Five Frugal Things
by Katy on July 21, 2025 · 44 comments
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I started reading a library copy of Anne Tyler’s Three Days in June, which drew me in from the very first chapter. I’ll never stop being appreciative of everything my local library provides!
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I arranged to get together with a neighbor for tea in the garden later this week. It’ll be nice to catch up and it’ll cost both of us precisely zero-point-zero dollars as we both bring our own beverages and can walk to each other’s houses. I later brought a jar of pickled red onions to my friend Lise’s house and ended up visiting with her family for an hour or so.
People assume that being on a tight budget leads to a lesser social life, but it doesn’t have to be that way. There are a myriad of ways to continue a rich social life without spending beyond your means.
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I received a series of one-a-week coupons to a nearby schwanky grocery store that I normally avoid due to not exactly being a Rockefeller. However, the coupons are for things like a “free case of flavored seltzers with $5 purchase,” so I’ll actually use a few of them. I don’t actually like canned seltzer all that much, but they’re nice to have on hand for when we have guests to the house.
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Our tall standing fan was tilting forward, so I took it apart and wrapped the bottom pole piece in a couple layers of duct tape to increase the diameter. We’d already added a pipe clamp a few years ago to tighten the top piece, so this is repair #2. It worked, and both vertical pieces are once again standing in the full and upright position. An easy repair to keep yet another one of our belongings in use.
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I didn’t buy a vulgar gold-plated apartment in the sky.
Katy Wolk-Stanley
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I enjoyed Three Days in June, borrowed of course, from the library.
1. I am listening to Sociopath by Patric Gange, borrowed from the library. I am almost finished reading On Muscle which is due soon.
2. I cut another watermelon and shared some with a neighbor. The neighbor gave me hummus with a Best By date of JUL 16 and some peach crisp.
3. Friday was the semi-annual bulk trash pick up day in our part of town. We saw so much stuff that didn’t need to go in the landfill but you can’t save it all. We did bring home a Eureka vacuum and a side table in need of repair. Also a couple of ClosetMaid shelves that I listed on Freecycle.
4. I gave away four IKEA chairs that DH repaired (including with free parts from IKEA). They were out with someone’s trash a couple of weeks ago. I also gave a way a bunch of other stuff that we don’t need.
5. We are happy to be living our low consumption lives.
Amen! We just gave away our electric grill, tomato cages and two trellises – to a young couple who just bought their first house.
The listing agent for our house had us take down the blackout shades in the bedrooms before painting. When we met the new owners, we offered to give them back. They accepted. Who needs to buy shades the first weeks in a new house?
Not much here today…
I’m still learning how to use the small dehydrator I bought last year. It was new and the person who advertised it only asked $20 (it was too small for her family’s use). I did manage to save most of a bag of grapes that were headed for the garbage can. I put them in the dehydrator and sucessfully ended up with 1 cup of raisins.
Yesterday, I was able to stack coupons on 2 different items, and, one of the items was already on sale, then 2 coupons on top of that. SCORE!
1. My mother unfortunately twisted her ankle and broke her heel. She has an appointment for an ortho doc, until then she needs to wear an air splint. Luckily I had saved my daughter’s from her competitive cheer days which saved her $27. I also brought her some crutches but she’s having a hard time with those.
2. I made dinner for my mom and sister instead of ordering out. I made a delicious pasta with bacon, mushrooms and rosemary. I had all of the ingredients on hand except for the mushrooms. This meal was better than any restaurant meal I’ve had recently and so inexpensive.
3. I helped a friend plant some bushes at her house. It was a great way to spend time with a friend and she saves money doing it herself. We help each other out this way now and again.
4. A friend took me out for a belated birthday dinner. It was a great gift. The waitress made me a yummy mocktail for free to celebrate.
5. My mom needed help ordering some new bras. I told her I’d keep an eye out for a sale at Soma. The next day they had 30% off and gave me a $25 off member bonus on top of that. I didn’t need anything so I used it for her. She got two bras for less than the price of one.
I too had trouble with crutches after foot surgery during the pandemic when I was in my early 70s. I found buying padded covers for the hand rests that attached with velcro helped with my hand arthritis a lot. I also watche YouTube videos to make sure I had the height adjusted right and to learn how to best use them. Mostly I used a knee scooter though. Just some ideas.
On a miserly note, I recommended an office chair as a substitute for a knee walker to my grandson when he had ACL issues, can also be sat on to scoot!
Jill A.,
Some charities and churches have supply closets where you can borrow items such as crutches, walkers, commode chairs, etc. If the crutches hurt, could she use a walker? Walkers are everywhere, and I’ve even seen them for sale real cheap at thrift stores.
Meanwhile, please tell your momma we are thinking of her and hope she gets well soon!
Thanks. We did borrow a walker from a neighbor which was also hard for her. We checked with the senior center who directed us to a place that does loan out knee scooters. Unfortunately they don’t have one to lend right now. We will see what the doctors recommends for her this week. We’re hoping for a walking boot. She’s a very active 86 year old and this is really cramping her style.
I would love that pasta recipe!
1. Well, my doctor visit cost me zero because of my work insurance combined with Medicare. The meds were $16 though….apparently a bug bit my eyelid while I was asleep. Oh, the joys of living in the buggy deep South…lol. Meanwhile, I look like Frankenstein!
2. I walked in my neighborhood.
3. I cooked frozen butter peas as my main protein for the week. There is actually no butter in my peas, that is just their name for their soft buttery like taste.
4. Just the usual, packing my breakfast and lunch.
5. I took a nap because the meds made me drowsy.
Wrap an ice cube in a cloth and put it over your eye to take the swelling down. I often used to have to do that because I got poison ivy on my hands while berrying and I’m a chronic eye rubber. Sometimes I couldn’t open one eye at all, it was so swollen.
1. Ate two ears of corn I’d forgotten about for several days. Even grilling them didn’t make them more sweet and less starchy. Oh well. Daughter then made me the best burger I’ve eaten in some time, with some onions she caramelized.
2. Ate an apple off my tree because it was tempting me so much! I need to wait until they’re fully ripe, though.
3. Fixed the guest cottage AC by myself.
4. Uh, not at all frugal: forgot to put yesterday as a cleaning day for the cleaners. Offered an extra hundred for them to come within a couple hours.
5. Did not write birthday greetings to Jeffrey Epstein.
I love a starchy, alnost floury corn on the conb and I have been known to buy cobs and leave them in the fridge for a bit for that they can get that perfect, sweet starch flavor!
And great on you for fixing the A/C!
I say this with respect but YOU CRAZY LADY. SWEET CORN YUM. STARCH CORN UGH. My inner cavewoman came out.
I will say late July-August is the yummiest time of year. Corn! Corn! Corn! Tomatoes out the wazoo! Lots of other things but those are what I gorge on this time of year. Of course peaches etc aren’t too shabby either, heh.
I’m with you, Rose! I want fresh, right off the stalk, almost baby corn so it pops when you bite it. Coated with butter and generous salt (although I can do without salt if there’s enough butter!) And I prefer the bicolor corn, white and yellow, so that it’s even sweeter, in my opinion.
Ripe blueberries in the meadow…
I’m with Edie. Sweet corn lacks the full-bodied corn flavor of field corn.
I once had a boss who grew up Indisna (ElDorado, I think). Anyway, she grew up eating FIELD corn instead of sweet corn. You have to get them early, while they’re still soft, before they harden into the field corn we all know. BLECH! (insert puke emoji here)
Ate field corn at Grandma’s in Western Pennsylvania, as child. Young fresh ears were good. No garden land lost to sweet corn, when it could grow beans and cabbage.
1. Delighted to overpay for mediocre lemonade at a lemonade stand.
2. Wanted to serve a special cheese to guests. Manchego is delicious but pricey so I saved $5 buying a less expensive cheese.
3. Ran out of pomade to spike up my pixie cut. Noticed that men’s pomade was $5 less and an ounce more than the women’s brand. Guess which one I bought.
4. Received the 5% senior discount at the natural foods co-op because I happened to be there on a Tuesday. Saved $2 without even trying. However, I inadvertently spent $13 on chocolate for guests, so overall not great in the $$ department. The chocolates were from the bulk bin and I didn’t realize that they were going to wind up costing that much. Lesson learned.
5. Donated blood and enjoyed the complimentary snacks. I didn’t take the gift of cool sunglasses as I wear prescription sunglasses. I brought my own small water bottle, drank it all, and then filled it with coffee to bring home to enjoy over several days. I diluted the coffee by half with water and added it to the mason jar I use for this purpose. I am clearly not a coffee snob.
I hope the lemonade stand was operated by a young entreprenuer under the age of 10 (and not related to the “orange buffoon”.)
I brake for all lemonade stands run by kids. I keep a reusable cup and money in my car for this sole purpose.
I did a grazing table for a friend’s 80th birthday celebration. I went with a knowledgeable friend to Aldi and got many wonderful cheeses as well as their variety pack fancy crackers ($3.99 for a great assortment). I have heard people say they swear by Aldi for charcuterie boards and it did not disappoint.
Jean C, thank you for the Aldi reminder!
Perhaps the thing that I enjoy the most about this group is the sheer humanity and connections. Your number one is in my opinion a perfect example of how to correctly use frugality!
1) Had a very inexpensive mini-girls trip with my sister & BFF. They flew in on Thursday afternoon. We all WFH on Friday, and then hung by the pool once was done. We did the same on Saturday, plus a hike. We did go to the local winery to share a bottle of wine. DS18 was our “driver”, and we tipped him, because the road is very windy, and I wouldn’t want to drive it even after 1/2 a glass. DH made dinner two of the nights, I made dinner another night. We hosted our two original guests + 2 of DS18’s friends one night, and DS19’s GF twice. My meal plan has been kicked down a bit, as I assumed we’d have plenty of leftovers, but the bonus guests meant not. My sister paid for the winery, and I paid for groceries. It was so lovely & we agreed to do a WFH mini trip every summer. Our pool/back patio area is awesome in the summer.
2) We had a combo leftover dinner last night. DS18 & I had the last two cheeseburgers + leftover potato salad. DH had salmon that one of DS18’s friends brought over – his dad had come back from a fishing trip in Alaska.The fish is apparently incredible, so what a wonderful gift.
3) we hiked for free at the local nature preserve, and saw all kinds of lovely animals. I used my new app (Merlin, by Cornell University) to identify birds, which was really fun.
4) Signed up for a new frequent flyer account through American, which is not my preferred. I’ll be traveling here & there for work, and international trips are definitely worth tracking the mileage. I do get to fly business on flights over six hours, so that will help the miles/perks add up. I also added my Marriott account number to the hotel reservation, to get rewards for that as well.
5) Sent money to DS18’s friends parents, who are hosting some of the boys for a few days at Tahoe at their condo. They typically rent it out, so we really appreciate them letting the boys stay there. It is, of course, still much cheaper to do it this way.
I love the Merlin app. I turn it on everytime I go somewhere new!
1) I soaked chickpeas and made hummus. I have hummus toast (on homemade bread) for breakfast most days.
2) We used a leftover piece of molding to make the frame of a window screen 2-inches wider. We made the screens ourselves a while back, but must have mis-measured one.
3)I baked bread and pinched off two pieces to make two hamburger buns, which I served for dinner with homemade tuna burgers.
4) I picked up three boxes of “blue ware” china from Buy Nothing, which contained onionware, willow ware, and blue burano pieces. I mainly want the onionware, as it goes with pieces I already have, although I will probably keep the blue willow ginger jar and a couple of the Italian pieces. The rest I’ll pass on to someone else on Buy Nothing.
5) Picked strawberries from the garden. There were just enough for a tasty snack for two people.
1. Girls weekend was a frugal affair! All meals eaten at the vacation house and Saturday spent by the pool. No pricey events or meals out. It was lovely.
2. Made pesto Saturday night out of basil from my little herb garden. So satisfying!
3. When food was split up at the end of the weekend I volunteered for basically anything nobody wanted. Came home with clorox wipes, a massive bag of carrots, and a bag of chips larger than my friend’s toddler, to name a few. I am a huge proponent of hey, I paid in for the groceries – I’m taking them home.
4. Finished library book 1 of 3 that I have out right now while sitting on the rental’s beautiful porch (What I Was Doing When You Were Breeding – has a surprising amount of heart for a book with a snarky title!) – started 2 of 3 when I got home (Black Cake). Just put a hold for 3 Days in June, as I use this blog/comments as my personal book club 🙂
5. Drove to and from vacation in our EV, avoiding the cost of gas and didn’t have to pay for charging (plugged in at the house). Very lucky.
1) My kids are staying at my parents for part of this week, so saved me the cost of one week of summer camp!
2) The aftercare I’d signed my daughter up for next year isnt going to happen now (it was an in-home place run by one woman and she’s dealing with some personal issues so isn’t going to run it anymore) Unfortunately everywhere else is full now and since kindergarten gets out at 12:00, and husband and I have both had recent return to the office mandates, having no aftercare isn’t an option. After stressing for a couple days though, we came up with a plan. She’s on the waitlist for the place my son is going, and while we wait, we are going to piece it together by changing work schedules, using family members, etc. This will save some money too, if increase stress and mental logistics for figuring it all out. Fingers crossed she gets off the waitlist before school starts though!
3) Reading two books from the library (one as audio and one as a regular paper copy). The first is Food Politics, about the influence the food industry has on nutrition and health. Interesting but upsetting, especially the parts about schools and advertising to children. The second is Unbroken, a true story about an Air Force bombardier whose plane crashed in the pacifi during ww2, and his survival first on a raft and then as a Japanese POW. Not at all the type of book I normally read but it’s really well written and a very engaging story.
4) I got home late last night from dropping off the kids at my parents and wanted to just go to bed but I stayed up a little longer to prep my breakfast and lunch to bring to work the next day.
5) Drinking my home brewed coffee in my backyard every morning is still one of my favorite parts of my day and doesn’t cost much at all.
1. We are visiting my daughter and her dogs this week. We saw our SIL when we arrived Sunday but he flew out for work that night. Staying with her saves us a small fortune on a hotel.
2. We brought figs, raspberries and lots of lettuce from my garden. We bought rolls as we left. Sunday special is a dozen rolls for $4.I made muffins earlier in the week and brought those too. 2 zucchini pies came with us too.
3. My daughter and I went food shopping. We are here to spend time with her so we grabbed some easy food items: rotisserie chicken, cold cuts, eggs, turkey bacon, English muffins, bananas, granola bars, veggies, and ice cream. Spent $52. Still much less then eating out every meal. We are eating out tomorrow. We are getting lobster rolls. We will be getting beignets too one morning.
4. Our dog came with us. Our youngest is watching our house.
5. Playing games, coloring, doing puzzles and lots of talking with my girl.
What a perfect week!!!
Small things:
1) I took the day off on Friday, and did a Portland staycation! I slept in, I had an iced coffee in my backyard, I cut a bouquet of roses from my garden and visited Cargo. I wound up getting a huge encycolpedia type book about French food. I had a gift certifciate which made the cost easy. I then had a perfect savory martini next door at a bar name Malpractice. It was truly perfect- but I am now at the point where one spirits driven drink will do!
2) I went to the freen Cathedrel Park Jazz Fest and Free Portland Pride Parade!
3) I enjoyed the cooler weather by biking to Gresham and walking almost 20k steps.
4) I did window shopping at Adorn, and will save up for one piece, possibly two, to add to my wardrobe. I am now at the point where I am willing more for things that will last for years instead of things that will dissolve in the wash.
5) I stopped inside of Target and did a great beef and chicken shop for $13- they had the meat marked down for best use by July 22. I also picked up freezer storage and repacked the meat into two serving portions and put them in the freezer. That’s me sorted for the for the next month or so.
What an incredible fun day! My husband coordinated his company’s inclusion in the Pride Parade, so you would’ve seen him and his buddies!
FFT, It Is More Blessed to Give Than to Receive Edition:
(1) In appreciation for recent good finds in my local Little Free Libraries, I’ve been doing yet another cleanout of books and donating these to the LFLs. So far, the outgo exceeds the intake, and I’m trying to keep it that way.
(2) I’ve just taken the Bestest Neighbors my annual donations (which I valued for tax purposes at just over $1K) for the antiques/collectibles auction run by the library in the town near their lake house. They’ll be going to the lake house tomorrow for a week, will drop off the donations, and will get me a receipt.
(3) I also dropped off two boxes of donations at my local Salvation Army superstore this morning. While there, I of course couldn’t resist the temptation to look into the store, and got an extra-large Pyrex pie plate for $1. This will probably go to Ms. Bestest Neighbor, pie maker extraordinaire.
(4) I aired up the Element’s tires for free at the Byrne Dairy store/gas station near the Monday morning pop-up thrift store in the old bowling alley–so of course I stopped in there too, and came out with a good haul: the first four Harry Potter books in a 20th anniversary edition from their British publisher, a Vera Bradley “shopping organizer” for JASNA BFF, a set of 80 nautical-themed greeting cards for JASNA Panera (who is a die-hard British Royal Navy fan), a new pair of Skechers slip-ins (extra wide and in a men’s size I can wear), and a NWT sundress from Kohl’s, for a total of $11. I also grabbed a free half loaf of day-old Wegmans “Seven Grain” bread on the way out. OK, maybe it is better to receive than to give. 😀
(5) And I haven’t done anything at the national level that would make any reasonable person blush with shame.
I love that you gave away so much and then grabbed a few things for yourself and bestest neighbors!
We love to picnic at parks as its fun and frugal entertainment.
With it being so hot this summer, we’ve taken to having our picnics for breakfast instead of lunch or dinner.
My mom gifted us an old camp stove she no longer needed.
We’ve been working on eggs, fried or scrambled, sourdough toast, bacon! And of course, pancakes.
We find if we get there early and take a hike then have breakfast, we are ready to go home when it’s starting to heat up. It’s a really fun weekend morning.
Alexandra, a picnic breakfast… delightful!
Stuffed zucchini for supper.
Zucchini was from my daughter’s garden. Rice from the dollar store. Summer squash from my daughter’s garden. Only had to buy hamburger on sale $2.99
Dinner for 3 with leftovers.
Yesterday cooked turkey from freezer. Dinner for 6 . Made soup for neighborhood refrigerator. Still leftovers for turkey salad.
1. Thankful that it’s only regular hot here instead of super hot. We can cool it down at night with the windows open and don’t need to run the air at all during the day.
2. I walked with my neighbor tonight and we both browsed a free pile. They had a very ugly Yeti cup, so I took just the magnetic clip at the top. That’s the piece that easily goes missing and now I have a spare for mine. I also took a Disney dog harness, which was fairly dirty, but scrubbed up nice at home.
3. I made a big pot of minestrone soup earlier this week and have been having it for lunch with homemade breadsticks.
4. Walked up to the post office with the dog and mailed out four ebay packages.
5. Our electricity rates are just slightly higher from 3-7 on weekdays, so I run the dishwasher right before bed and do laundry in the morning.
I spent the weekend visiting family and friends up north. A lot of it wasn’t frugal but there were frugal parts.
1. First of all, I enjoyed some cool weather and spent some time lounging on a patio and in a hammock chair.
2. I was treated to a sorbet cone, as well as two lovely homemade dinners.
3. I bought a hot air popper at a Goodwill for $8. I don’t know yet if it works, but it was new in the box, and my current popcorn maker is cracked and must be replaced.
4. I brought home leftovers from a salad I got on the way home. Mostly dried cherries, apple slices, cheese bits, bacon and raspberry vinaigrette. The lettuce was too limp to make the trip.
5. I took a walk in a forest with my brother and his wife. It was very cool and magical, and, of course, free!
1. Local grocery store sent me a coupon for 2 free dannon yogurt multipacks. Yes please! I picked them up this weekend along with a lone sweet potato I needed for a meal
2. We are in the middle of painting our kitchen cabinets…BUT I have planned ahead on the meal front and so far we have not eaten out at all – simple is key. My plan for tomorrow is a frozen pizza lol
3. I met a friend to go for a hike. Free 2 hours of socializing
4. I almost bought tickets to the local MLB game. Had them in my cart and thought about it and relooked at it several times. But when all was said and done I knew it would be an over $100 night after tickets and a drink so decided not to. PHew
5. We are currently shopping around for car insurance and home insurance. We are dropping my son that just got married as well as my oldest that just moved out. We will hopefully save money.
I did a grazing table for a friend’s 80th birthday celebration. I went with a knowledgeable friend to Aldi and got many wonderful cheeses as well as their variety pack fancy crackers ($3.99 for a great assortment). I have heard people say they swear by Aldi for charcuterie boards and it did not disappoint.