Five Frugal Things -- Beautiful Flowers & Frye Boots
1) My husband and I enjoyed a nice long walk after dinner last night, which at this time of year is essentially a tour through a series of botanical gardens. This house's calla lilies were almost unreal!
Unsurprisingly I came home with a 10¢ returnable bottle, which seems to be a pattern these days. I carry a small reusable bag on these walks, just in case I come across any juicy free boxes.
2) Our dinner was a free Domino's double-mushroom pizza, as I'd been sent a link for one as my last order was somehow below their standards. (Maybe the delivery took too long?) Either way, I only had seven days to redeem this offer and I wasn't going to let that go to waste.
I cut a couple of the slices into small squares and crisped them up in the air fryer to make "pizza croutons," which I served over our salads. I saw this idea on Instagram and thought it would be a fun addition to the meal. It was.
3) My husband and I stopped into the Oak Grove Goodwill, where I thrifted this new-with-tags Mickey Mouse plush. I paid up at $6.99, but it was a limited edition item and the only other ones on eBay were listed around $90.
I listed mine at $50 as I'd prefer a faster sale and the actual "sold" ones were more around the $40 mark.
Click HERE to see the listing.
4) My husband and I stopped by my mother's house to bring her a Mother's Day gift and spend a bit of time together. She'd mentioned that she wanted look for a specific vintage flowerpot (Roseville Moon and Stars) and I happen to already have one, so that's what I brought her as a Mother's Day gift. I included the plant already growing in it, plus a fancy lemon tart from a nearly patisserie.
5) We were leaving her house and drove past this pair of free boxes, so we naturally pulled the car to the curb.
Hello, Frye leather boots! Sure, they're in a diminutive size, but the price was right. Especially since they sell for almost $500 new!
I'll put a bit of work into the boots before listing them on eBay, but I should be able to get at least $75 for them.
Now your turn, what frugal things have you been up to?
Katy Wolk-Stanley
"Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without."
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This blog post includes an eBay referral link.
Katy, you have an amazing eye for items to resell.
1. My sister took our kitchen knives in for free sharpening. For those in the Twin Cities, you may bring your knives to the meat counter at any Lunds & Byerlys grocery store for free sharpening. Limit of three knives per visit, ready in 24 hours, although they said my sister could wait for them instead. I just recently learned about this free service from a neighbor. Obviously it gets people into the store, although my sister shops there already when she wants a higher end grocery experience.
2. Had landscape mulch delivered on a weekday instead of the weekend to save money.
3. After taking flaxseed oil supplements daily for years for dry eyes, I experimented with every other day and noticed no difference. I do the same with a couple other supplements to bring costs down.
4. Transferred a couple inches of milk left in the jug into a glass bottle. The milk was perfectly good but the jug itself had started to smell funky.
5. Completed April financials by downloading transactions from checking and credit card sites and adding them to my rolling one-year spreadsheet. Because I was a daily Excel user back in my professional days, I enjoy analyzing the data in different ways, but I haven't done any graphs - yet!
I'm with you on the raw meat. It's so abhorrent to me! If DH didn't love it, I would never buy it or cook it. This started with me as a very small child...dinnertime was always a struggle for my poor mother as I fought her constantly on it. The texture, the taste...it never appealed to me. By the time I was a teen my taste had expanded (somewhat) and I would eat it only if it was dripping in gravy or sauce. Still that way. I eat it only for protein, not flavor.
This was meant for Kara. Sorry MB!
Christine, no worries. As a vegetarian, I find raw meat abhorrent, too!
1. I schlepped around Costco, I loathe all shopping. I stuck exactly to my list. I have a meat phobia and usually buy precooked sausages at Costco. But I saw that the uncooked sausages were $1/lb cheaper, so I bought those. I can just manage to tip them into a baking pan and cook them. I endeavor to never touch raw meat. I've never liked meat, the texture both raw and cooked is horrifying to me. I don't think it helped that my Occupational Therapy degree included dissection of human cadavers.
2. Line drying second load of laundry. I don't normally need to do 2 loads in a day but I'm washing some seasonal things. I like to put the coats and quilts away clean.
3. Our charge-by-the-hour financial advisor retired. I've scheduled free interviews with 2 advisors that are vetted by Fidelity. Managing our own money is frugal.
4. Leftovers for dinner. Frugal use of time and power.
5. DIL asked if I would make her a quilt with saved baby clothes. That is something I can happily do and I looked through the stash today. I harvested 2 nice long zippers from sleep sacks, and 3 sets of velcro which will go into my stash of sewing notions. Now I'm off to mend the waistband of dh's pajama pants.
Gave the farm pup a spa day in the outdoor antique claw foot tub after the sun warmed it up. I used the solar shower to rinse her off. Now she is a black and white dog again!
Picked a big bucket of carrots to pickle.
Planted a hill of watermelons using a navy blue shower curtain new in bag found at an estate sale. It will work the same as my normal black plastic.
I can't believe I had to water today! Our cut flowers are 2 weeks early.
Cute boots! They remind me of an estate sale that I went to and she had size 5 feet. Yeah, me too when I was 8.
Blue Gate Farmgirl, I also wore the same sized shoe as my mom when I was 8 or 9. I loved getting to go into her closet and finding "new" shoes to wear. But once, while on a high swing set, I kicked off a pair of her shoes (1950's or early '60's pointy toed velvet flats with sparkling rhinestones on them, no less!) -- and one shoe ended up on the neighbor's garage roof. The neighbor kids' father got a ladder and retrieved it. Mom was not amused, and that ended my access to her seemingly endless supply of shoes. I think she was secretly thrilled when I grew out of her Size 6's.
While our mother's shoe size was a 7, sibling and I had smaller feet so no borrowing shoes. I had a short window when my kiddos wore the same size and their end of school year gym shoes became my yard shoes. The last few pairs were a bit large but hey, they were yard shoes. I am on my last pair.
Those lilies are incredible.
1. I hung two loads of laundry outside on the umbrella clothesline.
2. I brought a friend to her daughter's house for Mother's Day. This was a planned trip. The daughter had invited DH and I to stay for a ham dinner and dessert...Strawberry Torte and Chocolate Cherry Cake (both to die for) which we happily did. We then drove her mother home.
3. DS and DIL gave me a box of chocolate covered strawberries and a mini cheesecake for Mother's Day. I've been dieting so these (and the cakes mentioned in #2) were a nice break. Well, it is a holiday, after all...
4. I washed aluminum foil and plastic storage bags and hung from my little indoor "clothesline" which is actually a hanging basket over the sink.
5. I walked up to my friend's house to give her the newspapers I've already read. DH had our one vehicle while doing errands and my friend's house is only about 1/4 mile away. She reads them and then passes them on to her friend who reads them and then uses them to start fires in his woodstove.
Sounds like a nice Mother’s Day. I invited my mom for a homemade breakfast, which is less stressful than those crazy restaurant events!
1. I walked around the neighborhood and found 9 cans and a penny.
2. I went to Fred Meyer and bought 2 pounds of strawberries off the bargain rack. I’ve already processed them to be frozen for smoothies, and every berry was good!
3. I got a chance to go to the Goodwill bins. Finally! Right off the bat, I found $7 in a jacket pocket. Later, I found two quarters on the bottom of a bin. Yes, I’ve come into some money!
4. I spent just under $5 for a merino wool sweater that will dress up nicely, a rack for my chinois strainer, a box of cool vintage buttons (some Bakelite, some glass, some mother-of-pearl), scissors, a t-shirt, and a crochet hook.
5. I still had $2.53 left of my found money, so I went to Winco and bought bulk oatmeal and a drink.
Not a bad day! No, it wasn’t the best bins day ever, like your recent trip, but it was cheap entertainment!
I found out that they no longer allow “piggybacking” at the bins. That’s when two people check out together to bring their weight above 25 pounds. We already have the most expensive bins in the nation, at $2.79 per pound, so it annoys me that they abolished one of the frugal hacks! (I have never really “piggybacked” since I usually keep things under a few pounds.)
What is the etiquette when you find money in a pocket at Goodwill? Can you take just the bills or do you have to purchase the item to get the cash?
I usually hide it in an item I’m buying and let them weigh it!
Lucky you Li! $7.50 is a nice find.
1. No Mother's Day dining out for me. Even when our mothers were alive, we NEVER went on Mother's Day due to insanely jacked up prices. DH gave me a card and $ to buy new underwear...something I was in desperate need of. I recently learned on the radio that, for hygienic purposes, you should replace your underwear every 6 months. I never knew that. Mine was long past the 6 month mark (most were at least 2 years old). Now, the old is gone, the new is in, and I happily sport my "granny panties" underneath my attire. As for a meal, we ate leftover chicken noodle soup I had made.
2. During my school van travels last week, I saw a sign for a "Spring Fling" this past Saturday night from 4:30-8. DH had a rough week and didn't want to go; so I called his sister and she went with me. (When I asked her to go, you would have thought I turned a 5-year-old loose in a candy store! She was so excited!) She's been in assisted living for almost a year and she's not used to being "cooped up." On the way, I drove by the farm where my Amish students live and past the Amish school. The landscape of rolling farmlands and the views are magnificent...and even better in the fall. My SIL bought my dinner and she bought each of us a peanut butter whoopie pie. We had a wonderful time. When I got her back to the home, she sat down to look at a book and eat her whoopie pie. She was so tired, at some point, she fell asleep in her chair with a half-eaten whoopie pie all over her clothes.
3. DH found a 20-pack of toilet paper marked down 50% (reg $11.98, pd $5.99). He bought it and brought it home. Yay!
Guess that's all for me.
Well, I must be in big trouble. I have underwear that’s old enough to be in high school.
Some of mine are preteen for sure!
Mine goes when the elastic does - or they become astonishingly transparent.. usually noted when I am line drying them! eek
Throwing away your undies and buying new benefits no one but the stores and companies. Cui bono!
Just wash them at 40 degrees or 60 degrees if you want to be really sure or have an illness and you'll be fine. Good underwear lasts at least 5 years.
1. Went to the ortho doctor today --the hip guy, as I have a shoulder guy, too. He advised me not to do anything for now. That is, no surgery. I have arthritis, which is no surprise. I will try to gradually bring back walking and strength training and will do gentle stretching in areas that are tight. This was the cheapest solution and I was happy with that.
2. I ate my Mother's Day leftovers for lunch.
3. I took the top I wore to the wedding to the dry cleaners. I realized I can't afford to wear the thing since it was $9.60 to clean. I may try to sell it when I get it back.
4. Went to pick up a hold at the library but went to the wrong library. I'll try again tomorrow but I think I'm running out of time and will have to check.
5. I updated my financial spreadsheets. Realized I have about $200 more in checking than I thought.
6. I saw on my bank's website that they had sent me a new debit card on April 25. I dug through my unopened mail and found it. Whew!
If you don't have any luck selling the top, something I do in that case is take a risk and hand wash it. I figure it saves me the dry cleaning bill if it works, and if it ruins it, I wasn't able to get any money from it in the first place! It has worked on some silk tops that I received free from Buy Nothing.
1. Took my ancient, but newly rediscovered, Amazon Fire to the library, hoping they could load their Libby app on it for me. They couldn't; the device is too old. Also tried going through Amazon to load a Kindle app. No luck there either.
2. Well, if I can't read the next Stephanie Plum murder mystery on the Fire/Kindle device, I'll just have to resort to a good old fashioned book. I like books better anyway. Library had the 2 latest installments in stock, so I checked 'em both out. I've just come in from the patio; I'm reading outside on the chaise lounge. Cool breeze supplemented by old electric fan. That makes for a very nice early evening!
3. Hung up the patio lights aka clear Xmas tree lights. One string isn't burning but the others are. Will hit Goodwill tomorrow (senior discount day) to see if I can get a replacement string. They sell holiday items all year round. Light string is not designed for outdoors, but my patio has a good sturdy roof over it. Should be fine for the brief time I have those lights on.
4. I hooked the lights up using a couple of $1 extension cords, brand new ones that I'd thrifted. Our store sells the exact same thing for $4 + change. Again, it's not designed for outdoors, but my patio has a good sturdy roof over it. Should be OK.
5. Saw a fist-sized rock (chunk of concrete?) in the library parking lot. Took it home. I am collecting rocks for flower bed borders.
I am not particularly an animal person, but am very glad to have the new "Chet and Bernie" book, by Spencer Quinn. Bernie is a PI and Chet is his dog. Chet narrates the books, many in the series. Very creative!
I also read "We'll Prescribe You a Cat" by Syou Ishida, an author from Japan. The stories are about a mental health clinic that does, as the title says, prescribe people cats. A sort of sparse writing style, with mystery overtones, and some insights into Japanese culture, that continue in the sequel, "We'll Prescribe You Another Cat."
The tiny ants ended the borax-and-powdered-sugar party I provided for them in my kitchen. It is not clear where they were coming in from, perhaps under the sink somewhere.
Those calla lilies are gorgeous! You have such a great eye for finding things. I think I would enjoy a trip to the Goodwill bins, but need to wait until I'm done working for such treasure hunts.
Can't remember what I've already posted, so apologies for any repeats:
1) DH made me an incredible Mother's Day feast last night. He made zereshk polo with a You Tube recipe & it turned out great. I know he really wanted to be able to call his mom, as she would have been thrilled to walk him through it. Unfortunately, not an option for now, but hopefully soon. He also made beef kebabs & a yogurt sauce + grilled tomatoes. We were both totally stuffed.
2) We opened a bottle of nice champagne while he was cooking, which was a gift,so free to us.
3) I sold the ice skates I picked up in a freebie pile, for $70. I was able to mail them in the original box, dropped inside a rather large Amazon bag. I wasn't sure how to mail them, so this worked really well. After fees, I made $58.
4) I called my credit card about a free offer that hasn't gone through yet.
5) DH & I had leftovers for dinner tonight (more delicious Persian food), DS20 made $400+ in tips yesterday (double shift for their busiest day of the year), I made lunch out of bits & bobs in the fridge & watered the lettuce seeds I direct sowed.
1. I have some stubborn mildew/mold in my work apartment bathroom. After doing some research, I found a product that may help me. I was able to find it "used" on Amazon (it is not used, but it was returned), which meant a discounted price, and I paid with credit card reward points, which offered me an extra 10% off to do so.
2. Tonight's cheap dinner: chicken shawarma (Sam Sifton NYT recipe) on naan (both free from mystery shop) topped with sauce (one ingredient is mayo - free from mystery shop), some red cabbage and arugula (from free farm share) with hummus (free promotion from Stop & Shop), and a salad made with cuke, red pepper, feta, radish (free farm share) dressed with sumac (my sister harvests it from her yard). Dessert was free-from-mystery shop ice cream. Pre-made dinner for next week: mac and cheese - the pasta, cheese, and milk were all free from mystery shop, breadcrumbs were free from leftover farm-share loaf of bread.
3. We went to visit the lilacs at Arnold Arboretum (free entrance). We drank our coffee before we went and brought our own water. I did make a donation to the park, but it was far less than the entrance to a botanical garden would have been. Rather than eat out for lunch afterward, we went to Formaggio Kitchen (a high-end cheese shop), bought a fancy piece of cheese, and came home and had it with the free loaf of artisan bread from the free farm share, which was still cheaper than eating out but it still felt like a treat.
4. Finished washing all of my bedding and did not use the dryer. But, my very old down duvet lost a LOT of feathers, so it may have to retire soon....
5. My colleague took some students to Greece and brought me home some olive oil. I'm gifting her a produce box (a customer didn't pick it up), and we will never eat all of the produce before it goes bad, and she is delighted with the exchange. I did grab the jar of honey from the produce box, which I'll use myself or as a hostess gift.
Formaggio Kitchen!!! Oh SIGH!!! One of our favorite places during my decade in Somerville/Charlestown. Many a happy moment at the counter in the one in the South End. We used to call it "cheese candy".
Oh those flowers, so beautiful!
1. Made garlic herb butter with 3 herbs from the garden.
2. A storm watered the garden for me...and hailed on it
3. Finally got our storage unit cleared out!
4. Picked 3 onions from the garden.
longer post and pics here: https://practicalwalk.com/2026/05/12/frugal-four-mothers-day-hail-storm/
Isn't it crazy how different and varied flowers are?? Those lilies are simple yet so stunning and elegant! As I get older, I appreciate God's wisdom and knowledge so much more as I see how amazing His creation is!
1. Got rug burn playing laser tag at my advanced age of...no longer 16. Who do I think I am? Luckily I had a load of big bandages I've been using to keep my elbow covered and now they are all used up. I am a band aid hoarder and I'm glad I never pitched these.
2. I am getting lasik next week (!!!) and read a few medical papers on how fish oil & vitamin c supplements have shown to reduce dry eye. I have both of these supplements but have been lazy about taking them. Started them back up and hoping for good results. Either way, I have other medical conditions that also benefit from these supplements, so it's a good reminder to take them.
3. Tried a boxing class today with my coach from another gym. I loved it! She lent me a pair of her boxing gloves so I could try before I buy. I am now perusing facebook marketplace for a secondhand set. New hobbies simply do not require brand new gear!
4. Drinking home brewed coffee out of a mug I've had forever and throwing my cats kinda-nasty toys for him to chase. The mug doesn't have a hole in it and the cat still loves the toys, so they are fit for purpose.
5. Cancelled a trip this summer to focus on savings. We are seriously considering buying a house and need to see what our finances look like to do so.
I sometimes consider getting lasik, but I am too chicken. I have a very active imagination, and I am a fatalist.
Katy,
Either my DD2 or I could probably wear those boots.....I wear a 5 and she is a 4.5 Having small feet is a problem. Hard to find shoes that fit and have been buying children's sneakers, but they look like children's sneakers and I don't like that.
I draw the line at velcro.
1. Planting garden, I still need to plant squash and pumpkins....but needed a break.
2. washing and hanging things on the outdoor lines.
3. stuck to my minimal budget for annuals. It was hard. But I have had really good luck this year in starting perennials under grow lights and on a heat mat. They probably won't flower this year, but something to look forward to.
4. I gave starts to DD's and DGD's for Mother's Day.
5. Staying home, it isn't hard for me. Gas is just too expensive.
* didn't schedule any monuments to myself