Five Frugal Things — Comfort Food & Vacuum Cleaners
by Katy on October 27, 2025 · 13 comments
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We had our youngest over for dinner last night and I was able to pull together a comfort meal using what we had on hand. I’d already pulled a package of bratwurst from the freezer, (from this Winco trip) and my plan was to whip up mashed potatoes for a “bangers and mash” meal. Unfortunately we had fewer potatoes than I realized, so I chopped and sautéed half a cabbage to expand them into colcannon.
I also had frozen hoagie rolls from the Franz outlet, ($1 “bargain wall” on the first Saturday of the month!) as well as a half bag of frozen peas to round things out.
Make it do baby, make it do!
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I still haven’t found my beloved thrifted Land’s End jacket, but I contacted the Seattle hotel where my husband and I stayed last May, thinking that’s possibly the last time I wore a coat. They directed me to a website called I Left My Stuff.com, which manages lost and founds for both hotels and businesses. I put in a request for my coat, which is likely a fruitless effort. However, I’ve got nothing to lose by expanding my net.
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My daughter ordered a number of things for her Halloween costume, which arrived at the house. (Her apartment complex doesn’t have a safe spot for packages to sit all day while she’s at work.) I unboxed a couple of her items as I’ll be able to reuse the packaging for eBay sales. I’m always able to scrounge enough bubble mailers and such this way.
What am I, a Rockefeller?
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My husband and I are finally on the 15th and last season of ER, which we mooch watch through my mother’s HBO account. The characters we care about are all gone at this point, but I’m no quitter!
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I replaced the rubber belt on my 24-year-old vacuum cleaner, using the last belt from a two-pack I bought a couple years ago. (I’m especially proud that I knew where the belt was stored.) This keeps a functional household item in circulation, instead of being an opportunity to get a fashionable vacuum cleaner.
Now your turn, what frugal things have you been up to?
Katy Wolk-Stanley
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If you enjoy ER I think you will also like The Pitt on HBO.
1. I’ve been working at home since 10/6 while I adjust to new anxiety and depression medications. No gas station trips, tolls, and all my meals are at home.
2. My husband and I have a Halloween potluck tonight at our bowling league. I made no bake eclair cake using all store brand ingredients.
3. I’m reading books using libby and a 3 month free trial to kindle unlimited.
4. My friend treated me to lunch yesterday and I brought a $6 coupon for her to use as well
5. My sister lets me use her Walmart plus subscription so I continue to order the exact groceries I need with free delivery and no impulse buys. It’s great when I’m stressed and have no time to get to a store.
1. First thing this morning, the plumbers came by. Last week’s drain backup was caused by tree roots in the sewer pipe. By waiting until Monday, I avoided weekend overtime charges. I also paid them with a check, thus avoiding a fee for using my credit card. Every little bit helps! And they were done by 10 a.m. so I didn’t have to pay for more than 2 hours.
2. A restaurant near me is having a special supply drive benefitting a dog rescue group. If you bring in things like old towels for bedding, dog grooming items, dog dishes, leashes, collars, etc., they’ll serve you a free appetizer or a free dessert. Remember when I totally messed up the drapes by washing them in the machine? Turns out that they count as dog bedding. So I took in a bag of ruined (but clean!) drapes at 11 a.m. when the eatery opened — and was served a peach cobbler for free. I bought coffee and left a tip, but otherwise had a free– and very delicious– breakfast. With a scoop of ice cream on top. Yum!
3. Used a coupon obtained at our Blessing of the Animals event to book a “spa day” for my Rottweiler. It’s getting too cold to bathe him outdoors with the water hose, so he will go in tomorrow and get an inside bath, plus his nails clipped, ears and teeth cleaned and more. Snuggles is smelling like Eau de Doggie, as in “Ewww, de doggie stinks,” and he’s scratching, so it’s time he got cleaned up. Plus, I’d like to reward him for chasing the squirrels, something he’s gotten really good at. Luckily, he’s got a smooth coat, so no need for a haircut.
4. Last night, the store dropped the price of a 12-pack of sugar-free A&W Ice Cream Sundae flavored soda pop to $1.99. I really like it! So I bought another pack.
5. Did not funnel millions of dollars into a secret project to bulk up my bunker after being paranoid about the No Kings protest. (Which, according to Dr. Mary Trump, may be the REAL reason her crazy uncle is tearing down the East Wing under the guise of building a ballroom.)
Fru-gal Lisa, your #3 gave me a smile. Whenever one of our two dogs came in from a trip out to do essential business in the rain or snow, DH or I would towel the dog off, crooning, “Eau de Wet Dog!”
Yay Free Piles! When I was out for my walk Sunday evening, a neighbor was cleaning out his garage & put things on the curb. I got a Farberware roasting pan with a rack that goes inside the pan. I also got a printer & a DVD player. (I know I can check out DVDs from the library but now I have something to play them on.) He put out a like-new electric ice cream maker which I snagged.
Since the post features a vacuum, I’ll give vacuums a “Shout Out”. I found a Roomba vacuum a year ago on a curb. The Roomba is busily at work today as I
prepare to mop the floors after they get a vacuum.
I am repulsed by the prices in the retail stores. When you thrift, it is hard to part with your money. The Roomba needs a new filter. That I will have to buy.
I’ve been doing ordinary frugal things. I made yogurt from clearance milk. I patched my jeans. I scrounged dinner ingredients from the freezer. I redeemed a bag of cans.
I feel a sense of dread about what the future will look like. The latest inflation report looks slightly rosy, but I think it was manipulated to look that way. I wonder what will happen when SNAP benefits go away. Cheeto is such a horrible, heartless ogre, and his supporters are either stupid or selfish.
Or both.
1) My son had a costume idea that would require us to make it. It wouldn’t have cost a lot but would have required us to purchase some supplies and a lot of time. I was gearing up to tackle it last weekend when he told me he actually wanted to be a construction worker instead. Never have I been so happy for a last minute costume change! We already have a construction workers vest and hard hat and toy tools so it costs nothing (and takes no time!)
2) Same son had a school project where he needed to build a haunted house. The only thing we ended up needing to buy was some black paint. We used cardboard from a shipping box to build the house and furniture and we already had the hot glue gun and glue sticks. I’m not usually one to keep a lot of things around “just in case” but my mom had given me a box of my old childhood trinkets and toys (small things like McDonald’s toys, kid jewelry etc) I hadn’t gotten around to going through it and donating or throwing it out and luckily inside I found some little rubber snakes and lizards and some creepy crawlers I’d made as a kid (anyone remember that toy, like a little oven where you could make rubber bugs) My son used all of them in his house and was very pleased with the result.
3) I made a pot of beans in the instant pot yesterday. They were supposed to be for tacos, but it made more like a chili and they are so good on their own, I’ve just been eating them in a bowl with some avocado on top. My efforts to shift my family to plant based eating are continuing with some success. I made an udon miso soup with brown beech mushrooms (the kids like the varying sizes and like to identify “mom” or “dad” mushrooms and “baby” or “kid” size mushrooms) and tofu which was a huge hit with the kids.
4) Listening to a book from the library, Light from Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki that I highly recommend. It’s such a unique and engaging story but also I’ve heard that reading fiction helps build empathy for others because it exposes you to others perspectives and experiences and this book is a prime example of that.
5) My usuals: bring coffee, breakfast, lunch and a snack to work everyday, meal plan for the month and cook dinner at home each night (except Saturdays as our designated takeout night), use the library regularly to get books for myself and kids, do free strength training videos on YouTube and walk or run outside for exercise.
1. I did not hire out for a luxury pumpkin porch: https://wapo.st/4hus3Uv
We didn’t buy any pumpkins but will be on the lookout for discarded uncut pumpkins after Halloween.
2. I stopped at Sam’s Club for bananas, eggs, butter, and sugar. Eggs were just over $2/dozen.
3. DH cut down a small volunteer tree that was interfering with our fence. We’ll use the larger wood in our fireplace.
4. I accessed the Washington Post through my library account.
5. Our (no fee) American Express card will rebate the cost of a Peacock account for two months. When we run out of things to watch we’ll sign up and cancel at the beginning of the second month.
K D, I too will be looking for pumpkins/squash on curbs in early November. Keep a lookout, however, for ones with bar codes on the bottom stating that they’ve been chemically treated to resist rot–or for any suspiciously fresh-looking ones, which may have been similarly treated. I ran into that problem last year.
Used the plastic wrapping from toilet paper and an empty plastic bread bag as my bucket and glove for pooper-scooping the back yard.
Got quite an assortment of homemade Lean Cuisine type breakfasts and lunches in the freezer. The freezer containers are somewhat shallow, so it’s easy to pop the frozen food out and heat it up in a soup plate.
When the cat finishes a can of food, I rinse it out by swirling just a little warm water inside and add the yummy almost broth to the dog’s kibble. They loved today’s salmon water. The cans have to be washed to be recycled, so this works out just fine.
Wore an adorable hot pink Columbia rain coat today while running errands, which was $6 at the thrift shop because it’s flawed by having a few tiny white spots where the dye did not take. I had to hunt all over to find the spots, so no biggie there.
1. Saw the Julia Child exhibit at the Minnesota History Center with my sister and a friend. Delightful. Got the senior discount, saving a few bucks. Went out to brunch afterward where I redeemed an offer of free pancakes when celebrating my belated birthday. Brought half the order home in my trusty container and ate that for breakfast the next day.
2. Cleaned out the garage workshop with my husband and gave away a bunch of things to Habitat Restore and Buy Nothing. Took the rest to metal recycling and household hazardous waste. Didn’t even know we owned some of this stuff!
3. Received a 20% off coupon for a future Habitat Restore purchase, on account of my donation of various home renovation items.
4. Found an unopened tube of Bert’s Bees lip balm in the park. Sometimes it actually pays to pick up trash.
5. Picked up a free container of paint at our county’s ReUse Room that is very close to the existing color in our garage workshop. Painted the section that sorely needed it and harmony is restored.
That looks like a delicious meal, and I think it’s how the western world are until about 30 or so years ago. I make it the norm in my house!
1. I have scrubbed the mysterious oily speckled from the hood of my 25 year old stroller. It keeps on going for the grandchildren.
2. Transplanted an African blue basil to a spot that I think it will 1. Overwinter and 2. be great for bringing pollinators to my tomatoes next year. African blue basil is sterile, so collecting seeds is no use. The nursery would like me to buy a new plant every year. But I got a free cutting from a friend and I’ve overwintered a cutting every year since. Plus given rooted starts as gifts.
3. I received a huge compliment on the 40″x40″ acrylic painting that I’d done. It was my first go at that type of art. And cost me a total of $20 for acrylic paint and some brushes/tools, since the canvas was free (I painted over an ugly painting). I like the painting, which is the most important thing, but I really appreciated the compliment. The painting wasn’t free, but for one that size it was very cheap, plus I learned a skill and had some fun. A bargain all round.
4. We opened a Donor Advised Fund with the company where we invest. I won’t try to explain since I won’t do it justice, but for us it is a very tax efficient way of giving to a registered 501(c)3 (registered charity for those outside the US). We are not high earners at all, and it still helps us tax-wise.
5. Making sure the leftovers from the family visit are queued up and being used in a timely manner. I picture actual dollar bills going into the compost if I have to throw away any food that spoils.
Continuing to resist the oligarchy. I had a German news crew come to my house to interview me about the impact of the ACA tax credits for the premiums not being renewed. The filming and interview were fun. They filmed me making tea then sitting on my front porch with said tea looking worried. Which wasn’t hard to do. The reporter asked great questions and afterwards we talked about how health care is so different in Germany and in the Netherlands where the camera man was from. Both, as journalists, fear that they may have their visas revoked. Sad.
1. Ate homemade potato soup made by a friend.
2. Babysat my great nephew which I love doing. He is 19 months old.
3. Remembered to give all dogs the correct medications today. Yea me!
4. Had fun preparing a lesson for 11th graders on European Wild rabbits. They are reading Watership Down. Their teacher is a friend and asked me to bring one of my rabbits and talk about European wild rabbits (which are different than American wild rabbits). Lots of fun for free!
5. Current me is super happy past me bought Halloween candy a few weeks ago. It was in sale and now I don’t have to rush to the store before trick or treat.