Five Frugal Things -- Lighting Globes & Abandoned Receipts
1) I did a big ol' grocery shop at Winco, although I was in too big of a hurry afterwards to photograph my haul. I spent $101.34 on 42 items.
For those who don't have a Winco Foods in your area, it's a no frills employee-owned chain with a huge bulk food section. One example of how amazing this is -- I filled my Bonne Maman jar with dried oregano for just 65¢!
I also found two dimes and a penny in the Coinstar machine, as well as a penny on the ground. Added to my paltry Found Change Challenge jar!
2) I picked up three receipts from empty shopping carts to scan into the Fetch app. One of them earned 790 points, which was a fun surprise. My receipts almost never earn more than the 25 point minimum as I rarely buy big corporate brands.
3) I also stopped at the nearby Goodwill and bought a 99¢ Anthropologie drinking glass, (now listed on eBay for $25) a $2.99 vintage lighting globe, which I'll sell to a local business, likely for thirty dollars. Lastly I bought a $1.99 iPhone case, which I'll actually return as it's not quite the right fit for my iPhone 14.
4) I finished listening to the amazing but emotionally intense Eleanor Olyphant is Completely Fine, and immediately downloaded a lighthearted audiobook as a palate cleanser. Of course, through the library's free Libby app.
5) I listed the American Girl doll for $50 on eBay that I picked up at Goodwill for $6.99 the other day. I included an A.G. branded skirt and sweater from my freebie stash, as well as the off brand outfit she came in. I also combed out her hair and wiped her down.
Click HERE to see the listing.
Now your turn, what frugal things have you been up to?
Katy Wolk-Stanley
"Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without."
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This blog post contains an eBay referral link.
1. I got my 1000$ deductible back from my insurance co. My FL condo got flooded from the upstairs unit. They were uninsured. The insurance co. told me they would take action to recover their expense. My unit was repaired but it was a major mess.
2. Found a quarter and a few pennies in the Mc Donald drive thru.
3. Got a 1$ iced coffee at McDonalds as a frugal treat.
4. Will attend a spring luncheon at my school for retirees. The program is usually boring but the lunch is usually good. I invited a colleague of mine to be my guest. Plus the location is close for both of us.
5. Went to the bakery thrift store to get bread today. It was rather picked over. I found enough to buy 7$ worth. If you buy 7$ worth you get a free item. Wednesday is senior day so I got 10% off my purchase. I got 9 items for 7.47$. Sliced sandwich bread, English muffins, bagel thins, protein bagels. A good deal & I won't have to buy bread for a long time.
1. I timed myself while my husband was on his lunch break and cleaned my very desperate shower with vinegar and dawn. Took me about 15-18 minutes from start to finish, including rinsing off after. Will I learn anything from this? No. No I will not. But now it's done!
2. I logged into my Old Navy app and was assaulted with notices about several sales and clearances happening. I checked my cart since we tend to leave things in it for long period of time to see if we really need the items. The only thing worth getting in the cart was a linen shirt for my husband that was half off. I need a few tank tops as mine have been used and abused for quite some time. We've been slowly moving our clothing to less synthetic choices and I was able to find 100% cotton tanks in the men's section and ordered a 3 pack. We ended up paying around $34.50 for five items, less than the regular cost of the shirt, and got free shipping!
3. We're down to our last slice of bread today, (where do they put it???) so I convinced my kids to eat quesadillas for lunch. I have a masters in at-home toddler marketing.
4. Tonight is dairy free pizza with homemade sauce. Our oldest daughter doesn't eat pizza so we'll have to get creative for her, but our youngest will at least eat the toppings off of the pizza and leave the crusts.
5. My husband and youngest daughter have birthdays very close to each other and both are coming up. He told me he just wants to relax and maybe spend time with some friends on his, sounds cheap to me! Her party is going to be a little less relaxing, but what *IS* relaxing with a toddler? I'll take my wins where I can get them!
That's a great price for Oregano. A whole jar full, wow.
1. I combined errands and dropped off a couple library books on my way to an appointment.
2. I packaged up my three Ebay sales from yesterday using recycled packing materials. I ordered a pick up from the post office to save myself the trip.
3. I bought a replacement Pyrex lid at an estate sale and a new king size down alternative blanket for a xmas present
We’re heading to visit my father in law tomorrow, so my frugal goal for today is a fridge-clean-out dinner tonight and breakfast for tomorrow.
I’m using all of our veggies that won’t keep to make bibimbap- carrots, cucumber, scallions, and spinach, bulked up with some rehydrated shiitakes and a fried egg of course.
Breakfast will be leftover kale and romesco from last nights dinner atop avocado toast and eggs.
My other frugal win: the gift I’m bringing my FIL is a loaf of homemade seeded multigrain sourdough. He’s a health lover, a bread lover, and frugal himself, so I know it’s a gift he’ll love.
The doll looks so pretty now that she's cleaned up and has her hair fixed. And I love your little side hustle with lighting globes.
Today I stayed home and did magic with fire, also known as cooking. Made crock pot barbecued pork roast with carrot chunks cooked in the barbecue sauce and baked a potato half the size of my head for a substantial lunch. Also made a pan of from scratch gluten-free brownies topped with chopped walnuts. For my breakfasts, I made 18 lemon-blueberry bran muffins using frozen lemon juice/zest prepared a few weeks ago. Jazzed up a store brand cheese pizza with some pepperoni and a little more grated cheese -- yum!
This week I bought some store brand air foam insoles on sale to revive two pairs of shoes. Did some hand sewing to get the inside placket on a button-up blouse to lie flat. It's a pretty blouse but the wonky placket was keeping me from wearing it.
A series of frugal fails ended up with a very frugal win. My landline phone was dead (I thought) so first I replaced the cord that goes into the splitter (would have been a frugal win had it worked but alas there was no joy in Mudville!!) Whar confused the heck out of me was that my internet modem was plugged into the same splitter and worked really well. So next I buy a relatively cheap phone at Wally World (the original phone had belonged to my mother who has been gone since 2018). New phone with the replacement cord and fresh batteries, still NADA. I figured out that the old phone needed new batteries too but still no dial tone (the display said 0 calls LOL). I finally gave up and scheduled an appointment with Century Link. They came out today and discovered that the jack was corroded. Replacement jack for free> I never thought that I would be so happy to hear a dial tone!!
Hurray!
I am happy to hear of someone else with a landline. The rudely aggressive marketing of Brightspeed, (replaced CenturyLink in our area), to switch to VOIP is rude enough to make me stay with the actual landline until it is truly no longer available, which is another year or so.
1. Husband went to the Minnesota Twins baseball game today with a friend and saved 25 percent ($6) on his burrito bowl and pop since his friend is a season ticket holder.
2. Pleased that the only food waste we had in the first week after my fall was some cilantro.
3. Decided not to buy annuals, herbs or veggie plants this year since I won't be able to maintain them and my husband needs to focus on other priorities. Nor are we going to invest in the three large decorative pots we were planning to buy for the front of our house.
4. Friend came over to walk our dog and brought a box of dog treats, a homemade loaf of bread, and more reading material.
5. Cancelled my free fitness classes in case any of them had a wait-list, which also alerted my teacher to why I'm not attending.
1. I made a very lackluster soup for dinner, but it used kale from the garden and homemade broth, so it was very frugal.
2. I made a very cute pop up birthday card for my grandson, supplies all free
3. I gave away 7 tomato plants on buy nothing. BN has saved me thousands of dollars over the years.
4. Line dried laundry.
5. Staying home a lot. Our daughter is still recuperating at our house. I have hit a wall energy-wise but I've refrained from spending as a distraction.
My son and I went out for breakfast this morning at a charming cafe in my brother's town, and then we headed for home. I got gas on the way for $3.99 a gallon. Such a find -- gas less than $4!
Once home, I updated my financial spreadsheets and scanned my receipts to Fetch, including one extra.
In the evening, we met the rest of the family at a burger place, but I got a salad that turned out to be quite large, and I brought a lot of it home. It's a chopped salad that is more cabbage than lettuce, so if it doesn't hold up as a leftover I think I can repurpose it in another way.
My DIL gave me her baguette and butter and extra dressing to take home as well.
I got a free notepad in the mail as an enticement to donate to a children's hospital.
1. I received an offer in the mail to take part in a survey. A $2 bill was in the envelope with a promise of $10 more to be earned bt taking the survey. I went online to take it but they informed me I was too old at 67 to take it. The survey was primarily about college. $2 richer is ok by me.
2. My indy bookstore owning friend gave me a beautiful map detailing all the independent bookstores in New England and eastern New York state. The artist did a fabulous job with miniature pictures of each bookstore at their locales and book recommendations by the bookstore employees. The map is a folded one, like the ones we all had in our glove compartments before GPS. So much fun to look at.
3. I made a pot of homemade iced tea.
4. I hung two more loads of laundry outside today. According to Google, the cost of drying a load of clothes in my state is .80 to 1.00. I like to hang laundry to the point that DH says I look like I'm meditating when I'm doing it.
5. A former family member misbehaved in a few bars in the city I grew up in. As a result, he was 86ed from those bars. Ordered to leave and not come back. In no way did the people who 86ed him want to harm him much less kill him. It's an expression probably derived from an old law numbered 86. Sheesh.
Yeah the pitiful "they say it in mob movies". They don't and *maybe* you'd hear the term "whack em". Such snowflakes they are.
What irks me is that the orange ogre says far nastier things about other people than Kimmel or Colbert ever does, and he posts much more violent sentiments than 86. I understand 86 means to fire someone, not kill them, and tRump has fired tons of people he suddenly starts disliking. He can dish it out but he can't take it. He is so thin skinned, he's pathetic! As Harry Truman said, if you don't like the heat, stay out of the kitchen.
Deep six is the mob term. As in six feet under. Plus there is that pesky “Freedom of Speech” thing. So bothersome.
As a former waitress "86" meant that an item on the menu was gone, no more. Hence the flack that the guy got for spelling out in shells "86 47" which means get rid of current presiden.
Frugal things today:
1. Didn't turn on the heat until we got home from dinner at 7 p.m.
2. I put on my long, long sleeved with pockets flannel nightgown. I love that thing - it feels like a hug. I have another one. Both from Land's End and both bought on sale.
3. Hubby, our daughter and I went to Longhorn Steakhouse for supper. I had a $50 gift card to use that I got from credit card points. Hubby and I split a filet mignon with french fries an daughter had the same. Hubs had an Old Fashion, I had water plus a cherry from the Old Fashion, and daughter had a big Blue Moon beer. I was disappointed with the steak, very chewy, but I ate some of the fries and the last heel of the bread. No dessert. With the gift card we spent $39 and tip. I don't think I'll be going there again. Oh, and it's hubby and mine's 37th wedding anniversary today.
4. Paid cash for the dinner.
5. Got a note pad from same charity and I'm giving it to my former church. I had more note pads than I could shake a stick at so they are all going.
$60, you mean, for the American Girl doll... unless you're counting her outfits as the extra $10. I know -- picky, picky, picky.
I've been looking for a nice pair of Skechers slip-ons...anyone else have trouble bending down to tie your shoes?? (Katy, if you find them, I wear size 9.)
Our local thrift shop had a dollar sale on dresses and skirts...I bought 6 dresses, plus a black velvet skirt. Two of the dresses are formal; one is an insane shade of red. But their bodices are heavily encrusted with iridescent crystals. I plan to snip them off and use for embellishments on quilts. If I'd purchased these in bags, they'd be $10-30.
I initially listed her for $50, but quickly upped the price a bit as saw watchers within fifteen minutes of it going live.
Who in town purchases your light fixture parts?
Lounge Lizard on Hawthorne.
1) I had a $5 of $5 birthday coupon from Ace hardware, scheduled to expire at the end of April. I used it to pick up a tube of E6000 glue. My last tube was several years old and had dried up and I use it a lot for crafting and repairs. Total cost out of pocket was 27 cents.
2)I used some scrap leather we already had, plus the E6000, to patch my leather belt with a blown out hole. I scuffed up the belt leather a bit with sandpaper to help the glue adhere, patched both sides, and clamped it over night before re-punching the hole. The patch is barely visible when wearing the belt, and I hopefully will get many more years of use from it!
3) We walked the property and harvested a bunch of nettles. Some went into our dinner pasta, some were made into pesto and frozen, and the rest are spread out to dry for future cups of nettle tea. Somehow I managed to avoid getting a single sting from the nettles!
4) We also collected dandelion flowers and started a batch of dandelion wine.
5) While gathering dandelions in the back part of the property, we found five abandoned rhubarb plants growing underneath a tangle of blackberry vines! The spouse is planning to weed out the blackberries today and bring back the patch (I have classes all day on Thursdays, or I would help). I am dreaming of rhubarb scones, rhubarb pies, rhubarb lemonade, and rhubarb wine. I will also use some, instead of grapes, to make chicken Veronica this weekend!
I'm also a landline lover. But I got a cell phone right before the winter storm just in case we had a massive power failure. I just got 2 calls in a row from men with foreign accents informing me I was "selected to get free money from the government". Um, right. I gave them an ear full of what for before they could tell me to just let them know my Social Security and bank account numbers. Good grief! Do they think I am so stupid that I would fall for a scam like that?
So I guess my frugal win today is not being taken in by the scammers. Who I will report to the feds. Not that it'll do any good.
Eleanor Oliphant is completely fine is a great book but I'm glad you are getting a palate cleanser!
I was going to skip posting because it has been a very difficult week. Two unexpected deaths in our community and some medical issues for me. So instead of writing out frugal things, please accept my 5 things that I've done to care for myself:
1. I was incredibly honest in therapy yesterday, which with my insurance is $25 a session. I was reminded that difficult things cannot be processed in an hour and put aside and feeling shocked, sad, and despondent is part of reacting to sad things.
2. I pulled myself off the couch to go to trivia with my neighborhood pals last night. I ordered food out, which I rarely do, which was delicious and comforting. I had a great night.
3. We then stopped at our favorite bar for a cocktail to celebrate their 11th birthday. We contributed to a fund for one of the bartenders, who is recovering from a kidney transplant. Hearing he's doing well and seeing friends was wonderful.
4. I moved my alarm half an hour later this morning to give myself more time to rest before tackling today. I was up a good amount of the night with GI symptoms so I gave myself a break. Adjusting to a new medication means that the aforementioned food and cocktail likely teamed up to teach me a lesson.
5. I bought new, supportive shoes for a conference I am attending next week instead of making do with shoes that hurt my feet. These are an investment in the next few years of foot health and feeling my best.
I hope you all are taking care of yourselves in the face of whatever you're dealing with too. <3
LB, I am very sorry to hear of your challenges and wishing you brighter days ahead.
My last 3 weeks have been incredibly challenging (MIL is dying, my own mother has ongoing severe issues, daughter had sepsis and was in the hospital for 5 nights, and I caught a cold from my grandkids.
I really feel your pain and thank you for sharing the things that you have done to take care of yourself. Well done.
Kara, oof, that is a lot. Sending a hug across the miles.
1. My handy husband has nearly completed the basement Reno. Thanks to a local rebate program they came and insulated our basement and attic FOR FREE, so my husband took the time and a couple of hundred bucks in supplies and drywalled/finished it. The heating/cooling savings are going to be HUGE as well as added value to the home.
2. Our local farmer's market is up and running again. The prices are really good for the most part - $1 for a big bag of locally grown cucumbers, and eggs were $11 for 30 - at the grocery story they are $10 for 30 but the quality is no where near as good. Feels great to support local too!
3. After seeing how many snacks my 14 year old son is eating, I've decided to go back to "make your own". He can put peanut butter or cheese on Ritz crackers himself rather than buy the pre-made ones. So much less expensive and less packaging too!
4. Looking forward to finally have some time to recharge my batteries after several months of working NON STOP. The extra money saved has been nice but I'm really really tired.
5. It's grass cutting season, which means our boy gets to make $20 mowing our lawn. He's building up some savings, spending time outdoors and learning to manage a little bit of money. $4 for a soda at the convenience store doesn't seem so appetizing when you've had to sweat to earn it!
4.