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I treated my husband to a lunch date at IKEA. I chose a pair of $1.30 veggie dogs and he enjoyed a half-price $5 meatball and mashed potato plate. (Half price entrées on Thursdays!) Of course, we both partook of the free coffee. To say that I’m a “cheap date” is actually an understatement.
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I stashed a deck of cards in my purse and we played a few hands of gin rummy while sipping our coffee. I suggested that we go find a faux living room setup to hang out in while playing cards, but I was outvoted.
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We then headed over to the nearby Costco, where we gassed up the car and bought a round of staples for the kitchen. Needless to say, samples were enjoyed.
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My husband grabbed his tools and we drove over to our daughter’s apartment as her roommate’s bed seemed to have broken. Luckily it turned that the slats had just fallen off the frame, so no repairs were necessary. The easiest and cheapest repair is no repair.
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I enjoyed that the main character in my book balked at the idea that “You always have to throw out the first pancake.” Finally, a character that I can identify with! 😉
Five Tiny Frugal Things
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Just a question, as this will be my first time actually doing this…
When cutting a tube (toothpaste, lotion, etc) to get the last little bit out, where and how is the best place to cut the tube? Also, how do you preserve the cut tube pieces to keep the contents from drying out until it’s empty?
Melissa, I usually cut the tube in the middle. If it’s really long I cut it into thirds. But now that I’m typing this, I wonder why I never cut it vertically down the middle. I either fit the cut pieces together to keep the contents from drying out or I put them in a small baggie.
I cut off one small section at a time starting from the bottom and leaving the rest crimped together with a binder clip. Sorry not to be posting the last six months, but we are moving for the second time next week.
@Melissa N , I slice my Olay daily moisturizer plastic bottle down each side with a sharp knife, and across bottom (carefully), and then with the lid on, it opens up from bottom like an alligator mouth (LOL), and snaps right back closed when you let go — I get at least 4-5 more days of moisturizing by doing this!
I cut the plastic bottle my face lotion comes in around the middle with a box cutter, then put the top part down into the bottom part to keep some of the air out. I also get several more days of lotion when I do this!
For tubes, I cut the end off and close it with a binder clip. For bottles, I’m not sold on the risk:reward ratio of cutting them up, having spent an evening in the ER after a similar box cutter incident, so I’ll rinse them out with hot water. Tbh… I don’t use a lot of products and get almost all of our HBA very inexpensively through thrifting/BN/couponing, so often there’s just a fraction of a penny of value left, and I have far fewer active hours than most people.
1. Another dentist visit. Took advantage of their free Keurig coffee brewer and took some with me on the way out. Later at home, I poured it in a mug, added milk and reheated it.
2. Went to an arts and crafts mall that, sadly, is quitting business. Was able to find a few Christmas gifts for 50, 60 and 75 percent off, depending on the vendor. (Different booths had different discounts.)
3. Rescheduled upcoming dental appt when I found out I already had a substitute teaching gig for that day. Need the pay!
4. Made a gallon of sun tea.
5. While at the arts and crafts mall, I shopped my politics: if there were any MAGA caps or other such Trump-y items for sale in a particular booth, I did not buy from that booth.
I love that you brought your coffee and enjoyed it in the comfort of your own home.
Katy- I must tell you that I made your Thai sweet chili sauce this week. However, I was distracted reading the recipe and read 5 cloves of garlic, minced as 5 CLOVES minced. I didn’t think I’d like the texture of minced cloves, so i added a liberal 1/2 tsp of dried cloves. Then i reread the recipe & laughed at my ridiculousness!! I added the required garlic, but i have to say- i really kinda dig the flavors!!!
Diane, I received a large jar of ground cloves from Buy Nothing that I have added to several recipes, especially baked goods, and they’re always more delicious.
I have a recipe for sloppy joes that calls for ground cloves & it makes them delicious! I made them once at a dinner party for some foodies & it was fun as they tried to guess the ingredient that jazzed them up!
Oops! You may have invented an entirely new recipe!
Katy, your IKEA date sounds wonderful. My sister and I have it on our Adventure Club list. Do you have a membership of some kind to qualify for half-price meals and free coffee? If so, does IKEA inundate you with emails or mailings?
Is throwing out the first pancake a thing? I never.
You just get a free IKEA Family card, which gets you discounts. No inundation.
Done!
MB in MN,
About the pancakes – I know, right? why would anyone throw away a perfectly good pancake, even if it’s not – what – a perfect shape?
The veggie dogs look nice!
1. Inspired by a recent comment by reader Karen A. who was in turn inspired by Kristin at the Frugal Girl I painted over a scratch mark on my home office desk. I don’t have any furniture repair markers but I do have watercolours and one of the brown colours matched exactly. Is it perfect? No, but the scratch is now invisible unless you bend down and stare at the exact spot 🙂 Is it permanent? Nope, it will come off when I next wipe the side of my office table. As I only do this about 2x per year though 🙂 all is good though (and freeeee!).
2. There was a Piel de sapo melon in the last Lidl Waste Not box which was very ripe and almost too sweet for my taste. So I cubed it and pureed it in the blender, then froze it in ice pop moulds for a refreshing snack. Somehow freezing anything takes away a lot of the sweetness!
3. Realised that the VPN I am paying for is included in Revolut Premium which costs less per month than the VPN subscription, so I will switch to Revolut Premium once my VPN subscription runs out (I have canceled the auto renewal option).
4. I sold a pair of trousers and a tshirt on Vinted. You can choose to keep any sales proceeds as credit on Vinted or have it transferred to your bank account. I opted to leave the credit on Vinted and bought a toilet paper holder with some of the proceeds as ours broke.
5. I’m enjoying the best free entertainment there is in my opinion: watching the bumble bees, butterflies and all sorts of other insects enjoying the offerings in our garden. The best antidote to the madness of this world!
Hummingbirds here flurrying around my one feeder and making shadows for the cat to chase. It costs a bit of sugar and time, but that kind of entertainment is priceless!
GK and Kathryn, I’m with you on the free bird and insect entertainment at this time of year. Goldfinches are constantly in my sunflowers and coneflowers, and hummingbirds, bees, and (of course) butterflies are enjoying my butterfly bushes.
For some reason my mother always burned the first–pancake, piece of toast, etc. By learning to like a little char on my baked goods, I always got the first portion.
I have the same curse of burning the life out of the first grilled cheese I make, without fail. Luckily, my husband loves everything charred so he’s happy to eat the mistake!
The first pancake tends to cook a bit longer due to getting into the groove of cooking them. My dogs always get the toasty first one and the unusually small last one that uses up the scraping of batter. They love it.
I read somewhere that in one country, the first IKEA attracted people who would spend the day, and even nap in the bedroom displays.
1. I made stock with some chicken bones. It isn’t soup weather right now (too hot) so the stock will go in the freezer for future me.
2. I made apple sauce from a friend’s apple tree. Some of this will go in the freezer.
3. I found a bag stuffed with organic sweet potatoes on the clearance rack at Fred Meyer. I bought it and made mashed sweet potatoes. Tasty and full of beta carotene! Also, it’s a nice departure from the usual carbs.
4. I walked 6 miles in Forest Park with friends. I had a lovely time and it cost nothing! Staying fit is a frugal move.
5. I found some cool wrought iron plant stands in a free pile.
Nice catch on the plant stands! In my Buy Nothing group, plant stands of any kind are always quickly snatched up.
Yes! They’re already holding plants!
I’ve heard of kids going into the plumbing section of stores to use the potty (on display).
What on earth is wrong with the first pancake? I’d say anyone who has to do that is not very good in the kitchen.
Reminds me of my SIL attempting to throw away a whole plate of cooked sausage that no one took from the buffet (because they made too much!) My brother stopped her and saved the sausage. She rolled her eyes like HE was the crazy one!
1. Took a beach walk yesterday and picked up a plastic bottle to put in recycling — but it was actually a full sealed bottle of lemonade, so I brought it home and drank it
2. Made a stop at the little free pantry, helped another person clean out some spilled grains and rearrange the pantry items. I took a can of green beans.
3. Took a huge bag of stuff to Goodwill.
4. Had a $5 birthday coupon from DSW, so I went there to find a pair of socks. I found that their clearance section was much smaller and the prices higher. However, I did buy a pack of two pairs of socks, for which I paid $6 out of pocket. In the past I could find free socks, but no longer. Anyway, I’m pleased. The socks are knee high, one black pair, one off-white. I will use them.
5. Made mini fajitas for lunch — enough for today as well — from ingredients found in my freezer.
Though I’m usually pretty capable eith baking and cooking and love to create recipes, I NEVER get a good first pancake and end up putting it back on the griddle at the very end and reheating it so I can eat that one. It’s a joke in our kitchen that the first one looks like a Halloween pancake of sorts.
I need Ruby’s dogs!
I love the term “Halloween Pancake” for the first one!!
Okay, I didn’t realize that the first pancake could be difficult — I just haven’t had that problem, though I admit to many cooking disasters. My apologies to those who make Halloween pancakes!
Your note hit me so funny because I thought everyone had that first pancake problem and here you are thinking no one has it! Sounds like my sister and I discussing something and she’s like this is crazy it’s not working right and I’m like why are you doing it THAT way?
The first pancake gets secretly nibbled while I hungrily finish making the rest of the pancakes.
1. Made our monthly grocery list after taking stock of what we already have in the fridge, freezer, and pantry. We mostly need to top off some staples like a little bit of sugar and baking soda, but also some fresher produce and meat which are entering the end of the month scarcity. No panic here, that’s what the meal plan is for.
2. We planned a route for tomorrow, a belated birthday gift to see The House of Mystery at The Oregon Vortex. My husband and I have never been and I wanted to go for my birthday. We’re planning on running errands that would otherwise be difficult (impossible) with our kids in tow. My wonderful mother is coming over to watch them while we’re out and then treating us to dinner.
3. Part of our adventure will be taking some more items to the kids consignment shop, which hopefully should get us enough of a return to cover all or most of the plans we have for the day!
4. The passports that we ordered, well in advance, are on their way much much earlier than expected! We unknowingly saved $240 by not trying to have them expedited unnecessarily.
5. Taking advantage of the hot oven this morning and catching my baking! I have 3 loaves of bread, 16 bagels, and a double batch of muffins I want to get done as close together as possible so the house isn’t getting any extra heat. Of course all of our baked goods ran out around the same time this month, and during a heat wave no less! Still saves hundreds by making my own and using up our foods creatively.
Yum, those veggie dogs look great! What a fun date!
1. Found a Target receipt in a cart and scanned into fetch. It was worth 1700 points! Love when that happens!
2. My hubby and I are going to the NY State fair tomorrow for our date day. It’s not free, but fairly inexpensive for what it gives. I love looking at the animals, home economics and art entries. I wanted to enter my canned jam this year but I couldn’t make the deadline due to travel. Next year…
3. Still working on decluttering. We have a pile to list, donate, offer on buy nothing. Looking forward to just *less* around me.
4. Shredded some garden zucchini for the freezer. We’re eating fresh tomatoes with dinner. Even with downsizing of my garden this year, it’s still producing a bounty.
5. Still taking my lunch, coffee and snacks to work. Since RTO in March, I e only ate out twice (Chinese with office group order).
I make pancakes on a griddle with room to make several at once — there is no single “first” pancake to throw out!
1) I took home the tops of all the basil plants that were being composted at work. Now I have enough frozen pesto to last for months. I make and freeze it in ice cube trays, then pop out into a bag. Each ice cube is 2 tablespoons of pesto.
2) I also freeze leftover tomato paste in ice cube trays. I pulled out two of these to make a ratatouille for dinner.
3) The ratatouille also incorporated four large tomatoes, a zucchini, and green peppers I pulled from the garden.
4) I brought home a pocketful of clothespins that were destined for the garbage at work.
5) I picked yet another round of blackberries.
Those pancake lines were lifted from The Gilmore Girls.
1. All meals at home this week. I know that’s the norm for many folks on here but for us it just never seems to happen. Bonus – I finished all the watermelon I bought before it got watery and weird!
2. Went to a free screening of a documentary at the Patagonia store on Tuesday called The Last Dive. It was emotional and impactful. They also had free drinks and snacks, which I nabbed to snack on the train home.
3. Speaking of trains – finally broke the cab home habit. Been all over the city this week without any taxi fares!
4. Hurricane Erin brought some lovely cool weather. We opened the windows and let the apartment breathe. Back to 80+ now but it was nice while it lasted.
5. Went to trivia this week and we won! Our tab was almost fully covered. A great night out at no cost to us.
1. I top-to-tailed a queen size flat sheet that my mother had given me for scrap. I needed another queen sheet and the only thing wrong with this one was that it was a bit yellowed across the top. I soaked it (laundry stripping), ran it with bleach and it was still a bit yellowed. So I took out the top and bottom hems, and re-hemmed a wide band where the bottom of the sheet originally was, to make it the new top, and hemmed to original top with a narrow hem to make it the bottom. Now the slightly (better after laundry stripping and bleach) yellow top is at the bottom where no-one will see, I have a sheet I need, and it stays out of the landfill.
2. I have a batch of tomatoes in the IP for sauce.
3. Sold an item on Ebay and FB marketplace. Sales seem a bit slow right now.
4. Added a referral link to my spreadsheet of links. I only keep links to products/companies that I like.
5. Did some visible mending on a free wool undershirt. I got the Alabama Chanin books from the library for inspiration.
eBay sales are terrible right now.
I’m sorry you’re experiencing that as well, and it’s also encouraging to hear that it’s not just me.
1) It was back to school night last night and my husband and I both needed to attend because we have two kids in two separate classes. Kids weren’t supposed to attend though. So I reached out to our friends who attend a different school in town and found out their back to school night was a different night so we agreed to do a childcare exchange, watching each others kids on the back to school night. Free babysitting for both of us and all the kids were ecstatic about having a weekday evening play date, a rare event!
2) I made big bean, barley and sweet potato soup and froze it in individual portions for my lunches. I also processed mushrooms and kale in the food processor and cooked them in a pan with pasta sauce, I then used that sauce to make a lasagna. I also defrosted some frozen beans and cooked brown rice from the freezer to make Buddha bowls for lunches. I still need to make a green curry to use up some remaining vegetables but once that’s done I’m all caught up on vegetable processing.
3) I had to work late on Tuesday (luckily a rare event) so I planned ahead and brought my breakfast, lunch and dinner to work that day. It meant bringing two insulated lunchboxes but it worked out great and I was happy to already have food here.
4) I figured out the date (to the exact day) that I can retire at maximum pension. It’s still a long time away (2049) but it feels good to have a date. I’ve always had a goal to retire as early as possible, I can retire before that date but with a lower pension so there’s options.
5) I’m making food for book club tonight with items I already have on hand. I’ll make bruschetta using tomatoes and basil from my weekly produce box(I’ll need to buy a baguette today though) and I’m making guacamole from avocados, a jalapeño and more tomatoes I already have, I also already have tortilla chips to go with them. I don’t drink anymore but others at book club do, usually a few people bring wine though and I have a few bottles left over from previous book clubs so I never have to buy alcohol for it. I do setup a hot tea station now, I have such a large supply of tea though that I haven’t had to replenish my supply yet.
Mended a worn spot on the binding of a quilt. Bought bananas from the clearance rack to make muffins. Refilled our stash of reusable K-cups with some discounted ground coffee. Cooked a batch of rice cooker spicy black beans and rice, which made five servings and used up a half can of diced tomatoes that was in the freezer. Listened to the first couple of hours of a free audio book while cleaning house.
Bonus: The towel rod in the bathroom recently started falling out of the brackets, which had become very slightly loose over 70-plus years. I don’t have a screwdriver small enough to tighten them, so cut shims from a clear plastic oatmeal container lid — these are endlessly useful — and now the rod is firmly seated.
1. Cut husband’s hair, which seems to grow freakishly fast if you ask me. His golf buddy went to a salon for a professional cut this week and it was $60 without a tip!
2. Sold some old tools and made $100 on FB marketplace.
3. Garden is producing faster than we can eat it. Have given a lot away but also made nine different vegetable soups that are now frozen for use during the winter.
4. Accepted a bag of apples that are too small and sour for good eating out of hand and made them into applesauce, to be eaten this winter.
5. Library for books and puzzles.
Im pleased to say I did not buy one thing this week. Im eating out of the pantry, freezer and fridge so I can pay down some debt. I’ve stocked up the first half of the year so I’ll only need to purchase fresh fruit, veggies and dairy for the next 2-3 months. I hope everyone has a nice and relaxing weekend!
While it’s true that the first pancake is usually pale on one side and burnt on the other, I would NEVER. I eat it. It’s a cook’s perk!
1. I have been having cereal for lunch each day as my sons safe foods shifted and the cereal and almond milk were almost out of date. This reduces waste, saves me from cooking, and heating the house so triple win.
2. I am creating art with and on materials found around the house. I’m enjoying the extra challenge of using up items that have been sitting for awhile in a new way. I love finishing up the last bits of things and knowing nothing was wasted.
3. I clipped the dog and saved myself aprox. $40+ tip by not taking him to the groomer.
4. I went back through my book wish list and found two that were not previously available through my libraries programs. I was just about to purchase something but this is the best outcome. First up is the book In Praise of Slowness by Carl Honore (Audio book on Hoopla)! Enjoying it so far.
5. We had some rain showers today and I put the plants out for a sky drink!
For dinner3 fish sandwiches and fries at the local fish market$36
At the grocery store fish section
$5.99 each
I went to the grocery store!
What’s the book please?
When my mother would get exasperated with me (often) she’d say: The first child is like the first pancake; it never turn out right. (I am the oldest.)
Lo and behold if my younger brother didn’t give her a run for her money, thus demolishing the pancake theory.