- I helped my mother clean out one of her guest cottages last night. I brought home a Starbucks star code for my husband, a bag of lunch-size paper bags for making microwave popcorn, a new-in-box ceramic grinder that I can sell, (it still has the $24 price tag on it!) and ten rolls of single-ply toilet paper that my mother would never put out for her luxury tenants. Do I know how to party, or what?!
- I posted in my Buy Nothing group asking for any uncarved pumpkins, which I can then bake up, puree and freeze. I got a reply from a woman who has an organic one to share. Yum!
- Dinner last night was just my husband and myself, so I baked up a couple of small tilapia fillets from the freezer and heated some leftover rice. Delicious, simple and decidedly frugal.
- I edited and re-listed a couple of Craigslist posts to make sure they were in the correct categories and had optimal photos.
- I will drive to Costco today where I will buy yeast, baking soda, rice and gasoline. (Hardly need any, but I might as well top off the tank since it’s so cheap there.) Nothing more. Seriously, I am the queen of abstaining from impulse purchases. Okay . . . more like the court jester rather than the queen, but either way I will not buy anything that’s not on my shopping list!
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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{ 53 comments… read them below or add one }
Funny you should say that about buying gas at Costco, as I did the same thing after church on Sunday. Didn’t really need gas, but I was driving by and the price was the best around, so I topped off.
Last night I made potstickers from the freezer and paired them with egg noodles and we watched Monday Night Football. PAR-TAY! It was nice.
Not a huge amount here!
1) Still not smoking – it will have been three weeks on Thursday, so that’s around £150/$230 saved. As I’m not going into the shop to buy cigarettes, I’m not grabbing a drink/gum/chocolate bar either, so double win!
2) Making half of a gift for my Godson. He received a postman (mailman) costume from his grandparents so I printed out some kiddie stamps and am making him a batch of letters and parcels to play with. His other gift is two books (new). I got one for free along with a little book bag.
3) Made a cat bed from one of my old dressing gowns.
Congratulations on giving up smoking. I know from experience how hard that is, but if I did it, so can you…
Thank you so much!
Congrats on not smoking, Tina! The amount of money saved is just astonishing, isn’t it?
Incredible – I am secretly quite proud 🙂 Thank you!
Way to go!
Yay! Thank you 🙂
Congratulations! Well on the way to saving a fortune and your life too! Was a smoker!
Thank you – I already feel so much better 🙂 Managed to run for a train twice today and wasn’t short of breath!
Tina, I lost both my parents to lung cancer, so I get happy tears when I see people who are quitting. Yaaay, you!! Keep focusing on those benefits. You have every right to be proud!!
That’s always been my rule at Costco – if it’s not on the list, then we don’t buy it. Period. If I really want something, say after trying a sample, then it goes on the list for next time. This rule has literally saved us hundreds of dollars!
And yes, I can witness that your mom does provide luxury toilet paper for her guests ;-)!
See? You’re keeping me honest.
Hi, Laura!
Your mom’s tenants leave the darnedest things at her guest cottage!!
I am new to the NCA site. I love 5 frugal things. It reminds that the things we do every day make a difference.
1) Made enough pork roast last night for my husband to eat tonight while I am at my club meeting.
2) Ate a late lunch at home instead of stopping on my way home from work.
3) Picked up a little side work today to earn extra $$$$$.
4) Made afternoon ice coffee from our leftover morning joe. Needed a pick -me-up so I can stay awake for the above mentioned club meeting. I am tired early now that the time has changed. No Starbucks for me.
5) IHad some interest in a designer jacket that I listed on Tradsey. Hope it sells.
1. Dinner tonight will be chicken vegetable soup, made with bits and pieces from the frig and freezer…. our grown sons are staying with us, so trying to use up a bunch of stuff to keep from having to buy a lot more groceries.
2. Bought some cute tunic sweaters to wear from work (2/3 off reg. price), but they will require a cami or tank under them, since they’re kind of – umm, airy. LOL But I have two cute tanks of the right color that I can’t wear anymore since they are oil-spotted. They work perfectly, so I saved money on new ones, and found a use for ones still in otherwise great shape!
3. Will be preparing some food for an upcoming international Thanksgiving dinner, using freegal fruit and some things from the pantry, as my donation.
4. Needed to buy some toiletries for my visiting sons (trust me, they needed them if they want to find jobs…) and was able to buy most of them with 2 Extra Care bucks slips from CVS and the rest from Dollar Tree. I think I ended up spending less than $5 cash.
5. Needed a couple of things from an online bead supply shop and ordered them via my SIL, who was buying a bunch of stuff, so we both saved on shipping.
Betty, for the oil spots rub a wetted bar of deodorant soap on the spots, let sit an hour or so, then launder. This works for me 99% of the time. You can do a second treatment if needed.
1. I am currently eating a yogurt that “expired” two days ago. I almost didn’t buy it last week, but then I thought of Kristen of The Frugal Girl (she buys unloved items such as unattractive produce, dented cans, and crushed boxes). I knew the yogurt would be fine after Nov 1st and I didn’t want Safeway to throw it away. I didn’t save any money but there was hopefully less waste as a result of my purchase.
2. Two people picked up items this afternoon that I listed in Freecycle.org.
3. I had an $18 gift card that Kohl’s sent me. I don’t like shopping there but we were going by there the other day. My husband found two big bags of clearanced Halloween candy, so I scored 255 pieces of Hershey’s miniatures and snack size candy for $.51 cents out of pocket, including tax. I’ll share with it at some volunteer activities I participate in. It took just a couple of minutes in Kohl’s, which pleased me.
4. I lent an ear to a friend that has a couple of family members with health issues. I’ll text her later for the latest.
5. A friend is procuring items for Christmas at Sea shoe boxes. She applied for a funding grant and asked my advice on how to spend the last bit of money she received. I told her that today is Senior Day at Walgreens which should give her 20% off the store brand “Chap Stick”. She’ll be able to add one more thing to the boxes before they are wrapped and delivered.
I eat expired yogourt all the time. In fact I often get the ones just about to expire at 50% off because I know it will keep for at least another 4-5 days, so long enough for us to use it before that.
If you store them upside down, the yogurts (and sour cream) will last longer—by weeks in some cases. I read that somehow it forms a vacuum that stops bacterial growth. I always store yogurt, cottage cheese and sour cream upside down and they last much, much longer.
P.S. You can also freeze yogurt and sour cream. The texture changes but they can still be used in cooking or to lop into soup.
Hmm . . . I need to try that.
1) i joined a buy nothing group today.
2) got a $3 discount on a sweater at a thrift store today because i was “patient” in line (!!)
3. I rarely cook, but made myself a vegan enchilada casserole today, with many items in my pantry which will provide several meals this week (will freeze the rest).
4. I gave up dairy recently, so this means no more cheese or yogurt purchases.
5. I’m also eating less meat, so if I keep cooking it should mean my grocery bill will be lower (as long as i eat veggies in season).
1-We took advantage of Subway’s BOGO priced subs today and shared the iced tea that came with hubby sub.
2-Hubby came up with an idea on how to grow more plants in a raised bed and he will build it himself with scraps of wood we have leftover in the garage!
3-Went to a vegan potluck at my church last night and as long as you bring your own dish, you can eat till your hearts content!
4-We went to Chipotles for Halloween (yes, to hide from the kids in the neighborhood since we have approx. 80+ kids that come around!). Because we were wearing our fun t-shirts from the blood bank that we got for donating one year on Halloween, Chipotles gave us a free dinner! They were giving everyone who came in dressed in a costume BOGO dinners…and they gave us free chips, too!
5-We are eating much, much less meat. Good for our health and our wallets.
(1) Just sold $30 worth of meat to one of the two friends who buy the excess of our 1/4 cow and 1/2 pig, since there’s really no way that DH and I can eat that much meat on our own. Sold $50 worth to the other friend last week. We charge them no more than the rock-bottom prices we’re paying ourselves–and I can guarantee you we all feel we’re getting a great deal.
(2) I also give “gift certificates” for some of the meat as Xmas presents.
(3) Re: Katy’s #2: I am keeping an eagle eye on the front porch of the clueless neighbor down the street who buys fancy designer pumpkins from a local upscale nursery. She’ll be putting them on the curb any day now. Tee hee!
(4) Re: Betty Winslow’s #5: My favorite neighbor across the street and I routinely combine orders when we’re mail-ordering seeds and garden supplies in the early spring. Saves on shipping plus environmental costs.
(5) Katy’s mother’s tenants sometimes make me nostalgic for DH’s university student tenants, who also used to leave the darndest things behind. Of course, DH and I also had to clean up after the little darlings–a thought that usually keeps me from getting too nostalgic.
Crazy, the amount of stuff people leave at your mom’s cottage! I’m the opposite, when I get an hotel room I bring back anything I can (like soaps, shampoos, cream…. not towels or tv’s, ahah!)
My frugal things:
* Today my daughter’s outfit consisted of a 1$ shirt from a yard sale and a skirt and tights I got for free from Freecycle. Cheap but cute non the less.
* Really wanted to bring the kids to the restaurant tonight, did not feel like cooking and cleaning. Instead I brought them to the park and then went back home and cooked simple omelets for them+grapes. Healthier and much, much cheaper! For myself : cheese, almonds, grapes and tortillas chips. Easy does it!
….
Can’t think of anything else.
Too tired, PMS’ing, wanting chocolate like crazy, arghhhhhhh!!!!
Have a great frugal day!
1. Son treated me to BOGO lunch at Subway today .
2. Cooked yummy casserole for other son for tonight’s stay at home dinner.
3. Husband will join Costco on my family membership – store is now on his way to work and he has a large old sedan he keeps running – needs the cheaper gas.
4. Continued to pack lunches for tomorrow
5. No lear jet – hope to rent someone else’s when we save the $$ for vacation!
Katy,
I admire your resolve at Costco. We usually leave with a few extra things, but we use them up! We rarely eat out, so Costco “impulse food” is our treat. 🙂
It’s been a rough day so I am off to raid my son’s Halloween stash for free candy. Haha
1. I have started a new month of planning meals with items from our pantry and freezer. I did this in October and only went to the grocery store to buy milk, eggs, and fresh vegetables. I was able to donate a significant amount directly to flood victims in our state (not charities).
2. A new bathmat for $3.99 at Aldi’s caught my eye but I decided to try to give our old one one more chance. Even though I had washed it in the washer and used a bleach solution on it, it still was mildewed. I ended up soaking it for a whole day in the bathtub with bleach and water. It took eight hours but it worked.
3. Proud to say that changing out my wardrobe was done in record time due to using the KonMarie method last spring. I was finished in about an hour and still found a stack of things to take to the thrift store. Getting dressed is a cinch with clothes that I like and feel good in.
4. My goal setting is working wonders to keep me focused. I started setting daily goals when I started meal planning in my calendar. I am finally finishing some projects around the house and some Christmas gifts (early!!).
5. When making these projects, I am also cleaning up clutter, using items in my stash, and feeling productive and self-sufficient. I am also finding that if a project is not going to happen, I have no problem sending it out the door either by donating to a thrift, freecycling, or selling on eBay.
1. Last night I had supper from the freezer, which was the last serving of chicken soup made by boiling the bony leftovers of the small roaster. That little chicken did heroic duty and made 11 servings of food for us at a cost of 51 cents a serving.
2. Had lunch out today with two of my friends. Paid for it out of pocket money and had a great time. Got lots of compliments on the brooch on my sweater and the handbag I was carrying, all of which came from a consignment sale with awesome bargains.
3. Had to go this week to a town just across the state line to buy special kibble for our dog with multiple food allergies. Since the sales tax rate is lower there, I also stocked up on cat litter at the farm supply store and went to Aldi to do stock-up shopping.
4. Have made a tank of gas last almost two months, which is kind of a testament to what a homebody I am.
5. Because of an error on his employer’s part, we had to pay full-price out of pocket for two prescriptions. My husband collected the receipts and is going to try to get us reimbursed. If he succeeds, that will be $450 we get back.
1 my meeting changed to a different location way across town. I nearly stopped in for a drive thru coffee, but forced myself to keep on driving and have a coffee at the office. Turns out, a staff member at this office has a fancy schmancy machine there anyway so I still had my latte, free of charge
2. I was very hungry on the way back, but reasoned I would not starve to death in an hour, so drove home and cooked myself a healthy lunch instead. And it was delicious and free.
3. I’m working from home the rest of the week, so that will save petrol to and from the office.
4. This is not really frugal, as I would have ‘made’ a thousand dollars…yesterday in Australia was a big horse race, that is the biggest sporting event of the year. I was going to place a bet on a horse run by the only female jockey, in support of da sisterhood, but decided to save my cash. She won, at 100:1! Alas!!
5. While I drive I am combining lectures with driving to maximise my time usage. It is intensely dull but an effective use of time. I air drop the lectures to myself and then listen on the commute. If you are studying I recommend this method.
1. Bought a 99 cent jar of pumpkin pasta sauce & turned it into pumpkin soup (suggestion on side of jar) by adding some half and half. Added some marked down chicken sausage & we had dinner. Cheaper than grabbing a pizza.
2. Combined errands & grocery shopping.
3. Stopped at a grocery store that is being liquidated. Walked up & down the aisles & ended up with 4 things on my list. Spent $7. Lots of “deals” but not a lot that would save me money.
4. DH brought me home a box from work to use for shipping ebay sales. He knows the way to my heart.
5. Sold something on ebay.
1. Made pop up Christmas cards with a friend who had purchased a kit. She wouldn’t take any money for the supplies I used so I’ll share some muffins with her.
2. Was invited to dinner at a friend’s house. She doesn’t like left overs so I ended up with two more days worth of dinners.
3. I’ve been eating from the pantry and freezer.
4. I was able to find some fabric in my stock pile to finish a stocking I am making as a Christmas gift.
5. I ran out of some floss that I was using to make the stocking. A coworker had the color I needed so she shared some with me.
6. I found a quarter in my driveway.
I didn’t know our toaster oven was dying yesterday when I made our pork roast in it, and it was horribly dried out. I repurposed it into a shepherd’s pie tonight and it was a success!
And I’m looking forward to making muffins this weekend with the expired baking powder thanks to Laure’s comment from yesterday’s post saying that it can still be used. Apparently you can test it by putting some in water to see if it still fizzes. Excellent easy test!
1. still haven’t turned on the furnace. I hate to admit that winter’s cold dark days have arrived.
2. replaced a worn out sheet with a $6 one from a thrift store.
3. learned the cool looking mushrooms I found are edible & tasty. Made them into a breakfast burrito
4. made homegrown tomatoes into pizza sauce
5. Came in $6.03 under budget for October groceries
Yay, we were around $30 under budget for our October grocery budget. Although around that much over for eating out.
1. I needed bulk garlic granules and cumin to make chili. The jars in the bulk section were empty for both, so I asked an employee if there was more in the back. After searching for quite awhile, he came up with the garlic, but they were out of cumin. I decided to just suck it up this time, and had him pull down a jar for me. When he did, he said I could have it free of charge.
2. A neighbor gave us a bag of mandarin “pumpkins” (jack o lanterns drawn on mandarins) for Halloween.
3. A friend gave me a beautiful Yotam Ottolenghi cookbook. They’d purchased several and had some leftover.
4. Not doing great at the thrift stores lately, but I did find some excellent condition Bloom County books for holiday gift for one kid and a snarky t-shirt for the other. For all the grammarians out there, it says “I am silently correcting your grammar.” He wore it to school yesterday–high school!
5. I’ve been looking for a small, low, midcentury table to keep plants by the window. A guy had advertised one on the local online classifieds that was the right size and style, so I got in touch. But the more I thought about it, I realized I wasn’t willing to pay what he was asking, or even a few dollars less. So I texted back that I wasn’t going to be able to stop by to see it afterall, and told him why. He asked how much I wanted to pay. When I told him, he said OK! My price was half the asking price.
It’s been a heavy month for unsuspected expenses over here, so I’ve been doubling up on jumpers and turning the heating off. Cold hands, though!
Sticking to a shopping list is the hardest thing ever! So hard to ignore the little voice in your head when you see something really cheap. I think that’s what the shops count on! So well done you.
Love the Five Frugal List… gives me encouragement every time! Made banana bread yesterday, used leftover homemade salad dressing in my crock pot pork roast, added water to stretch my dishwashing soap, walked to the store to buy dog food and most exciting, washed my sports bra in the shower instead of dragging it to the laundry mat. Frugal thrills abound!
Your post made me laugh. I love your sense of humor.
1. Wrapped my in-laws Christmas presents. We are visiting them for Thanksgiving so I can take them with us (they live about 12 hours away) and not pay to mail them.
2.My family is terrible at preventitive health care – we are usually reactionary – and I’m trying to change that. Have a colonscopy scheduled for tomorrow (just routine) so I need to stay at home to drink all the lovely “pre” cocktails. Decided to use my time wisely and clean the carpet.
3. Checked out two travel books from the library to start planning next summer’s vacation.
4.Watched some episodes of “I’ll Have What Phil’s Having” – my new favorite show- free online that I had missed.
5.Gathered items to take to consignment next week and updated ebay items. Stuff out, money in (I hope)
On Nov 1st I happen to be in the grocery store at the till when the family owned store manager came by and told the cashier to give all remaining pumpkins to people for free. I don’t usually buy any but for free I was happy to take one home (we have a light up pumpkin I use for Halloween and we already had our Thanksgiving in Canada so there is not much call for pumpkins after Oct 31 here). I gave Mom 1/3 to bake as she likes to eat it with some brown sugar and then I roasted the seeds with olive oil and sea salt for hubby. I am boiling the last bit today to freeze for future pumpkin muffins. I, like you love a good freebie when I can get one.
1. Bottled some of my homebrewed kombucha this morning; it’s unbelievably cheaper than store-bought.
2. Wearing my daughter’s hand-me-up jeans. Love having grown children with whom I can share clothes!
3. Going to visit the optometrist and will refuse the fancy machine in favor of dilating my eyes, which is free with my insurance. The fancy machine is $37 out of my pocket.
4. Fueling up my car while I’m in the Big City for my appointment — the gas there usually runs 20 cents less per gallon than in the little town where I live.
5. Did not buy the plant starter grow light kit my husband wanted, even though it was on a big sale. At home, he came back to his senses and realized it was much too small for all the plants he starts from seed, anyway.
1.I’m am researching the costs of a new roof. Mine is leaking and hopefully it can be repaired instead. Wondering about metal vs. shingle. Metal cost more but may last longer.Some tell me they will leak where the screws are in after some years. I am in the south so we have lots of heat in the summer and bad storms. Stressing over this decison, any insight would be appreciated, TIA!
2. Making polenta, or a.k.a. grits in my world, tonight with salmon and some great marked down bell peppers that I found at Kroger. The polenta was also marked down to 49 cents so I thought I would try it.
3. Trying to relax even though my morning was rushed. I didn’t pack kids lunch last night like I usually do so I paid for it. I usually pack it the night before and sit the entire lunch box in the fridge.This is a huge time saver and of course packed lunch is much cheaper than school lunch. I also walked this morning but quit early because I am achy.Thinking my poor diet of a little Halloween candy each day is the culprit.
4. I like many other posts found some great markdowns on yogurts for my kids breakfast. I have avoided making it homemade. I’m pretty content with the price of the mark downs and fortunate that I never pay for yogurt at full price.
5. I am pleasantly surprised at how many new DVDs the library has. Unlike Redbox I can keep them for a whole week! They also have lots of new blue rays for those of you who have succumbed to the pressure and purchased a blue ray player. We still have a projection TV, lol. My husband, however, always bucks the system so he has a big screen with all the bells and whistles***frown
1. Sold two pair of boots and three books on my local FB group for $18.
2. Turned around and bought nine books for $18 on my local FB group. These are a particular series that I will list on ebay.
3. Sold some cookie cutters on ebay for $6.
4. Made a nice cold pasta salad that I took to work for two days of lunches.
5. Found Halloween candy 50% off. I bought five big bags for my office, as they always put candy out for us and clients. I only bought 2 small bags of Milk Duds for our house. 🙂
Have been reading Gail Vaz-Oxlade! Very worthwhile time spent!
Have made many improvements in budget and frugality since started reading this blog!
Made beautiful soup today and enjoyed and froze a portion for later!
Am doing a weekly shop today … The smallest ever! Write down on list what I want and a list of what I have!
Planted strawberry plants in pots and a tomato plant! Will get combo lettuces and more parsley! Love growing things to eat in containers …only a small amount of land!
Love Gail! I wish her show was still on TV. I should look on youtube to see if I can watch old shows there.
Gail is wonderful! Her three shows, Til Debt Do Us Part, Money Moron and Princess are all on video on http://www.slice.ca. Not sure if you can access from the states, but worth a try!
Thank you for posting. I have seen two of those shows, but have never heard of Money Moron. I will look into it!
1. Still haven’t turned the heat on, and I’ve been extra aggressive about line drying everything. The electric bill went from $361 in July (it was damn hot) to $116 for October! I’m hoping to keep the heat off as long as we can.
2. Now that it’s cooler, I changed my compost pickup to every other week. Saves $16/ month.
3. Gave a co-worker rainbow chard from my veggie box that I didn’t want. He enjoys it, and I would have potentially let it go bad since it’s not my favorite. Less waste!
4. I’m planning to crockpot some veggie chili this weekend, which will be my lunches for the week.
5. I’ve got to do a lot of driving for work meetings in the coming weeks, and much of that is over a toll bridge. I normally don’t ask for mileage reimbursement, unless it’s a very far drive, but this time I got the form for mileage and toll reimbursement right away!
Not a lot to report but since I love to make lists too – here goes!
1. Found a penny in the grocery store parking lot.
2. Gift of a pair of shoes from a friend who couldn’t use them – just what I needed but wasn’t willing to part with $$ to purchase. – took her out to Wendy’s for lunch in return.
3. Baked banana bread with over-ripe fruit instead of throwing it out.
4. By combining sales and coupon was able to score a new fuzzy sweatshirt for $2.50 – original price $58!
5. Tonight we will attend a concert free with guest passes from a season ticket holder who gifted them to us.