Five Frugal Things | I sold Zoe's nightstand
It's a nightstand-heavy week around here. 😉
1. I sold Zoe's Ethan Allen nightstand
"But you just painted that!", you might be thinking.
And you're right. I bought and painted it last fall for her, though I didn't post about it here until May.
Here are all the before and after photos of it.
And here's a YouTube video so you can see a time-lapse of me sanding and painting.
Lisey rearranged her room to fit a desk, so she didn't need her original nightstand anymore.
And since that nightstand has a shelf tall enough to hold books, Zoe adopted Lisey's old nightstand.
(Which is a freecycle find I painted way back in the day)
Interestingly enough, this was Zoe's nightstand originally. So, it's kind of come full-circle.
I listed the Ethan Allen nightstand for $50 and got tons of bites. A mom picked it up the next day for her daughter, who was delighted with it. Yay!
To recap, I bought the nightstand for $25.
Then I sold the pull for $12 on eBay and the nightstand on Facebook for $50.
Considering that I spent probably three hours sanding and painting it, that is not a good return in terms of an hourly wage.
But in terms of actual dollars, I made a $35+ profit on a nightstand that served us for a year. And the nightstand is making another teenage girl very happy, so that's worth something too.
2. I boiled my towels & washcloths
Some of them were starting to smell like armpits (!) so I did a few batches of boiled kitchen linens.
Here are more details about how to boil washcloths.
This method works great, and it doesn't even require any questionable cleaning agents.
I do always feel a little funny cooking up a pot of washcloths, though!
Nice and steamy and ready for a trip through the washer.
This obviously isn't a fun thing to do when the weather is hot (who wants more humid heat in their kitchen??), but now that it's fall, it works out fine.
On a related note, here are eight ways to keep kitchen linens sanitary.
3. I caught a price error at Target
I'd purposely bought two deodorants because of a Buy One, Get One 50% off sale.
But both rang up at full price.
Happily, I'd used self-checkout, so I noticed the error as I rang up my purchases and was able to get it corrected before I left the store.
4. I sauteed some mushy apples
These looked like they would be crunchy and crisp.
But they were...not.
Luckily, if you cook a mushy apple, the mushiness becomes irrelevant.
5. I...
- ate leftover mashed potatoes for breakfast, topped with a fried egg (10/10, would recommend)
- made muffins from a brown banana
- used my Target debit card to pay for my purchase (5% off is 5% off!)
- sold two more items on eBay
Last week I bought a bento style lunch box reduced to $7.50. Today I found the same lunch box for $2 so I bought the three of them because mum thought they would be good for patchwork pieces.
I found some lanterns reduced to $2 each so they came home with me as well.
I bought some steak at 50% off. Steak is a rare rare treat. Yum.
I am working hard at not wasting food. Our fridge groans and it is over full. Now to keep mum form buying more food until it is in a better place.
I am beginning to remove the plants we have had over winter and working on some that will provide some fresh fruits and veg over our summer.
1, I called SiriusXM to protest the price at which the service would renew. I do this every year. It took a while but I finally received a price I could live with. I was willing to cancel if need be, knowing there is not much driving of that vehicle these days, and I strongly suspected they would follow up with free service for some months followed by a low price to restart the service.
2. I went for a dental check up and it appears our dentist may now accept our insurance (he bought the practice earlier this year from our long time dentist). We loved the previous dentist so much we paid for what insurance did not cover.
3. We were walking the other night and saw a big pile of Free DVDs. We carried a few of them home to enjoy and then pass along.
4. Our community (neighborhood) is having a yard sale on Saturday. While we don't have much to get rid of (I try to give it away when I have a pile using Freecycle.org) we do have a few things. I intend to put those items out with a FREE sign. Quicker than posting on Freecycle.
5. This may be a money saver in the long run. One of the new yoga teachers at the studio I belong to is a PT. A few weeks ago she mentioned that tightness in our hips can cause tightness in our jaws. I know I had found myself waking up with a clenched jaw and having tightness in my face in that area. Since then I have been stretching/opening my hips every day. I think it has made a difference. I know grinding your teeth can lead to lots of dental issues.
The only thing better than leftover mashed potatoes and fried eggs is mashed potatoes with cheese melted in and fried eggs. So good.
I rented a dumpster so we can clear out the abandoned house next door that we bought last year. It's still FILLED with stuff, as if someone is still living there, almost. Like, clothes still hanging in the closets (including a wedding dress, which is honestly kind of creepy). Happily, there's a local company somewhat nearby that rents dumpsters--only 60 miles, which is very close for here--and although dumpsters are never cheap, it's cheaper than paying someone to do it for us. And it's the first step in renovation, should be ever get to that, which will be done almost entirely by us as well.
I so wish you lived near me in PA. I would love to go through that and find some treasures!
Oh, my kids love the same thing. Unfortunately, the "treasures" are contaminated by raccoon and rat poop . . .
Weirdly, everything is food-related this week!
—Monday’s takeout dinner was free, thanks to a friend insisting on treating us. She wouldn’t take “no” for an answer, so we chose banhwich to keep the price low—$14ish for two VERY filling sandwiches. We also picked up our order to save her the delivery fee.
—Free breakfast all weekend, thanks to another friend’s generous surprise gift of amazing breads from their local bakery (they live out of state--yay for fun mail instead of political garbage!). Challah, pumpkin chocolate chip, and garlic rosemary = so much extra hiking, and *SO* worth it!!! I cut all three loaves in half and “hid” the saved halves in the freezer for later. Future free breakfast weekend, ahoy!
—Thanks to a combination of extra bucks, coupons, and the sale price, I was able to get two packages of my husband’s coffee for 98 cents at CVS. Dunkin’ Donuts is the least expensive coffee that doesn’t give him heartburn, and CVS has it on sale roughly once a month.
--It was time for our beautiful 1940s fridge's quarterly defrost. Not exactly sexy, but it helps keeps our $50 Craig's List find going strong! It only takes an hour thanks to first boiling water in the kettle and then distributing it inside the fridge via pots and pans--learned that from "Mad Men," of all places! We've a small cooler to keep any remaining groceries at temperature during the process.
--Michael's had a 60% off baskets sale, so I spent $7 on a rectangular nesting set to further tame the pantry. I shopped around the house first, but I've run out of things to re-purpose/up-cycle that I'm willing to have hold food. As the designated short person (5'4"--my 6'2" husband somehow forgets this when putting things away... :P), it's nice to be able to grab a basket to slide out vs. getting on a stool every time and/or taking random containers to the noggin!
I think that makes sense...we eat all the time, every day, so there are lots of opportunities to be frugal with food.
A hair dryer also works well and there is no chance of spills. It's also great for lifting sticky price tags and labels.
Believe it or not, we don’t own a hair dryer! I even have long hair, but I prefer air drying, and my husband shaves his head, so.... 😛
It’s happily not too much water to wrangle, as our fridge is a compact 5’ x 2’ x 2.’ I fill three pots, leave them be for thirty minutes, then switch out the water. (The grey water s in the garden.) I have a set of designated fridge towels that I use when defrosting—think “dog towel” worthy. 😛 One goes on the top shelf, one on the bottom, and they get thrown in the wash afterwards. I’ll definitely remember the hair dryer suggestion, though, especially regarding sticky price tags—thank you!!!
I ordered some half gallon plastic deli food containers for a catering order, and could NOT get them apart! I can’t tell you how my husband and I both struggled, Googled (fail) until finally a lightbulb went on over my head and I aimed a hot hair dryer at the bottom of the last one in the stack. Voila! Slid right off.
1. I went to the bank to move a matured IRA CD into another IRA account, but the bank officer offered me a much better rate to renew it for another 12 months. It was a better rate than I could get at an online bank so I took him up on the offer.
2. I signed up for a coupon for free guacamole at Sprouts. I also downloaded digital coupons for 2 more free products there.
3. I found 11 cents this week.
4. The last time I shopped at Kroger I received a coupon for $1.50 off my next shop. I plan to use it today.
5. I haven't completed a claim form yet, but there is a class action lawsuit for several store brands of coffee (Great Value, Food Lion, Market Pantry, etc). Details at http://www.beckersettlement.com
1. Finishing up what is in the garden, I'm really pleased with how I've been able to use and freeze what it produced in a strange garden year. I've tried some new or adapted some recipes that were successful and I'll use every year.
2. We got two volunteer pumpkins this year and my generous cousin bought me mums but there's a local pumpkin patch that I love to support. I met a friend there last week intending to buy a mum for a friends birthday. They're not selling them this year so after a little thought, I bought 4 of their .69 white and colored small pumpkins and using a thrift shop home made basket I had at home, I made her a fall basket of gourds. I also bought 4 small white ones for me and a package of adorable homemade cookies for my husband. The friend I invited spent a lot more than I did so I feel good about my support to that small business.
3. I had an endoscopy last week. My husband couldn't come in so I sent him to run a couple errands while I was there. Afterwards we picked up a free sandwich from Chik-fil-a and my free senior drink then dropped the gourd basket at my friend's house since it was her actual birthday.
4. Lots of fall birthdays in our families. I often buy .50 cards at Dollar Tree but during Covid, I've been making them often using postcards or pages I've colored. I even used the charming ribbon on the cookie package for my friend's card.
5. I picked up a van full of free items a dealer wanted to get rid of. Many are old and smelly but it's a good year's worth of projects and possibly some moneymakers for me. She said she would call again the next time she needed to get rid of stuff. Hooray!
Happy fall, y'all!
1.) Did not renew my Costco membership. There's a lot of reasons for this but mostly I don't like the way they've done business in the last six months and the fact that the closest one is an hour away in an inconvenient spot. I will keep my BJs membership as I get that through work and that's mostly the same thing.
2.) Made $1.50 in the Aldi parking lot by putting carts back. People are so lazy now that they are just tossed everywhere half the time.
3.) I pay my mortgage every four weeks instead of every month. So this month is a double mortgage payment month. It's also timed to when I get three paychecks in a month instead of two so it's not as a big financial hit as it seems. It does, however make my monthly budgets seem out of whack twice a year. My house will be paid off before I know it.
4.) Resisting the urge to buy my kid a bunch of stuff for her birthday. She'll get plenty from other people so no need to go overboard.
5.) Working overtime. It's not my favorite thing to do but money is nice.
Battra, I love number two. It reminds me of that movie, starring Tom Hanks, where he was forced to live in an airport for some time until his immigration status could be determined. He lived by returning luggage carts, getting the money back and then buying fast food.
It was some time back, but a good movie.
Hey Battra92, I really respect your opinion. What don't you like about the way Costco has "done business in the last six months"?
They were the earliest enforcers of the mask police. They only allow(ed?) one person per membership in the club at once (which made the membership useless to me as it's an hour drive for us.) The CEO has been a total jerk about the whole thing too trying to paint themselves as some benevolent company when in reality they profited heavily on the panic.
I liked their hot dogs and some things were a couple bucks cheaper but I don't need to give them my money.
-Our garden was a little bit of a bust this year, but I've been harvesting eggplant and zucchini (and a ton of herbs like always, that's where the money is). The zucchini had way overgrown, so I made zucchini bread out of it. I also harvested all the basil before it freezes.
-My friend's garden, on the other hand, has produced beautiful things. She shared with us some peppers, melon, and butternut, and we in turn gave her dinner.
-Our shower curtain liners were getting a bit yucky, so I washed them with bleach rather than follow my first instinct which is to trash them and buy new ones.
-Jumped on some material that we needed for school that was offered free in my local FB group.
-Made some improvements in our yard from a crew that was doing work in our neighborhood. Said no to the first offer, but accepted the second offer that was significantly lower. This has worked for me in the past as well 🙂
Also, my friend gave us some leftover crabs that she couldn't finish. We made crab cakes out of them.
1. Sold an item I found in someone's garbage for $80 on Marketplace
2. Picked up some work clothes for myself off Buy Nothing. I also picked up 2 adult pirate Halloween costumes off Buy Nothing. We bought my son's pirate Halloween costume off Marketplace and my daughter's pirate costume off Amazon. So, $30 for all of our costumes this year.
3. It's a small thing, but we switched to using bar soap for washing our hands. We were using liquid hand soap, which is more expensive and has more plastic packaging.
4. I made more laundry detergent using soap nuts
5. I sun-dried more cherry tomatoes from our garden, used tomatoes from our garden to make spaghetti sauce, made 7 jars of apple-pear sauce to use up overripe fruit, stocked up on cheap sweet peppers from the public market and froze them, roasted a $2 pumpkin to make pumpkin puree, and dehydrated some grapes from my aunt's garden that were overripe.
Way to go on getting $80 for someone else's castoff! I'm always amazed at what people throw away that could be donated (or in your case, sold for a profit :-).
I hear you!! I don't actively go trash picking, but will pick stuff up when I see it. I have made about $300 in the past 6 months on 6 items I found in the trash. I have 2 more to sell that are worth another $200-$300. Little bit extra for me and saved something from the trash pile.
Good job on the nightstand roulette. If everyone has what she needs and you made money on top of it, it's a win.
1. I bought a $25 Amazon gift card with $22 of Swagbucks, then turned around and ordered 3 Christmas gifts, saving $8.333333 each 🙂 Since the most expensive gift was $19 (on sale) before the gift card, that was a good amount off.
2. I chose the slower delivery and got a digital credit, which I'll use the next time I watch a movie on Prime. I think next week will still be early enough for Christmas gifts to arrive, yes?
3. I remembered to use my reward card from my health insurance company at the specialist's office Monday, and it covered the $50 co-pay. I wish they'd give out $300 rewards every year!
4. I pulled out the last of the frozen boiled shrimp from a birthday party last month, and made my own version of jambalaya last night, using ingredients I already had and chicken broth made from the chicken skin and carcass left from making chicken and dumplings this weekend. It turned out yummy.
5. If you shop Whole Foods and are a registered Prime member there, it's almost Prime Day time, so currently you will get a $10 Amazon credit for buying $10 worth of food at Whole Foods.
6. Publix is giving flu shots, and many insurance policies cover them for free. Publix will give a $10 Publix gift card for getting the shot, free ones included.
Haha, yes, I think there's no point in choosing fast shipping for Christmas gifts at this point!
For anyone in the US, all insurance is required by the affordable care act to cover immunizations fully. So, yes, definitely take advantage of rewards. The best one in my area is CVS (in Target or freestanding) which offers an additional $5 reward.
I learned the boiling cloths on the stove from you. I have done it once, and I think it is about time to do it again!
This week I dont know if I have five frugal things....
Let's see: picked up the groceries for my online cooking class. We are getting full sized boxes, and not using them all. I cut and freeze the produce we didn't use in the class.
I had to order something for delivery, and didn't meet the free delivery requirement, so I discovered I can order coffee and have it delivered as well. It was a dollar cheaper than at the store!
I am still hanging clothes on the line when it isn't raining. If it is raining, I put shirts on a hanger and they hang on the inside line my husband made when we moved her 8 years ago.
...okay that's all I can think of.
I'm not sure I have five frugal things, but lets see:
1. We winterized the patio - grill cleaned, rotted part thrown away and reordered for spring, chair cushions stowed. Frugal as all of these will last longer with our care.
2. Daughter is helping organize senior night for swim team. Tradition is for all the swimmers to contribute little gifts like advil, hand lotion, etc. in a laundry basket to send the seniors off to college well stocked. Went to the dollar store for the baskets so saved about $20.
3. Sale on grass fed organic ground beef for $4/lb so I got 4 for the freezer.
4. Made my lattes at home this week.
5. Have been teaching my college kids cooking by text message each week as they try to figure out new things to cook. Yesterday, I taught my son how to chop an onion quickly. I was unsuccessful in giving these lessons when they were in my kitchen due to lack of interest on their part. Now that they have a need, it works. The more they cook, the better it is for my wallet so this frugal thing will pay off for years to come.
Hi! 🙂 I have a couple of things:
1. Scored a $25 chest of drawers at a garage sale down the street which my husband noticed on his way to work. It fits great in our room.
2. Our daughter noticed some blueberries that were quickly going south. She made a blueberry syrup with them to flavor cold drinks.
3. Picked up another hour per day of work. It’s only through November, but every little bit helps.
4. The rest is just the usual: hanging laundry, using our appliances and showering during the cheaper energy times, using coupons and offers when possible, and composting.
Have a good week!
I only have a few little things this week, but regardless, they still add up....
1. Sister-in-law gifted us two zucchinis when we dropped off some boards to them from when we tore down our old shed. Free food is good!
2. Haven't been using the air conditioning nor the heat lately, so saving on our electric bill.
3. I had to no-spend days recently within 8 days of each other!!
4. My daughter's boyfriend took our daughter to work for us, saving us a trip
5. Hubby has school this week for work over an hour and fifteen minutes away. I talked him into driving my vehicle versus his truck, saving us some $ in gas. He will be reimbursed for mileage though, but would like to maximize the payout back to him.
6. Picked a laundry basket and a toilet paper roll holder from a roadside trash pile. Will spray paint the toilet paper holder black to use at our camp.
7. Ordered pizza for dinner on Sunday as I was too tired to cook from working hard all day at camp and in our yard. Saved almost $9 on a party size pizza which also served as 3 lunches this week.
A few weeks ago, I got an app that auto shares my Poshmark closet on Poshmark. It is $9.99/mth, but within 24 hours of using it, it more than paid for itself and saves me a ton of time. Since then, my Poshmark sales (which had been almost stagnant since COVID first struck) have increased dramatically. Earlier this week, I had the sales balance deposited into my checking account and immediately put it towards an extra payment on my credit card.
I also got a wonderful surprise from my mortgage company--a refund check from my escrow account! I switched insurance companies earlier this year, but my monthly escrow payment didn't change. The refund from the escrow went directly to a credit card to help with a hefty balance remaining from vet bills for my cat earlier this year. I'm proud that I immediately put it towards the credit card balance instead of looking at it as free play money (which I may have done in the past). Oh, and my monthly mortgage payment total decreased by almost $30 a month. A win all around.
I managed to scrounge up dinner at home two nights when I didn't feel like cooking and REALLY wanted to eat out.
1. Instead of getting a $150 desk from target, I went to 2 aldi's in search of one of their $70 special buy desk a couple weekends ago. Saved $80
2. Made this entire weeks menu plan from the pantry/freezer. I did do an egg/milk run on my way home from the Dr this morning. We usually have a grocery bill of $120/week, but it should only be $16 from the milk/egg run. Hopefully saved $104.
3. Bought a used textbook for $100, instead of $141 new. I need it for classes in 2 semesters, so I wanted a hard copy instead of the digital version. Saved $41
4. Kiddo has been asking to be a hot dog for Halloween this year. I found a costume at Target and waited an extra week until it was 30% off to buy it. Saved $9.
Thanks for the reminder to boil my cloths! Just added it to my To Do List.
1. I've gone from buying packets of taco seasoning to buying it in bulk to mixing my own. I'm very happy with it. I also mixed up my own fajita seasoning and pumpkin pie spice this week.
2. I've really been taking advantage of the library lately. I've used interlibrary loan to order movies, books, and audiobooks. I recently learned that I can download and keep 5 songs a week through Freegal, so I'm steadily increasing my collection of Christmas music.
3. I'm resisting the urge to panic-buy. Starting Monday, my 6yo will go from wearing a mask in the halls and other common areas at school to wearing one all day long. I'm going to see if we can manage with the 5 she has (assuming she'll go through at least 2 a day now) before I go out and buy a bunch more like I'm really tempted to do. And at least if I do need to buy more, waiting will give me time/experience to figure out exactly how many more she'll need.
4. I picked apples at my parents' house to make applesauce. Free apples!! Whoo hoo!!!!!
5. I ran out of sympathy cards and needed one this week, so I went to Hobby Lobby with my coupon and bought a box of cards for less than $4. 12 cards for about the price of 1 individually-purchased card. Unrelated to frugalness, but sweet... when I got home my 6yo asked if she could have one to give to her classmate who lost his grandpa the other week. Absolutely. 🙂
Regarding #3, this week I saw that Dollar Tree is now selling face masks (a package of two for $1).
My cloths sent me a very strong reminder to boil them...the smell was too bad for me to ignore!
I cleaned out my son's closet and dresser and took all the items that no longer fit him to a local consignment shop which netted us $53. Used Children's Place bucks and sale prices to purchase 19 long sleeved shirts, 2 pkgs of socks, 2 pairs of pajamas and 2 pairs of boots. Total net out of pocket was $27!
We have discovered that we have a chestnut tree in our yard and so far have harvested about 20 lbs of chestnuts. They are literally everywhere and still falling - I think we have at least another 50 lbs to harvest. We have never eaten chestnuts but I hear that they are yummy and can be incorporated into many fall winter recipes. Chestnuts roasting on an open fire anyone?
We got our new washer this week and were able to use to the hoses we already have to connect it so I returned the new hoses and saved $32.
Meals have been eaten at home and I am trying very hard to eliminate food waste. Last week's leftover chili was frozen, additional chicken breasts were made into chicken salad, and we are down to the last of a large pot of chicken and wild rice soup.
We are eating mostly from the fridge & pantry...about 95% I'd say. Grocery runs for the last couple of weeks have been $50 or less for a few fresh items like milk, eggs, etc. I am so enjoying that I have a stocked pantry and so much put away from the garden that we are averaging $200 total spend in groceries - that used to be $400-$600.
Enjoy the weekend ahead everyone!
This is probably a really dumb question, but would the boiling method work on a t-shirt? We had one of the high efficiency washing machines that caused all kinds of odors, and I have a t-shirt I really like that was one of its victims. It's not a wear out in public t-shirt. It's paint stained and oversized. But it's really comfy and it's from a community service project my office did, which was just a really good day, so I'd like to be able to keep wearing it. I've tried various things to get rid of the small, but nothing has been a permanent fix.
I've had similar issues with smell from an HE toploader with no agitator. I ended up swapping from All free and clear to Tide Heavy Duty for our clothes with actual dirt on them. That cleared up everything over here!
It's worth a shot! Boiling it won't hurt it at this point, and may help.
I used to have a lot more problems with lingering smelliness in shirts when I was wearing an "invisible solid" deodorant. It got better when I switched to a gel deodorant.
I definitely think that would help! And since it's an old t that's not very delicate, I see no harm in trying the boiling method.
You might want to put the shirt in a plastic bag and freeze it for half a week. I'm not sure if it works for that fabric, but I regularly freeze fabrics that do not stand washing very well, such as silk scarves and cashmere sweaters. When you have really put in cash for an item you love, you want to make sure it keeps in as good a condition as possible.
Mind you it freezing will not remove stains, but it kills bacteria and hence smells.
Note: you freeze the items dry, not wet
When desperate, I’ve dumped a full cap of detergent into a sink of hot water with the offending item and left it to soak all day. This has worked with my husband’s cloth work gloves and elbow brace (they get SO stinky in the summer), so hopefully it will help your shirt! We use Arm & Hammer Sensitive Skin detergent, for what it’s worth, and have always been happy with it.
Worst case scenario, you can keep your shirt by turning it into a pillow or pillow cover. I’m lounging against one made from a shirt from a favorite vacation as I type this! No one can see the pit stains now, ‘cause they were trimmed off. 😛
I feel like mine are often variants of the same thing, but I suppose those frugal best practices pay off over time.
1) Washed our solar panels, after we had tons of ash come our way due to a wildfire. We noticed this because our production in September was less than February. Our production is now back up 27%, which is kind of crazy. But, the ash was very thick.
2) Used up lots of garden items in meals this week, turned leftover ricotta into blueberry ricotta muffins, had smoothies for breakfast to use up frozen fruit. Made the most of leftovers.
3) Sold a few things on eBay & continue to list an item every day. It helps with my organization & decluttering, and also forces me to walk to the mail box, which is ~1 mile, round trip
4) Filled out the form to drop a car off of our insurance, in advance. It will automatically drop the day we turn in our lease. No need to overpay, when we don't have the car
5) Gave away a few items in my local Buy Nothing group (frugal for others)
Mine are often variants too! Or they are the same exact thing (how many times have I made muffins from overripe bananas? I couldn't possibly count!)
But that's ok. Frugal consistency pays rewards over time, and your bank account doesn't give extra points for variety in frugal activities. 😉
The frugality muscles, in fact, are a lot like the thankfulness muscles Kristen wrote about earlier this week.
And I forgot to say thanks to Kristen for the tip about boiling stinky linens. I've got a few dark-colored washcloths that I can't bleach and that have developed some serious stank.
FFT, Conscientious Objector Edition. This past week, I have (as usual) not...
(1) Eaten out or gotten any takeout. The temptation to do either is almost nonexistent for us these days, especially now that I've retired.
(2) Rejoined a warehouse club. I had a falling-out with our local BJ's 3 years ago, our local Sam's Club closed 2 years ago, and our only local Costco is on the other side of the county. I'm finding that for a household of two, I don't miss club membership. I'm doing fine with grocery store house brands, Ollie's ("Good Stuff Cheap!"), and our cheapest local gas station.
(3) Run our dryer except for sheets (and we have Polartec sheets that dry in only a few minutes). I use my collection of vintage drying racks for all other laundry.
(4) Used makeup, dyed my hair, or done anything other than use a dab of moisturizer. (My one remaining female vanity is that I do have fairly good skin at age 65, and I do what I can to keep it that way.)
(5) Bought any clothing at retail prices, except for a few pairs of shoes for us both and a pair of sweatpants with a fly for DH. (I just learned the hard way that he needs the fly--and finding sweatpants like those at thrift stores in good condition is next to impossible.)
I think the warehouse club thing makes a lot of sense to skip if there are only two of you. Add in the drive, and yeah, it just wouldn't be worth it. Good decision!
I'm sorry to hear you had to figure out the sweatpants issue that way!
Hmmm. This is always hard for me. 1) we haven't yet turned on our heat--it will probably need to happen this weekend but so far we've just bundled up when the house has been chilly. 2) we've had home-cooked meals. 3) I've baked goodies instead of buying snacks. 4) Ok, so at first glance this won't seem frugal--but I bought a $76 season pass for the remainder of 2020 to support our local symphony--the symphony will be performing live (but socially distanced) and I will watch via live-stream from my home. No way could I see this many concerts in person myself for that price, and, bonus, my whole family can watch as well. Gives me something fun to look forward to as the weather gets less temperate and it gives me the opportunity to support the arts in my community. 5) Have found a couple of books I've really enjoyed and read them on my free Libby library app.
#4 sounds frugal to me AND more importantly supporting your local arts! That's always a good idea
1. Cleaning out cupboards I found an elderly can of coconut milk and an old tin of anchovies. I found a recipe that used both of those up, plus the ends of a zucchini and a cabbage that had seen better days. And it ended up being delicious while using up stuff that was lingering in our kitchen!
2. Husband trimmed my hair.
3. Took a box of stuff to Salvation Army, clearing out some too big clothes and getting a tax receipt.
4. Saved a bunch of seeds from my poppies, so won't have to buy any next year.
5. Accepted 10 large dog food bags from my neighbor, to be recycled as garbage bags here. Before he saw me stealing them from his garbage pile, he threw them away. And these interactions that started last year have led to other money saving interactions for both of us, in borrowed tools.
Nice return on the nightstand and it's parts! The glossy white is so pretty
Well, I will try to come with 5:
1. Sewed up big rips in my old, loose khaki capris -- the ones I rescued from my own give-away cuz they FIT and they are nice and cool (103 degrees today). So many washings the light fabric was developing huger and huger tears. So I loosely folded over many inches of rip and with maroon thread put great big loose stitches to hold the thing together til the end of summer (November or thereabouts). No one sees me on line or in my car so they are fine for my COVID life.
2. And every time I wear them, I finger the great big recycled button I sewed for the waistband when they were new (2013?) from Ross and deeply discounted because of the missing button.
3. Used up slightly past date tofu (fermented tofu can't go seriously bad, right) and discounted shelf-stable miso for tofu miso marinated rice bowls.
4. Used up some OLD cabbage (seriously, does it ever really go bad???) and carrots and made asian pickles to go with the rice bowls.
That's it -- will keep trying!
I look forward to this every week as I am sure everyone else does. I feel like it holds me accountable. 1. My hub refuses to cut the cable so we switched from Directv to Dish and we get more channels for less. We were paying $97 and now pay $76 and will get a $300 Visa gift card for switching. 2. Bought a Groupon for duct cleaning and the man pulled tons of dryer lint out of our rooftop vent which is scary. 3. Having the furnace guys come tomorrow for a bi annual check up. Our system is 18 years old so trying to keep it going for as long as possible. 4. Have been wanting a sterling silver link bracelet for a long time and finally found one one Ebay for $9.99 with free shipping which is great so finally went for it. 5. My Dad still has a land line and found a new in box Motorola phone with a second cordless phone at a local auction house and won the bid at $5.00. Have a great week everyone!
Re: cutting cable, have you looked into a Roku or Pluto TV? The Roku is free after the purchase of the initial device (we have the very first Roku, which still works great nine years later). There are all sort of channels on offer, from documentaries, to B movies, to news. Most are free, some require a small subscription fee. The Roku is how we first moved away from cable.
Pluto TV is totally free and has channels dedicated to absolutely everything.
https://pluto.tv/welcome
Old sports games? MST3k? Doctor Who from the 60s onward? Cartoons? True crime? The original “Unsolved Mysteries“? If you can think of it, it’s probably there. The price is commercials, but having grown up with them, I don’t find them that intrusive. Indeed, often the juxtaposition between your chosen show and the commercial break is just too funny—so basically any commercial break during “Unsolved Mysteries.”
Cyndi, my hubby won't cut cable either, but we did find a 'work around'. When your contract is up, call and tell them that you just don't watch enough tv to justify the expense. They will start offering up deals left and right. My husband and I have a VERY basic channel selection (we only watch a few channels) that isn't advertised anywhere. We only pay $17.00 a month - including taxes!! Last time we told them that our equipment was getting too old and we didn't want to have to pay for new. They threw it in. 🙂
1. Got a big discount on some pants I needed
2. Have cooked all meals at home for 7 days
3. Used a bunch of not-very-ripe Roma tomatoes that came in my Imperfect Foods box to make homemade pico de gallo. It was surprisingly yummy. Lime and garlic did wonders for them.
4. Decided we loved some jalapeno sausages I bought by accident
5. Made coffee at home (always do) instead of going out for it, even on National Coffee Day
1) It's fall break at the school where my husband and I work. Since travel is non-existent right now in Hong Kong, we had a staycation. I used a free night voucher (comes with my Hilton Amex) for a room at the Conrad Hilton. They gave me a room upgrade without asking, and (get this) I got a King Executive Harbor View Suite....the best rooms in the hotel. Nicest room upgrade we have ever received! The room was AHMAZING...2 big rooms and 2 baths. Plus we got free afternoon tea, evening cocktails with hot food and a free breakfast, so basically 3 meals. They also delivered a whole bottle of wine , 2 fruit platters and box of 12 handmade chocolates. The fruit platters had 13 pieces of fruit combined, which is what I buy for a week, so no need to shop. I also took the requisite Conrad teddy bear and rubber duck (they encourage you to do so), all the little toiletries, including a luffa sponge, and 6 TWG teabags, which are my favorite brand of tea. Overall, a wonderful stay. The suite goes for almost $1000 USD a night!
2)I signed up to be a mystery shopper and got a "shop" within a week. Lunch for 2 at a trendy little shop called "Feather and Bone." The meal was valued at $116 USD and they paid me $10 USD on top of that, so a great meal for free. We had French Onion Soup, steak, crab linguine, a cheese platter for dessert and tea/coffee.
3)I picked up an insulated travel coffee mug as a thank you gift for volunteering for AWA (American Women's Assoc.)
4) I downloaded a new grocery store app (Park and Shop) and got a $10 off coupon, which I used today.
5) I found marked down cheese at the grocery store here, which is pretty much like winning the lottery!!
This week was a good one...
1) I was running out of coffee k-cups. I scored 108 k-cups for $22 on ebay.
2) I was gifted a Target GC and used it to add items to my stockpile.
3) DH needed jeans and ended up getting a par for $37 from Gap, which was great. He complained that Gap doesn't make his style anymore...But I found his old style on ebay, new, and got it for $25. It will be a Christmas present.
4) I got a eyeglass kit for $4 with shipping as a stocking stuffer for DS2.
5) DS2 is still considered a youth at our credit union, which means he gets great CD rates.
1. I've been on a closet cleaning binge lately, probably from watching The Home Edit. Instead of going to the container store, I found a few pretty colored bins at the Dollar Tree, cleared out under my bathroom sink, and found all kinds of things I didn't realize I had. Now I can see everything easily. Some things were even on my shopping list, now they are crossed off. 🙂
2. Found ground turkey on sale, decided to freeze it in 1lb portions, flattened out. This way, they thaw easily to cook when I get home from work.
3. Got a 10 dollar credit from Prime for shopping a small business on Amazon.
4. At work, found some clear bins to organize a messy area that our staff use regularly. I think employees respond to a bright and organized environment. Keeping morale up these days is tricky.
5. Self care: while DH watched something I didn't care for in another room, I got out epsom salts (so cheap if you buy them in the first aid section of the drug store instead of the bath section), a few drops of citrus oil, glass of vino, and relaxed instead.
Love that bath suggestion! And thanks for the tip of looking for Epsom salts in the first aid section of the drugstore. Never knew that!
My five frugal things for the week:
1. I, too, used up some mushy bananas for banana bread.
2. Picked wild chives and dehydrated them.
3. Pectin has been scarce in stores here and I have about four-to-five more batches of jelly and jam to make. A friend found bulk pectin at an Amish store she was at and texted me. It was half as expensive as the boxed brands in the stores. I have enough to do what I'd planned plus a couple more batches should I choose to.
4. I had traded some Italian venison sausage for hamburger awhile back and and used the burger to make sloppy joes that I served with a container of half-off potato salad I found at the grocery store (don't worry, it was still well within the expiration date).
5. Found a can of designer dark chocolate cocoa baking powder and three bars of baking chocolate for 50% off at the grocery store. I feel some yummy desserts will be in our future.
1. I bought holiday hand towels at deep discount after the holiday and use them all year. I just hang them so you don't see the Easter, Christmas, autumn design.
2. Saved the elastic from a fitted sheet. Used the elastic to lash/hold a barrel pillow to my desk chair head rest. Comfy.
3. Availed myself of some free MS Office training provided at work. Free education is priceless and I was paid for my time. That's a double win.
4. Celebrated our anniversary with home cooked food, salmon, rice, zucchini and homemade pumpkin pie.
5. Created an anniversary card from a new non anniversary card, plain white paper and cut outs from a prior year anniversary card, putting to use 5th grade art class skills. It came out much better than I expected.
Five frugal things:
1. Made a big pot of squash soup of pepper squash that was not going to keep. Put a container of it in the freezer and using the rest for 3 lunches.
2. Moved a few things around in my front pollinator garden -- and gave a couple of clumps of extra false sunflowers to a neighbor. No new plants bought!
3. Made up a batch of flapjack mix (recipe from Silver Spoon Cooking) with what I had on hand in the pantry -- good for 10 small batches (8-10 pancakes).
4. Made up a jar of fish breading: 1 part cornmeal + 1 part cornstarch + sweet Thai seasoning (to taste). Nice to have for quick fish suppers. Coat the fish and pan-fry in half butter/half oil.
5. Picked up end-of-season cotten-blend socks, 2 packs of 3 for $2 each.
5.
I love love LOVE the whole tale of the nightstand.
My frugal five:
1. I feel like this could be the first three in this list, all on its own! I got a free tablet! A lovely brand new Samsung one! I was talking to a friend about how I'd need to start scoping out deals on tablets because ours were both dying. She asked if I minded Samsung. Minded!?! She had received one free with her new phone , and really had no use for it. I happily - and very gratefully - accepted.
2. Sending handwritten cards and letters makes me happy right now. And it's still relatively frugal. First card went to my generous friend, mentioned above.
3. Still making gorgeous and luxurious coffees and other hot drinks at home. My new favorite is xylitol hot cocoa. I just use pure granulated xylitol instead of white sugar...it really lowers the glycemic load. Tastes exactly like sugar. Delish!
4. Making our famous chicken spaghetti tonight. Why is it famous? Because it lasts us three days!! We love leftovers.
5. Re-reading favorite books that I own. They feel like old friends, and reading has always been a real comfort to me.
Thanks for the inspiration!
Ha! I remember my mom boiling washcloths on the stove back in the day .... 1950, 60's etc.! I still do it today too.
1. I used several coupons to purchase sale items at CVS to save $26.
2. I found 2 fall tops at Catos on the clearance rack. This saved me $12.
3. I used my BAM loyalty card to receive a discount of 6.00.
4. I began making Christmas gifts this week. I’ve finished 3 gifts which has cost approximately $7.00 in total.
We finally had some big things to share on FFT!
1. We refinanced our house! Lower fixed rate, 10 yr mortgage. We are only spending $80 more a month and will save $50,0000 by the end of the 10 year period. We plan to pay it off sooner.
2. We were able to find cheaper flood insurance for our rental property and got back $1,200 from the old insurance company.
3. Since our big summer trip got cancelled we used that money to buy a used travel trailer. We found the exact model we wanted on Facebook Market and since we had the $ already set aside for the trip we had the cash to buy it. We also found a very private campground 20 minutes from our house to park it. It’s right beside a creek for fishing and only has 2 other families staying there since it’s no longer really open to the public.
4. We needed welding done on our car but the body shop wanted about $3,000 to do the work. We found a great backyard welder who was experienced with our model and could fix it. He quoted us $1200. Still an ouch but better than the other quote! When we picked up the car he would only take $900. When does THAT ever happen? Our other car also needed work. Lots of dashboard lights on signaling problems. We thought it would be something super expensive but it was some simple belt issues. We also had problems with the hatch back latch breaking. I did research and discovered that it was breaking because it was plastic. I was able to get a metal latch unit so now it shouldn’t break again. Fingers crossed.
5. Was able to get the things for the RV (kitchen stuff, storage boxes, linens, extra lighting...) by shopping our house, Free from friends, Facebook Market and thrift stores. I love our cute little Nest. We have spent a lot of time there since we bought it. I can do most of my work anywhere and we are so close I go home everyday to feed the Tilley Zoo Crew so no need to hire a critter sitter!
Hej! I was wondering if you use the peel of the bananas to make your muffins? I have seen several recipe on that but I havn't been brave enough to try it yet.
I have never done that! I just compost my banana peels.
We bought a box of 25 Tulip bulbs for $5.00 at Aldi for our cottage. I looked up the price for a box of 25 Tulip bulbs at Home Depot and they were $17.48. Yay Aldi!
We found a new Anchor 9 X 13 casserole dish (never been used) with the carrying case for $8.00 at a second hand store. I looked up a new one and they are $51.00 and change. Score!
I grew a Cherry tomato plant this year and I have been using them like crazy to make two new wonderful savory eats.