Five Frugal Things
by Katy on July 7, 2025 · 53 comments
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My sister and I went on a post-supper neighborhood walk and happened upon a garage sale leftovers pile from that provided an empty Altoid tin and a sturdy plastic clothespin for me. My sister scored yarn, art supplies and a couple of books. We then came across two free ceramic flowerpots, one for each of us. My one has the same silhouette as one that already sits on my front porch, which is my kind of frugal serendipity!
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I took that single Altoids tin and added it to my organizational system for tiny items. Keep in mind that I don’t buy Altoids, so these were all scavenged. I enjoy figuring out creative solutions that bypass corporate America, even when it’s just a small project.
There, that’s better!
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I made another batch of chive-y cream cheese to keep in the fridge and spread on Dollar Tree Monet crackers. Cheaper than Boursin and all I added was seasoned salt, chopped fresh chives and garlic powder!
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I dropped People of The Book off at the library and picked up Three Days in June, by Anne Tyler. I love this author and am happy that she’s still writing. I had to wait a long time for this hold to come in and I’m excited to delve into it.
On another note, I really appreciate that Portland’s libraries are open seven days a week.
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I didn’t remove protections for my country’s most vulnerable citizens to benefit America’s most morally bankrupt businessmen.
Katy Wolk-Stanley
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I found a flowerpot too!
Wait, how are you getting the flowerpot home on the plane? Is it a small one?
(Asking because I will be flying to see Katy in September, and I figured Portland’s free piles will be useless to me. Ha.)
So here would be a fun frugal way to free pile pick and get your picks home for free (and make a small amount of money too!) sign up to be secret shopper with I Secret Shop. They almost always have USPS shops. Your shipping is reimbursed up to a certain amount and you get a small payment you usually $5-$10 dollar. There are some stipulations as top max size of package and minimum weight. I use this for shipping on marketplace and I’ve been known to send a lb bag of dried beans to a friend if the price is right.
I prudently am not taking huge planters back with me. This should fit in my carry-on. I do end up bringing back large and awkward items home with me (think cast iron Dutch ovens).
I think you and Katy should totally peruse free piles when you are here.
Did you use the Dutch oven as your carry-on? Like, in place of a purse? (a wallet and such would fit in it. Ha.)
1. One morning while walking we spotted four wood chairs among trash. They were kind of beat up but we drove back and picked them up (oh the thrill of beating the trash truck which usually comes early in the morning). They are IKEA chairs and DH is happy to be fixing them up. He needed a couple of screws so I ordered them from IKEA at no cost. They provide small parts free of charge. We will give the chairs away and be glad they did not end up in the landfill.
2. We had french fries with our lunch. They were free at Giant several weeks ago.
3. I reunited dog toys with our neighbor’s furry friends. There were three dog toys in our backyard, probably courtesy of foxes, so I texted three neighbors and found the owners. I didn’t want to throw the toys away but we don’t see the neighbors often.
4. I continue to give unneeded items away on Freecycle. It seems to be more actively used than it was for a while. I prefer not to use Buy Nothing since it part of Facebook/Meta. I listened to Careless People, about “leadership” at Facebook and it was as terrible an organization as other American corporations when the author worked there.
5. We will probably save quite a bit on federal taxes and I’d rather not have the tax cut given the cost to others and the future of the country.
I prefer Freecycle, too. It has been around a long time and seems to work well in our area.
There is also the Buy Nothing app, which is free to download and use for those that avoid Meta. Whether it’s very active and well used seems to vary across towns.
I just put this book on hold. Thank you for mentioning it.
I start my new very part time job in things from closet.
FFT, July Miscellany Edition:
(1) Great score on the flowerpots and other trashpicks, Katy and Jessica! I can’t remember the last time I actually bought a flowerpot; all mine come from curbs or neighbors’ excess holdings.
(2) The Bestest Neighbors treated me to an evening of baseball at our local AAA team’s park Saturday evening. Also, the designated “Taco Bell K-Man” on the visiting team obligingly struck out for us, entitling us to a free taco apiece on presentation of our ticket stubs at a Taco Bell. TA-CO! (Hey, they’re not as good as the ones Katy gets at her Portland food carts, but they’re free food, right?)
(3) We’re having our first real drought of the summer, so I’m back to being Our Lady of the Perpetual Watering Can. But I’m saving what little water I can by (a) keeping a bucket under the condenser dripline from my air conditioning, and (b) using the water people often leave in the NY State deposit water bottles I pick up. (Double folly: Buying bottled water and then not finishing it.)
(4) And the post-4th of July bottle and can deposits are adding up nicely.
(5) Finally, I didn’t slash the National Weather Service’s budget so badly that people died needlessly in a major flood.
Katy, I just finished Three Days In June. It is a short easy read with humor. And it has a cat in it. I highly recommend it.
I love Anne Tyler, and Gwendolyn Brooks, too! A new book from either of them is a cause for celebration!
Beth, I think you may be confusing Geraldine Brooks (the author of People of the Book) with Gwendolyn Brooks (a renowned African American poet who died in 2000).
Also, for the Geraldine Brooks fans out there, she’s just published a memoir called Memorial Days, about the sudden loss of her husband (the writer Tony Horwitz) in 2019 and her work on making a life without him. See this YouTube video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VdOK0vXqlqw). God bless her, she’s got more courage than I have. Every time I even think about writing something about losing DH, my mind throws up a “Closed for repairs” sign and goes home for the day.
Tony Horwitz wrote “Confederates in the Attic,” which I found laugh-out-loud funny. Being a Southerner with an open mind probably helps.
RIP Tony Horwitz. And in my former and your present hometown, we certainly have a lot of Confederates in the attic.
Haha, that was a slip of the tongue. I do know the works of both these wonderful ladies, but for some reason my brain delivered up the wrong name. Oh well, aging, you know.
1. I bought two big jars of Nice brand popcorn at Walgreens, saving .79 on each jar. Buying food at Walgreens is expensive, but I do find that their Nice brand is reasonable. And I really like the popcorn. It is always fresh. I suppose they have quick turnover on snack food.
2. I found a shiny penny in the middle of the street!
3. I picked up a new book at a little free library, “The Martha’s Vineyard Beach and Book Club,” by Martha Hall Kelly. Will return David Baldacci’s “The Innocent” today.
4. Making bean quesadillas for lunch today, using free refried beans. Already have tortillas, cheese and taco sauce on hand.
5. Did not cause the Statue of Liberty to cover her face in shame.
Just a heads up to people who camp/hike. Apparently corp of engineer funding has faced many government funding cuts and is closing a bazillion outdoor sites.
I just drove past 4 sites that get lots of use by locals and vacationers that are blocked off and closed.
This morning, while waiting for the technician from Renewal by Andersen to arrive to do repairs under warranty, I am:
1. Boiling free noodles from Buy Nothing
2. Mending using thread that’s been in my family for decades
3. Making sun tea using free tea from Buy Nothing
4. Cooking brown rice purchased from the bulk bins at the coop
5. Exercising to free videos on YouTube.
Using those kinds of little metal boxes for small hardware-type things is nothing new: I have a tin box, same size/shape as the Altoids, from the 1930s. It was a container for some nails, and the top of the box showed a boy in overalls working in his workshop. It’s just darling! My dad had used the box for many decades. It has graduated out of his garage and into the living room/dining room, on display with other antiques.
Meanwhile, I got a text from my college roommate and she and her family are OK. They live in Hunt, Texas, where it’s flooded, but their place is on high ground away from the river. She didn’t write much but said the destruction is devastating. Pls. keep them all in your thoughts and prayers!
— Workmen are putting in the luxury vinyl plank flooring right now. This is the 15% off sale flooring from Ollie’s. I had them save pieces of the torn-up hall carpet(actually, Walmart throw rugs fastened together for a hallway carpet that the dog chewed). I still have a large throw rug (same pattern, looks like patchwork and is really cute) for the computer room for the center, once it is planked, and will make some pillows or something out of those rug scraps. While I like being a non-consumer whenever possible, this time I couldn’t find anything secondhand so my flooring had to be purchased new.
— Got some latex paint at Walmart for the flooring guys so they can paint the toe holds a coordinating color to match the floor. Frugal fail: I went to Habitat ReStore to purchase the paint I’d gotten before, the recycled Visions brand paint in the color called “Sands of Time.” There was none. Clerk said someone had come in and bought every last can of “Sands” that they had. Grrr!
— After moving 16 boxes of vinyl plank indoors so it could “outgas” prior to the workers arriving, I cleared out the computer room and moved all the furniture out myself. (Just call me Arnold!)
–Someone mentioned water bottles, and when I was at a thrift store that specialized in hardware items (not ReStore, but a similar one), I saw they’d stocked a lot of nuts and bolts, nails and screws and other small items in the bottoms of (individual sized) water bottles. They just cut them in half and used the bottom part for this purpose. Since the bottles are clear, it made it easier to see what was inside. Hadn’t seen that before, so I thought I’d pass along this tip.
— Our July 4 fireworks got rained out but last night I got to watch a showing of another city’s fireworks show that a car dealership sponsored on the local TV station.
Similarly, do you remember metal band-aid boxes? My Dad had one for the Indian head pennies and buffalo nickels he saved from collecting for his paper route.
Yes! My dad used band-aid cans for nails, etc. Baking powder cans are great, too, with snap-on lid.
Heidi Louise, I still have the metal box from my childhood. I use it for … Band-Aids!
Mine is a Curad box, for safety pins. Much sturdier than the modern thin cardboard boxes!
I still have a metal bandaid box. No matter the brand, I store bandages in this box. Vintage happiness! “I am stuck on Band Aid ’cause Band Aid’s stuck on me”. Is this one of the jingles that Barry Manilow wrote?
I have a seasonal job that requires me to carry small carpet tax to put up notices. Tic tac boxes, for the win! Not only do the small things fit in, but they come out neatly into your hand instead of all over the ground where they are invisible and sharp.
I have a seasonal job that requires me to carry small carpet tax to put up notices. Tic tac boxes, for the win! Not only do the small things fit in, but they come out neatly into your hand instead of all over the ground where they are invisible and sharp.
1. The house next door to us is vacant but while I was outside with my grandson I noticed a blue Ikea bag had blown into the empty yard. I grabbed it. It was filled with trash but after a few washings, it was a. good as new and very useful Ikea bag.
2. I listed some bath rugs on my Buy Nothing group and scored a Fisher Price play castle on the same group.
3. I sold an item on my ebay listings. I used recycled materials to send and printed the label at the library for free.
4. The weather here has consistently been in the 90’s over the last few weeks so we have been taking advantage of our neighborhood swimming pool. We pay for it monthly along with snow shoveling, trash pick up and a small rec center so I’m glad that we can get our moneys worth.
5. Still successfully decluttering, eating down the pantry (and freezer and fridge), reading my library book (West With Giraffes by Lynda Rutledge) ,watching our 2 streaming services, eating at home and enjoying our patio in the evenings after it cools down a bit. Thankful for what we have.
West with Giraffes is wonderful. Describes an interesting era in America. Funny and poignant.
1. I worked the local MLB game on the 4th and will earn the minimum $150 that my group offers if you work on a holiday. This is double the normal payout
2. Dh built me a new shelving unit for my storage totes. Our basement flooded in August and we had to dismantle and throw out some of the wood from the old one. He reused what didn’t get wet for this project. Thank goodness for plastic totes because they save all my pictures and albums from being destroyed
3. Made a batch of homemade muffins. We will freeze most to pull out as we want them. We are empty nesters for about 8 weeks. DS moved out in early June, dd will move back in at the end of the month
4. My nephew is playing in a draft league team about an hour from here. We went to his game this weekend using a free ticket dh won at the last game we went to. We did not take the toll road out there which saved us about $7. We took dh’s beer cup from last time for a discounted refill.
5. BAthed the dog ourselves. Dh changed the oil in his car. He also mowed our grass. We offered the job to our ds who needs money and were going to pay him $50, but he declined. So I kept my money and dh did it for free
1. I have milk in the instant pot for yogurt
2. I have a FB marketplace item on my porch for pick up.
3. I picked plums at a friend’s house while she’s away(with permission) and divided them to give half to a different friend who is always very generous.
4. Dropped off chives at a friend’s house and had a nice chat.
5. Doing errands on my bike today-PO, library, a return and a donation drop off. I save gas whenever I can.
I had a pet parenting failure and accidentally nicked a tiny spot on the cat’s belly — she is a chubby, fluffy girl — while clippering her fur. Did first aid and it seemed to stop bleeding, but she left a little bloody spot on our quilt. Used some hydrogen peroxide to get the stain out.
DH splattered a good shirt with deck stain and I was less successful getting that out, but did manage to scrub it into less visibility.
Why is DH wearing a good shirt to stain the deck? I keep several stained t-shirts on hand for such activities. I cut the sleeves out of a few to wear in hot weather. My chest and stomach act as shelved for any and all food droppings. There comes a point in which the stains no longer come out, so I wear them for tasks around the house that I’m liable to get dirty.
He was supposed to just test a spot of the stain but got excited about how nice it looked and there was an oopsie. He ruins a lot of clothes that way.
Face palm
1. DD wanted soup from a fancy organic grocery store. I talked her into homemade chicken soup. Broth from crockpot chicken, leftover chicken and I make “rivals.” It’s a Pennsylvania Dutch thing. One cup of flour and one-two eggs. Mix with your hand until the mixture separates into rice size (or a bit bigger) pieces. Drop into boiling soup, cook till done. Kind of like teeny tiny dumplings. Very yummy and cheap. I usually put corn in (chicken corn soup) but DD asked for no corn. Some people put hard boiled egg in it. I don’t.
2. Neighbors are moving. I scored a brand new outdoor tall chair. It still needs assembled! I’m dropping it at a friends house that has an outdoor bar.
3. Pulled a bunch of things from the same moving neighbors: unopened bag of succulent potting soil, 2 soup bowls, 4 glass storage containers, a collapsible hand truck (I’ll be listing this one on market place),
4. Eating up the last of the fruit salad from marked down berries.
5. Found a tiny Revere Ware tea pot in a different free pile. Perfect size for our camper!
Hahaha! Read your #1 as SOAP and wondered what on earth chicken soap would be like! 🙂
I love hearing about the free piles.
1. I gave myself a pedicure.
2. I used $20 in Meijer rewards for groceries.
3. My daughter and I picked black raspberries to add to a berry salad.
4. I made chicken salad and took that along with the berries to my MIL’s house for lunch.
5. I walked today for free exercise. I’m reading a library book. I washed my laundry in cold water.
I have been focusing on eating at home before we go on a trip to utilize things in the fridge that will otherwise go bad if we do not eat them. By minimalizing my shopping, I have been able to save a good amount of money and keep hard earned food/money out of the trash.
On the 4th…
We had brunch together of bacon, eggs, and mandarin oranges. For dinner we had beans, hot dogs, kielbasa, and sauerkraut.
Yesterday we had…
Bacon, pancakes, and eggs, plus mandarin oranges for brunch.
For dinner my SO had salad with extra green peppers and mushrooms, plus two left over pieces of pizza. My son had ham and cheese sliders. I had chicken nuggets. It was eclectic.
We went for a walk at the beach, and instead of getting an ice cream at the beach we went home and enjoyed the ice cream choices we had at home.
I baked off cookies and brownies for us to have treats.
Today I went and got a Summer Break Spot box of snacks and drinks for my son. In my state you can receive one a week for free for children 18 and under during Summer. It has been a blessing to receive these. I also picked up one for my friend’s daughter this week. Usually we carpool but she had something else going on today.
A neighbor came over and I offered her some frozen plantains I didn’t think we would go through and another item or two, which I had received for free from other neighbors.
My creative cooking juices are running dry, but I will try and make it through the week with us eating out minimally and packing snacks for the roadtrip/weddings.
My biggest frugal, I spoke with a neighbor who I am similar sized with and she lent me a lot of formal wear outfits to try on for the weddings. I have a lot of office wear and casual wear, but not a lot of formal wear. Super thankful for her generosity.
Inspired by Katy’s recent post, attended a local blood drive and went away with a $25 gift card, a t-shirt, ticket to a local attraction and several cookies. Absolutely pain-free and very fast, they’ve improved the medical technology since I last donated 15 years ago. My blood was banned here for ages because of Mad Cow Disease in the UK but we’ve all been declared infection free now.
Oh, I didn’t know there was a new Anne Tyler book out!! That is awesome! I love her as well. Off to the library holds list I go . . .
1) Gradually working on much neglected housework. Took all of my canned goods, labeled them using a black permanent marker with month/year of expiration/use by date. Sorted them chronologically and put them back in the cabinet. Made a list of what’s there (also in chronological order) so we can easily shop what we have on hand first.
2) DH and I worked together to clean the now sparkling bathoom. Once it’s clean, it pains me to have to back in to use it.
3) DH used the last of the Dollar Tree version of Lysol to mop the bathroom floor. Another bottle in the recycling bin and out of the house. As I mentioned before, I bought a gallon of Simple Green concentrate a while back. Only other area needing mopped is the kitchen, which is on tomorrow’s agenda. Simple Green will do the job nicely.
4) Running the AC during the day. Crocheting an afghan large enough to cover a king size bed is not only cumbersome, but it is also VERY HOT in July. I’m entering it in the fair (will miss the first fair, hope to get it done in time for fair #2. Fair #3 is the last week of September. Will definitely have it done by then.
5) Easy supper of a box of AuGratin potatoes from Aldi with cut up slices of andouille sausage cooked in it. Have enough andouille sausage left to have it one more time. The toaster/convection oven didn’t heat up the house. Also had some celery sticks. Ice cream sandwiches for later tonight. Have to buy a package of flour tortillas and a can of cream of mushroom soup tomorrow while I’m out for an appointment so we can finish off the last of the chicken enchilada filling I made. I took 12 enchiladas to church yesterday for a potluck after the service. Came home with an empty dish. Yay me! I have to sort through cookbooks tomorrow to find cake or pie recipes using things I already have at home. The community carnival right behind the church is this week. Thursday is our church’s night to staff the ice cream stand, and we also donate cakes and pies to go with the ice cream. The event benefits the local volunteer fire department, and it’s a great opportunity for community outreach for our church.
I love using chat gpt to come up with recipes using things I have at home!
I always feel like a massive winner when I see my potluck dish emptied out. Good for you!
– [ ] I was able to have a 6 hour stretch at the GW outlet while my mom was in town. I found a ton of great finds, toys books and clothes for my little one as well as my nephews, some clothes for myself, other random household goods and a handful of items to sell. I have already sold 3 items that have made up for most of what I spent!
– [ ] Was able to get a pair of water shoes for my 13 month old from our BN group.
– [ ] Picked up a flash give of hot dogs and corn on the cob from our BN group. We typically don’t buy hot dogs, but I was not going to turn down a cheap/easy meal especially while recovering from a nasty virus.
– [ ] They installed fiber internet in our neighborhood. We called our current company and negotiated our rate down without having to switch.
– [ ] Plan on exploring free lunch for my kiddo this week. Our state provides free lunch to kids during the summer. I want to get him exposed to school food early so that he’s always able to find something he is willing to eat. I had feeding issues as a kid , so I’m big on early exposure!
1. Reading some of my Angela Thirkells. Yes, literally every book is the same, but it’s kind of soothing.
2. Made a pretty nice stir fry from leftovers.
3. Went to the beach for two days in the past three. I am not afraid of the sun and I make sure to get some sun exposure before I put sunblock on.
Angela Thirkell may be the perfect antidote for today’s news. My grandmother loved them. Maybe it’s time I looked at them again!
1) Our staycation began today! So many of my frugal fives are related to that, with the first being we took a staycation so are saving on any airfare and lodging costs this week, and dining out.
2) Our first adventure today was going to a science museum in the big city. We took public transit, parking is usually exorbitant plus the headache of driving through the City made public transit the better option. As a bonus, my kids love taking public transit. We took one form into the City, we all had to pay (daughter used to be free but she turned 5 so not free anymore) but I still have a balance on my commuter card from when I used to commute via public transit so at least I’m using that up. Then we took another form of transit in the City, and that one the kids both rode for free.
3) The museum did sell food but my kids are usually too excited to eat much at those places so it’s painful to pay so much for food and then throw most of it away. So I just brought a hearty snack(they allowed you to bring in your own snacks) and then made them a late lunch when we got home. This worked very well so i will probably follow the same plan all week (maybe will go out for frozen yogurt though or something at some point)
4) It didn’t save me money but my parents parked at our house again and I drove them to the airport this morning (I live 15 minutes from the airport, they live an hour away) so it saved them the cost of transportation or parking at the airport. I will do the same for my sister, who is flying out tomorrow. (I think that’s the limit though, neighbors may start complaining if there’s too many extra cars here, right now the two extras will fit in front of our house at least)
5) I’m on a streak of great books lately! I really enjoyed the previously mentioned James by Percival Everett and now I just finished Solito by Javier Zamora which I also loved and was such a timely read for what’s happening right now with immigration here. Now I’m starting Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult, which I honestly don’t want to read at all because it’s about a school shooting but it’s the book club pick for this month (she is usually an engaging author at least)
I am jelly of the free piles. We have none of that here in this very poor town. In the other hand, houses are extremely cheap so I guess there are pluses and minuses everywhere.
1. I am, of course, taking my breakfast and lunch to work this week.
2. All other meals are at home and basically consist of the baked beans I made too many of on the 4th, watermelon, homemade potato salad, and farmer’s market tomato sandwiches. I have hot dogs to go with the beans and ai use sandwich bread as a bun bc I am it spending money on a bun.
3. I walked in my neighborhood and one of the walks consisted of going a coupe of blocks to see the town’s fireworks on July 5th. The town is broke and why they are spending money on fireworks is beyond me but they only lasted an hour so that was a reasonable length of time and money I guess.
4. The biggie is that although I do have air conditioning now, I am trying to run it as little as possible and using the screened windows and a large fan as much as possible. It is about 94 here and Idid run the air conditioner for two hours today.
5. I harvested mustard greens and green onions from my front yard garden bc we have no HOA here.
Hi Cindy
I am also jealous of those free piles. Also in the South in a very small town. I doubt there were any actual Fireworks. Lots of poppers around though
Not spending money on a bun. I am also not upgrading my tiny phone so I can type without so many typos… lol I will use this phone until it completely dies and goes to phone heaven.
1. The large chair that I am no longer wanting in my living room is too big for #2 son to haul up the winding stairs to his loft for storage for his girlfriend, so I have rearranged the new living room layout to store it in a corner for the next while. This is NOT a perfect solution, yet I can make it work; the chair was my girlfriend’s antique that she had re-covered, and moved across the continent. When she and I traded chairs 3 or 4 years ago ( to our mutual satisfaction – how to get a new look? Trade with a friend) it worked well in my living room. Now I a moving on in my space, and want it gone. It is BIG and a bit of a statement and rather fun and funky, too, so I would prefer it ends up loved somewhere; I will hang on to it until my Son’s GF moves into a space of her own.
2. More boxes of books out to the car for the used bookstore.
3. Also, more boxes for the thrift store out to the car.
4. A girlfriend dropped off a couple of pots of marigolds, which she had started from seeds she had collected from my plants last year. I really have not managed much in the garden so this was an unexpected delight.
She also potted up a lovely yellow oregano that she was growing as an ornamental in a pot on her porch. I commented on how beautiful it was, and she promptly promised to gift me some. I wasn’t up when she was passing by and so, by arrangement, she left the plants at my front door. Drive-by plant bombings for the win!
5. I got to travel the hour and a half to see my mom, and my Daughter joined us for dinner as I can be a buffer. I had several errands to run en route, after an already tightly scheduled morning in my own hometown, although I planned excessive gaps for breathing room.
Luckily Mom is flexible about when I arrive, so I didn’t get worried about getting to her at a set hour. I was lucky and able to whip into the three intended spots, even though the last one could have been postponed until another time.
Batching errands is so frugal, particularly at that town, which is a goodly drive away; careful self-discipline at each ‘stop’ ensured I didn’t get behind the eight-ball and frazzled.
6. A couple of weeks ago I walked with my mom, and convinced her to cross the road to investigate a free box. She was delighted to do so as she still is frugally minded, and always curious. I got a ½ cup canning jar, two other cute AF jars that might have held yogurt? (around ½ cup sized) and there was a small rubbermaid food storage container (the cheapo kind with the red top) that looked barely used, so I picked that up to carry the other jars.
We also investigated two little libraries and I picked up a book. This recent visit with mom I also got books from her closest little library. She keeps filling it with books from her shelves, so I don’t worry about raiding – this is in a neighbourhood with many older folk, so there is a great turnover of books. Finally brought all those gleanings in from the car, however I will admit that the jars and rubbermaid container haven’t been sanitized yet! baby steps