Five Frugal Things -- Free Books & Fishnet Stocking
1) I drove our 21-year-old minivan and noticed that the passenger seat's arm rest had peeling leather. This is a car that my husband mostly drives, so it had escaped my notice.
I knew that continuing to ignore the issue would only make it worse, so I went into the basement and grabbed my trusty bottle of super glue. I just now noticed that this glue says it's for "wood," but I've used it for multiple other surfaces with excellent results.
It's not perfect, but the damage is mitigated. This poor vehicle has seen better days, but that's no reason not to show it some respect!
2) My rosemary shrub is growing exponentially, so I put something up in my Buy Nothing group offering cuttings for "either for cooking or display."
I keep an arrangement of rosemary in our bathroom all year long, as it both looks nice and smells wonderful. It lasts around a month when I remember to keep water in the vase and think it adds a nice touch to an otherwise utilitarian room.
3) My husband and I went for an after dinner walk, which brought us to this "FREE" box. I rummaged through and chose to bring home some Scholastic Book Fair books and a bag of plastic dolls.
I'm always happy to find books for our little free library:
They didn't even make it into the house!
I researched a few of the dolls using Google Lens, specifically this "Miss Punk" one, as hello . . . she's wearing fishnet stockings?!
I'll put together some eBay listings later in the week and likely lot them up.
4) I sold a thrifted mug on eBay and will package her up later on today. I don't remember what I paid, but it was a few years ago, so I'd guess $1.99. Again, not a viral news moment, ("Portland mom sells thrifted mug for $200,00!") but it's the precise things someone was in Wisconsin was looking for and I made a few bucks. Win-win!
It's nice when hobbies makes money.
Click HERE to see the listing.
5) I also brought home this piece of scrap silver from a different FREE box, as it looked like it might be sterling. It's not marked, but that might be because it's only a part and would've been marked elsewhere. Magnets don't stick to it, (a sign of silver plate) so I might try taking it to a we-buy-silver pawn shop.
You know . . . for funsies!
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.
1. While out walking I found a bottle of post office issued Halt on the ground. This will come in handy for biking and also on a trip I am taking where I will be walking in unfamiliar territory. I can't tell you how many times I have had dog issues on my bike.
2. I have been having great sales on eBay. Unfortunately I recently had a shipping charge of $30!! What!!! It was a cloth bag. USPS says it weighs 21 lbs. On line from the manufacturer's website it says 3.5 lbs. I am contesting it but who knows. I will have lost money if USPS doesn't reverse the charge. But overall with sales of everything I am ahead.
3. My husband wears latex gloves for almost everything he does. I have to admit his hands look great. Anyway my mom had boxes of them sitting around and gifted him about 6 boxes of them. Yay, if it's free it's for we!
4. Took some items to Goodwill and received a $5 off coupon along with my receipt for taxes.
5. I am working on creating a cottage garden. I used newspaper as weed block, and picked up some free seed packets from the library. I will grow 20 to 30 plants from seed and transplant them into the cottage and also into our wildflower area. My husband wanted to hire someone to help weed the wildflower area but I convinced him we could do it ourselves if we broke it up into a couple hours a day. It's a HUGE area. It took us about 10 days, but free exercise and money saved.
1) Inspired by an earlier post, I pulled out a plain denim shirt that I had been considering donating and some embroidery floss that was hanging out in the basement and made my own "inspired by" shirt that I'll actually wear.
2) My oldest suddenly had to pack for a 2-week volunteer gig and was able to raid our shared stash of gear. Zero dollars spent, but I doubt the hiking boots will make it past that two week mark given the roll of duct tape that added to the pack.
3) Dipping into that shared stash, we were able to outfit myself and my youngest for a week at summer camp. Lots of thrifted, gifted and free pile finds.
4) Meeting with my credit union about unrelated matters, the staff member was able to tweak my accounts to take advantage of higher savings rates. More money back for doing exactly what I've been doing? Yes please!
5) Still taking the bus, making my coffee, packing my lunch and rocking the thrifted and me-made wardrobe.
Katy, you can slip a tube sock on the arm of your mini van seat. It will protect the arm rest & keep the parts together. I did this for a vehicle that had arm rests like yours. I could also take it off and wash it when dirty.
The expression, "Put a sock on(in?) it!" Is screaming in my head. Why not cover the armrest with a mate-less sock?
1. Accidentally started a trilogy on Libby and thankfully didn't have to wait more than a day for each audiobook to become available, I finished them all in about 3.5 days. I think it was a young adult series but I enjoyed it nonetheless. It was a post apocalyptic story and they had some clever wisdom about "waste not".
2. I gave myself a haircut using the two ponytail method, or as I think of it "a unicorn horn and horse tail" and I accidentally cut a bit more than I intended in the front but I think it turned out fairly nicely! If nothing else it'll buy me another week or so before I need to cut it again.
3. For dinner we made pancakes. A classic in our house when nothing sounds good/we don't want to heat up the house.
4. We cooked and shredded four chicken breasts to divvy up for multiple meals, the first was chicken fried rice using the night before's rice.
5. We're getting a break in the heat later in the week so we just have to hold out until then to do much baking. I might try and get some done while it's cool in the morning but for now we still have some pumpkin muffins in the fridge which have been making good snacks if the kids don't eat them for breakfast.
Would you share the name of the trilogy, please? Sounds interesting!
It's the Razorland Series by Anm Aguirre and the books are Enclave, Outpost, and Horde. It's mostly about their survival through a post apocalyptic world and their fight against the new threats it holds.
1. Had to travel for a few days and came back to my oregano and parsley going NUTS. Cut both back along with the thyme and basil (what a pathetic basil plant I got this year!) and blended them up with garlic, lemon, olive oil, and pepper flakes to make an herb sauce for some chicken out of the freezer last night. Satisfied with my garden.
2. We had a bonanza at work today, which is when we all bring something in and hang out for an hour. Because I was doing the above herb experiment last night, my plan to make peanut butter cookies fell to the wayside. Instead I picked up garlic knots at the pizzeria next to my office for 80 cents a knot. Frugal? Maybe not, but cheaper than most bakeries nearby and still warm from the oven.
3. Left the bonanza with an embarrassment of riches - sesame and chocolate chip cookies. I love my team!
4. Had my morning coffee at home before coming into the office, avoiding my frequent dunkin stop.
5. Unintentionally frugal - working from the office means the AC in my home office is off today as another heatwave comes through, saving us that electricity.
1. My partner and I took the "T" (subway) down to see the Sail Boston (tall ships) this morning. It was free to board the ships, and we splurged on overpriced lobster rolls and chowder (see #2).
2. Another professor uses my work apartment about 3-4x per year, and pays me (far less than a hotel room). That, plus #3, and the overpriced lobster rolls were only 3 dollars out of pocket.
3. The Superga sneakers (that I mentioned a few days ago) that I bought for $8 on Depop were not reflective of the photo, so I sent them back, and I will be refunded. Depop will pay for the shipping, so I only lost a few minutes to stop by the post office to drop them off. The post office was on the way to the grocery store, where I did a super fast mystery shop so that I could get some free deli meat for my partner's sandwich lunch this week. The payout went toward the lunch splurge.
4. My friend and I were going to go out to eat tomorrow, but I have carnitas, tortillas in the freezer, and avocado, cabbage, and a watermelon from mystery shops/free CSA, so I'll bring dinner to her house instead. This is a bonus as our freezers are FULL and we need to make some room for our cat/house sitter who will be arriving in a month, and who likes to bring her own food.
5. I'm listening to another Duncan Kincaid/Gemma James series free via Hoopla. Thanks, local library! I also made iced tea from free tea bags that my mom passed over to me, agreed to give a public talk that comes with an honorarium, worked from home, which saved me gas. Drying laundry outside. Dinner tonight will be Asian beef with eggplant and Thai basil, with those 3 main ingredients all also coming from mystery shop and the free CSA box.
1. I listed another item on eBay. This one didn't sell right away so I must have priced it appropriately.
2. Had the new Aldi onion-garlic sourdough bread toasted for breakfast. It's called "everything" bread, so I sprinkled "everything but the bagel" seasoning on it. It was really good, and a good replacement for a bagel.
3. In a parking lot I found a gift bag in great condition, along with a sheaf of tissue paper inside.
4. I made an appointment to give blood. Despite the urgent need for type O, the first available appointment in my area was August 3.
5. A T-shirt I was wearing had a sleeve hem unraveling for the second time. As I went to get my sewing kit, I noticed a hole was starting to develop on the front of the shirt. I decided to let it go. I have plenty of T-shirts. I may look into one of those companies that repurposes textiles, and start saving such items for recycling.
Another idea is to cut those items into rags for the super messy/ gross stuff that you would otherwise maybe want to use a paper towel for.
1. What a fun post, @Katy! You've reminded me that MY rosemary bushes are also going nuts – I picked a schwack of them (of it?) and stuffed the branches into a big rubbermaid tote, which has been languishing on the back porch in the heat. Rosemary has become a quiet favourite of mine in cooking – I grind it up and add it to many meals where before I was only adding oregano. It is particularly yummy added to lentils.
2. You've reminded me that my Daughter and I found a free box when we were out last week. It had two lovely packets of letter writing material (fancy paper with matching envelopes) as well as half a dozen post cards, a packet of markers, a brand-new looking thesaurus (I can't resist a word book). I also picked up two bits of interesting fabric that I think are big enough to make my grandson a pair of shorts – one has animals all over so I am whatever I make will delight him.
3. I took one of the 'free' postcards and just sent it to my Daughter. She suffers from anxiety/overthinking and is having occasional panicky days because she is making a huge step away from her current highly paid career in technology, and going back to University for psychology / social work. She's turning 26 this summer and has so much talent in so many areas, I'm really pleased she is listening to her heart – and I also get that this is a huge and scary step. So I pulled out an ancient 'forever' stamp and posted her some Mom love with some encouraging words. I'm wanting to send more random letters and postcards to the people I love.
4. My many zucchini plants have decided it is time to get producing at speed. I'm trying to harvest when they are very young, and luckily we planted mostly yellow ones so I can SEE the darn things. I'm NOT a zucchini fan, however Blue Gate Farmgirl mentioned zucchini tots and a google search has revealed a few recipes, so I'm considering pulling out the shredding machine and being creative in the kitchen. The zukes were provided by Thrift Store Buddy, who has her own plants, and my gardening buddy, however she has hurt herself so I am barely seeing her. I wonder why the things that grow best in my garden aren't highest on my list of deliciousness...
5. My weather app isn't particularly accurate - however when it says we'll be getting hotter weather I believe it. Hot is relative, I know, however for us on Vancouver Island anything over about 23 degrees C (~75 F) is considered pretty hot. We have some 28C ( ~83F) and 32C ( ~92F) projected – eek!!.
In my old farmhouse I can run just the fan, and it pulls the much cooler basement air up into the middle part of the house. That is usually enough to get the house cooler. Upstairs, with inadequate vents, the best way to keep things cool is fans in the window pointing out. However, particularly because we are on solar, I do give myself permission to run the AC when it gets to be too much – only for a few hours, then back to the fans, mostly because the AC just feels so different on my skin (even when set high).
I meant to say that the rosemary in the tote was DRYING as it languished. Pulling it off the sticks is a fragrant and satisfying activity, and I've learned to do it on the porch, outside, otherwise I find rosemary everywhere in the house, for weeks.
How lucky you are, Ecoteri! It is in the upper 70's (F) here in Texas and I am rejoicing over the cooler weather!!!! Which will not last very long: Later this week, we'll get back to the 90's if not the triple digits.
If you have a good eye for matching color, you can paint the white part of the arm rest with gray acrylic paint. It may take a couple of coats, and when the top coat is tacky, texture it with a dry sponge. It won't be perfect, but will be much better. I did that technique after having to sand a big , deep scuff out of the glove box door of my car -- DH hauled heavy lumber and it rubbed a spot. It was just barely noticeable after the repair.
That's a great idea!
I was going to suggest my favorite hack - a felt pen ,but this sounds much more durable.
I love the smell of rosemary and that vase is beautiful.
1. I just finished reading a library book on my Kindle. It was The River is Rising by Wally Lamb. It was good but very heavy. I'm going to read The Correspondent next.
2. I walked with my friend for free exercise yesterday. We haven't walked in a few weeks so it was nice to catch up.
3. My sugar snap peas that I planted didn't get picked on time since I was out of town. They were a little tough so I shelled the peas and will eat them that way.
4. I've mowed my own lawn. Again. I'm working on weeding but it's so hot I can only do a little bit at a time.
5. I had my mom and sister over for dinner on Sunday. I bought discounted burgers that were near their sell by date. I made some potatoes in the toaster oven and my mom brought coleslaw. We swam a little and my sister did her laundry since their washing machine is broken.
1. I was working in the town where Aldi is located so I did a stock up on meat. The ground turkey was 2.34 and I should have bought another package but I have a tiny refrigerator top freezer. I did buy sliced roast beef deli meat and frozen it also, $3.29 a package, canned tuna fish 95 cents, canned sardines 99 cents, hot dogs 99 cents, bologna 1.75 package. All I bought was meat and fish. Anyways, I bought several cans of the fish, sardines,
packages of hot dogs,
sandwich meat and the total came to $31.38.
2. I walked an hour this morning.
3 I washed my work dress in the bath tub and hung it up to dry.
That is all I have because I turned on the air because it is so HOT and HUMID.
Don't beat yourself up for turning on your A/C. Your appliances and electronics will thank you. The dehumidifier in your basement (if you have either) will work less also. IMHO, the key is to get the humidity out of the house and keep it out of the house. Which is why once ours is on, it stays on until the heat wave passes.
The title is The River is Waiting by Wally Lamb. I really enjoyed it and thought about it for a long time. The ending surprised me.
Oh yes. I got the title wrong. Thanks. The ending was a surprise. It was so good. It's a story I won't forget.
1. Heavy rain; I collected rainwater and filled several empty jugs with it so that I will have it to water the houseplants. Spider plants, in particular, do not do well if you use tap water, as the chlorine makes their leaves turn brown.
2. Insomnia last night. Got up in the wee hours of the morning and did laundry. Too much humidity in the air for things to dry quickly, so I dried heavier things in the dryer as this would not heat up the house too much. (Temperatures were lower and the AC fan was not running.)
3. Yesterday I bought Blue Bell Ice Cream while it was on sale for $5.99 (half gallon). Sale was ending then. Today it is the regular price of $7.49 at our store; higher elsewhere. But it's still worth it! Best ice cream on the planet!
4. Stayed indoors and did not buy anything.
5. Used bathtub faucet located closest to hot water heater for hot water to make tea, so no electricity was used (we have a natural gas hot water heater). It's too cloudy/rainy for sun tea today. The faucet gave me hot water almost instantly.
Kitchen faucet takes several minutes for water to get hot.
1. I made more chicken salad with the $1.99 boneless, skinless chicken breast I had frozen. That is a rock bottom price around here so I stocked up. I bulked it up with dried cranberries and celery so it goes along long way. My frugal mother taught me that trick of bulking up meat, tuna and egg salads with celery.
2. I went to a free seminar on handling stress at the indy bookstore. The woman who led the seminar handed out goody bags to the six of us who attended. I felt like a kid at a birthday party. The bag held a medium sized notebook, a nice pen, two aroma therapy tabs for the shower, an eraser, a small bag of pretzels and a mint. I kept the gift bag they came in for future use.
3. The thinner quilt we use in the summer proved to be too heavy for the hot and humid weather we've been experiencing so DH scavenged around the closets and pulled out a very thin bedspread that had belonged to my late mother. I had forgotten we still owned it. The concept of shopping in your own house before buying comes through again.
4. I'm using the fan whenever possible in this swampy weather instead of the A/C.
5. I've never had as many raspberries growing in my yard as I do this year. We had a very snowy winter so I'm wondering if that has something to do with it. They're on the southern side of the house which doesn't hurt either. We're enjoying them as a snack every afternoon.
I agree with you about using celery for bulk and crunch. My Mom would put walnuts in tuna salad, providing a bit more nutrition. My husband makes tuna salad with pickle sandwich spread, instead of mayo, which is horrible to me, but that was his Mom's recipe.
I add chopped celery, onion, and a hard boiled egg to my Tuna Salad!
1) Took DP out to lunch. We went to a favorite spot and I convinced him to split a ginormous appetizer as our meal. He said he "didn't want to spend $50 for the two of us" which is a big shift for him, being not-very-frugal. The appetizer was split and a cocktail was shared. Frugal win!
2) Made my go-to cake mix cookies but realized after putting the sheets in the oven that I'd used BROWNIE mix, not cake. They turned out just as delicious with a the brownie texture intact. I stretched the mix by adding some clearance peanut butter. Three dozen cookies for about $2. (cake mix cookies--one box any flavor/brand cake mix, two eggs, 1/2 c oil, drop by spoonfuls on a cookie sheet, bake at 350 for 10-12 min)
3) Have been making Aldi bagels the main part of the meal in this terrible heat. Bagel in the toaster, then spread with a veggie dip, or peanut butter, or cream cheese. The Hawaiian flavor ones are really yummy and a nice change from plain.
4) Sent a box of closet culls to my clothes swapping friend. Inspired by Katy's use of Pirate Ship, I saved $14 sending it in a repurposed box with discounted shipping over the USPS Priority box.
5) Cleaned out the crafting area and pulled several bulky items to made a free pile as soon as it stops raining. Some of them have been in there for two years and I still didn't have a concrete plan, so off they go to someone who could use them.