- My husband and I spent yesterday finishing up our taxes and rewarded ourselves with dinner and a movie. Of course, our frugality was on point. My father likes to take me to lunch once or twice a month at a local restaurant that offers punch cards. It takes forever to earn anything, but I was finally at the point where buying one entree would qualify me for a free one. Unfortunately, it ended up being a “happy hour” day, which meant that they weren’t punching cards. Luckily I was able to talk the server into charging me an extra dollar (the full amount) in order to qualify for the free entree.
- We walked home where I finished up a Clark Howard article, and then readied ourselves for round two. Our favorite refurbished art deco movie theater has bargain Tuesdays, which meant that the two of us paid just $2 apiece to see Star Wars: Rogue One. The grand total of the our adventures ended up being $15, including the tip! By the way, I loved the movie and its attention to detail, including that the Rebel Alliance fighter pilots had dorky mustaches, consistent to the 1977 Star Wars actors. Continuity matters!
- I received a free container of Barkeeper’s Friend cleanser in the mail yesterday, which I earned from submitting my own before-and-after for their website. Pretty funny, as the shipping far exceeded the cost of just buying one from my own grocery store. Hey, free is free!
- I did my kids’ taxes for them, but used TaxAct.com instead of TurboTax.com as the state filing was going to cost $29.99 as the period for free filing had passed. I meant to have the boys do their own taxes during spring break, but forgot as my focus was on my son’s oral surgery. I want full credit for this frugal act, as I had to start from scratch when I realized that I was going to have to pay to file his taxes. Kind of a pain, but I saved $60.
- I didn’t buy a Lear Jet or a vulgar gold-plated apartment in the sky.
Katy Wolk-Stanley
Now your turn. What frugal things have you been up to?
“Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without.”
{ 42 comments… read them below or add one }
I tried the Bar Keepers friend on my dishes (which I had in my cabinet) and it worked like a charm to remove the ugly marks. Thanks for the suggestion.
Yes, there’s no grit, so no worry about accidentally scratching them up.
First, my admiration for Katy and all the rest of you who are brave enough to do your own (and your children’s) taxes. DH’s and my situation is a little complicated, so I consider it a “good spend” to have our friendly accountant do ours.
Now, my FFT:
(1) I tried a new recipe over the weekend: a sausage casserole from Kathy Harrison’s book about sensible prepping, Just in Case. She describes it as a good way to use up sausage stored in the freezer, and she’s right. It was also very easy and very tasty.
(2) I’ve now moved all of the vegetable/herb seedlings I’ve started indoors into individual pots (a lot of which are Dunkin’ Donuts cups I picked up off the streets and washed in a mild bleach solution).
(3) Mother Nature is kindly raining on all the seeds I’ve planted outdoors–some of which are seeds I dumpster-dived last summer at our local Dollar General. Whatever else I may be reporting about the results from these, there’s no problem at all with the germination rate.
(4) As DH and I were waiting in line at the grocery yesterday, we both noted that we not only had no clue who the various celebrities in the glossy magazines were, we didn’t care. Old age has its advantages.
(5) Finally, Bestest Neighbors are taking DH and me to dinner tonight as their gift for his 68th birthday. Experiences over objects!
In regards to #4 – Same here – no clue and don’t care.
A friend was watching Dancing With The Stars the other night and remarked on FB that he had no clue who any of those “celebrities” were either. I had to laugh. We are not alone!! 😉
A. Marie, I loved #3 (dumpster-diving for the seeds) and #4 (don’t know them and don’t care)! Funny!
I just renewed People magazine as it’s my guilty pleasure and I like doing the crossword puzzle in it. Won’t renew next year as I don’t know as many answers to the clues in the crossword. I’m too old to know what’s hip and happenin’.
Easter here was loads of fun and the weather sunny and mild. Lots of free local activities including the Easter parade which has been running for 140 years. Our Good Friday church service was a combined effort in the park with the local brass band providing the music for hymns… wonderful to hear the singing wafting in the breeze and knowing that whatever else is happening in the world the Christian faith is still alive and strong.
5 frugal things
1. Bought kangaroo fillet steak at half price and used it sliced over zoodles with fresh ginger, satay sauce and coriander… yummy. We are a nation who eats their national emblems of emu and kangaroo. Aussies are a strange bunch !!
2. Picked loads of figs for jam and the over ripe ones I tossed into a frypan with fresh grated ginger, brown sugar, a dollup of cream and a grind of black pepper. Served with natural yoghurt these were delicious!!
3 I put in peas and broad beans, spinach and carrot seed for winter vegetable garden, transferred numerous other plants to other garden beds to fill gaps after summer had caused a few losses. I try and only plant what won’t need watering or too much fuss.
4 Collected bags of autumn leaves to use as free mulch on the garden and place in compost for next seasons soil, renewed worm farm bedding and put excess worms and castings into the vege patch.
5 Collected free horse manure to fertilise my plants and mulch the fruit trees.
1. Yesterday, our office manager registered me for my required work conference. It is at the beach this summer, and the classes are all day long, but my evenings are free. I enjoy walking on the beach after the classes. That is my “vacation” every year and I dearly enjoy it, especially since staying at the beach is expensive, and I would never spring for that amount of money for one night, two nights is more than my mortgage for a month!
2. I consider it a bonus to be at work every day, and not have to run the air nor the heat at my house, depending on the season. That makes for a much lower electric bill.
3. The saga of my house refinance, appears to be winding down, and hopefully I will close in a couple of weeks….fingers crossed. My mortgage with taxes and insurance should be $500 a month for ten years, which is not too bad.
4. My car/transmission was making a strange noise, and I am about to go out from under the warranty because of how many miles I have put on this vehicle.
I took it to the dealership and they have ordered the part required. Repair cost: Free.
5. The biggest and greatest thing is that the quote of $1100 a month COBRA for my very ill son was apparently incorrect. It will be $426 a month!!!!!! I am so, so, so, thankful and happy!!!! To be real, I was not sure how I was gonna swing the $1100 a month, but you do what you have to do for your kids. This news has taken a huge burden off of my shoulders. I still say health insurance in the country should not be so complicated, and so expensive.
Enjoy your time at the beach and thank goodness the insurance is cheaper than expected!!
Glad to hear of your insurance premium cost drop. We have admired your efforts to help your son. Insurance should be available at a reasonable cost to everyone.
Good news about the Cobra payment. That must be such a relief.
1) We had a meeting on south Campus today, but I rode down with co-worker, so no fuel cost.
2) I’m wearing one of my new-to-me GW blouses today. It’s comfy and looks good with my work slacks.
3) We have a cable/phone/internet bundle and yesterday they had to replace our modem/router. I asked the tech if he could move our connection to the LR (would have been a $50 charge), he did and didn’t charge me, since it was a simple switch change and he was already there to replace the router box. So we now have a brand new router/modem, remote control and LR connection for no extra cost.
4) My granddaughter is going to a horse riding/Bible camp in June, that’s close to our house. So she’ll spend the week with us and I can drop her off and pick her up on my work commute. Fun for her and savings for my daughter!
5) I didn’t buy a yacht, a lear jet or a gold-plated apartment in the sky.
I’m yearning to move my modem/router. It’s in our bedroom, and is loud, and I just don’t like having the electronics running right by where we sleep. Unfortunately it is not a simple fix, and would require tunneling under a sidewalk. Ugh! Maybe I will ask for the relocation as my birthday present. 😉
1. We are heading out to Korea to visit my youngest, who lives there. We saved our credit card miles for 6 years – obviously we don’t use it much- which paid for 2 airlines tickets. We won’t stay with her as she lives in a studio with hardwood floors and no couch – and only a double bed. So we are using hotel points that the husband accrued through work.
2. We did decide to see somewhere outside Seoul and paid for airline tickets for all three of us – and she found us an AirBNB for $75 per night with a kitchen, washer and grill. I am sure we will take full advantage of all those features.
3. Sold 5 items on ebay – shipped them all off using packing material I already have – and have just sold 2 more this week.
4.Cleaned our screen porch over the weekend. A bit of elbow grease for a spot we use – alot . I also took off our outdoor furniture cushion covers and soak in the $1 Dollar Store oxyclean stuff that Katy recommended. After a soak in a bucket and a wash in the machine, they are good as new. Really, they’re not new – they’re 8 years old.
5. I’ve been using our Netflix account to watch my new favorite show, Doc Martin.
I took my daughter to see Rogue One when she was home – I had a gift card from my 50th birthday (I’m 53) and I decided this was the movie I really wanted to use it for. I loved it – but then I’m a Star Wars geek from way back!
Love Doc Martin! And I second the Dollar Tree oxiclean. Works just as well as name brand and smells better, too.
I may have to sign up for Netflix again to watch Doc Martin. Love that show.
PBS here on the East Coast is re-running Doc Martin episodes, from Season One, each Saturday night! I only came to the show 3 years ago, so I have lots of fun watching to do for the forseeable future (we don’t have netflix)…
Thanks for the tip on Doc Martin. I’ll have to remember to watch next Saturday.
Acorn TV is half the price of Netflix and all the shows are British, Australian or Canadian. Doc Martin is on there, as is Murdoch Mysteries. Also A Place to Call Home…hundreds of others. You can get the first month free to try it out. We have had it for over a year and love, love, love it.
Sort of frugal holiday edition:
1. We got a 10% off voucher at a Japanese restaurant around the corner from where we were staying, which saved us some cash one night. My daughter loves a routine so we ended up eating there three nights out of six.
2. We ate breakfast in our hotel room every morning, using the kitchen facilities in our room and saving about $50 a day on breakfast. Food is expensive in Australia.
3. We went to a science museum and ended up saving $20 by buying our tickets in person rather than online, because my daughter got in free. Online is not always cheaper. We went to the planetarium and a lightning show. The kids loved that.
4. We used free wifi wherever we could find it.
5. We ended up spending about $500 less than I had budgeted for even though yesterday (last day) I allowed us to splurge by taking my niece out to a fancy schmancy Italian restaurant and buying some fancy schmancy mementos including a limited edition signed print.
Overall though we had a ball. We ate out a lot, walked almost everywhere, looked at lots of art and history museums, and are ready to go home now, still with money in our pockets.
1. Batched my errands today so I’d only be making one trip. First stop at the library to return a dvd included lucking into not only a great parking spot, but it even had money on the meter!
2. A stop at the “Manager’s Special” bin in the dairy section provided all the yogurts that were on my shopping list–and more–for half price!
3. I used up leftover bunny rolls from Easter by making them into French toast. My 18-year-old said, “I LOVE leftover bread French toast!” I guess she’s not caught on to the fact that we ONLY every have French toast when there’s a lot of bread to be used up! 🙂
4. Exercised this morning on the treadmill I got for free from a friend’s mom several years ago.
5. My son has been sleeping under an IKEA feather duvet and it never stays in the cover or on him properly. He doesn’t really care what his covers look like, so I dug into my pile o’ bedding and found the red, white, and blue quilt from his sister’s first big-kid bed. If he doesn’t like the colors, he can turn it over to the white side.
My feather comforter kept wandering within the duvet, so I sewed pieces of twill tape to the comforter–outside the feather-proofing seams. I used to tie the twill tape to matching loops on the cover, but find it easier to use safety pins.
I still help 2 of my 3 children with taxes. I am also responsible for the taxes of two other entities as well as my own. Tax season is so stressful! I kicked the can down the road this year and filed an extension for our personal taxes. I decided to act like Scarlett O’hara and worry about it tomorrow.
So here are my FFT:
1) I had strawberries and whipped cream leftover from Easter, so I made a batch of GF Belgian waffles. What could be more decadent than having waffles and strawberries for breakfast this week!
2) I stopped at my favorite thrift store today and bought an adorable peasant blouse for myself and a beautiful child’s smocked dress for resale. I spent $7.
3) I made my meal plan for the rest of the month. Money is a bit tight, so I am making sure that I work with what’s on hand. (Really shouldn’t have spent the $7 mentioned above.) DH is working from home the rest of the week, so this means breakfast, lunch and dinner. This is a challenge because he has a big appetite!
4) I bought a lightweight garden hose last week, so I would not have to wrestle the old heavy one. I know, not frugal. Well, it burst the second time I used it. So I brought back and got my money back. The old one is hooked up and being used again.
5) I stopped by the library a picked up a book I had on hold, Tools of Titans. It should be interesting. I also have a new audio book.
After a dry spring – there have already been reports of wild fires – April showers fall. This rain makes everyone happy.
1. Picked up half priced Easter Lilies to go with my tulips.
2. Noticed at hardware store a posted recipe for homemade laundry soap along with ingredients and prices.
3. Treated to snacks and pie by accountant friend last night to celebrate the end of tax season.
4. Visited wholesale bakery and bought cranberry-walnut, sour dough, and rye breads as well as some cookies my husband likes. 75c per loaf. (usually $3-$4)
5. The economy may be going to heck in a handbasket because so many of us are not following celebrity trends, fashion dictates and the like. However as another poster noted, I’ll follow Scarlett O’Hara’s lead and think about it another time.
Re your #5: it’s cuz the celebrities are out of touch. When they start modeling secondhand clothing, fuel-efficient cars, solar panels on modest-sized houses, etc. – why, then they’ll be all the rage. 😉
Vickey : Correct!
1. Accepted with gratitude a tray of hot cross buns left over from an Easter service.
2. Same place and person gave us a plate of cinnamon buns. They have raisins in them, which I hate, but the husband loves raisins so he is happy.
3. Used two chicken breasts and lingering small amounts of frozen vegetables to make a pot of soup sufficient for three dinners.
4. Accepted a horrible side gig that will pay me $4000 for about a month’s work. Money in is as good as money not spent, I remind myself. I’ll be a basket case before the month is over but it will have been worth it—and they paid me ahead of time!
5. Started sorting things for a garage sale. I hate garage sales, both holding and going to them. However, I am doing it with three friends and one of them is bringing homemade donuts, so it won’t be so bad. Last year I made over $1,000 but this year I have a lot less so will be lucky to make $200. But it is still $200 plus donuts.
6. We have a recycle pile at my job, for magazines. I picked up five of them and two had shampoo samples in them! I made each one stretch for three days of shampooing.
1. Made 2 loaves of French bread and turned the extra dough into cinnamon rolls.
2. Turned old worn clothes into cleaning rags.
3. Went to the store to buy groceries instead of a meal out. Got basically the same stuff at half the cost and had enough for 3 meals for the 5 of us.
4. Borrowed some books from the library for homeschooling. The Littles got books, video games and dvds. The receipts now show how much you saved. Our total was $399.83 from one trip.
5. Found 26 lb buckets of hard white wheat berries for $15.48 each on Walmart’s website. The per pound price is 1/3 of what I can find locally.
1. Took breakfast and lunch to work yesterday.
2. At treats people brought for our April birthdays at work today for breakfast and lunch. Not healthy (only muffins and cookies for breakfast and lunch!) but semi-frugal (although I did spend a little $ to bring treats myself so let’s call it a yummy but unhealthy wash)
3. Made leftovers for dinner last night. Ate cold cereal for dinner tonight (what can I say, hubby and daughter are out and I was already on a carb0-loading roll from the birthday treats!)
4. Having folks over for birthday dinner Sunday (mine and my husband’s) and will make a yummy pasta sauce from the leftover Easter ham.
5. My mom is taking me to dinner and ballet Friday for my birthday, my friend is taking me skiing (she has two free passes) so lots of lovely and normally expensive birthday activities at no cost to me!
1. A friend had extra theatre tickets to two different shows and offered them to me. He wouldn’t let me pay him for the tickets so I paid for parking for the first show and for the second show I paid for dinner.
2. I used a $5.00 off coupon for Aldi that a friend gave me.
3. I mentioned in a previous post that our main grocery store never had good deals like some others. I was surprised this week to get an email that had some freebies. I got a free jar of tomato sauce, a free bag of flour and a free can of Pringles. The Pringles went into my niece’s Easter basket as a special treat. I also got $5.00 off for spending $50.00.
4. I drove the speed limit (or slightly above) on my drive across the state to see family for Easter. It not only saved gas and was safer but it eliminated the chance of getting a speeding ticket. State Troopers were out in force and I saw a lot of people pulled over.
5. Went to a work event that was catered by a local chef. The food was fantastic and it was fun to watch him prepare the food in front of us. It was food that I never would have made for myself. It was a really nice treat.
1. I’m working FIVE days this week. Yikes…outta practice at the full-time schedule!
2. The office I’m working at this week is close enough to come home for lunch.
3. This morning, before I left, I put the ham I bought right before Easter ($1.29 a lb I think) into the slow cooker.
4. While I was home for lunch, I cooked macaroni then rinsed in cold water.
I stirred together some sour cream, cottage cheese, grated cheddar, some diced Velveeta, and a couple of eggs in a bowl, folded in the macaroni and put it in the fridge. After work tonight all I had to do was put the mac & cheese in to bake. Sometimes I truly appreciate myself! 🙂
5. I saw a cute retro metal sign on Pinterest tonight that I would love to have in my kitchen. It says, ‘EAT HERE…It’s cheap and HOMEMADE.’ But the sign is $29.99 + $7.95 shipping, so I think I’ve figured out an awesome DIY. 🙂
Bonus: Though Monday & Tuesday were pretty busy, today was extremely quiet. I recently checked out an audio book from library website, so today I went back to website and chose ‘listen on your browser.’ With the volume really low, I got through about 1/3 of the book at my workstation. I just paused it when the phone rang.
1. One of your mottos is ‘make do’. We had a large foam mattress that we had cut in two to make two smaller mattresses, and yesterday we put them together again to make a larger one for a girl who stayed the night.
2. Another way we made do, was with our broom handle. It had gotten broken (kids were playing with it). I just used it for a few days with half a handle, then yesterday my husband found a nice straight bamboo stick that fits nicely into the handle hole and now we have a new, free broom handle!
3. We haven’t eaten out in probably 2 weeks.
4. Instead of buying a new notebook for writing down lists, the kids’ spelling tests etc… I’m using up the plethora of already used,but still have tons of pages in them notebooks we have. (This is also extra good, because we’re moving soon, and I want to move as little stuff as possible).
5. We went to the grocery store yesterday and the store put all my stuff in boxes, but I’m really excited about one that was a blue and orange clementine crate!
Whew! It’s like a work-out trying to think of 5 things more things after sharing 5 the other day at The Frugal Girl!
1. More nesting at the thrift stores with the in-laws. This time found a new king size duvet cover, big glass jar for storage, 4 side plates that match a set I already thrifted at a carboot sale, and 6 glasses all for 10 euro!
2. I also bought two books for 1 euro. I have a long list of books I want to read and it’s exciting to find a copy of one off the list for cheap. I also bring these books with me when I travel and leave them in the airport for someone to find and have 🙂
3. We shopped around for dog food and even though our local pet store is usually way more expensive- they had a bigger bag of dog food for less than the smaller one we were buying. It can be very frugal having a small dog as well- that bag will last us a long time.
4. We have been doing a great job of eating/using up leftovers this week- so far no food waste.
5. I WANTED to buy new shoes for a wedding coming up but I will wait and see if I can find some while thrifting. (I got rid of all my formal/ dressy shoes when we moved) It’s a month and a bit away so I have some time to find something.
My Frugal 5 from SC:
I bought my Alfred Dunner blouse for Easter from an online yardsale board that I’m on for like $1. Got compliments too!
My Aunt brought all kinds of bread last night to share with the church members. We got some called Million Dollar Bread, I think. Hubby toasted us a ham and egg sandwich on it this morning. Very good! Can’t beat free!
My Mother-in-Law loves to get supplies as her gift. I sign up for freebies- sometimes they are full sized samples. I shop with coupons etc… too. This saves her money too on buying personal supplies.
There are also lots of offers for free magazines online. Like Better Homes and Gardens etc… I like to put these in encouragement baskets that we make at the church. I also like to pass them on to other friends who enjoy them.
Also, in case some of you have never heard of this site, recyclebank.com offers easy ways to earn free magazines, etc… You can read articles, etc.. to earn points. It doesn’t take long to accumulate enough points for a magazine subscription. I got Food Network magazine, Eating Well, Rachel Ray, etc…. I really enjoy the cooking magazines. I try to write down the recipes in my agenda book that I refill each year. I then pass on the magazines a lot of the time.
Keep saving money! Keep sharing ideas!
I think that may be a good idea for me- to copy recipes down into a book. What I do now is tear out many good-sounding recipes, which ruins the magazines for the next person. Then a long time later I find the recipe in my messy, overflowing basket and decide I don’t think it sound that good after all, so toss it out. With your method, I would choose more carefully if I was going to go to the trouble of copying it, and I wouldn’t have that messy overflowing basket of scraps of paper! So, thanks!
First off, I loved the last post about the frugal tricks/tips. There were such great ideas in the comments!
Still eating at home (I’m going on an almost 2-week streak), eating up leftovers, drinking water at work, and bringing coffee from home.
I loved that post, too!
Great job saving money and getting those taxes out of the way. 🙂
1. I’m planning what I want to do during my weeklong gap between jobs. I’m hoping to get plenty of rest while completing lots of errands and to-dos around the house. I also want to take some baking classes too.
2. I cooked lentil soup this week using veggies and legumes in our pantry.
3. I worked from home yesterday and was able to make some fancy choux desserts using on-hand ingredients.
4. Our grocery store is having a gigantic sale this weekend, so I may use the opportunity to stock up on things like shampoo.
5. We got two coupons for oil changes, which will cut our cost in half. We used to change oil ourselves, but it’s honestly cheaper and faster to have it done elsewhere.
1. Happily accepted a bag of hand me down jeans from my sister in law as we both lamented our changing waistlines. She was delighted to hear that half didn’t fit me either, but half did. Score, new jeans and capris for me and she now has an entire drawer free in her closet. Ill get to work on collecting hand me downs from my son to hers. Additional bonus: I now know two more brands that work for me!
2. I remembered to wear an apron or change into house clothes most days before cooking and doing dishes. I keep discovering small grease stains on the front of my solid shirts and I suspect this is where they were coming from. It makes me feel 100 years old, but I’m tires of running my clothes.
3. I started adding coffee grounds and egg shells to my garden patch this week. The weeds came out and went to the horses, and the horses will turn those into something that can go back to the garden!
4. I have 4 ends of lettuce heads soaking in water to see how much new lettuce I can get to grow off them.
5. Working through the food in the freezer again and letting that inspire our dinners. Yesterday was turkey pot pie (plus a vegan one) and today will be pork carnitas and black bean tacos. The pork was frozen in December and I have no idea when the bag of turkey was frozen, but it defrosted nicely.
1. DH replaced my broken passenger window with the one he found at the auto recycler for $30. I cut a template from contact paper, bought at a church sale, to put on the broken window to help with its removal. In less than 30 minutes and no insurance deductible.
2. Took 2 boxes of books and audio books to used bookstore. Got $41 credit! Great for audio books bought for 40¢ each and Hardy Boy paperbacks bought for 5¢ each. Bonus- they are out of my house!
3. Did the frugal back and forth with my neighbor. Took her some canned tuna for her cats that was a bit past the BIUB date. She offered me a squash and a cucumber plant that she had been given and 5 diet ginger ales her DH didn’t care for. I borrowed her yoga mat for a one time program at church. Took back her yoga mat and borrowed a garden tool that pulls out weeds and turns over the dirt. Took them a bowl of homemade banana pudding when I returned it and am taking her some birdhouse gourd seeds later today.
4. Traveling to GA tomorrow to see son’s university team play in District tournament and to celebrate his 20th birthday. Last night DH made 2 batches of cookies to take. I am hard boiling eggs, as I type, that I got for 50¢/dz. Several loaves of pumpkin bread and the birthday cake will be baked tonight. These guys get hungry playing multiple games back to back with no lunch!
5. Bought a V8 energy drink at Target for 68¢ after 41 coupon. used my own bag and saved 5¢ more. Got $1 rebate from Mobisave and $1 from Ibotta. Also qualified for $5 Ibotta rebate bonus which was a total surprise. $6.37 MM!
#5 SB $1 not 41!
1. Altered a fabulous new-to-me blouse from the thrift shop so that it fits perfectly. All it took was a little snipping and hand-stitching.
2. The Mister and I have gotten six dinner entrees out of a $4.99 roasted chicken.
3. Brought instant coffee and packets of hot cocoa mix from home to make afternoon pick-me-up mochas at work, saving me the $3.09 cost of buying a pre-made one.
4. Hung up a load of clothes to dry on the drying rack.
5. Did some hand-mending to sew up a couple of holes in the edges of otherwise still good towels.