Five Frugal Things -- What, Like it's Hard?!
1. I bought a box of $1.50 off-brand S.O.S. pads at Dollar Tree to finish scrubbing down my thrifted Wagner Ware chicken fryer pan, but cut them into four pieces to make them last longer.
What, like it's hard?!
I then listed the pan on eBay for $150. HERE's the listing.
2. I darned a couple more socks.
3. I lent our moving dolly to someone in our Buy Nothing group who asked to use one for a couple of days.
4. I need to go to the grocery store, but instead am going to prepare a series of increasingly odd meals.
5. My husband cancelled our Paramount Plus trial subscription before the price went up from the $1.99/month special that we were getting.
Katy Wolk-Stanley
"Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without."
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The Wagner Ware pan came out so great! I'm hoping you sell it quickly. BTW this reminds me of the time you shared you cut your soap pads into 4s. I've done it ever since and can say it somehow never occurred to me to do it before reading it here. I've learned so much from this blog.
I join Christine and other commenters in kudos on the Wagner Ware pan (and, as always, on the skillful and colorful darning). Also, I seem not to have gotten the earlier memo about cutting soap pads into smaller pieces, so I'll file that one for future reference.
I only have been cutting mine in half, so I think I got half the memo. quarters makes much more sense (cents)!
A lot of hard work went into rejuvenating that pan, but what a nice profit it will be when it sells!
I went to the community center to walk, and that was my only outing today. I'm getting close to needing a grocery visit, but I'm not there yet. I, too, am making odd meals.
I thawed a piece of pecan pie for breakfast (I know, I know!) For lunch I baked a sweet potato and had some toast.
I finished and returned another book to the branch library and checked out two more.
Tomorrow it will get above freezing for the first time in a month. I plan to take the car to the car wash, where I will no doubt sit in line with a thousand other customers. Still, it's so dirty, and I'm sure it's very salty, too. It needs doing.
I found a penny, and I got a couple of free notepads from a charity in the mail. Little wins.
1. Brought home a bunch of free meyer lemons from my volunteer gig. I'll make Meyer lemon marmalade.
2. Curb picked a working lawnmower and listed it on fb marketplace. I talked to the owner, who even started it up for me, and it's in good working order. He said they had done the responsible thing and removed their grass (grass is a water guzzler here in CA).
3. Sold a 3 tiered metal basket thingy on FB marketplace. One of the several friends I have an arrangement with dropped this on my driveway. I get to keep whatever I make from selling their cast-offs. It doesn't get any easier than re-sale stuff showing up at my door!
4. Listed a couple items on ebay, and saved several as drafts to keep up my daily listing streak.
5. Continued to freeze batches of quinoa flakes and white rice flour before putting them in my 5 gallon food buckets. I buy 25 lbs at a time from Azure standard and it's much cheaper that way (just need the storage space). I use quinoa flakes in place of oats in granola, since I'm allergic to oats. I hate quinoa, but quinoa flakes in granola are delicious!
https://www.azurestandard.com/?a_aid=jWb0sVFU6M
You did an amazing job with that pan!
Work has been busy, so I haven’t done many actively frugal things (other than working!). I’m patting myself on the back for hand-washing sweaters and preparing meals planned to use up all the perishables before we visit relatives out of state for a few days. Got a fabulous price on a needed travel backpack on EBay. Finally, I used my twenty-year-old sewing machine to hem new-to-me sleeves that were too long. That machine has paid for itself many times over.
1. Discovered reverse back-up light is out on our car. Our nephew has his own auto body shop. Texted him info. He texted back part number. Going to get a $10 bulb for him to put in rather than going to the garage for a cost upwards of $30. Love our nephew (and his wife and kids, too!)
2. Still enjoying meals from church friends to allow me some "breathing space" from DH's broken hip and the extra responsibilities I've had to take on. Tonight we had General Tso's Chicken and Moo Shu Pork. Yummy! We don't get Chinese very often, so it was a real treat. There's enough left for lunch tomorrow.
3. Had a $1 credit (I'm on MA, that is my co-pay) at the chiropractor today. Chiropractor pulled my head out of my torso (felt like Whack-a-Mole) and fixed it so I can turn my head to the left. Don't have to go back until April (partly because I was in half-decent shape from my last visit, and partly because he is going to be out a few weeks for gallbladder surgery.)
4. Living the life of a cave dweller. Minimal lights on, heat turned back, layers on.
5. DH got a totally unexpected gift today from the parent of one of the students on my van. Her son is autistic (semi-verbal, can say a few words and short phrases now and then). She and I get to talk briefly when she puts him on the van to go to school. A huge step for him as he would previously not allow her to engage in any conversation with the driver. I had told her when school resumed in January that DH had broken his hip. She handed me a box this morning and told me it was for him. It was a gift box she had ordered and it contained a throw blanket, votive candle, mug, sleep mask, socks, another 1 or 2 items (can't remember what off the top of my head) and an Amazon gift card. He and I were both dumbfounded. It was a very nice, definitely unexpected, thoughtful surprise! The family is Pakistani and her husband is a doctor of internal medicine at the hospital. Very nice people. Glad I am getting the opportunity to get to know them and to learn about their culture.
That is so sweet about your bus parent!! Kindness always matters 🙂
Your number 4 gave me a smile and a chuckle
TY for sending us the pictures as you cleaned the dirty skillet. It looks very nice!
1. I found $2.50 in quarters in the change slot of a coke machine at school.
2. Filled my car w/ gas using the remainder of a GC that I earned doing a 1 hour interview w/ a textbook company.
3. A lady I have come to know on Nextdoor gave me 3 32oz containers of peach yogurt, some tapioca pudding, and a tub of cottage cheese. I had some items I shared w/ her (a large bottle of floor cleaner, pkg of 2 lights bulbs, strapping tape, and a cannister of ground coffee). She is always generous w/ sharing things w/ me. I was happy to share w/ her.
4. I found a Walmart receipt that had a 20 lb. sack of Mahatma rice as the purchase. This earned me 2500K points on Fetch. Who knew?
5. My 2 cats need a rabies shot. I will take them to a mobile Vax site where teachers can get a free shot for their pets. My cats live indoors but if they get sick the vet will not see them if they are not vaccinated.
6. We don't have food service at my school so no temptation to buy a lunch. I bring my lunch and something to drink. I can also enjoy my entire lunch break as my food only needs heating up. No wasted time to go get something. I also don't lose my parking spot. A winner in all regards!
1. My husband has perfected a recipe for vegan soft pretzels! We love making our own snacks and treats and expanding our skills in the kitchen.
2. I discovered that the THREE packages of whole wheat English muffins I brought home all contain milk ingredients. Guess who is VERY lactose intolerant? Yup. Me. Yay. I can't return them so I'm planning on dropping them off at a food pantry. I had already open and cut up one pack so my husband is going to try and eat through the ones we touched. While it sucks for us, maybe it'll help someone else.
3. We had an impromptu leftovers night and it freed up a lot of room in the fridge.
4. Diapers and wipes got delivered so my kids have been playing away with the boxes. Apparently I'm raising cats.
5. My husband's HSA card arrived. Even though he's no longer with the company there were still funds left on the account that we took full advantage of. We knocked out 3 medical bills and can breathe a little easier now.
It was a quiet day for me. I ended up going on a 6 mile walk and cruised through a grocery store on the way home, in search of deals. I found an 18 ounce box of organic blueberries marked down to $1.50. Not bad!
1.Found out what was wrong with my computer. It seems a certain Snuggly Wuggly Dog has been sniffing around my desk and a wire/plug got pulled out just enough for the keyboard not to work. I plugged it back into the slot and all is well. No need to call a repair man.
2. Repositioned closet hall's fabric "door" in order to keep warm air into the main part of bedroom. It easily slides on the curtain rod and looks good in the room
3. Lots of customers coming through my checkout lane have colds. Asked the store manager for disinfectant spray. He got me some. Hopefully that will keep me from catching their illnesses. Plus, I didn't need to bring my Lysol from home.
4. Put together a Valentine's Day and housewarming gift for some friends. She likes Depression Glass. Had some pink glass cups and saucers, so I wrapped each one in tissue paper and placed them in a large pink and spring green insulated cloth lunch carrier. Had a greeting card that was for a housewarming party, only it had ❤️ ❤️ ❤️ s on it as well as a little cottage drawing. Just had to write in Happy Valentine's Day above the rhyme about moving to a new . My only expense was for tissue paper from Dollar Tree --I already had everything else, having thrifted the cups and saucers to sell at my antique mall booth, and the lunch kit was brand new from Goodwill to use this year when I took my lunches. It matches the pink dishes so I used that instead of a gift basket. Also added a new pink scented candle in a cute holder. Hopefully they won't mind my regifting/downsizing.
5. I have some liquid soap that came in a very pretty pump dispenser from Ollie's Outlet. It ran out of product. Refilled it with liquid hand soap from a not-so-pretty container. Now we're back in business.
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Moving to a new home....the house
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Pink and spring green plaid, I meant to say. Also: Moving to a new home....the house
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See if you can wear a mask at work to see to prevent from getting colds.
Wow, that pot sure don't look like it use-ta!
1. My Roommate is home, sick with a bad cough, poor thing. This has meant that I get to try to do the morning chores that she has graciously been doing since I broke my arm.
In the process of cleaning up the hen's nest boxes (adding new hay from the Sheep's hay supply) I located a huge nest of 22 'stolen' eggs that my Roommate hadn't discovered. Oops.
A stolen nest is often a challenge as we don't know how old the eggs are. I usually break each one into a bowl to check before using, and of course pay attention when cleaning to see if any are floaters.
We know this nest is only a week or so old, and it has been cold but not freezing. But sheesh! 22?
I decided to make up a couple of baking dishes of what I call Hash Brown Pie, and have sent one to my #1 Son via my Thrift-store Buddy – she lives very close to them, and was happy to deliver after she was visiting me.
2. I got to go down over the very foggy highway to visit my Mom. The nurse was supposed to come, however there was a mixup (he forgot to put us in the calendar) so he was running late.
This gave me the opportunity to get Mom moving, as we had half an hour before he would come. I had taken her the walker I had picked up (used) when I got my hip replaced, as it is both smaller and lighter than the one she can 'borrow' at her building (and she can keep it in her unit rather than having to walk quite a distance to get it). She doesn't really 'need' a walker, however I noticed that she was much more confident with it – striding along at her usual crisp pace. We walked the halls on both levels of her building, back and forth, for over 15 minutes before she informed me that we were 'done'. I was so proud of her!
The nurse helped to clean out one of her ears, and checked the other that is infected (looking better but not there yet). I really appreciated that he caught my plea and was very willing to be firm with Mom about the need for her to walk steadily, more and more every day. We shall see, she is marking things off on the schedules we are making her, but....
3. I stopped at Costco to get her some Boost, a nutritional drink, as she really hasn't been getting enough decent food in. There was a different nutritional drink on sale so I picked some up and skedaddled - I had hoped to get a Costco rotisserie chicken, but again I missed the window and didn't have 35 minutes to wait. I'll be back down in a week or so, and will try again; eventually I will get lucky. Saved me the purchase price, though! And I had food (soup and hash brown pie) for Mom, anyway.
4. Visited DD after dinner with Mom. Her house has kind of exploded with stuff all over the place, so for a few minutes we did some problem solving - I showed her how to scavenge the electrical cord from two weird lamps that she was throwing away, and she was very impressed with her mother. We also loaded some styrofoam into my truck as I have better access to a recycling place than she does. She was in a meeting for her Strata when I got there, which gave me the opportunity to do more Mom related 'paperwork' on my phone, and report in to the family about our visit. I got home pretty late, though, and it was even more foggy on the dark drive back. Good thing we have the CBC to listen to, I always learn something fascinating, this time it was the Monroe Doctrine from a Canadian perspective. EEK
1. My husband gifted me a pre-loved cover for my tablet. It came in a lovely red fabric gift bag that I am now reusing for family birthday gifts. We have completely switched from wrapping paper to reusable gift bags. Larger items get wrapped in a scarf or throw.
2. After a very long time I have finally sold two items on Vinted again (a necklace and a book). I have started an experiment where I am putting something up for sale every day as this is supposed to boost algorithms. I was hoping that this would shift the items I have had up for a long time but the two items I sold were new ones!
3. Because of the daily Vinted updates I have been looking through my jewellery. I have put a few costume jewellery items up for sale and cleaned a few silver items with silver polish. I love jewellery, it's my vice I guess 🙂 I follow a girl on Youtube that does jewellery lot unpackings. Free fun that satisfies my love forthrift shop treasure hunts and for jewellery! It did get me thinking though - she often keeps pieces for her own collection. I think if I thought of my jewelly as a collection it would be very tempting to add to this collection because that is the point of a collection, isn't it. As it is I keep telling myself that I have enough jewellery and don't need any more!
4. recent favourite library read: The collected regrets of Clover (Mikki Brammer)
5. A repair for my son's car that we were told by a garage we don't usually frequent would be very expensive turned out to be not too bad. Our own mechanic completed the repair for 210 Euro (we were led to believe it would be at least 500 Euro). The car is getting on a good bit though and my son is now thinking of selling it. We will most likely share my car for a while (he is currently still living with us while in college). To be decided!
Euros to USD (for those curious, like me)
500 Euros = $598.88 USD
210 Euros = $247.38 USD
1. My husband has a very heavy duty flannel shirt that he loves. I patched one elbow a few months back. Today I turned the collar (so the ragged edge is in the back) and patched a tear above one of the pockets.
2. My hands and nails are so dry that I’m sewing myself a pair of grease mittens. Basically mitts for the whole hand –don’t bother with a separate space for the thumb—so I can slather my hands with Vaseline at bedtime and not worry about getting greasy sheets. Using sleeves from a retired knit shirt.
3. I bought lifetime membership in the online exercise program we use for the price of two one-year memberships four years ago. We only worked out a couple times a week in January, but we’re getting back to it. Getting my money's worth!
4. I have a fabulous roadkill mug that keeps a quart of water cold in the car all day. No lid, but it works anyway.
5. I checked out a library book I had seen reviewed--Score by C. Thi Nguyen. He’s a philosopher (of games!), so I was thinking it might be a slog. Nope. Finished it in two days only because I started it at 8 pm the first day. Lots of insights on what we are supposed to find rewarding vs figuring out what has value for us. A great read for all of us nonstandard persons.
Mary in MD, I'm stealing the term "nonstandard persons." At last, a term for what I've been my entire life!
1. I decided to try my hand at making yogurt at home. I found a recipe from America's Test Kitchen, which needed a subscription. I signed up for their free trial and set a reminder to cancel at day 13 before the fee kicks in.
1a. Frugal fail: My two beautiful mason jars went in the water and one cracked immediately. The other survived. Lesson learned; my "finger tight" might be a little too tight!
2. We got free tickets to a Knicks game last night and had a blast!
3. Instead of getting a bite after the game, we had fluffernutter sandwiches at home. I remembered we had half a jar of fluff from a holiday recipe, which we rarely have around! Tasty, a real treat, and satisfying.
4. Cancelled dinner plans out to give myself some time to get things done at home. Some cost savings are helpful as well.
5. Sipping out of a water bottle I've had for ages. I like to have a few to rotate for when I get bored/want to switch it up. This one also does not fit in my cup holder in my car but hey - I live in a walkable area, so I'm not in my car most days!
Your mason jar cracking might just be a sign of much love and wear. I have a lot of mason jars and occasionally do a LOT of canning. I would guess that one jar in every 40 or 50 will break at some point during the canning process, and upon investigating the jars they often are ones that I might have salvaged from my mom. If we use metal instruments in the jars (ie a spoon to get some thing out) we run the risk of creating a small hint of a fault, and a temperature change can set off the so-called sudden crack.
I just have decided this is the cost of doing business as a frugal re-user... but it does suck when a jar filled with pears drops its bottom at the start of the canning process!
1. Requested and received bids to have four large oak trees pruned. Decided not to spend the $8,000, which wasn't hard to do. Uff da.
2. Completed our financial review for January and the past year. As a two-person senior household that entertains (casually) somewhat regularly, we spent an average of $500/month on groceries - this excludes household and personal items which add around $15/month. We averaged another $100/month on food away from home (separately or together).
3. Went to the big arts festival in town and didn't spend any money, although there were plenty of beautiful items. Sometimes it's hard not to support artisans.
4. Made a veggie-based soup using packets of sipping broth that I had received from Buy Nothing a few months ago.
5. Brought homemade cards with us to Arizona, and I mailed one sympathy card (unexpected) and one birthday card (planned).
1. Took my toddler to a free local museum today where they have farm animals. It is 60 degrees today so the sunshine and free entry was much appreciated.
2. I found THREE pairs of shoes for myself thrifting yesterday. All of which were on my “needs” list and in excellent condition. Sketchers, tevas and no bull shoes. Toddler became very attached to a multi strand beaded necklace and for the sake of everyone’s hearing , bought that too.
3. Trying to manage stress over upcoming surgery (both the surgery and the 6,000 estimate I got for it). Making sure I move my body and sit in the sun as much as possible and not impulse buying things as a distraction.
4. Turned the heat off for the next handful of days as it’s sunny and we have temps in the 60s. Our utilities costs have been absurd.
5. Sold goodwill outlet finds, gave away stuff in our BN group, and trying to keep mess to a min with a toddler , as a tidy house makes me much more content with what we have and happier mentally !
Funny, I never think it to cut my SOS pads before using them. Will do that from now on..
1. I absolutely ADORE The Olympics. But wanted to watch more coverage than was available on my outside antenna. But then I realized, that YouTube has a free 21 day trial, which will cover the entire Olympics. So I have signed up for the free trial and will cancel the day after the Olympics end. I’ve watched 4 hours today. I love the Olympics
2. I’ve already read 2 books so far this month. Both took about 3 1/2 hours. The first one was called “home is where the bodies are“ and the second is “sharp objects“. I read 17 books last year, hoping to pass that this year.
3. Running low on firewood (only five logs left) but spent an hour calling around to find pressed sawdust firewood to tie me over for the remaining season. Found a place 22 miles away, so took a drive yesterday and picked up enough to last me the rest of the season.
4. Have a lot of cabbage left from my CSA, so I made a batch of deconstructed cabbage roll soup. Very good and very filling. But I still feel like my house smells like cabbage 3 days later. I have tried everything. The vinegar isn’t helping.
5. Happily knitting on my son’s sweater. I had frogged a sweater I made him 2 years ago with superwash wool and am using a different pattern and making a smaller version. 8 years ago, I knit an entire sweater while watching the Olympics. My goal is by closing ceremonies, to bind off on this sweater. I did it before, I can do it again.
I clicked on the eBay link and the pan is SOLD! Congrats!
Yes, it sold quickly! It's even at the post office and now on its way to its new owner!
Congratulations!
Keeping your brillo in the freezer stops the rusting and oxidation so they last longer...