Always Learning New Frugal Hacks!
by Katy on April 24, 2025 · 60 comments
Sometimes I think that I’ve scraped the bottom of the barrel and run out of new frugal hacks to learn and share, which is understandable as I’ve written 3,281 blog posts since May 20, 2008! Then something happens that’ll open my eyes to a new way to stretch a dollar. Sometimes it’s a reader comment, but it’s often just from observation of the world around me.
Just today I walked past a beautifully landscaped garden and noticed they had oregano growing in a shady area. This prompted me to think about how my neighbor’s front yard oregano jumped the property line a few years ago. I have a generally shady backyard and am always happy to find plants that’ll thrive under these conditions, especially if it’s already growing for free (free!) in my front yard! My thinking being “If it can grow as a weed in my front yard, then it can grow for free in my backyard!”
This led me to dig up a dozen or so volunteers, which I then dotted around the backyard. They’re not impressive as of yet, but I know enough to not judge a plant’s success to how it looks when freshly transplanted.
I’m very pleased with my little gardening project, as my goal is always to spend as little money as possible in almost every category of my life. Now if I can just manipulate this neighbor into planting some fruit trees close to the property line.
Have you learned any new frugal hacks lately? Please share in the comments section below!
Katy Wolk-Stanley
“Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without.”
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I’ve recently learn that if you put a few banana skins in a gallon or so of water and let them stay there for a few days that the water is great for watering plants as it gives them nutrients. Maybe you know this or maybe not but I figured I’d share this bit of info
Bananas are the gift that coupon giving. I also recently learned this tip and am delighted to eke one more use out of my banana, bananas, beyond smoothies and banana bread.
I have done this, but need to remember to continue doing this!
I didn’t know this. Thanks!
There’s a whole world of fermented liquid fertilizers from scraps – I especially like lightly fermented rice water and whey from the kitchen (they must be diluted), and fermented weed tea from the yard. I follow a bio-fertz group on FB that is intended for farm scale application, but have learned a lot. During long Covid, when I was too weak to do most gardening projects, I became a bit obsessed with nutrient flows from kitchen to garden and back. Black soldier fly composting is my favorite, as they can handle all kinds of things that can’t go into a regular compost, including meat and grease, while eliminating the smells and other types of flies.
This is not necessarily a new frugal hack, but a matter of timing: over the next month or so, the spring semester is winding down and college students will be moving out of their dorms, apartments and/or other rentals. It’s like Black Friday at the thrift stores! Many of these kids donate stuff instead of hauling it home in their compact cars. I’m finding tons of household goods already on the thrift store sales floors. Yesterday, I scored a tube of name brand whitening toothpaste for $1 (half price of what Walmart sells it for); a few days ago, my haul included a lot of (like-new) towels and a bathmat. I don’t need curtains or drapes or sets of dishes, but I saw plenty of those. Even better, some college kids are too lazy to donate anything, so it becomes a trash picker’s paradise. Will be making the rounds to apt. complex dumpsters near campus this Saturday night; lots of people throw away stuff when they move out at month’s end. Timing is everything!
I live in a college town, as well! The locals here call spring move-out/fall move-in “Hippie Christmas” because of the bounty that awaits near apartment complex dumpsters and curbs. We’ve scored everything from antique furniture to 3-D printers and unopened food items from student cast-offs.
I love the phrase “hippy Christmas!”
Ditto.
A lot of my house is furnished in Hippy Christmas!
Yes, I remember when kids would move out they would leave full bottles of shampoo, conditioner, laundry detergent and more. It was great!
We’re near Reed College and think maybe I should take a stroll around campus at the end of the semester. I did some light dumpster diving when moving my kids out of their dorms and there was so much completely usable stuff being thrown away!
As the widow of a landlord who co-owned multiple rental properties near the local party-school university, I fully endorse this hack. Back in the day, there was not only stuff galore out on the streets, but stuff galore left behind in the rental properties. (It never quite made up for how much the kids trashed the places, but it was some compensation.) And Fru-gal Lisa is right that thrifting really picks up at this time of year.
And P.S. to preceding, to raise a smile all around: Back in my grad school days, there was a high-end women’s clothing shop on the main university-area shopping strip called “The Casual Ms.” Some wise-ass spray-painted the dumpster in back of the store “The Casual Pauper.”
@A. Marie – was it you lol…
I only WISH I’d thought of it–but no, I didn’t do it!
Slightly relevant– If you need boxes, check with college stores in late July/August and December, when they get new merchandise in for the following semester. Used to be better when they had more actual textbooks, but they still get some books, as well as boxes from school branded merchandise, over-priced gifts, etc.
There are 2 married dumpster divers in TX (Alex and Kelly) who have a YouTube channel called Breafkast (that is NOT misspelled. The f comes before the k on their channel). They find amazing things sometimes when they dumpster dive at a couple of their local colleges during spring move-out week, and then later in the summer, they have a very cheap garage sale for their community, at almost giveaway prices-people seem so grateful to see such low prices. It’s a fun channel to watch once in a while.
Some colleges have recycling spots for students to bring good stuff – and if they don’t, a smart neighbor might contact the campus sustainability office, should it still exist during this administration’s attacks on all things woke, and ask whether they’ve considered it.
Two things. I would say that garbage is not garbage, it’s just resources that we need to sort. It’s either recyclable, reusable, or compost. Sometimes it’s plantable.
And I also stopped looking at my yard as four corners that surround my house, and instead, as a resource that I can mine. I’m moving sunny plants out of the shade and shade plants out of that weird place behind the trash cans. I created a shade garden out of rescued and resourced plants that are literally growing on my own property. They look beautiful together. Before this, I would probably have just pulled them and thrown them in the compost or ignored them and wished I had a shade garden.
I think it’s the same impulse that takes me to craft fairs, where I refuse to buy anything because I could make it myself, probably better, and definitely cheaper.
I think it comes down to trusting yourself and ignoring the siren call of peer pressure and advertising.
My garden is like my house — stuff I got for free or almost free and sounds like yours is very similar.
A new-to-me frugal hack I’ve learned is to let my grass grow taller.
It’s a good hack for a few reasons…
#1 – Reduces how much and how often I need to buy gas.
#2 – Reduces the amount of time I spend mowing
#3 – Allowed for 10 species of wild flowering plants bloom in my yard
#4 – Reduces my carbon load on the environment
Granted, I don’t have an HOA to tell me what to do, and I won’t let my yard grow uncontrollably, but I have saved about $20 and 3 hours by letting the grass go two weeks longer than usual.
Agree with you!
If it gets too tall and uncontrollable, city ordinances might start to be enforced, but you don’t seem to be moving in that direction.
One of my favorites I learned from this blog, freeze ginger root and then just grate it frozen when needed! So nice having fresh ginger all the time and not wasting it.
Another that was kind of a “duh” moment when I heard it was to save plastic bags from food. I always saved plastic grocery bags but never thought to save smaller bags, like what a loaf of bread would come in. I found so many uses for them, I’ve actually run out right now and wish I had saved more!
I also learned (through googling) how to best store fruits and vegetables, and now my produce box items last so long, it’s great, less waste and more time to use everything.
Apart from the occasional purchase of Ziploc quart freezer bags for garden produce (and I can’t remember the last time I bought these), I haven’t bought a food-size plastic bag in years. In addition to doing what Reader Lisa has discovered, I’ve found that if the plastic wrap for a bulk purchase of paper towels or TP is opened carefully at one end, that too can serve as a plastic bag.
And I use any substitutes for kitchen or full-size trash bags I can find. Right now, since I’m buying various soil amendments by the bag at Country Max, I’m letting the bags dry out after I dump the contents, shaking the last bits out, and then using them as kitchen/bathroom trash bags. Along similar lines, I recall that Lindsey has had great success with using the giant-economy-size dog food bags she buys for Clobber Paws and Houndini as trash bags.
A. Marie, I have expanded my reuse of bags to bringing home the food bank bags that used to hold 40 pounds of rice or flour or dog food. They get divided up to more manageable sizes for food boxes, and they used to throw away the large bags until I started volunteering in the area of dividing up stuff. I use the rice and dog food ones at home, but the flour ones are very easy to light on fire so my neighbor who depends on a wood stove for heat takes those, rolls them tight and uses them to start his fires.
You both are an inspiration, I now have more ideas for bags I can save, thanks!
If you ever have to get your wool coat or other garments dry-cleaned, use the dry cleaner bag for a trash bag. Just turn it upside down and knot the end where the coat-hanger was and then turn it inside out. (May have to do this 2 or 3 times to get a really secure bottom.) It’s thin but the big size makes it work OK even for the large kitchen trash can.
The large plastic multipacks of toilet paper or paper towels work OK, as A. Marie has noted, although they are too narrow for some trash can openings around our house.
Dry cleaner bags are also great to set aside to protect larger items in dusty storage, or even short-term protection for shrubs etc. when painting. We very rarely get anything dry-cleaned, but I get them from a neighbor.
Flavorless green house tomatoes? Roast them. I had some Roma tomatoes that were beautiful, but had no taste. I was baking a meatloaf and decided to put a sheet pan of tomatoes in the oven at the same time. I halved the tomatoes, drizzled with a little olive oil then sprinkled with salt and pepper. They turned out so good. I cut them up in quarters then put them in a jar to use on salads. It made all the difference. They are a delicious addition to my salads. This is a hack I will definitely use again.
If you roast a block of feta in the middle of the tomatoes, at the end of baking you can mix the cheese and tomatoes together and it forms a thick sauce that you can put straight on crusty bread or pasta for a delicious meal. You can make it even more flavorful buy roasting some garlic cloves in the pan.
Oh yum!!!
Sandra and Lindsey,
Yum! I’m going to try both your tips. Both sound delicious! Thanks for sharing.
We are inspired too to use up some not so tasty cherry tomatoes. Roasted tomatoes, one lonely sausage and grated Parmesan over pasta is the dinner plan today.
Mmmm! Sounds delish! What time is dinner? I’ll be right over. LOL!
We use an empty cardboard oatmeal canister with a lid for a trash can in our RV bathroom, and use bread bags as liners. We try not to flush too much TP (even if it’s the RV kind), and this is just the right size and easy to tuck out of the way.
We received a big box o goodies from Harry and David for Xmas, including 2 really pretty round cardboard boxes with lids filled w Moose Munch. I couldnt throw them out, too pretty. I decided to keep one and use as a trash can under my dining room table which i use as my office most of the time. I was going to buy a small trash can at a thrift, and I saved myself a couple bucks. 🙂
I have a vintage French enamel utensil holder for the wall (like this https://www.etsy.com/listing/986458501/french-enamelled-utensils-holder-white ) Somehow it got left outside all winter and now the bottom is horribly chipped. I planted some little herbs in it.
@Rose, that sounds like a grand way to recover from the disappointment of losing the utensil holder for inside. somehow, having plants in chipped pots only adds to the cuteness…
Last year I joined an active garden club. They make money selling plants (inexpensively) on specific days throughout the growing season. The proceeds are given to local charitable causes. They also care for flower beds in a few public facing areas. They will come and dig out plants (for free) if people who have excess plants contact them. The plant nursery is in the back of a member’s deep backyard and members volunteer to maintain it.
This is what I learned so far:
1) garden clubs can be a great cheap source for perennials
2) they use inexpensive plastic children’s sleds to collect weeds, sticks, debris and haul them to a nearby yard waste pile (so easy and even kids can help do that)
3) a sturdy bucket can be turned upside down and sat upon to make some gardening tasks easier (even more comfy if you out a foam kneeler on it)
4) they use plastic knives with laminated photos taped to them to mark individual plant pots
5) a local plant nursery gives away select annuals and perennials 4 times during the growing season to local non-profits to use. The garden club uses those plants in the public beds they plant and care for. I now have a good feeling for the local plant nursery who has figured out a good way to be generous to the community.
1. I brush my teeth with just enough toothpaste to color the tips of the white bristles blue; less than a “pea size” amount. Adequate amount to brush with and 1 tube of toothpaste lasts me over a year.
2. Leftover taco meat becomes taco pizza! Add pizza sauce, taco meat and anything else you can find in the fridge (onions, bell peppers, pepperoni, mushrooms, tomatoes, etc.). Don’t forget the cheese!
3. Someone said about tomatoes the other day. Here’s a dish you can make for a side dish or a light summer dinner to use up a bumper crop. I can only tell you how to make it, I rarely measure.
Slice tomatoes horizontally about 1/2 inch thick. Place a layer of tomato slices in the bottom of a glass or ceramic baking dish coated with non-stick spray. Season tomato slices with salt and pepper. Sautee diced onion and diced celery in a pan with a some butter. Put a layer of the sauteed veggies on top of the tomato slices. Sprinkle with cracker crumbs (You want a buttery snack cracker like Ritz or Town House.) Then sprinkle a thin layer of extra sharp white cheddar cheese. Repeat layers 2 more times, adding additional cheeseto the top layer. Bake at 350 F for about 30-40 minutes…until tomatoes are hot through and cheese on top is bubbly.
4. Frugality with your time: If you need a couple dozen “homemade” cookies in a hurry, here’s a recipe for “Cheater Cookies.”
1 cake mix (any kind except angel food)
2 eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil
Mix above ingredients with a wooden spoon until thoroughly combined. You can add any “mix-ins” you want. Chocolate, peanut butter, or vanilla chips; nuts; dried fruit; coconut; sprinkles; whatever you like. Drop by spoonfuls on a parchment lined baking sheet.at 350 for about 10-12 minutes. Here are some of our favorite combinations:
Spice cake mix – add raisins and/or nuts, frost cooled cookies with cream cheese frosting
Carrot cake mix – frost.cooled cookies with cream cheese frosting
Pineapple cake mix – press a candied cherry in the center of each cookie before baking
Lemon cake mix – add coconut
Chocolate or white cake mix – chips of your choosing
Be creative!
5. Who says Rice Krispie treats MUST be made with Rice Krispies? If you have a bunch of bits and bobs of cereals…Froot Loops, Corn Pops, Corn Flakes, Lucky Charms, Cap’n Crunch, Cheerios, Life, etc. use the appropriate quantity of cereal leftovers to make a batch of cereal treats.
Cake mix cookies are so good! Back in the days of coupons, I could get cake mix for pennies and made lots of cookies to fill up a bottomless pit teenager.
I’ve never paid attention to this tip before but I’m realizing that it’s perfect for my husband who likes the “fresh baked” cookies from the store, which taste very processed to me. Does anyone happen to know which cake mix makes the best “chocolate chip cookie”?
Well I planted mustard greens, tomatoes, and spinach in between my rose bushes in my front yard where it does not go under water when it rains, unlike my back yard. I love fresh greens and tomatoes! I try not to use electricity as much as possible so I pluck my eyebrow in full sun standing at the front door… lol. My favorite though is in the winter when I sleep with a quilt or blanket under me , in a sleeping bag rated for ten degrees, and then throw another quilt over it. I feel like I am in a cocoon! I also keep extra work clothes at work and the car, which helped during the fire recovery bc I did have some things to wear to work!
I tried that once, and I did NOT like what I saw in my 10x mirror! YIKES!
I used to do my eyebrows in the car int the work parking lot because the light was just right. The tiny tweezers in a Swiss army pocket knife work great.
Same! I keep tweezers in the car, seems to be the best light for these old eyes to see those crazy chin hairs.
Not exactly a hack, but the most important frugal measure I know of is to work toward necessary personal transformations and develop systems that compensate for whatever personal challenges we navigate. No amount of saved plastic bags and food scraps can make up for ADHD tax, health problems from food and other addictions, job or relationship losses from unresolved issues, and so on, financially or otherwise.
Last year, I put some cut basil in water to keep it fresh, and it grew roots, so I planted it and that was my basil for the summer. I felt pretty smart and frugal hacky.
Oh my gosh, that’s so cool!! I had never heard of this basil hack, only heard this used for growing more green onions. Thank you for sharing this!
“Instead” Edition…
1. Instead of using my dryer, I hung out two loads of clothes on my clothesline.
2. Instead of buying bottled water, I drank water from our filtered pitcher. We have a high chlorine flavor in our tap water.
3. Instead of take-out, I cooked dinner even though I was tired.
4. Instead of putting my air conditioner in the bedroom window, we ran the ceiling fan and opened the windows.
5. Instead of buying a new outfit to wear to grandson21’s college graduation next month, I’m already planning to wear clothes I already own. Same for DH.
Just everyday choices, but over time they add up to significant savings.
1. I save metal binder clips and use them as food bag clips.
2. When scissors get dull, I sharpen them by cutting through a piece of sandpaper a couple times. This really works.
3. Garden tip: one of my neighbors gave me some cuttings from a plant called “Hardy Geranium.” It has lived up to its name and seems to grow nicely wherever I put new cuttings.
I use the binder clips on the tube of toothpaste.
So do I!
@Marie – I’ve found using one side of my toothbrush handle and elbow grease keeps the paste moving in the right direction. Once the tube gets “down” to a certain point, better half gets a new tube and I squeeze many more brushes out of the old one.
I try to look for one more use out of things.
For example:
Pruned the neighbors climbing rose where it trailed on my hammock. Stuck the cuttings in a pot of soil. I’ve done this with good success and have 2 large and beautiful climbing roses because of it.
All the stalks of kale and collards get saved to put in the pot when I make stock from chicken bones.
Bread, produce and cereal bags are saved (I have a regular and a gluten free stash)
I am totally happy to re-make an item of clothing. Today I remade a sweatshirt that had stretched out. Now it fits and looks much better.
And, I’m always on the lookout for free things. I keep a whiteboard with flyers for free services-paint drop off, lawyer consultations at the library, free compost, etc.
I find free things everywhere:
Chocolate in a bowl at my physical therapists office before Easter
Leftover snacks from the community garden come home with me for my husband (usually cookies or nuts, neither of which I can eat).
Free printing at the library
Staples is currently giving store credit for used batteries (as well as their usual credit for ink cartridges). However many batteries you drop off you will get store credit to use for free new batteries. I haven’t done it yet, but I do recycle ink cartridges there and get a lot of store credit. Their program used to be slow to give credit and the credit expired but now my account is credited within 10 minutes and it does not expire. I get so much for free at Staples with my credit.
I was wishing for a gigantic chip clip for a partial bag of dog food I wanted to keep fresh. I remembered a video where someone used a skirt hanger for a chip clip. So I found a pant hanger in the closet and used it to close up the dog food bag. It works perfectly. Always something new learned.
Have seen tip to use a provided hanger with clips to close wonky window drapes that don’t close at a hotel.
Best frugal hack:Getting to know your neighbors and befriending them!!!
With my 3 closest neighborhood friends,I play Hand and Foot and have a pot luck every other Tuesday, we go from home to home, right on our own block! No gas, no travel, no noisy expensive restaurants.So much laughter, a simple lunch, and good for the Soul!! AND keeps our brains sharp!
Same neighbors: One of my friends lent me all the equipment I need to get through hip replacement surgery recovery: a shower chair, a commode, a walker!!! And fed our kitty while we were overnight in Phoenix during the surgery.
Neighbor across street:Cleaned off final lemons from her tree and brought me a big beautiful bag of lemons..I use some, and freeze some of the juice and lemon peel.
Therapy: Another neighbor going through a tough divorce, reached out to my husband and they had a a beer and a good convo,I believe this is an investment in our fellow man, and we need to do more of it.. old fashioned friendship! ANd listening skills!
Polish neighbors across street were able to get me a very important “holy bread” we use at CHristmas time, it is called OPATEK, and you get it from Polish churches or from Polish relatives! They got us a piece to use this year, from a relative in Poland!! VERY SPECIAL GIFT!!
We all watch each others pets as needed during vacations and emergencies.
GET TO KNOW AND LOVE YOUR NEIGHBORS if you can, at least some of them!!!!
Madeline, I couldn’t agree more. As regular readers know, my wonderful neighbors are, in effect, my family. (My siblings live in CA, FL, and AZ, and we’re cordial but not close.)
One of my favorite discoveries this year is that our red lettuce has formed lots of volunteer plants. We were able to move some to a pot, and that’s growing like gangbusters. The rest we left largely in place, and it’s growing in our yard in what we like to call, “Lettuce hill.”