Five Frugal Things -- Yard Debris Bin Wars
- My husband and I were craving something yummy, so I called in a falafel order from our favorite spot, but made it frugal by ordering a single serving with an extra pita, as their portions are enormous. I then split the singe entree into two and it was perfectly filling.
- I raked my neighbor's leaves, which is something I sometimes do in exchange for them allowing me to occasionally put our yard debris bin out with their pickup. (We share garbage pickup with our next door neighbors, which is only an issue this time of year when the trees have lost all their leaves.) They have mobility issues, so it's something I feel good about either way.
Plus it's good exercise.
- My husband and I went for a walk through the neighborhood and passed by someone who'd also repaired their yard debris bin. However, they did so in a much more professional manner than me, with my ever present stash of duct tape and zip ties. Now I'm envious and perhaps not "keeping up with the Joneses" as well as I thought I was.
It might not last as long, but it does keep a huge hunk of plastic out of the landfill. - I tore the handle off our Yankee's reusable bag by carrying a 17-pound turkey, but was able to repair it using, yes -- duct tape! (Duct tape, what can't you do?!) This isn't going to transform us into multi-millionaires. but it's one more thing that stays in circulation and out of the landfill.
Before:
After:
5. I hate scrubbing the tile in our shower surround, which means that I procrastinate the job until the mildew and pink bacteria take over. It's gross and I count on the steady stream of house guests to keep me on track. However, it's been awhile since the last house guest, so I added it to my to-do list and decided to set the stop watch on my phone see quantify how long the task actually takes. For the record, it feels like hours, maybe even days.
The answer was fourteen minutes and nineteen seconds, which is a reasonable amount of time. So next time I ruin an entire day dreading this chore, I can remind myself that it takes less than fifteen minutes.
Have you ever employed this motivational method to time yourself doing unpleasant tasks? I've also done it for emptying the dishwasher and scooping the litter boxes.
Now your turn, what frugal things have you been up to?
I also hate cleaning our bathroom and have dedicated a trusty bottle of white vinegar and blue Dawn to liberally spray over everything to make the job much easier. I still procrastinate, but hey at least it's easy to scrub away.
1. Not feeling well today so I'm snuggled in bed doing as little as possible. I managed to cross 'fix a stuffed animal' off my "I'll get to it when I have time" list.
2. My husband walked with our kids to the local library for the free story and craft time today. They're returning our previously borrowed books and will probably come home with some new treasures.
3. Yesterday he made back $11 from recycling cans and put it towards some groceries.
4. I made bagels for dinner last night, breakfast sandwiches, and have enough for another 1-2 meals left over. They went straight to the freezer once they cooled so we wouldn't be tempted to snack on them.
5. I have made it to day 141 on Duolingo! My head feels so fuzzy today that I'm sure I'll have to redo my lesson from today later as I didn't retain anything, but I'm proud for making an effort to learn a new language! And it's for free!
I love the gal on Instagram (I think originally TikTok) who does these "How long does it actually take" videos as she cleans and sorts a section of her house. it has certainly inspired me, even this week I took before and after photos, twice, and sent to my daughter. the first set were for emptying the dishwasher and overflowing drying rack and then filling said dishwasher with dirty dishes and washing all the big stuff. I did a few side quests (as always) but the whole thing was done in under 23 minutes.
then I set the timer to see how long it takes to make a bunch of cabbage carrot celery salad along with dealing with lots of other fridge veggies. THAT took longer than expected (50 min) but we got a lot of salads out of it and now I know where the time-sucks are.
VERY satisfying to take that AFTER photo, even if I am only texting it to my daughter. She celebrates with me. Priceless
I do try to play the "can I get this chore done while the water for coffee boils?" game, as it encourages me to try to get chores done quickly that I don't like doing. I like the idea of timing them!
Me too; very motivating due to the coffee factor!
I empty the dishwasher while the coffee brews. Can't hardly wait for that first sip.
I procrastinate on cleaning out the fridge. Remedy is hosting friends who help put away the leftovers. Ha!
That repair job was impressive.
I patched another tarp to cover a Freshly split cord of wood that I need to pick up and stack in the woodshed. My brother brought me 3 holey tarp rejects. They are safely tucked away in a bin to repair soon.
Made a batch of applesauce spice doughnuts baked and glazed with maple icing. Served with spicy chai green tea and invited the neighbor up for a visit by the hearth.
Our very cold and foggy day affects my mom's disposition.
Your applesauce doughnuts, fireplace, and neighbor scenario sounds cozy!
Our washing machine has a 23 minute quick cycle, which is suitable for most laundry, and I use it as a timer to see how much stuff can be done before the washer chimes.
I went to silent bookclub yesterday with a $1.99 book. Cheap fun! Today I shampooed, brushed, and trimmed up the dogs' coats and did their nails. Clipper cut our very long- haired cat's tummy and trimmed her nails. Repaired the wooden surround for the litter box with two screws from my box of salvaged screws. Took a scrub brush into the shower with me this morning and scrubbed off some soap build-up on the tiles while waiting for the water to run warm. We have mineral-rich water and will get a white haze on the lower half of the shower.
1. A friend brought lunch over for Hubby and me.
2.I picked up my free turkey from BJs. It is a 20 pounder. We will eat it on Thanksgiving.
3. I took my neighbor and we went to a free library class. It was a sublimation towel class and she was nervous that she wouldn't be able to do it. I told her that I would help her and so would the librarian. She had a great time. She did much better then she thought she would. We both have a Christmas gift for our daughters.
4. With Hubby being home he has been making lots of bread.
5. The lady I take care of and I do lots sticker picture books. We started a new one and the stickers were coming off with the paper backing. The machine had cut to deep. I emailed the company and they sent me a replacement book.
6.I cooked another pumpkin. My freezers are full. I can't fit anything else in them.
7. A farm that we like and I follow on Instagram said that they were closing Wednesday for the season and everything was on sale. We went out with a packed lunch and drinks. We got a 50 pound bag of potatoes for $21. It was originally $45. All apples were down to 99¢ a pound. We got several kinds totaling over 15 pounds. We also got a 4 pound bag of bell peppers for $2.
Marybeth. As a former Long Islander, I’m guessing Briermerr
Farms?
I have repaired a Trader Joe's bag with duct tape. It's quite noticeable, but I don't care. It's sturdy.
1. Took a walk this morning and stopped at an open house in the neighborhood. The frugal part is that I didn't buy the condo I looked at, but boy, did I wish I could! So adorable, and no stairs! Oh well.
2. I continued my walk to the lakeshore, where I found a receipt.
3. Thawed veggie soup from the freezer and added tomato paste and chopped peppers. I think this is going to be eternal soup, like Queen Elizabeth's pudding.
4. Watched The Thursday Murder Club on Netflix, and read a lot in a LFL book, Bruno, Chief of Police.
5. Forced myself to go through the junk mail that had piled up. I didn't find any money or freebies, but I did set aside a few things I might follow up on.
Bruno Chief of Police is one of my favorite series. When we visited France we crossed the Dordogne River. I really want to visit that area for a week or two. They have tours where you can dine with the author, but the cost makes my eyes burn.
I really enjoyed Thursday Murder Club movie, (not the books), and we are now watching the second season of "Man on the Inside" on Netflix, just out this week. Great fun!
They say you can fix anything with duct tape -- except a broken heart.
1. Past Me did Present Me a big favor last January: bought lots of boxes of candy canes for 25 cents a box. They were originally marked $1.69 a box. I just now tried one and it tastes just as good as ever. So I'm all fixed up for hard Christmas candy.
2. Another exciting chapter in the cutting down the shrubs saga: Our city no longer allows you to put yard waste in plastic bags and put them at the curb. (Boo, hiss.) I still have a large black plastic contractor's bag. Decided to use it anyway! I stuffed it with cut-to-size yard waste and put it in the upper half of the city-issued garbage can. It's tied up to look like regular household trash. The lower half of the can was already stuffed with limbs and branches; this hides it. I am artfully arranging the garbage so that the whole can gets dumped on Trash Collection Day, no questions asked. This is not the week we can take our yard waste cans to the curb for pickup (that happens only every other week), so I'm getting creative in disposing of everything. Also put some twigs and leaves in a cardboard box and layered it in the trash can, further concealing the limbs/branches/leaves. Main objective (besides, obviously, getting rid of the brush): avoiding landfill fees. 😉 So far it's working!
3. Froze half of my crockpot soup for later use, and the 50% that is in the refrigerator will last me a couple of weeks. And did I mention, this soup was made of items already on hand -- I didn't spend a penny for new ingredients?
4. Cleaning out my closet, I found an old blouse that was literally coming apart at the seams. The fabric had disintegrated. (Can't imagine why: I think the outfit dates back to the late 1980s!) Can't save the blouse, it's too rotten, but cut off the pretty buttons for future use.
5. Hung up new curtains in my bedroom. Oopsie daisy: I didn't get enough to cover both windows.
I cat sit for a neighbor - 9 litter boxes to scoop and down to 14 bowls to fill plus any feral cats my neighbor is feeding. Inside cats boxes are scooped twice a day - outside depends if free range or on "lock down". Then I get to scoop the boxes at my house. I don't mind helping out a neighbor - I've said before I rarely accept cash but will accept edibles/consumibles from where they visited.When on "duty" for a week, we bring the "scooping" to our house and put out with our trash.
Scooping, scooping, scooping is my motto when cat/house sitting.
My daughter told me the trick of using a
Dishwashing wand filled with dish soap and water, kept in the shower. A quick
Going over the tiles and rinse at the end or your shower is preventive cleaning. I usually scrub 1 or 2 areas a week and rarely have any major cleaning to do.
Jane, what a great idea! Smart daughter.
FFT, New Compost Heap and Thrifting Edition:
(1) Katy was talking about yard debris, so here's my current report on it: I started a new compost heap yesterday with the leaves I raked out of all the odd corners of my garden, plus all the sawdust I could scoop up from my recently felled tree. So some of the tree's molecules will live on in my garden. (And I do realize that I have the luxury of space for compost heaps, which Katy and other big-city dwellers don't.)
(2) Since both the weather and my schedule have favored some thrifting this week, I've been doing some. First, a new branch of my local Thrifty Shopper chain's boutique store opened up recently near me, so I paid my first visit there on Tuesday (with my 25% senior discount). Several nice odds and ends, but a not-quite-so-blank book that turned out to be a little disturbing (see my Wednesday comment on The Frugal Girl for details).
(3) Then my local Clothes Mentor had a 35% off "Friday before Black Friday" sale, at which I picked up Vera Bradley bags for all three of us VBBAs (VB Bag Aficionadas)--JASNA BFF, JASNA Panera, and me. (Believe me, I plan to be somewhere out in the woods on the actual Black Friday, weather permitting!)
(4) But my biggest score was yesterday, at the Goodwill on the west side of town. I don't get there often, but when I do, it's always worth it. Canning jars galore for my homemade pickles and other uses (this Goodwill sells these jars in big bundles for a couple of bucks per bundle); a nice bottle for my homemade herb vinegar; two big bags of yarn for NDN1's other close friend, an indefatigable knitter; an old wood-handled dandelion digger; and a pair of Lane Bryant jeans, a nice unstructured Old Navy blazer (very suitable for JASNA meetings), and an LL Bean fleece hoodie. Total = $44 and change. Woo hoo!
(5) And I'll be heading over to the party-school-university-area branch of the Thrifty Shopper boutique chain at noon. I only go to this one (a) on Sundays, when parking meters are free; and (b) when the area is relatively free of students. (They get a full week off for Thanksgiving.) 😀
I think I need to try your trick. There are so many tasks I hate to do. Today I'm cleaning my bathroom including the shower. Yuck.
1. I'm doing my spring cleaning. I don't have time in the spring. I'm too busy outside. Now that all my outside chores are done for the winter, I can concentrate on the inside stuff.
2. I cleaned the fronts of my kitchen cabinets, scrubbed the backsplash and countertops and resealed the counters.
3. I went to a free sound immersion therapy event at my mom's library with her and a friend. I loved it. They do it once a month and I'm already planning to go to the next one.
4. My daughter is picking up the turkey we will eat for Thanksgiving. Her grocery store has them for 32 cents a pound.
5. I sold a set of vintage baby food jars on Ebay. I found them in someone bulk trash pick-up.
I wish I could post a picture of my husband's trash can repair job. When the lid of ours cracked, he drilled small holes along either side of the crack and stiched it back together with wire. We fondly call it our franken-can. Perfectly functional, kept out of the landfill and didn't have to pay the trash company a repalacement fee, which would be particularly annoying since they broke it!
*stitched
My husband got new tires for his truck, and noticed while comparing mileage from the last time he bought tires that he is driving the truck much less now that we no longer have our camping trailer. So I called the insurance company and down-rated the truck to a 'pleasure vehicle' -- less than 1000 miles a year -- and dropped collision and comprehensive. He mainly uses the truck these days to haul firewood or trash to the dump, and the occasional errand to the nearest town. This will save us over $500 a year.
I bought some of my groceries at Safeway to score a 59 cent a pound turkey. When I went to check out online a message popped up that I had $21 in 'Safeway cash'. I have no idea where this came from, but I definitely used it to bring down the cost of my groceries.
I received a $38 payout from a Facebook settlement. I don't remember applying for this, but it was probably a couple years ago.
I made pineapple fried rice for dinner to use up half a can of pineapple and 1/2 a red pepper. Had enough left for lunch the next day.
@Cindi - be sure to note the mileage when you changed coverage. When I started working from home, I lowered ours. *But* the insurance company did verify mileage at 6 month renewal time - we'd went a little over. Mostly due to saving mileage (and money) driving the car versus the new truck.
I'm curious what your favorite falafel spot is... I have one (Cedo's) but it is a bit of a trek.
It's Gyro House on S.E. 82nd Avenue.
I also hate cleaning the shower. Especially because I spend time and energy doing it and it doesn’t look much improved. I need your tips!!
I race the coffee pot when I unload the dishwasher in the morning. I usually finish unloading and reloading before my coffee is done, which just proves it doesn't take as long as I think it will.
Hate cleaning the shower, and I also let it go too long before putting on my big girl panties and just cleaning the stupid thing.
If I have a chore I am dreading and can't seem to start, I set a timer for 20 minutes and tell myself I only have to go that long, then I can quit til tomorrow. Usually after 20 minutes I'm so far along I just finish the stupid thing.
I am a grown adult, I should not have to trick myself!
Michelle, I do the same thing for dreaded chores. They rarely take as long as I think they will. For me, I think it's more rebellion at having to be a responsible adult all the time. I'm 66 years old.
1. I continue to use expire chia seeds for overnight oats.
2. Got a pumpkin bread mix from our BN group I intend to make tomorrow.
3. Returned a mini Christmas tree to GW , all of the needles were falling off it was a disaster. Sometimes I’m lazy about returning things to thrift stores, trying to stick to it.
4. Sales on Poshmark and Mercari have been strong! Mostly selling bins finds I grab while I thrift for my family. The extra money has been nice to prep for the holidays.
5. Passed on a lot of holiday decor that we weren’t using.
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Wet-and-Forget-64-oz-Weekly-Shower-Spray-801064/205215921
The absolute best shower cleaner. No need to deep clean tiles again. I do have to scrub the plastic shower pan.
This is my one specialty cleaning product and I'll never give it up..
I always clean the shower WHEN I am actually in there showering LOL...since I am using the water to shower anyway, and it doesn't add too much time!
Found a dime on the ground.
Found a littered receipt and scanned to Fetch - it got me 2000 points!
My YMCA recently did some renovations and got new equipment, I went to the grand "re-opening", they had free snacks for all - took a banana and a granola bar for later.
Had $10 "Beall's Cash" (a local dept store like a Kohl's), went in and got 2 stocking stuffer gifts of nice socks with my free money!
Free lunch at work today as we are a skeleton crew this week, they bought us pizza, there is enough for me to take a slice home for later.