Five Tiny Frugal Things
by Katy on July 30, 2025 · 43 comments
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I washed our bedding and hung it to dry on the backyard line, even thought it was shady and late in the day.
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It was just me for dinner, so I heated up some homemade refried beans and topped it with whatever I had on hand. I then scooped it up with Juantonio’s tortilla chips, (if you know, you know!) and called it good. Absolutely delicious and decidedly frugal!
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I started listening to Jennifer Weiner’s The Griffin Sisters’ Greatest Hits through the library’s free Libby app. Weiner is one of my favorite authors and I had to wait a couple months for this popular audiobook.
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I walked our plastics recycling over to New Seasons Market without buying anything.
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However, I did nab this accordian file from a free pile along the way. A perfect find, as I assembled one for my daughter’s important paperwork last year and have been meaning to put one together for my other kiddo. This specific brand sells for just under $25, which makes this an extra enjoyable find. Free organizational supplies? You know that’s my love language!
Katy Wolk-Stanley
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{ 43 comments… read them below or add one }
wowza to the accordion file!!
1. found a dime…my fav coin to find, especially since they’re sometimes silver (found one of those a few days back)
2. using cruise control where appropriate, ’cause that’s supposed to be most fuel efficient
3. the last dregs of my powder blush broke up but instead of buying new I found I could use a tinted lip balm I already have
4. even if I need only one thing at the store, I make a swing through the clearance aisle where I buy only things we will use for pennies on the dollar. Ten ounce jar of 100% fruit spread for $2.10 that was $5.99 and doesn’t expire ’til 2028, why, yes, thank you very much
5. working harder to keep marinated vegetable salads and roasted veggies on hand at all times. Food in the fridge that needs eating makes it less likely we’ll want to eat out
Your #5 is my goal, too – keep ingredients ready to go in the fridge – already prepared veggies in particular. When I am feeling peckish, and open the fridge, my yearning for junk food might not completely abate, however I do find I can be mostly satisfied with real food when it is ready to go and tasty.
To use up molasses…
Gingerbread Pancakes
1/4 c butter
1/2 c light brown
1/2 c molasses
2 eggs, beaten
1 c buttermilk
2 c flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
Dash of ground ginger
1 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp salt
1/4 c water (optional)
Cream together butter, sugar and molassed. Add eggs and buttermilk. Combine dry ingredients and add to molasses mixture. Add water if needed. Cook until golden brown. Serve with butter and maple syrup, honey, or lemon curd.
Now you’re talking! Mmmm
1. I found $1.40 in deposit cans in the parking lot at my favorite walking trail.
2. I gave my dog another bath and trimmed some mats.
3. I mowed my own lawn.
4. My mom gave me two zucchini her neighbor gave her. I used one in a stir fry.
5. I made a quart of sun tea using free to me tea leaves.
Those gingerbread pancakes sound great, though I might make them into waffles. And I do have some lemon curd….yum.
I too had a scrappy dinner. I noticed I had everything needed for homemade salsa, so I made some. Threw it over some scrambled eggs, added a little cheese and called it good.
Will cut some fresh flowers for my August tenants, who are arriving tomorrow night. Have to make sure their yard is nicely weeded, too.
Will nag Daughter to mend a few rips in cushions. (well, she hoards my sewing machine…)
Son keeps nagging for beef stroganoff and I keep telling him no, I just want grilled meats and salads. Besides, that makes for much less kitchen cleanup as I usually cut the salad veg outdoors on my teak table. That’s all I can think of.
1. Made mashed potatoes to use up potatoes that were starting to get wrinkled. They were served for dinner last night and we will eat them another night as well.
2. I cobbled together a cage to protect butter squash plants. Something, probably deer, were eating the blossoms. I had grabbed some round wire grates from a Bagster a while back. I used some stake like pieces from the metal stuff and a few zip ties to hold the “grates” together. It isn’t pretty but it is functional and once the blossoms have developed squash I will remove the “cage”.
3. I finished Claire McCardell and returned it to the library. I listened to Happiness for Beginners and started Before Dorothy.
4. I cut both a watermelon and a cantaloupe. That’s a lot of cheap fruit so I shared some with a neighbor.
5. We are planning a trip to visit relatives. We will drive and bring a lot of our own food.
1. On a walk to the beach I found 6¢ and three plastic-lined plant baskets.
2. That find goaded me to finally repot my Christmas cactus (though it turned out I didn’t use any of the new baskets). I didn’t have quite enough potting soil on hand, so I asked my neighbor for a loan and she gifted me some.
3. Can’t remember if I already said I found a new indoor/outdoor thermometer sitting on top of a dumpster. I offered it to a friend, as I don’t have a place for it. She was mildly interested, but decided it would be too much trouble to hang on her porch. So it went in the Goodwill bag.
4. Pantry project: today’s breakfast was biscuits and applesauce. Yesterday’s was half a bagel and prunes. I am still eating green bean casserole for lunches. Supper last night was half a bagel with peanut butter and jelly.
5. Yesterday evening ComEd was offering a small bonus to customers who restricted their electric usage. It was just turning cooler, so I was able to turn off the AC. The only electricity I used was an LED reading light. It was a 5-9 window. I ran the dishwasher just after 10.
Great save on the file, Katy.
I washed and mended my 13-year-old leather gardening gloves. Dusted the furniture and doors yesterday and hand-washed/air-dried the disposable dusters again. DH and I used some reclaimed bricks to make a border for the herb bed. All the herbs I was growing in pots are perennials and were moved to an in-ground bed.
Bought a copy of the next book club selection on eBay for a few dollars after not being able to get it through the library. Made lunch of the last bits of things discovered while giving the fridge interior a cleaning.
1) Picked the last of the plums from our neighbor’s orchard (free and with permission). Pruned out the deadwood and removed the suckers from the trees as a thank you (also with permission).
2) Dehydrated 8 lbs of new potatoes that were gifted to us. They are now ready to be tossed into winter soups.
3) Made two loaves of bread. I use molasses instead of sugar or honey in my loaves, because I altered a yeasted brown bed recipe to come up with the perfect simple, soft, and quick sandwich loaf.
4) I saved some nearly ripe tomatoes, peppers, and jalapenos from plants at my part time nursery job. The plants were going to the composter. I’ll be making more faux sun-dried tomatoes as well as some pepper jelly this weekend!
5) Micheal’s sent me a $5 voucher that expires 8/2. I don’t need anything, so I used it to pick up one of their dot grid journals, as I use one every year for my journal and planner. I won’t need it until January 1st, but now I have it on hand plus it only cost me $3 out of pocket instead of $8.
1. It was a high of 97 yesterday which put us squarely inside. We sat on the couch and binge watched Suits instead of our original restaurant week dinner plans.
2. Leftovers for dinner and pulled a massive gifted cookie out of the freezer to split. It was sealed up tight and was still delicious!
3. Watered my plants early and cut down my basil plant since the top was bushy and abundant and the lower leaves were looking suboptimal. Hoping with more direct sunlight and some fertilizer it will perk back up. I’ll process it to freeze later but am excited to see how much yield I’m getting. Will I make garden ROI on the first year??
4. Managed to make another huge tuna mac salad using pantry and fridge ingredients (and kept me out of the store). This has fed us for 3 meals so far. My secret to running out of mayo and still having a good end result? A healthy squirt of ranch dressing. Added savory flavor and creaminess without taking over.
5. Living quietly otherwise – sitting out front with my little herb garden in the morning with my home-brewed coffee has become my favorite part of the day.
1) I’m nearly done spray painting the 60 year old lawn chairs that I inherited. The key lime color is reading Slimer from Ghostbusters, but it is cheerful.
2) As my kids grow, their space needs are changing. We snagged a loft bed from Marketplace for the older one and will slowly assemble a desk, filing cabinet and larger dresser from gifted and second hand sources. If it is sturdy enough to last through a previous owner, it will likely survive my two destroyers. The upholstery cleaner will be used, I’ll likely be doing some sanding and painting.
3) The old bed is being gifted to my Dad to replace a bed that is falling apart. Circular economy at its best!
4) A dinner salad was assembled last night from odds and ends in kitchen. Juanatinos chips were involved.
5) Still wearing thrifted/ me-made clothes, packing my lunch, making my own coffee and taking the bus to work.
I found that book on the Lucky Day rack at the library where we are on vacation. It was a fun beach read.
1. Bought 2 used books at Friends of the Library bookstore.
2. Used the free trolley to get around town. Loaned our car to our son so he can get to work and leave their van for DIl and grandkids. Saves us getting up in the morning to take him in.
3. Eating all meals in our hotel room. It comes with a 3/4 size fridge, 2 ring stove and microwave. Also all of the kitchen supplies -blender, toaster, etc. Loving assembling simple meals and eating them on our patio
4. Dh is getting free coffee from the lobby each day. He also got free wine at the hotel happy hour. I don’t drink either one
5. Stocked up on a favorite gluten free cereal that was A. a good price and B. not available where we live.
FTFT, This and That Edition:
First, Katy, I join everyone else in applause for the rescue of the accordion file! Now:
(1) I had to move a huge loaf of Panera bread (some sort of brioche, I’m guessing–anyway, a gift from JASNA Panera) out of the basement freezer to make room for the beef I received on Monday (see my Monday FFT comment). I made croutons with half of the loaf, and although I was afraid I’d both overbaked and overseasoned them, they do fine in small quantities as an extremely low-cost crunchy snack. (Treating croutons as a snack food was a suggestion from Donna Freedman over at Surviving and Thriving, and I do hope that Donna and everyone else who may be in harm’s way from the tsunami are safe. Donna’s in Anchorage, AK.)
(2) I’m simply eating the other half of the brioche loaf for breakfast and so on, since its time in the freezer hasn’t done it a bit of harm.
(3) I got another package of salmon scraps at Wegmans on Sunday, and I’m about to fry up the otherwise inedible bits into salmon “bacon” and then pour off the liquid salmon fat into a jar to use in scrambling/frying eggs. Even I, a die-hard Southern bacon grease fan, must admit that salmon fat is probably a lot healthier (all those omega-3s and so on).
(4) My local Clothes Mentor just had a “Wacky Wednesday” 25% off sale on all tops today, and I got two tops I’d describe as “dressy but relaxed.” I’d like to have a few things to wear at the upcoming JASNA Annual General Meeting in Baltimore that would make me look as if I hadn’t just fallen off a U-Haul from East Podunk.
(5) And I’m not now several weeks into denying that I was a close associate of a known pedophile back in the day.
(4)
LOL A. Marie on your “East Podunk” reference. I call a town about an hour away “Podunk-ville.” Your comment made me laugh. Thank you 🙂
1. put off grocery shopping until I ran out of basics , I needed to make yogurt and I needed pet food . Yogurt for starter has gone up 1.00 but still cheaper to make at home. I string starter 3 times and then buy new because it starts getting watery after 3 times.
2. used 4 dozen egg to blend and make “egg pucks” in silicone muffin pans. I keep hens and have not been able to get rid of them fast enough. I will thaw and use the pucks in quiche, frittata, scrambled and baking needs….shells dried and fed back to hens.
3.making more pickles as cucumbers come on 10 jars so far.
4, laundry done and dried on lines outside….so hot and muggy but they do dry fast.
5. tomatoes are coming on, will make sauce in the blender and process 5 pints at a time. I will use tomato products but don’t like tomatoes fresh….I know it’s weird but I just do not like them. LOL
JC, what are “egg pucks” and how do you make them? Sounds intriguing.
It sounds like she puts the eggs in a blrnder and them pours them into regular or mini muffin silicone trays to freeze. Once frozen, put them in a ziplock bag and toss back in the freezer. Thaw to use as needed.
Yep,
that is exactly the way I do it!
JC
It’s said that cooked tomatoes are even more good for you than fresh, so don’t sweat it.
My own sister doesn’t like raw tomatoes. I have not disowned her over this. Yet.
Would you be willing to share the bread recipe?
1. I WILL cut my basil to dry shortly, before it rains. I have been neglecting it.
2. Found pre-crushed graham cracker crumbs on clearance at the grocery store. I made several-layer bars, (not necessarily all seven, as the recipe is usually called), with sweetened condensed milk, broken up generic pretzels, sale butter, and chopped Hershey kisses from Christmas clearance.
3. From my recent lab work, I anticipate being told I need more iron, so I am looking at labels to see what I should eat more of.
4. Although I won’t be buying anything, I enjoyed screen-shopping at the USPS gift website: tote bags, framed stamp art, t-shirts, toys, Mr. Zip items, and jigsaw puzzles of stamps. Also, looked at Amtrak gifts online, currently on clearance. Thus ended my shopping urge!
5. Need to get out the Salad Shooter, (our only chopper/grater), and grate some yard sale and leftover scrap soaps to add to homemade laundry detergent. Not looking forward to P&G tariff-influenced price increases on Tide and Charmin.
Greatly looking forward to “Naked Gun 4”, out this weekend! Early reviews are positive.
You might know already but Proctor and Gamble has a rebate website. They currently have a $15 back on $50 spent. I paired that with Targets buy 3 get a $10 Target GC. I always watch for these to line up (they frequently do) and then stock up on paper towels and TP.
Thanks, Julia T!
They should be starting back-to-school sales and rebates soon, if they haven’t already.
1. Booked online my first substitute teaching job for the upcoming term. It is for 9-11, but it is for a first-grade classroom so I won’t have to retell the whole sad story of where I was on the tragic 9-11. Of course, I will have many, many gigs before that one, but I schedule them as soon as I see them. And this was the very first job listing on the otherwise blank 2025-26 calendar.
2. Talk about getting high — the roofers spray painted the vents to match the new roof late yesterday afternoon. They finally finished the “two day” job on Day Six. The paint fumes drifted into the AC system and my room reeked of the smell. Felt woozy, and the dog probably did, as well. Opened the patio door, hoping that would dissipate the strong odor, but the air outdoors smelled of spray paint, too. It took quite a while for the horrible aroma to drift away. But the job is done!
3. As a bonus for the long delay (due to wrong measurements and having to reorder some panels), I was given a free power washing on the front of my house. Didn’t know roofing companies did that, but mine did.
4. Banker called and Wells Fargo approved my card application.
5. Gathered up old tea bags and coffee pods and rescued the grounds for my compost pile.
Where were you on 9/11?
Me, I had PTSD from that day for years and years.
Rose –
9/11 – I was working as Secretary to the Director of Nursing at an area college. We all left our offices and classrooms and huddled around a tv. College closed early and remained closed the rest of the week.
Went twice last year to the Flight 93 memorial in Southwestern Pennsylvania. Very sombering.
I, too, am doing sheets for hanging on the line. Hosted some travelling musicians who stayed in the newly tidied spare bedrooms, today is gonna be hot-hot-hot and the sheets are almost done in the washer.
The accordion file would have stopped me, and that hand dumbbell would also have made it into my pack. I am finding that my kettlebells in the living room mean I do a bit of a workout on multiple occasions, and I am wanting a few hand weights downstairs as well. Besides, all three of my kids keep ‘cleaning me out’ of my hand weights, as they ask if I have an XXXpound weight, which I usually do. then I go looking for replacements. Mom’s pantry also extends into Mom’s gym equipment…
1. Had a town day – I went to the Farmer’s market to pick up a dress I had ordered from a local designer. For the past 5 years or so I have been wearing wool dresses almost daily, however the company I purchased them from (total 4 dresses) have some pretty unappealing colours – so two of my dresses are black.
This local designer dyes merino wool some gorgeous colours (think mottled burnt orange), and she was willing to make a dress using one of mine as a pattern.
Yes, it is an new purchase rather than thrifted, however I have proven that the investment in a wool dress is worth it to me – my cost per wear is very low because I wear these dresses so often, with tights in the Winter and shorts in warmer weather. I am delighted with my new dress and it will likely be my Summer uniform, LOL.
2. A street festival had been added on to the regular Saturday market, and I was able to score some really lovely hand-pulled prints – at steeply discounted prices. The artist was standing at her booth when I saw a print on display that I have been eyeing up at the framing shop for YEARS – and she laughed when I exclaimed excitedly to her about how much I love it!! And boy howdy was the price better at her booth!
Funnily enough, I had just picked up 5 frames (for $5 total) at a thrift store that was taking advantage of the crowds by putting their artwork for sale right out on the street. Some of the ‘frames’ I bought were, in fact, being sold as pictures – however I was only interested in the frames. Since discount frames were on my mind, picking up a number of this artist’s prints (most are even matted!) was a no-brainer. Some will be very hard to part with, however they will make wonderful Christmas presents. Others will happily hang on my wall of prints after they are framed with thrifted frames. I have finally picked up some more $1.50 picture hanging kits from the dollar store.
3. I FINALLY got my buy nothing items out of the house. The third ‘customer’ for one item was thrilled that the other two ghosted, and I ended up gifting her a second cowboy vest that I was holding back for my grandson – she had two sleeping boys in the back of her car, and two vests will solve many future jealousy issues in her house. I don’t need to cling to something that has no emotional ties (was from a girlfriend who knows I can find good homes for things).
The second was a big box of random baby things – including cloth diaper liners – that someone said she would take and pass on what she didn’t use. I also gifted her the pack and play that wasn’t picked up by either of the two other ‘wanna havers’ who no-showed.
I actually delivered those as I was heading to town and she was only a mile or so away from where I was going, and she had been up all night with her baby so wasn’t able to come by (but let me know right away…). GONE!
4. My daughter wanted to come up early for her dad’s (my ex’s) birthday, to avoid traffic. I got a bonus daughter day, she helped me hang with her nephew, we did a bit of necessary shopping, and we simply spent time together, which is priceless. #1 son and his partner have been selling a lot of excess things on Marketplace, and he laughed at my challenges giving things away. He said ‘sell it all even for $5, people think they are getting a deal and they rush over’. I am going to take that under advisement for any future items.
5. I visited my buddy at the local thrift store, in the time between my workout and hospice volunteering. There, on the shelf, was the EXACT Lee Valley Tools stainless steel compost pail – with lid – that my daughter had asked me to ‘manifest’ last week. It usually takes me a bit longer to manifest something, LOL! I snapped it up, $6 instead of $39.90.
Wool is amazingly forgiving of temps. I once packed a fabulous wool dress for a business trip to Las Vegas (Lurch sigh); it was supposed to be quite cool but the temp went to 80 on the day I wore the dress and I was perfectly comfortable.
Has anyone tried Woolx clothing? I am wondering about it and would love to hear any reviews.
My dresses are Wool&. not WoolX. I haven’t tried WoolX. Wool& had (may still have) an offer if you buy a dress and wear it for 100 days, taking a photo each day, you get a $100 coupon good on your next purchase. My ADD or whatever it is sure wouldn’t keep on track for 100 days, but I can say that I enjoyed the Facebook group for the couple of years I followed it.
Nope, but I have a Wool& dress and I love it.
“Wool” brings 2 words to mind. HOT and ITCHY. I prefer the wool on the sheep.
I am interested in Woolx but have not bought anything. One of these days–they are exactly the kind of clothes I like.
We have had that Lee Valley Compost pail for years! It has stood up well, but I probably paid full price. $6 is a great deal.
Busy day today. And frugal.
1. Did 3 secret shops today. All were at or near places I needed to go anyway
2. We had free subs for lunch from my 2 secret shops yesterday to two different local convince stores
3. Sold $25 worth of stuff on marketplace this morning and $30 yesterday.
4. Stopped at a free pile. Grabbed a like new pair of Vans and a Madden Girl winter coat to list on marketplace as well as some clothes I’ll wash and pass on to the thrift store. I will keep a pair of shorts and two t shirts.
5. Softball practice was cancelled tonight due to the heat. I’ll save gas and enjoy a nice evening in the air conditioning.
1. I made a bouquet of sunflowers to give to the lady I take care of.
2. Stopped at a little free library on the way to work. I got 2 books and a sunflower bookmark. Someone had knitted several bookmarks and donated them.
3.I was given pizza and ice cream at work. I kept my lunch for tomorrow.
4. Hubby and I had leftover pancakes with figs for breakfast. We had leftovers for dinner too. It’s to hot to cook.
5. I picked lots of sunflowers, figs, basil, string beans, tomatoes, cucumbers, lettuce, Swiss chard and cilantro from my gardens.
1. Survived a fierce storm with an intact house and no loss of power. Got free exercise picking up A LOT of downed branches.
2. Requested book club book from Buy Nothing as the library waiting list is too long for me to read the book in time.
3. Drained pineapple chunks canned in fruit juice and drank the juice.
4. Bought the biggest green pepper I could find at Trader Joe’s since they’re all priced the same.
5. For this week’s outing with my sister, we had beverages at a new coffee shop followed by a free library presentation on eco-wellness.
Your mention of draining canned pineapple and drinking the juice reminded me of how I used to save the water drained from a can of tuna fish and give it to our cat a for a little treat. (He loved it!). Now that we no longer have a cat, I feel like I’m wasting food by not using the water from the canned tuna.
Lucky cat!
I used to do that too for my cat. We called it “tuna juice”.
Figs, figs, and more figs
May have made a mistake covering the fig bush with bird netting because the birds aren’t helping me eat them!
Ran across this recipe. I haven’t tried it yet but it’s on the list
https://www.tyrantfarms.com/fig-nibbler-best-fig-dessert-no-sugar/
1. I called the Supercuts Training center near me, but the number was disconnected. Great Clips had a coupon in the circulars this week. A haircut for $9.99 which I desperately need.
2. I got a coupon for a free small bouquet at Publix. My allergies have been bad so flowers would not help. I had a vase on hand & took the bouquet to a 91 yr. old neighbor. I think it brightened her day.
3. I also had a dinner of odds & ends. A salad w/ leftover romaine. I had a box of a Lunchables. I chopped the turkey slices and cheese & put on the greens. The crackers went w/ my salad.
4. I bought some readers at the Restore. Wed. is senior day for a 10% discount. Dollar Tree readers have gone up to 1.50 each. They are also flimsy. These glasses look sturdier & the $ goes to a good cause.
5. Bought a name brand bra at Restore for $4.00. Supportive, quality bras are expensive. Last time I was at Kohls a nice bra was $40.00. The cheap ones are usually uncomfortable or not supportive IMHO.