- I worked all weekend even though I would have much preferred to stay at home and hang out with my son, who was home from college. I can’t miss out on 24 hours of pay just to indulge my mommy urges. He’ll be back in a few weeks, and I’ll get to
sniff his headspend time with him then. However, work is the best place to go when trying to raise a significant amount of money. - I re-listed my Craigslist postings. I have four listings going right now which aren’t exactly attracting hordes of buyers, but I know from past experience that everything will eventually sell. Sometimes it takes a very specific customer.
- My bathmat was frayed at one end, so my friend Sasha used her sewing machine to create a new hemmed edge. It’s perfect again and I avoided a new purchase. Thanks, Sasha!
- Like most Americans, my family has been enjoying delicious Thanksgiving leftovers since last Thursday. The pies are gone, but we still have turkey,, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy and cranberry sauce. Throw in a vegetable, and that’s what I consider to be the perfect meal!
- I didn’t buy a Lear Jet, nor did I put one on layaway.
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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{ 49 comments… read them below or add one }
Katy I love your “sniff his head” overstrike! I totally relate, having two teens and sneaking in some good head sniffs in whenever I have the chance. 🙂
1. Leftovers from Thanksgiving here, too! All weekend long.
2. Last night I made a big soup from vegetables that hadn’t been used for Thanksgiving and needed to get used up. This will be my lunches at work all this week. It really saves money plus minimizes food waste dramatically — there is hardly a vegetable that can’t be chopped up and thrown into soup!
3. “Black Friday” for me was spending time with family at my sister’s house. Our only purchases were coffees at my sister’s coffee stand. Supporting a small business owned by a family member!
4. “Cyber Monday” (really!?) – not a thing for me. Working at home, eating vegetable soup, not going to spend anything today.
5. Hiked yesterday despite temps in the high 20s/low 30s. Free exercise, fresh air, good for the spirit.
I love my sons’ heads. Seriously.
My two youngest were home from college for the holiday, and I managed to sneak in a few good sniffs as well. Glad I’m not the only one!
(1) Did not buy anything this Cyber Monday, despite one temptation. DH and I also spent Thanksgiving weekend in a sane and pleasant manner, as noted in my comment on the preceding FFT post.
(2) I confess we indulged in clementines over the weekend. But I just converted their little crate into a holder for our assorted packets of nuts and berries, thereby creating some order in the kitchen. Of course, I labeled the crate “NUT CASE”–a description that applies equally well to both DH and me.
(3) Am getting together a few garments of mine that need hemming/alteration, so that Excellent Neighbor #1 can do the repairs as a Christmas present. This has been a tradition of ours for several years.
(4) Excellent Neighbor #2 has just acquired a rescue poodle. Seeing a smile on her face again, after an unbelievable run of bad luck for her = priceless.
(5) Excellent Neighbor #3 has just returned from London, with several presents for us (more than we deserved for just looking after her houseplants for three weeks, actually). We are very lucky indeed in our neighbors.
We have had a quiet couple of days since our son and DIL returned home on Saturday. This son is 44 and I still can’t get enough hugs.
Cleaning, laundry, walking the dog, raking, & eating leftovers. The only money spent was on a birthday gift for my other DIL and I took advantage of Amazon’s 30% off a book to lower the cost and I was able to have free shipping. Our family tradition now is to just ship the gifts directly to the recipient without going through the wrapping phase LOL.
1. I took some of the leftover turkey, leftover asparagus, some sad looking carrots, celery, onions and some of the leftover gravy and made soup in the crockpot yesterday. Mmm, Mmm good.
2. Christmas gifts: I took advantage of Cyber Monday to order extra pieces for my granddaughter’s wooden train set. I ordered the Amazon Fire TV stick for my daughter. Much cheaper than the retail stores and I don’t have to spend any gas, or shop in the crowds.
3. Munching on roasted pecans a co-worker brought in to share with everyone.
4.Other than a short trip to the store for milk and a few other groceries on Friday, I spent the last 5 days at home. Church was called off, due to icy conditions, so I still have over a 1/2 tank of gas in the car.
5. I didn’t buy a Lear jet either.
1. Took son with me to Costco – he was satisfied with a $1.50 hotdog and pepsi. – not as good as homemade but still pretty inexpensive
2. Using up leftovers like most others – made a delicious turkey casserole for tonight’s dinner with accompanying apple crisp from apples that have seen better days.
3. Meeting with the founder of our Solar Oven Society next week and hope to also have my oven up and running this spring. (These folks have spent many years bringing solar cooking stoves to third world nations.)
4. No Cyber Monday purchases yet.
5. Was gifted with a huge heirloom type pumpkin from friends; plan to make pumpkin puree, soup, bread etc. from the pulp.
I like those hotdogs as well, although I always get the Polish dog. You can just get seltzer instead of soda, which is healthier and just as satisfying for me.
Okay, how do you have the words “Polish dog” and “healthier” in the same sentence? (I love them, too. Good thing we only go to Sam’s once a month!)
I like plain charged water too – will have to look into it the next time we visit Costco snack bar! Not a very healthy lunch but the price is right.
No, it’s the seltzer that’s healthier!
So envious of the turkey leftovers!
1. Stuck up for myself today, boss decided to pay me less for the dog vacation sit because she under billed the client. I didn’t think it was fair as I worked the allotted time as per past sits. She ended up paying me what was owed, with a guilt trip thrown in but I’m not falling for it.
2. I really was craving turkey so fixated on the next best thing for lunch – KFC! I didn’t go though, went home made a cheese sandwich and took chicken legs out of the freezer which will be tomorrow nights dinner, bbq chicken, yum! Brought back pretzels, water, and an apple for a snack.
3. I looked at a few Amazon cyber specials today – esp. the Amazon Fire stick with voice remote. Didn’t buy it (yet) would love to get some cable channels again but would need to also get the Sling TV or something along those lines.
Pros and Cons anyone have the above? 🙂
4. 6:30 PM thrift store appointment, yeah! Say goodbye to clutter and hello money! 😉
5. Putting up the Advent calendar tonight – using leftover Halloween candy to start it out with. Daughters been asking where I put the suckers and Skittles, now she will find out, lol. I will buy some little chocolate Christmas candy but this will do for now.
6. Didn’t buy an all inclusive trip to some where tropical!!!!
Hi Beth Anne, we’ve tried Sling TV and are not impressed. Whatever we’re watching always “pauses” at some point so we can’t see any program to the end. Another friend turned us on to Sling TV but we heard that he discontinued the service because of the same issue.
I would love to know if others have had better luck with Sling TV.
Sheila and Beth, My husband and I ordered Sling just a few days ago. Not only did we have problems with programs freezing, but in the middle of one program a message came up suddenly saying the program isn’t available right now, try again later. I turned to another channel and went back to the program in progress and in short time, it gave me the same message again.
One every channel the picture was either ahead or behind the audio continually. This drove my husband crazy while trying to watch live football over the weekend. I discontinued, our weekly trial yesterday, though we still have access thru December 3rd. But I went ahead and deleted Sling completely. Too much aggravation!
how do you cook your bbq chicken legs–looking for an easy way to do a whole bunch ( think church youth group) in the oven.
how do you cook your chicken legs. looking for a recipe to cook a whole bunch (think church youth group) in the overn
Hi Linda, I just put them on a tin foil lined baking sheet (to promote stickiness, skin being done all over) and add Sweet Baby Rays barbecue sauce at about 375 and try to end up with them on the bottom rack in the oven to encourage being done all over. Not sure about making a lot of them. You could shred them (use thighs or breasts) and turn into BBQ pulled chicken, and put it in a crock pot. I’ve done that alot and daughter loves it. I’ve also shredded the meat, put it in a ziplock, added sauce and froze.
We tried the sling tv, but it is not very constant like what the others have said. Husband said he saw on some forums that people would hold their breaths watching Walking Dead because so many people watching it on Sling TV that it freezes.
Thanks for all the advice on Sling TV. Glad I didn’t buy – is there another service people are using you are happy with? I have Amazon Prime right now and access through our Wii. Had Netflix before but found we weren’t watching it so discontinued. Looked at Hulu but appears to be similar to Amazon Prime….
Beth Anne, good for you for insisting on getting paid what you were owed.
We canceled our subscription this morning. I had gifted my husband six months for his birthday. He had hoped to enjoy the football games, but was more frustrated than anything. Screen would freeze. He said it wasn’t worth the frustration. It’s a good concept, but the bugs need to be worked out. Anyway, felt good to know we weren’t alone in our frustration.
1.Was trying to be ok with the Thanksgiving leftovers but I am truly sick of them. I think I am gonna freeze mine and bring them out in a month or so to keep from wasting them.
2. Stumbled on a great gift idea online where an artist will sketch a picture of a pet with really great reviews for only $5.My brother will love a sketch of his dog and of course I will put it in a Goodwill frame. The perfect meaningful and frugal gift in my opinion.
3. I got multiple different flavored yogurts marked down to $.19 at Kroger. My kids love them so I haven’t tried making it homemade yet but I plan to. I also snagged some marked down organic spinach and bananas. I feel like my body needs fresh veggies right now so this was a score.
4. Missing walking in the mornings because it’s been raining here for days. Probably will do one of my Zumba DVDs with the kids from a nice set I got at a yardsale a few weeks ago.
5. Going to make something this evening with fresh herbs I also got marked down today. Rosemary chicken or fish,maybe? Just anything but turkey will do.
Hi Jennifer, I’d love to learn more about the pet artist. That sounds like a perfect gift for so many friends. Is there a website you can share? Thanks!
Sure! if you email me I will be glad to give you the info. Jennifer061277@bellsouth dot com. I’m not sure it’s ok for me to post someone else website on Katy’s blog. Can anyone clarify?
I gues I don’t really know blog etiquette and maybe there isn’t any, lol. Anyway, if anyone wants the info I will be glad to email the information. It’s a reputable website that you will probably recognize. I’m pretty excited about it. My brother is mentally challenged and his dog is probably close to his only friend so I know this will be very special to him.
Have you guys seen the app which will turn your photo’s into a drawing/painting? My daughter has it on her phone (its free) and I used it for some dogs we were sitting over the weekend, turned out cool. You can have it be black and white (like a drawing) or add color like a painting. 🙂 Try searching the free apps.
Katy, you so inspire me! I’m on a shoestring budget right now as I’m between jobs and reading these lists helps me stick to my budget.
1. I bought a couple tubes of lip balm for stocking stuffers – trying this year to only buy what I know my sons will use. Am planning on giving them mostly cash, as they are 18 and 21, but it’s nice to have a few little things in the stocking as well.
2. While I was at Target buying the lip balm, I used my Red card which gives me 5% off. Then I walked over to customer service to pay the bill. The reason I use the card is that a portion goes to my sons’ high school and even though they’ve graduated, it’s a way I can support the school without spending any extra money.
3. I’m in a book group and we’re meeting next week. We’ve gotten in the habit of exchanging holiday gifts, and I searched for something that might be book related and everything seemed too expensive. Then I saw these page markers that were marked way down to $3.41 for 10 bright colored pads of skinny post its. I’m planning on bagging them in a dollar tree clear bag tied with a ribbon and adding a little chocolate bar. A cute – and useful! – gift.
4. I did 2 loads of towels and hung them on the line. It’s barely warm enough – even though I’m in San Diego – but it does cut down on the dryer time nevertheless.
5. I went to Target at the request of my DH who asked me to get Adele’s new CD which was on sale. Well, by today it was back up to the regular price, but I checked on Target.com and not only was it on sale, I got 15% off with free shipping.
A bonus frugal thing: I’m job hunting right now and may have a follow up interview next week. I only have one nice pair of pants, so I treated myself to 2 “new” pairs at Goodwill. My last job of 12 years was so casual that I didn’t have any “fancy” clothes and since I’ve done a lot of de-cluttering, any pants that might have worked before we’re given away.
1. I found a penny in the subway and a perfectly good fork last night while walking the dog.
2. I full admit I overspent on restaurants, bars, coffee, and takeout last month. I finished out the month right and have bought nothing today! I’m cooking dinner and will make coffee for tomorrow and start December off right!
3. I’m also trying to end the month off right with Swagbucks! Going to at least make goal today an am shooting to earn that $25 gift card before the 15th
4. I have almost completely gotten around all Thanksgiving, Black Friday, and Cyber Monday jackoffery. The only thing I bought was a calendar from a local store that was on sale and something I purchase every year for myself.
5. I didn’t buy a Lear Jet….but I am buying a house at the end of December! It’s actually cheaper to have a mortgage by yourself than to rent in my city and I plan to be here for a very long time. In the long run this will be more frugal for me!
1. Bought each of my guys a sports Tshirt, plus one for the son whose birthday is in Jan., got them at 30%. Also bought a case for one son’s iPad mini for under $8, with free shipping!!
2. Went through my gift closet, which I’ve been ignoring in recent yrs, and found several items I can use as Xmas gifts, plus one baby gift. Score!
3. Made Spnish rice for dinner. I don’t really like it, but hubby does, and I had all the ingradients on hand.
4. No car today, so saved gas.
5. Went through daughter’s left-behind junk and found a pad of post-its, a nice bookmark, and some unused stamps. I may put them in her stocking LOL
1. Didn’t leave the house today. No gas used, no food eaten out, no temptation to buy anything.
2. Got a Christmas check from my mom– put it directly into savings with the mobile app on my phone.
3. Made chili and cornbread for supper.
4. With the check from my mother for my Xmas gift, my mother said she didn’t have any more paper (she lives in VERY rural Texas and the local Walmart had closed and even though it’s not re-opened, she doesn’t want to go this time of year) my mother requested I buy her some pens. I ordered her pens (she wanted a specific kind) using my Amazon balance I got for trading in some textbooks. I am also going to see if I can’t send some paper and some books from my hoard of novels (again, she’s a huge reader and I know it isn’t easy to find books to read where she lives) and a couple of notebooks. I’ll mail them tomorrow media mail.
5. Wanted to go get a tuna sub from Subway (I don’t know– it’s a thing with me, eating out) but I didn’t. Instead, I had leftover homemade Aloo Matar (Indian dish of potatoes and peas) with some naan I had frozen. WAY BETTER THAN SUBWAY and WAY CHEAPER, TOO!
1. I’ve been trying to sell stuff on Craigslist, too, but finally came to the assumption that it’s not worth storing everything in my tiny apartment. So I have been giving these things away. Not frugal for me, but still saves stuff from the landfill. Gave away a framed Beatles poster and the man was so happy.
2. Over Thanksgiving, took my family to the MOCA. Since we took the Metro, they gave us 2 for 1 admission.
3. Went to dinner at a BYOB place, and brought a $15 sparkling wine. No corkage fee, so we saved on what would have been $30 at a restaurant.
4. Completed a puzzle over Thanksgiving that we had bought at a thrift store for $2.
5. Taking a supplement that is years old and expired, but I know from working in the industry that most of these lose potency, but don’t actually go bad. (But don’t do it with fish oil.)
Cold & windy, so perfect day to make turkey soup. Warms the house, and smells so good.
Went to an estate sale yesterday, and scored many things I can use for my kitchen, and some vintage drinking glasses I might sell!! I also bought this big fluffy bedpillow. Don’t know what it’s made off, but it weighed 40+lbs coming out of the washer. It’s now frozen on my lawn chair! So I think it will be pretty sanitized when it’s finally usable. Anyway, we had a good time and only spent $23 If I sell the little mushroom glasses, I should make it all back {but I really want to keep them}
Saved $1100, by not buying a heat pump type water heater. We’ve been wanting to, but the reviews make me nervous. We’ll wait until they get all the bugs out.
Icy, and cold so saved fuel by not going to town. I have to go tomorrow, so that’s a savings being 10 miles away
Marie, I had to chuckle at the image of the frozen body pillow sitting slightly slumped in your lawn chair. Thanks!
Got a couple of boxes of microwavable popcorn from the local grocery store at 35 cents at $1 a box. Store was closing and today was the very last day so the store was 90% off.
1. Sold a toy on CL for $20, that I had gotten for free.
2. Sold a $3 household item on a local FB board. I’m super happy about this, as it was an item that has been listed for a looooong time with no love. It didn’t even sell in our garage sale.
3. Listed two of the vintage melted plastic/popcorn type Christmas decorations on ebay and they sold 5 minutes after I put the listing up. A lot of books also sold. The profit from both was just over $29.
4. Found a dime in the parking lot. Loudly proclaimed “Ooh, a dime! Don’t mind if I do!” and only then realized there were people nearby listening to me be a nitwit.
5. Hauled out our giant Christmas tree. Touches our ceiling and the branches sweep the floor, so no need for a tree skirt. I think it must have been a very expensive tree, but I bought it at a garage sale 10 years ago for $25.
1. Needed a cat sitter while we were in Columbus visiting my sister, and my friend, Ellen who lives in Florida needed a place to stay while visiting her brother who lives four blocks away from me. Win Win.
2. Ellen and her family left behind a bottle of lemonade and a bottle of pomegranate soda. I am having a birthday dinner for my son tomorrow and those will be nice treats.
3. My sister works at COSI museum in Columbus, Ohio. On Friday she got me, my son, my partner and his son in for free and we spent the morning doing fun activities. On Saturday we took my son (for free) to their Planetarium for a special Magic Treehouse show.
4. My brother-in-law is an amazing cook and he was able to turn Thanksgiving leftovers into fantastic turkey soup and sweet potato hash–the potatoes were all from their garden.
5. My nephew has a new baby and he has asked that this year, in lieu of presents, the whole family write her special letters. You don’t have to ask me twice!
I just pulled a Katy. 🙂 Found a wallet at the Thrift Store tonight for $3, super nice one. I was tempted by the glass lid refrigerator dishes as I love the idea over saran wrap or plastic dishes, unfortunately I have a small kitchen and not much storage space, practicality took over. 😉
1. Was given a lasagne from MIL. It ended up being 10 servings so I re gifted 3 to my parents.
2. Received 3 bottles of free sunscreen from a company for writing them a compliment.
3. Used up the leftover fruit in a big fruit salad. Saved it going to waste, my kids loved it.
4. Ate free lunch from work yesterday and today.
5. Helped my friend score a few hours work as he is currently unemployed.
1. Cyber Monday found me making an expensive purchase without saving a penny on it–perfume, and hard to find a “deal” on that. Decided that DGD’s wish list was very extravagant, and I was buying only ONE item from it. The rest of her gifts will be of my choice. Wish list starting to feel like extortion to me!! It has to end.
2. Spent the day paying bills and taking care of odds and ends of household bookkeeping for the end of November. Had a pile of minor things to pay, look up, write thank you notes and inquiries about so got them all cleaned up and in shape for a new month. Since I was recovering most of the month, some things had slipped by for a while but are now taken care of.
3. Found out today that my sister (18 months younger than I) needs to have an angiogram on Thursday and wants me to drive her to the hospital and stay with her until after the test. I will do this. I have been there and know how scary it can be. She has had some problems and tests, and this is the next step.
4. Put the rest of the turkey meat and broth into the freezer–three nights of turkey is enough for the moment! It will taste better in a few more weeks.
5. Made a NON-turkey dinner and finished the second pumpkin pie, and the rest of the butternut squash! Even though #1 cost me some cash, the rest of the day did not, so I’m happy with that. I still have some shopping to do and that’s just the way it is in December. Have one more item I want to make myself for my granddaughter too. Avoided most spending today.
I felt bad reading #1. No judgment, just feel bad.
My daughter used to have extravagant taste partly because I made the mistake of spoiling her but since she is now married on her own things have changed. Anyway, could you find something else on the list that you can get better deals on? My daughter loved expensive perfumes also but I did sorta transition her into liking less expensive body sprays and then I would secretly add a little water to the bottle when it would get half empty.
Clever!
1.Found a dime on my trip to the coast over Thanksgiving weekend
2. Making hardboiled eggs for work potluck tomorrow. We had them, and they’re healthy.
3. Have not gone to the store or purchased anything since Friday (when I bought some salt water taffy as a treat for my son–that was the only thing!)
4. Have a HUGE stack of library books and movies–several weeks of entertainment
5. Cooked up a giant and tasty pot of “leftover soup”: potatoes, squash, bits of kale, frozen green beans, garlic and onions, and split peas. With warm bread, it’s a week’s worth of dinner for the adults in the household!
6. Nothing on layaway. No planes, trains, automobiles, motorcycles, or even unicycles. 🙂
1. Took advantage of a black friday deal to get my husband new work pants at 65% off and 75% off fleece to make blankets for grandparents for Christmas.
2. Took advantage of cyber monday to get lifetime maps on my Garmin. Saved 60%
3. Friend who works for a mailing company offered to ship my package of gifts at her discount. She gets a 75% off discount. I’m shipping all my kids wrapped gifts for our out of state Christmas.
4. Eating all the leftovers from Thanksgiving. We cooked a smaller turkey since we don’t love turkey leftovers.
5. Taking long walks/runs everyday to get exercise instead of getting a gym membership.
Forgot one.
6. Stocked up on boneless skinless chicken breasts for 1.39 a pound. I bought 30 lbs. It was marked down because it was almost to it’s sell by date. I’m freezing them to use later. We eat a lot of these.
Made mashed potato soup with leftover mashed potatoes, cooked broccoli, chopped onions, milk and cream. This was a previous suggestion of Katy’s and I love it. Made turkey barley soup with other leftovers. Love it too. Mixed leftover cranberry sauce into my yogurt with some chopped apple and chopped almonds. I think that’s it for the leftovers!
1) We did not have Thanksgiving leftovers (ate at a relative’s house and almost all the food was consumed at the meal), but I have been practicing fridge management to make sure nothing gets wasted around here. Today I will turn a leftover hamburger into the meat component of a small pasta casserole.
2) Made out the housekeeping budget for December — this is what I spend on groceries, the pets, repairs and such — and cut everything to the bone except home repairs, as we have scheduled an expensive repair on the bathroom plumbing.
3) Still have not turned on our central heat, which is electric and expensive to run. The gas fireplace is doing a good job keeping the house warm enough on cold days.
4) Leftover management has extended to the critters. I mix little bits of canned food that is not my old cat’s favorite with little bits of the ones he really likes, and he eats it happily. This also keeps me from having several little cans of cat food cluttering up the fridge.
5) Did grocery shopping yesterday for the next 10 days. I wound up going to four different stores to get the lowest price on everything. The stores are all located on the same road, so I make the list out in sequence according to which store is closest to my house.
1. I’m eating leftover pumpkin soup and homemade roll. The rest of this soup will have to be frozen. I made way more than I needed, and I refuse to waste it.
2. I picked up an adorable 8 x 8 Fireking dish at Goodwill, just perfect for baking brownies. Suddenly I remembered I never make brownies anymore and I’ve managed without this size pan for years. It went back on the shelf. $3.99 saved!
3. My hall closet organizer has suddenly decided to fall apart. I loved it, because it had pull out shelves as well as drawers. Now I’m looking all over for something not new to use as a replacement. In the past, I would have immediately bought something new.
4. I buy grain-free holistic cat kibble, but I buy the big bag to save money. I split it in half and put half of it in the freezer, as I just did last night. I’ll take the frozen food out when I use up the current batch in the food bin. The cats refuse to eat stale food, and I don’t blame them.
5. We are slowly filling the steep ditch sides at the front of our yard with wildflowers. My husband went out yesterday and cut the dead stalks and seed heads, and scattered them further down the ditch to spread them even more. In a few years, we expect to have the whole ditch side and yard edge full of native wildflowers at no extra expense, and he’ll no longer risk life and limb mowing the steep ditch sides on the riding mower. Surprisingly, the state is finally starting to do the same thing in some areas, to reduce mowing needs along highways. In the late spring, summer and early fall, the road to our town is usually a blaze of yellow-flowered brown-eyed Susans or purple, pink and white phlox.
1. Signed up for a one month membership to care.com last night to look for a new cleaning lady. Before I hit purchase it occurred to me to google a promo code. In two seconds I found one that saves me $11! It’s always worth a quick google.
2. We found cheaper term life insurance, so I canceled our current coverage today. (But of course not until I got the all-clear on the new coverage.) We should be getting a refund of the premium that we paid forward.
3. Shopped at aldi Monday with a shopping list that includes a meal plan for the week.
4. My husband has decided to grow out his hair a while before his next cut, which saves us paying for a cut for a few months.
5. We’re putting up our Christmas tree tonight. I scored it free on freecycle two years ago. The ornaments were gifts, hand-me-downs, or made. I made the tree skirt from left over fabric. The popcorn was popped on the stove and strung. I don’t remember but I probably bought the lights on sale after Christmas one year.