Five More Tiny Frugal Things
by Katy on June 12, 2025 · 42 comments
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I stopped at the library during their evening hours to pick up my holds. Portland libraries stay open until 8 P.M. on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, which comes in handy more often than you’d think.
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My daughter and I enjoyed delicious tostadas with a base of bulk purchased black beans, queso blanco, lettuce, pickled red onion, waffle-ironed tater tots, green salsa, cilantro sauce and hot sauce. If I could, I’d eat this meal every day.
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I had my friend Sue over for lunch and I prepared a simple homemade lunch instead of heading to a restaurant. This way we both saved money and could relax at the house instead of pacing our time together based on restaurant service. My back patio is idyllic in the early afternoon and provides a better atmosphere than any neighborhood restaurant.
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I wanted to fancy up some cheese and crackers for lunch, so I took a recently opened block of cream cheese and smushed a bunch of homegrown chopped chives and a bit of seasoned salt into it. I then molded it into a cylinder shape and let it sit in the fridge overnight. Looked like goat cheese, tasted amazing. I served it with my favorite Dollar Tree “Monet” crackers.
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My green beans and raspberries are starting to ripen and I’m now eating a couple per day.
Katy Wolk-Stanley
“Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without.”
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{ 42 comments… read them below or add one }
I make a homemade boursin spread cheese with 1 bar 8 oz cream cheese, 1 stick butter, 2 TBSP chopped chives, 2 cloves fresh minced garlic or to taste and 1 tsp-1 TBSP (to taste) cracked coarsely ground pepper. Makes great Christmas or hostess gifts or for pot luck. Serve with crackers. Let warm up before using.
My fave is cream cheese, bacon crumbles (from the Costco bag), horseradish, worcestershire, chives and little milk.
That tostada looks SO good.
Both of these spreads sound delicious!
I really like the Costco bag of bacon crumbles. They’re real bacon and so handy to add to all kinds of things, including scrambled eggs if I want to make them a bit more hearty, or stews, etc.
Also I decided I had to have tostadas tonight. Black beans, BBQ chicken, pickled red onion, tortillas sprinkled with cheese and then melted under the broiler. Yum.
1. I repaired a compact Chico shopping bag my daughter gave me. The tiny bag it folds into had blown out the side.
2. I used the water and Epsom salts from soaking my feet to mix up another gallon of weed killer.
3. I made some chickpea tikka masala for my daughter and I instead of going out. She took some home for her next day work lunch and I ate the rest for last night’s dinner. Cheap and delicious.
4. I sold three things on Ebay yesterday.
5. I stopped into Trader Joe’s and bought the two items on my list. I also got gas at the Costco next door.
My husband saw on Facebook where our nephew’s wife posted that their daughters (16 & 11) were selling strawberries they had grown (4-H project) for $4/quart. Most places around here are selling $6-$7/quart for already picked berries and there’s not very many berries this year as we have had a very wet growing season. They picked 13 quarts from their strawberry patch yesterday morning and I bought all 13. My wallet may be $52 lighter, but…
We saved having to pick our own.
We saved $!
We supported our great-nieces!
Saved gas as I had to drive to my hometown (where my sister still lives) to take her to a dr appointment, which is a 70 mile round trip. While there, we did all the errands we would have done on Saturday, so saved me having to make another trip this week…which saved gas!
Stopped to pick up the berries on my way home. They are BEAUTIFUL, SWEET, and uniform in size. Will have to snag some more from them before the season is over.
I call that a huge win all the way around!
You cannot beat June bearing strawberries. We gorge, freeze, and share ours. I’ve had better years, I’ve had worse years. Need to thin out my patch and I have a person to take the extra plants off my hands.
There used to be a lot of u-pick businesses in the area, not any more.
1. Attended a day of lobbying for better pay for home care aids with my union yesterday. Was fed breakfast and lunch. There is always food leftover. I can home with 1/2 gallon OJ, a bagel/cream cheese, 2 pieces of cranberry “muffin”, 3 fruit cups, and 2 boxed sandwich lunches from Panera. I always take a back pack as there is always leftover food. My backpack was VERY heavy yesterday. lol.
2. Had an amazing day with old friends and making new ones while lobbying.
3. Dinner was the food I brought home from lobby day.
4. Did two mystery shops yesterday netting me $10 in gas, a bottle of creamer, a cheese and turkey sub for dinner tonight and $8.50.
5. Found 90 cents at the drug store, used $10 off and $1 off purchase for OTC allergy meds.
May your lobbying efforts be successful! Such important work home care aids do, and they deserve respect and good salaries.
Cheers for your #1, Julia. From my experiences first with DH and now with NDN, I know how important home care aides are–and how much more important they’re going to be in the future, given our aging population in the US.
1. We are at Thursday and I only have purchased food/bev once! I had a meeting with a coworker at a coffee shop, so I opted for a simple cup of coffee, instead of any fancy drink. I made sure to eat at home before going.
2. Batching errands today – credit union to finalize my car loan refinancing and the grocery to store to pick up…
3. My flashfood order! It is an app that works with grocery stores to sell things that are close to their expiration date for a huge discount. I’ve reserved green beans that I will use for dinner tomorrow, baby spinach that I’ll freeze for smoothies, and a box of my partners favorite snacks.
4. A friend wanted to spend some time together as it has been a few weeks since we’ve caught up and she offered to cook. She lives next door, so I’ll walk over after work. I’m brining ingredients I have on hand for coconut hibiscus mocktails.
5. Lunch will be leftover pancakes from a batch we made on Sunday with gifted pancake mix from a friend in Vermont, strawberries from my freezer from last season that I’ll heat up with some gifted maple syrup, and mascarpone that my partner gets at a steep discount from his job (he works for a dairy company and once a week gets to purchase cheese and butter for a fraction of what it costs in the store).
Something tasty to do with whole or sliced strawberries…
My mom’s friend was in a “posh” restaurant in California. She got strawberries for dessert. Along with the berries, she was given some sour cream and brown sugar. You were to dip the strawberry in the sour cream, then the brown sugar, and eat it. My mom just mixed some sour cream and brown sugar together and poured it over the berries like a sauce. DELICIOUS!
That sounds unexpectedly delicious! Thank you for sharing!
I’ve worked a bunch of overtime, so my check for next week’s mini-getaway will be very nice. I took a quick walk through our neighborhood last evening trying to find the owner of a little geriatric dachshund that had wandered into our yard. No one knew where he belonged, and he had ran away by the time I got home. He would not let me get close to him, so I hope he finds his way home. My neighbor dropped off a box of greeting cards, including some very cool vintage ones, on my porch, and I sent 3 off this morning! I love sending cards and happy mail, and this makes it very inexpensive for me. There were even some Charley Harper cards; he is an artist who grew up in this area, so even I, an art illiterate, recognize his work. After an after-work library board meeting, visit with the grandbaby, and some yard work, my hubby and I did not feel like cooking, so we went to the local Mexican restaurant and shared an appetizer. Their portions are so large that the appetizer fed both of us (too full, to be honest!). I made lunch for my son and I. My coworker told me about a quick and easy recipe, and I told my son if he picked up the one item I didn’t already have, I’d make it for supper if he would like to come over. So he’s paying $1.48 for one ingredient, and we will have a nice dinner together.
1) Used our generator to keep the food in our fridge & freezer from spoiling during a power outage. Not wasting food is frugal!
2) Ate strawberries from the garden as a snack this week, as well as using lettuce, basil, & chives in salads.
3) Managed to avoid buying dinner out during the power outage day by getting our gas stove top turned on, and pivoting to a recipe that was a one pot chicken rice skillet. It was easy & delicious, and prevented a meal out.
4) Showed DS18 how to cancel his debit card (he’s traveling & lost his), to prevent fraud. Luckily, he has an emergency credit card, so we’ve agreed he will use that, and at the end of the trip, he will transfer over money from his savings to cover the charges.
5) Remember to turn in grocery store reward “game pieces” while I was making a purchase. You can only turn in 3 at a time, and I have a huge stack. These were worth $2.25, so it’s worth it, but a hassle to remember. Bonus: the oat milk I was shopping for was on sale, and had a long expiration date, so I bought two.
Used up items from the pantry:
1. Chia seeds in oatmeal, pancakes and smoothies
2. Farro in a composed salad
3. Creole sauce in fajita bowls
4. Pesto in pasta
5. Kidney beans on salads.
1. Our local (small, unmanned) Amtrak station was rebuilt with Obama’s stimulus money, and has just been improved again. I attended the rededication ceremony yesterday, a few speakers and excellent refreshments. I strongly support expanding rail travel opportunities and showed up to do so.
2. Husband likes the convenience of microwave popcorn. The Jolly Time website has free stuff from sending in box tops and I plan to order children’s books for a toy drive. It isn’t often one sees actual mail-in offers; they also take scanned labels. When I did this years ago, there were occasionally coupons included with the freebie.
3. Friends who went on vacation brought over five outdoor pots of plants for me to take care of. They are huge! like tumbleweed sized! I am enjoying these without having to buy them.
4. Taking a trip to the thrift store with son this noon, knowing that if we don’t find anything worthwhile, we won’t spend anything.
5. A relative by marriage got his American citizenship. So happy for him and his family! So glad that in spite of all that is going on, this is still a place where people want to be! He is a good and honorable person who is a credit to his home country and will be so to the U.S.
I liked A Well-Trained Wife. One thing that stuck with me is her point that families like the Duggers are becoming normalized in the US, and that has scary implications.
1. I went to Fred Meyer and someone had left a grocery bag of cans, with a note, next to the bottle drop label machine. The note said, “Please take. I believe in recycling, but I can’t deal with this machine.” I took! Better yet, it was a bag of mini Coke cans! 53 of them! That’s $5.30! One day later, I returned to Fred Meyer, with the mini Coke cans (plus others) in a green bag, ready to go into the bottle drop. That’s when I discovered a garbage bag full of cans in front of the bottle drop. That bag had 61 cans in it!
2. I found a beautiful enameled cast iron roasting pan in a free pile.
3. It’s been hot. When I was rearranging my dresser to bring summery things to the front and push wintery things to the back, I discovered a cute summer skirt that I’d forgotten about. It was a bins find from 5-6 months ago that I’d stashed with my summer things. What a nice surprise!
4. I found a small homemade picnic blanket on the side of the road. I washed it and now it’s in the trunk of my car, ready for a picnic.
5. I can’t think of anything clever and passive-aggressive to say about our disaster of a president. It’s too depressing. The thing that puzzles me the most is that many of the people who support him consider themselves to be Christians. It’s like they don’t even know what the word “Christian” means. Maybe that makes sense since the average Trump supporter is astoundingly stupid?
I couldn’t agree more with #5!
I think you’re right, Li, they ARE astoundingly stupid! The store manager where I work PT is a Trump-er, and he about had a cow when he saw my Harris stickers on my car last fall. He told me that since all the radio evangelists are for Trump, that I’m anti-Christian for not supporting Trump. I wanted to puke! (Hasn’t the manager ever heard of Elmer Gantry and real-life phony evangelists like him? Apparently not.)
Last weekend, I wore a shirt to work that said “I was raised to be an independent woman, not a victim of anything.–Kamala Harris.” As a cancer survivor, I wore it bc of the quote, not necessarily because of Kamala. I also wore it bc I had overcome the hardship of being stranded and having to walk home from the store (the manager sped off in his pickup truck after we closed that night.) More than half a dozen people verbally complimented me on my shirt. And I got a lot more smiles when others saw it.
But one old biddy glared at me with a very hateful look. The next week, I was told not to wear that shirt to work again bc someone (one single person!) allegedly phoned in a complaint; I suspect it was the old biddy.
So I called all my progressive friends and told them what happened; I asked them to get their anti-Trump, pro-Democrat shirts and buttons and wear them into the store. The old biddy might not be in the store when they do, but the idiot manager probably will be there.
(Of course, it could be that the manager went over the security tapes and noticed me wearing the shirt and lied about someone calling, but….)
I’m having fun messing with their minds.
I also got a yard sign, paid way too much for such a small sign, but it says: DEMOCRACY ISN’T DYING IN THE DARK. REPUBLICANS ARE MURDERING IT IN BROAD DAYLIGHT.
That is an excellent sign and an excellent point!
1. First and foremost, I saved a BUNDLE, by not spending even as much as a Monopoly $1 for the FIC/IIC’s birthday! (Felon-in-Chief/Idiot-in-Chief) #I_SURE_DIDN’T_VOTE_FOR_IT!!!
2. Took my hubby to a dr appt this morning. He’s been having a hard time articulating what he wants to say. Also experiencing dizziness. His sense of direction and his reaction time when driving are a serious cause for concern. Almost rear-ended a pick-up twice last night before I made him let me drive.
Dr put a rush order for an MRI and a referral to neurology. He has been psychiatrically disabled since 2010. (Between 2010 and 2011, he had 30+ electroconvulsive therapy treatments.) We aren’t sure if there is a (a) physical issue, (b) psychological issue, or (c) medication issue. At least the doctor is taking the concerns seriously and is doing something to help him. He was told not to drive until he was cleared by the doctor. That, alone, gives me a sense of safety and peace of mind.
3. Stopped at Aldi’s across the road from the Dr office and picked up a couple items.
4. We came home and we cleaned, trimmed, and sliced our strawberries. 6 quarts in the freezer, the rest will be eaten the next couple of days.
5. Have a bunch of bananas that are in declining health. Put those in the freezer for banana bread at a later date.
6. Finished the 3rd and final meal of turkey and waffles.
7. Stopped at an ice cream stand for a treat when we were out running errands the other day. We each had a cone. They had a sign up selling “Mystery Bags” for $5. Ice cream frozen in containers. 2 containers in a bag, and a notice that bags “may or may not include allergens.” We were game and bought 1 for fun. The bag was sealed and, when we opened it, there were an 8 oz container and a 16 oz container, both with lids. We haven’t looked to see what’s in them, but it will be fun to solve the mystery later tonight.
Good luck with the medical people and glad you are doing the driving.
My sign for rallies, marches etc is a big heart w DEI in the middle.
I really admire your efforts! I’ve gathered from reading comments that you are in Texas, which can’t make it easy to stand up for your beliefs where there are so many with opposite beliefs.
Good for you and your coworkers, Fru-gal Lisa!
And I’m just making arrangements to carpool down to our local “No Kings” demonstration on Saturday with one of my Sunday morning walking buddies and her husband. No felons, no kings!
If someone told me that all the radio evangelists are for Trump, I’d say, “All the more reason to avoid those shysters. I’m glad to live in an area with no fundies. Barf.
Ask them, too, when the last time they saw Trump going to church. Oh, right, NEVER.
It’s like him saying one of his favorite Broadway shows is “Fiddler on the Roof.” Uh……you have never actually seen it. That’s for sure. God, what a liar. What a stupid person who appeals to the worst opinions of Americans, while being exactly what they purport to hate: godless New Yorkers.
That’s too bad about the old biddy, but I’m proud of you for pushing boundaries!
WHAT?! You’re not going to his big birthday parade/bash (to the estimated tune of $24-$45 MILLION) on Saturday?!
I’m NOT going either. Not even going to see my daughter in Virginia because DC (“Dictator Central”) is between my Pennsylvania home and my daughter’s residence near Virginia Beach.
I had what qualifies as a fun morning today!
1. Got up early and walked through beautiful weather to the spot where my grandson parks “our” car. I like getting this free exercise with a purpose.
2. Drove to Food4Less to fill up. Unfortunately neglected to use my Kroger card for the discount, but, oh well!
3. Drove by the return book bin and returned a library book on the fly.
4. Drove back to the parking spot, and walked back home, stopping first at a Little Free Library, where I donated a book and picked up another.
5. Then I stopped at the free food pantry, where I picked up a dozen jumbo eggs! OMG!
6. Continued home and now I’m relaxing by an open window and in the breeze of a fan. Bliss!
1. Given 20 chocolate chip cookies by a friend at my volunteer gig.
2. Picked up a toy for my grandson from BN.
3. Had a zoom craft time with my mother. No money spent and quality time together.
4. Sold 2 curb picked items on FB marketplace within 24 hours of picking them up. I love a quick sale
5. Put 2 reference books on my birthday list.
Those Monet crackers are one of the best DT finds as the closest in my local age nearly $4. I’d like to get in better habit of doing five daily frugal things. I guess staying home is one.
The Monet crackers are a DT best find.
1. Made quick breads from odds and end items
2. Rescued yogurt into a bread/ cake.
3. Team brought popcorn from home for trivia.
4. Refused plastic bread bags as dog waste bags.
5. Re- wore clothes that probably should have gone in wash to weed whack, but saved another set of clothes from an extra wash.
Our library here is open until 8pm four days a week and it’s so helpful! I don’t get home from work until 5:00 so it allows me to get home, make and eat dinner and then take the kids to the library for an hour or so without being rushed. It makes the library so much more accessible for everyone.
1) I used an opened can of great northern beans in the fridge, a jar of frozen cooked pinto beans from the freezer, chopped beet greens and a half bunch of kale to make a greens n beans skillet. So easy to make and tasty.
2) My son’s summer camp has a walking field trip today. For some reason the camp requested lunches be sent in all disposable packaging (like a brown bag lunch with all food in ziploc bags) I have no idea why, except maybe they don’t want to track items at the park or don’t want the kids to have to carry their lunchboxes back? I really don’t like disposable anything though plus I didn’t understand how I’d keep things cold without an insulated lunchbox and ice pack. . So I packed my sons lunch in his lunchbox like usual and just told him he’d have to carry it back(he brought a small backpack) He seemed fine with this, hopefully the camp doesn’t make an issue of it.
3) We are going camping next week and we’ve camped for years so we already have all the equipment. We are camping with friends so they will provide dinner one night and we will provide it the other night. Should be a good low cost trip!
4) My sister recently moved back to the area and she works from home 5 days/week. I work from home 2 days a week. I am going to go to her place tomorrow to work, so we can be “coworkers” and enjoy each others company. She also has a new espresso maker (a free years of service prize from her company) that I am excited to try.
5) Continuing to bring breakfast, coffee, lunch and a snack into work on my in-office days.
1) contacted Ibotta support about missing cash back on an online order to Walmart. I loathe Walmart as a policy and my poor husband dealt with AWFUL service while picking up the order, including us finding opened products in our order. Ibotta was fantastic and I got my $12 rebates and bonus!
2) Price matching my grocery list against Fred Meyer and WinCo in addition to the coupons and Ibotta rebates.
3) My children are making homemade Father’s Day cards for my husband, saves $5-10 minimum and is much more treasured coming from them.
4) I have a birthday coming up for my nephew and crocheted his gifts using left over yarn and reused gift wrap. Forgoing a card and used a colorful envelope from a birthday card someone gave my daughter for her birthday to write a note and cut to fit as a gift tag/’card’.
5) My husband is taking the kids to the park on his lunch hour while I grocery shop today. They get free exercise and I get to shop without distractions or cart add-ons!
Update: the cashier was having difficulty scanning my 25# bulk rice and tried to ring it up as 25# of instant bulk rice, the price was almost double! Caught that before she could scan anything else and it caused a bit of a backlog at the register but I left paying $18.48 rather than the $31+ she initially charged me. I double checked my receipt on the way out and the rest looked perfect. whew.
1. Leaving on a free one week vacation with my in-laws (it was their Christmas gift to all of us) So we’re eating the last odds and ends in the fridge today.
2. Unplugging everything that doesn’t need to be plugged in while we are gone and increasing the thermostat to 78°
3. I’m packing snacks and drinks for the 17 hour drive.
4. I have a Libby audiobook all queued up to pass the time.
5. My friends that I usually dog sit for will be cat sitting for me while we’re gone.
You’re looking like a gourmet chef!
1. Making a special breakfast for my husband and father-in-law for Father’s day using ingredients I have on hand. Pecan coffee cake and egg casserole.
2. Sold 3 books on ebay. My profit was probably only a couple bucks, but that’s better than $0.
3. Gave my mother-in-law a trash can and Brita filter I no longer need.
4. Ate leftovers for lunch.
5. Another tshirt is going to become rags
The cream cheese spread looks delicious!
1. I stocked up on things that had a good sale or coupon at Kroger last week. One of those was a microwave dinner for only $1.99. I hadn’t planned to buy it but at that price, I thought it was a good idea to get it and have it in the pantry for an emergency.
2. I had a day when I was feeling exhausted and generally terrible, and I really wanted to order takeout or something. Instead, I found things to eat in my pantry and freezer that I didn’t have to cook, including that microwave dinner.
3. The bananas I ordered arrived very ripe and bruised, so I made banana bread with the good parts of the bunch. I also asked for and got a refund via Kroger’s website. No need to return anything.
4. I gave myself a haircut. I have long, straight hair, which I trim about once a year. Doing it myself saves time as well as money because it’s very quick and easy to do. It would take much longer to go to a salon and wait.
5. I got a bookcase for free. My sister was moving and getting rid of all her furniture, including a bookcase that’s just like mine. So now I have a matching set.
I have so upset over what is happening with ICE and the peaceful protesters that I have been cooking and cleaning like a fiend.
I cannot stand ICE ICE Barbie or tRump, I can’t listen to them or see them without seething with rage.
1. DD’s boss (they raise angus cattle) gave her several packages of short ribs because people won’t buy them from their meat store. I thawed and cleaned the fat from them, saving the fat. Used the crockpot and slow cooked over night. Then I picked off the meat saved and saved the cooking liquid separately. Eventually it all became beef and noodles made with homemade noodles. Beef tallow cleaned and frozen for French fries. After use for fries I hope to make some soap.
2. Bought 13 quarts of home grown strawberries from the mark down rack. Cleaned and froze 10 and made 2 recipes of strawberry jam.
3. used leftover spaghetti sauce (no meat) and added seasonings with a small amount of ground beef and made a very good dish of sloppy joes.
4. cracked and retrieved the seeds from apricot pits, going to try planting them when they sprout in the fridge.
5. made french toast from the last bit of homemade bread.
1. First and foremost, I saved a BUNDLE, by not spending even as much as a Monopoly $1 for the FIC/IIC’s birthday! (Felon-in-Chief/Idiot-in-Chief) #I_SURE_DIDN’T_VOTE_FOR_IT!!!
2. Took my hubby to a dr appt this morning. He’s been having a hard time articulating what he wants to say. Also experiencing dizziness. His sense of direction and his reaction time when driving are a serious cause for concern. Almost rear-ended a pick-up twice last night before I made him let me drive.
Dr put a rush order for an MRI and a referral to neurology. He has been psychiatrically disabled since 2010. (Between 2010 and 2011, he had 30+ electroconvulsive therapy treatments.) We aren’t sure if there is a (a) physical issue, (b) psychological issue, or (c) medication issue. At least the doctor is taking the concerns seriously and is doing something to help him. He was told not to drive until he was cleared by the doctor. That, alone, gives me a sense of safety and peace of mind.
3. Stopped at Aldi’s across the road from the Dr office and picked up a couple items.
4. We came home and we cleaned, trimmed, and sliced our strawberries. 6 quarts in the freezer, the rest will be eaten the next couple of days.
5. Have a bunch of bananas that are in declining health. Put those in the freezer for banana bread at a later date.
6. Finished the 3rd and final meal of turkey and waffles.
7. Stopped at an ice cream stand for a treat when we were out running errands the other day. We each had a cone. They had a sign up selling “Mystery Bags” for $5. Ice cream frozen in containers. 2 containers in a bag, and a notice that bags “may or may not include allergens.” We were game and bought 1 for fun. The bag was sealed and, when we opened it, there were an 8 oz container and a 16 oz container, both with lids. We haven’t looked to see what’s in them, but it will be fun to solve the mystery later tonight.
Mystery Ice Cream; 16 oz Smickerd, 8 o, choc/van twist