- I took three almost empty Blistex containers and three of my husband’s almost empty deodorant containers and gleaned every last drop/smear/bit-o-goo to create one functional container of each. Task specific tools included a chopstick, a butter knife and hemostats. Bizarrely satisfying, as they looked pretty much empty, yet still contained quite a bit of product.
- I have yet to do a big grocery shopping trip since our return, so our fridge is still pretty much empty. However, I was able to cobble together a decent stir-fry meal last night using rice, frozen peas, frozen shrimp and soy sauce. Yummy and quite satisfying.
- My son walked down the boulevard last night to look for jeans using a leftover-from-Christmas Buffalo Exchange gift card. This hipster consignment shop is close to the Ben and Jerry’s scoop shop which reminded me that my reader Kate had gifted me with two coupons for free pints of ice cream when she came to the Library of Congress meetup. (She also gave me two empty Starbucks bags which can be exchanged for free drip coffees, four hot cocoa packets and a teeny tub of Nutella. What can I say? She apparently gets me!) I handed the coupons over and we were all rewarded with a delicious treat. Thank you, Kate!
- My garden is starting to come to life, so I
slogged through the mudwalked around the yard with some scissors and a mission. I now have three lovely bud vases filled with spring flowers on my kitchen windowsill and they didn’t cost me a thing! - I made sure to promptly return all the borrowed suitcases yesterday to friends and neighbors. Thank you, Sasha and Nancy for the roll-aboards, and thank you to Chris for the garment bag. I love that everyone in my circle is open to sharing their belongings, and in return they feel free asking to borrow pretty much anything that we own. Yay, community!
Now your turn. What frugal things have you been doing?
Katy Wolk-Stanley
{ 40 comments… read them below or add one }
1. Cut open an almost empty tube of toothpaste to be sure we used every last bit.
2. Also cut open a bottle of moisturizer that I was sure was empty and got another week out of it.
I do that with moisturizer as well, although I haven’t done it with toothpaste. I have an almost empty tube of travel size toothpaste from our trip that I should experiment with. Thanks!
Katy
I’ve been rendering lard from the fat we got when we bought our pig from a local farm. Getting a high quality product from what seems like nothing. Win! I’ve also been cooking from scratch, doing my laundry and running the dishwasher during off-peak times, and basing our meal plan on what we have in the house plus what is on sale each week.
1) It’s finally spring where I am, so yesterday I rode my bike to a meeting instead of driving. The exercise was great too 🙂
2) I just had to do two small loads of laundry, but I threw everything that didn’t make it to the clothesline in the dryer together.
I’m looking forward to attending a kids clothing consignment sale tomorrow night! I get to shop early since I brought clothing in to consign. But mostly, I’m just posting b/c you asked on Facebook to see if our comments are posting 🙂
My comment went through!
Stopped by Goodwill on my errands today. I was out buying (NEW) Eastero shoes for my daughter, because I was unable to find used ones in her size. I looked for over a month!
And there (cue angels singing) I found white, good looking shoes, in her size, which she liked at least as well as anything I have found in any stores around here OR online.
I needed someone to gloat to, and this looks like the place!
Gloat away baby, gloat away! 🙂
My last toiletry combination didn’t go so well. I poured the last little bit from a bottle of liquid foundation makeup into a nearly empty bottle of another foundation. Apparently an ingredient from one doesn’t mix well with something from the other (they were two different brands), as they separated into a useless mess. Fail. I guess I won’t try that again with two different products.
I have been cutting open lotion bottles so as to use up all the stuff that’s stuck to the sides. I’ll often transfer the remaining lotion into a small glass jar so that it doesn’t dry out before I can use it.
I am stealing the glass jar idea! Brilliant. The moisturizer I cut open last week was getting dry so I put it inside a Ziploc, but I hate to use a disposable product when I have a ton of canning jars.
TEST TEST
Thank you, thank you!
Test
Thank you!
me too! Test, Test!
Funny though when I go to your website, the last post is March 13th
Reset your cache and it should give you the blank slate.
Test!
Not so frugal day here….new day tomorrow. Test post.
We are just starting to feel spring here in Ontario, Canada. Although there is still a foot of snow in my back yard, my husband has been faithfully using our clothesline for weeks now. I am walking to work and the sun and fresh air feel so great! (I walk in the winter but the wind and cold make it less pleasant.) I love hearing that your garden is starting to bloom. I can’t wait to plant my vegetable plot, but that won’t happen until the end of May. Thanks, Katy for all the great ideas you share with us out here in blog land.
I love that you’re using the clothesline while there’s still snow on the ground!
We have some great neighbors. We share and borrow so many things between our families. It is great to have a neighbors we can borrow things from.
I love leftover stir fry. It is a great way to use bits of this and that from the fridge and freezer.
I started cutting open the kids paint tubes when we couldn’t squeeze any more out. Holy cow is there a lot of paint left in there!
Heads up for free Ben & Jerry’s ice cream in the near future – next Tuesday, April 8th is their annual Free Cone Day. Runs from noon-8pm.
http://www.benjerry.com/scoop-shops/free-cone-day
I was too tired to make a decent lunch, so I grabbed a can of soup & then cut up 2 carrots to microwave in the soup. Got 2 lunches out of that.
I’ve been bringing (free) coffee from my one job to my other job where we have to pay .72/cup. .72 x 3 days a week… saves a little!
Scrubbed up my old spring mud-shoes to wear yet another season – they still look okay! Welcome, spring!
We are going on a free vacation and I needed a sweater and some sneakers that do not look too much like big sneakers. I could have gone to Target but decided to travel about 4 miles further to the Salvation Army store. I ended up getting a really nice light jean jacket (instead of the sweater), a pair of jean shorts and a pair of keds. It was half off day, so it all cost less than $10. I was so happy that I took the chance of going to the thrift shop! I also shopped in my closet to put together some great outfits for my trip. All set for my vacation!
By the way, we have a facebook page dedicated to this free trip from my company. There are posts of consultants spending $200+ for new clothes. I only spent about $20 for needed stuff for this vacation. I will be happy wearing my beautiful thrifted clothes knowing that I will look great on a budget!
I have started making bread about once a week. The loaves in the store have so many “mystery” ingredients that I went back to making my own. Today I will make one loaf plus a pizza crust. With a Kitchen Aid mixer it is so easy. I made bread years ago but I think I made it too complicated – making so many varieties and so many loaves at one time. This time I am keeping it simple, if I am making dough for something I’ll just make enough for a loaf too and keep it at that.
A good friend had a birthday yesterday. She asked a couple of friends to come to her house for tea. Her card was $.50 from Dollar Tree, I brought her a pan of banana bread chocolate chip bars that I made with ripe bananas and a pineapple ($1.39 at ALDI). She loved it all.
We have a Brother laser printer (black ink only). In the middle of January it refused to print because the toner cartridge was low. I suspected it was fine as it was printing beautifully. I Googled a work around and discovered there is an “eye” towards the bottom edge of the cartridge that determines when it needs to be replaced. The work around is to cover the “eye” with electrical tape. It is still printing fine, hundreds of pages later. The (wireless) printer itself was $30.50 at Staples a few years ago, it had been a floor model.
Great tip — thank you!
Making materials for tutoring from free downloads on Teachers Pay Teachers. So many freebies there that are perfect for emergent readers.
Katy –
Nice to meet you at the LOC. I had never been and was glad the other readers gave us the opportunity. Glad you enjoyed the caffeine, cocoa and Nutella. It was, however, another reader was responsible for the B&J coupons. Thanks to the other reader tip to be ready for free cone day!
This morning before work I:
Soaked beans that I’ll be pressure-cooking and then making into refried beans. My sister and her family are coming for the weekend and we’re having a light lunch of quesadillas tomorrow, and we’re out of canned refried beans. I love how cheap and good dried beans are!
I also made some deoderant. The natural and locally made deoderant at the healthfood store is $8/stick. This cost me less than $1 to make — and it’s all organic. And no scary ingredients like commercial deoderant.
And now I’d better get to work!
TEST TEST
I have thick, curly hair and have spent a FORTUNE on hair products over the years. But last week I bought a jar of coconut oil ($5.99/16 fl oz) at Trader Joe’s and tried it as a leave-in conditioner. It works great! I only use a small amount (about 1/2 tsp), melt it by rubbing it in my palms, and then lightly apply through my hair. It gives a nice shine without being greasy and smells fantastic, too! It will last for a long, long time and costs way less than even drugstore products, which never seemed to work well anyway.
It is also amazing for getting sticky gross things out of small children’s hair!
I have coarse salt and pepper hair (yes those lovely silver hairs have a mind of their own). I will have to try this, as I already own coconut oil. Thank you for the tip.
Not such a thrifty week for me, although we did start a bunch of veggies from seeds (most we got for free!)
I did find out that the house that I rent in is in danger of being forclosed upon as a by product of the landlords messy divorce so this weekend I will be hunting and pecking through my stuff for things to sell in anticipation of having to relocate ( I hate moving) in a few months. Anything I can’t sell will be donated to my daughter’s school as they have a yard sale fundraiser coming up to help fund the next round of the playground reno. Anything they don’t sell gets split between Salvation Army and the Blessing Barn (local thrift shop) so everything will eventually do someone good.
And to top it all off I’m imposing a ‘no spending till I move ‘ challenge for myself. I’m hoping to be able to put away as much as possible to make my move easy!
It’s Frugal Friday at my blog, so my list is here!
http://ismyhaironfirebaby.wordpress.com/2014/04/04/frugal-friday-toothbrushes-and-bar-soap/
Small things – washed out a couple of baggies, am cooking a chicken in my crock-pot (cooked meat will be frozen to use later), and will be enjoying my library books.
Purchased two clearance bags of candy coated almonds (.59 regularly 2.99) a few weeks ago. Instead of recycling the empty bags (resealable foil bags) I washed them out and used them to take snacks to work last week. I don’t buy plastic bags anymore so these came in handy and were more compact than using a container. Will continue to use them until they are worn out.
Went grocery shopping and purchased dry beans instead of canned – taste so much better, but take time to soak and cook. I’m determined to make the time and save the money going forward. Bought store brand rice and frozen veg for substantial savings. Didn’t buy any convenience foods – a goal of mine for this year is to stop all convenience foods, except things I can’t make – hello gelato! But I only buy it when on sale every few months.
Made the weekly visit to the library to return & borrow DVDs, books and CDs.
Gina,
I cook my dried beans in my crockpot (high for maybe 3-4 hours depending on how “firm” you like the beans.) I freeze them in quart size baggies. It makes them as easy to use as canned beans.
Amy