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I made a batch of pickled red onion, which’ll be a fun topping for various savory dishes such as tacos, salads, chili, etc. I spent 56¢ on the onion and used a cup of white vinegar, water, 1/6 cup of sugar, peppercorns, garlic powder and salt. The recipe recommended using a mandoline, but I have a recently sharpened knife and decently adequate knife skills. I followed this recipe, although they’re pretty much all the same.
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I set two wastebaskets out on the curb and one was nabbed by a passerby before I could even walk back into the house. I put unwanted items out on a nearby corner that gets significantly more action that my own front yard and I don’t think I’ve ever set something out that didn’t get taken.
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I took the 46 pounds of my late in law’s financial papers to the free shredding event that I wrote about last week. (Saved us $46!) What I didn’t write about was how among their hundreds (and hundreds) of unopened pieces of mail were two checks. One from a class action lawsuit for $200 and the other from their insurance company for $800. My husband contacted the insurance company and provided them with the proper paperwork to get it reissued. He also mailed paperwork to the class action firm, although that one’s likely to be a lost cause. My husband is the estate administrator, so he’ll split any funds with his two brothers.
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• I borrowed two books — Emily Henry’s “Book Lovers” from my mother and Molly Gloss’ “The Dazzle of Day” from my father.
• I mixed chopped chives into the last of some cream cheese. The chives have been in my freezer since last autumn when I harvested them from my garden. It’s good to preserve food, but it’s the goal to remember to actually eat it.
• I mixed up a batch of The Frugal Girl’s cilantro sauce to use up some cilantro that was on its last legs. I’m not sure what I’ll use it for, but I’ll figure something out. -
#5 is from my sister, who is a NYC high school teacher. They have a tremendous amount of cafeteria food that goes to waste, so the teachers can take home certain items. This is directly related to her sudden interest in making batches of “raisin forward” granola.
Five Frugal Things
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I want to add that I’m only snagging items that are getting thrown away…mostly this is small containers of milk and unpopular items such as raisins. And yes, there is such a thing as TOO MANY RAISINS in granola.
Those small cartons of milk would be so nice to have on hand for recipes. I drink so little milk that I always waste some.
At the school where I work the students are required to take certain items but there’s a table where they can return them so others can have them.
All of the edible food thrown in the actual garbage goes to neighborhood pigs!
Thanks for the cilantro sauce recipe link. I will give it a try. I love cilantro but it often goes bad before I can use it all.
1. I used a $15 coupon and a $10 reward at the pet store to buy dog kibble. I didn’t need it yet but the expiration date is for next year and I wanted to take advantage of the 25% off coupon.
2. I had a girls day with my mom, sister and two of my daughters. We went for lunch and shared appetizers instead of a full meal, making it much more affordable outing.
3. We all went to a weekend estate sale. It was the last day and everything was 50% off. I bought 4 Cutco knives and 4 Ekco canoe steak knives for $1. I will be selling them on Ebay.
4. I sold two things on Ebay last week which is enough to pay my electric bill.
5. I’m reading library books on my Kindle. I’m drinking tap water. I’m drying my laundry on racks except for linens. I am walking for free exercise.
Your #2 reminded me. Often, depending on the restaurant, my husband and I will either order 1 entree and split it, order appetizers only, or find another way to stretch a dollar. For example: Longhorn Steakhouse – we each order a Wild West Shrimp appetizer and water with lemon. Olive Garden – one order of Chicken Parmesan. Subway – ww each get a footlong, eat half that day and the other half the nect day. Sometimes, we just order somwthing like a salad and a baked potato.
Cutco knives -I’m jealous!!! They were left on the last day – unbelievable!!! I live about 30 miles from where they are made!! Best knives ever!!And you only paid $1 – UGH – i never find deals like that!!! Congrats on your purchase!!!
Aren’t Cutco knives an MLM?
I think they’re an MLM in the same way that Tupperware is an MLM. There are people who are ridiculously loyal to the product.
That said, I knew a few people in college who got stuck with the Cutco sales kit that they were required to purchase for the job of selling knives door-to-door, and I thought the company had sleazy practices. I won’t even pick up their stuff at a garage sale!
I love the Bonne Maman jars!
1. Dried chives and ground them to powder, yielding about half a cup. I’m self sufficient in most herbs that I use.
2. Picked up several things from 2 free piles. All to sell.
3. Attended grad party for a neighbor’s daughter. They had a taco truck catering so I had a free lunch and also brought home a plate for my husband who wasn’t able to attend. I gave a handmade gift that cost me nothing but time. I wrapped it in a free gift bag, and even the tag was repurposed. We had color invitations printed for our daughters high school graduation (8 years ago) but then had to change the date. I cut off the top of each invitation which had a nice floral design and the word ‘celebrate’. I punched a hole at one end and have used them as gift tags ever since.
4. My husband is a good pickleball player and is often asked to partner someone in a tournament. Yesterday he played with a friend and they won a gold medal. He got a free lunch there and a bottle of wine for a prize. He also came home with several free snacks. The person who asked him to play paid the entrance fee. Free food and exercise!
5. Made blackberry rhubarb jelly (both free from my garden). I’ll give a jar to a friend for her birthday tomorrow.
1. Received two Stella del Oro daylilies from Buy Nothing. Also, a CD player and metal scoops.
2. Gave away two rugs and two new dish towels on Buy Nothing.
3. Did not purchase ice and water refrigerator filters from Amazon. Spent $10 more elsewhere, and I’m OK with that.
4. In the ongoing saga of removing paint from places it shouldn’t be, I tackled the paint-splotched stair handrail brackets. Got free advice from Ms. Google and learned that the brackets are solid brass. According to Bob Vila from This Old House: “Before you start cleaning brass, make sure that the item you are cleaning is, in fact, brass. … Place a small magnet on the metal. Magnets will not stick to solid brass.” I did not know this. I cleaned the brackets using ketchup and elbow grease.
5. Picked up a bag of groceries from Buy Nothing that no one else wanted. Included were two boxes of a very low-end mac ‘n’ cheese; I kept the noodles and tossed the packets. I donated the non-vegetarian items to the food shelf.
The only magnetic metals you’re gonna have in your home are iron and nickel.
Mine are very tiny
1. We are having monsoon like rains with high winds so I literally did not leave the house Sunday. I also didn’t buy anything on the internet so no money spent except for electricity and water, the water I always use the minimum amount that is required to be paid for service anyway.
2. I did not have to water my roses nor my onions and mustard greens because of the heavy rain.
3. I opened the windows between rainstorm so as not to run the air.
4. I used the water from boiled chicken to add to my tomato based noodles, onions, and spinach dish.
5. I took a nap, well when the thunder was not at window shaking levels.
I love pickled onions, and they look so nice in the jars!
1. Filled out a rebate for $1,000 off of a swimming pool heat pump. We have not had a working heater in years. It is a luxury, but I am hoping to get my 91 year old mother swimming, and, since we have solar panels, we have plenty of free electric to power the pump.
2. Tending native shrub starts I got last year from NY State nursery, rooting shrub cuttings on the windowsill in pretty glasses placed on coasters. Planting flower seeds, dill, etc, from library and also using up old seeds. I start them in soda bottles with the top inverted. There are many tutorials on this. Some cool tips are to put a rock in the bottom to keep the mop string from floating up. Also, don’t fertilize until the seeds germinate and begin growing, and then add liquid fertilizer to the bottom water. The wick can be anything from strips of old t-shirts to a string from a mop. I put many seeds in, and they germinate quickly. I use water bottles and soda bottles that scavenged over the year.
3. Sanding and repairing free pile bistro chairs to spray paint bright blue for my front yard. Replacing the slats using cedar from some fence sections someone gave me. The bottom 2’ of fence is, but the rest of the wood is beautiful. I am giving some of it to a friend who wants to restore a bench that belonged to her late father.
4. Am restoring a bench I have had for 20 + years that had gotten rickety. Took it apart, cut and replaced some dowels, and it is all reassembled, clamped and drying in the garage. The weather turned damp, so I hope the epoxy sets correctly.
5. I made really cool tags for my oyster lines by drilling holes in old plastic peanut butter lids, and finally learned how to use the Dremel I got for Christmas a few years ago, and engraved the plastic. Learning how to use this tool will help me to be able to do more repairs, etc.
Rather mundane weekend at home.
1. Washed decorative glassware
2. Put some items on eBay
3. Washed bedspread and pillow shams
4. Cooked leftover pork chops with black beans in crock pot
5. Threats of more tornadoes and thunderstorms kept me from garage sales over the weekend
It was hot this weekend, so we didn’t get out much. (PNW hot, so only like 81 F but still too hot for me!)
1) I saved some vintage-style glass vases from the trash pile at work, then filled them with weeds/wildflowers from the side of our lane. They are so pretty lined up in a row on our kitchen windowsill.
2) Our home was missing seven window screens when we moved in, and now that it’s getting warm we need them — we have indoor-only cats so screen less windows aren’t an option. After pricing aluminum frame screens and screen kits, we opted to go old school and built wood-framed screens ourselves. $20 for all materials since there is already white exterior paint on hand, vs $25-45 for just a single screen, depending on window size.
3) I woke up early to make bread and chocolate chip cookies before it got hot, then we only used the microwave and the air fryer for the rest of the day.
4) Was craving popsicles or ice cream, but none on hand. I raided the recycling container for adequate molds to wash and sanitize. I made a puree from some fruit in the fridge, poured it into the molds, then used wooden skewers cut in half for sticks. Worked well enough!
5) We decided to catch some cool ocean breezes so we visited the port for an afternoon walk. We did splurge on two iced dirty chais, but I had a punch card for a freebie so it only cost us $6 after the tip.
1. Bought a taco costume off of FB Marketplace instead of ordering from Amazon. I will wear the costume on Saturday to a protest against 47 on Saturday. I will also wear a chicken head so I will be a chicken TACO.
2. I combined the pick up of the taco costume with a convince store mystery shop. Free gallon of iced tea plus $8. So gas was more than covered.
3. Took our winter comforter to wash at the laundry mat. It is too big to fit in my washing machine. I planned this in a 95 degree day so I could bring it home wet and hand it our side to dry.
4. Got to go to the Suzanne Vega concert with friends. One friend couldn’t go so she gifted me her thicket as I am long term fostering her daughter’s bearded dragon. Personally I feel like I so much came out a head. A concert AND a bearded dragon!
5. I was wanting a small table to put beside my reading chair so I’d have room for more books and a better placement of a reading lamp. I found a floor lamp with two shelves on the curb yesterday. It works and I just cleaned it up, put a bulb in it and took a shade from an unused lamp to out in it. Very very happy. And $0 spent! I love when the Free Pile gods shine in me!
This will be from the last few weeks as things have been very busy around here – I got married on May 31!
6. Didn’t go out socially this weekend, which is unusual for us. Everyone in our friend group is feeling pinched financially, so we brainstormed ways to hang out for free/cheap. My partner and I made a list of all the gift cards we have so that we can reference that when we are feeling like going out for a treat.
5. Rode bikes to run our errands on Saturday – bank, market, and post office. Stopped to take a picture of a new mural that was being painted.
4. Refinanced my car loan with my credit union – lower rate and a shorter payoff period means paying much less in interest over time, saving a bit on my monthly payment (although I’ll keep paying the same amount to try and pay it off even faster), and giving my money to a CC instead of GM Financial.
3. Grocery shopped based on the sales flyer and remembered to use a $10 off card that my partner had received. Saved around $50, which was a third of the total bill!
2. All of our weekend meals came from leftovers, which we had plenty of for having so many house guests over the past 2 weeks!
1. At the end of our wedding reception, the event coordinator asked if the greenery on the tables (fake eucalyptus vines) belonged to us or if we’d borrowed them. I bought them, along with almost all the rest of our wedding decor, off Facebook marketplace. The coordinator said he likes to have decor on hand for events, and asked if I’d be willing to make a deal for the vines. We’d already paid the balance of the bill, so I asked what he had in mind. The venue is a brewery, so we negotiated beer! We walked away with at least $160 worth of locally made beer and cider in exchange for the vines, which I had paid $70 for and was going to just relist on the marketplace anyway!!
Congratulations to you and your partner! May you have many happy times together!
Sounds like you are already in agreement about frugal matters, which is a big deal for a relationship.
Thank you!! It’s a work in progress – I was raised in a frugal family and he wasn’t, so it isn’t a habit for him. But it is a goal for him, so it works out!
In the cilantro recipe, she talks about how to make sure you rinse your cilantro so it doesn’t make the recipe gritty. I had a friend who made the most amazing fish stew. He was in the process of making it, and I was helping him with some of the chopping and prep work. He said, hand me the cilantro, and I said well let me rinse it first. He said it’s pre-cleaned. I said nothing is pre-cleaned unless it’s in a package and it says that it’s been washed. He disagreed with me. I washed it over a bowl to catch all the dirt. He couldn’t believe it. He had just been using it from the bunch. It still gives me the heebie-jeebies to think about it but it also kind of makes me laugh.
I also wanted to say I love pickled onions. Especially on chicken larb salad.
This is a great reminder to pickle the onion on my counter that is so old it can probably vote (in onion years)!
1. Another week of road trips, so minimal grocery shopping to avoid food waste. DH said he would fend for himself and usually just eats out of the pantry, so we should avoid major takeout bills.
2. I was inspired by your outdoor cushion clean up so I took to mine yesterday. It is GROSS – mildew, dirt, and general outdoor muck. It looks better but still rough. It also hit me that this cushion in particular will likely fit in my washing machine, so I’m hopeful that will restore it to something I would let a guest sit on.
3. Library books all around here – finishing up Thursday Murder Club before moving over to Seven Year Slip. Some fiction is good for the soul right now.
4. Leftovers for breakfast this morning.
5. Cracking a window on this cool day to get some fresh air before the summer heat and smog come back later this week.
1. Maybe not frugal, but I was finished driving school van for the year about 10 am on Thursday. I took the rest of Thursday – Sunday as a “mental health vacation.” Mostly worked on an afghan I am making to enter in 3 local fairs.
2. Filed for unemployment this morning. Actually didn’t give me a hang-up like it usually does (every year prior it has kicked me out saying my birthday isn’t my birthday?). Talked to the secretary at my bus contractor’s office as our pay stubs are written weird and I needed to confirm my hours/day and hourly rate. When I started driving in 2019, I was making $12/hour. That has significantly increased by about $4/hour. Not complaining. Had a very long route this year (141 miles/day; average is about 88 miles/day or less for most drivers). I hope I get the same LONG route next year.
3. I had initially made an afghan I had completed to enter in the 3 local fairs and made the mistake (?) of showing a picture to my psychologist. She wanted to buy it! . She paid me $100; hence I am working on a second afghan (see #1) to enter in the fair. The first one was wide enough to cover a twin size bed and about 8′ long. This one will cover a queen size bed (12′ wide). I have a long way to go, but I have quite a bit done. Like the “Little Engine that Could,” I keep saying, “I think I can…I think in can…I KNOW I can.”
4. We had an unusually mild winter, like snow plows were out less than 10 times and school was only cancelled 1 day and delayed 2 days. There are generally many more cancellations/delays during the winter months. Now, we are being hit with either drought or rain (not enough rain to balance out the drought), but the rain is frequent. Won’t be able to hang laundry out until Wednesday or Thursday. Hence, the big items such as sheets and towels are piling up. Undies, socks, and smaller items are basically what’s getting washed.
5. Goal for summer: repaint porch railing. We rent a 1969 mobile home (12′ x 60′ – think 1970’s dark paneling on the interior). Definitely seen better days, but the porch railing is the worst. Paint peeling and covered in pollen. Have an old bed sheet to use as a drop cloth and bought a paint scraper and a sanding block at Dollar Tree. Going to scrape off old paint, sand, and repaint once the weather cooperates. Also going to the local farmer’s market to stock up on produce to can for the winter. First plan is to can pickled beets. Husband likes them, I don’t. Last summer I canned 26 pints of pickled beets from a 25 lb bag of beets and it lasted him the year. He is down to his last pint. Time to restock.
Bonus: Although we’ve had a significant amount of rain, we are enjoying God’s air conditioning system and not running the electric one.
Bonus 2: If you have large family or group gatherings (my husband is the youngest of 9, so you can imagine with all the nieces, nephews, and all their kids, it’s quite the gathering). Anyway, his family has a mish-mosh of eating and serving utensils – mostly odd pieces from family members. There are more utensils than what we really need for such a large family, but we keep them anyway. One of my husband’s sister houses the box of silverware and, if anyone needs to borrow it, they can. We use the silverware at every family gathering (Christmas, Birthday, Reunion). After the meal, my sister-in-law gathers all the silverware, takes it home and runs it through her dishwasher and puts it back in the box until it’s needed again. If you have a large family, in particular, you way want to think about collecting all those oddball utensils and storing them for use at family or other large group gatherings.
I recommend periodically checking unclaimed property for your in-laws state, and seeing if anything shows up. That class auction check may be in there. We found an uncashed check in my inlaws paperwork when cleaning out their house, and it had been sent to unclaimed property and we had to submit paperwork proof to get it sent to the estate administrator.
I have a reminder in my calendar to check every 6 months to see if anything else has come up for us or the in-laws.