Five Big Frugal Things!
by Katy on May 17, 2025 · 36 comments
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I stopped by Safeway for a couple of items this afternoon, specifically cheese. However, $11.99 is an uh oh price, so their “Member Price!” was hardly a bargain. However . . . I’m a true Oregonian and Tillamook brand cheddar cheese is a must. I reluctantly put it in my cart, but then noticed that eight ounce packages were priced at $1.99 apiece. The limit was four, so that’s what I bought. Last time I checked, $7.96 is better than $11.99 for the same 32-ounces of cheese. $4.03 better!
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My husband and I drove across town to run a few errands yesterday and made sure to stop at a Starbucks for his free birthday drink. We chose their biggest size so we could split it.
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I finally found the missing charging cord for the rechargeable Black & Decker vacuum cleaner that my youngest used in their college apartment. It’ll now go to my daughter, whose ex-roommate stole hers. This was a thrifted vacuum and although I don’t remember exactly how much I paid for it, I do remember that I bought it from the Albany, Oregon Goodwill, which is one of my favorites. So probably a real bargain.
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I went to the last half hour of the neighborhood cleanup event where everything was free and brought home 33 fuchsia starts! I’d deliberately kept my backyard whiskey barrel unplanted as the area is shady and I figured that something would present itself.
The best part is that the barrel was free from Buy Nothing, the potting soil was free from Fred Meyer and now I’ll have a beautiful pot of free fuchsia!
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I also brought home a huge Ball jar for food storage, a variety of organic Burpee vegetable seeds, an organizer bin with four pennies in it and some jar labels — all for free! We also donated a men’s bicycle and a computer travel bag.
Katy Wolk-Stanley
“Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without.”
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{ 36 comments… read them below or add one }
So many good finds! And a good reminder that the largest size isn’t always cheapest.
1) I hadn’t checked my points in awhile on the Safeway app, the health portion. I have it linked to my fitness tracker so I earn points every day for meeting my step goal and then Safeway lets you redeem them for certain free items or money off. I used my points to get a free jar of peanut butter, a free bag of frozen corn, and $2 off two separate types of cheese sticks.
2) My neighbor texted me saying that her son had a formal event the next day and she just realized he had nothing to wear. She asked if she could borrow any dress clothes from my son. I brought over a bag and she found a button up shirt, blazer and tie that all fit him and was so happy, both to save the money and not have to rush out and spend time looking for these things. We have the same age kids but reversed genders (so she has an older girl and a younger boy and I have an older boy and younger girl) so she has helped me in the past by giving my daughter clothes that her daughter outgrew. I’m so happy to help a neighbor, and happy to share dress clothes, since they barely get worn much anyways, makes more sense to share them!
3) We just finished dogsitting for my uncle, saved him money and free entertainment for my kids who enjoyed walking her and taking turns feeding her and refilling her water bowl. They are now advocating for their own dog but I think we are still in a dogsitting phase of life right now.
4) We went to the library to refresh our book supply. They have a 3-D printer there set to make little toys and they rotate what it can print. Right now it’s Star Wars so my son got a 3-D printed baby yoda and my daughter got Chewbacca. My son also discovered that he gets 25 free prints a day with his library card so he was looking up train pictures and printing those out. As another bonus, there was a dog in the children’s area, as part of a program for kids to read to a dog. Neither of my kids wanted to read to the dog but they did enjoy petting him (the theme this week seems to be enjoying other peoples dogs for free rather than getting our own!)
5) I’m not much at sewing but a pair of my son’s pants have a hole in the pocket and he’s refusing to wear them because of that (he doesn’t put things in his pockets, he just doesn’t like that there’s a hole there) So I’m going to try mending the hole, at least it won’t be visible so it can look ugly, just needs to close the hole.
So good to lend out the “formal” clothes!
And yes, the inside of the pocket doesn’t matter.
Sharing formalwear is so smart, it’s not like it ever gets worn out. Having these kind of neighbor relationships are priceless!
My youngest did “read to the dogs” when he was a young grade schools as a number of bad dog experiences made his understandably fearful. That sweet dog did such a service for them.
https://thenonconsumeradvocate.com/20964-2/
I love your #2. Who wants to spend money on clothes you’ll rarely wear. Especially for kids. I love a sharing society.
My motto when mending is “it can’t be worse!” If he won’t wear them now, you’re only out some (TV watching) time if he doesn’t like them after.
I’m currently working a lot of overtime this month. Eating leftovers, avoiding eating out, and just hanging on until things get a little more normal.
Dh fixed the door latch, a.c. and shift tube on my farm truck. Hopefully we can make it to 300,000miles.
Our garden is coming along. The hens are laying. I will order meat birds soon. Most will be sold but I will order extra to raise for home use. The chicken shelter needs some work but I have the materials on hand. Now, to make the time to make the repairs…
Wore a thrifted dress and shoes to a friend’s wedding.had a blast!
@Laura MO – I think we’re all in for a long wait for things to get a little more normal.
Ooh . . . 300,000 miles is an accomplishment. Consider me rooting your truck along from the sidelines!
1. Every year our local university sponsors a “Truely Free” sale. For the first two hours of the selected Saturday in May, people (not just university affiliated folks) can drop off items to give away. Volunteers arrange the items and then a few hours later the masses are allowed in to take what they want. The number and variety of items is mind boggling. Today the riches included any small kitchen appliance you might desire, as well as an almost new washer and dryer combo, bikes in various states of repair and disrepair, furniture, vacuums, lights, TVs, DVS players, clothing, books, packaged food items like ramen and cans of soup…the list goes on. No haggling, no money exchanges hands and at the end of the day the leftovers are taken to Salvation Army or, if too yucky, to the dump. I think it is one of the most wonderful community services the university performs. You give and you receive to whatever degree you want or need; hundreds of people show up and many of the items are thing college kids might throw way if not for this event. We don’t need anything but I did pick up some puzzles and an unopened package of tea my husband likes that sells for $53 a pound (!?). I buy that tea as a treat for him by the ounce, not the pound!
2. Has four doctor appointments between the two of us this week. Came home with free drug samples of meds we already take but will happily accept free ones; our docs know what we are like and one of them said frankly a lot of the samples get thrown away after sitting in the supply room for a year.
3. Also came home with four bottles of water, one from each visit. I will not turn away free water that I can add to our earthquake supply area.
4. Someone offered freezer burned salmon on the free FB site. I took it for the dogs, although it looks pretty good so I might see what humans could consume before the dogs get it. I am not too proud to eat dog food if it is okay. (Which reminds me that when I was a kid my grandmother was thrilled to find canned meat for stew…yup, she could not read English and depended on the picture of meat on the dog food can. No one died, although I think it only happened a few times before my father figured it out. Luckily one of the firs things they teach in English classes is words like dog and cat!)
5. Took on a USPS mystery shop because I had a package to mail. They don’t pay much but they do cover the postage and a bit more so are worth doing.
Much like your cheese score, I discovered that the smaller bags of dog food are cheaper than the larger ones this week, due to a sale. We go through about 120 pounds of dog food a month, so we took advantage of the sale by
buying 300 pounds of dog food. We had just had covid boosters, so we each had a coupon for 10% off our bill. We made sure to divide the food up to use both coupons to the max. We also got a lot of fuel points for future gas.
5.
I always decline bottled water, even when it’s free, but maybe I should start accepting it for preparedness. You are so smart with all your mystery shop shenanigans, I love reading it!
Re: free bottled,water. Good to have in the car for folks in distress. Such as people begging in the hot sun.
When I was in college in the 80s, my roomies and I were all about the free government cheese. Sometimes I’d grate it and add it with garlic to biscuits I made for my dog. And sometimes I’d eat a dog biscuit myself since they were so good.
I look forward to seeing pictures of your fuschia plants when they are full grown and wow, love that moss on your patio stones – gorgeous! I am a mason jar fan – love that huge Ball jar!
Sorry for those CAPS in my name above- it seems like I am screaming it.
Sing it from the mountaintops, it’s a great name!
You know I’ll be sharing photos as soon as they fill out and bloom!
1. Went with my sister on a free tour of our Federal Reserve Bank as part of Doors Open Minneapolis. Free parking as well.
2. Used up a geriatric jar of horseradish in homemade veggie dip.
3. Received 32 hamburger buns from Buy Nothing. Froze them and have been pulling them out for sandwich bread, toast, French toast, croutons, breadcrumbs and veggie burgers.
4. Made a strange (even for me) sandwich out of the last piece of sourdough bread, bean spread, some starting-to-wilt lettuce, the remaining steamed asparagus, and some shredded cheese, broiled until melted. Actually pretty tasty.
5. Spent $110 to fix a free lawnmower, so we still came out ahead. (Tip: If you need to get rid of a nonworking lawnmower, see if your local hardware store will take it. While my husband was waiting for our mower, someone came in and donated theirs for parts.)
You get a blue ribbon for hamburger bun usage!!!
1. Had a conference call with our financial planner and it scared me so I will probably be doubling down on all of my frugal efforts.
2. Trimmed the tops of my garden greens and threw them in the bean soup. I had to fish out some stems later that were a little woody, but it was nice to add some fresh greens.
3. Going to watch a softball tournament tomorrow with friends and taking a picnic lunch. Free fun.
4. Safeway brand cola tastes almost the same as Pepsi. I’m a Pepsi fanatic. But I can’t pay the price. So we are making do with storebrand.
5. I got free bread by buying 2 lunchmeat packages at Safeway, through my reward account. The bread and the lunchmeat both went into the freezer.
6. I didn’t do any of the stupid things that 47 is doing. In fact, I agree with 8647.
You are such an inspiration with all your creative frugality!
@Julia – not looking for details but the country is in the early (read: it hasn’t even started to get bad yet) stage. I’m not sure if your financial adviser is worried about him/herself or if you are panicking prematurely.
Highest 30 year mortgage rate in the raygun era was closer to 19% than 18%. Of course financial institutions paid a far more competitive interest rate than one gets today. Unemployment rate in my area was 25%. Inflation had “cooled off a bit” by the time 25% unemployment hit.
Biggest difference is there were adults in congress. Raygun wasn’t exhibiting signs of dementia – yet.
So dear @Julia – while nothing wrong with preemptive belt tightening, give a second look-see/think about what your financial adviser said.
1. I made a pot of Katy’s Red Lentil soup. I threw in half a wilty pepper (I chopped and froze the other half), some carrots, and the dregs of two jars of marinara sauce. It is excellent and was even better the second day.
2. I brought home two tomato plants that someone left beneath a Little Free Library in our neighborhood.
3. I bought a pair of “new” sandals on eBay. They are the kind I wear all the time and they were 1/3 the price of buying them in a store. Who cares that they did not come in the original box? I have been using eBay more and it feels good to support individuals trying to make an honest living.
4. I pulled weeds and vines that creep into our yard from other yards. Free exercise and fresh air.
5. Same old same old: meals at homes, clothes from previous years, …
1. I made a pot of bean soup using the last of a package of white beans that had been sitting in the back of my cupboard, some leftover Easter ham from the freezer, and some frozen peas and carrots that have been around too long. The mild freezer burn didn’t matter in soup.
2. I made a meal plan to use things I already have this week. Hoping I won’t need to buy groceries again this month.
3. I signed up for a free 6 months of Hulu as part of my free Kroger Boost membership (comes with having a Kroger credit card).
4. I read a free short story on my Kindle app, The Answer Is No by Fredrick Backman. It was very good.
5. I now routinely put half of a bottle of orange juice in the freezer when I open it (I keep a quart size glass bottle that originally came with fancy lemonade just for this purpose.) That way I can drink small amounts and make it last longer without worrying that the juice will go bad, since I’m the only one drinking it.
FBFT, One Big Frugal Fail and Four Wins Edition:
(1) First, the fail: I think I popped another rib late Thursday afternoon. I didn’t even fall this time: I was just leaning into a garden bed (at a slightly awkward angle, I admit) to pull a weed when I felt the pop. I’m not sure it’s an actual break, since I’m in less pain than I was the first time. Still, it’s a damned inconvenience at the height of May gardening. 🙁
(2) Fortunately, the weather today and for the next few days will be back to chilly and rainy, so I’ll be less tempted to do things I shouldn’t be doing. And I’m going to see about getting that bone density scan I’ve been putting off for a while.
(3) Because of the rib, I decided not to drive to the next city over for Saturday’s regional JASNA meeting on the Miss Austen series. 🙁 But I was able to email the chart and the bullet list I’d prepared on real-life Fowle/Lloyd/Austen interrelationships to my JASNA Panera friend, who in turn took them to a Kinko’s near her Panera and got them run off as handouts. (She bribed the Kinko’s folks with day-old Panera pastries.) So I was there in spirit, if not in aging body. For various reasons, our region doesn’t do “hybrid” in-person/Zoom meetings, though I wish it did.
(4) And I’m glad I didn’t try to make the drive for another reason: A line of thunderstorms went through both the next city and mine yesterday afternoon, just as I would have been coming home from the meeting. Parts of both cities lost power and trees, and a “food truck battle” at the NY State Fairgrounds (which I have to pass to get to and from the Thruway) came to an abrupt conclusion when everybody had to run for shelter!
(5) Finally, I’m defrosting the last whole chicken I have in the freezer and will use Ina Garten’s recipe to roast it this afternoon. I’ll thus be using up a lemon and a head of my 2024 garlic that aren’t getting any younger (kinda like me). And it’s a good day for comfort food.
I don’t know if you have a Raleys but this week through Tuesday they have whole chickens for $.97 a pound. I’m going to go over and grab some on Monday.
I have that same giant Ball jar. I keep marbles in it as decor.
1. My son was saying how much he liked a Woodstock shirt we had found at a thrift store and to keep my eye out for more. Stopped at a yard sale that had all clothing for a quarter, which is rare here. Picked up 5 Snoopy/Peanuts t-shirts for him.
2. Bought an older Zebra thermal printer from ebay to print labels. I was a little nervous after reading about people who had a hard time getting it set up and printing, but it seems to be working great.
3. My neighbor was running a yard sale for her non-profit so I helped multiple days sorting donations, pricing, setting up in the morning, closing up at the end of the days. I donated 3 bags of assorted items, but I also bought some stuff.
4. Yard sale near my house posted their leftovers were at the curb, so we walked over to paw through them. I picked a brand new pair of Danskos in my size, and several other brand new items that I will list on ebay. Storms were rolling in, so anything not taken would have gotten soaked.
5. I sold a big set of books online, and three sets with porch pickup. I have a ton of stuff to get listed, and have been marking down the prices on my existing stuff.
@Bettypants – Woodstock as in the Peanuts character, not in the music festival of 1969. While I wasn’t all that old when Woodstock (the music festival) happened, I didn’t think they sold t-shirts lol.
1. I’m picking up some mint (ours seems not to have come back this year) from my local FB “plant sharing” group. I offered a cabbage (free from CSA) that we will not get to as we have been getting several and can not eat them fast enough.
2. On Friday, I picked up a mystery shop at a burger chain for my 4-hour commute that was going to happen during lunchtime, meaning both a free lunch and an extra $12
3. I’m “renting” out my work apartment to a colleague. She was supposed to use it for 4 nights (I ask for $30 per night) but she changed it to 2 nights. This is annoying as I do a deep clean before she comes, but I suppose it is still a bit of extra $ after I pay for the utilities that she uses.
4. Made a delicious breakfast for pennies: French omelet (butter [on sale], eggs [free from sister’s chickens], tarragon [free from our garden/wintered over], toast [artisan sourdough, free from partner’s work CSA share], baby arugula [free from partner’s work CSA share], sausage links (Flashfoods) and sliced oranges [free from a citrus share that someone didn’t pick up so partner brought home]). I think the total cost was 0.70. This would be $18 at our local French bistro, before tax & tip.
5. Flexing at the grocery store – combo of sale and Ibotta means 12 ounces of coffeebeans for $2, and $0.77 avocados. Drinking the crappy free coffee at work, ate lunch for free Tuesday-Thursday (grilled salmon!) at work, listening to audiobooks via library/Hoopla.
Betta, here’s a recipe that’s wonderful in time of plentiful cabbage. It will last months in fridge.
I have used regular vs green onions and they work well also. I only use 1/2 C of sugar, and garlic adds another dimension.
https://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/german-coleslaw/#:~:text=German%20coleslaw%E2%80%94sometimes%20called%20%E2%80%9CGerman,with%20a%20bright%2C%20balanced%20flavor.
Don’t know why my links don’t format correctly
Many thanks! We eat a fair amount of a slaw similar to this, from the Balkans, which I absolutely love.
It’s been a quiet weekend here, which I am grateful for!
1. I stopped by the public library to pick up a stack of books and grabbed 5 seed starters from the seed library. 5 is the limit for each visit. My son is hoping to use some reclaimed wood to build a new planter soon, and this will be a good start for him.
2. I attended a local businesses Sister Circle. It was a free event where we gathered, meditated and made clay goddess figures as a belated mother’s day celebration. It was so relaxing! I checked out their little free library on my way out but didn’t grab anything as my to-read stack is pretty thick already.
3. I have been listening to an audiobook series through the Libby and Hoopla apps. It’s such a great way to make household chores less boring.
4. My son and I cleaned up and sawed a large stick in half this week. We had carried home from a walk in the state forest many months ago and it had been in the garage waiting for a new home. We placed it inside his new enclosure for his mountain horned dragons. We see similar sized sticks for upwards of $50 each when shopping reptile supplies!
5. My son is a collector of many things including vintage ash trays. We used some glass ones for reptile feeding bowls saving about $20 towards the enclosure contents.
Sold a ring I found at the bottom of a long forgotten jewelry box for $20.
My mom babysit for my partner and I so we got to have a date without needing to pay a sitter!
He won a $50 visa card at work and we used it to fund our date, sharing an appetizer and entree at a local restaurant.
Packing for a trip to the Oregon coast and bringing all of our own food. Our hotel has a free full breakfast so we don’t have to pack those and are planning to snag any extra muffins, bagels, fruit etc. that we can while there.
My younger daughter just had a birthday and all the food was made from scratch and the fruit and veg were free through her WIC , cut at home to maximize benefit dollars.
1. My grandson graduated from high school today. After the ceremony, we gathered at my son’s house for a meal chosen by the honoree — wings and cheeseburgers, fruit, macaroni salad, cookies and cupcakes. I had skipped breakfast, so I ate a lot! I’m so stuffed I don’t envision eating supper.
2. At the ceremony, someone bought me a bottle of water. I’ll have to figure out who and offer to pay for it, though!
3. I got a ride to the ceremony, so didn’t even use any gas.
4. Of course I gave my grandson a nice cash gift, which he appreciated.
5. Now I’m home and going to unwind with a library book and another episode of Outlander — which isn’t free, but at least I do share Netflix with my son (legally).
I love the huge jar. I am super jealous of all of the free plants.
We worked in the yard all day. I planted my tomatoes, lettuce, spinach, peppers and eggplants. I grew them all from seed. Hubby fixed a few boards on the garden beds that needed to be replaced. He fixed a few spots on the fence too. He also hung up my new clothes line. I emptied one side of my composter and mixed it in the garden beds before I planted. The kids came over for most of the day. My daughter treated us to pizza for lunch to celebrate Mother’s day. My son got me a rosemary plant and some seeds that I wanted. They helped with chores too. My daughter helped me cut the dog’s nails, brush the dog and planting the garden. My son took out the yard furniture out of the shed, washed the bird bath and trimmed more of the raspberry bushes. Hubby also washed our cars on Saturday. We did a BBQ of wings that I got on sale for $1.99. They came out so good. We did 3 different sauces so that everyone had what they liked. My son washed his laundry and used my new line.
My daughter and her finance got a house. It is a major fixer upper so we will be very busy for a while. They are due to close in the middle of July. They are getting married in the middle of June. They are very excited.
Lots of excitement in your family!!!