Five Frugal Things -- Splitting a Restaurant Order
1. I haven't sold my $13.49 thrifted bench yet, but there's been a lot of interest which is a good sign. I'm asking $100, which I know is a stretch, but it's a one of a kind artisan created piece and I wouldn't be heartbroken to keep it.
2. I ran out of the house last night to pick up my mother and stepfather from the airport, as I'd looked at the mantle clock and thought I was running late. It turns out that the time was wrong and I'd left almost an hour early. I'd reset the clock for Daylight Savings earlier in the day, but this particular timepiece has a tendency for finickiness.
Luckily Ikea is just a few minutes away from the airport, so I pointed my car in that direction and headed up to their cafeteria. Zero dollars later, I had a cup of free decaffeinated coffee in hand and my sister on the phone for a nice long chat.
3. My husband and I went to the Horse Brass Pub and split an order of their amazing fish and chips. Their portions are enormous, so there was enough to satisfy our appetites. Although my husband enjoyed a beer, I'm always happy to drink water.
My husband is often suspicious when I suggest splitting an order, but most restaurant portions are more than you can eat in a single meal. Plus, we can always order more if it turns out I was wrong.
4. I ran out of of makeshift bin liners for the kitchen garbage, so I used a binder clip to attach a smaller random bag into place.
I save 29¢ each time I use a random free bag to line my kitchen garbage, plus more importantly I'm not supporting the disposable plastics industry. I call that a win!
5. My stepfather stopped at the grocery store on the way home from the airport and I had him grab a few bananas for us. I normally buy bananas at Trader Joe's, but my location is closed due to an asbestos issue. Free bananas!
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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1) I was looking for white dress shoes for my daughter for Easter, I always buy used since they don’t get a ton of use but then I was even feeling buying them used isn’t worth it for 1 day of wear. I was at a formal event the other weekend and noticed a lot of the women were wearing sneakers with their dresses and I realized that would make perfect sense for a child, especially since she’ll be running around outside on egg hunts. She has some gold and white sparkly native brand shoes already, and the great part about them is because they are rubber, they can be cleaned to look new very easily. Problem solved with no money spent (and my daughter will be more comfortable)
2) I was signing the kids up for summer camps and noticed my daughter had the option given her age of staying in the younger group or being placed in the older group. The weekly cost for the camp for the older group is less (because the ratio of adults to kids can be larger), they get to go swimming (the younger group doesn’t) and she’d get to be with her brother. I’m still going to ask her though which she’d prefer, saving money isn’t worth it if she’s uncomfortable being with older kids.
3) I have an abundance of dried beans right now so I’ll be making some chili this week. I can also toss a bunch of vegetables in there that need to be used up.
4) I won a French press in an auction at the kids school, I prefer pour over coffee in the morning but I think I can use the French press to make cold brew which will be nice to keep in the fridge, especially for warm days. It’s also insulated so it might be good to bring camping.
5) I made Irish soda bread last night for an early St Patricks day meal using buttermilk from the freezer.
I have a camping french press that gets a lot of use when we camp places without electricity, and I've used it at home several times due to power outages, and running out of coffee filters.
I haven't finished resetting my clocks, and I know I'd better do it, before I turn up somewhere an hour early!
I am going to start with a bit of a fail. I started a free trial of Starz so I could watch the last season of Outlander. I didn't know that they are only releasing one per week, so the best I can do on the free trial is two episodes. I've watched one, and I can watch another on Friday, and then I have to cancel or pay. Oh well, I caught up on season 7, which I apparently didn't finish watching.
I am in the process of making a cheap lunch, which I think will be good -- leftover rotisserie chicken, Alfredo sauce from the little free pantry, egg noodles, and maybe some sour cream, if it's still good. I'm also going to saute some green beans, which have been frozen since I took them home from Christmas dinner, along with sliced almonds, also from the little free pantry.
I did laundry this morning, which included washing the New Balance sneakers I trash-picked from the alley. They came out great. But they're too big for me, so I'll donate them unless I decide they're worth trying to sell.
I walked in the community center yesterday, and also picked up a book from it's little library branch. I have a lot to read, so I'll get going on that, since I won't be binge-watching like I thought.
I figured out that I have a plastic bowl that fits perfectly in my bathroom sink. This is good, because my bathroom sink (a vintage model) does not hold water. I have a couple of plugs, but neither one makes a water-tight seal. The bowl will serve nicely as sink liner!
That's about it for today!
My son uses a child's rubber ball as a stopper for their vintage bathtub that doesn't have it's original stopper. It's bigger than the hole so there's no chance it would go down. Just in case you need something!
Thanks! I hadn't thought of a rubber ball! I'll look for one.
Sold 3 items over the weekend which I’ll hand deliver on my trip to Oregon and So Cal in a few months.
Mish mash leftovers tonight. Returned two work worthy Tshirts that didn’t work out.
Packed my drink and snack for work
I was so worried that was going to be my Trader Joe’s when I saw the headlines. I’m sorry it’s yours.
I’ve just spent the morning puttering and completing glamorous tasks like washing my bras, cleaning the litter box, pairing up socks in my “lost sock basket”, and planning dinner.
I can’t remember what I paid, but the Costco bin liners (the super flimsy type they use in office buildings) is almost a lifetime supply. If I find a bag I can repurpose for the task, I use it. Otherwise, it’s a Costco bag.
Good luck with the bench, but I think it looks like it belongs in your house!
1. I walked this morning with a friend for free exercise.
2. I washed a load of laundry and hung it to dry on a drying rack.
3. I'm soaking a Aran wool throw I found in the Goodwill bins. I used a capful of Woolite that I borrowed from my mom.
4. It's a beautiful day and unseasonably warm so I did a little weeding and a little dog poop clean up.
5. I'm reading another library book on my Kindle.
1. I've planted some of my flower starts. All grown in free compost using free seeds. I've moved some of my seedlings still in pots to a more sheltered place since it's expected to be warm these next 10 days. I managed to germinate my tomato seeds without using a heat mat or lamp. I seem to have found the perfect spot outdoors and I cover them with a double cover. The covers were free from a friend when she was moving. They are clear so the light gets through and they have mesh at the top. So there is good air circulation. The place I chose for my tomato experiment this year was on top of metal rain barrels that are south facing. They absorb the heat so nicely and my seeds came up the quickest they have ever come.
2. Threw the last couple spoonfuls of homemade pinto beans in the freezer. I didn't think I could eat them in a timely manner. I'm always happy for a single serving of beans in the freezer.
3. Hung a load of washing on the clothes line and it is already almost dry. We are in a spell of no heat needed in the house and I am thankful since energy prices rising as they are.
4. Batching errands with an eye appointment this afternoon. I am being very stingy with my driving right now. I will be glad to drop several bags at the thrift store, things that friends have left with me to donate. Since I get to sell anything sellable, I am very happy to donate the rest for them. I just saw that another friend dropped a couple of basketfuls to be either sold or donated. I'll look through them before donations before I go to the thrift store this afternoon.
5. Really needing some bedside lights in our bedroom and I'm quite tempted to get solar lights. Otherwise it needs to be rechargeable light bulbs. Those are expensive and don't last as long as the Luci solar lights. It would not be as aesthetically pleasing, which is what I'm still pondering. The solar lights would be very useful in an emergency.
5.
Solar lights in the bedroom?
How do they charge that way? Wouldn't they stay lit all night?
Those are pretty expensive kitchen trash bags!
Thanks to Donna Freedman and her now mostly defunct Surviving and Thriving big, I have learned how to repurpose a plastic wrapper from a lar multi pack of toilet paper into a trashcan liner. (By opening it from one side instead of the top, if anyone is interested). Ditto, a drycleaner's bag. ( Knot the top, where the hole is for the coat hangers and turn inside out.) I'm with you about trying not to buy bags. Reuse and recycle!
Update about my downed tree situation, which I detailed a few days ago): of course, the jerk did not keep his promises to send a cleanup crew and now the moving co. owner wants me to help him force the city into paying for his damaged moving van. The damage is due to his driver's negligence. (I first posted about this last Friday, I think, for those who need background info.) Needless to say, that ain't gonna happen! Meanwhile, my handyman knows a BBQ joint owner who burns live oak wood in his pit and he's going to call the guy to come get the wood. Supposedly this fella has a big chainsaw and can do it. I already got the smaller stack of logs hauled off for someone's fireplace (to season/ dry out over the next few months until next winter). I also photographed the mountain of downed tree so that we have additional evidence against that fly-by-night mover and their careless driver. If he tries to sue the city instead of me, I will be happy to provide the city attorney with same.
Blog, not big....
I routinely use empty bulk packages from toilet paper and paper towels as trash bags. I figure why not give them another use. They're pretty strong, too. Like you, I think I might have learned it from Donna Freeman.
Our dear Lindsey (love to you, the husband, and the pound hounds if you're still reading this, Lindsey) used anything and everything instead of buying trash bags. In particular, as I recall, she used 50-lb. dog food bags instead of full-size trash bags. Me, I use whatever I've got handy: TP/paper towel wrappers (as suggested by several via Donna Freedman), bird seed bags of various sizes, cat litter bags (I buy pine pellets labeled as "horse bedding" in 40-lb. bags), etc., etc.
I remember Lindsey using the dog food bags as trash bags. I miss Lindsey's posts. Always interesting. I always thought a book about her experiences living in Alaska would make a fascinating book. Lindsey, if you're reading this, we miss you.
I miss her comments as well.
I am same, anything that looks like a bag shape, can be a trash bag!! I mostly use the plastic grocery bags from the weekly Instacart order at work, they know now to just put the bags on my desk. I have not bought actual garbage bags in MANY years. And yes, I am in Florida, surrounded by water and beaches, and our stores STILL give out plastic bags. Its infuriating. (I use my own bag)
Fru-gal Lisa, Donna Freedman is still publishing her blog. She's not publishing very often, but she's still active.
Soaked some beans, cooked, and subbed them in for the too salty for us Aldis chili beans. Along with our home raised beef, a conflab of spices I could never recreate, and tomatoes from the cheapo grocery, we had a very frugal pot of chili. Round two was chili dogs with hotdogs from the cheapo grocery.
Last night, we had t-bones (from our farm), broccoli, and sweet potatoes. Ds loves sweet potatoes, so I will try to start some slips soon. Found an extra head of broccoli I some how had missed. I will fix it asap.
Hung up as much laundry as I could manage in our small home.
Took the loppers and removed nuisance brush in the north 20. Found a large, random aluminum chunk of a door threshold???? Idk if it came in from bought hay or what. It will be recycled. Fixed fence with materials I had on hand.
The wind changed direction and Charlie the bull was suddenly very offended by the presence of Big Bopper, the other bull, on our farm. They were giving each other the stink eye and pushing on the fence trying to get together, when I saw them. I managed to get the 4 wheeler in between them and walk Charlie back to his girls before they destroyed the fence and hurt one another. I'll put a hot wire on one side to give them some distance and hopefully keep them apart!!! I always name bulls after singers: Mic Jaeger, Rod Stewart, Gene Simons, Charlie Pride, and Big Bopper 🙂 Charlie is my all time favorite. I can work him just fine but he doesn't care for my Dad, at all!!! Bopper loves to eat and is gentle, for a bull.
I found the calf that the cow had been hiding, a lil red heifer. We now have 5 new calves!
Laura - I love reading about your farm life! I live in a small city, and used to love reading homestead/farm blogs. But they've seemed to mostly be all performative and "look how idyllic my life is", so I've really enjoyed reading your real-life updates!
1. Beautiful here in the greater Boston area! Opened windows and turned off the heat. I told me partner that the heat was now off until November 1st. He wasn't sure if I was kidding or not (I was not).
2. Line drying some clothes, which is a pain as we don't have a clothes line so I have to haul and set up a portable rack, and I don't have a laundry basket (never needed one) so it can get awkward. My partner also doesn't like his clothes air-dried ("too scratchy"), but after spending $400 on utilities last month, he is going to have to deal.
3. Something happened with our toaster, and it no longer would stay "down" so we had to manually keep the lever pushed down. We got it free from our Buy Nothing group, so it owes us nothing, but I decided it was probably one of those things that could be fixed. I was able to locate the issue and fix it.
4. I was able to pick up another mystery shop that is only 2 minutes from one that I'm already doing. I have a goal to pay for an expensive dinner that we are committed to (happily, as it is a great restaurant) but I want to pay for it only with money that I make from doing mystery shops. My partner might try to pick up a few as well, to help with this goal.
5. I cooked off a pot of dried beans for dinner.
I'm very impressed that you went through the effort to fix the toaster!
One tip if folks have a recycling bin in the house - we collect recycling in a trash bin (and, have a separate trash bin for actual "trash"). We can repurpose the recycling liner many times before someone (ahem, one of my semi-adult kids) has a sparkling water can or something that they haven't emptied well, and it needs to be tossed.
1) DH made a large batch of grilled chicken yesterday, then saved the homemade marinade and added a second batch to freeze. He used homemade lemons & some other herbs from the garden for the marinade.
2) I'm continuing my efforts to avoid food waste, and made coleslaw to go with the chicken. It was delicious. I finely diced a green onion (green part) for the dressing, which I find adds a really nice zing. We have a ton of green onions in our garden that need to be used.
3) Had a "walk & talk" video chat with my sister + BFF yesterday. We try to do video chats, but are also trying to squeeze in workouts, so this was a great combo. I had already hiked 10 miles, but used the time to walk to the mailbox to drop off a card for my mom.
4) Speaking of hiking, DH & I hike often at the nature preserve that is a mile from our house. We can walk to it, and it's free, so truly a free activity for us to enjoy as our "dates". It's awesome.
5) Submitted another reimbursement for a massage, from the $480 that my company gives us as flexible spending for wellness (gym memberships, massages, etc). It's my goal in 2026 to resolve or improve some very lingering & problematic health issues, so this aligns well with my goals.
1. I stopped by Savers, a thrift store right near the hair salon, and got some great summer outfits for very little, as well as a fabric shower curtain and a duvet to use for some sewing projects. I donated an item, so all was 20% off.
2. I have been cooking from the pantry and freezer in order to turn over the hidden gems lurking there, before they go bad. Eating down the pantry has been healthy as well as frugal and delicious.
3. Katy, I thought of you when I darned some socks from Ireland!
4. I returned some shoes that my mother had ordered that did not fit her.
5. I am attempting to regrow some grocery store scallions from the bottom root portion.
I continue with the usual: hang drying laundry, bundling errands, reading library books, walking with friends, wearing sweaters to keep from turning up thermostat.
Happy to have been in your thoughts while darning such a special sock!
That's great that you're not scrambling at the end of the year to use up your wellness spending.
That is such a beautiful bench and it looks great in your home.
1. Updated financial spreadsheet with February expenses (I download data from our credit card and checking accounts and manually enter cash transactions). No surprises, fortunately.
2. Cancelled our streaming subscriptions that we only use when we're in Arizona for the winter. Did this before renewals kicked in.
3. When we travel, we bring our own stainless dishes for eating at the hotel breakfast buffet so we don't generate disposables, plus it's more civilized. Also, the local gelato shop has let us use our own stainless bowls and spoons to avoid single-use items.
4. Found a free multi-compartment wine bag that I will use to cushion glass bottles from the pantry for the trip home. The bag has a strange saying on it ("Wine is basically fruit salad") but it's functional.
5. Made vegan sloppy joes to use up lentils and a green pepper. Didn't have a can of tomato sauce so I made my own with tomato paste and water. Didn't have enough lentils either so added some oatmeal cooked in vegetable broth to fill out the recipe. I won't lie and say it was delicious.
I love your honesty!
Gas prices jumped 20 to 30 cents in a few hours on Friday morning. Because I think food prices will go up and I do not want to worry about a few basics:
1. I stocked up on dried beans. I had eaten my supply down to a four months supply before my stock up. I was surprised when I took inventory how much I had eaten but I do eat them every week. I now have 365 servings for one serving a day.
2. I generally eat a pbj sandwich for lunch four days a week. I now am stocked up to 200 servings which is close to the 4 times 52 weeks equals 208 servings needed in a year.
3. I stocked up on a jelly I like to the tune of 150 servings. Sadly, my mulberry tree was severely trimmed back bc of my insurance company fussing it was too close to roof so I don’t think I will have mulberries this year for jam. For years I simply gathered mulberries and froze them and made refrigerated mulberry jam whenever I ran low. Sniff, sniff.
4 I walked an hour in my neighborhood an hour after work.
5. The heat and the air have been off for over a week. Fingers crossed I won’t need air until May 1st. We can hope.
Hope you will find mulberries “in the wild” for your jam!
The funny thing is that your higher priced gasoline would probably be a bargain here in Oregon.
Went on a semi-frugal vacation where we stayed with friends, ate at small local places, used points for air fare, and didn't buy a bunch of crap souvenirs. My partner bought one item of clothing for a specific activity, but I made do with what I already owned (whether gifted, thrifted, or old!). We had a great time and spent very little in the context of an overseas vacation.
I was hanging post-vacation laundry on the outdoor clothesline and saw DP's favorite pair of socks. One has a patch on the heel, the other heel is darned. We had a laugh and a fun conversation 'and that's how we afford a great vacation'!
Used free library books on my Kindle, a hardback xmas gift, and a hardback from the LFL to be sure I didn't run out of reading material. I left the finished one behind on their swap-a-book shelf.
Bought a 3-day international pass on my phone service (Mint) for $12.22 on day two of the 5-day vacation. Kept my phone off for the first two days and we used DP's phone with his plan (AT&T) that included our destination. Timed it perfectly as the notification it was expiring cane while we were at the departure gate.
Packed snacks and empty reusable water bottles for the airports and drives. The water there wasn't safe for us to drink, so we refilled ours with the 5-gallon bottles in the house before leaving for the day.
DP wanted to bring some hobby equipment that isn't allowed in carryons, so we combined into one checked bag plus two carryons (free) for the two of us. Normally I only do a carry-on. It was worth it as he had a great time fishing, swimming, and bird watching with the items he brought.
We rode to the airport with another couple who was flying out sooner. I had planned to do a bunch of shopping but everything could be had at the thrift store. If I really want strangers to know I went to that country, I can get a secondhand shirt for pennies on the dollar.
It was so relaxing and refreshing I'm already scheming on how to have another great break for cheap! I learned I can get Southwest Airlines gift cards on Fetch...
Patched socks and international vacations -- the perfect combination!
Those are expensive trash bags. A super quick price check shows them as 8 cents or less at other stores!
I'm wondering if the city of Portland requires their own trash bags to be used and charges accordingly. A nearby city to my location does that and charges a certain amount for each bag. Or maybe Katy's using compostable trash bags and they're higher in price? Just a couple of thoughts.
Portland doesn't have trash bag requirements.
IMHO you get what you pay for when it comes to trash bags. One of the stores where better half shops was dang near giving away their tall kitchen bags. They were passable (aka did not break) but are not as good as Hefty or Glad. Used the last of them up not long ago and won't buy them again.
I doubt I've bought kitchen trash bags since having kids!
I always save those thick semi-transparent bags from cereal and other boxed goods. They are the perfect thickness for pounding out chicken breasts/marinating meats/etc. Just use a binder clip to close and place in a bowl if using for liquid. I too have used them for trash bags as needed.
Gotta love the humble binder clip!
1. Happy Tuesday, you have bronchitis! Went to the doctor and used my damn health insurance to get seen and meds. Otherwise using OTC stuff I already have on hand and drinking lots of tea I've stolen from hotels 🙂
2. Came home and ate dinner out of the pantry since I'm too grumpy to go food shopping and refuse to order takeout again.
3. Sat on the couch and watched Twin Peaks (first time through!) for the evening.
4. Sitting here eating my usual breakfast at home.
5. Paying it forward - a friend is crashing in our guest room since his mother is having surgery in our city. I had friends offer this years back when my dad had a similar procedure, so it feels great to be able to offer it to someone else.
That's great that you're able to pay it forward with your guest bedroom.
Mine are all food.
1. The Mister loves a pasta dish that's dressed with garlic, mustard, and olive oil. I haven't made it much since I started making my own mustard four years ago. In January for his birthday, I bought him a 9 lb tin of "the good stuff". The other impediment to making this dish was that I don't like it as leftovers. Now I make four portions--we each have a serving for dinner, and he has it for lunch on two days.
2. I take one for the team while he eats pasta. Today I had 3/4 cup of quinoa, leftover black bean and sweet potato enchilada filling to which I had added the leftovers from Sunday Indian food, and a little baigan bharta. And a bit of kraut.
3.Got a big bulk order from Webstaurant. 50# oatmeal and 40# lentils. Will stock up on Aldi's peanut butter and salsa tomorrow.
4. 5# carrots were on BOGO sale last week. I bought and shared with neighbors.
Same old, same old--eating at home, drinking water, reading library books, gardening.
Your leftovers bowl actually sounds really tasty!
1. The potluck Italian dinner went off without a hitch with friends and neighbors generously bringing trays of lasagna, sausage and vegetables, Impossible Italian Pie, meatball soup (to die for!) pasta salad and garlic bread. I added an enormous eggplant parmesan and a tossed salad. You'd think you were at an Italian bakery looking at the desserts...Italian Cream Cake, Taramisu and cupcakes. I added an Swedish Almond Cake and toffee squares. DH and I also supplied beer, soda and seltzer. I also sprung for a couple of bottles of wine and a few guests brought wine, too. Everyone told me how much they enjoyed the afternoon and agreed it's a great way to get us all together without breaking the bank.
2. Although we sent guests home with food and desserts, we're still eating both so no cooking yesterday and today. There are perks to offering up your house for a get-together!
3. It's about 70 degrees here in Massachusetts so DH and I got some exercise and Vitamin D by walking around the neighborhood. I always look for money and deposit cans/bottles when we do this but found none of either today.
4. I pointed out to DH the snow has melted around the hole in the ground we put the umbrella clothesline in so outdoor laundry hanging season is around the corner. I have two rules for hanging laundry: 1. No trudging through snow to get to the clothesline. 2. No hanging laundry unless the temperature is above freezing. My hands can't take it.
5. I didn't make up a story about the war ending soon to bolster up the stock market.
My mother talks about hanging her sibling's diapers on the clothesline in the middle of a Nebraska winter and that they'd dry like "shingles."
She's a braver girl than I!
1. We have a travel-filled spring that kicks off next week. We'll be heading to Germany, but will stay with my partner's family the whole time. And they're pretty frugal, so other than one meal out that we are paying for as a gift to his parents, we won't be spending much at all.
2. I bought plane tickets for a trip to Chicago in June using languishing Southwest points from a now-closed credit card, only had to pay $11 for the fees. We'll be staying with friends for this trip as well, although we love going out to eat and our friends are huge foodies, so we'll likely spend a decent chunk of change on meals.
3. In preparation for next week's trip, we are working on eating down our perishables. There was only one bag of greens we knew we wouldn't manage to eat, so I gave them to our neighbor friend, who was appreciative.
4. We have two dogs, and dog care will be essentially free for all of our trips. My parents are taking them next week, and in May (Seattle, BC, and an overnight at Niagara on the Lake). Our neighbor friend will take them in June when we are in Chicago.
5. Regular stuff - wearing almost all thrifted clothes, drinking the free crappy coffee at work, packing my lunch.
Wow, I'm putting you in charge of all my future travel!
Bon voyage!
Thank you!! Always happy to help folks with travel!
More on my cousin who sold his island home and is going back to Europe:
1. It was also his birthday, so the family got together (plus three of his island neighbours) at a restaurant for lunch to celebrate. Everyone was to pay for their own meal, and when we went to pay we discovered my other cousin had paid for DH and my meals.
2. DC was still staying with us for a couple of days so on his actual birthday, I made him a "wacky cake", which has been mentioned before, I think its sometimes called "depression cake" or other names. The one with no eggs or milk. Instead of vegetable oil, I use melted butter, which definitely takes it up a notch. The cake was made with flour my cousin gave me. Super quick, easy to make, and delicious.
3. My cousin wanted to take me for lunch while he stayed with us, but instead DH had baked sourdough bread, so I pulled out spicy chickpea soup from the freezer, which I know DC has had before and likes. Delicious, cheap and filling, and no need to go out.
4. We are storing DC's SONOS speaker for him, and he has insisted that we set it up and use it. It will be a superior system to the BOSE speaker that we use now.
5. Not frugal for me, but for DD and DSIL. They are buying DC's car from him. It's an older Toyota that he has been using for the last 5 years or so when he visits here, but has lent it to the others for months at a time when he was back in Europe. Its a good reliable car, with low mileage, and he has sold it to them at a reasonable price. It will do for them for now, as they both usually walk to work, or work from home, and don't drive often.
I've just got to say that I'll be a little heartbroken if you don't keep that bench. I think it looks so lovely in your vintage home.
It does look cute in this space, but I normally have a cute shoe bench right there, which is much more functional.