Five Frugal Things
by Katy on April 21, 2025 · 23 comments
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I donated five colossally huge bins of books to Goodwill from my late in-law’s estate. They’d been stagnant in my basement since last summer and I finally convinced my husband that it was okay to let them go. We’re far from the finish line when it comes to dealing with the last of their stuff, but it was good to put their books back in circulation. Also, I relish having the free space back in the house. I’m no fan of clutter.
You know I got a receipt for next year’s taxes!
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My friend Lise and I went for an after dinner walk, even though it was raining. She’s jokingly texted “Should we do a free pile walk this evening?” earlier in the day, but alas there were no “free piles” due to the soggy state of affairs. However, the rain wasn’t heavy and you can’t be a true Oregonian if you hunker down every time there’s a bit of precipitation.
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My husband went through some things in the basement and came across a pair of brand new smoke detectors that must’ve been from his parents’ estate, as ours are hard wired into the electrical system. He listed them in our Buy Nothing group and now someone’s coming to pick them tomorrow and that’s two more things out of the house and back in circulation!
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• I renewed my Facebook marketplace listings. Patience . . . .
• My outdoor plants enjoyed a proper watering from yesterday’s rain. I suppose the weeds did as well, but that’s a problem for another day.
• I didn’t want to buy eggs at Fred Meyer as they were $6.50/dozen and told my husband I’d pick some up at Trader Joe’s for $3.50. Unfortunately Trader Joe’s had zero eggs, so I ran into Safeway and grabbed a dozen for just $5.50. You have seen how egg producers are enjoying triple profits, right? In other news, I had oatmeal for breakfast today.
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I didn’t buy a egg plated apartment in the sky.
Katy Wolk-Stanley
“Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without.”
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I also ate oatmeal for breakfast.
1. I scrounged up a surge protector for my daughter to use for her TV and laptop. I have extras that won’t be used now that she’s moved out.
2. I’m giving an extra pizza cutter to a friend’s daughter who is also moving out. My daughter had an extra one.
3. I cleaned out my daughter’s much emptier bedroom and moved a twin bed in. It had been sitting unused in my kids old playroom.
4. I’ve collected a bag of summer clothing to donate.
5. I sold a small item on Ebay. I reused a box and packing material to ship it.
1. I too had oatmeal..well oatmeal cookies for breakfast
2. Went to Free cardio rehab only 12 more sessions. Grabbed two bottles of Free water to drink on drive home
3. Mailed a sale in recycled padded envelope
4. Going to a Free growing windowsill herb class today
5. Bringing my recycled pot for herb class
For Easter, I cooked a ham with long carrots, green bean casserole, rolls from freezer, and a cheesecake from freezer. All of the above were for Christmas dinner that didn’t happen bc I had the flu at Christmas. I added red potatoes and coleslaw that needed to be eaten and carted it all to my kid who had to work this weekend. I kept enough for sandwiches for me. Cheap Easter dinner for sure.
2. In my continuing saga of home renovations, I now have a new heating/cooling window unit that is big enough for the whole house. Lightning ran in the old unit a couple of years ago. I now will have heat and air again once I pay my neighbor to put it in the window bc I cannot lift it! ! Air is especially important where I live. I realize this won’t work up north but it is more than satisfactory for my very small, hot house! It was also much much cheaper than the thousands for a central unit.
3. I planted more mustard greens, spinach, and tomatoes from seed packs in pots in between my rose bushes in my front yard. I have no HOA. Yes, I am cheap and use available space. They have already sprouted in this heat!
4. I walked in my neighborhood for exercise.
5. I ran out of orange juice so I am drinking vegetable juice for breakfast along with creative breakfasts that either consist of beans and cornbread or the leftover ham. We are not wasting anything in this economy and I bought only necessities with my $5 off $25 coupon from Dollar General.
3.
I’m off today for a school holiday, so I should be having a great 4-day weekend. But things did not go as planned. I’m waiting around the house for a no-show worker, and I am not a happy camper.
I’m not sure if this is a frugal win or a frugal fail or a tossup: I’d hired a handyman listed on Craigslist for some work around my house. A couple of weeks ago, he successfully installed some LED lights in my den, so I hired him again. This time, I asked him to install a nicer toilet in my master bathroom, take out the old one and use it to replace a VERY old, mid 1960s, non-working potty in a bathroom off the laundry room. (Ever see the movie “The Help”? This was a toilet/room like that — no lavatory to wash your hands, just the toilet, and you had to come out and wash your hands in the laundry room sink.) I also wanted him to put in a new floor in the toilet room, using the leftover vinyl planks from the front room project; he could more easily do that after removing the very old toilet and before installing its replacement.
He was supposed to show up Saturday afternoon. He didn’t. He came over late Saturday, dropped off the new toilet he’d bought and said he was too tired to work. (Tired or stoned? Not sure.)
He said he’d be here Sunday after church, around 1:30. So I did not go to Easter brunch with my friends. I waited and waited and waited, and called and called….and he got here at 5:30. Four hours late! Then it was “I forgot to get a second wax ring.” I had to run to Walmart for same, and that delayed us.
Long story short, the job was finished after 10 p.m. A lot of the time, he was arguing with his “old lady,” as he called her, over his cell phone.
Frugal win #1: it looks great, and the toilet room was done with stuff I already had around the house so no new expenditures (except for a wax ring).
Frugal win #2: I also long ago had installed a wall cabinet that was the cabinet part of the bathroom space save I’d used in my apartments, minus the leg parts. So it is 100% salvaged/reused stuff in there, except for the toilet paper holder I’d “inherited” from the prior owners.
Frugal fail #1: the guy was supposed to haul away the dead toilet. I told him I did NOT want the neighbors to see a potty left out on the curb. So he put it in the box the new toilet came in and left THAT out on the curb, on the neighbors’ side of my driveway. Our city does not pick up cardboard boxes at the curb and they left it this morning during the regular trash pickup. (I called and pleaded my case with the Solid Waste secretary and she’s arranging it to be taken away, and I won’t have to pay…I just hope this happens before neighbor gets home tonight.)
Frugal fail #2: At 10 p.m. the handyman found out that some water intake pipe or valve or thingamajig didn’t fit my toilet, so the potty room toilet isn’t able to be used. He promised to come by first thing this morning and finish the job. Of course he hasn’t. If he had, I would’ve heard his pickup truck’s LOUD muffler, which I’m sure woke up everyone within a 2 block radius of my house last night.
Frugal win #3: The nice new toilet in the master bedroom works great, looks great and certainly adds value to my house. (The toilet that was there before was another frugal fail….it was supposed to be an elongated potty and instead was a very small regular one that looked like a bargain basement buy….which it probably was, given that another bad handyman bought and installed it for me.)
Meanwhile, I wish I could find a way to get a good worker — not just a handyman, but a yard man as well. The bozos that I’ve hired lately have said “yes, I will do that,” and then totally ignore my instructions and do whatever the F they want to do in the first place. Which is usually a hit or miss deal. They just ignore what I want done bc I’m a woman.
Needless to say, as soon as the toilet is hooked up, that will be the last time I hire this latest goofball!
Handyman story: 20+ years ago my (former) husband hired a guy to do some work around the house. He showed up on time, the work was good, and he was personable and cheerful. Former husband was exulting and patting himself on the back for finding such a great guy. Until the night we turned on the news to see him in a 6-hour standoff with police, holding his estranged wife and their 2-year old hostage at gunpoint.
The story gets even more spectacular but said husband’s reputation for people-spotting skills never recovered. (wife and child were not hurt)
Ask everyone you talk to in the neighborhood if they have a handyman they would recommend. Has worked for us in numerous locations.
A good handyman is worth his/ her weight in gold!Here in Brisbane ,Australia we have a shortage of good tradesmen, leading to a “ when it suits me” attitude on the part of any who deign to add you to their roster. Imagine my delight when I found a youngish German guy who assured me that” In Germany you must come on time or you don’t have any business”, and he does! His prices are , by current standards, reasonable, he fixes, assembles, picks up and delivers!When he ‘s finished he tidies up!I live in a 79 unit vertical retirement village, and he is rapidly building a customer base here.
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I’ve had nothing but good luck hiring handy people on Task Rabbit!
My frugal five:
1. Our church serves a spaghetti supper for Maundy Thursday. Afterwards, I prepared 6 baked spaghetti casseroles from the leftovers to serve the homeless families that come to stay at our church 4 X a year. Future me will be thankful!
2. While I was working in the church kitchen, I was given two cartons of ice cream that was left over from a wedding reception. I was also given some linen fabric from someone cleaning out an estate. Great timing on the fabric – I need a summer dress for a wedding.
3. My husband went on a golf outing last week and I ate leftovers each night. A friend came to stay overnight. She has just moved and could not find her Easter decorations. I was just getting ready to donate most of mine so they went to a new home with her! She and I went to brunch together the next day which did cost $$ but I also skipped a meal and enjoyed her company.
4. We did not host an Easter dinner but I did take advantage of the sales on butter, cabbage, asparagus, carrots, and sweet potatoes.
5. I am growing romaine lettuce from a stalk on my windowsill. So far, so good. Plan to plant in a pot at the end of the week. If successful, I will do lots more from the three stalks we buy every week.
FFT, A “New” Computer Setup and Free Concert Tickets Edition:
(1) As I think I noted in a comment a few posts ago, I took the plunge on replacing the Antiques Roadshow iMac that’s been my office computer for many years, and purchased a late-model but refurbished Mac Mini, with my friend Mr. Fix-It’s guidance. (I thought I’d better do this before You Know Who changes his orange Jell-O mind again about tariffs on electronics made in China.)
(2) Over the weekend and into today, we’ve been getting the Mini set up. There have, as anticipated, been some wailings and gnashings of teeth–but on the whole, the process has gone more smoothly than I expected. Frugal win in terms of wear and tear on my brain.
(3) Mr. Fix-It–who, as I have also noted earlier, is something of a tech hoarder and wheeler-dealer–provided me with a large monitor, a keyboard, and a mouse from his ample stash. And on one of our trips to the basement to inspect my modem and router, he noted the pile of DH’s old electronic instruments for home energy performance testing. These things are over a decade old and no more use to me than dinosaur bones–but, no doubt with visions of eBay dancing in his head, he took away the whole pile and has declined further payment for the monitor et al. May the gods rain blessings on his head.
(4) One irritating part of this process has been having to uninstall a few apps from the iMac that were too old to update, and then reinstall new versions. Fortunately, most of the new ones have been free. And I found a version of Office Home 2024 for Mac that cost considerably less than retail.
(5) In other news, our NPR station had a giveaway on a pair of tickets to a concert this Friday night sponsored by our local folk music association, and I won! I’m inviting one of my two Sunday morning walking buddies to go with me. It’s an Irish concert, and she’s originally from Glasgow, Scotland, so we’re at least in the same Celtic ballpark. 🙂
“no more use to me than dinosaur bones”–I like that!
I loved the description of the “Antiques Roadshow iMac”! Come to think of it, I have a few electronic gadgets around that may fall into the same category…
1. The lettuce, peas and radishes I planted are up. Also lots of potatoes are coming up from peelings in the compost I buried.
2. Someone left a nice ceramic bird house at the recycling bins. It is now hanging in my yard.
3. Dropped off a donation of towels, cat bed and blankets at animal control. Looked at all the dogs and the one cat and didn’t bring any home, though I really wanted to. We have enough creatures for now.
4. For $7 I bought a thrift store purse that I thought was just what I needed. I don’t think it is going to work out. But it had $9 in it, so I am still ahead. I may donate it back and keep looking.
5. Picked up library books, movies and audio books. Free free free!
Your #3…happy to see your old towels, cat bed and blankets went to a shelter. When I worked at a cat shelter we went through so many of those items. I think due to the bleach we needed to use in the washing machine, they wore out quickly. So thanks a bunch. I’m a huge fan of helping those who can’t speak for themselves and that definitely includes animals.
1. I pulled a stadium chair in perfect condition from a free pile. It’s missing the nylon bag used to store it in but I don’t need one. I store our outdoor chairs in the shed anyway.
2. I made a cheddar cheese and broccoli soup from the leftover cheese sauce of Easter’s broccoli/cheese/stuffing casserole. I made too much cheese sauce for the casserole so I saved it. This noontime, I added more milk and some chopped broccoli. DH declared it delicious.
3. I washed (in cold water, of course) the bedding from a spare bedroom and hung it outside to dry. The cats sleep on the spare beds all winter so I wanted to refresh the sheets and blankets. Such spoiled kitties, each with their own bedroom.
4. Washing with rags (sometimes just with water), DH and I committed to working the town election again in May (minimum wage here in Massachusetts is $15 per hour so together we pull in $30 an hour) to make a little money and engage in civic duty, making meals, coffee, tea and ice cream here at home, reading The Frozen River (excellent!) for my book club which I bought from my indy book store owner friend for 10% off the cover price and I’m happy to help keep her in business as her store is a cultural oasis in our little town, wore what I already own for Easter dinner at DD’s house and staying home a lot. Since Covid I’ve become quite the homebody. I guess it gave me permission to tune out the world a little. ONLY silver lining to Covid.
Christine, I have a feeling your #4 and #5 got mashed up. Otherwise, I’d be wondering why you and your DH washed with rags before committing to working your town election. Hey, I know politics are dirty, but… (Sorry, but I couldn’t resist!) 😀
Oh my goodness! I actually forgot to post a #5, the one I usually have fun with. I’ll post it below. But as to #4 and #5 getting mashed up…it certainly reads that way. I was throwing random frugalities out there and the result turned out a little kooky!
Okay, here’s my real #5:
5. I didn’t send classified emails to my spouse and in law. Nor anyone for that matter.
1) We don’t eat eggs so I guess lately I’ve been saving a lot that way, but I did buy some for my kids to dye for Easter. The Trader Joe’s near my work always has them for the $3.50 price, it’s limited to one dozen per customer so I walked over on my lunch break on two separate days to get a dozen for each kid. The kids had fun dyeing them, my husband and daughter do at least like eating the hard boiled egg whites (and throw out the yolk, hence why we don’t normally bother buying eggs, so wasteful)
2) I do enjoy my morning oatmeal and yesterday I tried savory oatmeal recipe for the first time, delicious so I now have more in my morning oats rotation.
3) My mom still likes to give me a little basket for Easter, I told her I don’t really want pounds of candy though and even end up throwing a lot of it away. She was upset at first and said she didn’t know what she’d get me but now she’s embraced it and got me a pound of coffee, some seeds for my garden and a scented candle, all things I enjoy and will use.
4) I tried to get my kids some practical things in their Easter basket (they did get a bit of candy too though!) They got new water bottles, books (bought used), flower seeds, and new pajamas.
5) My husband was given two $5 Starbucks card, he doesn’t drink coffee so he gave them to me. Starbucks is somewhere I’m not shopping anymore but I will use up a gift card since that money has already been spent by someone else. I’m saving them for a day when I really feel I need that coffee treat boost though!
My daughter goes to school across the country. Whenever we get a Starbucks card, we give it to her, as every airport has a Starbucks, and when she has to transfer, she can eat.
1. Cooked one of the two hams on Sunday for dinner. Will cut up and freeze the rest in chunks for later dinners. Both hams are in the bone—I love hambone in soup. I will cook the second one later this week and do the same.
2. I made a sign for my new chicken coop out of leftover lumber and spray paint I already have. I hung it from a scrap of wire.
3. I started some Cape mallow cuttings for a friend, using old 4-inch plastic pots.
4. I picked clover and native* lettuce leaves from my yard for the hens to eat. *We used to call this Miner’s lettuce but we don’t do that anymore because it’s insulting to the indigenous who were eating it for 10,000 years before the Goldminers arrived.
5. Washing clothes at night to save on energy bill and hung the clothes to solar dry first thing.
6. Trash picked a large coffee canister with lid for storage
7. Used second hand packaging material for two eBay items.
8. Will not burn in hell for eternity for insulting the pope, and then him dying before I could apologize. (did JD Vance kill him?)
Re: your #8: I’ve been wondering the same thing.
This morning, we ate leftover from this, which I made yesterday (I’ve made it before), which calls for 8 eggs. No regrets as this dish is so. freaking. good.
https://www.foodandwine.com/croissant-breakfast-casserole-8659282
1. I made 2 “test containers” of overnight oats and the flavor was pretty good, so will make more.
2. Went with a friend for our monthly get together. We met when our boys were in PK together and didn’t want to lose our 21 year friendship because they grew up! The boys are still friends, too. We went to lunch, a thrift store, and to a used book store. Perfect day!
3. My sister gave me the ham bone from Easter because she knows I love to make bean soup.
4. Called and canceled a suspicious charge on my credit card. Will monitor and make sure it is credited back to my account. A streaming movie service I never heard of and never ordered.
5. Did not do a load of laundry today, which is rare for me! My husband calls me the laundry fairy, as he always has clean clothes!