Five Frugal Things | We have bowls!
1. I got some free bowls
We had been making do with two cereal bowls plus some weird flat-ish bowls from the abandoned house. It was workable, but not ideal.
So when I saw that someone was offering a set of bowls on my Buy Nothing Group, I said, "Oooh, yes please."
These are perfect for us.
And since pretty much all my other dishes are white, these look nice on the open shelving.
More about Buy Nothing groups here (plus some photos of other goodies I've snagged!)
2. I bought a knife block from Facebook Marketplace
My knives have been jumbled in the silverware drawer ever since I moved here. And on Sunday of this week, I randomly decided that I was getting really tired of not having a knife block.
So, I found one on my Buy Nothing group. Sadly, it was too small to fit my chef's knife, which is the main one I use. So, I will pass that block on to someone else.
But I did find a larger Henckels knife block on Facebook Marketplace for $15.
Now my knives are tidy and easily accessible, and this block is as nice as the one I had at my other house. 🙂
3. I oiled my knives
As I was putting my knives into the new knife block, I realized that some of my abandoned-house knives had super dry handles.
(presumably from the previous owner putting them in the dishwasher!)
So, I used my Boos Block oil to remoisturize them, and now they look way newer.
More importantly, the wood is protected.
I think there are cheaper oiling alternatives out there, but I got this $15 container of Boos oil with a cutting board in 2012, and it's still half full. You only need a little at a time.
Oiling dry wood is so rewarding; it almost makes me wish I had more dry knife handles!
4. I made yogurt and granola
Homemade yogurt topped with homemade granola makes for a very inexpensive breakfast.
Raspberries and chia seeds are from Aldi. Bowls: from the Buy Nothing group. 🙂
5. I...
- walked to school even in the 36-degree weather 😉
- used a bunch of leftovers to make a taco salad for lunch yesterday
- used the backs of chemistry homework paper as scratch paper
- used Get Upside for a gas discount (Use this link and enter code AFF25 for a $0.25/gallon extra discount)
- made lots of pots of coffee at home
I love those bowl! They are very cheerful.
Let's see, what was I up to this week?
1) Sold the last of my husband's outgrown jackets on eBay. I'm a little sad to see them gone, as they all sold very quickly. Also sold some travel gift cards we'd had hanging around forever. An airline dropped a bunch of routes during COVID, and it doesn't look like they will be picking them back up, so the gift cards are really difficult for us to use. I'd rather just have the money back in our travel fund.
2) Picked all of the pomegranates on our tree. The weather led most of them to crack, so unfortunately, we had to toss a chunk of them, but we have many. Many, many. We've given a lot away to friends & neighbors & are enjoying them. Everyone loves them at our house, so we are loving them. Perhaps minus my husband, who is on deseeding duty.
3) Ate various leftovers (as always) for lunches, and made the occasional lunch for the teens. If I make it, I ensure it uses up things I'm trying to get rid of. 😉 They appreciate the meal they didn't have to prepare themselves. Win/win.
4) Used a $1 Rite Aid reward before it expired.
5) Finally had enough to cash out $20 in iBotta savings. We don't use it often, but occasionally, there is a winner. It takes a while to have enough to cash out.
Am I the last person to realize that I should be oiling my wooden kitchen tools??? I think I see an Amazon purchase in my near future.
Love your new-to-you bowls. I don't know how you survived with what you had. We use bowls constantly.
I am NOT having a frugal week. I tried to repair my vacuum cleaner yesterday but I think the motor may be burned out, so after much online research, I found one that sounds like it will meet my needs and I ordered it. I can't stand the idea of bagless and it's challenging to find a quality upright bagged version. Vacuums are NOT made with the same level of quality that I grew up with. (Can you tell that I'm irritated about this? Our current vacuum is maybe 7 years old and in my mind, it should have lasted at least another 10 years).
However .... I continue to cook at home and I took advantage of all the holiday sales when grocery shopping yesterday, so I haven't completely gone off the rails.
We did a lot of bowl-washing. Ha.
@Kris, I just had to let you know that my mother bought a Kirby upright vacuum in the 1950s. It was in use until about ten years ago when I finally donated it to a charity. It was still running and maybe still in use today. It was metal and getting hard to push as I aged and it did seem to me it was losing a bit of suction.
@Anne,
My mother-in-law had an Electrolux cannister vacuum with the optional power brush head. It finally gave up the ghost when my husband was in his late 50's. One of my husband's earliest memories is of riding the cannister as a toddler while his mother vacuumed, so it was at least that old.
@Anne, Ugh, I just had a traumatic flashback to the Kirby we bought from a door-to-door salesman back in 2000. It was so heavy, and broke within two years! And even my very handy husband couldn't fix it. I guess they were better quality back in the 50s...
@JD, I'm nearly 65 & on my second Electrolux with power brush head. My mom had 2 Electrolux vacuums in her life (first one bought probably in 60's so didn't have the power head). Once she went to upright Dirt Devils, etc....she was buying one about every 3 years. (We have her last upright vacuum & my husband uses it, but I still love my Electrolux.)
@Kris, you can use mineral oil, sold wherever laxatives are sold. It is cheaper than the brand name oils. Doesn’t go rancid and makes your cutting board, knife handles, wooden spoons etc. look new! I use it every month or so for my wooden cutting board and olive wood spoons. Spread it on , let sit overnight, wipe off any extra if any. Beautiful!
--Thanksgiving prep! The only things I really needed to buy were fresh cranberries and a turkey. We grew the squash for the pie, the potatoes, and the green beans. Because I make everything else from scratch and always have the standard ingredients in stock--butter, flour, onion, etc.--it was a pretty minimal shopping trip.
--I found the aforementioned cranberries and turkey at the little grocery store in the town an hour away I was in anyway for my son's basketball tournament. That meant I didn't have to drive another thirty miles to the bigger town. Good thing, since I felt like I spent enough on gas just going to and from that tournament twice. Yikes.
--I also found a marked-down case of seltzer at that store in the damaged section. I usually wouldn't normally buy the stuff that's in that section--mostly packaged things--but I do buy seltzer sometimes, and it was nice to get something I would have bought anyway for a few dollars off.
--One fail on that trip, though, was that my husband neglected to tell me we were almost out of chicken feed. So I'm cooking for the chickens this week (mostly excess commodities stuff like rice and split peas) until we can get back to the feed store. Not my favorite, but it does save on the commercial feed, which has doubled in price. And I'm only motivated to cook for chickens when we're actually out of the feed. 🙂
--We managed to find a butcher that would process our neighbor's cow for us. There aren't many processing places around here, and they're all scheduling almost two years out. We're almost out of beef--and, thus, almost all meat, since that's our main meat source--already, so we really couldn't wait that long. My husband saw a card in the grocery store for a place a couple of hours away that's just a small family-run thing, and they took the cow within a few weeks. It usually ends up being about $4/lb for the beef in the end, which is WAY better than at a store. Better beef, too, and I don't have to drive to get it. Well, after the initial drive to the butcher, of course.
1. I was feeling like my dining room was a little drab and un-festive for Thanksgiving (we host every year) so I went through my saved pinterest crafts and decided on making brown paper bag snowflakes and snowflakes from old book pages. I strung them up from the ceiling using thread from a past project and old map pins for a map that is no longer in use. I didn’t buy any supplies and the dining room looks much more festive.
2. Since moving into our house three years ago, I have felt that our Christmas tree wasn’t tall enough for the room we have it in. My parents moved into a house last year and discovered their Christmas tree was too big for the space. Naturally, we swapped! Now we both have the perfect sized tree for our homes.
3. I refused to buy anything at the grocery store other than Thanksgiving needs on my weekly shopping trip. I’ve been piecing together meals from our pantry and freezer which has been opening up lots of space for Thursday’s leftovers.
4. I have been brainstorming what to get my coworkers for Christmas gifts this year. A few people on my team love plants so I decided to propagate my string of turtles plant in tiny pots to gift this year. I picked up tiny terra cotta pots for less than $2 apiece and the plant itself was free to me in the first place.
5. Pre-frugal win – my son and I are planning on going to a friend’s house on Friday so they boys can watch the World Cup and the moms can craft. No money spent on Black Friday and time with friends is a perfect win!
@Geneva,
i especially love your #4 and #5 this week!
@Geneva, oh I love the paper snowflakes, I have so much brown paper, could even get the kids occupied for a bit!
@Geneva, I love the snowflakes AND the Christmas tree swap.
@Anne, I do, too! What a perfect solution.
I'm curious about the snowflakes. I'm considering making ones similar to this: https://thekeeledeal.com/how-to-make-brown-paper-bag-snowflakes/ Is that what you made, Geneva?
The other bowls were probably old fashioned soup plates.
as for frugal--at BFF's house in Alabama and she's not letting me pay for anything. I will start sneak paying for things though!
Which is odd because they are remarkably terrible for soup. It gets cold in, like, three seconds.
And I am SO VERY HAPPY that you are with your friend.
@Rose, I'm sending good thoughts to you and to your BFF. And I'm glad you made the trip.
@Kristen, I agree that they are not good for soup. But we have some anyway, and my kids (and now we) call them "platey-bowls," and they are used for stews and sausage gravy over biscuits. And sometimes salads.
@Rose,
I'm so glad you're visiting your BFF! We used to have to stealth pay at times when my in laws were alive....they took great pride in being able to treat.
@Kristen,
The flat-ish bowls look like our pasta bowls Our (free-to-us) set has both cereal bowls and pasta bowls. So much easier with pasta bowls to get every last bit of yummy sauce instead of eating pasta off plates....especially important when it's Kristen's incredibly delicious tomato cream sauce 🙂
@Laure, we use a flat pasta bowl to feed our youngest dog. She has many odd behaviors due to past abuse and would not eat out of a bowl, possibly because she couldn't see around her while eating.
@Rose,
Waving to you from here in Alabama!
@Kristen, we use our bowls like that for pasta & main dish salads.
@st, my current Facebook status: "Mobile is weird. Everyone is polite and kind. I'm a little creeped out."
This is a charming little city. And I'm looking forward to making an elaborate, delicious Thanksgiving meal for my friend and her brother. With some concessions to the South like making cornbread dressing. ! I baked the cornbread today and it's drying out. And pecan pie instead of apple pie, but also making pumpkin pie and my mom's special cheesecake. It's lovely being here and it's such a break from my regular life--perfect.
@Rose,
I’m also in Mobile visiting family for Thanksgiving (I was born and grew up here).
Enjoy the southern hospitality.
Debbie
@Jody S., pasta too. And rice with curry.
Love the bowls!
Let see what I can come up with this week:
1) Signed up for Nike loyalty program so I could get free shipping
2) Signed up for two-week trial of Uncommon Goods Perks so I could get free shipping. Purchased several gifts and now can cancel the trial subscription
3) Got gas while I was at Costco even though I only needed half a tank
4) Made one of Mom's most requested cakes for Thanksgiving lunch at work. Recipe called for nutmeg, which I do not have in my spice rack because we do not like it, so I used Allspice I had instead of purchasing nutmeg
5) Thanksgiving Day will be low key at our house since we're going to MIL for big family meal on Friday. Bought a 15 lb. bag of potatoes at Costco (much cheaper than at our grocery store) so we'll have baked potatoes, meatloaf (using meat from freezer), and cookies (made using ingredients in the pantry)
@Beverly, I always thought nutmeg was pointless and blah, until I was given an actual nutmeg pod. Whoa! Fantastic! They’re little roundish brown nut-like things, about 1 cm diameter. You use a fine grater to grate it in very small amounts over or into desserts, certain vegetables, sauces, pastas, eggnog, and they have a wonderful unique flavor unlike anything else. Maybe someone will give you a few to try so you don’t have to buy a whole container. I was given a jar as a gift and I’m so happy, because I probably would have never bought them since I didn’t know the difference between grocery store powdered nutmeg and the real thing. It took me years to use it all up but they stayed good kept in a drawer in a glass jar. Then I bought some at nationwide expensive spice store. Now I can find them at Hispanic or Asian grocery outlets for a very reasonable price. Mace is the outside of the nutmeg pod, ground up. Now, to learn about allspice!
@Jen, I first discovered whole raw nutmeg at an Amish store where it was packaged in small containers & relatively cheap. I did transfer them into small glass container to store for better freshness. And nutmeg lasts a long time in glass. Never bought store powdered nutmeg so can't comment. Another place to check is Natural/organic /health stores that sell food. We have one an hour away (that get meds) & they have lots in bulk so can get little/lots
I like the bowls. Free stuff is good and it's always better when it's cute, too.
If you still have that much oil left since 2012, it really must take very little of it to oil wood!
A few years ago a cabinetry carpenter made a nice big, thick butcher block type cutting board for me out of oak scraps, for $50. I love the way it looks when it is freshly cleaned and oiled.
1. I used Swagbucks to purchase a gift card to further reduce the cost of a sale-priced gift from Lands' End.
2. We had a dreary weekend, but I hung out laundry to get it mostly dry, so that it only took a few minutes in the dryer.
3. Since our weather for a few days was raw, damp, in the mid-thirties at night and 50-53F during the day, the house couldn't warm up, so I turned on the heat, but turned it way down during the times I wasn't home. My dogs stayed in the laundry room when I was gone, where multiple large running appliances keep that room warmer than the house when the door is shut. That's also where they have a pet door, beds, food and water, so they weren't missing anything. We are now warming up for Thanksgiving, it looks like - the lows in the next few days will be warmer than the highs of this past weekend - so the heat is completely off again.
4. Last year I made wooden bookends for a grandchild who loves to read. Wood has gone up, and MDF is really expensive. I stopped in a thrift store and found two solid MDF painted bookends, heavy and tight, that I am sanding to repaint and redecorate to make a set for the newest reader in the family. I paid $4.99 for the pair, which is less than the wood would have cost me, and I already have the paint.
5. I am buying the items needed for Christmas baking when I find them on sale. I have most of it purchased now. I don't bake a lot at Christmas, but there are a few things that I make every year, and will for as long as I can.
6. Bonus, I asked a local farmer for 10 pounds of her organically grown grapefruit - I wanted a few for me and a few for a family member. She said it was cold and miserably damp when she picked this weekend, so she didn't take time to weigh and adjust, she just stuffed a big bag full and charged me the price for 10 pounds. The bag weighed almost 15 pounds when I got it home.
@JD, your #6 brought back happy memories of "free-range" Florida grapefruit. My undergraduate alma mater is right next to a certain museum complex on Florida's west coast, and back in the day (nearly 50 years ago now), some of us used to hop over the not very challenging fence and help ourselves to the grapefruit growing in the complex's back 40. No grapefruit before or since has tasted better.
@A. Marie,
I'm sure they were superb, and that's funny that they thought a little fence would keep people out. 🙂
When my daughter and her husband bought their current, circa-1952 home, they dug through the undergrowth in the backyard and found a long neglected, way too tall grapefruit tree struggling toward the sun. They are working to get it back to normal, and it has produced a few of the most delicious red grapefruits in the meantime!
Ripe from the tree grapefruits are so good.
I spy the pink paring knife!
Today I'm having a very not-frugal day because I'm making Thanksgiving lunch for my husband's lab's for tomorrow. BUT because I planned ahead, I got as much as I could at Aldi. And it's important for us to provide all his international students with true American Southern Thanksgiving dishes (deviled eggs, broccoli cheezit casserole, you know, the good stuff).
@Molly, The broccoli cheezit casserole sounds divine!
@Molly,
There must be deviled eggs at a Southern holiday meal! It's a requirement.
The bowls really look pretty and the knives even more so. So classic!
I will try my frugal wins this time:
On Thursday I picked up the weekly fsrmshare of a friend who was out of town.
I got: potatoes, eggs, cabbage, Swiss chard, cauliflower, lambs lettuce and a few sweet potatoes. All organic. All those vegetables have been turned into meals already, some leftovers of those meals are in the freezer.
I mended a shopping bag similar to the of yours Kristen - the one with the strawberry print.
For six days straight I had no food waste. That's a big one for me.
Years ago I found to strands of beautiful wollen yarn in the street. Last week I remembered those, took my knitting needles and turned the wool into two headbands.
Last week I found a pair of warm leather boots on clearance. They were marked down from 180 € to 80 €. When I tried them I noticed that the right boot had a slightly lighter shade than the left one which was on the shelf. I got a further reduction because of this and paid only 60 €. That'
s a very good price for leather booties. The difference in shade becomes less and less visible now with constant wear.
I was planning a 10 days stay in Switzerland over Christmas and New Year but hadn't booked the appartement yet. Yesterday my youngest son told me that he is planning to go visit his brother I Vienna and on the way to and back he will stay with me. That's a nice surprise and nicer than a vacation in Switzerland and much cheaper of course.
In two weeks I will be visiting my eldest son and his family in Vienna. My middle son who lives in the same town as I will keep the dog during regular weekdays (home office) and the Ukrainians will keep the dog for the weekend. So my middle son can do his partying at the weekend and I am saving the cost of the kennel and the Ukrainians just loooove the dog. Everybody is happy!
And that's all I can think of right now
@Lea, How cool that your Ukranian guests mesh so well with your household - I'm so glad that this group fits in well with your home and life! It's great that you tried again since if I remember correctly, I think your first group had a harder time. And congrats on the boots - great find, and you're inspiring me to keep my eyes open since I could use a slightly bigger pair (& my daughter already wants my current ones)
@Suz,
Yes, it simply it so lovely having Alina (43) and her daughter Veronika (13) staying with me. It works so well and all involved manage to keep the right amount of distance and closeness. And you have a good memory - Ina and her two boys seemed to have a hard time at my place....Ina that is. The boys actually cried when their mother decided they are to leave my place very suddenly after 12 days. But turned out that fate had a better plan for me with Alina and Veronika 🙂
FFT, "Live a Weird Life" Edition:
I found a "Live a Weird Life" sticker on my corner U.S. mailbox when I stopped to mail a couple of things this morning. Fortunately, I've been happily doing this for years!
(1) I'm delighted to report that the teabag wreath activity at Saturday's JASNA meeting was a big hit. All of us who made wreaths had fun. I have some photos I'll be glad to share later, with Kristen's permission and cooperation. (Kristen, if you're OK with this, I'll email you the photos.)
(2) Some of the other wreath makers were far better at making bows than I am. But I got a big laugh when I decorated one of my two wreaths with a green bow made of ribbon that says "Stickley." The Bestest Neighbors used this on a Christmas present they gave me last year, and they recycled it from a piece of furniture they bought at Stickley!
(3) Before the meeting, I was delighted to meet my best JASNA bud in that city for lunch at our favorite hole-in-the-wall Greek restaurant, for the first time in ages. And our favorite waitress not only was as delighted as we were, but put in our usual orders **from memory** as soon as we walked in the door! (Believe me, this lady has superpowers.) Not exactly frugal, but a wonderful meal.
(4) The ham shank I mentioned in last Friday's WIS, WIA has been put to multiple uses: quite a few ham sandwiches; the ham and potato soup I made on Friday; a considerable portion of ham put in the freezer for later use; and a split pea soup I made yesterday with the bone. I shared the ham and potato soup with the Bestest Neighbors, and will be taking some of the split pea to my next-door neighbor (the one who makes the killer brownies) today.
(5) And I'll be having Thanksgiving dinner with the BNs, who are divvying up the major cooking duties this year with a friend of Ms. BN's who cooks at a professional level. I'm contributing marinated green beans, a bottle of wine, and one of the two teabag wreaths I made (the one that looks more autumnal).
@A. Marie, teabag wreath? Now I'm intrigued. Yes, please, Kristen, I'd love to see picture of this! I love tea and many things in my house are tea themed.
@A. Marie,
I love ham bone and split pea soup!
Yes, of course, go ahead and email them to me!
—After many years of service, our old artificial Christmas tree started shedding needles like crazy, which is a choking hazard for our cats. We bought a new, smaller (4’) tree for $30 during Michael’s 50% off Christmas sale. It comes with lights, and we’ll be adding the strings we rescued from our previous tree. I already have a large plastic tote that will fit the new tree.
—We were able to reuse our old tree’s weighted stand (the main reason we chose it back in the day) for our new tree. That, combined with my husband’s kettle bell tied to the base, should keep it upright despite curious felines! 😛
—I reused the nylon Christmas tree storage bag for our indoor air conditioner. Now it can be safely stored in the garage until we need it next year vs. underfoot in our mud room.
—My sister and her husband passed on a full box of Brita filters to us after he installed an on-the-tap water filter in their house.
—I updated the deep freezer inventory and made a new “Meals with stuff (mostly) on hand” list. Menu plans don’t work, as my husband wants to choose between at least two options for dinner. Making a list of all the possibilities reminds us both what we have and let’s me suggest several things for him to choose from that I’ll also be happy with. I also cross meals off the list to avoid repeating myself too often and leave room for new recipes.
@N, I forgot my frugal fail! We turned on our oven for the first time since moving in. It works a treat—I honestly don’t think the previous owners used it more than a few times, if that, it’s so pristine—but we set off the smoke alarms for something WE did. The stovetop lacked burner caps when we moved in, so I ordered some and then put the package in the oven’s bottom drawer in case I needed it for… something? Guess what we forgot? The plastic package melted onto the broiler pan that was also stored there. There was thankfully no visible smoke, just a bad smell and a good test for our smoke detectors. Broiler pans turn up often enough at Goodwill, but I felt bad throwing out a basically new one.
@N, Oh no! It's so easy to leave stuff in that oven bottom drawer. I've done it as well.
@N,
Bless your heart! I know a woman whose husband turned on the oven to preheat for her but didn't know she had stored a new loaf of plastic wrapped bread in it.
@JD, hey, everybody! I have learned “the hard way” several times to:
1. Never store things in ovens or on stovetops!
2. Don’t put bottled liquids in the freezer “for just a few minutes to cool it”.
3. Never run appliances without looking inside to make sure what’s supposed to be inside IS, and nothing that’s not supposed to be there, ISN’T!
4. Don’t run appliances unless home and paying attention.
Those are frugal tips, because fire prevention, flood prevention, avoiding damaging or destroying things is frugal! Who can relate?!
@N, That's funny that your husband wants choices, I have always given choices/variety to my family. My youngest (16) only left at home with me & even though he cooks sometimes I still give choices for food. Habits are sometimes hard to change.
I made my own dehydrated shredded potatoes (that I grew) for hash browns. My crop was pretty huge and storage is a problem. Dehydrator to the rescue. My sons are backwoods campers and use bought dehydrated potatoes. So, this year they are getting some jars full in their Christmas "stockings".
@flutechick,
Oh, that's interesting! I've been looking for more things to do with my dehydrator. Shredded potatoes for hash browns sounds delicious! I'm going to Google it now...
You had a frugal week! Me, not so much. Can I count myself frugal if I don't even go anywhere to spend money? I can try to think of a few things--
*I'm cooking pumpkin from our garden for pumpkin pie.
*I planned meals for the week.
*I thankfully accepted some clothes from our chiropractor (whose father died and was about the same size as my husband and father).
*I sewed a button on my nightgown (though I can't remember if that was this week or last).
*We sorted through the gifts we store in our closet to see what we need to buy for our children for Christmas (and one December birthday). The good news is that we don't need to buy many things for Christmas!
I love those bowls!! 🙂
Traveled to HOUSTON for family wedding. Not frugal. Had a great time!
Shared rental car expenses with another family member!
Ate free hotel breakfast ( meh!) when many people walked across the parking lot to Denny’s both mornings.
Got a good discount on hotel room using AAA.
PAcked snacks in backpack both ways and only bought a drink ( each way) at the airport.
Bought a book from goodwill 2.99 to take on trip. I try to always do this in case I leave it behind accidentally.
Kristen, I'm so impressed that you walk to school. How far away is it?
My frugals:
1. We drove to the next state over to visit a son and grandson we haven't seen since before Covid. Just one night but we stayed at a hotel using points, so no costs there and the hotel gave us two free snacks from their mini store which we used as treats for the long drive home.
2. We had a gift card for one of our favorite chain restaurants and planned to use it but the server could not get it to work, so we had to pay for dinner after all. It's okay because we will just use it for ourselves at some point but this is the second time this has happened in a restaurant with a good gift card and my suspicious is mind is starting to formulate conspiracy theories. Anybody else have problems with restaurant gift cards?
3. Arizona's gas is two to three dollars cheaper per gallon than California's, so we made sure to fill up at the border before we crossed into Expensive Land.
@Anne, I've had problems with gift cards in general at restaurants. You either need to spend under the gift card amount (including 20% tip even if you don't plan on leaving that much or using the card for it) or use another form of payment first to bring it down under the card total (plus mythical tip), then use the card.
Oh, it's only a mile there and a mile back. Nothing too crazy!
It looks like you put your steak knives in upside down. Am I wrong or is there something I haven't done right my entire life? Hope you and the girls have a very happy Thanksgiving. Love your blog!
Yep! It helps keep knives sharper if you don't put the sharp edge down. Otherwise they scrape against the wood every time you take them in and out.
@Kristen, I learn something new every day on The FG, and this is my something new for today! Off now to rearrange my knives...
AHA!
I never thought of that!
1. I started doing online market research surveys through my grocery store reward program to earn points toward a grocery gift card. I figure one survey a day, if I can score one, doesn't take too much time and every little bit helps.
2. Took three books to the Little Free Library and used the public library as well.
3. Free exercise: cleaned out the fridge and pantry to prepare for Thanksgiving.
4. Made homemade cranberry sauce for Thanksgiving. Clipped a coupon that got us a super cheap turkey as well--it surprised my husband when he checked out at the store, ha!
5. Batched errands by going to the post office and library and ATM the same afternoon.
I am so fascinated by your knife oiling! I didn't know you could do that. The change is amazing! Man... I learn new things here all the time.
This week:
1) I got a free team picture for my daughter's volleyball team because I'm an assistant coach. I didn't know this was a perk, but I love it! Saved me $8.
2) I've been making lots and lots of apple chips. I ran out of quart jars to make applesauce and still had about 50 pounds of apples left. We'll eat the galas, but I don't care for McIntosh apples plain. They do, however, make delicious apple chips!
3) Someone in my Facebook book-nerd group had a brand-new book that they were given but it wasn't their thing, so they offered it up for free to someone who would enjoy it and I said yes, please. I know the author's family and am looking forward to reading it.
4) Our vacuum cleaner has been "hurt your ears" loud for a while and my husband got a $5 part to try to fix it but that didn't work. We had previously purchased a $70 Target gift card that we didn't end up using at the time, so I found a good vacuum on a Black Friday-like sale and used the gift card to pay for part of it.
5) I got some bags of Starbucks coffee that were marked down to $2.99 each through the Flashfood app.
Thank you, Kristen, for reminding me to oil my knives and blocks! Love the bowls.
-Found out neighbor has a fence post auger tractor attachment and will let me use it for half the cost of renting one.
-Picked up our steer from butcher, they gave us 20 lbs dog bones plus 20 lbs of fat for the birds. Score! We melt the fat and stuff it into pine cones and then roll into seeds. These will be added to our neighbor appreciation gift baskets.
-While cleaning/organizing freezers we found a couple of fish pkgs that broke their seal, I defrosted and dehydrated the fish for kitty treats (some of which I will share with the neighbor baskets).
-Used survey earned visa cards to purchase gas in another town that is known to be inexpensive gas and filled up all of the 5 & 3 gallon gas cans for a substantial savings of .74 gallon.
-Lettuce in greenhouse is 2" high. A neighbor brought me all of her opened bags of soil, so I'm using that to pot them. She and several friends brought their pumpkins & patio pots to dump into my huge compost pile alongside the barn. They received 5lbs of apples for their contribution. Win, win, win!
Blessings to All & Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!
Those are very cute bowls. I have some nice ones from Goodwill I think. Some others I got from the Asian grocery store.
My Frugal things:
1.) Got a mega deal on some deodorant despite discovering I had enough for a few months already. Oops! Still frugal as it has a great shelf life.
2.) Got a free turkey from BJs because we spent more than $150 in one transaction (really easy to do, btw!)
3.) Bought a Christmas present off of eBay.
4.) Wife took advantage of the Joann sale on fabric (Black Friday is a week now I guess) so she has a lot of projects ahead of her for Christmas.
5.) Thanksgiving will just be the three of us so we're having some leftover ham that day. Turkey will be on Friendsgiving which is when my wife has her friends over for the day.
@Battra92,
I think Black Friday is now a month long. I've been seeing "pre-Black Friday" and "Black Friday" sales almost everywhere for a good while now.
@JD, In a way I'm okay with it because it should, in theory, reduce the mad rush right after Thanksgiving. On the flip side I don't like that it encourages some to buy even more.
@Battra92, check to see if your JoAnn is closing. Just read article stating they are closing stores across country. I personally have not been to our local JoAnn on a while (but get coupons in mail & share so keep getting coupons). I just unpacked sewing machine & boxes of fabric have had. Luckily our store was not listed, but many that are closing did not notify employees until day of.
Those bowls are so cute! Love the blue. And as someone else mentioned, I had no idea you were supposed to oil knife handles. I guess I assumed dry, cracked wood was normal on old knives!
1) I picked up my free turkey at BJs club and used coupons/rewards to knock off another $14. I only shop there once very 4-6 weeks, so I was happy.
2) I used a perk on one of my Amex cards to get a decent discount on a rental car for Christmas. It's not always cheaper, but this time it was. (I checked out Turo, which is like Air BnB for rental cars, but I found most of them limit the miles, so even though it was significantly cheaper initially, the miles would have killed us. It would be great for local rentals though.)
3) I know feeding the birds is getting more and more expensive, but it is a hobby I so enjoy. Anyone have any thrifty ideas for this, other than growing sunflowers?
4) I was going to "the city" yesterday (about a 1.5 hour trip one way) and looked last minute to see if there were any mystery shops available, and there was a shop for a free lunch at Five Guys. They also paid $30 for the shop (on top of the meal), so that paid for gas. Woot!
5) Winter is here in Northern Maine, and I have a tougher time wanting to go out in the cold to get my walk in, but once I'm out there, I'm always glad I went. The seasons are lovely.
@Tricia,
Do you have a store that sells bulk? Our local co-op sometimes has millet and plain sunflower seeds in their bulk bins, and it can be cheaper than birdseed bags. A feed and seed store here sells bulk peanuts cheaply, so you might try that. One plant nursery here makes their own suet cakes - they use tallow scooped from cooking big pots of hamburger and mix corn meal in with it. If you have any clean fats from cooking meat, you could make your own. They say the squirrels don't care for the corn meal. They also mix hot pepper in the suet cakes sometimes.
@JD, Thanks for the tips! I'll check with our feed store.
@Tricia, check local farm stores for suet cakes. I actually get mine at Menards sale 2/$1 (I get variety & buy 2/3 sleeves @ 10 each) & big suet cakes. I found few holders at yard sale $1 each. I only feed birds in winter. In warmer months I throw out bad bread in compost but mostly they eat bugs making outside more pleasant.
How/where do you find mystery shop??? I have heard of this & would be interested in finding out more info.
I made extra soup. I was taking soup to a family (and their newborn!) and I realized that the recipe called for half a cauliflower and half a bunch of celery and half of my sour cream. Instead of likely throwing out the veggies, I doubled the recipe and now we have hot lunches this week.
We didn't buy everything at the estate sale. My husband and I are trying to get some gardening tools at estate sales and we found a sale this weekend that had good items at great prices. (When we walked up someone bought a power washer for $40. I don't think I could even rent a power washer for that price.) We bought a few items that we really needed and didn't lose our heads too much.
Frugal fail: I found some old leftovers in the back of the fridge that should have been eaten but now must be thrown away.
Your Corelle coffee cups with the open handles are the only ones of that brand that can go in the microwave. I thought you might like to know that they are safe to use to reheat beverages that frugal way. 🙂
Frugal..only a couple. Only food waste was a pineapple that went bad super fast. It was only $1. Not worth the buck of course.
I was missing my ear muffs plus a mini bag. I found they fell behind my mixer. Glad I didn’t need to buy another.
A friend gave us a bunch of pumpkins and a small bale of straw. I will toast the seeds n the deer can have the pumpkins. I need the straw for the ferals.
The bowls are very pretty and look like a good size for breakfast!
My FFT:
- Made soup with all the leftovers of my crisp drawer, before shopping
- Collected several half-emptied pots of honey, put them in a bowl of hot water and later poured them over a jar with finely shredded ginger, and thinly sliced unwaxed lemons. It will be a nice mixture for sore throats, just a spoonful of honey or a slice in our tea
-Mended a shirt
-Dried bedsheets on the line, in the frost (they "froze dry"!)
-Collected dried leaves and used them to protect the stems of my plants against the frost. The leaves will slowly fall apart, it is very good for the soil
I love a quiet weekend with no plans, when you can stroll around and do this, that, and the other.
I love your new-to-you bowls! So pretty, AND you get hot soup...win-win!
Somewhat funny (but not frugal) story....my bff is going through a very ugly divorce. Inexplicably, her soon-to-be-ex sent her this personalized wood chopping block/stove top cover for her birthday (apparently, she had wanted one for a long time). Soon-to-be ex has been spending all kinds of $$$ on his new, single lifestyle, and the last thing she wanted was a birthday gift from him (ANY birthday gift). She was obviously unable to return it, so she had a friend with a power saw cut it up. She intends to burn it in a large bonfire once her divorce is finalized. Hell hath no fury.....
Anyway....it's been a decidedly un-frugal week....let's see what I can remember.
Returned 1.5 gallons of milk to WalMart after son and hubby insisted it had a "plastic-y" taste. I had my receipt, and it was taken back without comment.
Hubby made shakshuka for dinner last night, using garden tomatoes I had frozen, parsley from our garden (amazingly, it was growing until last week) and eggs given to us by our neighbor (her sister has chickens).
Took advantage of two grocery store deals = frozen turkey at 49 cents a pound at Kroger, and $2.49 a pound butter at Aldi.
My work has offered a voucher for Honey Baked Ham, so I have a choice of ham, turkey breast, or two sides + a pie. They have given these to us for the past two years, which is a generous and much appreciated gift.
I continue to make my own coffee at home, drink the rest of hubby's morning tea as iced tea, use up leftovers, etc.
Hahah, that will be a very satisfying bonfire!
I have felt rather dreadful this week due my arthritis, but managed a few things:
1. Sat down today with the online checkbook and looked at our spending for November. Discovered to my surprise that our grocery expenses are a good bit less than they used to be. Yay for sticking to a budget!
2. I really wanted a quadrille printed notebook, but am having a no-spend month. Some graph paper trimmed up and hole-punched is working in a little planner I already had.
3. Our two younger dogs were both quite sick in the past week and had vet visits: $703 in total. We have a health savings account for the pets that saved the day. Both girls are much better.
4. Asked for and received a $56 refund from Chewy for some items that did not work out. This was the first time I have ever done that. Will be sticking to stuff we know works from here on out, though.
5. Cleaned out my tiny desk here at home and gleaned a stack of special event notebooks to go to Goodwill. As in every work event I went to, someone had special notebooks made up. I much prefer to write on plain paper, so they were never any use to me.
@Ruby, I hope your arthritis settles down quickly. My husband's arthritis in various joints have been acting up lately too; I know that's not fun. And I like to use graph paper notebooks too - I only figured it out after using up some of my daughter's leftover bits and pieces; I love how they corral my messy writing!
Since we just finished my parent's 50th anniversary party and got back from a vacation this week, I am trying to be as frugal as possible over the next few weeks to make up for that (and with the holidays coming, that is a pretty tall order).
1. Booked our vacation with points and purposely chose a lower-cost destination. Between my husband's business and my Covid ICU shifts, the last 2 years have kinda sucked, so we took our first vacation in almost 3 years. Airfare and hotel booked with points and chose a lower expense place (Mexico) and it was amazing. We just made sure to tip really well.
2.I brought my coffeemaker up to work with me. It is officially too cold for homemade cold brew, so I took my old Nespresso up to work with me. While the pods aren't free, I have a lot leftover to use and the unbranded options are great. And no matter what, it is cheaper than buying.
3. I am starting to do my Xmas shopping and I am purposely looking for gifts that are smaller, more personalized and potentially pre-loved. I got my cousin vintage Tiffany champagne flutes (in the box) as an engagement gift for waaaay less than even regular flutes from the store (and they are much cooler).
4. I put a lot of the decor from my parent's party up on FB marketplace. I have some nice manzanita branches and lights that I don't need, so hopefully they sell.
5. I picked up a shift on Thanksgiving. While this isn't my first choice, the holiday pay is really, really good and I am doing a favor for my partner by covering her shift. I am used to working Thanksgiving when I worked in the hospital, so we just moved our celebration to Friday.
@Heather, can you use reusable/refillable coffee pods in coffee maker? I bought some for daughter for her Keurig & works same but much cheaper. Found at most stores.
1. Braised half of a huge pork shoulder we got on sale to make pulled pork to have over rice, in tacos, and on buns this week.
2. Prepped and roasted some delicata squash that was starting to go bad. Thankfully didn't lose too much of it, better than losing all of it!
3. Did some more unsubscribing to companies so I can avoid all those tempting holiday emails that are starting to show up. (I do shop with some companies regularly so I like getting occasional sales offers for things I actually do need, but hate being inundated this time of year.)
4. Checked my pantry carefully before shopping for the ingredients for the dessert we are taking to Thanksgiving this year, avoided buying what I thought I didn't have on hand already.
5. Inventoried the nuts and dried fruit and made plans to eat them up before stuff goes stale/rancid. (I can't store it all in my small freezer so we only freeze the ones that go bad the quickest.)
1. We were charged more for a rental car than expected, and I encouraged DH to call to see why. He had to try multiple times, but received a rebate of $62 after they realized we did return the car on time rather than an hour late.
2. We ran out of travel-sized toothpaste on our road trip and I was planning to buy more, but checked with my mom and sure enough, she had four that she didn’t like! It pays to “shop with mom” when I’m home. I also get warm fuzzies from helping her declutter, and using things up rather than just sitting there moldering.
3. Needed to order something online, and left it in the cart overnight. The following morning I received an email with a 10% off coupon, which I think is the best I can get as they won’t do Black Friday deals.
4. Grandma watched Baby E while DH and I went for our first baby-less date in almost 10 months! We had a free breakfast at Panera due to gift cards I’d previously earned for doing a survey, and I had free coffee through a month of their Sip Club (also free from a code), and a free birthday pastry.
5. I found a dime at the self-checkout.
1. Dehydrated the last of garden our tomatoes to make sundried tomatoes.
2. I received a 6% raise this year and our health insurance premiums did not increase this year.
3. Used some homemade chicken stock to make a pasta dish.
4. We used some coupons to take our kids to the trampoline park this weekend.
5. I filed for our childcare FSA
How cute are those bowls!! Congrats on that find. I love our buy nothing group. Thanksgiving blessings to you and your family in this challenging time.
Thank you so much.
My frugal 5:
1. Used credit card points to get daughter gift cards for either Christmas or her birthday which is in January.
2. Batched errands.
3. Found out I had about 80K points on Microsoft for using their search engine and I requested $55 back in gift cards.
4. Did specific coupon deals at CVS to earn lots of Extra Care Bucks. Used some for the next order I rang up and saved a $4 and $1 ones to use next week.
5. Went to the library while doing errands and picked up two new books to read. Was asked to be on the library's Board of Trustees so I'll see if the mayor of my small town will approve me.
I love the bowls, so pretty. I am super exited about brand almost brand new kitchen chairs I found on the side of the road. There was a "for free" sign posted on them, so I loaded them up in my SUV.
I'm late to the party today. Those bowls are super pretty. They look like they were taken out of the illustrations of a very charming vintage picture book.
Prepping for the holidays, I feel like I'm doing nothing but spending money lately, but I do have my old stand-bys: shopping the grocery markdowns, packing lunch, dinner at home, brewing my own coffee, eating leftovers, etc. I also started a conversation with my boss about moving into a full time position. It might not happen, but now she knows that's what I want, so we'll see. Prayers and/or crossed fingers welcome!
Hi Kristin, I would have had such a hard time without my collection of bowls, I have quite a few and they all seem to get used regularly. Your new ones are very cute though! I am sorry you had to leave so many of your things behind, it makes me sad that you went without dishes this long.
I didn't have the most frugal week, dd#2's 16th birthday is next Monday and dd#1 is coming home for the weekend. As I was still in covid self-isolation, dd#2 was able to buy a few gifts for me for dd#1 (a couple of things she wanted and were out of stock online) and get her student athlete discount. Yes, she graduated in May but for some reason her varsity team discount remains in place so yes, we'll use it.
- bought scented candles for Christmas gifts online at a huge discount, quite thrilled with the sale price combined with a special code I had received earlier in the fall.
- bought perfume for dd#1 on sale for $55, added one mascara and one blush (all for Christmas) to get over $75 and received $20 on my points card which can be redeemed for groceries. My points card is up to nearly $600 which is really awesome as today my half full furnace oil tank was filled at a cost of $965. This winter is going to be painful.
- sold another few things on marketplace including a case of protein shakes that I didn't care for.
- grated the last of my garden zucchini, made chocolate zucchini loaf (x2) and froze the rest to use in the winter. Gifted one loaf to my parents (who also have covid thanks to yours truly).
-cooked every meal at home, packed lunches for dd#2.
I guess it wasn't as a bad a week as I thought, just more shopping than I'd like. I'd love to know what you do, Kristin, for your kids' birthdays and Christmases. I feel like I'm at a bit of a crossroads right now and having a hard time thinking ahead.
That reminds me I need to oil my wooden spoons and cutting board as soon as I find a recipe. My daughter had found one on Pinterest and shared it with me, but I'm out.
Not too very frugal this week.
1. I've been working to use up as much as I can from the fridge and freezer--and last night I had half a lemon, half a bag of carrots, 2 onions and 2 butternut squash in the produce drawers. Did the same kind of thing in the pantry and freezer, but when I went to the grocery store today, I spent more than I usually do because I was out of so much. Guess I broke even.
2. However, the bank caught some fraudulent charging attempts on our credit card last week, and blocked the card. The charges were attempted around 5 am local time, and neither of us was even awake then. We're still waiting for the replacement cards to arrive, which is so inconvenient, but it has slowed down our spending somewhat. But some monthly charges, such as Netflix, come off that card, so hoping the cards come in before we get late charges.
3. At the thrift store yesterday, I found one of those extra large umbrellas for $2.00. All I need to do is stitch new squares of Velcro to the strap and it's good to go. Nothing else wrong with it. My sister-in-law keeps extra umbrellas in her car for emergencies, such as when she passed a lady who'd been in a fender-bender and was having to wait around, give statements, etc. My SIL was able to just give her an umbrella and make her day just a bit easier to get through.
4. My Medicare Advantage plan has a program where I can earn "money" for exercising, getting my mammogram, going for an annual check up, getting an eye exam, checking my A1C, etc. So far this year, I've earned $200, which are payable to me in gift cards. I ordered five $25 gas gift cards, one $25 Kohl's gift card, and a $75 Home Depot card. Since it ends 12/31 of each year, I will enter my order for however much I earn between now and then and have the cards for next year. The gas cards will go in Christmas cards to the trash pickup guys, the recycle pickup gal, and my postal worker and his substitute. The Kohl's card will go to the gal at my hair salon who will be going on maternity leave at the end of the year. So service folk gifts are done, and didn't cost me a penny! (The Home Depot card is for me!)
5. Did rearranging in my craft room this week and cleared out a lot. Filled 2 Grab bags alone for members in my Buy Nothing group, and got rid of projects I will never do. (And the guilt they were causing me, too! lol ). Freed up some bins that will now be used for organizing in the shed or garage. THEN, I lucked up on someone else in the group giving away a small rolling desk chair. Needs a bit of cleaning, but it's the perfect size for my second sewing machine that sits at a small desk. I was having to roll my chair from table to desk and back again whenever I had two projects going, but now I can just leave them in place because I also have the room to do so! Win-Win!
Oh, and this wasn't due to anything I did, but it was a nice serendipity just the same. When I got home from picking up the groceries I'd ordered online, I found a bag that wasn't mine. It had 2 different kinds of ice cream, and a frozen deep dish apple pie in it. I phoned the store, gave them the customer's first name and abbreviated last name that was on the bag, and they told me not to bring the items back to the store, they had it covered.
Well, I'm vegan, so none of it was something I'd eat, but my hubby wanted the black cherry ice cream. I texted a neighbor who was delighted to send her husband for the other ice cream and the pie. In addition, one of my Buy Nothing members dropped off a costco pumpkin pie for me, saying she appreciated all I do in the group (I started the group, and am the most active admin.) Again, I won't be eating it, but now I have free desserts for when my daughter and granddaughter come over on Friday!
1. I made all our meals at home.
2. We enjoyed free entertainment, which was easy because influenza went through the house.
3. We delivered fundraising material by walking (dragging a full wagon through the snow).
4. I wore shoes that I bought circa 1995.
5. I fixed my son's pants.
6. I bought a used book for a class. Even having to pay $4 for shipping, it was still cheaper than new. The book that came today is in much better shape than I expected.
Love your bowls!! Perfect for yogurt with granola and fruit!!
My five frugal things...
1. Made granola - almost forgot about this until I saw yours.
2. Picked up Nicholas Spark's new book at the library.
3. Went through our gift box and found five Christmas gifts - checking off my list!
4. Went through a clothes my cousin was donating and found a North Face Jacket, Vest, and a new to me sweatshirt - so so happy about this!!
5. Asked my wonderful husband to make dinner on Friday and he did 🙂 we almost always go out to eat on Fridays
Really good frugal week.
Love those bowls!
Got gas for $2.39/gallon using my Kroger card discount.
Totally skipped grocery shopping today(my normal shopping day)due to a ton of leftovers. I’ll need to fill in a bit mid-week is all.
Eating out tomorrow night with a free meal coupon for my husband’s birthday.
Sold nine items on eBay.
Cooked from scratch.