Five Frugal Things --
1. I sold two items this morning, including the Restoration Hardware curtain rings that I picked up at the Goodwill bins last week.
For $85, bay-bee!
I guess that answers the question of whether I should keep them for my own house!
2. I baked a loaf of overnight no knead bread, whose ingredients are nothing more than three cups of flour, ½ teaspoon of yeast, 1 teaspoon of salt and a cup-and-a-half of water.
3. My husband I stopped by Home Depot so he could return something. I pulled a 10¢ returnable can from a wastebasket and found two pennies on the ground.
So yes, I recently came into some money!
4. I pulled a leftover Costco rotisserie chicken from the freezer and cooked up a pot of chicken soup. Nothing fancy, but thoroughly satisfying. Served with a box of Dollar Tree Entertainer crackers, it did the job.
5. I'm not extorting billions of dollars from foreign countries to create a corrupt Board of Peace.
Katy Wolk-Stanley
"Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without."
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Your bread and soup look so good!
1. I too made soup using chicken broth made from a rotisserie chicken carcass plus the last of a packet of Bob’s Red Mill veggie soup mix, celery from freezer and carrots, onion, zucchini. Filling and several meals left for the 2 of us plus still have some broth in the freezer.
2. Hubby figured out a way to keep the wind from blowing a downspout extender around using material on hand.
3. I did some deep cleaning in the bathroom using rags from worn out tshirts, washable floor scrubber, and a small amount of purchased cleaner.
4. All the small things - mending, batching errands, freezing tortillas in small batches so they won’t go bad before we eat them, etc.
5. Not frugal but good for my mental health and for others - making contributions to county food bank, local public media, organizations fighting for our rights.
1. Stayed in for the storm and made guacamole (with avocados free from mystery shop) and chips, homemade wings from the freezer, and beet salad (from free CSA box).
2. Partner will walk up check to pay property tax, saving the cost of a stamp.
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But, my real reason for posting today: I was late in reading Lindsey's post (thanks, MB in MN for letting me know about it), and then became too verklempt to write. Lindsey: thank you for your fellowship over the years. Like so many have already written, your frugal adventures in life have been an inspiration, and I am so thankful that our paths [virtually] crossed. If I had your mailing adddress, I'd sent you an entire case of Sumo and Satsuma oranges.
1. Your bread looks fantastic! My work is delayed until 10 am
bc of potential icing on the river bridge so I was able to sleep in until 7 am!! Yay, since I am normally up between 3 and 4 am!
2. I made a new pot of chili (I froze what was left of the pot I made earlier in the week), this new pot is pumpkin chili and it is delicious!!! I used pumpkin from a can I purchased at Dollar Tree.
3. I made herbal tea from supplies I have at home.
4. I had time to cook eggs with a bagel and cream cheese this morning and that made me happy!
5. I walked in place in my house bc of the torrential rain and wind yesterday.
We had turkey noodle soup from a left over turkey carcass.
Made 2 ebay sales!
Slogging through the snow to get chores finished. Everything takes longer. But, it's just life, gotta deal. The snow is good for the soil and we need the moisture. Hauling water where we are "froze dry" and chopping ice where the water is available. Hoping the power steering hose stays on my old truck. She blows the hose when it's this cold. If I weren't looking for a replacement truck, I'd have DH fix it properly.
Grateful I don't have to commute through the hoot owl hollers to my old, off farm job. It was in the river bottoms, meaning that I had to drive in from the bluff side to get there. Narrow and winding!
School is out due to cold weather. Planning to go sledding once the work is finished. Hoping that all the kiddos have warm homes since they aren't in school. As well as something to eat. Buddy packs are sent home on Fridays and kids being kids, all of the goodies are long gone. I've never been food insecure and the thought of some mother out there worrying about feeding her kids really gets to me.
We are 90 days from green grass! Almost time to start cole crops and tomatoes in the house!
That bread is intriguing. I'll have to try it, since I have no love of kneading. But I'm set for bread right now.
I'm stuck in a pattern of hunkering down inside due to the cold. It does give me the opportunity to get some things done. And I am working my way through my pantry and freezer food and not spending money on groceries, or using gas. (Looking for silver linings here)
My car is parked on the street outside my window. Yesterday it was piled with snow after a long drawn-out snowstorm. In the late afternoon I looked outside and saw that someone had cleaned it off! I don't know what happened. It could be that someone was awfully nice. It could be that I'm mistaken and it's not my car (there are several in the neighborhood that look just alike, and I'm not 100% certain about where I parked last). Or it could be that someone mistook my car for theirs, and now they're saying, "Oh, man....". I'm not going to drive today, so I won't know at least until tomorrow what happened. But if it was the awfully nice scenario, well, that was awfully nice.
It's laundry day, and the steps are clear, so later I will make my way down to the basement and wash two loads. I will probably dry both loads today, as I feel it's too cold for damp clothes in the bathroom....
Planning to make pizza today, but that's only if I can locate pita bread in the freezer. I may have already used it. Otherwise it will be breakfast for dinner.
Thank goodness I have lots of books on hand to help me get through these dreary days.
congratulations on your epic curtain ring sale! yowzer. Is that part of your $100 GC challenge?
Also for your new found money. And for one of the best foods in the world-soup! I cannot get enough this winter. My current fantasy is to have a chief to prepare a new soup daily for both my lunch and dinner. Then to package them in individual servings in my walk-in freezer. A soup library! sigh
1. I came into some money too. I discovered my first found money of 2026! 1 little penny on the big Safeway lot. Have to start somewhere.
2. Was able to snag 24 cans of 50 cent tuna for my church's Park Ministry. They take lunch to the homeless on Sunday afternoons. Also took in 2 5# bags of potatoes from last week's ad. I can't help physically which frustrates me. But it brings so much joy to still participate in a small way.
3. Found a couple of work arounds at home this week that did not involve any shopping. Already had everything needed. YAY
4. I belong to a women's group who get together for lunch/ dinner/ activities monthly. I am building new community, and it is part of my budgeted fun money. We met for Taco Tuesday. My dinner was such a good time, delicious, satisfying, and came to $6.70 + tip. WOOHOO
5. I have been looking for an old fashioned coin purse for over 5 years. I finally found one at thrift for 50 cents.
Hope everyone is safe and warm. Have a blessed week
Question for Katy: Do you freeze your rotisserie chickens exactly as purchased, and then just pull them out & defrost? I've always assumed I need to debone the chicken before I put it into the freezer, but that sometimes seems like a hassle. If I can freeze the entire thing, that would be huge. Of course, it would also take up a sizable amount of freezer space, but assuming I have room for that.
1) Realized that I'd already bought DS18 a ticket home for spring break. I was pretty confident I'd done so, but both of us searching turned up zero options. I bought another ticket, and United helpfully emailed me & provided the original confirmation code & let me know that I was double booked. It was just an hour or so after the second ticket was purchased, so I was able to cancel & get the credit back. (I was using a flight credit anyway.) I'm really organized & am not sure why all of my email searches didn't pull up the flight to start with, or why it wasn't tracked in DS18's United app, but the good news is that's solved. Please see also that flights between the bay area & Denver over spring break are over $800! What in the world?! Luckily, since I bought a bit earlier, they were slightly less than that.
2) I helped my sister find the least expensive options for herself & her son to get to Iceland for her SIL's wedding. My parents gave her their miles, but didn't know how to go about the booking. I spent about 90 minutes on this yesterday, and got it all resolved for them.
3) We had the Costco street tacos for dinner last night (carryover from Saturday night, where I fell asleep at 5:45 pm and skipped dinner altogether, thanks to jet lag). They were good, although expensive on a per serving basis. But, still cheaper than takeout, so a win from that side. We do still have a bit of leftovers, just no chicken meat. Maybe I'll sort that out & we can have one more chicken taco meat from them.
4) DH continues repairing things around the house. Made a big fix to DS19's car, and continues to work on repairing our garage door.
5) I needed something sweet (well, the word need is doing a lot of heavy lifting there) after being so exhausted, and I remembered that I had chocolate covered pretzels tucked away & got those out. Crisis averted for free.
I do not have any luck freezing the chickens as it drys the meat out. Maybe Katy knows something I don't. I tear mine apart when I freeze it.
FFT, The Big Chill Edition (crank up "I Heard It Through the Grapevine," somebody!):
(1) As in much of the rest of the US, the temps dropped into single digits on Saturday in my part of Central NY, and we've got about 12" of snow (not mixed with ice or sleet, fortunately) as of 7 am today. So I haven't been endangering my own and others' lives by attempting to go anywhere. Alive = frugal.
(2) Got a robust and free aerobic workout this morning by shoveling paths to my trash/recycling carts, the bird feeders, and the street, and by wading down to NDN1's house to make sure that her furnace vent isn't blocked by snow. (Her furnace seems to be going wonky yet again, and I'm not about to let a frail 87-year-old freeze to death on my watch.)
(3) Keeping busy indoors, I've been doing this and that. I made a very good loaf of bread machine whole wheat (a King Arthur Flour online recipe with a tweak or two as usual), ran a load of laundry and rack-dried it (the house can use the humidity), and completed a joint garden seed order with the Bestest Neighbors (hey, it's gotta be spring sometime, right?).
(4) I'm also doing a cull of my royal commemoratives and other collectibles for the annual antiques/collectibles auction held in August to benefit the library in the town near the BNs' lake house (which members of Ms. BN's family founded). I was up on a stepstool and on my bed dusting the commemorative plates on the plate rail that runs the length of my master BR, and I realized about halfway through that I probably shouldn't be doing this any longer. So those plates are going to the auction. A triple win: stuff out of the house, a nice tax deduction, and the wisdom of recognizing my own age-related limitations.
(5) And I'm considering the best ways of supporting efforts to stop ICE's obscenely illegal activities in Minneapolis and elsewhere, including my own city. My Sunday walking buddy FD, who lives right behind the local Catholic church that's become a center for activism, tells me that ICE has started targeting workers and immigrant parishioners at this church. Arghhhh!
No knead bread is the best and so easy.
1. The glass pitcher of my ice tea brewer (thrift shop buy)cracked last summer. Yesterday I remembered I had another glass pitcher (Salvation Army Store buy) in a tall cabinet. DH got it down for me and it fits perfectly.
2. I shopped in my own house for an item that will physically elevate some small items in my china cabinet (inherited from my grandmother) that were almost hidden from view. My small, beautifully carved wooden sewing box fit the bill.
3. I donated the shoes DH didn't like to the church's thrift shop. In good shape but they felt too heavy on his feet.
4. Washing out food storage bags, keeping the heat at 64 during the day, 60 at night, cooking at home, enjoying our coffee and tea at home...Fika every afternoon at 3...reading library books and doing a puzzle for entertainment, batching errands and staying home whenever possible. Love my modest but cozy home so this is not even an issue.
5. It was so great to see the Patriots win yesterday but my heart is with the folks in Minneapolis.
Can you give the rest of the directions for the no knead bread?
Thanks!!
Because of the weather the library where I work is closed...yay snow day!
1. I keep getting gifted Rancho Gordo beans from a friend and my mom. I don't like beans much, but my husband does. So since they are free I am using it as an opportunity to try out new recipes. Maybe I can acquire a taste for them.
2. Taking advantage of being home bound to get items listed on Posh and eBay.
3. Before the big storm hit I met my mom and sister for lunch. (My mom is in her 80s and I make a point of seeing her every week.) I used a restaurant gift card to pay for everyone .
4. Using our exercise equipment and You Tube videos to get my workouts in.
5. Plenty of library books and advanced readers around the house to keep me entertained.
Hope everyone affected by this winter storm is staying safe and warm and, dare I say, maybe even enjoying themselves??
1. We had a beautiful day at home yesterday as the snow fell in New York. We ate leftovers for breakfast and grazed on all our leftover snacks we packed for our ski trip cut short.
2. I got restless around 1 and decided to start shoveling. It was great to get out of the house. With how hopeless everything seems right now particularly online, it felt good to get outside and dig out our apartment entrance and the rest of the building, since the snow removal folks my landlord hires were most certainly overwhelmed. Helping neighbors fills my cup.
3. Dinner was out of the pantry and freezer plus one sad carrot. Japanese curry didn't disappoint!
4. In pet owner news - we learned that our cat has been nesting into our stack of dish towels every night which was a very, very rude awakening. After chucking every last one in the washer on hot, we needed to reorganize to store these in a drawer. This triggered a full reorganizing of:
a. Our kitchen island, where we learned we have about 10 packs of skewers
b. Our pile of reusable bags, which has taken on a life of its own (also the food pantry is always asking for bags, so being able to give away about half of them means they will go to good use)
c. The top of the fridge, which is dusty and full of forgotten dry erase markers
d. Our "mud room"/bike storage closet, to accommodate the aforementioned reusable bags
It was a busy afternoon but worth it. The rolling shelf the towels/totes/random items were on has been repurposed into vertical storage in a closet. We also discovered three tension rods in the mud room from a previous tenant (impressive, given we've lived here 5 years) and put them up to hang light items from including bike helmets/bags, totes, and out of season jackets. Looks like the only purchase we need to do is to buy some hooks for the rods that are easy on/off, which I'll try to find a deal for. Currently using upside down wreath hangers (Why we have 3 of them, I'll never understand) to test the theory before purchasing.
5. Wanted to feel cozy so we made a simmer pot out of some geriatric oranges and lemons, lavender and cloves. The house smells so nice and it helped increase the humidity.
1. I found $2 while walking.
2. I boiled another rotisserie chicken and was rewarded with some beautiful broth and plenty of chicken to pick off the carcass. I froze everything for another day.
3. We rotated the rug in our living room. It looked worn in some spots and now those spots are a lot less noticeable.
4. We had lots of snow and sleet yesterday. I wore snow pants that are at least 27 years old. They have elastic attached to the bottoms to keep them in my boots. I rescued the elastic from the waist band of a pair of pants long ago.
5. I used a snow shovel that someone in our neighborhood sold for $1 at a yard sale last spring. It is a great shovel. We also used a decades old ice chopper and a snow plow shovel that is at least 35 years old. This afternoon I will help a neighbor shovel as her DH is not in very good shape, health wise. The county has not plowed our street so we are going nowhere today and maybe tomorrow.