Five More Tiny Frugal Things
by Katy on August 8, 2025 · 7 comments
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I got together with a few of my old work friends, which was fun. They wanted to go out for lunch and thrifting, so I suggested IKEA for lunch, as their entrees are half-off on Thursdays! We then drove over to the Goodwill Outlet, aka “the bins” as it’s maybe five minutes away.
It was really enjoyable to see my friends outside of the hospital where I worked for 24 years.
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I didn’t buy anything to resell at the bins, but I did choose a heavily stickered HydroFlask water bottle, four organizing bins and ten or so fake plants to add to my built-in second story window box that scorches actual plants. I spent $7.76.
• I easily removed nine vinyl stickers from the Hydro Flask by using a hair dryer to soften the adhesive.
• I hung the dusty fake plants on my laundry line and spritzed them with the hose.
• I ran the plastic organizing bins through the dishwasher.
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My lunch was the IKEA salmon plate, which cost just $5.49. (No tip!) I also enjoyed a free coffee and downloaded the IKEA app for a free Frakta bag. The salmon plate was actually pretty bland, I kind of wish that I’d just chosen their $1.15 veggie dog, which is weirdly delicious.
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I called my friend Lise to ask if she wanted to go for an evening stroll. She didn’t have time for a proper long walk, but she suggested walking to New Seasons Market to drop off our plastics recycling. Honey, that is my kind of friend date! I ran this specific errand recently, so I only had a couple plastics items to recycle, but it was still fun to hang out for a half hour or so.
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I got caught up on episodes of HBO’s Back to The Frontier, which is okay-ish enough to be worth watching. I wish they’d focus less on the interpersonal conflict between the families and more on how the three families are recreating daily life on an 1880s homestead. Again, thank you to my step-father for letting me mooch off his HBO account.
Katy Wolk-Stanley
“Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without.”
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{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
Good morning!! I love your outings. That’s what I call fun.
1. I spent the day with my mom yesterday. We went to several estate sales. I bought one item to sell on Ebay and a woven trash basket for my bathroom. I’m upgrading from my broken, chipped ceramic cans.
2. I shared some excess broccoli with my mom. She gave me some leftover goulash.
3. I picked up some large zucchini from my mom’s neighbor to give to a friend.
4. I made my mom and I margaritas with a tiny bottle of tequila someone gave me years ago and sour mix from the discount grocery. So much cheaper to have cocktails at home.
5. I walked three days in a row with a friend. Free exercise and always great company.
Fun outings and socializing!
1. Used yet another CVS coupon to save 66% on stain spray. I’m on a tiny mission to use everyone they give me to spend less than they would cost elsewhere on things I would buy anyway.
2. Hauled out the sewing machine and made an effort to improve on a prior alteration to a top. Results pending next wear.
3. I bought mushrooms at the farmer’s market without a plan. We almost used them up in a stir fry that also used up bits of green pepper and leftover potatoes. A couple of sausages rounded it out.
4. After I tripped on a section of our flagstone walk, DH reset the stone using materials stored in our crawlspace.
5. I did not walk around on our roof and yell at people.
FMTFT, Garage Sales and Other Doings Edition:
(1) As I noted in a previous comment, my neighbor on the other side of NDN1 is planning to put out a considerable free pile in conjunction with tomorrow’s community-wide garage sale. He’s invited the neighbors to come down and have a look today before he puts the stuff on the curb. I was among the first arrivals (of course!), but I managed to restrain myself to a colander in a useful style I don’t have, and a set of good-quality kitchen utensils (large and small ladles, strainer, and large fork) with a German mark.
(2) I’ve added some of the utensils I’ve replaced with the German ones to the stuff I’m planning to donate to the upcoming garage sale at the immigrant-, refugee-, and LBGTQ+-friendly Catholic church near me. I’ve got about four boxes and a nice basket so far. (I trashpicked the basket on Wednesday.)
(3) I’m about to take a load of NY State deposit containers to the bottle return service run by an extended family of hard-working Burmese immigrants, and will probably follow this up with a stop at Aldi.
(4) JASNA BFF and I are in the process of planning BFF’s visit here next week, the highlight of which will be our Triple Birthday Celebration lunch and prezzies with JASNA Panera, who will be driving over from her city for the festivities on Saturday 8/16. Apart from BFF’s obligatory visits to Wegmans, Clothes Mentor, and the Regional Market, the rest of the schedule is in the works.
(5) And I haven’t just activated a load of utterly brainless tariffs on nations that were formerly friends of the US.
Lots of fake plants in that goodwill bin!
My frugal 5 – gardening and grocery shop edition:
1. I found three brand new unused pots in the shed. How I did not see them so far is beyond me, they must have been there for years! I used one pot straight away and now know there are 2 more.
2. For outdoor pots I partially use compost from our compost heap. It’s not perfect, has a few sticks and small stones in it but I reckon that’s actually quite close to putting something in the ground directly, no sieved compost there! I fill 3/4 of the pot with this compost and I then use shop bought compost for the remaining quarter.
3. Currently harvesting regrown lettuce and regrown spring onions.
4. My radish plants went to seed when we were away for 2 weeks. I googled it and the seedpods are edible when young, they’re delicious raw, who knew!
5. Lidl now has a points system in Ireland – you get a point for every Euro spent and once you have 500 Points you can get a 5 Euro off voucher, for 1000 Points you can get a 10 Euro off voucher etc. Smaller amounts can be redeemed for products, e.g. you can get a voucher for milk for 125 points (that’s true to price, a litre of milk is 1.25 Euro). I shop in Lidl quite a bit and will certainly benefit from this. This scheme is in addition to the usual coupons, I still get a coupon for free pastry about once a week and money off coupons for products. The money off coupons are mostly for ready meals and sweets which we don’t buy/eat, so they are not much good to me.
5. Tried to reserve an Aldi Too good to Go box at 7.25 this morning and they were already sold out! I will try again tomorrow morning.
Ooops, that somehow escalated into a double 5! 🙂
Had a nice frugal day yesterday!
1. Took our rabbits to a corporate wellness event. Got paid and got to talk to people first 2 hours while they held and petted rabbits. My rabbit friend also came and brought her rabbits and my daughter was there to help as well. Such a fun afternoon!
2. On the way home from the event I stopped at Panera for a free lemonade for me and free soda for DD. Yea 3 month free sip club!
3. Found a buffet/bar on market place for my dining room redo. $35! I’ll be picking it up today.
4. Fed guinea pigs free veggie scraps dropped fly a friend. Fed us a frozen bag of chicken Mexican rice and corn. $4.99. I served it in tortillas 4 packs for $1. Added a free can of beans and sour cream. Very yummy plus leftover!
5. Stayed home last night instead of meeting up with friends. So no $ spent on drinks. I was too tired from chasing rabbits. lol
Tiny Frugal Things: Free Food
1. I picked up a last-minute mystery shop that required purchasing $5 of deli meat. I was paid an additional $20 to do so.
2. I gave my friend the leftover empanadas that I served to her and another friend (as I was leaving town). In return, she is giving me peaches that she is canning today.
3. I won a gift certificate from work for our on-campus bakery & cafe. I used it to buy 4 croissants for breakfast today.
4. I went to a post-graduation reception at work for faculty and our graduation speaker. It was a delicious spread of summer produce. (A perk of teaching at a culinary college).
5. Stopped at Panera and got another free iced tea (okay, I made myself an Arnold Palmer) and then stopped by a fast-food joint to get a free sandwich that I got via the app. That was $7.18 in free food (although I wouldn’t have bought them if I had to pay!).