Five More Frugal Things
by Katy on July 9, 2025 · 14 comments
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My friend texted asking if I’d water her garden, as she’s in NYC and the person who’d agreed to do so backed out at the last minute. She doesn’t live too far away, so I let her know I was happy to lend a hand.
I then offered to connect her with my sister, who works with the American Museum of Natural History. It turns out that it’s a full family trip and my sister was able to hook her up with eight free tickets, which’ll save her $328! As I’ve written before, I love saving money but I especially love when I can help other people save money!
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My sister and I took a long evening walk through the neighborhood. There were lots of people hanging out at the local bars and restaurants, but we were happy to just get out of the house without spending any money.
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We invited our mother over for an afternoon of Scrabble and snacks, which was great fun. We munched on crackers and cheese; hummus, pretzels and spicy pickles. All from the fridge and pantry, but still tasty.
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I helped myself to a handful of raspberries from my friend’s garden when I went over to water her plants.
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I continue to live my life without sending my money to that Schmeff Schmezos guy!
Katy Wolk-Stanley
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{ 14 comments… read them below or add one }
Awesome save on great NYC tickets for your friend!!!
1. I just ate a cold baked bean sandwich for breakfast and leftover potato salad. My reasoning is that there is an egg or two in my homemade potato salad. Also, The British have baked beans (I think) for breakfast sometimes so I thought why not? It uses up leftovers.
2. I walked 30 minutes in my neighborhood late yesterday evening.
3. I brought a pbj sandwich for lunch along with grapes.
4. I cut my hair. I did a better job than last time which was the worst haircut I have ever given myself in the 13 years I have been cutting my hair.
5. I slept with my windows open (they are screened because mosquitoes will eat you alive) and the air off. I had a fan going with a frozen water bottle in front of it. My goal is to use my new air conditioner as little as possible. That is not easy with temps of 94 and a heat index between 100 and 105.
Our air conditioning quit during an awful heat wave a dozen years ago. Our elderly dog was in his final illness and we kept him comfortable with a fan blowing on huge bowl of ice right across from his bed. He was a smart boy and stayed in his own cool zone.
1) DH and I are sitting at the dealership where we bought our car. State inspection is FREE as long as we bring it here. They offer free bottled water, coffee, applesauce cups and strawberry jello cups, and pudding cups in the waiting room fridge, as well as fresh popped popcorn and fresh fruit while you wait. We brought our own coffee from home, so we’ll be sure to refill our coffee cups before we leave. The inspection isn’t due until the last day of August, but I can get it inspected as early as June 1 (2 months prior to the expiration date). I like to get it inspected early, so, if it doesn’t pass for some reason, we have time to get it fixed by our regular mechanic.
2) Because we’re near the local farmers market (which is only open on Wednesday’s), we’re going to stop there and see what they have to offer. I canned pickled beets for my husband last year as I hate beets. We bought a 25 lb bag of beets for $25 and I got 26 pints of beets that have lasted him a year. He just opened the last jar, so it’s time to replenish his stock. I have everything else I need at home. All I need is the beets…and time.
3) Passed a 7-11 on the way to the dealership where gas is $2.75. I also have $.10 off gas with my grocery store card, and, I can get a few more cents off by using the Upside app. Guess where we’re filling up our car on the way home? (Gas at home is $2.97.)
4) A good friend who doesn’t drive just moved closer to her daughter, about an 90 minutes away. She would periodically ask us for rides to appointments and such. She would either give us gas money or take us out to eat somewhere. I hate to say it, but I’m happy she moved. Less wear and tear on our car, which adds up to savings.
5) Our wedding cost us $2,000 tops. We’ve been married almost 31 years. The “wedding of the century” costing hundreds of thousands of dollars? I give it 5 years tops. What a waste!
Melissa, re: your #5, I repeat A. Marie’s Law of Wedding vs. Marriage: The happiness and stability of the marriage are in inverse proportion to the cost and general eclat of the wedding. DH and I got married in 1979 at my hometown county courthouse with only immediate family in attendance, and we never regretted it.
Melissa and A. Marie,
I agree 100% with A. Marie’s law of wedding vs. marriage, and I’ve been saying something similar myself for many years. Another case in point: Princess Di and then-Prince Charles’ wedding/marriage. Methinks they spent oodles of time and money planning the wedding, and hardly any planning the marriage. With predictable results.
On the other hand, my parents married in a preacher’s study during WW2 after Mom ran away from her parents’ home and took a cross-country train ride to get to where Dad was stationed. No guests, just 2 attendants/witnesses and the preacher and his secretary, I think it was. Might have been his wife, not sure. That marriage lasted 55 years until Mom’s death did them part.
I had a cheap wedding in 1989 ($2000) and my husband dumped me in 2013.
Hundreds of thousands? Costs have been estimated at $50 million.
Re 4. I completely understand. I love helping people, but it can have general wear and tear tax on you as a person and with your time.
Very well done on helping your friend with the museum savings! That is an absolutely huge win for her!
1) Made caprese for dinner last night, using basil & tomatoes from our garden. (The mozzarella was from Costco, alas.) Always a delicious seasonal dish.
2) Our insurance cards came. These ones are odd, and have all four of our names on the same card, and only two arrived. There are four of us on the plan, so I went online & ordered an additional card for everyone. This way, the teens can keep one in their wallet, and DH will also have one. The dental insurance card also arrived, which is great, as I’d just scheduled everyone for cleanings. (We were paying for COBRA, but had opted to skip dental coverage for a few months.) Dental maintenance is long term frugal!
3) Picked strawberries, grape tomatoes & regular tomatoes from the garden.
4) Avis found DS18’s Air Pods, which he left in the rental car last week. He is paying for them to be shipped back ($35, which includes their transit company, etc). Not frugal to lose your stuff, but definitely a smarter investment than buying new ones.
5) Used tomatoes, basil, & jalapenos from the garden in DH’s daily salad.
5)
OOF! Just finished reading “Careless People” about faCEBOOK, from my free clooud library. Absolutely made me want to immediately delete my profile and account,BUT I don’t know how to stay up to date with some social groups I belong to that ONLY use fb groups to communicate events,dates,volunteer activities,etc.So I went into my ipad settings and amde it so I can only go on fb for 30 minutes per day and I am NOT going to POST there anymore. READ THE BOOK! Not really all new info but very sobering none-the less.
I have a book on hold by Scott Galloway about the other “big” companies we all are trying to avoid.. not sure I can handle it..but I must!
It’s hard to consider all these things we never had to think about. .FB and elections, google and lack of payment of taxes, all the lack of privacy.. I am not sure just what to do.. but am being very mindful lately….. I have to say my husband hates driving and he uses amazon to purchase all his supplies for household repairs, pool maintenance, etc.. I am not shopping for much besides groceries,so I have no need..
Your evening of playing games and snacks is my FAVORITE way to have a good time right at home!!!!
This morning I carefully mended a tiny hole in the toe of a much loved pair of gray canvas sneakers. I just about live in those shoes because they go so well with my summer clothes.
I recently joined the local Buy Nothing Group, but so far nobody wanted anything I had. Today, however, somebody needed a hard cone for their cat who had an eye injury. We had a cone which our cat refused to wear (but recovered anyway). She came by to pick it up. The whole transaction took 15 minutes and was accomplished before 7 in the morning!
What a great introduction to this group. Thanks for introducing me to it, Katy.
Yay, I’m so happy that your cat cone has a second life!
1. I’ve been bit by the decluttering bug and I’m trying to ride the wave for as long as possible before I get overwhelmed or exhausted by it. So far I’ve purged our very excessive blanket collection and have reached out to a group called Project Linus, they support kids who would otherwise go without a blanket; I’ve filled an entire Rubbermaid style tote of toys, my children haven’t noticed so far so fingers crossed haha there is a kids consignment shop about an hour away from me that I like to use when I have enough stuff to make the trip worthwhile; and I’ve gone through their clothes and added them to the consignment collection, a large diaper box FULL of stuff. I’ve also decluttered my own clothes, they’ll be donated to a clothing drive in the fall that hosts a $2 clothing sale that directly benefits Women’s Crisis Support Team which helps women in abuse situations. We’ve gone to the sale before and it is amazing. A warehouse size building turned into a $2 per item shopping spree.
2. My husband is inspired by my efforts and has some computers that he’s going to wipe and resell.
3. Made an easy dinner by heating up some prepped food from the freezer and have enough for lunch today!
4. Helping my sister-in-law look for a good deal on a toddler bed, trying to keep her from giving her money to shmezos.
5. Used a coupon and a 50% off sale to get a couple items from Old Navy to replace some of mine that are getting pretty threadbare, and some jammies in the next size up for my oldest daughter. I’ve discovered I only really wear the same couple of things over and over so I felt okay with getting two tank tops of the same color and some all black socks, yay for always matching socks! She’s been growing like a weed and jammies are always the first thing she outgrows.