him a bit. He'd always grin and say "See, you wanted me to throw this away," when he pulled a whatzit out of his stash and cleverly used it. ( They were happily married for 59 years.)
FFT:
1. My combination of age and a small frame means my doctor is telling me to use heavier weights than I'd been using when exercising, to try to avoid osteoporosis. I was only using 3 pound weights before. I waited patiently and scored a pair of neoprene covered 8 pound weights at Goodwill for $5.
2. I have decent storage in my kitchen, but I always had to dig in the drawers to find utensils - spatulas, hand mixer attachments, bottle opener, measuring spoons, ladle, peeler, candy thermometer, rolling pin, that sort of thing. This weekend I finally emptied out my junk drawer in the kitchen and filled it with thrift store organizer baskets I already had, then some utensils. I have no junk drawer in the kitchen for the first time in a long, long, long time. I threw away what was useless and organized the rest in the little free-to-me desk in my office/craft room. I had considered buying some kind of new organizers for the countertop until sanity prevailed and I realized I could use the junk drawer instead.
3. I thoroughly washed the dogs' collars instead of buying new ones. The collars now look fresh and new. (Please don't tell my male dog that his collar is red on the inside only and the outside is pink.)
4. I had leftover cream needing to be used and bananas that were going to get ripe too fast. I made banana ice dream, yum.
5. I got a bill for $7.87 for my new car insurance, after I'd paid what I'd been told was the six-month premium. Instead of just paying that little amount, I called, and it turned out it was a mistake, and I didn't have to pay it.
@JD, re: your #3: Good thing dogs are color-blind. (I'm reminded of the time DH and I adopted a cat that a neighbor's daughter had to give up for personal-life-change reasons. We kept the cat's original name, but changed the spelling from Checkers to Chequers. When neighbor's daughter raised a mild squawk, I replied, "Good thing cats can't spell.")
He keeps it all pretty organized, and he has two stand-alone garage buildings on the property that are really his domain. So I don't think she minds!
He DID let out a satisfied, "This is why I keep this stuff around." when he came out with all the parts. Heh.
@JD, Perhaps we can hear from Kristen's Mom in a "Meet the Reader" some day as well. Or maybe a couple-conversation between them.
@Heidi Louise, great suggestion!
Wow! Not only does your dad have parts for everything - he knows where they are all stored. In my house, we have lots of parts, but aren't always able to locate them. At least, not without a lot of digging! 😉
My five:
* Eating at home.
* Making our own coffee.
* Decluttering - finding things we truly use, and donating the rest to hopefully help someone else! This is way past due, as I have been fighting some health issues.
* Shopping thrift stores to find items my youngest needs for her apartment.
* Hubby found a shed (this has been a need for quite some time. He is a wood worker, and needs more space in his garage to be able to make new trim for our house and various other projects.) at Lowes for 50% off. They also gave him his Veteran's discount. The shed is one that they don't normally carry. The person had it shipped from another store but never picked it up. Feeling blessed as it is a little larger than we had been looking for!!
I think that's why my mom doesn't mind him keeping all this stuff; he has the space, and he knows where things are. It's not just a big old garage attic stuffed full of random things!
@Kristen that wheelbarrow is a wonderful find! Wheelbarrows have gotten SO expensive these days and are indispensable when doing yard & garden work. Good for you!
Frugal things...garden addition 🙂
1. I am harvesting about half a bushel of tomatoes from our gardens every other day so canning season is in full swing at my house! I canned over 18 quarts of tomatoes - both diced and in a from scratch Italian tomato sauce. These jars provide tomatoes for soups, stews, pasta dishes, chili and the like year round. There is truly nothing like the taste of a homegrown tomato especially in the dead of winter.
2. Okra. My goodness my family loves okra and that is a very fortunate thing because the garden is yielding a bushel every week and I am chopping and freezing it for use throughout the year.
3. Cucumbers. They have begun producing and goodness me we are having salads, putting away pickles, & snacking on them left and right.
4. Zucchini. My husband thought that the zucchini were finished for the season but he was decidedly wrong and we have been pulling enormous specimens from our garden ever since he spoke those words. Lots of fresh sauteed zucchini, zucchini boats, and shredded zucchini for the freezer to sneak into chocolate loaf cakes and bread when temps cool down.
5. Basil - for lovely homemade pesto to stash away in the freezer and enjoy all year long. Pumpkins. I planted pumpkins for the first time this year and they are growing like crazy. I will be serving pies, breads and cakes from lovely homegrown pumpkins for sure.
Peppers of all varieties, green beans, field peas, fresh flowers for the whole house. Goodness I am in frugal garden heaven over here and I love every minute of it 🙂
@Angie, Zucchini latkes are how we love to use up our zucchini. Also these baked zucchini tortillas: https://alexandracooks.com/2022/07/16/zucchini-tortillas-4-ingredients-gluten-free-baked/
@Angie, I have serious Garden Envy. Three zucchini plants have produced nothing; four cucumber plants have produced a total of three cukes. At least the basil is producing. The tomatoes are so wimpy, and we have about eight plants. I am SO THANKFUL FOR FARMERS!!
This week...
- I made all of our meals at home (again).
- We enjoyed free entertainment.
- We went to story time at our local library and got some new books. Also love that our library got rid of late fees, because we definitely have 1 overdue book and I didn't want to make a special trip to the library. We'll go there a few days after it's due anyway for story time.
- 2 kids earned rewards from Barnes and Noble reading program and from our local book store, so we redeemed those. One kid got 1 new book and the other got 3!
- I worked on a scarf using scrap yarn, but I wasn't very motivated because of the heat.
@Nikki, look up (on Ravelry) the pattern called the Omega wrap by Chris Bylsma. It is the best use of scraps I've found! https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/omega-wrap
I had a moment this past week where I was channeling Kristen and the Frugal Zealot at the same time … I was making muffins from a recipe scanned from a library copy of the Tightwad Gazette. The back of the recipe showed it was printed on leftover school papers back in 2017. I ground up old oats to make oat flour, used up some gluten-free flour that was taking up space in my freezer, plus used flax eggs from what seems like a never-ending bag of flax seed. The garden zucchini was piling up on the counter, so I tossed some in the mix for extra flavor. Nothing like library books, reusing paper, clearing out the cabinet and freezer, and using up garden produce all at the same time. 🙂
@JenRR, Congratulations! You have now passed the entrance exam for starting your very own frugal blog! FrugalJen.com?
@JDinNM, We’ll, thank you 😀
@JenRR, Thank was supposed to read “well”. Dang autocorrect!
1. I took a good look at the pantry and freezers and decided that we did not need to do any grocery shopping this week. Our CSA provided fresh produce and we have plenty of other items to pull together well-rounded meals all week.
2. During last week’s soccer tournament we made sure to take a day to experience all the extra activities that they had to offer. We cheered on teams from different countries, played all the fun mini games, participated in the challenges, and swapped pins with different teams. I did pack snacks and lunch to avoid the food trucks.
3. I brought home some leftover fruit from a work meeting this weekend to make smoothies this week.
4. School supply lists are available so I have started scouring our house for what my son will need. Many items can be repurposed from past years. The few items we will have to purchase can be picked up slowly at the best price over the next few weeks.
5. I treated myself by cashing in my stars and getting a “larger than I would normally order” iced coffee on Monday morning. It was a great way to start my work week after working all weekend!
Five Frugals here...
1. Used up two old Starbucks giftcards to sit and work in the coffeeshop while my kids were in VBS. I felt like I was living in luxury! Haha
2. Redeemed freebies: a Chickfila brownie & cookie, promo at Nektar Juice bar, and free kids meals at IKEA
3. I ordered a newer version of my favorite running shoes but on eBay for about 1/4 or 1/3 of the price. I am so happy with them!!
4. Free family fun = Free slushies and popcorn at a school event
5. Happened to log into husband’s health insurance and saw he had an unclaimed $25 reward sitting there from going to his eye checkup in May, so I redeemed it for Amazon credit.
It all adds up! Happy frugaling!
Kristen, hopefully your dad will have a spare wheelbarrow tire by the time yours goes kaput.
FFT days are tough for me because I always think there's room for improvement (like not spending $7.38 on two pairs of second hand really cute earrings at Partners In Care when I was dropping off a donation this morning).
But here goes:
1. My husband and I created our own Will, Durable Power of Attorney for Financial Management, and Advanced Directive documents. Twice in years past we hired attorneys to do this. Yesterday I bought Quicken WillMaker software for $95 and we are already done. I'm sure the hundreds of dollars we saved will cover my new earrings 🙂
2. Using my own spreadsheet rather than pay a monthly fee for an online app to track spending. My bank and credit cards send a text whenever there is a charge over $5. So it's easy to update the spreadsheet. I used a free form from Stephanie at Six Figures Under to get started.
3. Gassed up my car while at Costco yesterday stocking up on snacks for grandkids. It was a rather shocking amount of money for three huge boxes of junk food, but grandkids is one budget category that does not have a limit.
4. Continuing to gradually and thoughtfully de-clutter. We have friends staying with us while on missionary furlough so there are household items that are out of place for a bit. It's funny how things look different when they are moved to a new place and sometimes I realize that they are not really important so bye bye.
5. I am making baby burp cloths from pre-folded diapers for a shower gift. All the supplies are already on hand so the cost of these gifts will be a big fat zero.
My grandchildren budget doesn’t seem to have a limit either. Lol
1. Decided against an expensive purchase I was going to make because I lost my job today. Entire department is going away.
2. Won't have to buy my mom too many more takeout meals because she's dying. The cancer is back and it's inoperable.
3. Day drinking cheap box wine at 1:30 PM. It's so much more frugal than snooty wine in bottles.
@Rose,
Oh! So, so, so, so sorry about your bad news! I am sure that your mom really appreciates, (in the inmost recesses of your heart), all the care and concern you have given her, and continue to give her. ♥♥ Fingers crossed for good news for you soon on the work front. ♥♥
@Rose, Oh wow, I have nothing really to say except that I'm sorry you're going through this. 🙁
@Rose, Well, you've got wine. That's something. And you can climb this mountain in front of you. One step at a time. I'm so sorry though. None of it is fun.
@Rose, I'd send hugs, except that I know you're not into hugs. But solidarity forever.
@Rose, This post gave me a terrible pang to read. I am so sorry you have these two huge life issues to field all at once. I send good thoughts and know how strong you are but still.
@Rose, so sorry about your Mother.
If you start a blog I will come click on stuff so you can make money like Kristen.
@Rose, wow. Just wow.
Thanks, folks. I've already sent some feelers out to my contacts (you know, "feelers" strikes me as pretty gross, or maybe I'm too far into the box wine) and things look promising. I just don't want to deal with any of this stuff. It feels so unfair. The past ten years--divorce, death, poverty, kid crises, work problems, you name it--have just been too, too much.
@Rose, I am sorry to see your bad news. Each of those things are overwhelming. Please be kind to yourself during this difficult time.
@Rose,
That is just so awful. I'm so very sorry, on both fronts. What a terrible day....I hope tomorrow is at least somewhat better.
Sometimes all that hoarding we men do pays off, doesn't it? 😉
1. Got a pair of LL Bean shorts at the thrift store for $2. I needed some new shorts and these fit the bill (and fit my waist!)
2. On the flipside, I got a new USA made belt that is full grain leather and should last me for years. Most department and discount store belts these days are "genuine" leather which is garbage leather stretched over cardboard. My days of owning junk belts are long behind me now so I am happy to have this for the foreseeable future.
3. Replaced my own headlights. It did require a 10mm socket and a 12mm socket (and of course the socket wrench) but otherwise it was easy enough to do. Mechanics charge too much for these little jobs because they really don't want to do them, I suspect.
4. Using up some little stuff in the fridge and pantry.
5. Ended up with a rather bad vacation spot on our couples weekend away. Let's just say the culture there was not one we could appreciate. So we cut our losses and went home a day early. Luckily the hotel refunded us the second night's stay. We did find some fun things to do on the way home, at least.
Oh Rose, I am so sorry. That is a lot of hard for a single day. Or for a week. Or a month. Sending you so much love.
Um ... I made more money than I spent.
That's it. That's all I got.
1. choosing the chest freezer which came with free delivery. We still don't understand how this happened b/c Home Depot told us that chest freezers didn't qualify for free delivery, but when we shopped online it seemed like this one would be delivered for free. (We've spent weeks figuring out renting a truck, borrowing dollies and hand trucks and coordinating with a friend to help with unloading . . . )
2. I organized my kitchen and decluttered baking stuff that I haven't used in 5-7 years. While this isn't obviously frugal YET, I've found over the years that when you deep clean and organize you don't re-buy things you already have but couldn't find.
3. I realized that pregnant me cannot stomach tomatoes before we purchased and cooked a bunch of tomato-based meals. (Pregnancy has been full of cooking meals that only my husband can eat because I didn't realize that XXX food would cause reflux problems. It's nice to figure out at least one of the problem foods before I cook it.)
4. I stopped by Costco when I was "in town" and picked up a rotisserie chicken, because I can always eat chicken.
I've been slowly but methodically cleaning, decluttering and reorganizing all the cupboards and drawers in my 1914 kitchen. I did buy a single wire shelf thingy to double the mug storage, but my goal is to otherwise spend no money to completely redo all the storage. You watch all those TV shows where a team comes in to revamp your kitchen storage and there's always a massive amount of money spent (and plastic created) to achieve a visually pleasing result.
I'm having fun creating my own storage solutions using what I have, including these goofy little "corn holder" containers:
https://www.instagram.com/p/CvGTJ3IPJmi/?img_index=1
Thanks to you for inspiring me, I am now doing a freezer challenge on my own blog. I of course linked your blog on my post!!! If you want to visit it, it is http://www.dailyvalencia.com
* I deleted the Shein and Temu apps from my phone. Less tempting this way.
* Been really cutting down on groceries this month, using up what we have instead.
* Received a bunch of new shampoo bottles from Buy Nothing, I think I'm good for 5 years!
* Took 2 extra shifts this week at work
* Going away for the week-end with Hubby. It will not be cheap (gas, hotel and restaurants= abut 650$)), but not super expensive eighter since we have no paying activities planned.
It was NOT a frugal week:
1. New radiator $869.50
2. Traveling veterinarian for my favorite cat's abscess: $520
3. Retail therapy: yarn (all on sale, at least!) $32.10 to add to the sweater that is supposed to be made entirely from scraps.
So, you all can read this and feel better about your own weeks. Sigh.
@Central Calif. Artist, Ouch. If it's any consolation (and no, it won't be) it cost me more than that to get my new-to-me car's air conditioning fixed. Sometimes it's just one darn thing after another. (I sound like Roseanne Rosannadanna/Gilda Radner from the old SNL: "If it's not one thing, it's another!")
@JDinNM, I say that all the time to my husband, except I say "anuthuh". 😎 Thank you for commiserating with me.
1. My husband brought home a grocery bag of lettuce from his co-worker's garden. I sent them mini cheesecakes in return.
2. I donated blood and was gifted a $15 gift card for a local BBQ place.
3. I redeemed $18.15 in Sam's cash towards my purchase there.
4. I always pack my work lunches and have walking to and from work daily.
5. Husband's co-worker's wife sent me raspberry turnovers in the dish I had sent the cheesecakes in. We've been trading goodies back and forth!
Thanks to Kirsten’s yummy breakfast pix I was inspired to use up halloumi (left my DD who is travelling) and have fried egg/ halloumi & avocado for breakfast, no food waste and a better protein breakfast too.
I treated myself to a new comforter on my bed but used credit cards points to pay - it’s seems like a ‘free’ purchase.
Just doing the usual - making plunger coffee at work, homemade lunches, using free internet services to talk to family overseas.
Oooh, that sounds like a delicious breakfast. Good for you!
1. I have accumulated a bunch of things from my parents' house as they continue to clear it out after moving to an independent living apartment. I freecycled a bunch of office supplies and sold a couple of organizational items for $20. It is a slow process, but I'm hoping that I can find good homes for many of their items or a proper way to dispose of things. I think they are regretting all the things they bought before that either never got used or got put away and was forgotten about. I keep telling my kids I don't plan to do this to them, so hopefully they've learned not to buy things for the sake of buying.
2. Gave my son a much-needed haircut. I'm glad he still is ok with me cutting his hair as he is 15 and can be rather picky.
3. Returned some purchases that were the wrong size to the mall while batching errands nearby.
4. Took advantage of the 100 degree weather in Texas and hung our laundry to dry.
5. Inspired by Kristen to do a chest freezer challenge! Planning to eat food hidden in the depths that has been forgotten about in the last year.
And, after seeing all the work you had to do to get the wheelbarrow functional...I probably would have let it go, too, ha ha 🙂 But I'm seriously impressed by your resourcefulness, though!
We've been dealing with crazy pest infestations over here on our flower farm, which has made things...interesting. I guess you could call it a frugal win that we've simply been vacuuming them all up instead of spraying them 🙂
Here are some of my frugal wins for the week:
https://www.toloveandtolearn.com/2023/07/25/weekly-frugal-wins-drip-irrigation-more-medical-bills/
I like that color pink!
1. I used up some applesauce to make apple bread for my kid's breakfast next week. I used up some carrots and chickpeas to make a rice bowl for my lunches this week. I used up a bunch of frozen bread odds-and-ends to make baked French toast for my kid's breakfast this week. And I used frozen pie crusts, leftover sandwich turkey, leftover shredded cheese, and homemade sundried tomatoes to make a quiche for our breakfast this weekend.
2. I foraged lemon balm and motherwort. I made them both into a tincture using cheap liquor. I take these tinctures currently and they cost about $30/bottle. I should get a few bottles of each for a very small price.
3. I posted 2 plastic Adirondack chairs and a pile of garden bricks on Buy Nothing; it was all quickly picked up. The chairs were a set of 4 that I had gotten off Buy Nothing 3 years ago. 2 of them were broken beyond repair, so we did end of buying a new set of 4 this weekend. The bricks were left here by the previous owner. Giving items away on Buy Nothing is not frugal directly, but does save money in having to pay to dispose of larger items and it's better for the environment.
4. I harvested the garlic from our garden.
5. I have been routinely renting books from the library
The whole rehabbed furniture thing is so appealing to me! And speaking of the Buy Nothing Group...I gave away several things from my garage last week to save me gas and time since I knew for sure I didn't want them. I didn't want to hassle with selling them, either. However, the main things my group gives is stuff they really should trash or recycle. Stuff like half eaten loaves of bread. Just, no.
For my frugal wins:
*sold my property, closed its electric account, sold the canoe and trailer, will be cancelling the trailer's insurance. Big boost to my monthly budget.
*Bought two T shirt dresses for $11 apiece at Wal-Mart. I love them.
*Made an "almond joy" iced coffee, a la Mojo Coffee, for about $1 for this afternoon's treat.
*will be making banana muffins tomorrow with some past prime bananas and mini chocolate chips - the bananas were Son's, so free to me.
Ooh, do tell about this coffee!
Let's see if I can come up with 5. I had a great one today but that leaves 4 more...
1) I've been doing some minor reno work and needed a small piece of flooring transition. Nothing I could find at any home reno store or online was the right width or the right material. I went to the Habitat For Humanity Restore after work today and after digging through numerous bins of transition strips, and just as I was about to give up, I found the perfect piece for what I need and it was only $0.80.
2) Continuing with the home reno theme, a paint store was offering BOGO on cans of paint so I bought two and didn't get one tinted as I don't know what I'll need it for yet. Saved $75. I also used my AMA card (like CAA) and earned AMA dollars, which will go toward my annual AMA renewal.
3) Again with the home reno theme, I bought a ceiling light to replace an outdated one when it was 50% off and paid for part of it using "dollars" earned from that particular store. The nice thing about that particular store is that you still earn "dollars" when you redeem their "dollars" so I also earned "dollars" back on that purchase.
4) The said store in 3) above was offering $15 of their "money" with any $4.99 purchase. Sweet! I made a small purchase of something that I regularly buy anyway and earned $15 back.
5) Found a number of items that I often use in gift baskets that I make for seniors at Christmas on clearance for about 1/3 of their retail price so picked up a few.
I found an old frozen bag of raspberries in my freezer and I made jam out of it! Family loved it 🙂
I am loving that pink paint!
I had a horrible no good bad weekend. My dear, sweet dog who wasn't even 5 yet passed away suddenly. It was so fun watching her become queen of the farm. Her nickname was Sheriff because she ruled and was law. Tomorrow I am driving 600 miles round trip on an adventure to get a border collie puppy. I grew up with that breed and I love training them to work the cattle. I asked the farmer to pick out the sweetest girl and put a ribbon on her. We will have a little adventure! I packed snacks, drinks and stuff for puppy.
I cleaned out my Auntie's craft room and am diligently organizing and setting aside stuff for the senior center, the after school club at church and will tune up her two sewing machines for BN group.
I cut my neighbor's hair and she gave me some garden seeds. She is the volunteer of all volunteers so it pleases me that I can do this one little thing for her.
I replaced all the innards of the toilet in the mudroom, thanks to youtube guy.
I picked peaches and canned them this week. I bought 10 lbs of windblowns for .50/lb and made a 9x13 fresh peach pie dessert using a shortbread crust the peaches are not baked, similar to a glace strawberry pie. I invited the new neighbors up for a meet and greet. That's only 4 things, oh well.
I am so sorry to hear about your dog!
@Blue Gate Farmgirl, I am so sorry about your sweet dog, but glad you will be getting another soon. As much as we love our dogs, we are always looking for the next one within a month. The two of us just rattle around in a house without a dog.
We did a “staycation” this year, because finances ended up tighter than we had originally planned.
While we mostly just slept at our home & did things in the area, I also found a place on the Lake Michigan beach 30 minutes from our house for only $75/night! We stayed 2 nights, packed breakfasts & lunches so we only have to buy dinner, and it was great. I got to watch the sunrise on the beach while listening to waves hit the sand.
It’s not the most glamorous hotel (definitely needs some work), but it’s within walking distance of the beach, in the middle of some beautiful native areas.
So glad you have your dad to help you with so many things!
Me too!
Kristen, I don’t know if you have a leaf blower, but that is mighty blast of air to clean out fans, too! Worked better than the air compressor for us.
Our daughter is going to grad school in a couple of weeks. Tomorrow her and hubby will drive down to look at a studio apartment for her. I saw it online and think it's a dump but...I'm not 29 years old anymore or going out on my own.
I went to see my friend tonight and she is cleaning out her very jammedpacked house so she can put it on the market and move in with her daughter, son in law and granddaughter for her retirement. Told her daughter was moving out and she contributed to the cause...cause she has a lot of stuff. Got bath towels, 2 coffee mugs, 2 knives, cutting board, pot holders, and I can't remember what else. It was raining when I got home so I left the grocery bags - she'll get them too, if she needs them - in my car.
Hubby has been doing good with his grocery shopping keeping it under $200/week. It will go even lower when daughter moves out.
Called about getting a new deal on our cable/internet and the company that we have now tried to sell me a plan that was $65 MORE than what I'm paying now.
Keeping an eye on the electric usage. Seems I can stand an indoor temp of 78 degrees during the day. I lower it at night for sleeping when I go to bed which is usually around 1 a.m.
I have a whole day home by myself tomorrow. I will go out and do a couple of errands in the morning as it's a heat advisory and air advisory day. Plenty of cleaning and laundry to keep me busy.
Love the nightstand!
Love, love the pale pink color!
We've been super busy at our house, with all of us working a lot. Before the frugal wins, a very non-frugal event. I was attending a work event at another location, and the parking garage gate crashed onto my car while I was driving through. It was super scary (it was an enormous, floor to ceiling, steel gate. My employer has security footage, so I'm very hopeful that they will cover the full cost of the repairs. Either way, giant hassle. I'm grateful the car is drivable & no one was hurt.
1) Sold a couple of items on eBay, for close to $100. Always a win
2) Ate lots from the freezer this week, given it was such a busy time. Bonus: stayed on top of leftovers, to ensure we had no waste.
3) Asked my husband to make a big pan of rice, to accompany the protein mains we pulled from the freezer. His rice is so delicious, and it helps make leftovers more appealing. Similarly, I made caprese salad, using tomatoes & basil from the garden.
4) Picked up an almost free container of protein powder on BN. DS16 uses a lot of it for smoothies.
5) Used CVS & Safeway rewards, when picking up a few items.