Five Frugal Things
by Katy on December 11, 2023 · 34 comments
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I walked to Powell’s Books to return the pricey menorah candles I didn’t end up needing, as well as a bag of books to sell. They’ve switched to only buying books Friday through Sunday, so I patted myself on the back for remembering this fact on a random Saturday. I then detoured to pick up a Buy Nothing item and meandered home. Lastly, I found a quarter on the ground.
• Returned something.
• Sold something.
• Got something for free.
• Found some money.
• A bit of exercise.
My kind of day.
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We’re starting to tighten up our gift giving plans, which includes an Instacart gift card for an elderly family member who uses the service for all his grocery shopping. (Don’t worry, he doesn’t read the blog!) I checked Costco.com and discovered that we’d save $40 buying the gift card through their website!
Purchased. Printed. Done!
Remember to check Costco for discounted gift cards!
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I was in the mood to rewatch the 1988 movie Crossing Delancey, but it wasn’t available through any of our current streaming services. However, I did find a “Free With Ads” version on Youtube, which was a perfectly acceptable compromise. Such a sweet movie and an acceptable number of invasive advertisements. I even convinced my son to watch it with me.
My husband and I lived in the Lower East Side neighborhood of New York City around the same era as the movie and there were still open barrel Jewish pickle vendors, which made me feel like a time traveler from the turn of the century.
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• I mixed up another batch of latkes, this time making them all cute and tiny. I topped the above ones with sauerkraut and pickled red onion, furikake and everything but the bagel. Plus sour cream — always sour cream!
• My husband worked EMS for a hockey game and came home with a coupon for free curly fries from Carl’s Jr as the team scored a certain number of goals. It doesn’t expire until next June, so I stuck it in my wallet for some later time.
• I used a coupon for a free pint of Haagen Dazs and then scanned the receipt into Ibotta* for an extra $1.50 rebate.
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I didn’t buy a Lear Jet.
Katy Wolk-Stanley
“Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without.”
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{ 34 comments… read them below or add one }
You are the queen of thrift IMHO ! I always look forward to your posts. The pickles!!! When my husband worked in NYC he would bring home Guss ‘pickles. Think it was located on Orchard St. Not sure if it is still open. I am going in to the City tomorrow and will investigate. There was also a place where he got the most delicious bialys. Can you tell I think about food… a lot? Heading over to GW this morning to see if there is anything of interest. I picked up a Starbucks coffee mug for $2.00 last week. I’ll see what I can sell it for. Your latkes look delish!
You made money by eating Häagen-Dazs!!! Now that’s a real deal…
My FFT for this stormy weekend 2 weeks before Christmas;
1. I roasted 4 free pumpkins that have been lingering in my pantry. I froze the pulp. I use pumpkin often in my white chicken chili and vegetable soup.
2. I have been doing some Christmas shopping online for specific items are on my family’s list. It saves so much time, gas, money and aggravation. I have hunted coupon codes when applicable, taken advantage of free shipping, searched for the best price and used ibotta cash back offers.
3. I ordered my book club’s selection for next month. I was able to use some credit card points for this, so it did not require a cash outlay. I also bought a used copy from Goodwill books.
4. I am borrowing Katy’s great idea and taking an older friend out today for a birthday adventure. Her son lives in another state and her husband has past away. She just doesn’t get out enough and I worry about her staying connected. The plan consists of
• going to lunch at her favorite coffee shop for chicken salad
• a trip to our favorite thrift store,
• picking out a table top tree, helping her put up the tree and decorating it. I’ve picked up a cupcake for her to have with her tea when we are all done decorating for Christmas.
5. I’ve done all the usual things. I’ve cooked Primarily from scratch, eaten at home, brewed my own coffee, and listened to books using Hoopla and Libby. I have been drinking filtered water and walking with my dog as we look for pine cones for Christmas decor.
Wishing everyone peace, good health and prosperity.
You are so kind to plan and spend time going out with your friend. My Mom was pretty isolated in her final years and was so happy to have days like that with family or friends.
Those latkes look delicious. What an enjoyable frugal day too. I loved Powell’s Books when we visited and so did my kids. If I ever have another chance to visit Portland I will definitely go back.
1. I had dinner last night with a friend. A frugal fail for sure but I did order water. The food was awful and I keep thinking of the groceries I could have bought instead. The company was good though and the waiter was wonderful so he received an extra nice tip.
2. I sold a small item on Ebay. I shipped it in free recycled supplies donated by friends and family.
3. I had leftover apple pie for breakfast. Can’t let it go to waste right?
4. I’m drinking hot coffee, tea and sometimes just plain hot water to help stay warm. I’m also turning on the gas fireplace periodically to keep the main room warm which is where we spend all our time.
5. I’m reading another library book on my kindle. This time it is Summer Island by Kristin Hannah.
I’m guessing your book choice is to help you pretend your on a warm, sunny beach, basking in the sunshine ☀️
Katy, you are totally rocking the frugalities!
I used a combination of a sale and Kohl’s cash from a previous purchase to get almost free underwear and winter socks for my husband and son. Read several library e-books over a cold and stormy weekend. After decluttering and inventorying the kitchen, pantry and china cabinet, I bought some spoons and a replacement piece of Pyrex on eBay, as these were items we actually needed. Ate all meals at home. Sanded and repainted a rusting metal spring doorstop in the bathroom, which took only a few minutes to do.
(1) Ah, Powell’s…I have very happy memories of it from DH’s and my one and only in-person visit during the 2010 JASNA Annual General Meeting in Portland. And my prize for winning the AGM quiz that year was a Powell’s gift certificate! (OK, this was 13 years ago already, but I’m going to count this as a Frugal Thing.)
(2) I canceled my subscription to our local hard-copy newspaper. The subscription rates just keep going up and up, and I finally lost patience with the idiot with the unmuffled car who’s been our inefficient carrier for the last year or so. (I don’t know whether my cancellation had anything to do with it or not, but I noticed that as of this Sunday, the street has a new carrier.)
(3) I let a few days pass, and then took advantage of the extended, extremely low Cyber Monday deal on digital access only to the newspaper website.
(4) I’m practicing various forms of frugality with the $1.49/lb. spiral-sliced ham I bought at Wegmans last week: I’ve already frozen a pound of it for future use, and a ham and potato casserole and a split pea soup are in my shorter-term future.
(5) And I’m sharing my latest load of Panera bounty (see my most recent FTFT comment) with friends and neighbors, especially my elderly next-door neighbor. She very much liked the Panera souffle I gave her to try, so she’ll get a lot more of those pronto.
I envy you Powells!
1. Hubby installed sound barrier insulation near the furnace in the crawl space to help with noise when the furnace runs and we are sleeping. He also figured out how to adjust dampers in the ducts to get better heat distribution. This is our first winter in this house so being able to do this work really is appreciated.
2. I made a dog pull toy out of a free baby receiving blanket. Pup is happy and the rest of the blanket became rags.
3. Incorporated quite a few small bits of food into meals rather than letting them sit in the freezer or frig.
4. Borrowed a yoga block until I was sure the exercise requiring one was going to help my back. Then I bought the cheapest one I could find.
5. I really want a new bathrobe but my current one still keeps me warm so I am resisting!
The latkes look amazing…and I agree…sour cream is a must. I keep a pint in my refrigerator at all times (store brand or on-sale, of course). I come from a dairy family where, growing up, sour cream was often served as a side dish to our meal, much like applesauce. IMHO it makes many foods taste better.
1. I gave DH a hair cut.
2. I pulled out my Christmas decorations and need absolutely nothing. I have to say, I’m so happy with my artificial tree we purchased last year…words I never thought would come out of my mouth. I have always been all about the “real” Christmas trees. When the prices here in Massachusetts zoomed up to $75 to $100 for one, I bowed out. And as an unexpected perk, the actual act of going out, finding the perfect tree, loading it into the back of the car, dragging it out and trying to stand it straight in the stand, watering it and then dragging it through the house while shedding dry pine needles to the banking in back of the house is no longer stressing me out. It has taken one aspect of holiday stress away.
3. Although rainy, this past weekend the temps were in the 50s so heating the house was not a necessity. Nice break from burning more oil.
4. I used my $10 off coupon at CVS to buy Neutrogena hand cream for these sandpaper mitts of mine. They were buy one get one 40% off. The regular price was $9.49. With the coupon plus a couple of other earned discounts, the bill came to $5.05 for both tubes. Grandson lives right around the corner, so I dropped one off for him.
5. We’ve been watching free Christmas movies for entertainment. We try to watch one each Friday, Saturday and Sunday night. Last Saturday it was It’s a Wonderful Life during which I had my annual feel-good cry. Good for the soul!
It’s a Wonderful Life is one of the very, very few movies worth watching on a regular basis. What I like about it that is not happy happy perky perky happy all the way through. Because life is not like that – there are ups and downs. Despite knowing how it ends, there is always something to see – I particularly like seeing cars, architecture, styles of the times etc. And we all deserve a pleasant escape – hey wait, didn’t movies provide that during the Great Depression (along with A/C)?
So true Selena! Not all mush and sparkles, it portrays how things can go terribly wrong and can somehow be righted again.
1. Snagged three mystery grocery shops and did them in my wheelchair. It was a pain loading and unloading the wheelchair but the broken bone in my back is slower in healing than originally thought. Still worth it (and probably good for me to move more) because I now have all our holiday food supplies except for fresh produce.
2. Husband had to go out of town for four days and he worries excessively about leaving me alone. A few friends and I have been trying to get together so while he was gone, I had one of them over for lunch each of three days. I made a different soup and bread each day and sent them home with leftovers. Frugal because these people like to go out to eat so this was cheaper. Plus each one brought dessert and left me the leftovers, so I no longer have to make Christmas cookies! Husband was happy that someone came by each day and especially that they left sweets behind!
3. We have a defibrillator at home. The $50 battery (plus shipping) died after three months; it is supposed to be good for a year. It took three phone calls but they sent a replacement, acting like they were doing me a favor because this one was free. They even had the nerve to chide me for not having a backup battery; we do, but that was not the point and I was not about to tell them I had one.
4. We have a great Christmas tree that is a testimony to persistence. It was sent to me as a gift, but it did not work. I emailed the company where it had been purchased and they told me to go to the manufacturer, who happened to be located in China. It took a lot of emails and a letter to the main Home Depot office but the tree was replaced. Then I received a $200 gift certificate from them, apparently because they did not have a record of sending me a replacement so this was to buy a new one. Well, the replacement tree went bad, too, but it took a few years. The husband could only get half of it to work so now we have a lighted Christmas bush in the yard. He also dug out the original non-working tree that he had refused to discard because “it might be good for parts.” Now that he knew the trick, he turned that one into another lighted bush for the yard. I call them my money maker bushes—got both for free, plus a gift card, and now they are reborn as free bushes.
5. Sold another book.
Not frugal: from living in Britian and also because I have been known to order DVDs from overseas, I have a lot of DVDs that will not play on standard American equipment that is designed to support just this region. We had a player that supports DVDs made for other regions, primarily Europe but it went bad. After a month long search to find a used one, I broke down and bought a new player capable of playing stuff from other regions. Sometimes you just have to pay for new.
Lindsey, I hear you on your Not Frugal. The regions problem is the reason I didn’t buy a LOT of DVDs on my visits to Old Blighty back in the day. (Probably just as well, now that most of my favorite British series are available elsewhere, but…)
I admit that Britbox and Acorn have eliminated the need for many purchases of UK shows. But there are still some, like The Ginger Tree, that have never made it to streaming (at least it did not when I felt forced to buy it through Amazon.co.uk). I did try to wait to find a used machine, at one point reminding myself that Katy and Frugal Girl manage to practice delayed gratification. However, I find that books from my three or four favorite authors, several of whom have died recently, alas, and obscure movies not found online keep galloping around in my brain, and I often give in.
Region B. And rarely does it note that the disc requires Region B.
Hey @Lindsey, I am struggling to understand what, exactly, your lighted bushes are made from? Did your husband take off the strings of lights, or did he just put the half-working tree outside (and the repaired other tree?). Not that it really matters, but just as you mention ‘things running around in your brain’ this one has me puzzling far too much.
I love your posts!
1. Before we moved, I fished some things out of my apartment’s recycling bin and either kept (ceramic planter), donated (gift bags), or moved to trash (non-recyclable stuff).
2. Gave away several items on Buy Nothing before and after our move.
3. Bought beverages and snacks on sale for moving company crew.
4. Received new modem and intro discount offer for Internet service at our new home. Sadly, our ancient laptop wouldn’t work with the new modem so we replaced the laptop and I paid the Geek Squad to get everything transferred and set up (I couldn’t handle one more thing – especially technical – during our stressful move-in week, so it was an investment in my mental health, too).
5. Now that we have our crockpot back, I am going to try cooking beans in that rather than on the stovetop.
Oh, I think I missed that you have actually MOVED! how exciting for you to get your ‘stuff’ back – that crockpot probably is getting loving looks and pats whenever you walk by it.
You have had a year of adventure, glad you have landed and have a place to settle down again
Ecoteri, thanks so much for your kind words!
Katy is the Queen of Frugality!
I have a microscopic list. The neighbor took down all of his birdhouses, I helped and then hauled them home to put up around the garden fence. Every year we have swallows in the garden and barn. I am going to retrofit them with a swing/sliding door that locks so that I can clean out the houses at the end of the season/fall.
I made latkes and brisket for a huge Sunday family meal. Cousins, spouses, kids that ended up being about 16 of us. We had a raucous cornhole and air hockey tournament. Priceless. Dessert was slab apple pie with my winter apples in the garden, Dinner was all from the freezer.
We had so much fun, we are now planning our New Years Eve party. Our theme is going to be a play on the wildly popular “Hot Ones” internet show. So much fun!
I cut my hair. My haircut buddy has covid, I could not would not wait.
I gave the puppy a bath and am thankful for my extra tall soaking tub as she is a squirmy thing. During our atmospheric river event this weekend, she played in the barnyard. Oh my word, she is normally a black and white dog and she came to the mudroom just black.
I dehydrated a 5 gallon bucket of catnip, now am making little felt birds and mice for all of the kitties in the framily and family. These will go into the Christmas baskets.
What a great start to the week! Only 4 more sleeps until the college kiddos come home for break.
Make sure to hide the ‘nip gifts well if you have any tigers in your house. Nothing beats home grown organic catnip.
1. Car insurance bill came and it had edged up again. I called the agent to check if it mattered whether my older husband or me is listed as the primary driver for the car and for the ancient truck. She typed in a bunch of stuff and determined it made almost no difference.
However, I asked about the miles driven criteria, and it turns out we were at the highest level, rather than the lowest. She adjusted the policy and we will save
$110 next year. We already save about half the premium amount for multi-car, multi-policy (also our house), vehicle safety, and for many decades have been loyal customers and accident free.
2. Used the front of a thank-you note we received, cut off, to write a thank-you. Enclosed it in a Christmas card to a friend who shared some leftover candy. Sending Christmas cards cheers me and helps me stay in touch with people far away. I don’t expect cards in return, and enjoy them if we get some.
3. I use the little return envelopes that come from various charities to organize the, admittedly few, paper coupons in my purse. I write my current and aspirational shopping lists on the outside.
4. Cleaned out some unopened personal care items to put in the holiday food bank drive at the library.
5. Checked with the post office to make sure the 15 cent postage pre-paid America the Beautiful postcards I found in an assortment of cards at a thrift store are still valid. They are. I merely need to add extra postage to make up the postal total. I have some 34 and some 1 cent stamps that I can combine for this venture.
Loving the latke photos!
First and non- Frugal (BONEHEAD)move. I missed my dental cleaning appt which is FREE. Next open appt is in June!! On top of that they may charge me $75. Sigh. I am manually overriding my automatic self flagellation. It happens. There is so much going on this week. I hit the biggies – was a good teacher, made some unimportant appts., was nice to my husband. I am officially letting it go.
Okay, moving on.
1. Our Christmas Market River Cruise from Switzerland to Amsterdam is this Saturday. I have had a chockfull and emotional calendar that will continue until the day I get on the boat. The last week of school is never easy. I did NOT remind anyone of the usual potluck on Thursday and if someone remembers I am bringing a box of peanut brittle someone just gifted me. Easy enough.
2. A friend gifted me with $20 Swiss money to have a few snacks when I get there.
3. I researched if I get free laundry service on the cruise. No. I called my son and told him to bring 11 pairs of underwear. He is usually a very light packer and we usually can do laundry somewhere. Warning save me big time. I have travel clothes that I rinse out in the sink. He is a grown up and needs to deal with it.
4. I have plenty of warm clothes for skiing but I want to look a little fancier. I found a fabulous soft, worsted wool jacket in my favorite green and a cream colored cashmere pull over at Goodwill. Both look brand new. $15.00 total. There is a tiny patch of darning I have to do on the jacket on the back of the arm. Excellent.
5. The only gifts I am giving this year are from my gift closet. I already boguht mom some clothes for Thanksgiving and I am travelling with Dad to costa Rica in summer and using my points for hotel rooms. I have told everyone else I am gone through the holidays and leaving it at. I have never NOT shopped before and it feels wonderful. I often pick up a restaurant tab or do a nice bday thing so I do not feel obligated.
Are you a long time patient of your dental clinic, with otherwise impeccable never missing, never late? If so, please ask them to waive the $75. I’ve had one brain fart in the almost 40 years we’ve patronized our dentist. All was forgiven. Worst case is they say no but maybe they’ll take 50%?
1. I retrieved some clothing from a dumpster. I will wash it & take to the nearby psychiatric facility.
2. Found 2 gallons of milk, 1/2 gallon of choc milk, 1/2 gallon of almond milk, 2 packages of kielbasa turkey sausage in a Dollar General dumpster. The items were still cold & in date. Into the freezer they went. I previously found a large quantity of soft drinks in a different Dollar General dumpster. I likely won’t drink these, but my husband takes some in a cooler to the golf course to avoid buying drinks there.
3. My sister wanted some steak knives for Xmas. I rummaged around the house & found a box of 4 new ones in a drawer. No shopping required.
4. I do not cut hair & have no desire to learn. I got my husband some GC at Supercuts for 20% off. I used some rebates that I had earned so not much actual $ spent. A useful Xmas gift for him. He can get his haircut when he needs it. I don’t go to the hairdresser much myself. I have a straight blunt cut like Katy & it doesn’t require much.
5. Used my Taco Bell rewards & got a free Doritos Loco taco.
Happy Hanukkah Katie
I have happy memory of seeing Crossing Delancy with my husband way back in the 1980s! As Katy says, it is such a sweet story.
My only serious frugal effort right now concerns Christmas gifts. This year, I am making a super effort to give family members only Christmas gifts that they truly want and will use. That means I have had to ask everyone exactly what they could use. There will be no surprises for anyone but at least there will be no gifts which will be put in a closet and forgotten.
FFT Dec 11
Frugal fail – picked up a salad shooter from our buy nothing group – she said it wasn’t working and when I took it apart I discovered why. I had assumed I could purchase new gears from Presto but they don’t list THOSE kind of parts. I will box it all back up and think for a bit. Some folk on Ebay are selling parts, so I might bother to do that. Or tell my buddy at the local thrift store that I want a salad shooter if once comes in not working. Maybe a different part will have broken? Anyway, it was free…
1. I was perusing Marketplace for something completely different and a pallet of lath showed up. I think these machines are reading my mind, as I need some lath for some home repairs. Turns out that it was my friend, he traded me 300 lath strips for a dozen eggs. Win win!
2. A. Marie I am sorry to say that my Mom’s POA and Rep 9 (who will speak for me) hasn’t been completely signed, although it is now in the same city as my son. Maybe this Friday? I think both mom and I will rest easier to have them signed by both me and my son – although, as I mentiioned before, MOM has signed and that is what is most important.
3. my #2 son has been thrilled with my smoked turkey wing flavoured split pea soup. Good thing because I made 3 plus quarts. Now he is working through some chili I made with the world’s most persistently hard black beans (bless the instant pot, I just kept cooking them for 20 min a time, eventually they softened). I had a crisper full of veggies, a bunch of roasted squash, those inexpensive onions, and now a big huge bag of carrots (like, 40 pounds worth) so the chili is chock full of veggies. Threw in some very sad frozen mixed veggies (I have no idea why I had those) and some close to stale dated canned whole tomatoes. Made a pan of johnnycake (Cornbread) which we enjoy alongside. Meals at home ROCK!
4. not frugal but I am going to save like mad to gather the money – my 93 year old mom wants to go on an 8 day bus, ferry, catamaran and train trip all over British Columbia in July. She will be 94 by the time we go. I jumped at the chance to do this trip, even though I am still reeling from my trip to the Galapagos Islands – if Mom wants to travel, I am going to ensure I help her make it happen. My big sister who lives on the East Coast is considering coming with her husband, which would make the trip even more fun. Gonna be pinching my pennies like mad
5. I have YNAB on my radar – after decades of doing very well, financially, I am noticing that I am more liable to make impulse purchases these days. I don’t want to become a shopping addict, and maybe if I have some external accountability I can manage to rein in my slipping behaviour. Any advice or comments about this app/program would be appreciated.
Happy Hanukkah!
1. I’ve been very good at staying home and resting after surgery. I have had 2 friends come over to visit and both brought soups with them. Very sweet. I’m so grateful to have time with my neighbor who has been battling cancer (her and her dh) for years. I think taking a few hours to share a cup of tea and catch up was just what she needed. And it boosted my spirits for sure.
2. My boss brought dinner – enough for several meals. This took some pressure off dh who is not a great cook but has been doing his best. We have only ordered in twice in 2 weeks and we used the door dash gift card my work peeps gifted me.
3. We were definitely running low on easy to eat and refrigerator food, but we had plenty of canned stuff and ingredients. My oldest moved back home (again) in October and eats nonstop. Ds was griping about nothing to eat of course but scrounged and made a PB&J and a bowl of cereal. yes he always wants quicker than that! I told him to go buy food if he wanted it. He’s 25, has a job and lives here rent free for now. Anyway, HE DID! He went to the store and bought the groceries we needed. And did not ask to be reimbursed lol
4. We watched a movie for free Saturday night.
5. I’m done Christmas shopping. I bought no new holiday clothing or decorations this year. We are keeping things much more simple than years past. I’m hoping to continue with that.
Thank you!
It sounds like your son is crossing an important line into true adulthood.
1. I dried persimmons even though I REALLY didn’t feel like it. They will be for gifts.
2. Sold a couple more items on FB marketplace for my daughter. Not money for me but it keeps the stuff from accumulating at my house.
3. We are severely short on space in our very small house. I started wondering how much it would cost to finish the attic. Then I realized I could buy some VERY nice storage solutions for a lot less than the cost of an attic finish. Most of the stuff I need to store is sentimental that I’m keeping for kids/grandkids so I can’t just get rid of it.
4. Cleaned in garage. Gave a lot on buy nothing. Listed a couple things to sell. Moved some infrequently used things from easy access places into deeper storage in shed. This means I have some easy access places free for the things I actually do use regularly. My husband has some soul searching to do in this area. He’s a “keep it all” but he is under warning that if we can’t make this house work then we are moving and he really doesn’t want to do that, so I think he’s motivated.
5. I need to figure out a better table arrangement in our eat-in kitchen (the only table space and it’s very small). We hosted 10 immediate family for Thanksgiving and it was too tight. I found a table for free on FB marketplace. I’m very happy to try out a different arrangement for free!
Plus the cost of construction is often much more than the initial quote, so you’re really saving more money than you though you were.
What a delightful day of frugal wins! Returning unused items, selling books, and scoring a free Buy Nothing item—kudos on the resourcefulness. Thanks for sharing!
Crossing DeLancy is one of my favorite movies. Murphy’s Romance with Sally Fields is also great. If you like Crossing you’ll probably love Murphy’s too.