In the grand scheme of things, the big financial decisions we make are what affect our bottom line the most.
But…if you collect enough tiny frugalities, they can have a bit of an impact too. And besides, a diehard frugal heart can always appreciate a teensy money-saving win.
Soo, that’s what I present to you today.
1. I baked sweet potatoes in the toaster oven, on a reused piece of foil
A toaster oven requires less energy than a regular oven, so that’s a tiny savings.
And the piece of foil has been used before for sweet potatoes and also for broiling a tuna melt. No sense in using a new piece each time if it’s not actually dirty.
Bonus point for me: my toaster oven was free from my Buy Nothing group. 🙂 So was the table it’s sitting on.
2. I used some very brown apricots in my kale salad
I discovered some long-neglected, very brown, extra-dry apricots in my pantry. So when I made my last batch of kale salad, I cut them up and added them in place of some of the craisins.
I also did my usual and subbed raisins for half of the craisins, since raisins are definitely cheaper!
3. I used sterile gloves while applying furniture stripper
When I cleaned out my practice medical supplies at the end of the semester, I hung onto all my practice pairs of sterile gloves, figuring they would come in handy.
these are regular gloves, not sterile gloves, but it’s the only picture in my files so it will have to do
And when I needed to use stripper on my trash-picked table, they did! I donned and doffed them for each application and they held up great.
4. I smushed my soap ends onto my current bar
Usually I do this with every new bar, but somehow a few ends had piled up on the shower shelf.
So, I squished them onto my current bar, and while this makes for a slightly wonky shape, it’s quite workable and it will only get flatter as I use it. 😉
5. I bought a half-price cantaloupe
I stopped in to see if they had non-cling peaches yet (so much easier to eat than cling peaches!) and the answer was no. But I did spy half-price cantaloupes, so I bought one.
It is delicious. And stinky. You know you have a good cantaloupe when, on the drive home, it makes your car smell like something died.
Flavorless cantaloupes, on the other hand, have almost no aroma.
Vanika
Friday 1st of August 2025
Thanks for sharing!
Joan
Monday 21st of July 2025
Oh I love to do this. Reuse items, eat left overs. Reuse bags. Been looking for a big dog toy. Got a pig for $1.25 resale shop. She loved it. Did splurge on the IOU yogurts, but got lids from the Amazon store in wood for gifts. Then painted some, filled with mixed nuts and foiled the top with Foil Christmas paper cut neatly scalloped n covered with rubber bands. Parchment paper used for gift wrap in a pinch. People do appreciate reusable things when they see all you can do recycling. I too have refinished furniture with surgical gloves and pipe cleaners, big safety pins and old toothbrushes. Enjoyed this read!!!
Amanda in VA
Friday 18th of July 2025
Here are my five frugal things . . . vacationing in Nashville edition. We have had an absolutely wonderful time in Music City. To make 10 days in this great city affordable for our family of six, we . . .
1) Stayed in a home exchange. We are in a cute little bungalow in East Nashville while its usual family is hiking out west. In exchange for sharing their home, they are staying in someone else's home (and someone else is in ours right now too). We will clean their home before we leave and leave a nice note and flowers for them.
Staying in a home means that we had a full kitchen, so most of our meals were from the grocery store. We could also wash clothes whenever we wanted. It was also very comfortable to lounge around when we needed a break.
2) We did a couple of free driving/walking tours. Although they were free, they were excellent, having been developed by scholars. If anyone is interested, find these tours at nashvillesite.org.
3) We swam at least every other day in different bodies of water, which gave us a chance to try out different state parks and various rivers. Sometimes there was a $5 charge to park (especially if it was a maintained swimming area), but we also love to just find a shallow, sandy (legal) spot in a river to wade in. We find that swimming is an immediate curative for tired, cranky, hot children. They transform into calm, happy angels as soon as they are exposed to water.
4) You can't go to Nashville without experiencing live music. Something like tickets to the Grand Ol Opry was way out of our budget. Instead we found a family friendly bar with live music and no cover charge, and we ordered drinks and appetizers. We went early enough that we were not taking a table from a group who would have run up a big tab. We got to hear a great house band.
5) Our only museum stop was the Tennessee State Museum, which is absolutely free. We were very impressed. It is a well-done museum experience that gives you a good overview of Tennessee history and culture.
We did spend some money though! Our tourist dollars went to 1) a river float, which was amazing and worth every penny, 2) a tour of the Hermitage (overall I was disappointed with how this house museum hasn't fully shed its worship of Jackson, but it was still a must-see for me, a historian of the nineteenth century), 3) a cave tour at Mammoth Caves National Park (the children were delighted with this tour), and 4) a ranger-led tour of Mississippian mounds in the Harpeth River State Park (we learned so much!).
auntiali
Wednesday 16th of July 2025
I'm a little late to the party but what I do:
1. purchased 6 boxes of cereal for $1.88 each for the food closet. I like to look out for deals to stock up on. 2. Monitoring electrical usage. AC stays high during the day with shades drawn and I turn it down lower for sleeping. 3. Stock up when there is something we use on sale at the grocery store. This week it was Perdue chicken thighs for $1.29/lb. Lowest I've seen them in a while. 4. Eat at home almost always. 5. Buy Lands End tops when they go on clearance. I just got another one so I'm set now. I also got a sundress from Kohls for $7.99.
Joyce from Arkansas
Wednesday 16th of July 2025
A big save on airfare thanks to my girlfriend. Her, myself and another girlfriend who were in the Army together nearly 50 years ago, get together every couple years. This year we are flying to her home in California in October. She texted us last week and said Southwest flights were half price for a few days. So two of us jumped on it and got great deals on tickets from Arkansas and Wisconsin to Sacramento. It saved us each almost $250.
I used our abundance of tomatoes to make a few jars of sun-dried tomatoes. Turns out you can make “sun-dried” tomatoes in the oven by roasting them for about 7 hours at 200°. Then you just put them in a jar with olive oil and they'll keep in the refrigerator for 6 months. A jar of sun-dried tomatoes here at Kroger runs about $6! I don't use them often, but I do like to have some on hand.
We ate leftover restaurant salad from lunch for dinner. Hubby went out for lunch and brought back a huge leftover salad that was enough for a second salad for both of us. We ate it with the rest of the meal I made for dinner.
I used a heavy zip lock bag I got from a clothing purchase on Amazon to store an extra set of sheets for our guest room. I decided to keep them in the room so they are easily accessible when the bed needs to be changed.
I mailed some things in a box I got from my local grocery store. I had just recycled some Amazon boxes and then found I needed a small box to mail something. I will not pay for boxes! I was checking out at my local grocery store, I asked about boxes and they happened to have the perfect sized box.