Five Frugal Things
by Katy on August 26, 2024 · 50 comments
Today is the last day of hosting my out of town sister, so you’ll have to excuse me if this blog post is a bit less than spectacular. I’ve had the fullest of full plates and I haven’t had the mental energy to sit down and write anything cohesive. Apologies.
-
I’ve avoided the dreaded “borrowed vacation mindset” that happens when hosting out of towners. This is not my splurge. All meals at my house have been frugal to the extreme.
For example, I hosted an extended family dinner the other night and served my version of The Prudent Homemaker’s white bean rosemary soup, to which I added paprika, garlic powder and nicely carmelized white onions. I paired this with grilled cheese sandwiches on sourdough bread that I picked up at the Franz Bakery outlet store for two bucks. Guests brought vanilla ice cream, which I served over a homemade mixed fruit crumble.
You get the picture. Cheap, but yummy.
-
I stopped at the Franz Bakery Outlet while my sister visited with our father, as it’s somewhat in the neighborhood. The pickings were slim, but I did buy two sleeves of $1.50 everything bagels and the aforementioned $2 sourdough bread. To have bought this bread at Fred Meyer would have been $18.50 instead of the $5 that I spent!
-
I nipped into Fred Meyer for a half gallon of milk and instead bought a full gallon of clearance price milk for $2.07. I also grabbed a four-pack of apples from the $1 clearance shelf and a 2-pound carton of sale price cottage cheese for $2.50.
My goal is to not draw any more money from savings while my husband works to ready his parents’ house for sale. This extreme frugality supports that goal.
-
⢠I sautÊed and froze a large amount of white onion that I also bought from the $1 clearance shelf.
⢠I tried making my own oat milk, which turned out okay-ish. Fine to taste, but awful in tea and a not good in a smoothie.
⢠I used money from one of my Powell’s Books gift cards to pay for something my sister was buying for her son. She then reimbursed me, (although I gave her a discount.) This store credit is from selling books I get for free.
-
No curb picked Lear Jets.
Katy Wolk-Stanley
âUse it up, wear it out, make it do or do without.â
Click HERE to follow The Non-Consumer Advocate on Instagram.
Click HERE to join The Non-Consumer Advocate Facebook group.
Like this post? Then please share it with your friends!
Like this:
Like Loading...
{ 50 comments… read them below or add one }
Thanks for an amazing and fru-gal visit!!!!!!!!
I am a frugal gal!
I hear this in the tune of “I am a Pirate King!”
I pulled a gallon of milk from the freezer. After it thawed the whey was separated from the milk fat. It did not smell sour but was lumpy. I put the milk in a big pot and cooked it with 6 eggs, 2 cups of sugar and some cornstarch. It became the mix for homemade ice cream. It had to chill overnight & into the ice cream freezer it went. When I saw your jug of milk w/ this week’s post & I said we are kindred spirits.
I wish NY reduced prices on milk.
1. My husband, son and I went away for 3 nights to Corvettes at Carlisle. We had a great time. The weather was perfect. We used some of Hubby’s Hilton points to lower our costs. Our son chose to share a room with us since it was paid for by us. He is very thrifty too. The hotel had a breakfast buffet so that is where we ate every morning. I asked the buffet lady if it was OK to take a few items for lunch. She said yes so I did each day. I took PBJ, bananas and hard boiled eggs. They had bowls of apples all over the hotel so we all took some. I came home with 8. We drove in one car and I made sandwiches for lunch on the way. I packed drinks and snacks.
2. We brought 6 reusable water bottles filled with lots of ice and water each day. There were filling stations in the hotel and at the park. We did splurge on some food . We were given free sodas at one booth. It was for a local group that Hubby is thinking of joining. We took very few freebies that were being handed out. We don’t need the clutter.
3. Our son treated us to dinner one night since we drove and paid for the hotel. Hubby and I had leftovers for dinner the last night. My son didn’t have any so he grabbed Chinese.
4.We met my daughter and SIL at Longwood Gardens on Saturday, on the way home. It’s about an 1&1/2 from them. It was beautiful. We all brought our reusable water bottles. We did splurge on lunch. We celebrated my SIL’s birthday that is next week. I brought them veggies from the garden and homemade pickles.
5. Our youngest daughter stayed at our house with our dog. She took care of the garden and picked so many tomatoes. I made a huge pot of sauce on Sunday. I had to get the huge pot out. I then used the sauce to make 2 lasagnas for Hubby and me. I need to make more pickles.
You were in my neck of the woods! So glad you had a great time! We always try to book our hotel stay where breakfast is included. And yes, they let you take whatever food you want along for later. I usually also take PB&J or bagel and cream cheese. That with an apple makes a great lunch!
We always try to get breakfast included too. If there is a huge price difference then I will just pack stuff. We are going again in October for the swap meet. Hubby loves an apple with peanut butter before bed.
Marybeth, I don’t know what part of NY State you’re in, but both my local Price Chopper and Tops feature occasional markdowns on milk and other dairy products. In fact, I just scored a quart of marked-down Land’o’Lakes half and half when I took my next-door neighbor to Tops this morning.
I’m from Long Island. Maybe it is a county thing. My cousin worked for King Kullen for 20+ years. She always said they weren’t allowed to because of laws.
You may be right that it’s a county-by-county thing. Here in my part of Central NY, it seems to be OK.
We recently stayed at a hotel with an amazing breakfast buffet in Georgia. It was so nice I was tempted to take a snack or two for the road but didn’t. I wasn’t sure how much gleaning would be ok…not sure if anyone has opinions on this either way. My son didn’t eat at the buffet because he slept in, maybe I should have grabbed some extra for him? Not sure. But a great way to save money.
My take is that it would have been perfectly fine to put together a plate of food for your sleepy son.
I have brought food to our room many times for sleeping teenagers. Some places have bags for you to do it. I always ask before I take extra food for lunch. 1 time I have been told no. So we didn’t take any.
This has been such an expensive summer for us. I have taken several Monday’s off this summer to spend time with my daugher (a teacher) and our two grandchildren ages 9 and 6. We were robbed of so much time with them due to the pandemic and it has filled me with joy spending lots of time with them and doing tons of activities. We feed them lots of fresh fruit and veggies, and treat them to sushi (freshly prepared daily at the grocery store), which they love. My wallet is thinner, but my heart is so full ! Produce is usually affordable in the summer as it does grow abundantly here in Quebec, but I have not seen the prices go down in a significant manner. My husband is retiring next May and we are cognizant that we will have to adjust our food and activity budget next summer.
I visited your lovely province twice over twenty years ago, both times in the summer. We stayed in the town of Ayres Cliff and spent many an evening walking around the neighborhoods. What struck me was almost every house had a beautiful vegetable garden. Well kept and neat. So I saw how abundantly produce does grow in Quebec.
I’m glad you enjoyed your visit and Ayer’s Cliff is such a lovely town in the Eastern Townships colonized by many American loyalists.
I’ve been busy in the kitchen trying to save money.
1. I stopped at the farmers market towards closing time and I got a massive box of tomatoes for $30. I spent the next day canning. I got 9 pints of tomato soup and 9 quarts and 9 pints of diced tomatoes.
2.I had a craving for lasagna and had most of the ingredients already on hand. I made 3 bread pan lasagnas to freeze and a large lasagna for our dinner and leftovers.
3. While the lasagnas were cooking I made a batch of homemade breakfast sausage using ground turkey bought on clearance and a batch of chocolate chip muffins. I figured while the oven was on for so long I should take advantage.
4. I ordered dog food a little earlier than normal because there was a $10 off coupon happening.
5. We bought cheap last minute tickets to a MLB game. We ate dinner before going and only bought a beer at the game.
The soup I made a few days ago was too salty, so I cooked some plain rice to add to it and that fixed the salt problem. The rice was from a 2-lb bag bought super cheap a while back at Ollie’s Outlet.
Used coupons to buy pate cat food and cranberry juice. Topped some ice cream with crushed coffee-flavored hard candies from Dollar Tree — totally elevated it. Took up the side seams of a thrifted blouse to make it fit better.
It’s been a while since I shared my five, but I am back on the frugal path…
1. I am keeping up with the garden veg and I preserve a little almost every evening. Tonight, I made pickled turnips, Moroccan-spiced salsa, and roasted a big batch of various veggies (eggplant, zucchini, peppers, onion, mushrooms, etc) to make into freezer veg meatballs and burgers.
2. I am using my YMCA membership to take the included classes like yoga and Zumba. I’ve lost some weight and feel better. I also walk the dog every day at one of the many nature preserves near me (one of the reasons I love NY State is the amount of land left to be wild) or around the cemetery next door.
3. Speaking of cemetery, I found a plethora of wild grapes, so I made jelly. I’ll use it in my oatmeal this winter or on homemade bread.
4. Speaking of bread things, I made crumpets for the first time (I bought some at Whole Foods some time back and loved them) and they were a hit. My teen devoured most of them, but I read they freeze well so I will make them again soon.
5. We are heading to Boston this holiday weekend to see NOFX for the last time (band is retiring). It’s not super frugal but we did use my partner’s hotel points from his work travel to a room.
The white bean rosemary soup sounds amazing. I must put that on a list to try!
1. Like so many others, we are eating from the garden and each day preserving something for the winter. Today it was shredding 37 pounds of zucchini and freezing it in 2 cup portions for future chilis and soups. (I always promise not to overplant zucchinis, and yet…)
2. For three days we had been driving over a pair of jeans lying in the middle of the road. I finally picked them up, washed them and saw that they were in great condition. Unfortunately they are about a size 0 and I decidedly am not. Gave them to a friend having a garage sale this weekend and she made $5 and gave me half.
3. Traded carrots for halibut, which we were out of. I tried trading salmon for halibut to no avail. We have a ton of it but this guy does not like salmon.
4. Had a friend over and we harvested nasturtium seed pods from the flowers in our front yard to make poor man’s capers. She was able to take 2 jars home and I kept 2 jars. Cheap way to entertain someone and get work done at the same time! I am not heartless, I did feed her carrot cake.
5. I was given a very nice apron, still in the original packaging. I have several aprons and I am not really a person who would buy an apron with bunnies all over it. It is hard to be taken seriously by proselytizing religious folks or salesmen when you are trying to turn them away while wearing pink and grey fluffy mammals. I regifted it to someone I think will appreciate—she has rabbit shaped planters all over her porch.
To the two persons who took the time to post the recipes for sweet and sour cabbage, thank you so much! I tried both recipes and while the one with apples won, I really do appreciate people taking the time to try and help with another over-planted vegetable, this one being purple cabbage.
You are welcome for the recipe! My pleasure and glad you like!
Sorry to miss the cabbage discussion, but have you tried Smitten Kitchenâs Schmaltzy Chicken and Cabbage recipe? A very delicious way to eat cabbage. I usually double the cabbage. Leftover schmaltzy cabbage is great with an over easy egg. I usually bake some potatoes to go along with the meal.
Oh, if only money grew on trees the way zucchini grows in summer! It wouldn’t even have to be in large denominations. I could use 37 pounds’ worth of dollar bills, couldn’t you? LOL!
Nice you and your sister were able to spend some time together along with your youngest sister this summer.
1. I made a loaf of no knead rustic bread.
2. I met a friend at the library and we enjoyed the free Beatles music and fun facts show together. While there, I returned a book, Nowhere Girl. Excellent memoir.
3. I didn’t feel like cooking tonight but since we are still in The Two Thin Dimes situation, I didn’t want to spend on take out. DH and I scrounge our individual suppers: mine was pot stickers from the freezer and a bowl of popcorn. His was two sandwiches made of
breakfast sausages.
4. A friend stopped by yesterday and we sat on the deck and talked. We pored over a nature book looking for the name of a plant
that grows in wild abundance
around our area until we found it.
5. I mended an old Champion shirt that had started to come apart at a seam. I’ve hung all the laundry outside. I just read that washing
clothes in cold water will extend their life cycle. Ha! No wonder my
clothes seem to live on and on and on…
1 – on the home stretch of dumping what I will now call our “used to be bank”. Thankfully we had most of the same type of accounts at another local-that-remains-and-acts-local bank. I do a lot of auto debit and direct deposit so timing is everything.
2 – made a decent chunk of change on a CD that just rolled over at the great rate 3 months ago. Rate cuts will be starting but anything is better than .01%.
3 – while perhaps not technically frugal, finished up the switch to login.gov for SSA. Was quite happy to see better half would get 61% more money per month from SS if I bite the big one tomorrow.
4 – hired out some home maintenance (read: too much ladder work for aged, creeky knees). Company was organized, communicated arrival times (within minutes), and got the job done. It was $150 less than we’d estimated.
5 – saved close to $75 by buying from a local dealer versus a big box.
Iâll be going home on Tuesday from my house sitting gig. Iâm anxious to get home to decrease spending. Iâll be making protein shakes for break for the next week or so. Mentally Iâm inventorying things to list for sake. September will be an expensive month. Hubby has hand surgery and I have heart valve surgery scheduled.
Wishing you a sense of calm going into your heart surgery. I have large breasts and to minimize the pull on the incision, they had taped them down so they were immobile. In the haze of waking from the anesthesia, I was convinced there had been some terrible error and they had done breast reduction surgery instead of open heart surgery. The poor nurse could not figure out what I was raving about!
A loaf of bread for a regular price of $18.5 good god, that’s shocking!
Some frugal things, travel edition:
* We booked a 4 day stay in a self catering bungalow in a drive to destination, no flights to pay for!
* We asked to change the date of the check in day due to a last minute change in plans which was not only possible but somehow also resulted in a refund of 22 Euro!
* The accommodation we had booked was stocked extremely well, the kitchen was stocked with basics like milk, coffee, tea, salt, sugar, oil, etc which saved us having to buy those essentials.
* On arrival, we found that cake was set out for us and the table set for tea/coffee. That was so welcoming and a really lovely gesture.
* We mostly hiked and enjoyed the local beaches (all for freeeee!) but we also went kayaking once which was great fun. It was supposed to be a one hour long kayak rental but the owner of the place told us to continue on if we wanted, so we ended up spending 2 hours on the water for the price of one hour.
* I had downloaded some ebooks through the library app for our stay but in the end I just enjoyed the magazines that were in the rented house already.
Frugal fail: Because the location was so remote the nearest grocery shop (about 20 mins by car) was quite expensive.
Sounds like a great vacation! I especially like how a cake and tea were there to welcome you. So thoughtful.
So true! We made sure to leave a good review <3
No, one loaf plus the two sleeves of bagels.
Ah, okay, phew, I was thinking that’s extremely high! I misunderstood that part, my fault, I guess I do not classify bagels as bread đ
FFT, Filthy Lucre/Garage Saling Edition (“simulcast” here and at The Frugal Girl):
(1) I found a $20 bill in a storm drain during my Monday morning walk. Without hesitation, I reached in, rescued it, and cleaned it up as best I could after returning home. It still bears the marks of its ordeal, but it’s still legal tender. (And I survived sticking my hands into a storm drain, too. That which does not kill me makes me stronger–and in this case, $20 richer.)
(2) I took advantage of Saturday’s perfect weather to hit some garage sales, for only about the third time this summer. My best find was a small, lovely old coffee table that fits right into the current arrangement of my living room. The old table, which I’ve had since before DH and I were married, has taken up a bit too much room for years. (But since I’m sentimental about the big old thing, I’ve moved it to another location in the house where it’ll be less of a knee-knocker.)
(3) Other finds at the two garage sales I concentrated on included a case of brand-new Golden Harvest quart canning jars; enough votives and other small candles to see me through a good portion of the winter (I like to light a candle or two in the predawn darkness); a pie plate and a rolling pin, each with its own wicker holder, for Ms. Bestest Neighbor (pie maker extraordinaire); five books; and some other odds and ends. Total expenditure, including the coffee table, was about $50.
(4) I also stopped at several Little Free Libraries on the way to and from the sales, putting in four books and taking one. So my net gain on books was only two. And one of the garage sale books was the autobiography of a local heroine, Ruth Colvin–literacy leader and Presidential Medal of Freedom winner–who died a few days ago at age 107.
(5) Finally, I turned off the AC the minute it stopped raining last week and I could reopen the windows. Haven’t had to turn it back on since then, and I hope I won’t have to again.
Nothing like the rush of finding paper money!
The NBC morning news had a lovely tribute to Colvin. They do a segment each Sunday called A Life Well Lived, showcasing a person lost recently and she was this week’s.
We just moved, and Darling Daughter and I convinced The Engineer to join Facebook just so we could use Marketplace for the few odds and ends we needed. We’ve also been selling odds and ends left to us by the previous owners.
1. Our new place has a large pond/small lake, which we thought would be perfect for paddle boarding. To see if we liked the activity, we shelled out $5 each for an hour class at a local park. Since my legs shook for an hour afterwards, I concluded they could probably use the workouts. Plus, it’s a good activity to help work on balance, which we need as we age. Thus, despite it being more of a “want” than a “need,” I decided to take the plunge (and I’m sure I will end up taking many of them in the process of trying to stand up on the board!). Found a solid board with ankle leash and paddle for $200 on Marketplace. It’s clearly used, but who cares?!
2.Got 3 counter height barstools for $60. They retail for a ridiculous amount, so this was quite a savings. And they look almost new!
3. The process of moving freezers made it clear just how much food we already have, so I’ve been trying to slowly use it up. Frozen spaghetti sauce over spaghetti squash from our CSA? Yes, please. Re-work that sauce into chile over rice from the freezer, with corn on the cob from the CSA? You betcha!
4. Sold the counter ice machine left by former owners on Marketplace – $30 we didn’t have before.
5. I have been downloading many low-cost ebooks in preparation for an upcoming trip. Also have borrowed several ebooks from the library on our destination and also on paddleboarding.
Meanwhile, I’m researching which will work out cheaper, using points and $$ for lodging on upcoming trip or AirBnB. Discovered Delta has some kind of reciprocal agreement with AirBnB, so signed up for that, although I’m not quite clear yet on what it will get us. đ
I’ve had a busy couple of weeks with a two short trips taken with family. One to visit my oldest daughter and one up north to Traverse City.
1. I received a $53 cash back reward on my credit card for the first trip’s hotel stay.
2. I chose hotels with free breakfast and free parking.
3. We brought water and cold sodas as well as lunch supplies for both trips.
4. I took the scenic route home from the trip to Cleveland to visit my daughter. It included a section of the Lake Erie circle tour. My mom enjoys a nice ride and I saved $10 in tolls.
5. We spent a fun couple of hours at the Goodwill bins in Cleveland. I came back with a new with tags Zara dress for my daughter to wear for a funeral we’ll be attending and a great pair of white jeans for me.
1. Met a friend for a walk. We used to go out to lunch to connect but now we walk.
2. Gave away five pieces of furniture through Buy Nothing that my niece no longer wanted. In the process, we reclaimed our garage! Plan to sell a couple other items to an antique dealer.
3. Acting as our own contractors for parts of our home remodel in order to save money. Earlier bid for everything was DOUBLE what we planned to spend.
4. Used $2 off coupon for a haircut.
5. Picked up a box of stationery that was in the Little Free Library by our house.
I haven’t listed my frugal fives for awhile but still doing them. They mostly seem like “rinse and repeat”.
1. cooking at home except for vacation, where we had picnics for lunch every day and we never got tired of them!
2. all laundry hung out to dry, cloth napkins come off the lines like they had been ironed. I do love my linen napkins!
3.grocery shopping only marked down meats or on extreme sale. We menu plan with what is on sale.
4. Eating out of the garden and lots of garden suppers. I don’t think I could get tired of fried green tomatoes and zucchini.
5. I used spider plants as pot fillers this year to cut down on buying very many annuals. OMG I have so many spider plants now. I am potting them in saved planters and giving them away to friends that admired them and want to do the same next year.
JC
Katy, I am sorry your oatmilk did not turn out as well as youâd hoped. I use this recipe from Love and Lemons, and it comes out very well each time, although I do have to shake the jar if it is in the refrigerator for a bit.
3 cups water
1/2 cup rolled oats
2 tsp maple syrup
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/8 tsp salt
Blend all ingredients together and pour through mesh strainer into a jar with a tight-fitting lid. Don’t push the mushy oats through the strainer or else it will be gritty. Other recipe notes: donât presoak oats, donât overblend. (I use an ancient oster blender. A minute of blending is usually sufficient.) Chill before drinking.
If I am making a bread or cracker type recipe, I might use the leftover oat mush in that.
1. Am doing a ton of yard work as it is not unbearably hot. I am not aiming for perfection, and have not been watering the yard. Making use of volunteer native plants, and being flexible as to how the yard develops. I snagged a narrow rectangular barstool that reminds me of one I saw in a Chinese garden in Montreal. Am going to spray stool with Freecycle red paint, and then mount a black, thrifted, fireplace log holder on it, and attach chimes to the fireplace holder. This will complement the Marketplace sculpture that I bought. That kept falling over, so we made a box of old fence post 4x4s and will screw Marketplace sculpture to said box, filled with dirt. My hope is that the two âart objectsâ will distract the eye from the deer bitten plants!
2. With friends, am volunteering to make a special dinner at a camp for children with special needs, which will be fun (an afternoon and evening of messing around in the kitchen with friends and teenagers) and free.
3. Am bringing oysters that I raised to a weekend party for a nice treat! I am really cooking carefully and double batching beans, etc when I cook and then freezing for later, minimizing oven use and only using oven on cool days. Enjoying tomatoes my friend brought me from her brotherâs garden, and will make a big patch of collard greens with tomatoes, black eyed peas for Grill Night. Herbs will be from my own small garden.
4. Repurposing some old fence to block deer from kicking out porch screens, which they did twice last week. Also hoping to use some fence parts to design a mini greenhouse to grow arugula and collards late into the fall. Both need protection from the groundhogs and deer, but I will eventually figure that out. (I hope!)
5. Picked up some parts for a friendâs rudder when I was near the West Marine store. It was only $3 and change, but saved them a trip and they are super busy right now. Carpooled with friends to events, and batched errands. Returned some clothes that grandchildren did not want, for a refund. Did not pay $3.60 to a vending machine for bottled water! Watching dvds from library and reading library books. same old, same old!
Q, I’d love to hear more about the oysters you raise. Oysters are an extremely rare treat for me, and I’m envious.
I don’t like oysters at all, but I join A. Marie in wanting to hear more about how you raise them. I didn’t know individuals could do that!
I raise oysters through a town program. In June, I get 1,000 spat: so so tiny, they all fit in my hand: less than a 1/2 cup! We put them in a fine mesh cage that has floats attached, and attach cage to line that is in the water, off a town dock. Every week, I clean off the cage, and hose off algae, seaweed, etc, which coats the cages and shells and obstructs water flow. I also pull off parasites, etc. After a couple of weeks, the oysters are large enough to be tumbled: placed in a small mini cement mixer, to wear away at the long edges of their shells, so that the oysters will develop to be plump, with a “cup” shape, rather than long. I sort the oysters by size, and upsize them to a bunch of cages with larger mesh holes, again for better water flow. After about a year, they are large enough to eat, but you can grow them for another year to be larger, if you want. Right now, I have oysters that are large enough to eat, and also 2,000 smallish ones, from this spring. They grow pretty quickly! I live on the South Shore of Long Island.
The oysters spend late fall through winter on the North Shore of long Island, in a type of cage that is tied off a dock. Since the oysters are larger, the cages have larger holes and don’t need to be de-algaed. Also, the algae and seaweed don’t grow in the winter. The oysters are pretty dormant at that time. Then, we start over again. This year, one of my girlfriends is joining me, as she wanted to be part of the group. (A bunch of us do it together, each of us with our own line, but she is not a town resident, so she is on my line.) There are talks, and parties, and picnics, and it has been fun.
Oysters clean the bay, as an oyster will filter up to 50 gallons a day, and turn excess phosphorous, nitrogen, into oyster, thus helping to prevent algal blooms.
We (my husband and I ) also help sponsor a large scale non profit oyster project to help keep the bay clean.
thank you for asking.
Fascinating! What a great project.
GK, I agree! I’m fascinated (and still envious, since I’m too landlocked here in Central NY even to think of trying this).
Hello, here are my FFT:
1. Walks around my neighbourhood this week have been fruitful. I scored a free loaf pan, a candle, books, 3 deposit cans and large pine cones which I will use in my Christmas pine arrangements.
2. I upcycled 2 stained t shirts into shopping bags. We no longer have any plastic bags available in Canada; these are always useful to have around and in the car to avoid paying 50 cents to $1.50 for a bag in a store.
3. I sold items from my home and family/friends and netted $160.
4. Made 2 loaves of bread in my breadmaker.
5. My semi-retired husband was paid to mow lawns for 2 neighbours this week.
Kudos to Canada for the plastic bag ban. Here in the US, so far it’s a town by town ruling, although I believe our neighbor state of Connecticut has banned them in all municipalities. My town still uses plastic bags except for a few individual businesses. I always carry a couple of folded up cloth bags in my purse and the back of my car is stocked with them too.
1. I went to the beach the other day and used my state park pass that I purchased for a yearly fee of $60. It felt free
2. I was offered another class to teach and I took it. The $ will definitely come in handy especially to recover from a high balance (for me) on my credit card.
3. I went out with family the other night. Someone paid for the whole thing. It was greatly appreciated and unexpected.
4. The usual-coffee and water from home, loss leaders and hanging laundry.
5. I decided to pay off my credit card from savings. I will save $$ on interest.
I like the term “borrowed vacation mindset” Very apt.
1. Drove the gas saving route to my kids house, just 10 minutes longer.
2. We are eating free fresh produce in great quantities. I also brought fresh tomatoes to my 2 kids houses. I have a lot frozen too. I say yes to absolutely every offer of free food. And I get repeat offers.
3. Printed off free alphabet crafts for my grandson. Found my saved kid toys and brought a few down. Organization is the key to saving stuff for future use.
4.My diet is super restricted and when I travel I bring all my own food. I eat the same few meals repeatedly. Easy and cheap.
5. I drove my less frugal car but I’m picking up stuff to sell on my way home. So that’s worth it.
5 FT, August has been $$$ edition:
1. I found a $1 bill on the ground as I was walking to a park to meet a local FB marketplace buyer for an air mattress I sold. $40 for the mattress + $1 free!
2. Not frugal – immediately handed over the cash to our twin teenagers as they were going to Six Flags with their friends.
3. Sold another camping item today for $70
4. Traded in a rain coat to REI and received a $21 gift card that I then used to purchase a camping item Iâve been saving for.
5. Bought the camping item at REI via their 40% off Labor Day sale. These rarely go on sale. In my girl math figures, I worked out making money on my camping-themed garage clean out. Sold 3 items for a total of $150 + $21 above-mentioned gift card. The total spent was $221. So $50 out of pocket, but I used $30 my dad mailed me for my bday. So, $20 out of my own pocket. Howâs that for some girl math!?