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My husband and I drove our chandeliers to the Habitat Restore and took a stroll through the store. I paid $10.45 for the above vintage lighting globe, which I promptly took to locally owned Lounge Lizard and sold for $40.
Habitat gets to sell a donated item, I resell it to earn a few dollars and then Lounge Lizard gets to sell it at its full retail value. We all get a piece of the pie.
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The Habitat ReStore had a table of “FREE STUFF!” next to the entrance. I brought home four of these tiny glass vases, as they’re the perfect configuration for propagating avocado pits. I have one exactly like this, which is how I have my own thriving avocado plant.
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Our neighbors invited us over for dinner to thank us for caring for their house and garden whenever they leave town. I brought a homemade blackberry and fig crumble, along with a pint of Häagen Dazs vanilla ice cream, which was free with a Fred Meyer coupon. Especially frugal as the berries and figs were free and the oatmeal was from Winco’s bulk bins.
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I found a quarter on the ground next to the Safeway self checkout. I’ll add it to my 2025 Found Change Challenge jar, which is looking rather anemic as so few people pay with cash these days.
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My husband needed new summer shorts and didn’t like what they had at the Columbia Sportwear outlet store, so he found a brand (Kühl) and style he liked and ordered three pairs off of eBay. They’re all perfect and he’s very satisfied with paying $25-$27 per pair instead of the $80 they’d cost had he ordered directly from the company. I’m happy that his purchases didn’t prompt the manufacture of brand new items.
Five More Frugal Things
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{ 50 comments… read them below or add one }
Happy Tuesday & thanks for another FF post!
1. sorting through stuff-ola our girls in the family are donating… some of the great condition clothing will go to the free table at a local long-term care home for staff/residents; appropriate sizes will go to some family down south. Happy to play a role in this sharing economy!
2. babying three soap slivers to get them finally thin enough to meld together. what’s with Dove soap these days that it won’t stick to itself as well as before!
3. have a one TBS of detergent load of laundry in the washer. includes handkerchiefs — so much softer on the nose, better for the environment.
4. cleaning out an end table and found MANY lip balms. ha, no need to buy more.
5. working to eat up the pantry, cooked up a couple of freezer foods yesterday. feels good not to waste (something I need to get better at not doing)
I’ve noticed that about Dove soap too. I have to wait until the slivers get really tiny, and then I can usually mash them into the logo cutout on a new bar.
even more annoying is that they sometimes break in half when not nearly worn down. what’s with that? ha (I will switch when I find something suitable…for sensitive skin, without all the fragrance)
I found a nifty soap bag at Dollar Tree. It comes 2 to a package. The fabric is rough like a loofah sponge & it has a drawstring. I put my soap slivers into it and it works nicely. It’s a little rough to use on the face but the soap bag scrubs nicely on the rest of my body. It’s big enough that you could put an entire bar of soap in it but I have been using it for slivers. I just got it so I don’t know about the durability of the little bags yet. I hand it up to dry using the drawstrings
texasilver,
I was just wondering the other day if such a soap bag existed! I have a few soap slivers that won’t stick together. The fact that it’s at Dollar Tree is even better! Thank you.
I don’t know about Dove, but Ivory soap changed its formula in the last few years. It no longer uses tallow in its soap. I would assume that Dove used tallow, too, and has since stopped.
I’ve noticed several times as I’ve been reading the various posts that people have mentioned trying to stick slivers of soap together. I bought a soap saver bag at our local sustainable store but if you dew I’m sure you could make one. It’s made from a cotton netting fabric. I use bar shampoo and bar conditioner because it’s environmentally friendly. You put the slivers in the bag and not only do you get to use up every single sliver but for 2 to 3 days after the slivers are gone there is still enough soap coming out if you squeeze the bag.
I used a net bag from a wedding that I think originally had bird seed to throw. I added the small soaps from motels if we opened them as well as small bits from home.
re: soap slivers – melt them and pour into muffin pan
Cool globe!
1. I walked for thirty minutes before work.
2. I packed my lunch and breakfast.
3. I used a fan last night with the windows cracked. Electricity is expensive here.
4. I washed my other court jacket, gently, in the bathtub and have hung it out to dry.
5. I stayed in my own lane and minded my own business.
I love your #5 and wish more people would do the same 😉
Cindy, I acknowledge your comment and am taking it to heart.
1. I found a quart size mason jar in a free pile. A good scrub and a run through the dishwasher and it sparkles.
2. Sourced the 4th 2-drawer filing cabinet that my son wanted. All free.
3. Sewed a denim pencil pouch for my grandson who is starting school. Fabric all free.
4. Altered a pair of JJill yoga type pants to fit me (found in free pile). Mended a free dress that I’ve listed on buy nothing. The underslip was longer than the lace overlay and so was useless to anyone who doesn’t sew. Now it’s perfect again and ready for another person.
Took me about 10 minutes and saved the dress from landfill.
5. My loofah plant finally has fruit. I’m hoping to become self sufficient in sponges!
I love your #5.
Me too! That’s gotta be a fun thing to grow.
As a fellow blackberry forager, I love seeing everything you make with them!
1) I’m canning blackberry jam and hot pepper jelly today.
2)I have sour cream, erm, souring on the counter. It’s easy to make your own: 1/4 cup cultured sour cream with no additives (like Daisy brand). Put in a qt. jar and top off with cream or a half cream/half milk. Shake and put in a bowl of the hottest tap water you have. Once the water cools, remove it from the bowl and let it sit out 24 hours to ferment, then refrigerate. You can freeze 1/4 cup to use as a starter in your next batch!
3) Our cat likes to play with bookmarks, so I made a few from scrap cardboard and ribbon so she quit destroying my favorites. Free toys from the recycle bin!
4) I made a jar of sauerkraut in my thrifted Ball fermenting jar. It will be ready in two weeks!
5) I didn’t go anywhere, other than work, thus I didn’t spend money or use up any unnecessary fossil fuels.
Thanks for your sour cream instructions. I’m guessing it costs about the same or more but would be so nice not to have to buy the plastic tubs.
My Ex used to do the same with sour cream and cream, and then he would strain it like we do yogurt (to get greek yogurt). He called the result Labneh, not sure if it was the real thing but it sure was delicious. Essentially cream cheese.
Huh, guess THAT needs to go on my list
He started his with buttermilk, though. and only a couple of tablespoons for a quart of cream.
I have a glut of figs from someone who dislikes figs, but who has a fig tree. Usually, I make jam, but I haven’t finished last year’s jam. There are many other things I’ve made with figs, but I haven’t made a crumble yet. Thanks for the idea. I might wait until the weather cools down!
1. Found a quarter.
2. Ate from the freezer and the in-law mystery bag.
3. Needed a dish draining mat. Said to myself, “Maybe there’s one in a free pile somewhere.” Went for a stroll and found one in a free pile. I love it when that happens!
4. Got a free Big Gulp from my 7-11 app.
5. Fixed the toilet so it’ll stop running. This will help with the water bill!
Li, I have a fig tree and several food allergies. I wanted a fig crisp reminiscent of fig newtons, which I can’t have anymore. I use brown sugar in the filling and a generous oat topping and it does scratch that itch. I also love making jam bars. Last idea … I will make fig butter along with jam. The fig butter goes in the crockpot, uses less sugar, and is really good. I use my immersion blender to get it smooth. Enjoy those figs!
Jam bars sound interesting!
They are so rich and delicious! And, perhaps, a wee bit crumbly;)
What a cool globe, and Lounge Lizard looks like a really cool store! I want to visit it next time I visit my college bestie in Portland!
1. Finished the final of about 6 loads of laundry yesterday and placed our drying rack outside in the morning sun. I think the clothes were dry in a half hour!
2. Made Thai spring rolls for dinner with Thai fish cakes from H Mart. What a tasty combo!
3. Puttered my way to almost 5k mid day by doing housework. Then took a decompresing walk with my hubby after he finished work (consultant working from home). He needs them. Plus we got some free vitamin D and got to catch up with each other away from teenage ears! Lol
4. Part of the puttering was going through my closet and one of the teens’, gathering clothing we no longer like or wear for the 1st clothing swap in our neighborhood (since we moved to this lil mountain neighborhood 2 years ago) on Saturday. It feels good to have things to share!
5. All that editing prompted me to count how much is left in my minimalist wardrobe. I have 125 pieces left. Seemed like a lot for me. I aim to keep to 9 items or less in a category. There’s no other reason than 9 is my favorite number lol. I’m over this number in dresses. I have bought maybe 5 new to me ones in the past year. Shopping at local Arc thrift stores and a fave charity shop means at most I paid $5 each. My newest one in spring felt like a splurge on not half price Saturday at 12.99! This means anything that may come home with me from the swap, I need to love more than the purple and teal things I already own. Wearing only these colors plus black and silver means everything matches!
FMFT, More Decluttering and JASNA BFF’s Visit Edition:
(1) I dropped off my five boxes and one bag of donations for the local human-being-friendly Catholic church’s garage sale this morning at the church’s garage (appropriately enough). The sale starts on 8/21 and they’ll accept donations till 8/20, so maybe I can scour up another box or two of donations before then.
(2) I hit every Little Free Library in the area on my way to and from the dropoff, and found four more kids’ books for JASNA BFF’s grandchildren. One of these is a kids’ starter version of a few Sherlock Holmes tales. BFF is a Holmes fan, so I think she’ll be delighted.
(3) BFF will be arriving on Thursday afternoon for the annual Triple Birthday Celebration visit (a proud tradition now in its 14th year). Our JASNA Panera friend, the third Lady of August, will come over from her city for the actual TBC on Saturday. We’ll have lunch out (Thai and Indian are the leading contenders at present) and then come back here for large gooey cupcakes (which BFF and I will obtain from Wegmans), prezzies, and JASNA and other gossip–all under the coolth of my central AC. (No relief from the current heat wave is predicted for Saturday.)
(4) JASNA Panera will be bringing as many day-old Panera goodies as she can cram into her cooler bag, and I’ll be refilling it with refrigerator dills.
(5) And I haven’t used my own paranoia as an excuse for a federal takeover of my nation’s capital.
A. Marie, I love the stories you tell us about your JASNA buddies. I feel as if I am getting to know them through your words. Please keep sharing all the adventures and food and books and Panera bread!
My family MOVED from NYC to my hometown in Southwestern Ontario last week, which was a LOT. Here are a few things that were frugal/eco friendly:
1. My dad unpacked our kitchen for us on moving day, meticulously saving, sorting and folding every sheet of bubble wrap we used. He filled a huge box!
2. I posted to the local Buy Nothing group that we had GOBS of moving boxes and all that folded bubble wrap and three different people came and took it all away. Saved them $$$ and saved a LOT of material from the landfill. Win-win!
3. Groceries are WAY cheaper here. $93 CDN for a week’s worth of groceries for my family of 3 versus $180USD. What a relief!
4. My husband is the handiest man around and he has managed to Frankenstein a whole bunch of fixes around the house. A couple of janky ceiling fans are now repaired rather than us having to buy new!
5. We plan to hit the ReStore over the weekend to buy mirrors and a couple of end tables. No new for us!
Congratulations on your new home!
Glad you were able to escape the United States of MAGAts and its unstable demented leader. I imagine you will be much, much safer in Ontario!
Welcome home to the ‘great white north’ which currently is neither cool nor white what with all the wildfires we have from one end of the country to the other. I am so glad your moving in was supported and you are already dialled in to your local Buy Nothing.
Waving a flag at you (yes, we are all feeling good about doing that again, after a few years of avoiding it due to the truckers convoy) from a largish West Coast Island.
I’m so curious about that picture on your wall. It looks like a tiny baker and a giant piece of cake. Where did that come from?
My small frugal things this week:
1. I had torn some half sheets of paper towels into quarter sheets for a purpose I ended up not needing them for after all. I put them back in the paper towel holder and have been using them one at a time to clean up small messes.
2 and 3. I baked banana nut muffins with some overripe bananas. I accidentally put too much oil in the batter, but added more flour to balance it and they still turned out very well. I also made use of some leftover vanilla frosting in the fridge by putting it on some of the muffins to have for dessert.
4. I was given a free case of bottled water in return for sharing my bottled water the week before.
5. I have been watching all the things I want to see on Netflix before I cancel it this Friday. I meant to sign up for just one month and ended up keeping it for two, but it won’t be any longer than that.
I think Katy’s family was related to the Tastykake family so it’s original artwork from Tastykake? I quite like it.
1. I went to Staples for school supplies and received a free sticky note stack with my purchase.
2. I bought several things including two binders at Staples. They were expensive. I went home and found two that will work in the place of the new ones. I promptly returned the new ones and saved 10-15$.
3. My son is using a pair of shoes he received at Christmas but sparsely wore as new back to school shoes.
4. A neighbor gifted us her child’s old backpack. My son’s previous one had broken. This was a great gift.
5. I went through our pens, pencils, and highlighters and put a good amount in his backpack which saved the cost of buying new when we already had plenty of good ones on hand.
After evaluating the pens and pencils in my own home, I believe I never need to buy them again in my entire life. I should be able to live off of my hoarded supply of pens forever!!!
I’m with you on the glut of pens and pencils! However, I have many due to closing my business down when I retired. Every desk had not only a pencil holder but somehow we all were stashing multitudes of office supplies and pens and pencils and staplers etc in the drawers. My family has finally rebelled against my Christmas stocking stuffer gifts of paperclips and erasers, however before the rebellion I did reduce my stash to a soldering pile. I need a young kid to come visit to test all the pens, though – remember that job? go through the pencil holders and test everything, sharpen the pencils and throw away the pens that don’t write?
I do this with pens and markers. The pens and markers you can give to Staples for their recycling program and get points toward future purchases. I’ve started a bag of markers and pens to recycle there. Pencils we dont like or want I donate to my library. The library has a large amount of teen patrons and they often need a pencil for school and homework, so off they go!
Thank you for the Staples mention!
Crayola used to recycle markers but ended the program as too difficult to do anything worthwhile with the markers.
I’m curious what they do with the recycled items as well. Their list is pretty extensive. Are they really recycling old markers, pens, and crayons? I’m not sure. Maybe they box them up and send them somewhere else to deal with. I’ll have to ask next time I’m in there. Staples is near Costco where I do my bulk shopping, so I plan to stop in once a month and donate to keep points coming in slowly. Then use them for office and school supply needs when needs arise.
1. Used United healthcare care rewards to cut grocery bill down to $53
2. Had 6 month visit with pcp
3. Scheduled ultrasound for 8/22. Not frugal however necessary
4. Brought afternoon snack to work
5. Sold $72 online
Not so frugal: Clicked Katy’s link to Kühl, which I’d never heard of but now I am considering. Not cheap (I mean, $75 shorts?) but the short little skirts look like something I’d love to wear. Have not pulled the trigger yet but it’s a matter of time. Ha.
We held Nana & Papa camp today and yesterday for the grand-girl who starts 3rd grade tomorrow. While not overall frugal because of Monday’s adventure trip it had its moments.
1. Used our Senior fare cards to ride the ferry to SF and the streetcar while there. She used a family full fare card on the ferry and the streetcar was free.
2. Kid’s meal for the kiddo for lunch.
3. The free entertainment was watching the sea lions on the floating platforms at Pier 39. Also great happiness at being 8 and seeing pelicans live in the air the first time.
4. Home cooked dinner and then breakfast & lunch the next day. Plus snacks – lots of snacks.
5. The grand-girl wanted to help walk the dog to check out the 2 Little Free Libraries near our house. She came home with a book for herself & 2 for little sister plus a Stuffie found in a free box. That’s my girl!
Oops – the non-frugal list was the arcade and keychain souvenirs plus donation to street performer in SF. At home the next day they were Papa taking her to see Freakier Friday in the theater and me buying her new shoes for school. We are frugal so we can do what we value!
1. I had ordered something from (sigh) you know A-who and it came missing a vital part. I immediately went online and started the return process. Now we just need to take a QR code on our phones in to one of the local dropoff stations, so I did that with relative ease as part of my day-o-errands in town. FF to do the purchase, and FF to return (even if I get the $) as it can’t be reuised by anyone since the part I rather necessary. The box came without tape so the end panel could easily have opened… Clearly something like that happened, as the missing part has zero value. I at least will get my money back and am going to think hard about whether I really need it. My A membership has been cancelled but won’t actually end for another couple of weeks so I was thinking to take advantage. HA
2. Frugal fail – drove in to town for an evening event that isn’t for another couple of nights. DOH.
3. Success with training #2 son to use the clothesline. I suggested it was a good day to launder his bedding, he came over instead with a load of clothes, but whatever. Once washed he pinned them all out on the line. I have had the opportunity to teach him a few ‘hanging tricks’ and he now recognizes that we are just front-loading the laundry work: once he gets it back to his room it is already folded because he does that as he takes it off the line.
4. Best buddy dropped by just as I pulled blueberry bran muffins (made with the last of the current batch of fridge bran muffin mix) out of my oven. She brought ME a muffin she had made to use up odds and ends of carrot, apple, zucchini, and some bonus coconut and pecans. I fed her a hot blueberry muffin and we sat on the back porch with water (too hot for anything else) and a view of the back 1-1/2 – peering through the hanging laundry from Number 3 above. It was glorious to sit and visit with no agenda.
As I have mentioned before, I am struggling with depression and finding it hard to get out to see my friends. I am glad they will come see me.
5. Hacking away at the stuff in the freezer, I cooked up a pan of hashbrown pie (essentially a fast and easy frittata, I guess?). Used a sad onion that was needing attention, a sad red pepper, and a whole lot of too-thin-shelled chicken eggs that barely survive me bringing into the house (they are missing their outer layer, the hen is old). It also used some of the milk that is now on regular rotation due to my cup-o-kefir habit, and some discount pre-shredded cheddar that I got mostly because I couldn’t resist the price (I’m not a fan of the celulose additive that prevents clumping as it also prevents excellent melting, but it works well in this kind of baking). I chose to bake in a deepish 9X9 glass pan rather than a pieshell, as it is easier to portion out for lunches. This fairly bland meal is super delicious with my homemade eggplant pickle, that I have learned to make in quantity because we love it so much. The only good use for eggplant, AFAIK.
6. I have a slow leak in one of my car’s tires. They are actually winter tires that I neglected to get switched for summer, and it is far too late for me to bother, however I do need to get them rotated and that leak fixed. I finally remembered to drop in and got myself an appointment for tomorrow.
I found my tire pressure gauge that I had misplaced this morning after checking the tire. When I drove to the gas station I was relieve that the tire filling pump had a built in gauge, as between checking the pressure and driving to the station I lost my gauge. The tire filling pump is free at our local co-op, but not at most of the major gas stations in town, which goes to show me yet again that co-ops and credit unions are always the best choice. Anyway, for some reason I had to get in to the car on the passenger side later today and there was the missing gauge, fallen between the seat and the door. Whew! Thought I was going mad for a moment there. (or getting dementia. I just HAD it for heaven’s sake!)
7. Wonder James has had a change of employment and I ahven’t seen him for a month. I have a rat problem that my ignoring hasn’t made go away, so I first had to go buy peanut butter (as #2 son didn’t have any and what he had had, had come from my pantry…) which you would be proud of me for buying a huge jar of (ugh) skippy because the lid was cracked so it was half price, meaning it was cheaper than any of the other jars. The rats don’t need high class PB.
My exercise program was obvious as I clambered up and down ladders to set the traps up high where my chickens don’t go. This is a seriously adulting chore that is NO FUN but necessary. And unfortunately it will be ongoing for a couple of weeks. I have decided to make a practice of it rather than getting all resentful – it has to be done, and all I can control is my attitude, so I am damn well gonna control that. But seriously UGH.
Ecoteri, we used to have commercial chicken houses, and had rat issues several times. An old farmer friend learned that we were going to get the boxes with the expensive poison, and suggested using instant potatoes. Apparently the rats eat the dry potatoes and then when they drink water it expands and sends them to rat Heaven. This worked extremely well for us and was much cheaper than the poison. At the time, Sam’s had large bags of the potatoes for less than $5. Also lessened my concerns of rats eating poison, then a cat or dog maybe eating the rat and ingesting the poison. Added benefit of not having to handle dead rats in traps. Good luck! I despise rats and mice.
That’s fascinating. While I don’t have poultry, I have had rat problems. And then I feel guilty about the poison because blah blah raptors owls etc, but I simply cannot deal with rat traps. (We had the spring kind at previous house but it was the exterminator’s job to empty them.) No matter what, I feel bad about it but I cannot have rats/mice in my house. Sigh.
Good to know about the instant potatoes. We have a farm, and have rats occasionally. Right now, we have ground squirrels, so will try that
OH I had forgotten about the instant potatoes! I will dig through my pantry and see what I can find. Those, too, will have to go up high to keep them away from the chickens, so I still will have my ladder climbing exercise, oh joy!
thanks for the reminder.
You’re very welcome! I feel useful when my info decreases the rodent population
We love Habitat Restore! I’ve resold items from there on ebay. We’ve saved a ton of money on our house projects and my husband finds great things for his handy-man business there.
My ‘found money’ has been a bit skimpy, too, until today — when I found 89 cents in the Safeway change machine return, and 21 cents in the City Market (King Soopers) one!
It was a nice bonus, since the cash registers went down at our local Safeway… AFTER we were told they were back up. So we ended up with a full cart at checkout, only to be told “Sorry, the machines are permanently down.” Daughter #2, who is a goodheart, persuaded me to start putting items back. Then we got yelled at by the manager, who thought we were putting them in, instead. (sigh) An hour wasted — and City Market’s prices were nearly double what we’d planned to get at Safeway.
My husband recently found casual dress shorts at Costco with their additional dollars off sale. Very comfortable/great quality and shows off his legs nicely! 12bux a pair!!!
Keep in mind that I choose to only buy used.