Four Frugal Things -- Thrifted Twine & Hot Dimes
1) I stopped into Goodwill and walked out with a roll of twine, which I'll use to weave another hanging basket liner, like the one I did a few months ago:
It's looking good and the scrappy propagated plants seem to be thriving.
I also picked up a 100% cotton Land's End T-shirt that was the half-off tag color, which brought the price down to $3.50. It looked brand new.
Not an exciting haul, but it's good when I can thrift everyday staples.
I was tempted to pick up this bag that must've contained at least a hundred zippers for $7.99. A bargain for someone!
These souvenir pottery pieces were stunning and certainly caught my eye. They were actually in different areas of the store, so I placed them together for the actual buyer.
2) My sister repaired her vintage umbrella and sent me some photos. Most people would toss that umbrella without a second thought. My sister isn't "most people."
She firmly sewed the fabric back onto the ribs and even fixed a hinge with a piece of wire.
Lastly she sewed a button into place.
There, that's better!
3) I added the last bits of embroidery to my Ralph Lauren inspired shirt. Of course, my thrifted shirt differs from the original, so I had to adapt.
I'm cognizant to not over embellish the shirt, as I don't want to cross the line into kitchy. Although it's a fuzzy line and I may have passed it a hundred stitches ago!
All done now!
4) I went to Winco to pick up groceries and found a scaldingly hot dime in the parking lot, as well as two abandoned receipts, which I scanned into the Fetch app.
The soda machine was out of order, so I saved 50¢.
Now your turn, what frugal things have you been up to?
Katy Wolk-Stanley
"Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without."
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As I write this, it is 79 degrees F in my bedroom -- yes, the AC is on full blast-- and 105 outdoors at 4:20 p.m. I'm in Texas where it's hotter than you-know-where. My pal is going to help me try to fix the perpetually problematic west-facing window where the sun heats up the room. There is nothing to shade it outdoors. I have some thrifted solar film and we are also going to get some plywood and insulation to stick in the window. The drapes will hide the ugly looking stuff from the inside and the reflective solar film is dark enough that it won't be an eyesore on the outside. Hopefully that will help!
1. Tropical storm Bertha dumped some rain here to cool things a bit down to where it feels like 90 degrees instead of 110. I will take it. Unfortunately, my son’s air went out and had to be repaired $$$$$. The only frugal thing about this is that the whole unit did not need to be replaced.
2. I walked an hour this morning.
3. I made baby lime beans from my supply of dried beans, salmon salad instead of tuna salad for a lunch (and enough for several days), still eating my free cucumbers, and ate a tomato and egg sandwich for breakfast. Bottom line: no eating out.
4. Gas was $3.47 a gallon which is still a sucky price but it could be worse.
5. I hand washed my work clothes and hung them out to dry before Bertha showed up. Ditto on my jeans.
Your shirt came out lovely and not kitchy at all!
1. I am cleaning and organizing our garage which is only used as a laundry and storage room (old house). So far I've done the household cleaning, fixit items, tools plus yard supplies and equipment. I did put a few items in recycling, trashed some and have some to put out in a free pile. My husband agreed to a more organized supply area and let go of a few things. We sort of organized it when we moved in 3 years ago but this is better. Hopefully it will reduce future purchases.
2. The items I found needing stocking up were a filter for the Dustbuster, Barkeeper's Friend and packing tape. I used a $5 of coupon at ACE to buy those.
3. I'm sticking to my only free books (library, Little Free Library) to read and finding plenty of ones to enjoy despite how many books I plow through.
4. We do pay for one streaming service but I personally mostly utilize PBS Passport for members. I paid my annual membership which is really a deal and for a good cause.
5. Frugal for others: We are holding "Nana & Papa summer camp" next week at our 9 year old granddaughter's request. I've got her snack and lunch preferences list for shopping and one free outing planned so far. If we weren't doing this it would be one more week of paid camp for her parents. Besides, it is fun to spend time with her especially if she has asked for it.
My parents did “camp grandma and grandpa” for us for a week too and it was so great, in addition to saving us almost $1,000 (camp is $950/week here for 2 kids, and it’s one of the cheaper camps!), the kids also really enjoyed having a break from their regular camp (it can be overwhelming at times with so many kids there). It’s great you are able to do that for your granddaughter (and her parents)
My parents ran Nana & Papa camp until my kids graduated from high school - it was their absolute favorite & they always asked to extend it to more time with their grandparents.
Kudos on the Goodwill finds, the hot dime, and especially the embroidered shirt. As mentioned earlier, I used to do embroidery like that myself, back in the long-ago days when my fingers and eyes would cooperate.
And your Goodwill twine find inspires me to pass on this parody of Johnny Cash's "I Walk the Line." I can't get a straight story online re: who came up with this, but here it is anyway:
I keep my pants up with a piece of twine
I keep my arms wide open all the time
I keep myself quite willing all the time
Because you’re mine
please pull the twine. 😛
I'm inspired by your embroidery, Katy! It looks so fun and whimsical.
1. When my DD bought her cute Suzuki right-hand drive truck, the driver's seat was badly torn, with the foam underneath the cover also deteriorating. She has been driving it for months with a jury-rigged cloth grocery bag seat padding, courtesy of what I had in the car when we picked up the truck.
I encouraged her to bring the truck up to see me, starting the day early. We set to work to solve the problem using what I had on hand, including a lovely large swath of upholstery fabric, some cotton 'smoothing' fabric, some foam pieces from a few projects, an old fitted sheet for padding, two different glue guns, my aged and competent sewing machine, various socket wrenches and extensions. We worked steadily and with patience, as of course there were challenges, yet with a willingness to just keep going, we were successful in re-upholstering the seat. GO US!
During this adventure we tried those cornmeal pancakes – good, if rather filling – and leftover chicken and potatoes and broccoli and chard from my dinner the night before, when I though I was cooking for my Daughter Outlaw. Her loss was our gain; we fell upon that food like a ravening hoard, once everything was done and all the tools and such were put away. I felt as if I used every muscle in my body – who knew that something so 'simple' could be so demanding?
2. Got a visit from #2 son the next day, he ate more cornmeal pancakes (from the fridge batter ) I was fasting pre-surgery. I drank some of the broth from when I cooked chicken legs earlier in the week – a delicious 'clear fluid' that was satisfying and very frugal.
3. On two more occasions I have picked a Katy's Special bucket of blackberries – one of those days I walked across to the neighbour's you-pick raspberry patch, but I really was a week too late. I wandered every row and got under a quart of raspberries. Since they are neighbours and the picking was more like gleaning, they insisted that I get the neighbour's price (free)! I kindly put the 'closed' sign up on the driveway when I walked out! Nice to have newish neighbours who are becoming friends (both the wonderful twenty-something son and his parents). The berries have been frozen and bagged up for future smoothies or maybe jam.
4. I've succeeded in (getting rid of) er Gifting all the zucchini that my plants have produced, save for the harvest today. This is brilliant, as I am not really a fan of the darn things. Once they really take off there is no stopping them so remembering to harvest daily is part of my process from now on – then I can keep the baseball bats out of the garden! My cucumbers are slowly producing, they are always tentative, I'm going to revisit where I plant them next year to see if the problem is in the soil. The weeds are doing very well, Jack the Sheep is happy with any weeding I do, as he is a big fan of most of them. However, there are more weeds than even he could eat, so I am leaving many of the pulled ones to mulch in the field.
5. I'm feeling pretty wonky post surgery, so am trying very very hard to slow down and take care of myself.
I did cancel out of a meeting that is important to me; that tells me that I truly do need to give myself a break.
In my mind, for some reason, when they call something 'day surgery' it seems to ignore the fact that it is SURGERY – any surgery is invasive and a shock to the body.
I watered the big greenhouse (20 x 50') due to our unusually high temperatures (it couldn't wait), however I did most of that sitting down, then I came inside to the AC cooled house, had a shower, and SAT DOWN. Learning to listen to myself is taking decades, people!
I would have snatched up a lifetime supply of those zippers. And the Faux Ralph shirt is looking very nice!
Found a dime on my dresser, where it likely fell out of the clean laundry. Froze the last two portions of a homemade veggie-heavy cheeseburger mac skillet dinner. It was yummy but made a lot of food. By freezing the last serving or two of a dish, I build up a stock of single serve quick meals for when cooking is not happening.
Hand-washed a bunch of Swiffer dusters for the umpteenth time and let them dry on the garden bench. Waxed a sticking spot on a door with the stub of a white candle and now it shuts fine.
Shirt looks fantastic!
1) Checked to make sure I received the $250 credit card statement for a vacation we have coming up in 2027. I have a tracker where I list everything I'm keeping an eye on, to make it easier to remember.
2) Spent some time with my employee benefits person to understand how my benefits will change when I go part time & setting the ideal end date.
3) Chased down paperwork needed for the health insurance waiver for DS19's college. If I don't show that he has health care through his parents (he does), I have to pay $2600, so it's definitely worth the hoop jumping.
4) Paid DS19's fall tuition, and then reimbursed myself out of his 529. All of that savings in the early years paid off.
5) Decided dinner tonight would be very low key and easy (and frugal) as DH will be at a work event, DS19 is camping in Yosemite & DS20 is working. It will just be me, and I'm easily satisfied with random fridge bits & bobs.