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I came across this free pile outside an apartment complex in my neighborhood and had to do some browsing. See the baseball cap on top?
It’s an embroidered guy in a towel* standing in a puddle of liquid. Because, you know . . . fashion. I’m
ashamedproud to admit that I brought it home in case anyone ever invites me to a white elephant party.
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The box also contained two pairs of Bombas socks, which normally sell for $18 apiece. I brought them home to launder because they looked essentially new and I hate throwaway culture. Also, I think they might be Cookie Monster socks?
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I walked to Fred Meyer to pick up a half gallon of milk and bought nothing more than the milk. I did scope out the clearance shelves, but there were no amazing bargains. I paid using my $30 Red Cross gift card from when I donated platelets. They also sent me an additional $15 card that I tucked into my wallet.
For those keeping track, I received $45 in gift cards for donating platelets, although I declined the backpack and T-shirt.
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I sold a coffee creamer for $12 on eBay. This is another example of an item I’ve had up for sale for too long, which is why I have a hard time letting go of stale inventory. It doesn’t take up that much space, but there’s still an impatient part of me that’s tempted to do a clean sweep.
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My husband and I started watching the so-so TV show Butterfly through my sister’s Prime video account and started feeling peckish when the main character and his daughter shop for snacks in a Korean grocery store. I didn’t have any Korean snacks on hand, but I always have Winco bulk purchased popcorn kernels. I paused the show and popped us some nice buttery bowls of popcorn and got back to our show. Spent maybe 20¢?
Five More Frugal Things
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I thought maybe a toga, given that he’s got sandals. Reminds me of the Little Caesar pizza guy.
My frugals:
1. Hanging laundry out to dry. Might as well take advantage of the current heat wave!
2. Biked to the library and post office.
3. Continuing to take “Navy showers”, and it really does help one cool off faster.
4. Resisted panic-buying kitty treats for the Commodore; he had just enough to get through until the next shipment (I have them on auto-deliver).
5. Eating leftovers, of which we have tons.
I guess I’m showing my ignorance here, but Karen – what are ‘navy showers?’
Called Navy showers due to how little water they use (think onboard a ship). You only turn on the water to get wet initially and to rinse off.
Yep, what Juhli said. I got the idea from a commenter here, and no downside so far as I can see. 🙂
1. I’ve also sold a few of my older Ebay items lately. It feels great to whittle these things down.
2. I combined errands yesterday. I dropped a package at the post office, picked up a prescription at Costco and filled my car with gas.
3. I made an appointment to have my tires rotated at the Toyota dealership. I get 2 years of free maintenance and I’m going to take advantage of it.
4. I filled my face wash container with water to get the last of it out.
5. My tomatoes are starting to ripen. I have three plants and two were free. One is a San Marzano. I’m excited to use them.
$18 for socks? That’s crazy!
1. The second hand platform Vintage seems to be really taking off in Ireland now (they only started out at the end of last year) and I decided to take advantage of this and listed a few things we no longer need for sale. So far I have sold a Kindle Fire from 2017, a pair of shorts and a pair of shoes. Crap out, money in!
2. Recent favourite library read: The magic of lemon drop pie (Rachel Linden)
3. I have joined a plant swap group. Someone was looking for rudbeckia snippets so I dug out some young plants for her. I was not looking to swap but she gave me a hosta plant anyway, which was a nice surprise.
4. My son cleared out his wardrobe and some of the clothes he no longer wants/needs fit my husband. The rest is stained/very worn and will go to one of our local charity shops that also takes clothes for recycling (they are able to sell them to a clothes recycling company that turns them into mattress filling etc.).
5. It was time to switch electricity supplier. This has to be done every year as the rates go up after one year. We used a website where you upload your usage file (we have a smart meter) and they give you the cheapest suppliers for your specific usage. The one that we went with this time has a cheaper night rate, so now we turn on the dishwasher at 11 pm before heading off to bed and in the morning my husband (who gets up at 6.30 am) hooks up the Prius (we have the plug in hybrid version) to charge and turns on the washing machine – the night rate is from 11 pm to 8 am.
I have 7 pair of bombas. 2 I found brand new at the bins and 5 from our BN group. I have to say, I love them and they last longer, but 18 dollars is nuts.
Those were lucky finds! Glad to hear that the socks do at least last longer for that price.
I have a box of items set aside to try selling on Ebay. I’ve never sold there before, but this winter I am bound to give it a try!
1) I dehydrated more tomato skins from my weekend canning session. These get ground into powder and are used to add flavor to soups and casseroles.
2) I met up with a friend for a long walk in a public (free) sculpture garden. It was lovely to catch up and get some exercise!
3) I made hummus from dried chickpeas. I have hummus toast for breakfast most days.
4) I was tempted to stop for fried chicken on the way home, but instead drove past the restaurant and came home to make a one-pot pasta dish instead.
5) I brought home a bunch of clothespins from work. We get plants delivered on racks that have the shipping manifest pinned to them with clothespins. I fond out the clothespins are tossed along with the manifests, so I have begun bringing them home instead.
Jenny, making your own tomato powder is brilliant. That stuff is expensive. I also love that you’re saving the clothespins from the landfill.
Hi Jenny – I think I’m going to start back on eBay soon too! I sold on there, but it was literally about fifteen years ago. (Crazy to think it’s been so long, but there it is. lol)
I have a bunch of stuff to sell, and I’ve tried selling it only locally but it’s not selling quickly, that’s for sure. Hopefully we’ll both do well on eBay!
– I replaced the binding on our favorite light weight quilt, using up fabric I already had and 2 spools of thrifted thread. There’s something satisfying about using up sewing supplies! The quilt looks brand new now.
– Working on a quilt top from a thrifted kit. I was tempted to buy new fabric for the back, but decided to use fabric from my stash and the leftover scraps from the kit to make a pieced backing. Making do with what I have usually results in a more interesting quilt.
– Finally cancelled my Audible account. Less money to Bezos; more money for me. Thanks to Katy and everyone in the comments that inspired me to kick Audible to the curb and use the library’s service instead!
– Received a $10 gift card for completing a survey.
Gale,
I kicked Audible to the curb a few months ago, and I truly don’t miss it. Glad you decided to do it, too!
Thanks Liz! I had 2 credits left, so I used them for the Complete Dickens and the Complete Jane Austin and Bronte sisters – hundreds of hours of audio. It will take me a year or more to listen!
1. Grocery shopped this morning, using clipped virtual coupons, my UCard, and snagging a few BOGO deals. Still seemed expensive for what I got.
2. Bought a sticker to replace my tollway transponder. It was more difficult to activate than advertised, but why am I surprised? Anyway, in the process I also downloaded the app, which I can see will be useful for keeping track of how much money is left in the account.
3. Scanned my receipts to Fetch — also one I found in the parking lot.
4. Returned a library book on the same trip.
5. Still eating pumpkin bread pudding and vegetable barley soup. Oh, the joys of cooking for one!
1. With the good weather, I’ve been biking around before and after going to the gym. I love enjoying my neighborhood and its ample bike lanes!
2. After a recent trip, we were all packing up and realized we had a full bag of hot dog and hamburger buns that no one remembered bringing and we certainly didn’t use. No one had space in their freezers for it either. We brought it to our local free food fridge to pay it forward.
3. Made burritos last night and set up what I called “Bootleg Chipotle” to assemble them. The burritos turned out fabulously and besides making a few more dishes than usual to plate everything like a buffet, it was no cost to us 🙂 also made plenty of leftovers!
4. Discovered I can make a sweet treat out of peanut butter, cocoa powder, and my vanilla greek yogurt that I normally eat for breakfast. This has been a wonderful surprise!
5. I woke up with a terrible neck spasm. Luckily we are stocked with sale-bought naproxen and tylenol and heating pads. On the mend!
What are the proportions in your sweet treat?
Beth – it’s eyeballed but about 2 T peanut butter (microwaved for about 5-10 sec to soften it in the bowl I’m using first), 1 T cocoa powder, and 3/4 cup vanilla honey greek yogurt. Add a pinch of salt and whip it as long as you can stand. Then put it in the freezer for 5 minutes to cool it back down and enjoy!
I’m going to have to try this!
This sounds incredible!! Thank you for sharing your recipe.
Thanks!
Driving under 55 really does save money. I get up to 20 more miles to the gallon driving 55 or less.
Someone gave me some good culture cottage cheese. That is hands down the best tasting of any ever ever ever.
I don’t like stores. Thrift, discount, big box, department, grocery, cottage, online, downtown, strip mall…..on and on. Staying out of all stores saves lots of MONEY and TIME and EFFORT. I’m not bringing you home with me unless I have a true need of you. I also don’t like dumpster diving, free piles, online free they encourage needless possessions. Leave it for someone who needs it. I need food and buy it wherever I get the lowest price. I wear out and mess up my clothes and shoes and replace them when needed at the best deal for what I need. My loyalty is to my pocket not any corporation or individual telling me what to do.It’s like the world revolves around stuff. Oh ya, it does! We’ve all been hoodwinked, cradle to grave.
Imagine no possessions. I wonder if you can.
Yes, I can imagine no possessions because after my parents came to this country they were so poor we did things like we sat on wood boxes that had held glass milk bottles while slowly getting chairs one at a time from whatever free or close to free source they could (you know, from the dumpster diving, free piles and online free that you so disdain). And meat was doled out rather than people allowed to take as much as they wanted, just to try and squeeze a second meal out of the meat. Better yet, hamburger, where we ate the meat one night and the drippings on bread the next night.
Wishing for no possessions comes from that immense place of privilege of having had possessions.
Thank you, Lindsey.
You are very wise, Lindsey. Hope things are much, much better now!
And, t, please don’t quote from John Lennon’s song. I think it is an atheist’s hymn. Not enlightened at all.
Fru-gal Lisa. There are no atheist hymns as we don’t have services. Lol
Fru-gal Lisa,
Some of us here ARE atheists (and I would argue, enlightened). Please live and let live. The song was about a world without conflict or materialism, which seem like pretty good goals.
BettafromdaVille I was struggling to say something like that too, but you said it better than I could have!
Amen
Ive had natural disasters and unkind people take everything. I’ve lived in a tent in the wilderness and on the streets of a city. It made me realize I am not what I own. I don’t understand why I should be shamed or marginalized for my feelings but it doesn’t surprise me.
t, I am sorry that you have had things taken from you. Yes, you are more than what you own.
I’m sorry that happened to you.
I think you’re seeing this response not so much because you articulate anti-materialist beliefs, but that there is a perhaps unintentional vein of contemptuous dismissal, an insistence that people must be fools to value things of utility and beauty in their lives.
Yes, we all have to learn to live and let live
1. For a potluck dinner pontoon ride, I brought Asian slaw using a thrifty head of cabbage and other items on hand. Also brought peanut butter cookies that are always a hit; they just happen to be gluten-free and dairy-free.
2. Listening to my book club’s September selection via a library audiobook. The line for the hardcopy was too long.
3. Questioned the $100 discrepancy between the estimate and the final invoice for our dog’s eye surgery. Something had been miscoded.
4. Pup received a complimentary pedicure while she was sedated.
5. Made scratch paper out of old file folders. Some of the folders are patterned so we’re just using the blank insides.
MB in MN – Isn’t that a “PAWdicure?”
Melissa, good one!
With that terrible-looking cap, you are going to be the queen of the White Elephant party someday! OMG! LOL!
Back to school (as a substitute teacher) edition:
1. Was able to get the software calendar, on which we find and reserve our job assignments, onto the cell phone. Will be able to look for jobs throughout the school day, thus resulting in more assignments. So far, I’ve signed up for $1,500 worth of work days in the first couple of months.
2. Washed out the dirty cloth lunch bags; the linings had many spills and stains. Experimented by washing some in the washing machine. Was able to salvage one that I thought could not be used for food anymore.
3. The single-serve Keurig I bought last year broke and could not be fixed. Bought an off-brand single-serving coffee maker. Found out that if you fill it all the way up with water, you get coffee-flavored water, not suitable for drinking. You have to make coffee 3 x with 3 pods to have enough for taking to school. Luckily, I had not yet donated my 5-cup glass coffee pot/coffeemaker. I’m using it for my faux Stanley cups of coffee that I take to school with me (it makes the perfect amount for this). I’m saving the single-serve machine for non-work days — for a mug of coffee I’ll drink at home.
4. Gathered up all my Women’s World magazines, opened to the crossword puzzle pages, and put them into a canvas shopping bag. (I didn’t work any of the puzzles this summer and saved them up.) Now, I have a cache of crosswords to work during the conference periods when I’m cooling my heels in the teacher’s lounge. Meanwhile, I’m doing the Boatload crosswords, which are free to work online.
5. Restocked my subbie bag with Band-aids and pencils and a hand-held pencil sharpener. This will be much to the detriment of various students who try to get out of class to go to the nurse for a Band-aid or to the office to buy a new pencil. Shout out to companies that give out #2 pencils with their logos on them. It’s a win-win situation: they get free advertising and I get free pencils…and the kids lose one more excuse to wander the halls. Although with the advent of I-pads, I don’t have to hand out pencils as much as I used to.
1. Pushed the stroller to the park with the kids (or should I say we strolled?) and met with a free play group. They provided tshirts and tye dye supplies for everyone to share. My oldest was uninterested, she opted for running around the playground, and my youngest wasn’t old enough to do the activity by herself, so I rolled up my sleeves and did my best.
2. Grabbed a few extra snacks from the free snacks provided by the play group organizers, there were so many options that they ushered everyone back to the table multiple times so I didn’t feel guilty grabbing some I know my kiddos will enjoy.
3. Keeping the house cool with fans and shade today, trying to avoid the AC as much as possible.
4. Dinner is frozen pulled pork sandwiches that were prepared in bulk and frozen in parts. No oven use for dinner is a win for me no matter what season we’re in!
5. My husband found a deal on some new shoes, his second-hand pair are falling apart on his feet, and he did some research to find a sale and is using a cash back debit card for some bonus savings.
Yes, that’s a weird hat, and perfect for a white elephant gift. Some peripheral type friends of ours used to have a white elephant exchange every year. The last time they hosted it, we won the “recurring prize” that shows up every year. Then, there was Covid, so it was cancelled. Then, the husband had health problems… I’ve been sitting with this booby prize in my basement for 6 years! I’m considering creative ways to gift it back to them.
I’d hoped for some good free piles after the community yard sale. There were free piles, but they weren’t good.
I just walked to Trader Joe’s to get Kale. All I got was the kale. I walked home along a more sketchy route. I thought to myself that I should hold on tight to my bag, but then I realized that it would be almost worth it if someone snatched my bag and all they got was kale.
I got a laugh out of you potentially improving the diet and health of a bag snatcher.
Just had to say it’s pretty impressive that you went to Trader Joe’s and only got the single ingredient you had intended to buy! Well done you. 🙂
I love the hat!
1. elbow deep in tomatoes….as I am retired I am doing th sauce and diced for the family pantry. When the jars are filled we freeze the tomatoes after coring, thaw and have a salsa making family together in Oct.
2.scored on the mark down racks at the fruit/veg market. Strawberries, blueberries, grapes, peaches, bananas, watermelon and cantaloupe. Brought them home, cleaned them and then chopped into separate bowls. Then added some of each into 5 1 gallon freezer bags. I got 5 bags of frozen mixed fruits for my smoothies for under 30. Each bag is equal to 4 or 5 bags of frozen fruit from the store and they are 8.99 each or more.
3. made yogurt for smoothies
4.line drying laundry
5. still picking and freezing blackberries, The liqueur and jam making will be later in the year because…..tomatoes LOL
* did not destroy the dignity of The Peoples House with whorehouse looking gold and self portraits. tRump is an arsehole
Katy – I believe that hat should be sent to the primary resident at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Certainly much nicer than the hat he currently wears.
t – If you’ve never tried it, put a big dollop of apple butter on that cottage cheese. Pennsylvania Dutch way of eating it…extremely delicious!
1) Dared to open one of the many outdated cans of food we got from DH’s BIL. Opened can of whole kernel corn (12/2023). Smelled and looked ok. Made DH corn fritters for supper. He said they were good. I had 3 cheese pierogis fried in butter until brown and crispy. Meals that one of us likes and the other doesn’t. Enough fritter batter for him for tomorrow night. I may just eat a pb&j sandwich or a bowl of tomato soup. Not hungry now that I’m eating oatmeal every morning. (If extreme heat melts fat, why am I not thin by now?)
2) DH used to volunteer at a therapeutic horseback riding center for people with disabilities. I always like to get the kids on my van a little something for Christmas. While cleaning out some stuff over the weekend, we came across a picture. DH says “What’s this?” I said it’s a picture painted by one of the horses. That gave me an idea. I called the lady who owns the riding center and am going there tomorrow after supper to get 7 FREE pictures painted by the various horses to give the kids. How do horses paint? They put non-toxic paint on the horse’s nose, then put the canvas on the ground and put some feed on the canvas. As the horse eats the feed, its nose rubs against the canvas. I actually have 9 students. The oldest 2 are in high school. They’ll get gift cards.
3) DH picked up a steam bag of baby red potatoes. We have ham (from the food bank) and green beans (from previous food bank visits). He wants ham & string beans, and potatoes. Another meal he likes, I don’t. Have lits of othee food in the fridge/freezer/pantry. I’ll find something.
That’s all for today.
I love your gift idea. That’s wonderful and very creative.
1. I subbed today. I’m retired and enjoy working one day a week- not in the field I worked for 30 years! It gives me a little check every 2 weeks and I enjoy the clients and staff.
2. Went on a weekend trip to see friends in TN. We stayed with them, brought some of our own beef to share, and we paid for the lunch out. Great catch up visit didn’t spend much money.
3. DIL asked me for help with their budget. They are light years better at finances than we were at their age, but they are really watching closely as my son will be working part time while in school.
4. I shopped after my sub job. I was starving while in there, but ate a banana on way home and made dinner when I got home!
5. Got a flyer in mail for a warehouse club and made a bug list. I realized this AM that I didn’t need any of that stuff- on sale or not!
1. Still picking blackberries for freezing, and sharing with a family member.
2. Gave my two dogs showers myself, with DH’s help. No dog spa costs for us.
3. Going for a one night getaway to cousin’s island home. He will be there too, we will take our dogs, and cook at his house. It’s always a relaxing, but rejuvenating time on the island, and DH is free to take the ferry as he is over 65.
4. Eating leftovers for days after we had a BBQ lunch for family member and friends of DH’s daughter who was visiting with her DH and kiddos. This way they got to visit with everyone at once instead of driving around to everyone’s houses at different times, with two little ones.
5. Also had a birthday cake for DH at the BBQ as his birthday is next week. I thought about buying one, would have been around $40. Went on Pinterest and found “Texan chocolate sheet cake” and it was a big hit. So much cheaper, of course.
I love these posts! So full of practical ideas!
1. Now that my in laws and us live closer, we borrow from each other. Today they borrowed our hoe. I also gave her some of my marigold seeds and a cutting of a house plant
2. My son went to a free Taekwondo trial… We’ll pay soon but glad you they do 2 free trial sessions.
3. Despite the business Ii managed to make supper… Fast food is expensive when filling my hungry family.
4. Now that my daughter is enrolled for dual credits she went and checked out books at the college library
5. Cooking chicken in the slow cooker during cheaper rate time
Frugal-Lisa: You can get a reusable pod for your knock off Keurig. It can be filled with your ground coffee & you discard the grounds after you brew the coffee. I suppose you could also load the pod with tea leaves also for hot tea. Just a thought.
I find when using the refillables that brewing stronger coffee twice gets more out of the grounds.
1) I picked up a pound of fancy salt from BN and won’t have to buy more for a few years, and a friend dropped off a half-dozen organic bananas left over after a presentation. I’ll freeze some for smoothies and make banana bread pudding for my kiddo.
2) My son’s recovering well and can finally eat soft foods. DH wanted to order out, but we put together the delicious congee made by a friend and spicy fried tofu from the BN bonanza last week. Delicious. I then took a much needed nap on the sofa, one of the finest free pleasures there is.
3) But, because of the nap, I frugal failed – it was B1G2 chicken week, and I had a coupon for one free package from writing to the company when a package of “boneless” thighs was full of shards of bone. I missed store closing, and the sale is over.
4) I scored a few vintage tablecloths at a nearby church rummage sale, including pretty printed and damask Irish linen, all with minor damage so they can be repurposed in sewing projects and priced at less than a dollar each. It’s many yards of excellent fabric. Plus, a half dozen vintage tea towels to replace the few in my stash that are halfway to rags. I regret being too chinchy to pick up the large, quality firepit for $10 – ours was lost in a misunderstanding, and both my son’s household and ours would make good use of one. I also didn’t buy anything for resale, which was foolish as the prices were mostly excellent.
5) I didn’t waste the American peoples’ nascent investments in truth and reconciliation by preparing to gut the Smithsonian of everything suggesting that white supremacist exploitation may have pernicious, persistent costs.
1. Having a free donut from the grocery store app
2. Scraped and painted part of the porch. The high school guys I hired never showed..
3. Made stuffed zucchini. My daughter’s garden is doing well
I thought I posted comments no this the other day…if this somehow is repetitive or a duplicate, I apologize.
I am always amazed at your free piles where you live. It’s almost as if the area could live without ‘new’ retail stores and live off of second hand items and resale items locally for a long time. If only we could turn off manufacturing, but there would be consequences that as well. I dont know what the solution is! It sure seems our world is being stripped bare for junk we all dont need.
1. I saved $10 off a $60 purchase at Target. I used this to buy in bulk baking products.
2. I received a $25 giftcard from Swagbucks. Second card I’ve gotten from this website/app in total. I was able to get it with a 12% savings off the price with points.
3. I received a $10 giftcard from Fetch. I will use this toward groceries.
4. My son asked to go out for dinner last night after sports. I declined. We went home and ate some of that good ‘in the house’ food we already have.
5. I’ve been helping someone I know clean out their house. I have been saving them money by putting some of their trash on my curb every week. Yay. Go team!
1. I got over $50 worth of meat for $26 on the FlashFood app yesterday. 2 nice steaks, 6 chicken thighs, and 2 or 3 pounds of chicken tenders. They all promptly went into the freezer, which my partner and I have been diligently eating down.
2. Dinner last night was quesadillas made from the previously mentioned free tortillas, plus remaining taco fixings we had left (we were out of the turkey/zucchini filling).
3. Lunch today was a barley salad made from pantry ingredients, veg from the market, and a few ingredients from a neighbor who was going out of town and needed things used up.
4. Just found out a friend got a new job and wants to go out to celebrate. We’ll go to a place that has dollar wing night.
5. I put quite a few things in my online shopping cart yesterday during LLBean’s end of season sale. Like. A TON of things. I then sat on it and removed every single item except one that my partner and I have been wanting for camping. Today they sent me a $10 off voucher so I checked out the sale again and added a few things to my cart. And then took them all out. I don’t need anything at all, especially nothing that is under $10.
1. A friend gave me an expensive little sleepies truck lovey in attempt to see if that improves sleep at all. She also gifted me 4 little spoon meals. We live in a wealthy area and the way people light money on fire kind of blows my mind, but I won’t turn down their discards !
2. Took my little one to the library to play. They rotate pretend play set ups as well as different toys they have out. It was pretty empty which was really nice. We checked out a few books as well.
3. Realized our preferred wipes were actually cheaper at king Soopers than target , even with the target gift card. Cancelled my target pickup order and bought them at KS instead. I’m looking into potty training early , wipes and diapers are not cheap!
4. Going to a friend’s for a play date later today. She is pregnant with twins and has a toddler so home play dates are easiest.
5. I asked for a mini muffin tin in our BN group. Someone has one and is even willing to drop it off to me since I’m stuck at home until later day. Double win !
-side note and a vent: I am becoming quite worried about the rising costs of things over the next few month. Hoping that completing our basement soon will allow me to babysit another kiddo every so often and increase my reselling as well. I appreciate reading all of your ideas to help me continue to find new ideas!
Thank you for the constant inspiration, Katy. 🙂
1. Enjoyed a chickpea pasta supper with a simple topping of sauteed veggies, garlic and extra olive oil. And parmesan cheese. Chickpea pasta is packed with protein and we love it!!
2. Enjoying some grapes gifted to me. Deliciously crisp, I gobbled them right up.
3. Going to mend an annoying hole that I got in a pair of light cotton capris. It’s ultra annoying because I only just bought those pants online! But they were cheap. Obviously. hahaha
4. Cleaning out the coffee maker with vinegar. I haven’t used the coffee pot in a while, but plan to make a lovely decaf coffee tomorrow. Cleaning it in preparation for that.
5. Tonight’s frugal treat: popcorn! We buy the kernels when on sale, and then just top with melted butter. So good, pretty healthy and SOOOO frugal. Yummy.