Five Frugal Things | What color will this chair be?
See #4 for the chair story!
1. I placed a Chewy order and used TopCashback
Oddly, I'd forgotten about TopCashback for a while! In fact, it looks like the last time was October 2021. Whoops.
Anyway...I needed some litter and food for Shelley and Chiquita, and Chewy's prices for those beat the brick and mortar stores around here.
So, I placed an order there but logged into TopCashback first, and now I'm getting $4.48 back on my purchase.
By the way, we use Arm and Hammer Slide litter. It's not the cheapest litter ever, but it is really easy to scoop, and it is amazing at keeping a litter box from smelling funky.
In fact, when my friend Carrie was here, she said, "I can't smell the litter box at all. What is your secret??"
If you've been using smelly litter, definitely give the Arm and Hammer stuff a try!
2. I got some free ice cream + discounted dented cereal
I stopped in at Safeway to buy some berries, and as usual, I opened the app to see if any deals stood out.
Surprisingly, I had an offer for a free full-size container of the Safeway brand of ice cream.
SWEET.
I also took a quick peek at the clearance shelf and picked up a dented box of cereal.
I always appreciate when stores mark down damaged goods instead of just throwing them away, and I want to support the effort!
3. I got some free eyeglass cleaning spray
For better or for worse, I have very oily skin.
The worse? I still get zits at the ripe old age of 45.
The better? I'll probably take a while to develop a super wrinkly face.
My skin is so uh, self-moisturizing, my glasses get kinda greasy as I wear them.
So, I end up having to clean them pretty regularly, and I was delighted to pick up two free spray bottles of eyeglass cleaner from my Buy Nothing group.
I have a larger container of cleaning spray that I can use to refill the bottles when they're empty, and now that I have a couple of bottles, I can throw one in my backpack to take to school.
Excellent.
4. I got a free Adirondack chair
As I was about to leave to pick up the eyeglass spray, I saw that someone had posted their yard sale leftovers for free, and that house was nearly next door to my eyeglass spray destination.
So, I popped in and picked up a plastic Adirondack chair, which is weathered but still in sturdy condition.
Prior to this, my only outdoor seating was the backless bench that's by my front door, and that's not great for relaxing with a cup of coffee.
Now I have a much more comfy place to sit.
And you know I'm gonna clean and then spray paint this chair.
I have a stash of spray paint I got last summer from my Buy Nothing group, so I will decide on the chair color by seeing which cans of paint are pretty full.
5. I used up a deodorant I don't love
When I posted about all the natural deodorants I've tried, a reader suggested the Dr. Teal's brand.
I ordered a two-pack from Amazon, and I give this deodorant a thumbs up for
- affordability
- effectiveness
And I give it a big thumbs down for being too dang hard.
Trying to spread it on my armpits was a big challenge, and I could really only make it work if my armpits were pretty well post-shower.
I initially thought perhaps it was a cold-weather issue but nope, it's still very non-spreadable in the summertime.
So, I am quite happy to have made it to the end of my second container.
A funny thing: the container says, "New, easier glide" and now I'm wondering how hard it was to glide before!
I added my review of Dr. Teal's to my original natural deodorant review post now, by the way.
I’m hoping that dark teal spray can is full. What a great potential chair color!
Chewy routinely runs “Spend $100, get a $30 gift card” promotions, so it’s well worth being on their email list. The last promo came *right* after our regular auto ship order, so I had to skip it. Two bags of litter (Dr. Elsey’s—no stink despite our <800 sq/ft) and a big bag of the boys’ hard food (Hills Science Diet) easily hits the $100 mark! The $30 gift card then gets used for their soft food, which rarely doesn’t qualify for the promotion.
No FFT this week. After a blissful pest free summer, the army worms and grasshoppers found the garden; we finally gave in and bought a lawnmower after our young entrepreneur moved away; and assorted other frustrations and wallet fires. You win some and hold on through the rest!
@N, those were my exact thoughts on the paint! The blue would be classy!
@N, I’m also hoping for the blue!
@N, I am loving that blue color spray paint as well! Fingers crossed. 🙂
@N, yes, I saw the Chewy $30 gift certificate spcial and I can always order ahead because I have 3 cats. I didn't read the entire message though and didn't realize until later that I still had to use a code, which I didn't do. I wanted to lay down on the floor and throw a tantrum.
@Anne, have you tried their customer service chat? They’ve been very kind and helpful whenever I needed anything. I imagine they handle that exact gift card code snafu all the time.
We have three cats also, but we’ve only so much stashing space in our little house. 😛 A month out—which is what I try to keep on hand—is about all we’ve room for!
@Anne, the food I order never seems to qualify for that gift card. After getting fooled once into making a big order and having a similar tantrum, I just stick to the usual size order now.
@N,
Wait, what about this Chewy promotion? I guess I need to resume getting their emails! I buy bird seed and one of our cats (we have three) needs special wet food. I'm sure we could buy our dog's food through them, too.
@N, Another vote for the blue! Love that colour
@N, I was looking at that dark teal, too! What a great color for an outdoor chair!
This has not been a frugal week for me as I get started at my new job, so these are a stretch:
1. Track all my expenses in a spreadsheet. It keeps me from spending unnecessarily
2. Finding therapists/doctors I want before choosing network for my new job’s healthcare.
3. Packing Lunches and snacks/reading books from the library
4. Blueberries were on super sale again so I added more to my freezer collection.
5. Frugal fail: didn’t have a freezer meal to heat up when it was 85 in the house so we ate out. It’s time to add meals to my freezer collection. Blueberries alone don’t make a meal.
OO, nice chair! That is a very fortunate find.
We wil lhave some repiars done this week, that is not very frugal but we have "a bucket" for those costs.
This week I made atjar tjampur with some vegetables that needed to be processed. It is amazing how pickle will improve humble veg like cabbage and carrot
I cut (pinky shears) worn facecloths to use them for cleaning cloths
We bought discounted coffee - a33% reduction
I used my bicycle to run my errands
I went for outdoor swims, the weather is just gorgeous
These are all the usual small things that groe "the bucket" for repairs!
PS our optician also offers free cleaning spray for the glasses. You can refill as often as you like once you've bought your glasses there
@JNL, I looked up "atjar tjampur," and I see that it's an Indonesian pickle dish (no surprise, considering the many links between The Netherlands and Indonesia). Thanks for expanding my vocabulary!
@A. Marie,
There are many dishes from the Indonesian archipel that are part of the Dutch menu, however the foods are eaten less spicy than their originals.
I am trying out several atjar recipes to decide which one to keep for our family - perhaps can some jars as well. Although it keeps for a time without canning, too.
I managed to sneak in a dog food order when Chewy did the $30 gift card. Pet food is so expensive.
My brother could not find puffed rice cereal locally so he ordered a mega pack from Amazon and shared a couple of packages.
Goodwill had a load of new Target clothes so I picked a bunch up for the grands. 2 Goodwills are about 5 miles apart and kids clothes at one at 1.99, the other they are 2.99.
My other brother has so many tomatoes I have been freezing them for winter.
The mosquitos at our house are horrible, luckily we pay the township for skeeter services so I asked them to treat. I don't have a garden left and berries are done so it is necessary. I had 1 fly into my microwave this morning and he met his fate. Warning to all other skeets if they show up in my house...
Most of mine seem to be food-related.
1. I was diligent about freezing leftovers for future meals instead of leaving them in the fridge until they went bad.
2. I checked the freezer for things I needed for recipes I was using over the weekend when my sister and her girlfriend came to visit, which significantly cut the grocery list.
3. I reorganized the fridge to make things that need to be used up soon more visible.
4. I got on the waiting list at the library for the new book in a series I read.
I don’t drink vodka anymore so I make glass cleaner with it instead. I know it’s not disinfecting, but it’s streak free and with a bit liquid dish soap it dissolves fat so it’s good enough for my use.
Plus with Absolute vodka with lemon it smells like an actual cleaner 😉 Wondering if the 20 year old bottle of Bacardi Razz will work too, lol.
1. My partner is the guy that’s forever volunteering to help and never says no to anyone. It can be a bit frustrating since he seldom give notice that he’ll be late getting home.
But it does make up for waiting three hours yesterday that he came home with three king crabs. He’d gotten them as thanks for helping out the owner of the property where he fish for sea trout. Six trouts and three crabs, I’m always happy to have something in the freezer to break up the never ending supply of moose 🙂
2. Speaking of a never ending supply, I was at a local market selling my handmade products. Still cleaning out of my sewing room, cannot believe how productive I once was! Sold for a surprising $350.
3. So I promptly called and ordered a truckload of soil for making a big strawberry patch again in the garden. A small basket strawberries was $8 here in the summer and was so tasteless in comparison to our own.
4. Sold our two guest mattresses for the same price I paid for them. Thankful for our attic space. I can list things for sale and just forget them like Kristen wrote yesterday.
5. Found a stack of Ikea Frosta stools secondhand. Have been looking for them for a couple of years but they are so popular that the prices have been too high for my taste/budget.
Now I’m just crossing my fingers that they will arrive safely. I’m always traveling with my partners hockey bag tucked in my backpack just in case I find something like this 🙂
@Gunn in Northern Norway, given (a) what you're doing with your leftover liquors and (b) the trout, crabs, and moose in your freezer, I wish Northern Norway wasn't as far from Central New York USA as it is!
@Gunn in Northern Norway, I'm so curious about your handmade products that produced $350!
1. We received a letter that said a credit of $22.45 will be applied to our water bill. It is an effort by the city of Baltimore (we are i n the suburbs but get our water from the city) to use up Covid relief funds. I have no idea how they decided this was a good idea, as we are not low income and our neighborhood is not either. Others I talked to also received similar letters. I will take free money.
2. Early Saturday we took a walk and found $4 in the street near the middle school. More free money. I also retrieved $.17 out of the Coin Star machine last week, it was wedged in a place it should not have been.
3. We had cool weather on Friday. I opened the windows and baked muffins, cookies, and chicken. Much of it was frozen for future use. The house did not feel overheated.
4. We continue to declutter using Freecycle.org. Junk out = a more peaceful home (priceless).
5. I signed up for Medicare Part A (there are no premiums). We are still covered by medical insurance through DH’s work.
@K D, just a word of caution. If you don't sign up for Medicare parts B & D when you become eveligible, there is a penalty. I can't remember which is which BUT for one they charge an extra 10% of the premium for each year after 65 you delay signing up and for the other they charge 1% extra for each month you delay after 65. The surcharge is added to your premium EVERY MONTH forever. So, if you will ever need parts B or D, sign up at 65 and choose the cheapest plan.
@Karen in Maine,
If you are still employed and have health insurance through your job, you are not penalized for delaying B and D.
Picked more tomatoes and made 3 more quarts of puree and 1-1/2 quarts of tomato juice to use as broth. And another batch is coming up soon!
Made a layered 3-D picture and put it in a shadow box frame for a nephew and his new bride as a shower present. I had bought the program to make the cut outs on my cutting machine and bought the frames at a BOGO offer at Michael's. I have been making these 3-D cutouts for a few gifts this year and people love them.
Went food shopping the other night and my husband promptly cut up the chicken, put marinade in the freezer bags and froze the chicken. Now I just have to remember to take them out to defrost when we need them.
And my brain is mush today because I can't think of 5 things - only 3. Oh well!
@Maureen,
Can you post a picture in the Fb group? I would love to see this!
I had one of those plastic Adirondack chairs and I thought I would love it, but I so did not. Its better than a bench for your back, tho, and I think the blue would be so classic. I'm amazed at how effective your Buy Nothing group is - mine gives away things they should clearly recycle or toss. When I post something, its a good thing and disappears really fast, so I know people are watching the posts. But honestly, some of the stuff I see on there is beyond silly.
@Gina from The Cannary Family, I agree about Kristen's BN group. We don't have a Buy Nothing group where I live so I joined Freecycle, and I've seen some pretty awful stuff on there too (free grocery bags of dirt from someone's backyard, for example) but mostly around here, people are asking for things (cars, washing machines, laptops) so apparently we have more need than abundance.
I got a letter from my insurance company saying I was getting a premium refund because of a “processing error”. Enclosed was a check for … $0.22. Yes, 22 cents. And it only cost them some 60+ cents to mail it to me. I deposited it, of course, using the banking app on my phone so I wouldn’t use up 44 cents worth of gas to go to the bank.
Ooh! Like N, I hope that you get to use that dark bluish-teal color in the front row! That would be fun.
My FFT:
1. My kids and I picked apples my parents' house on Saturday. So. Many. Apples. So far I've made apple chips and an apple pie, but we filled a 44-gallon tub and a 30-gallon tub, so I have LOTS more apples to go. We shared some with friends and neighbors, but we will be enjoying all of the things we can do with our free apples.
2. I had to buy a bunch of fleece fabric and JoAnn's had a great Labor Day sale. By using their app, I got a 60% coupon for a fabric marker and have $10 in their equivalent of Kohl's cash. I also paid for my order using a gift card that gave me almost $5 towards my kids' tuition.
3. I'm trying my hand at saving tomato seeds! I planted Brandywine Pink tomatoes this year and love them, so I'm currently fermenting the seeds and will finish the saving process later this week.
4. A local orchard had boxes of peach seconds BOGO free and we ate lots of peaches as well as canned 8 quarts.
5. I had a coupon at Meijer for $3 off Breyer's ice cream, which brought a tub down to $1.49. It was a perfect treat for the playdate we had with my friend and her 3 kids on Friday afternoon.
@Ruth T, fermenting seeds? What is this, and is it necessary when planting from seeds you saved?? (as if my weak garden could ever produce anything worth saving seeds from. . . sigh)
@Central Calif. Artist Jana, I'm using the book "Saving Our Seeds: The Practice & Philosophy" by Bevin Cohen (ordered through interlibrary loan) for my seed saving inspiration and instruction. The fermenting is really easy - mostly just squeezing the seed pulp into a jar with some water, letting it sit a few days and mold, then getting the yuck out and being left with the good seeds. He says that tomatoes and cukes benefit from the fermenting process because it removes growth inhibitors, prevents disease from being carried over year to year, and separates the immature seeds from the mature ones. It sounded easy enough for me to handle the second week of school - ha!
@Ruth T, thank you!
My husband and daughter have very oily skin and their optometrist suggested a oleophobic protective coating that repels some of the oil. We only tried this after daily cleanings for many years.
FFT, Cat Care and Garden Thoughts Edition:
(1) At the moment, my Betty is doing fine on Petco's Whole-Hearted house brand of canned food for mature cats. But if she needs a Hill's diet later on, I'll look into Chewy.
(2) For cat litter, Betty is also doing fine with the pine pellets Country Max sells as horse bedding (these work just the same as the Feline Pine brand of litter and cost a LOT less). I tell the cashiers at CM that I've got a 14-pound pinto pony that purrs.
(3) As noted yesterday, I'm working on putting together another load of donations for the local Cat Coalition's (er, excuse me, Feline Justice League's) garage sale at the end of September.
(4) I'm treating some persistent weeds in a gravel walkway (which is well away from my garden beds) with the well-known vinegar, salt, and dish liquid solution, many recipes for which are available online. It works best when applied on a very hot, sunny day. We've just had two such days in a row, and those weeds don't look too happy.
(5) And my front gardens continue to delight me and the neighbors with flowers, bees, butterflies, and birds. There may be a shortage of monarch butterflies in general, but you wouldn't know it from the monarch mating frenzy going on in my buddleia bushes.
@A. Marie, our shelter boys are all FIV+ and were used to Hills Science Diet, which the shelter strongly advised we stick to, so that’s what we did. It’s weird to think that I’ll have to start looking at the mature 7+ food formulations next year! Our trio were all four at the time of adoption.
FYI, Hill’s donates directly to shelters regularly—ours gave us a small bag of food for each cat when we took our trio home. If ever Betty needs to switch, perhaps your Feline Justice League will spot you a bag (3-5 meals worth, depending on the cat) to make sure she likes it before you invest in a big one. For what it’s worth, one of our trio is missing most of his upper teeth (former street cat), and he has no trouble with Hill’s hard food.
Not a spokesperson or a affiliated, just justifying our spoiled felines. 😛
I always use Topcashback, which I learned about from you! I added their extension to my browser, so now if I go to a site that has a TCB deal, I get a notification box that I just click on to activate the offer. It's relatively effortless, free money!
1. Returned some clothes - they were purchased specifically for a hot weather vacation that turned out not to need "going out clothes" but was a lovely, relaxed "wear your swimsuit from dawn until dusk" situation. Unfortunately I had misplaced the receipts but now have store credit that I shall definitely use in future for snow boots or similar, much more appropriate for my lifestyle!
2.Signed up for a trial electricity usage project, hopefully this will reduce my bills in the coming colder months.
3. Dipped into my Grandma toy box and found items that I'd forgotten about which are now in rotation on the mornings I care for my 21 month old grandson.
4. Made a lovely (and seemingly everlasting 🙂 pot of chicken soup from a couple of saved carcasses and some veg that looked past its best.
5. Donated a chest of drawers after decluttering (again!) and reorganizing my closet as I lead a different lifestyle since being widowed and moving to the PNW. I have the satisfaction of knowing that I've recouped some of my outlay through Ebay or donated via my Buy Nothing group. I prefer BN to donating to thrift stores as I know items are appreciated, and also re-listed when they're no longer needed.
I vote for blue for your Adirondack chair and I advise bringing yours indoors over freezes if you can. Amusingly I fell through one of these that had become very brittle due to extreme temperature changes, apparently moving from Texas to a colder climate was just too much for i
Not a ton of frugal wins this week, but I'm keeping the attitude that frugal fails in some areas doesn't mean that we abandon ship and buy a yacht!
1. The one true win: I needed Adobe Acrobat in order to format something for an application, so I downloaded the free trial, used what I needed, and canceled the subscription.
2. I bought two curly-method-approved hair products, based on Kristen's recs. My hair is a little curlier, but I wanted some cheap curly girl recommendations from someone who wasn't sponsored to give reviews. Thanks, Kristen!
3. I didn't do any shopping for Labour Day. I was working on Sunday and too tired on Monday, and while I could have summoned the strength on Sunday night...I just wanted to relax.
4. I didn't manage to bring my lunch and avoid buying hot drinks at work every day, but I did make the frugal choice MOST days. Some is better than none!
5. I switched to a more natural deoderant a few weeks ago because I'd bought a new anti-persperant that was terrible, but I had an old starch-based deoderant that I'd bought by mistake, so I just used it and...it works great! I'm converted. It's not quite as good as the super-strong antipersperant I used to use, but my shirts come out WAY cleaner than they used to. Something about the antipersperants ruined so many shirts.
Sometimes I too take dented or damaged packages (or less perfect veggies) to help avoid waste. But I also volunteer at the food bank, and I have learned that those packages are likely to end up in a donation to the food bank if they don’t sell. We get a lot of donations from grocery stores.
Confession: I've been wearing glasses for over ten years, and I'd never heard of eyeglass spray until now. Is it much more effective than that special cloth you get to wipe them down? I've always just done that, which seems to get out most things other than scratches. But maybe I've been missing out on even clearer vision...
I vote teal for the chair!
Here are my wins for the week:
https://www.toloveandtolearn.com/2023/09/05/weekly-frugal-wins-potluck-party/
@Torrie - Some of what is most effective at cleaning might depend on your type of glasses, whether plastic, glass (do they do that any more? Make glasses lenses out of real glass?), or coatings on the lenses.
My husband comes home with a little bottle of spray every time he sees the optometrist. It is never offered to me at the same office.
I found a small bottle of gel eye glass cleaner that had been hidden away for ten years or more and tried it out on the gunk on my bathroom faucets. They got very clean and shiny!
I agree with what you wrote in your post about potlucks. I find it interesting to see what other people make, and it is certainly less stress on the hosts.
@Torrie @ To Love and To Learn, I'm bad to grab the bottom of whatever shirt I'm wearing to wipe my lenses rather than hunt up the cloth, and as a result, I have tiny microscopic scratches on the top part of my lens that I an continually cleaning due to oily skin. When I was in last summer to see if I could get them buffed out, the gal told me I should never clean my glasses dry, no matter what fabric I'm using. Always clean them while wet. I've been wearing glasses for over 60 years, and no ever told me that before. The cleaning solution is mostly water, I think, with a tiny percentage of alcohol in it. Like Kristen, I buy a big bottle and refill my sprayers. My bottle is more than a year old and still half full.
Looking forward to seeing the updated chair!
1) Used a $10/$50 purchase promo at the grocery store. Combined with a few $2 coupons off of produce & other offers, to reduce the cost of groceries a bit.
2) We paid for my nephew's 21st birthday trip to Las Vegas with my husband (and dad, uncle, etc). There was a weather related travel problem, and the flight was diverted to LA instead of LV, with no availability to get them to LV over the long weekend. And, no flights back to Portland, or covered hotel, food, etc. I paid for a rental car, and they drove to Las Vegas & were able to salvage the weekend & ended up having an incredible time. While not exactly frugal to add more travel costs on top of previous travel costs, it was most certainly the least expensive option available (vs paying for a hotel out of pocket and/or paying for a flight on another airline). Also, can I just say that the idea that rerouting you to another city & leaving you without a hotel or other flight alternatives, regardless of reason, seems really crazy to me? Southwest did say that I could call today & get credit for the outbound flight that ended up in another city vs original destination, so I suppose the travelers will all get a credit for 1/2 of the cost of the flight. Hopefully, they can use it for future travel.
3) Used a gift card to buy a 50th birthday gift for my sister.
4) Used same gift card to pick up a few items I need for an upcoming trip. I find it hard to use some gift cards (feels too luxurious to splurge on myself at times), & it was nice to use it to pick up some items I normally wouldn't buy.
5) Timed a credit card reward offer with a couple of planned tours (trip to Europe in a few weeks). Tripadvisor was offering cash back, so I was able to get the tours booked, and saved $16.
Not much frugal going on here, as usual. I do order from Chewy; the kind of litter we like for the cat can't easily be found locally. It's okocat for long hair breeds, which means litter doesn't stick to Gus's butt. The Arm & Hammer worked really well for our previous cat, though.
Still mentally struggling which means too much eating out.
Not falling for my previous renters' usual mind games in trying to rent the guest cottage for the upcoming year. One is the good cop, bad cop routine with his partner ("I really want to but I need to convince Ron") and the other is the pretend not knowing how much the rent is ("ouch! I thought it was $xx.") I finally told him calmly, "I know how much I can get for it. If you can't make the numbers work, you can't."
@Rose, I think the word's now out around the Hamptons: "Don't try the usual tricks on this dame."
@A. Marie, I like these guys because they're easy going and always pay on time. That said, a friend of mine is always furious at them because they always, always take advantage. They were on an HGTV show in the past six months and were describing their house (which is directly behind mine, yes they also want to rent my guest cottage) and pulled out a photo which I had sent them OF MY OWN HOUSE AND COTTAGE and passed it off as theirs. Grrrr. Theirs isn't that old but nice try. Plus they have a rider in their leases about no photo shoots or commercial uses when they've used my own place for both in the past. I don't care so much as long as they pay but my friend gets really steamed up, heh.
A vintage photo, that is, sometime in the 30s based on the clothes.
WIS/WIA seemed to go okay so we shall try the 5 frugal things.
1. I bought some seeds for free shipping for next year. I kept it within reason with things I had my eye on before. Seeds are my kryptonite. I placed a second order for garlic fertilizer which adds up, but didn’t go nuts with seeds in the interest of “saving on shipping” when paying for it anyways. I also found a winter squash to try at 30% off at the local hardware store from the same seed company.
2. I used a gift card to buy an 18 inch paint roller. It should make the future room painting go much faster at a relatively low cost.
3. I cleaned out my paint rollers. I have never had good success in getting all the paint out but I’m willing to try again. Better for the environment and my budget.
4. We didn’t get take out or other treats when going to get groceries last night. Just some snacks for the office and some fruit. Still working on eating what I have on hand.
5. I am off of work today and am planning on staying local today and limit my my driving. Going to spend the day painting instead which will also save me money versus hiring out.
@Elbow Grease, I didn't know there was such a thing as "garlic fertilizer." Can you fill us in on that?
And BTW, I like your blog handle. On one episode of the BBC's Two Fat Ladies from 25 years ago--the only cooking show I've ever loved--Clarissa Dickson Wright recommended using "elbow grease" in the preparation of one dish. The BBC was promptly overwhelmed with questions: "What is this elbow grease, and where can I get some?"
@A. Marie, You'll have to take Shanks' Pony to get it.
@A. Marie, I had a former roommate take me to several stores. and finally after coming out of the last one, she said, "Don't laugh and don't tell anybody, but I've been looking for the "elbow grease" you told me you used on the toaster oven." A K-Mart worker (the last store we were at) told her what it was. And you better believe, I laughed and I'm still telling everybody.
@A. Marie, that is perfectly delightful. I can’t give myself too much credit. I am remembering it getting randomly assigned from a blog I used to read but it feels fitting and a friendly reminder to give it a good go. I wish it was something purchasable.
This is the garlic fertilizer (technically garlic and shallot) that I referenced
https://www.fruitionseeds.com/shop/gardening-tools-supplies/organic-fertilizer-amendments/organic-garlic-and-shallot-fertilizer/
It seems like they are heavy feeders so it’s a extra nutrition in the initial planting and then extra nutrition come spring time. My gardening guru and friend turned me onto it and it logically made sense. So I’m giving it another shot.
This summer a few of my garlic heads got two scapes, but I blame my willy nilly purchasing of garlic.
@Chrissy, I love everything about this! As noted above I wish I could buy it. Especially on lazier days.
Ah, I'll be spray painting my patio furniture and I'll be thinking about you, Kristin- my favorite blogger :). Good luck!
I've had a rough week to say the least but at least some of it has been frugal (and some even intentionally so!)
1.) We had to cancel our big end of summer barbecue. Luckily I didn't buy anything in advance so no waste and no real issues outside of the general disappointment of it not happening but we are absolutely not in a place to host a barbecue right now.
2.) Took my daughter to the county fair and by prebuying the ride wristbands we were able to keep the costs of riding the rides down. I didn't go on any myself as I'm too afraid of heights but I do love carousels. We also brought food because carnival food is even more of a ripoff than it was before. Sad that you can't have fun any more without spending stupid amounts of cash.
3.) Replaced the battery in my laptop for relatively cheap. This keeps my laptop still running and since it does everything I need it to, why would I want to upgrade?
4.) My wife got a fancy new sewing machine (serger) and it came in broken. So I took care of the return on that. Sadly since this is a larger ticket item, Amazon hasn't given me my money back yet but I'm keeping on it. We had tried to buy one locally but sadly the one she wanted (a Juki) wasn't available here.
5.) I got a video game for my wife off of Facebook Marketplace and in talking with the guy selling it, a good point was made. He was selling the item for his son and I paid him in cash. He pointed out that he was offered pennies for it at Gamestop and if he sold it on eBay then eBay would get a cut, Paypal would get a cut, the banks all get a cut etc. In this he has something I want, I have cash and in the end no money was grifted to some third party.
So moral of the story is, cash is still a nice thing.
@Battra92, a few random thoughts in response to your FFT.
1. "Stupid amounts of cash" —an opinion and description that I wholeheartedly agree with.
2. The serger came broken??? That's so disappointing, annoying, and simply too common. Sigh.
3. "No money was grifted to some third party" —most totally excellent, both the description and the fact that you and the seller won at that transaction.
4. I am SO IMPRESSED that you replaced the battery in your laptop. I looked at instructions for doing that on my Macbook and felt completely unqualified to mess with this machine.
@Battra92, If you're a carousel fan, you may already know this, but if not, you need to go to Binghamton, NY, the Carousel Capital of the World. And you can ride them all for free!
https://visitbinghamton.org/things-to-do/carousels/
@Central Calif. Artist Jana, Some laptops--not Apple, of course, because they're partnered with Satan in my eyes--have easily removable/replaceable batteries.
Re fair food: I grew up with parents/grandparents ALWAYS bringing food to events like the the zoo, or most memorably when we went to Kennedy Space Center, something leaked and our sandwiches were damp and tasted like ham. And we had to eat them anyway. I hate ham. Unlike most of you frugalistas, I was raised frugal and by god, I planned that we always would buy food out when I had kids. And we did. I grew up with things that apparently are news to a lot of people, like opening tubes for the rest of the product and re-crisping stale cereal in the oven. Those things I don't have a problem with but I just hated bringing picnic lunches. And I was never allowed to get souvenirs either. I usually felt poor.
Re Facebook Marketplace, I just bought a wooden crate that used to hold embalming supplies. it's just so delightful.
@Central Calif. Artist Jana, I have a business class laptop that I bought used. It was just a couple of screws. Apple goes out of their way to make their products not able to be repaired and have even gone after people repairing them and have fought in state legislatures against "Right to Repair" laws. It's a darn shame because it used to just require a quarter to turn a screw on the bottom of a Macbook to replace the battery.
@Bobi, it's on my list of things to do! Thanks!
@Rose, my dad hates the bringing food aspect too. I just look at it as it allows me to spend money on things I do like versus things I don't care as much about. I do let my daughter get souvenirs sometimes but not always as she has a bad habit of not taking care of things.
I can't say I know what opening tubes for the rest of the product means, though.
@Battra92, Opening a tube of toothpaste to get the remains out, etc. It seems so obvious to me and to other people it's like a miracle.
If my parents/grandparents had put it to me like, "Well, it's a stretch for us to afford this and it helps if we can bring lunch" it would be different. They didn't. They always acted offended and annoyed when I sighed, because there I go again, being the troublemaker. (That said, my grandparents were comfortably off enough to buy us lunch at Cape Kennedy. They just wouldn't.)
@Battra92, it means you cut a tube open and scrape out the remains that will not squeeze out.
@Bobi, if you're as close to me as Binghamton, we will have to get together some time and "simply massacre a ha'penny" (one of my favorite lines from Gentlemen Prefer Blondes by Anita Loos)!
@A. Marie, appreciate the offer but I'm nowhere near NY just find it a good place to vacay. Really enjoyed those carousels!
This has been a decidedly non-frugal week for us but I am commenting anyway because we made the best lemonade that we could given the lemons we received.
Given the 3 day weekend I had a huge list of household tasks that I wanted to complete to get my household ready for fall. I started Friday by completing all of my grocery shopping. I shopped sales and planned meals - making use of what I had in our freezer and pantry. I spent Saturday in the kitchen cooking up a storm. I was able to add lots of meals to our freezer which is super helpful when one is trying to eat healthy but has a small child and an elderly person that you look after - time is the most priceless resource my friends!
Sunday I awoke refreshed and my family and I went to church which was lovely. I arrived home to start laundry and surprise! Our 3 year old Maytag washing machine would not function at all. We bought this washer 3 years ago when the Samsung set that we had quit - the mother board went out and the machine would not run any cycle. I am disappointed to say that the same thing happened to my Maytag. To say that I am disgusted with the way appliances are built to be disposable nowadays is an understatement. I plan on writing Maytag to inform them of the failure of their product.
In the meantime, I have a family of 5 and washing clothes is a necessity. So, Monday, I loaded 6 loads of laundry into my car plus all of my laundry supplies and drove to my sister's house where I proceeded to work my way through the piles. Frugal since my sister was happy to allow me to do this and I didn't have to pay the insane prices of a laundromat AND I avoided the yuck. My husband and I made a trip to Home Depot after shopping the Labor Day sales and purchased a new washing machine that will be delivered on Saturday. I thought of buying a front loader but the prices were too high so we settled on a top loader. I also will begin saving for a new washing machine so that if this one goes out we will be a bit more prepared. God-willing, this one will last beyond the 3 yr mark.
@Angie, @Angie, My cousin used to own a Laundromat, and he knew quite a bit about washing machines. If you can find an old Maytag, one that says it was manufactured in Newton, Iowa, get it! (They also made Admiral brand laundry machines back in the day.) Lew said the belt drives on those old ones were exactly the same high quality as the ones in his commercial washing machines -- and you know what a beating those coin-operated laundromat washing machines get from washing dozens of loads every day. This is the thing about Maytag: the company was sold to another manufacturer, the one who makes Whirlpool and Frigidaire and several others. So the late model Maytags are just regular machines with a different name tag slapped on it. I have heard, however, that Speed Queen is supposedly the best-made washing machine these days. As for myself, I have two sets of Maytag washers/dryers: when I bought my house, their old Maytag appliances conveyed, and I'm storing my other Maytag set in the garage. I've had several offers from folks wanting to buy them, but I'm not selling. When my older Maytags give out, I'll start using the ones in the garage again; I'm probably set for life in regards to laundry appliances!
To be honest, it is really really easy to replace a motherboard in a washer. You can easily buy a new one online and then just use Youtube to tell you how to replace it. It's a matter of unscrewing the backplate, unplugging a few things and then setting the new motherboard into place, plugging things back in and then rescrewing.
Nobody should be afraid to fix their appliances/computers/phones! It's honestly easy when you can order parts on the Internet and watch videos if you don't know how to do it.
@Angie, A friend just had her 4 year old LG refrigerator/freezer conk out -- bad compressor and, according to the repair guys, LG has known about this for a long time. So she got LG to replace the compressor but it took 3 weeks without a refrigerator and living out of coolers and her sister's chest freezer. No fun, and no telling how long this repair will last. All of which explains why I'm not in any hurry to replace my 26-year old KitchenAid appliances that have never given me a lick of trouble.
@Angie, Sending sympathies on the loss of your washing machine.
I miss my Kenmore more than I can say. For one thing, it was possible to load the machine and THEN add the water-- the new one has as "sensor" so the clothes have to be put in first, then the water goes in and jams them all down in little wads of wrinkles that do not come out in the dryer. It isn't that we overfill the washer, either.
@Fru-gal Lisa, We were told at Home Depot that Maytag is now manufactured by Whirlpool. This was information we were delighted to find out because Whirlpool was on our list for a new washing machine. If I could find an older set I would def buy it and store it as there are no manufacturers these days building things to last. I did look at Speed Queen but the machine is small and expensive. I am inclined to begin saving for a set to help in the future.
@JDinNM, a family member had an LG fridge that the compressor went out on at the same time that another part did. The result was that it flooded her home. She had to replace the cabinetry, flooring in her home not to mention the fridge. LG did absolutely nothing. My Mom had a kitchen aid washer and dryer that she owned for 25 years. She only sold it because she wanted something new in her home when she moved. She only ever had to repair the timer on the dryer once and it never gave a single issue. I often joke with my Mom that there is no one on earth that loves the washing machine like she does - she literally washes everything in her home in the washing machine...placemats, comforters, rugs, you name it. That old kitchen aid handled it all. Its a shame that they don't make laundry appliances anymore.
@Heidi Louise, Sorry, I wrote that backwards. It was possible to fill the machine with water, and then add the clothing with the Kenmore, which meant things would float a bit more.
@Angie, We have a family of 6 very dirty people. 🙂 I refuse to buy any washing machine that has a digital display or buttons of any kind. Only knobs don't break (or at least, not as disastrously.). I had a bad experience buying a Speed Queen several years ago--apparently for a couple of years they had replaced one of their metal parts with cheaper plastic one that broke over and over, although I guess they don't do that anymore--so the last time I needed a washing machine, I got a Maytag Commercial washer. I've only had it about a year, but it works very well. And no buttons. 🙂
@kristin @ going country, I bought a Maytag commercial after three very sad HE machines in not too many years. And I LOVE it. HE machines produce stinky laundry after only a few years of use. That smell is making shopping at second hand stores very challenging for me.
1. I finally used up the last of the almond flour I’d picked up from Buy Nothing (BB date 01/2022!) in some brownies. The brownies also used the remnants of a mint chocolate bar that had been exposed to heat and gone completely wonky.
2. Also fighting wasted food: made Thai curry using some nearly-gone mushrooms, the remnants of previously cooked beet greens, and a pepper I’d accidentally stuck in the freezer. I also managed to eat a half cucumber before it went bad, and ate the remaining fresh mozzarella on a pesto sandwich. I had to cut off a few superficial mold spots so I was glad I checked when I did!
3. I continue to work away on the freezer stash. I’m using sour milk in waffles (this time I also used up the crystallized remnants of jam that was open for far too long). I also pulled out the crock pot and cooked a marked-down pork tenderloin with some veggies for an easy meal. I’d like to do more crockpot cooking, but we don’t eat a lot of meat and although there are great vegetarian recipes online, I just haven’t made it part of the rotation.
4. We managed to damage the screen of our baby monitor, which was a hand-me-down from friends. DH was able to find its replacement online for about $40, which is much cheaper than buying an entirely new system would have cost. This is also great in that the monitor will now sync with both cameras if wanted/needed when Baby #2 comes along. (We get a kick out of using older tech when possible-- I think the monitor is circa 2017 and newer systems are much fancier but we don't need the bells and whistles.)
5. I needed some alone time. I used a gift card to buy a small brewed coffee that came with free refills, and had enough stars for two free baked goods at Sbux.
@Lindsay B, Love your #1! I repurposed expired chocolate and a bag of stuck together marshmallows into fudge over the weekend. 😉
@Bobi, I hope your fudge was delicious! I know my brownies were. 🙂
I also have been using up a deodorant I don't prefer. It's been a fairly frugal week around here...
1. I logged in on my insurance rewards and saw that I had earned a $25 giftcard for going to a health appt. So I used it for ordering more coffee! I also earned $10 from Fitbit steps.
2. My daughter wants me to write notes in her lunchbox. I was going to buy a set for $5-10 on Amazon, but I had extra prints on my printer so I just found some free ones someone had made and I printed them.
3. Used a free gallon of milk coupon at Meijer and, bonus, we biked there to pick it up.
4. BN group: free backpack, two pillows, set of curtains, journal, candle.
5. My van was asking for a carwash. My kids even wrote "wash me" on the back of the van. I was going to ask the kids to wash it with the hose over the holiday weekend, but I found some old vouchers for free car washes in my glove box. So I used one! There's still a few more left! Wahoo.
1. Husband donated platelets at the American Red Cross and received a free T-shirt and a free haircut at Sports Clips. He doesn’t do it for the gifts, and we'll only take a freebie if we can truly use it. T-shirts are always useful as my husband works outdoors and wears through them quickly. Plus they're good advertising for the Red Cross.
2. Was pretty sure we needed to replace our old laptop, but I switched browsers (from Chrome to Edge) to see if that would help and now it’s purring like a new kitten.
3. At our pup’s appointment for shots, etc., our vet comped the nail trim since our pup just needed her dew claws trimmed. Spent $350 for a free nail trim!
4. Scored a piano bench from my Buy Nothing group. I don’t own a piano, but I needed a bench for the entryway. A perfect fit.
5. Received vitamins and shampoo from a friend who moved into assisted living.
I've been saving my list of FFT for a few weeks:
1. Spray-painted some ugly plastic pots (free from ??) with paint salvaged from my Mom’s move
2. Got a great load of free food from local food pantry (for anyone in town because we don't have enough "poor" people in town to justify delivery so they want everyone to come)
3. Made a great dinner of shrimp tacos with free tortillas, free shrimp and tomatoes from a neighbor
4. Left my waterbottle at my sister’s in Oregon, thought about buying a new one (mine is at least 35 years old) and then she mailed it back to me, along with the money I'd sent her to mail it.
5. Resisted the temptation to buy a cat brush like Chiquita’s
Kristen, I'm 64 and still have self- moisterizing skin, but almost no wrinkles. It's a long-standing habit to clean my glasses at night when I brush my teeth so they are fresh for the morning.
The frugal stuff at my house revolved almost entirely around using up bits and bobs in the freezer and cupboards to make meals. We went ten days with only minimal grocery shopping by cooking unremembered frozen objects. I also made a smaller weekly loaf of homemade bread after my husband, for whom it's baked, let it go moldy two weeks in a row.
I turned the last green tomatoes from the container garden into three small jars of spicy dill refrigerator pickles. Used a store coupon to get a free package of fancy cat treats that I was not sure my kitties would like due to the form being like tiny chocolate squares, but they like the taste and nibble at it during the day.
I have those chairs on my back porch. They're in great condition but they are kept under a roof but we love them! And we got them 2 years ago in the winter so they were on clearance so they were marked way down.
A few, one big one for Labor Day:
-Waited until Labor Day sales to replace our very old mattress (which is still going surprisingly strong!) I did not want to order a mattress online, so I was happy when our sales person in the brick and mortar store was not pushy but very knowledgeable, and gave us an additional manager's discount when I asked if there were any other markdowns available.
-Sold some baseball uniform things that our kids have outgrown.
-Took my kids thrifting.
-Our local renaissance festival opened up, which we haven't attended for a few years. Bought tickets to go earlier in the season before the prices go up.
-Visited Ikea to stock up on some Scandinavian foods we eat, and yes, some Christmas chocolate calendars made their way into our cart, but refrained from any "oh this would be cute or practical" items and instead stuck to a list (door mat and inner cushions were also purchased). Used my Ikea Family card to get 5% off the total.
Next time you are out of eyeglass cleaner, you can easily make your own - I just mix equal parts water and 70% rubbing alcohol and it works great!
@monica, I also add a few drops of Dawn liquid to that mix and have had great results :-).
Hurricanes aren't frugal, but here's a few successes:
1. I asked my mower guy for a quote to clean up my yard (I'm talking mature trees down, not just pick up branches). He said $5000. I finally remembered the name of another guy who had done stump grinding and some clean up in our yard a few years ago, and he said $1500. You can guess who I chose. I may lose my mower guy over this, but he was about to stop mowing anyway, and had already told me his mowing days were numbered.
2. The adjuster who came to look at my roof couldn't look, since the ladder guy missed the appointment. We'll re-schedule. He said this miss isn't unusual when they first start doing inspections, which is odd to me, but my insurance company is sending them so okay. He called after he left and said he examined my policy and it allows up to $500 to remove a tree from an insured structure, which my pump house should be. He suggested I ask the clean-up guy to bill the tree that hit the pump house separately and submit it to my insurer.
3. I was without power for a full six days. Even with ice, much of my refrigerator contents will have to go. The stuff like carrots, butter and even the grapes were cool enough to come out smiling. The milk is another story, but at least I don't have to throw out every single thing, thanks to adding ice daily. The ice did keep the spoiled food from outright rotting.
4. Before evacuating I crammed my upright freezer with all the frozen food from the refrigerator's freezer on top of what was already in the freezer, and all the ice packs I owned, plus bags of ice I bought before the storm. I'd done this before successfully, and it was successful this time as well. I leave that door shut and only open it as soon as power returns to see if stuff is still frozen. It was.
5. My boss bought my lunch on Friday. I bought my local daughter who was also without power a Firehouse meal for both of us. I have the app and points, so my sub was free. That is the only meal I have bought except what we bought for the evacuation, and my company paid for that food. My church sent people to my town to cook a lunch, which I ate, but the rest of the time I ate peanut butter, GF bread, dried fruit, apples, dried green beans, fresh cucumber (my vines survived), chips and individual packets of tuna. It was boring, but I didn't starve.
6. My church also sent volunteer work crews. I asked for yard help, and one of the crews came to my house and did a good job clearing around my house, so I could at least have some space around my house that was free of debris. They cut up and piled about three truckloads of tree debris, bless them. That saved me a nice bit of money on the professional cleanup.
7. I saved up water in clean food-safe containers before the storm. I used that water to wash hands and dishes, clean, water my dogs, and drink. I set up a large sturdy yard bin to catch rainwater during the storm and used that water to flush my toilet. I used my little manual washer and wringer to wash my filthy work clothes with the clean water and hung them on my rack to dry since it was still rainy outside.
8. My local daughter has city water, so she had water although no power till Saturday morning. I took showers at her house till I got power. She told me to use her shower after she left till I had my power again. Her power came on just a few hours before she had to leave for Germany. Mine came back last night (Labor Day).
I also whined a lot about being hot and sweaty, so don't think I was JD, Super Frontier Woman. I was just doing what I had to, and have some past experience to guide me.
@JD, Have you thought about applying to be on Survivor? There's an online application you could fill out and submit. Just a thought ... ;-}
@JD,
I think you were, indeed, JD, Super Frontier Woman.
Glad you are safe, and power has been restored.
@JD, prepared, practical, resourceful, determined. . . Very Admirable!
@JD, I add my applause to everyone else's on how well you coped (with a bit of help from friends and family). I'm so glad you came through Idalia as well as you did.
Hi Kristen, I made eyeglass cleaner and it's really easy and cheap. I think it's rubbing alcohol and water and...maybe a drop of dish soap? It works great. I found it online. Just passing it along!
1. Made sure my former roommate and her hired man were informed that I was serious about the Sept. 4 deadline for them to retrieve her belongings and get them off my property. The latter thought it'd be OK for him to come whenever, but I informed them otherwise. My certified letter said the deadline was non-negotiable, and they've had weeks to finish the job. They showed up for the last bit yesterday and now I have my rooms back -- at the roommate's expense. Which is how it should be!
2. When the hired man's crew asked for soft drinks, I didn't have any in the house. So I ran to my workplace (only a few blocks away) and bought their sodas out of the breakroom machine -- 30 cents each. Our boss has the machine set at his cost, as a perk for us. No need to pay a dollar per can when I can get them cheaper.
3. I avoided the Labor Day celebrations in favor of cleaning house.
4. Salvaged items from roommate's throwaway pile of things she didn't want. Got some cleaning supplies -- spray cleaner, bottle of bleach, package of sponges, etc. -- that I can use. Also found pens and scissors. And the dog is enjoying my roommate's opened package of beef jerky chews, which I'm giving out as doggie treats.
5. When AC went out, I troubleshot the problem first before calling a repairman. Turns out, the repairman wasn't needed; I fixed the problem myself.
JD, I admire your "pioneer" (hurricane savvy) skills in continuing to weather the after affects of Idalia.
Did not grocery shop and when I needed anything, purchased only that. If I would use my time and imagination, I have plenty of food in my cupboards and freezer to get by for months.
Ordered lunch at work for one night. The roast beef and mashed potatoes and gravy plus sides is delicious and can't beat it for three bucks.
Went through and froze the good tomatoes from my mineral tub garden. Have a bad habit of picking and not using the less than perfect ones quick enough. Quickly became fruit fly food.
Avoiding eating out this week. Going to be out of town this weekend, where the money will be better suited. I will also pack snacky items I have on hand: cheese sticks, meat sticks, kind bars (which were bought on sale) to avoid junkier food. I take a travel electric tea kettle. It is cheaper to make my own iced tea than buy convenience store bottles. I also distill my own water and freeze a dispenser jug to take. It makes even two days of motel living more homelike.
Kristen, I recently heard from my friend that he restores his plastic lawn chair's weathered finish by using a blow torch really quickly over the surface. I haven't tried this personally, but you might like to try this as a quicker, more efficient use of your time to restoring your chair to a beautiful finish.
@Lisa K., Wow. That sounds like fun. And also like I'd have a pile of melted plastic because stumble bum is how I roll! The spray paints they make for outdoor plastic furniture work really great, though.
So... I have a silly question... I have not had much success getting a can of spray paint to cover much (like an entire chair). I always feel like it takes so many cans (3-4) to get any furniture piece covered. Are you able to cover things with the paint from buy nothing, or do you end up running to buy more?
@Jessica, Krylon Fusion or Rust Oleum for Plastic work great. You might not be able to get them from Buy Nothing, though.
1. I am not a big customer of the Dollar Tree store in town, (the one that is now $1.25), because I just don't buy much anywhere. However, the store is moving down the block soon and has a number of items on clearance for a quarter or fifty cents. I bought kid-style pencils and packs of stickers (will cut into smaller sheets) to give out for Halloween. If I don't use them this year, they'll keep.
2. Water was running in the toilet tank, sending my husband into nightmares that spiraled into needing to replace all the plumbing in our house. I reminded him it is possible to just replace the rubber flapper and we did so successfully and inexpensively.
3. Had trouble with bread going bad, so now freeze half of each loaf when we buy new. (Have read often that refrigerating bread is not the way to keep it fresh).
4. My zinnias struggle on, but at least I had some this year! I am very good with marigolds, yet don't like the scent inside the house. Gave away two small zinnia bouquets, one in a colorful salad dressing bottle and the other in a spice jar, trusting both glass "vases" would then be recycled.
5. So much here is routine. Pay bills on time, keep AC at highest still-comfortable level, use fans, shop grocery sales, yard sales, read library books. I will occasionally look at lists of "X number of Frugal Living Tips to save X thousands!", and I rarely find anything we either aren't doing or choose not to do.
Thank you to all who share here, who give me motivations and some possible things to try!
1. Home haircuts for three kids plus my husband. Hoping to do my own in the next week or two also.
2. My father in law was given a box of fresh Lima beans and didn't want all of them, so he offered them to us. I wasn't sure I would get to them before they went bad, but my husband and 2yr old daughter shucked most of them yesterday so all I had to do was blanch and freeze them
3. In this heat wave I am trying to reduce the burden on the AC by closing curtains strategically. We also cooled off in our pool yesterday.
4. Taking the time to track our expenses from last month -also July cause I had skipped it. This helps me see our spending trends and stay on track.
5. I haven't bought my kids any specific "back to school" clothing. There is a consignment sale coming up where I will look for certain things they could use, but thankfully they hadn't grown out of their clothes they were wearing at the end of the last school year.
My big frugal thing is that we bought a Henson razor. The handle and 100 blades cost $70 and replacement blades will cost $0.05. I spend about $100 on Harry's razor blades every year so this will payoff soon. My husband was reluctant to "let" me use a safety razor b/c I frequently cut myself with traditional razors. However, I tried his Henson and the design makes it basically impossible to cut myself.
My husband replaced some seal in our toilet which fixed it. I thought we would have to call a plumber.
We didn't eat out after a surprise (and very long) trip to the labor and delivery unit at the hospital. (potential preterm labor. Baby is fine for now.) I had snacks in my purse and we were really excited about the soup waiting at home so we were able to wait until we got home at 9 pm to eat. We are planning to buy trail mix to keep in my purse in case this happens again.
We follow Drs orders and stayed how for a quiet weekend.
@Rebekah in SoCal, I'm so glad both you and the baby are well.
I'm allergic to added fragrances, and even "fragrance-free" antiperspirants and deodorants have added fragrance! So I buy a Himalayan Salt Block in the size and shape of a bar of soap. To use it, I wet it and rub it on the pits. Then I dry the bar off (important) and store it with the edge just used up to dry out. If you leave it wet, salt crystals grow on the surface and those suckers hurt when you rub them on your skin.
This is NOT something to use after shaving because that would sting like the dickens. But one of the great effects of menopause is no more underarm hair grows (not to mention saving a lot of money by no longer having to buy sanitary supplies and cramp medications!).
The salt bars last a few years, and are very inexpensive. And NO fragrance. You can also buy crystals in a container that is shaped like a deodorant stick but those are aluminum salt crystals, not sodium chloride. Although there's no definitive evidence that they may cause breast cancer, I prefer not to use them.
Doing what I can in all the little ways:
1. Back to school for my younger daughter required no costs out of pocket - no new uniforms required, no supplies, no new lunchbox or backpack. Oh wait, she needed new shoes. But that's it. Not too bad.
2. I saw the words "Nashville hot" on a salad at target and couldn't resist, even though bagged salads are generally way overpriced. But I only used a small portion of the dressing and topping. So I saved it and used it on two more salads.
3. Scored a six pack of romaine hearts for a grand total of $1. It actually had seven in the bag. I chopped it all up, washed it, and spun it dry. I threw 1/3 in a salad and ate it with my family, threw another 1/3 in a bag with a paper towel and gave it to my mom and the remaining 1/3 is waiting to be eaten tonight.
4. Almost bought a couple books on Amazon but decided to wait until my turn came up with books on hold at the library. Then a friend gave me a book that she received for free from a summer reading program. I was something like #327 on the wait list so this will work great - I'm going to take it and read in on the plane on my next trip and will pass it on when I get back.
5. I waited until labor day to place an order on a couple home items and benefitted from the sales/discounts and also used reward programs to get the best credit card points back on the purchase.
6. Continued to clean my house even though I would prefer to be like my friends and pay someone. I got a quote last week for $90 an hour for two people and a minimum of two hours. Sigh. I'll just keep doing a little every day so that it's not too crazy.
@CrunchyCake, when I vacuum the house, each time I start on the opposite end from the previous session. That way, if I lose interest before getting to the other end, I will catch that part first next time. And I usually lose interest and get progressively sloppier as I move through the house.
@Central Calif. Artist Jana, Genius!
1. Got some great things off Buy Nothing this week. I got 2 pairs of barely used sneakers that will be for my son in the next year or so. I got 3 pairs of shoes for my daughter that will fit her next year. I also got a log holder for our indoor fireplace.
2. I made sundried tomatoes from cherry tomatoes from our garden. I made and froze pesto using basil and garlic from our garden. I made banana bread using overripe bananas. The bread will feed my kids for breakfast this week. I made raisins using overripe grapes. I made tomato puree from tomatoes from our garden. We made pasta sauce with the puree and also garlic and herbs from our garden. My husband made 3 large jars of pickles using cucumbers from our garden.
3. A friend has a huge vegetable garden and asked if I wanted to pick the ripe vegetables while they were out of town. We got so many cherry tomatoes, tomatoes, jalapenos, and bell peppers. I sundried the cherry tomatoes and the rest of the vegetables will become salsa that will be frozen for the year.
4. I took the kids to a local museum when they were offering a free days for kids. We brought lunch and drinks. It saved $40. It was great day.
5. I baked leftover potatoes, beans from our garden, and tofu to make myself lunches for the week.
Oh, wow. Interesting!!! 4 of us use De Teals in my house, and nobody has that issue. We all love it. In fact, we’re almost bone dry around here. Thanks for sharing where I can buy online as it’s not sold in stores in my new city.
I’ve never seen that scent though. Wonder if that affects it.
Man, you guys must have tougher armpits than I do! lol
Kristen, my husband took a blowtorch to our chair like that and also to our shutters made of the same material. It takes them right back to the original dark color. I found a blog where someone demonstrated it. It seriously took him like 5 minutes.
https://www.instructables.com/Breathe-new-life-renew-into-an-oxidized-PVC-deck/
Whoa, that's crazy! Now I guess I just need a blowtorch. Heh.
@Kristen, If you have a hair dryer, I have read of those working, too, - not so fast, but also fewer opportunities for epic fails. Or a heat gun, however those are kind of blow-torch epic-fail potential, AFAIK
1. I made a birthday cake from scratch. I made all the food for the party myself. We used plates and napkins that we already had.
2. We ate up leftovers and changed the menu to accommodate food that needed to be eaten.
3. I used materials on hand to fix a quilt.
4. We enjoyed free and cheap entertainment. We've had so much smoke here that we've had to get creative since we're stuck indoors.
5. I didn't buy new water bottles for anyone. 🙂 My daughter gave one of hers to her younger sibling.
6. I got some new work clothes at an acquaintance's rummage sale.
I've seen people use a power washer on those type of plastic chairs and they end up looking new afterwards!
Make sure to read your spray paint cans to see if will be good fit for painting plastic chair. I would have never known some spray paint does not do well on plastic furniture, that's why they have specific spray paint for plastic furniture. Apparently can peal off if doesn't adhere to plastic furniture. Who knew?
My five frugal things--
1. Used my Menards rebate money to get outside electrical outlets with covers for outside outlets that my dad was able to put one (mostly) in & have materials for 2 more. Since not on sale/cheap & needed not spending money helped. Did get new rebate to mail in from purchase(s). Since my dad lives in Florida (& they won't send rebates to Florida--found out hard way as had $35:rebate sent to Florida/family name that never received) I took his rebate from his purchase.
2. Used free coupons at Meijer when finally went shopping (expires on Labor Day) for 6 pack donuts & buns, which worked out great since realized (after getting home) whole loaf bread white/moldy. Birds will be happy. Need to only get 1 loaf bread. Would like to bake my own but hard to find (reasonable price whole wheat flour) since we don't eat white or sour dough
3. My dad bought new Husqvarna chainsaw (while here visiting) & gave to teen for birthday present since mine didnt want to start (been few years since used). Now need to show teen how to (safely) use. We use to cut up tree limbs/firewood for campfire.
4. Had Halloween blow mold saved on my Poshmark list & less exspensive one sold. Had to go to Lowe's to get weed eater string (next cash back app giftcard coming up for reward points) & Lowe's had their Halloween decorations out inside. I quickly walked through (on way to outdoor equipment) & they happened to have similar blow mold (in stock). Poshmark (older style) $30 & $40 (plus $8 shipping), Lowe's $15. I quickly rummaged through bin & grabbed one then got my weed string.
5. Went to local flea market & purchased some more hand made plate/bowl holders (? I think that's what called?). I asked vendor if buy 5 large can I get discount because offers discount on 4 small and he agreed plus have me free small since I had already purchased 4 large previously. He had changed back color because ran out of material but top still same wild flowers.
Frugal fails---
1. Not eating bread fast enough so birds end up getting half. Need to adjust to buying less but almost same price.
2. Got pizza takeout (20% off whole order Dominos) but my pasta bowl gets smaller amount each time order. Barely covered bottom container which few months ago was almost full container. Unfortunately same issue at both locations we order from. Reminder that I need to not order pasta anymore & switch to sub sandwich when get pizza takeout.
A day late, but
Last Thursday I took my grandson to the children's museum. On the way we stopped at the library to pick up the pass I reserved, which reduced the admission price by half. This was a great museum. I think they had 14 indoor rooms with different themes and a small outside park with a story walk. We returned the pass to the library, and he used the children's room for a while. (When I searched the information for the library that had the pass, I noticed a playground on a beach nearby. I'll be checking that one out soon.)
I made mini apple cider muffins to take for our quilt night. I saved on the muffins, I spent on the ice cream.
I'm still working on a set of cards for donate to a raffle auction, mainly using items I have on hand. And a scarf that I am using yarn from my stash.
I need a hat for a tea next week--I have a straw hat, which fits, and I bought silk flowers 60% off to adorn it. I always imagine one of those English fancy hats. I'll see if I can pull it off.
I made dough to freeze for future pizzas. The recipe made enough for 4 pizzas. 2 take out pizzas are $20+, depending on toppings. I'll keep pepperoncini, pepperoni and cheese on hand. The other night we had naan pizzas. The naan package was $1 off at Aldi. 4 pieces. The naan packages at other stores are only 2 pieces.
The nightstands look good. I should buy me an orbital sander and do a small chest I have in the living room.
- I scanned one receipt per day on my Fetch app so I could spin for extra points.
- I enjoyed a free catered dinner thanks to my husband's work.
- I was given three homemade blueberry raspberry scones. I gave one to my son & ate the other two with tea over a couple of days.
- I came up with some fun games to play with my 5 yr old grandson using things I already had at home.
- I bought a hutch top for $19 at Goodwill to add storage over my washer dryer....instead of having custom cabinets made.
Pretty frugal Labor Day weekend. Hubby and I never go out to dinner but we did on Monday as I had a $5 off $25 coupon. Still ended up costing us $25+ but I had a hankering for one of their bacon cheeseburgers. I also ordered a drink. I could only eat half the burger, none of the fries and 2 sips of the drink. Won't do that again!
Got a free bottle from Bath and Body Works for men's moisturizer. I'm putting it away for dh for Christmas. Also got two $1 hand sanitizers.
Had a 9 minute massage in the massage chair at the mall. I spent $3 and felt much better afterwards.
Hubby is stripping the wallpaper from our bedroom walls and he will repaint it.
We were inivited to go swimming on Sunday at a friend's daughter's pool. She had told her daughter that while she, her husband and baby were away she (friend) was going to have a pool party, lol! Friend was there to watch her daughter's 2 dogs and her 1 dog.
Hello, everyone. These are my favorite posts. I'm posting before reading the comments because Kristen talked about one of my FFT's.
I bought one of those bottles of spray for glasses awhile ago. I was talking to a friend and she said that those are just glass cleaner in a smaller bottle for more money. I thought, "maybe." I finished the bottle and decided to try it out. I added extra water because the spray seemed to be streaky and I didn't want that for my glasses. I also like the mist spray for glasses. I've been using it for a few days and it works great. I did see something on the original bottle saying it was safe for glasses with the reflective coating. I will have to watch for that. I'm happy with the tip so far.
№2 I reuse water bottles after drinking the original water. Water bottles works for me and I haven't been able to find a reusable one I like and am willing to pay the price they're asking for it.
№ 3 I take food with me when I travel for work. It saves so much vs. getting something at a restaurant or mini market.
№4 I make coffee from the hotel so I don't stop at coffee shop on the way to work.
№5 I'm moving soon. So I picked up some boxes from work to use. My roommate picked some up from her work as well. They are not consistent sizes but this is how I have always moved. I hate paying for something that people just throw away. I try to recycle them when I am finished with them.
I will sign off with that. I'm grateful to be part of this community. Thank you for all your tips and ideas. I love the support for this lifestyle.
Have you heard of Nuud? I tried every natural deodorant and none of them worked for me but this does and I find it lasts awhile.