- Yesterday I donated a large load of unwanted and non-funtional electronics to Free Geek, which is a “Portland-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit offering free computers, technology and education powered by reuse & recycling in association with Oregon E-Cycles. We accept almost all technology with an emphasis on reuse. All materials are handled ethically and environmentally.” I love that my unwanted stuff can find a new owner, and that my broken stuff can be responsibly dealt with!
- My 16-year-old son has a hole in the fabric of his favorite Adidas sneakers and he asked if I could fix them. I’m not sure if I can, but I do love that my son’s first impulse is to fix rather than to toss.
- I called Comcast, as I noticed that our rates had gone up. (We have cable-TV so my husband and son can watch international soccer games.) I was able to get the rate down $35 per month, plus get free HBO and streaming movies added to our plan. I know the true frugal thing is to not have cable, but this is what works for my family. <– Jeez, Katy. Defensive much?
- I went to the grocery store yesterday and one item on my list was sliced ham for my husband’s work lunches. I found a big bag of the most expensive deli ham for 50%-off in a clearance bin. Hello . . . $5 savings!
- I found a super useful food waste tip on the back of my cereal box. Because apparently someone out there is pouring out leftover wine when the bottle doesn’t get finished.
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.”
{ 36 comments… read them below or add one }
hurray Katy!!! THE BLOG SHE BE FIXED!!!
Yes she is!!!!!!!!!
All hail WP Fixit.com! 😉
So glad it’s back up and running. I know how stressful it is when it’s your own blog that’s broken.
It made me feel like my head was exploding.
Tammy,
Regarding “The blog she be fixed!!!”
Made my day!
🙂
Fixed here and on FB version.
I went to the store today with a list of 5 things that I needed. I spent the entire drive reconsidering the “need” for several of them and ended up only purchasing the two things that we actually needed.
What is this “leftover wine” you speak of? I’ve never heard of such a thing.
I’m with Mindy. What is leftover wine? There’s new wine, and yesterday’s wine. That’s it. And it all gets drunk pretty quickly.
Hahaha!
I agree. But occasionally this happens to me. Just a little leftover wine. I’m the only one here that drinks it.
I started freezing the leftovers years ago after watching a Nigella Lawson show where she did. And I have used the frozen wine lots of ways. One of the best is to saute mushrooms. So delicious!
I hear ya on the cable. We “need” NBC Sports to watch the PL. We got lucky and swapped services, Netflix for Comcast, with a fellow fan of my supporters group. We get to watch the matches on our computer, and the money we save from no cable payment we get tospend on a pint at tjethe pub every now and then! Without our swap deal, I would have probably caved by now.
I’m with with everyone on the whole avoid cable thing. In my humble opinion, I think the only way it will ever change/become reasonably priced is an uprising/”walkout” of us huddled masses or a truly competitive market.
But in the meantime, someone explain this to me. How are you getting internet without cable? DSL? (which is extremely slow around here/CT).
I watch everything on my computer yet couldn’t do it without cable as it is my internet source. What is/how does the “swap deal” work?
I was thinking the same thing Lynda. I pay $120 per month for cable and internet, I would be thrilled to cut that in half. Thanks
I suppose it depends on your market, but we have internet from the cable company, but not the cable TV. So, there is a “cable” coming in the house, and we get a “cable” bill ($24.99/month) for Internet, but our TV runs on antennae or we hook the laptop up to the TV to watch Netflix or whatever from the Internet.
We are considering getting cable TV just for football in the fall–my husband’s one treat in an otherwise very frugal lifestyle. Still debating . . .
Oh, and, we found that we can’t tell the difference between the fastest Internet speed and the slowest, as long as we turn the HD feature OFF on Netflix. We don’t have an HD TV anyway, so even if we were streaming HD, it wouldn’t be HD on the monitor anyway.
If HD is “on”, then the slowest speed is s-l-o-w. But with HD “off”, we can’t tell the difference and we save a lot of money. I guess it depends what you and your family use your Internet to do.
I think if you have someones Comcast (or any other cable co) password, you can watch it on your devices (computer, phone, tablet) etc. Same goes for Netflix.
We got rid of cable in Feb. and have slowly added things. First we got a Roku, then Netflix, then Hulu. Our old TV was a thousand years old, an SD and the color was horrible (everything was like a greyish-purple) so we just sprung for a new TV (HD) and bought a digital antenna. We now have everything we want and our ‘tv’ viewing will only cost $17.00 plus $40.00 for my internet, so $57.00 a month. When I had Comcast (cable/internet bundle) it went anywhere from $180-200) a month, so this is s-w-e-e-t! I am a huge football fan and last weekend got to watch the 3 games I wanted to see so I was happy. I know that wont happen every weekend but that’s ok. There is still lots of college & pro games on ABC-CBS-NBC-FOX. Best thing tho…I get to watch Judge Judy and Jeopardy again, lol!! <3 Judge Judy!
thanks shevaun and kris for the info. I’m going to do some investigating, would be very happy to pay 57 for everything.
Lynda-
I agree on the mass uprising–we can only hope!
I have internet via cable, I just don’t have a TV subscription. Our phone lines are old, and in need up updating in our home, but our cable lines work from our previous owners. We pay Xfinity for internet, but have no TV options.
Many providers, including Netflix and Xfinity allow for multiple accounts/log-ins so you can share with family members on different screens. That’s how we swap.
The words “leftover” and “wine” don’t seem like words that should ever be near each other… just sayin!
Who has leftover wine?
Just what cereal do you eat that gives hints for using leftover wine 🙂
And, like others, who has leftover wine?
This week I really wanted some bagels. I thought I would pick up a package at the store since I hadn’t been able to get the bread store this week. I took one look at the price of $3.99 for six and suddenly I wasn’t hungry for bagels any longer.
The next day I made 20 Bagels from scratch. They turned out so good and while I didn’t figure out the cost, my guesstimate is about $1 in ingredients to make them.
Ooh . . . I should make bagels!
Shelly…could you share your bagel recipe?
Kudos on your bagels, Shelly! and kudos to Katy for going all frugal on her cable company. For that matter, kudos to all the frugalistas who work to spend less money whenever possible so they get more bang from each buck.
I called TWC to cancel my cable as the cost was just soaring. I asked to
cancel cable and just keep internet. The rep gave me a deal of basic cable and internet for $48.00 a month. I took it! Half of what I was paying.
Amy Dacyzyn told how to fix holes in sneakers in one of her books. She described her method in great detail which I used once with success. Sorry, I don’t remember which book, but perhaps you have access to them. I remember it had to do with using “shoe goo” which is still available. I think you put duct tape over the hole on the inside and cover the hole on the outside with “shoe goo”.
The hole is in the woven fabric, so I’m going to try darning it.
I got holes in the woven fabric of my sneakers and I used iron on clothing patches to cover them up. The light color of the patch blended in well with the woven material. Unless you are staring fixedly at my sneakers, you cannot see the patch.
Unfortunately, the shoes are bright acid green.
Katy, that’s an amazing rate for cable! We finally got fed up with TWC after they kept raising our cable internet rate every few months. How many times do they want us to call and threaten to cancel? So we just got rid of it entirely. Now we live in an apartment complex that has high speed internet available for $20/month and basic satellite is included in the rent.
I tried a new soup recipe because I bought a head of cabbage for $.89. I had dried white beans, which it called for. I had all the other ingredients, including canned pumpkin. It was good and I’ll make it again.
I found $3 in the 7-11 parking lot when I walked there to return a RedBox DVD a friend let me watch.
We streamed a couple of our regular TV shows after they aired this week.
I used the Scan It device at the grocery store to score additional savings on items that were on sale and I had coupons for some of them as well.
I donated items we were not going to use to the local food bank. Not frugal, but a non-waste (and decluttering) activity. I had dropped bags of stuff off at Goodwill the day before.
Did you know you can earn a computer by volunteering at Free Geek? Not the latest and greatest, but certainly usable.
The wine tip was on a cereal box? I’m very confused by that…
« My 16-year-old son has a hole in the fabric of his favorite Adidas sneakers and he asked if I could fix them. I’m not sure if I can, but I do love that my son’s first impulse is to fix rather than to toss. »
Shoe Goo. I’ve got a pair of black Reebok I’ve bought in 1990 (it’s not a typo). A pair of Merrell, years ago. Etc. I still use them. Repaired with shoegoo. Each repair is good for a long time, usually for a very long time.
The hole is in the woven fabric, so I’m going to try and darn it like a sock. But I agree that Shoe-Goo is the best!
Leftover wine!? What’s that?
{ 1 trackback }