- One of our CFL lightbulbs burned out in the ceiling of our spare bedroom, which also serves as our TV room. (This room has recessed lighting, so a normal rounded bulb looks wrong in it.) However, we were all out of the proper flared out reflector lightbulbs. Instead of buying a new one, I went ahead and stole one from a seldomly used upstairs hallway, where the wrong style of bulb will never be noticed. These sell at Home Depot for $18.47/six-pack, so I saved myself both a few dollars and a trip across town. And since I was in a lightbulb-swapping mood, I went ahead and traded an LED bulb that was in a lamp with the incandescent bulb in the ceiling of our bedroom, so that the more frequently used light would have the more energy efficient bulb.
- I drove over to Trader Joe’s this morning to buy toilet paper and dishwasher detergent. (I like that their non-toxic detergent and their 100% recycled content toilet paper somehow don’t cost an arm and a leg.) I was in line behind a couple who were buying three bags of groceries, which is what I brought home the other day from Safeway. Did I see exactly what they bought? No, although I saw that it seemed to be mostly general food items. What did grab my attention is that they spent $187 on their groceries for the same number of bags that I just spent $40 on. I have no way of knowing how equivocal our purchases were, but it was a good reminder of why I’m not buying my food at Trader Joes!
- My husband had enough stars on his Starbucks app to get a free any size coffee drink. (Thanks in part to blog reader Kim, who sent me some star codes!) I took his phone into a local Starbucks and chose the biggest and most decadent caramel-flan latte and had them split it into two cups so that my younger son and I would both get a treat. Thank you, Kim!
- I made a wacky cake on Saturday for our weekly dessert night. This recipe was supposedly developed during the great depression when ingredients such as eggs and butter were out of reach for many. (It’s secretly vegan!) It was actually quite delicious, especially since I made a cream cheese frosting to top it off. It will most definitely be making its way into our rotation. Cheaper than a half-gallon of ice cream, and super easy to assemble. All hail the wacky cake!
- I bought nothing beyond food, prepared very frugal meals and downloaded a new library audiobook. The weather was lovely, so I walked a few errands and didn’t even buy a Lear Jet.
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.”
{ 55 comments… read them below or add one }
Gratefully received four slices of cake…making for a lovely free dessert. Worked on my mindset regarding doing jobs I don’t want to do but add up to big savings. Cooked and prepared all meals. Gently nudged children to join as many free school activities as possible…i.e. after school art workshop, choir,
Wacky Cake has been in our family’s recipe box for over 70 years. We vary the way we make it by: using different flavorings like mint or almond, adding nuts or chocolate chips, baking as cupcakes or 2 rounds for a layer cake, using as the shortbread in strawberry shortcake, topping with whipped cream and raspberries.
Frugal things: used the outside leaves from a cabbage I harvested to make vegan stuffed cabbage, made seitan – baked not boiled and baked the stuffed cabbage at the same time, sold a once used metal detector on Craig’s list, put 6 books and 2 videos on hold at the library so only had to make one trip to pick them up, watched Wartime Farm and Edwardian Farm on Youtube – lots of interesting bits of history and frugal tips, was able to have the house open so no heat or AC as Florida is fickle this time of year, put the laundry out to dry on drying racks, planted more radishes & lettuce, harvested loquats and calemondoms from our trees and will have our first ripe tomato by Wednesday!
You’re fortunate in the sunshine state to be able to harvest tomatoes in early March – and I’m guessing throughout the summer. We’re still dealing with snow and when summer does finally arrive we don’t see tomatoes until August. Then we gobble them up as much as possible in that one month a year. Canning them for the other months, yes, but nothing beats eating a fresh, ripe tomato pulled off the vine. Enjoy!
It’s too hot in Florida for tomatoes to produce past June. My plants have been producing since February but the freeze we had for 2 nights in late February damaged the plants so I think I’ll be harvesting the last tomatoes from them this coming week. Thankfully I started seeds in early January and just finished transplanting them this weekend so I should have new tomatoes in May. (I’m in Central Florida). You northerners are lucky to be able to have much more plentiful harvests than we do (the heat is a killer! or maybe I’m just really a bag gardener, probably a combination of both) and berries! And rhubarb! And all kinds of fruit that won’t grow here.
Got my tomatoes started late, so my ripe tomatoes are late.
Natalie – have you tried Everglades tomatoes? They are like a cherry tomato and produced for us all last summer – until the blight got them.
Thanks for reminding me! A blogger from Lakeland uses them with great success (I’m about an hour North of there) and I always forget to write down the name of the variety. I’ll be gone for a good part of the summer so I’ll have to try them next year. This year I transplanted Supersweet 100 grape tomatoes and organic Roma tomato seeds. I just ordered some Tomato & Blossom Set Spray from Gardener’s Supply (I had a credit so it was free!) so I’m hoping this will help the plants produce a lot more tomatoes than they would on their own. Where are you in FL, Bellen?
Natalie – we’re in Charlotte County, south of Sarasota, north of Ft. Myers and about 5 miles inland – NOT in a flood zone.
We’re in the Big Bend — we have tomato transplants ready to go in the ground because mid-March is usually our last frost. We grow heirlooms and open pollinated tomatoes so we can harvest our own seeds. Let’s see, I think it’s when the night time low is 70 or 71 for tomatoes to stop setting fruit. We had an unknown volunteer orange cherry tomato last year that made it through a whole summer.
BUT –Our loquats got frozen again, it looks like — I think we get the worst of both worlds here in the Big Bend.
1. I used ripe bananas to make some bars, which I’ll eat for breakfast/snacks this week.
2. I went to the library to find new books on CD. I always have one going in the car, when I am driving alone. I had not been to the library on the weekend in a long time, it was so crowded/busy that the lot was full. I was happy to park a block away and walk, as it was a warm and sunny day.
3. I stopped by Staples to pick up another ream of $.01 (with online coupon) after rebate paper. I am forever giving this away, as we have an adequate stash. Most of the time I print on the back of already been used paper, as it is more environmentally friendly.
4. Since the weather has improved I listed a bunch of stuff on freecycle on Saturday. Almost all of it will have been picked by the end of the day. I like giving our unwanted stuff to people that want it.
5. While listing items on freecycle I discovered one book that is worth selling on Amazon, so I listed that. Someday we’ll get some money for it. I am too lazy to sell on eBay but Amazon selling is so easy.
1¢ reams of paper? I need more information on that!
Just about every week Staples has an online coupon that allows you to buy a ream of their multi-purpose paper for $.01 after rebate. Since you can submit the rebate online (stapleseasyrebates.com) the only cost is the penny plus the tax you pay on the retail price. Here is a link to their coupons:
http://www.staples.com/coupons
I believe they will let you pull the coupon up on your phone, but check with your local store.
Thanks for reminding me of Trader Joe’s. Hubby is going to be near one tomorrow so he had offered to stop by to get me the 3 things I want from there: Trader Joe’s brand of coconut oil, their brand of salsa verde, and Stilton cheese. We live more than 45 minutes away from the closest store so I’m having him stock up. It’ll be expensive and will drive up my March food costs, but oh well. Air-popped kettle corn made with TJ’s coconut oil is vastly superior to the one made with other coconut oil, I’m not even sure why. And Stilton cheese is delicious and impossible to find in my rural neck of the woods. Maybe the old folks were stocking up on rare-to-find items as well.
1) As stated by Bellen above, we had lovely weather in Florida this weekend and I was able to avoid turning on the AC (or the heat!) and the indoor cats enjoyed having the windows open.
2) I spent several hours gardening: made self-watering bins, transplanted tomato, cucumber, broccoli, jalapeño and serrano chili pepper seedlings that I had been growing from seed since early January, planted pole beans and lettuce (the lettuce probably won’t grow as the weather is really getting hot down here but I have to give it a try!). I used up the compost that I had been “making” for the past year, which was so satisfying! I used oak leaves that my husband raked and kept for me as mulch for the plant in the self-watering bins.
3) I took my youngest son to a WWII battle reenactment on Saturday. We were hungry but I had forgotten to bring snacks along. However, we held off until we were back home and then I made us crêpes. Yummy and frugal.
4) After gardening all weekend and forgetting to wear sunscreen, I’m pretty sunburned. I was about to order Domino’s for dinner last night because I didn’t feel like standing at the hot stove with my arms on fire, but when I saw their prices, I made myself cook the dinner that I had planned. Unwise spending (and unnecessary calories) avoided.
5) My daughter went to the Strawberry Festival with her dad and stepmom this weekend and brought me back a pint of strawberries that didn’t fit in their fridge.
Where was the WWII battle reenactment? My grandson would adore this. Thanks,
It was in Bushnell, FL (Sumter County). It’s an annual event. I have to say that this year’s was disappointing compared to the last time we attended (2 years ago), as there were fewer reenactors and the skirmish that they staged was much less involved and impressive. Still, the reenactors and organizers are passionate about historical period and that period and full of great information as you visit them before or after the skirmish. Also there were actual WWII veterans present, one who fought at the Battle of the Bulge and one who fought at Iwojima, as I remember, as well as others, and it was very touching to see everyone give them a standing ovation. Those folks are very old now and soon won’t be with us anymore. As someone whose birth country was freed from German oppression by American, British, Canadian and Free French forces and whose grand-parents recalled that time period quite vividly, I’m very appreciative of their service and very keen to have my children understand what exactly the “greatest generation” did for us. If your grandson lives in the area, I would recommend he attends next year 🙂 Here’s the link http://www.dadebattlefield.com/ If he’s not near here, you can google “WWII reenactors” with the name of your state and find a local reenactor group.
We also attend Civil War battle reenactments. If you’re in Florida, the Florida Reenactors Online webpage has a listing of Florida-based Civil War reenactment events http://www.floridareenactorsonline.com/
FYI – they are out of coconut oil at all Trader Joes… i was there yesterday and talked to a very helpful employee. They are having trouble sourcing it, so it may be a while before it gets back in stock!
Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat?! Noooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!
Arrgh, thanks for telling me. I guess I’ll text hubby who will be happy that he doesn’t have to go now, as it was the main reason for his visit.
My mom always made wacky cakes. They are wonderful! She serves hers with a vanilla buttercream frosting… Yum.
That Wacky Cake (or Wowie Cake as my family calls it) has been a favorite of ours for over 40 years. My mother used to make it for us and now I make it for my family. Most of the time, I don’t even frost it, just eat as is…so good. We also make a cake called a Yellow Daisy Cake. My mother got it from a Crisco container over 40 years ago. It is our favorite yellow cake. It has the consistency of pound cake and again, does not need frosting. Love those from scratch cakes!
1. A local department store sent me a $10 off a $10 purchase coupon. It’s like a gift card. I use it to buy socks for my boys because they always seem to need them. This time when I paid for the socks I got a coupon for 40% off any pair of shoes. I find it very tough to find used boys tennis shoes in good shape, but I cannot bring myself to pay $30 (or more!) for a pair of kids shoes. I used the coupon on a pair of already discounted Nikes.
2. We made sandwiches for the ride home last night instead of stopping for fast food, which was our temptation.
3. Our weekend house doesn’t have regular internet. We use a jet pack when we are there and periodically go over our limit if we spend more time at home than usual. This month we were right at the limit because we ended up spending almost a week there in the ice. My husband accidentally forgot it this weekend, so it didn’t get used at all. No overages!
4. I am using consignment store credit and saved up Old Navy bucks today to finish out my maternity wardrobe. Hopefully it will cost me $0 in straight cash.
5. No snow this week means no $50 checks to the backup baby sitter! Come on spring!
I think Safeway is way more $$$ than TJ’s! It is also much closer for me. I buy mostly basics there, not frozen/ prepared foods.
There are certain things I buy at TJs in their brand that I know are a great price and I only get those items. Safeway is definitely expensive but I shop their sales with coupons and look for the 50% marked down items nearing expiration dates. Aldi is definitely my favorite for the best deals on basic items and restocking the fridge/pantry! A good combination shopping gets me the best prices.
I wish that we had Aldi’s here in Oregon, although we do have Winco, which is both cheap and employee owned. Sadly, it’s a big schlep to get to one from my house.
I do’t buy a lot at Aldi because so much of what they stock is processed foods. I also think that many items can be obtained at a lower price by buying during a good sale and combining with coupons. I mostly buy produce at Aldi. If you don’t stick up during good sales Aldi is usually cheaper than the regular grocery store.
Katy, I wish we had the Grocery Outlet that you patronize.
I actually make a special trip to Aldi for their produce. They have started carrying more organics as well….at a great price! I just bought a pineapple there 2 days ago for $1.19. It was amazing!
I also find Safeway more expensive, and the quality at Trader Joe’s is preferable. Also, the employees are amazing at packing those bags at Trader Joe’s, probably fitting double what your average grocery store might into one bag! We have a few items we always buy at Trader Joe’s, and actually do most of our shopping at Costco, better value for our large family, but I do like Trader Joe’s!
I love the wacky cakes (we call them crazy cakes), because they’re yummy, vegan, and free of milk and egg allergens. We have friends that cannot eat one or the other, and it’s nice to have an easy solution to the allergy question.
I also shop frugally at Trader Joes. A lot of their staples are very good quality and very reasonable — it’s the tasty luxury items (hello, moonpies!) that blow the budget. The price on organic milk is better there than anyplace else around me.
Yes, it’s the preprepared meals and impulse items that’ll get you at Trader Joe’s!
1.We are adding another twin bed to my daughter’s old room – she has her own apt. now – but we needed a boxspring. Found a brand new one on Craigslist which was a bit of a drive but since my husband travels around the state for work he will pick it up. Best of all, the owner is giving it to us for free since we are traveling for it. She said she just didn’t want to throw it away.
2. Been slacking in the food dept lately. Yesterday I cut up vegetables, made a crockpot full of chicken to serve over rice and today will make cornbread and chili.
3.Took pictures to sell some more things on ebay.
4.Picked up 3 books from the library.
5. Picked up birthday cards for my 86 year old mom and aunt – twins – at the Dollar Store. Didn’t buy anything else.
I’d like to applaud you for coming out of the Dollar Store with only what you had set off to buy. It’s always a hard thing for me to do (it’s only a dollar!). Bravo!
Thanks Nathalie! Not easy for me either. But I stuck to just getting what I needed. 🙂
1) I gave up spending any money on myself for lent! Groceries only!
2) I ran out of deodorant…normally not a big deal, but without being able to buy any until Easter I made my own with stuff I had in the kitchen! It works well enough that I’m not stinking up the place yet!
3) I have been cutting down the amount of meat we eat to 3 times a week. Tonight is stuffed portabello mushrooms (that I got on sale!).
4) Cleaned out a bunch of old toys and sold them on craigslist. Gotta love that extra $.
5) I also got a free Starbucks drink! My husband and I just signed up for their rewards club and got our free welcome drink!
It made my heart sing that you could “enjoy” the coupon codes!!
Regarding Trader Joes- I do find it frugal for certain items. Their peppermint shampoo is free of sodium laurel sulfate and has the most lovely minty tingle. It’s $2.50 a bottle but lasts us awhile. Suave at $1 a bottle just does really weird things to my curly hair.
I also love TJ’sfresh frozen salmon and other fishes. I don’t buy “farm grown” with fake color, so for an East Coast girl who doesn’t have access to delish, real salmon, $5.99 for 2 generous portions is ok by me.
On the frugal front…I have a cash-back credit card ( which I pay off monthly). I use it for groceries, gas, primarily. I received a $50 check this week, which I will cash and out towards my husband’s birthday dinner at a steakhouse this weekend. We don’t exchange gifts, and he’s been dying to go, so worth it!
I made an Aldi trip this weekend. Great buys in really nice, fresh produce and lovely strawberries for $1.25 a large pack. I usually don’t buy them
Out of season so it was a real treat.
I made a butternut squash quinoa soup with items on hand. Made enough for dinner plus a nice container to take toafruend who is recovering from surgery.
We drink mostly Brita filtered water at home. Sometimes I forget how totally economical it is to 1) drink water 2) avoid buying bottled water. Oh, all that plastic waste would kill me!
Katy- I’m a “lightbulb rearranger” just like you!
Being a “lightbulb rearranger” sounds very Amelia Bedelia. And thank you again for the codes, they made for a very yummy treat!
I have been going to a lot of free public concerts lately. They are mostly held in churches and feature college groups. Fun!
I bought a 65 year old house whose previous owners loved to landscape. As I am into simplicity, I offered a lot of stones, old edgings, and misc stuff to people for free. I got rid of them and now my yard looks ready to put down seed. Instead of putting expensive fencing at the bottom to keep my dog in, we decided to staple some fencing to the trees. Instead of spending over a thousand dollars, it will cost me around a hundred. As the lots are deep and volunteer trees divide me from the back neighbors, it will be fine. Much easier to mow!
Thanks for the cake recipe.
Great fence hack!
Can anyone tell me more about the Starbucks codes? I didn’t realize there was a way to earn stars outside of purchases and would love to know more!
Maybe it is different in every area, but I think it’s possible to spend a large amount of money on a small amount of groceries at any store. It often comes down more to what you buy. Trader Joe’s has some great values, so I think it’d be really helpful to know what was in those bags. When I moved to an area that didn’t have Trader Joe’s my grocery bill for 1 person went up $10-20/wk without any radical changes in diet. Thankfully soon after that an Aldi’s opened up! 🙂
Starbuck Star codes are listed on their coffee beans that can be bought in any grocery store, but you also earn one for each coffee purchase if you have their app. You get a free coffee when you get ten stars. My husband gets their drip coffee when he’s out and about for work.
Probably some other ways too, but I’m not so savvy when it comes to Starbucks.
1. We enjoyed a gifted trip to a locally produced play with dinner provided this weekend. We had to drive to it, and my husband purchased one domestic beer, but that was all the cash we spent for a fun time and a great meal.
2. Katy’s recent post on repairing the silver fork reminded me that one of my silver knives got an unexplained nick in the handle. I smoothed it down myself, and now no one can tell which knife it was without a magnifying glass. I have lately been “channeling” my dear, late dad, the Handyman Extraordinaire, and have been repairing things like crazy around the house. It’s so satisfying.
3. I received a rebate on a prepaid card from my contact lenses purchase. It’s frustrating, though, in that I can’t use it in addition to other payment nor add money to it. If the purchase total is not less than the card’s balance, it won’t process. I now have $1.28 left on it, and I’m patiently waiting until something for that price (including tax) that I need comes along.
4. I waited for the weather to improve and washed a lot of backed up laundry because I could finally hang it on the line.
5. Yesterday I had one of those “I need this” urges to buy an item new, NOW; I fought it, and I won! Yes, I do need it, but it’s not urgent, and I don’t need it to be new. I walked away without it — whew!
Is it a prepaid credit card? I use those all the time as partial payment at various stores. Ask the cashier to charge EXACTLY $1.28 to that card and tell them you’ll pay for the balance with another card. It might have been that the cashier didn’t know how to do it. Try it again! Good luck.
And by “credit card”, I do mean a prepaid Visa gift card received as a rebate. They need to treat it as a credit card and charge only $1.28 to it, process it, and then charge the balance to whichever other card you present.
Yes… but I have one too, with like 75 cents left on it. I can’t picture myself asking a cashier to charge 75 cents on a card, so I’ll throw it out I guess…. it sucks, I don’t like those cards.
Why would you throw money away?! The cashier doesn’t care if you’re going to charge $0.75 to it or $75. If anything, pass it on to something else who might be able to use it 🙂 I agree with you, though, I don’t like those cards either. I prefer it when they just mail me a check. I can’t imagine that producing the plastic card and mailing it is cheaper for them then printing a check and mailing it.
Nope, it’s not a credit card. It states in the letter that comes with it that it isn’t a prepaid credit card, but I have to use the credit button at the register. I really don’t know what it is! I wish they’d just send me a check! I tried using it for part of my bill the last time I got one, and the clerk tried every way to Sunday to get it to take, but it wouldn’t. I refuse to just toss money away! I’ll try again — maybe a clerk will be able to help me this time. I’ll try asking them if they can show charge just $1.28 to it and see if that works. I’m like you, wouldn’t it have been cheaper to send a check?
Thanks!
When I receive one of those rebate prepaid cards I turn it into a gift card I will use eventually. Yesterday I received a $24 Visa card, the next time I go to the grocery store I will immediately buy one of their gift cards (the type where you specify the value) for that amount. Then I will be done with the rebate card and can use the store gift card whenever/however I want. It took me many years to figure that out.
That’s a great idea if you don’t plan on using that rebate prepaid card right away! I don’t know if any of my grocery stores lets you put any amount on their gift cards (I think they might be in increments of $5 or $10) but I know that Target does. Thanks, KD.
Not too much frugal today, sadly. I did bring leftover Chinese food for lunch (I swear, it’s even better reheated!).
I have injured my shoulder somehow and have to go to the acute care tonight because my doctor can’t see me until May! Not too frugal. Oh, well.
Oh! I did buy a bathmat and track pants for my daughter for my local favorite thrift store this weekend. Both were MUCH nicer than I could afford new. I love Southern Thrift!
YOur light bulb post made me laugh! I once spent half a day deciding which bulbs should be in which fixtures, switching them around, sorting and labeling the extras in the laundry room so my husband could easily keep my system going.
I put the CFLs in the rooms with the most use, too, but sadly they wore out really quickly from all of the turning on and turning off that we do. It said on the package that they were supposed to last 9 years, but they didn’t even last 4 years and we are careful about conserving energy at our house. We still have a lot of light bulbs on-hand, but I’m not sure which kind are best to buy next.
Hi Katy, I discovered your blog and have been reading your previous posts to catch up. I wanted to let you know that you inspired me to do a no-spend February. I have to say that I was pretty successful!
My five frugal things.
1. went to a matinee of a movie today instead of an evening show – I’m celebrating the end of my frugal February with a movie!
2.had dinner at home instead of eating out after movie
3. still eating from the freezer
4.was able to turn the thermostat down -yippee spring is coming
5. I was tempted to buy cute finger puppets for my nieces today but decided that I can try to make them from stuff I already have at home.
Thanks for the inspiration Katy. I really enjoy your posts.
I’ve been going through the pantry trying to make some quick and easy meals in the crockpot to prevent any takeout being ordered. Also, I’ve been making sure to only drink one cup of coffee at home, drink water on the way to work and grab a second cup at work to make coffee last longer at the household!
* Yesterday I helped out at a family event where one of the kid activities was to plant seeds in a cup. When it was over, I got a mostly-full bag of potting soil just for speaking up and saying I’d take it.
* My son’s red pencil/pen/marker bag was tearing in several places. I extended its life by patching it with red duct tape. The bag is a hand-me-down from an older sibling, and I recall it was free to begin with.
* I volunteered to deliver gift bags (related to the family event) and not only were they all in about the same part of town (and not too far from me), but I took the time to organize them so I could deliver without backtracking. I also arranged it to stop at the store after the deliveries and just before picking up kids from school.
* We go through A LOT of chocolate chips (baking, snacking). I found the one allergy-free brand we like on sale at Whole Foods for what I know is the cheapest price in town. I was able to combine the sale price with a case discount for huge savings.
* First day warm enough to turn off the heat for several hours and open the windows!
Making baby quilts from fabric on hand during our never ending rainy gray days. Hand sewing one stitch at a time keeps me focused on the moment at hand no matter what the weather.
* I got a free ticket for a conference
* Went to Toy’s R Us to buy a gift for a birthday party my daughter is attending. I was looking to spend about 10$. The Junior Scrabble, usually 19.99$ was on sale for 9.97$, yay! Took two of them (one for my daughter too, put away for Christmas). The cashier scanned them for 19.99$ each… Error! So we got one free, and one for 9.97 🙂
*Hubby and I are off this afternoon and the kids are at daycare, so we are going to catch a movie right after lunch. Cheap day today, and we are paying with a gift card received at Christmas. No snacks.
* Got the Gwyneth Paltrow cook book from the library yesterday (can’t stand the woman, but was curious about the book. I did not like it, it’s going back today for the next person in line)
Have a great frugal day!
Oh, I forgot!
* It was time to switch beds for my youngest, no more “”toddler’s bed””! In it’s place is now my husband’s bed from when HE was a kid (and it’s in neutral color, super good shape and modern looking, yay!!).
* Plus, my daughter is now out of diapers for good during the day, so we save a lot right there! And so much better for the environment too. We barely produce trash anymore. (1 or 2 small bags every other week)
1. Made veggie rice soup using dried carrots and onions that I made from the garden.
2. Had mini meatloaves for dinner, even though DH wanted to go out
3. Neighbor gave me a dozen eggs from her chickens.
4. Gave DH a haircut.
5. Took leaves off of garlic, so they can be exposed to the sun. Put the leaves back in the garden to act as natural fertilizer.