Five Frugal Things -- Embroidered Hats & Natural Fibers
1) Remember the embroidered Tuckernut cap that I decided to recreate from a free box hat?
Here's where I started, with a random goofy hat and the patience to unpick all those stitches.
Unfortunately the fabric got a bit destroyed, even though I was so very careful while removing the machine embroidery. Instead of being upset, I decided that the damaged fabric was "distressed," and yes -- distressed baseball caps are a thing!
Here's the "after." I always knew my version was going to be "inspired by" rather than an exact copy. I added a chain stitched circle as well, I guess to hammer home the "inspired by."
The cap also had machine embroidery across the back and I decided it would be easier to embroider right over it. (Think a new tattoo over an old one rather than painful and expensive laser surgery.) Plus easier = better.
It was an opportunity to show off my "feather" stitching skills.
Another issue is that the inside trim detached from a gentle hand wash. I cannot overstate the poor quality of this hat, it must've been glued down.
Worry not, as a quick whip stitch took care of that issue.
And . . . done! An enjoyable activity that cost zero-point-zero dollars and will live on, likely in the back of my car from when I need an emergency hat.
2) I stopped by the library to print out an eBay label and scanned the stacks for a few minutes. I'm a sucker for a time loop plot, so I grabbed this paperback for a fun read. I had an hour or so to kill, so I found a park bench which was unfortunately not as shady as it first appeared.
I ended up parking my car in full shade and enjoying the book for the rest of my hour. This would've been the perfect opportunity for an "emergency sun hat."
3) I also filled out another Popeye's receipt survey to get a free meal with the purchase of a $2.79 large drink. Once again I filled my 32-ounce cup with lemonade and brought it home for Arnold Palmers. (Iced tea + lemonade)
32 ounces really is an enormous beverage!
4) I dropped into the Goodwill that's near the library to browse and ended up buying two shirts for myself. First off was a Woolx T-shirt for just $7.99. This might seem like a so so price for a used shirt, but these 100% wool tops sell new for $100!
ONE HUNDRED DOLLARS!
I also grabbed a half-off ($2.49!) 100% cotton "Faded Glory" (Wal-Mart) top. I choose natural fiber clothing whenever possible, which is actually very doable even when thrifting. Sure, you have to dig a little deeper, but it's out there.
I was low on shirts, was able to thrift four like-new tops over the past month or so.
5) I met up with a neighbor who's going to water our potted plants while we're out of town. I do the same for them whenever they travel. No money exchanged, just community.
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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Your 2.79 meal from Popeyes looks delicious.
The deer ate my pot of impatiens so I repurposed the soil with some other soil and replanted my very discounted dragon begonia into a pot that I had.
Working in my yard a little bit each day and saving money by doing it myself.
Making pizza for dinner tonight and I almost broke down and bought pizza sauce. I decided to make it from a can of tomato paste instead.
Biggest frugal savings is cooking so many meals at home for our family of five.
Picked up free flowers at our little free library today and the book Theo of Golden. This will be my third time to read the book.
Wearing my Thrifted clothes and being content with what I have.
My book club is reading Theo of Golden this month. Since you read it three times, I'm thinking it's must be good. I bought it from the indy bookstore owned by a friend and I like to support her store so I buy the occasional book from her. Her store is our small town's portal to culture so we need her to remain open. Plus she's just a really nice person who I feel fortunate to have as a friend. Anyway, I got 10% off the book plus paid no tax on it as it's tax free weekend here in Massachusetts. I can't wait to start it!
Wow, how many hours did it take to transform the ball cap? But anything is better than the diaper man on there before!
It's tax free weekend for back to school in my state. Usually our tax free weekend is second only to Back Friday in terms of mob scenes, but not for me this year!
I needed new socks and undies, so I hopped over to the Walmart website. No crowds to contend with!
I prefer to buy a large amount of identical socks (all in a single bag) so I don't have to hunt for a matching pair. For years that meant men's tube socks since ladies socks are rarely packaged that way. And it was a major crisis for me when they stopped selling tube socks. I was buying socks but they didn't match, so I gave up trying to find pairs that went together. Guess the washing machine ate them!!... So I bagged em all up and donated the whole mess of them to the homeless shelter this spring.
However, it appears the younger generation is madly in love with 70s fashions, and that includes tube socks. Another great trend is for athletic teams to purchase socks in bulk. So I was able to buy a huge quantity of matching black tube socks, supposedly for lady referees, from Walmart. Ought to last me several winters! The package will be delivered to my door in 10 days' time. The bulk price is under 2 bucks per pair, all alike, free shipping, no sales tax. Yess!!!
Similarly I bought a few pairs of panties to replace some that are getting "holey". Again, no sales tax, no mob scene at the store, free delivery to my home. Big smile.
Having rearranged my bedroom, I wanted/needed another extension cord/outlet -- a special one that has a magnet on the back of the box with the electric outlets on it. Harbor Freight has them so I hopped down to that store. No school supplies or clothes sold there so no big crowd today. Got the extension cord, which will attach to my bedframe and allow me to plug in the electric blanket this winter. (Without it, the blanket cord won't reach the plug near the headboard and would be a tripping hazard if I plugged it in to the nearest outlet, which is on the opposite wall .)
I lucked out: since I had previously given HF my phone number, they gave me a free gift. I could choose between a flashlight, a tarp or a big magnet. I got the latter since I have plenty of tarps and flashlights. It ought to come in handy.
I agree - life is too short to match socks! I only buy bagged socks, everyone in my house has a different brand/style so it's easy to sort laundry.
(I also don't fold underwear - it gets dumped in a drawer. It's not like it wrinkles!)
I get your sock dilemma, Fru-gal Lisa, it is painful to sort socks. I'm not at all a fan of tube sox, they bother my feet. and I always wear TWO pairs of socks - I'm in and out of so many shoes during the day and it helps to keep the socks on my feet, plus the tiny bit of extra padding seems to make a big difference to my aches and pains.
I buy socks from Reitmans, a Canadian chain, on their website, when they have them deeply discounted - they have fun embroidery on one side, sometimes, like sheep or sushi or hot peppers or cats or dogs.
I buy a big schwack of them during the sales, gift to the girls in my life at Christmas, go through my drawers and pull out the aging socks and replace them with newer ones, and then donate both the aging socks and a bunch of new ones to the homeless shelter.
Anyone on the street is happy to get a pair of socks, they don't get to change them very often so they wear out fast, and their feet are usually in poor shape. So even a used pair is a huge improvement over no socks.
As for the pain of matching them - I mind less because I pair them as I hang them on the line, so it is easy when it comes time to take them off - already paired!
I pair them when I remove them from the dryer - sorry, WFH and dryer is a better (quicker) option than the clothesline. Dryer is natural gas. These days I rarely have more than 2 loads a week.
Our gas bill averages around $35 during the non-heating months and rarely top $65 during heating season. This includes stove, grill, and water heater.
That's great you keep your gas bill so low. In that case, I'd say it's worth it to use your dryer. In my case, the winters ate so long and cold here I look forward to hanging laundry outside. Even my neighbors know it's Spring when they see laundry on my clothesline. Lol.
I have a clothesline in my laundry room to hang laundry. I find that running a small dehumidifier (with a timer) is a lot more energy efficient and kinder on my clothes than using the dryer.
That Woolx shirt is an amazing find!
1. Our neighbors gave us a bottle of Knob Creek Rye. They were given it and wont drink it. Hubby will. It goes for $39 near us.
2.I have been saving brown paper from all of the packages my friend gets with her permission. I plan to use it as wrapping paper.
3. Had to take the lady I help to the dentist. Her daughter treated us to Mc Donald's after. She somehow bought an extra cheeseburger and didn't want it. I brought it home.
4.My friend and I went to get a slice of pizza before we went to a different friend's art show. She insisted on paying since I was driving. She told me I was a cheap date since I always get tap water as a drink. The art show was great. We didn't buy anything. We did eat a brownie each and some chocolates.
5. The art show was at a library. We got our library passport stamped and did 2 more libraries on the drive home. We are aiming to get 25 so that we can be entered into the grand drawing.
What is the prize for the winner in the grand drawing?
A $250 Barnes and Noble gift card. There are 66 libraries in Suffolk County and you only have to go to 25. We did it last year too. Neither of us won but we had fun doing it. We make sure to work them into other outings.
A run to The Bottle Drop netted me $12.00, side benefit is cleaned out the car trunk, the front footwell, both rear footwells, the back seat, and the kitchen floor.
Ran off to Michael's where I did not go bat poop crazy for once. $29.00 for 6 strands of beads and 4 small picture frames.
Went to Ross Dress For Less, got several plus size tops and dresses plus this huge pack of colored pencils. Subway for lunch AND dinner.
Am preparing for a major home improvement, namely getting new flooring laid down in 6 rooms. Saved up the $$$ for it using the Oportun app. My handyman is expensive so I'm lining up friends (and myself) to move all the stuff in those rooms (heavy stuff for friends and yes I am paying them). I originally moved all the stuff myself several years ago, but now I'm older (presumably wiser) and much more aware of my klutz tendencies.
All credit cards paid off in full, two personal loans paid off in full (both paid off early) and some smaller bills paid off as well.
Get job on paying off your debt early.
We almost had a Popeyes in the town I live in, but there was protest against it and the franchiser pulled out. Apparently some felt it wasn't tony enough, and their voices were very loud. As far as I know the space is still empty. I'm disappointed. I would have liked it.
I have had quite a nice day. In the morning I went out to breakfast with a friend, using a birthday coupon at a nice local cafe. I opted for French toast loaded with berries and nuts. Delish. I paid the bill, and my friend paid her share on Venmo, but she actually paid a little more than half, which was nice of her.
In the evening I was invited to my son's house to celebrate my birthday. They made fajitas, and my birthday "cake" was cheesecake bites from Sam's. My gift was a Trader Joes canvas mini-bag -- the one that went viral -- and a Jane Austen escape room game. It was especially nice that my grandsons joined in for the game, because they are at that age when they have lots of other things to do.
It is not actually my birthday yet, but I'm not complaining.
1. We just shopped for the second week of the month and have only spent $300 total! We are trying to see if we can eat for less than $800 a month and it’s looking like we can. (We are in Ontario and these are Canadian dollars).
2. I’m going out of town for one day and I wanted to go and buy a new toiletry kit. $33 was insane so I stuck to my usual one for makeup and a used-many-times Ziploc bag.
3. We live very close to 3 amazing beaches which we do t use enough. Today we zipped over for a swim and some sunshine.
4. There is one garbage can on this beach and when people fill it up they just throw the rest of the garbage on the ground. Then they complain that the city “allows” the mess. So I took a large trash bag and picked up all the garbage and took it to the garbage can in the parking lot…about 20 meters from the other one. Pick up after yo self! Yo mama don’t work here!!
5. We made a welcome home sign for our neighbors who just spent several months in their home country. They were war refugees and weren’t able to go home for a visit for over ten years! My son is throwing a get together for their eldest son he can reconnect with his friends. We love our neighborhood!
My county hosts WV largest Yardsale every year but this it was canceled due to horrific flash flooding that we received. However, since I had already requested the day off, had already saved a budgeted amount, and figured that people would still have the yard sale, my daughter, granddaughter, and I spent an enjoyable two days gallivanting around looking for yard sales. We both had pretty specific things we were looking for, and managed to find a lot of those things. I found sweatshirts for only $1 a piece that I plan on upcycling to Halloween shirts. If they turn out nice I hope to post on FB and sell some. We did eat out a lot, but I still have almost 1/4 of my saved money left over, so I’m okay with that.
My husband bought two rotisserie chickens today. We ate some of it along with our son, and I boiled the carcasses with whatever meat was left on them. I’m about to go put the brother and leftover chicken in the freezer.
We leave for a week’s vacation next weekend at our timeshare. Our daughter, SIL, and GD are coming too, and my hubby and I have worked out a menu that uses most food we already had. Our plan is to hike some, swim in the pool, and relax!
1 - As mentioned on FG, we ate one of the almost 11 oz boneless skinless chicken breasts for dinner tonight (split for close to Popeye's at home chix sandwiches). Reduced for really-really quick sale - $1.62/pound, three breasts cost $3.21. I packaged the other two grilled breasts for future meals.
2 - Harvesting slicing and paste tomatoes (which I freeze) and cucumbers. Sharing and eating the other tomatoes and cukes.
3 - Horrid year for weeds so morning exercise was 1.5 hours of weeding in one of the perennial food part of the garden.
4 - Assisted better half in quartering large pieces of ready-to-burn once split free oak. Afternoon exercise for 1.5 hours, will be some cash in hand as some will be sold, and will save $$ when burn it in our wood stove this winter.
Only four but it is what it is.
Love the hat! You might want to try a bit of fray check to calm the fibers where you picked out the original. I try to keep a hat in the car, too.
This has not been a frugal week, but it’s over. We had to keep our windows closed and the AC on because of the heat and the smoke. Usually, I’m monitoring the temperature and opening/closing windows and blinds to use the AC the least amount. Our health, though, is the most important! The frugal clock has been reset.
I am not at all creative, so I love to see how you reinvent things. Well done!
1) Picked fresh herbs & a lemon off of our tree for a marinade DH made for grilled chicken last night. It was fabulous.
2) Went to CVS to pick up a prescription. Used a few coupons and reward to pick up other things that I needed. Finally caved & bought a pill organizer. I feel quite old now, but honestly love it. 😉
3) Uploaded receipts to iBotta & Fetch. Discovered that iBotta had a $.25 any grocery receipt offer.
4) Made egg bites (inspired by Kristen at The Frugal Girl), as we had eggs no one was eating. I combined that with spinach (purchased for the recipe), and a bunch of other stuff we had on hand. Including sliced roasted red peppers in a large jar no one claimed or had any idea what it was purchased for. And a green onion from the garden. Super easy, and the recipe was delicious. Froze some, put some in the fridge for easy breakfast options, and DS20 ate two before he left for work. An easy high protein breakfast option - I also included cottage cheese & shredded cheese we had in the fridge.
5) Drove my electric car for all errands.
I can totally relate to an "emergency hat". At certain times of the day, I just can't take how the sun blinds me. A hat is the trick. Nice embroidery job!
I unpicked stitches from a hat but instead of embroidering, I used acrylic craft paints I've had for years to paint abstract designs on the hat (my brain's too tired tonight to figure out how to add pictures). It turned out well though I don't know how well it'll wash.