Five Tiny Frugal Things
by Katy on July 10, 2024 · 53 comments
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I sold a second pair of Adidas sneakers* from my evening of aprés-garage sale freebies. Not a fortune at $18, but still 100% profit since I got them for free. For those keeping track, this is what I’ve sold so far:
• IKEA outdoor table — $50
• Tempered glass coffee table — $20
• REI suitcase — $50
• Adidas Samba sneakers — $45
• Random stuff to a consignment shop — $11.70
• Adidas Sam Smith sneakers — $18
Total — $194.70
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We avoided the temptation of takeout during Portland’s beastly heatwave, even going so far as to plug the Instant Pot into an outdoor outlet at one point. Front porch black beans? Yes, please!
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I’ll be going to NYC next week to help my sister with a project, so I’ve pulled out my Master Travel List™, which helps keep me from forgetting important items or tasks. I won’t actually need everything on this list, as my sister’s house is fully stocked, but it should help me avoid buying things I left at home.
It’s currently sitting on the coffee table so I can jot down thoughts as they come to mind.
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• I chopped and froze four purple onions that were on the verge of retirement. This unfortunately flavored our ice cream, but we’re eating it anyway. Would not recommend.
• My husband and I are keeping meticulous track of the money we’re spending for his father’s estate, to make sure we can be promptly (and properly) reimbursed when his house sells.
• I ordered a pair of used Allbird sneakers from eBay and paid just $31 including shipping. They came and look brand new!
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I didn’t accept the airline’s offer to upgrade to first class for a mere 1,150 extra dollars.
Katy Wolk-Stanley
“Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without.”
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{ 53 comments… read them below or add one }
Somehow, my sister always gets a “bid” email where she bids a certain amount to get an upgrade. She has won this twice for a European trip for the way home after she got sick both times. It was a lifesaver for her.
And I’m stealing your list. I always forget things and was wondering if you would reprint this list. I always use a travel purse that is a cross-body bag holds just my money, passport, credit cards and phone. It has a strap that you cannot cut and is RFD so they can’t scan my credit cards. It is amazing not to carry around everything but the kitchen sink which is so not needed when traveling.
1. Used up a bunch of cut up produce in a low-sodium noodle salad. My youngest wanted hot dogs for his birthday dinner and hot dogs aren’t on my approved foods list, so this salad hit the spot. And I avoided food waste.
2. My son was in charge of getting some produce and he bought bananas that were already on the downslide, so I cut some up to freeze in slices for snacks and threw the others whole in the freezer for later baking projects.
3, When we first got our cat, I stupidly bought non-clumping litter (I didn’t think they made it anymore!) and it has been sitting in the garage since because Commodore Fluffington is used to clumping. DH hit upon a solution; he combines it with the fancy clumping litter to stretch it. Works just as well and meets with feline approval.
Young kittens will eat litter, so they need non clumping. If they eat clumping it can clump and expand in their stomach and cause blockage. If anyone ever has any they don’t know what to do with, your local animal rescue would probably love to take it off your hands. I’m glad you found a frugal solution to use yours!
That is good to know! I have a friend whose daughter’s cat is expecting kittens, I will pass that on so they know while fostering the kittens!
Thank you, Karen A. for the suggestion about mixing non-clumping litter with the more expensive type. My daughter bought a large box of the non-clumping on sale and now it is staring at me every time I open the utility closet. I am going to suggest we mix it to get it used up. Sitting on unused “whatever” is no bargain. I already feel better.
I hope your cats approve, Sandra! 🙂
1. I stopped into the Salvation Army store on my way to the grocery outlet. I searched through the clothing and household items but left with nothing.
2. I stocked up at the grocery outlet store with some good deals. i hid a few items away for a future trip so they don’t get eaten. We treat these trips as entertainment since you never know what you’ll find. I’ve tried a lot of interesting foods this way.
3. Along with my two youngest daughters and my son-in-law, we brought dinner to my MIL. She has dementia and doesn’t like to leave her house. We made a pasta dish with mainly ingredients on hand and added a salad and bread. We took a bottle of leftover wedding wine. It was good to bring her a home cooked meal instead of takeout or pizza. She ate well which was nice to see.
4. I added a couple of receipts from my daughter to my Meijer rewards account. She forgets to input the info when she checks out.
5. I sold a small item on Ebay and I listed another item. I re-used a shipping box and packing materials.
1. My Audible membership pause came to an end. I contacted Audible to switch from Audible Premium Plus to Audible Plus. The representative explained that my gifted premium plus membership runs through July. He scheduled a free month of Audible Plus to start in August before payments begin in September. I was very impressed with the service! While logged into Audible, I took advantage of a “buy 2 books for 1 credit” deal.
2. We installed a new WIFI router and needed to reconnect our programmable thermostat. I reprogrammed it to minimize AC usage.
3. I changed our phone/internet plan saving $40/month.
4. HH made “pesto” using garlic scapes from the garden and clearanced pecans.
5. I am working to avoid food waste after the holiday weekend. I planned meals around what will expire first and froze the remaining fruit and buns. We sent some leftovers home with the college kids so they will not need to shop or cook this week.
Long time reader joining in here today. Heat wave has forced me into the much cooler basement to have “low-key” blog reading and laundry folding. I always enjoy reading everyone’s comments. Here are my frugal brags to add :
1. I received 3 large garbage bags of clothing from my generous Buy Nothing Group; I emptied the bags on to the basement couch and invited my daughter and my sister to go through everything with me. We all took a generous armful and will re-post the remaining items back into the Buy Nothing Group. Also added a few items. We were all pretty thrilled with free clothing.
2. I washed my new to me clothing and hung inside on drying racks. I live in a very dry climate so I do this year round.
3. A/C is rarely needed in my area, so I have been making sure to pull shades and curtains. One of my blinds is a bit too short so I unfolded a large box to cover the bottom portion of the window to provide full coverage.
4. I cut catnip from the backyard to dry for my kitty.
5. I photographed and listed a few items on FB. I didn’t think much would sell, but I sold a couple of bags of books, a storage shelf and some misc. $60 in and crap outta here!
Re: your #4, my own Betty adores the catnip I grow and dry for her. In fact, I have to limit her access to it, or otherwise I’d have to check her into catnip rehab. (And she’s always trying to sneak up into my attic, where I dry my catnip and all my other herbs.)
1. Contacted Hershey’s about one of their bars that tasted chalky. Should be getting a coupon for a free bar
2. Download $10 activity reward from United Healthcare. Will use at Walmart
3. Took a quick survey which gave me $5 gift card at Walmart
4. Downloaded a coupon for .75 Newmans salad dressing and another for.50 off box of Kleenex
5. Celebrating national ice cream month by buying a 4 pack of store brand ice cream bars.
I love to hear someone bought a Newmans Own product. I know it’s more expensive than say, a store brand (although lucky with a .75 coupon) but the profit goes directly to charity including The Hole in the Wall camps for kids facing serious illnesses. My granddaughter is a childhood cancer survivor who attended the camps all through her teen years and loved them. Her brother also attended the siblings camp week and their parents also got to go to family weekends. All completely free through Paul Newman’s generous foundation. Thank you for supporting it Kathy!
Great job on selling your after GS items! Yay for free money!
I like your travel list. I have one similar, plus 1 for camping.
My next door neighbor came over to collect his thank you cookies (choc chip) that I baked in the solar oven. He saw my back porch “kitchen” toaster oven, IP and electric wok on my metal projector table and shop work bench. I refuse to heat up the kitchen to make food. I have more granola baking in the oven right now.
Won tickets/entrance fee to a local county fair. Fun entertainment w/favorite cousin’s family.
I picked a gallon of blueberries this morning, will wash them and put in 1 cup portions for the freezer.
Picked a gallon of broccoli, will prepare for freezing on cookie sheets.
Put 2 big loads of wash on the line to dry.
Katy, have you checked out Allbirds’ Reruns? They sell their returns for a really good price, and I have always found them like new.
And I really like a company that allows you to buy their products used.
Ok, so, hear me out: I am confused about why you would struggle through onion-flavored ice cream! lol I understand eating a salad that tastes a little funky, or soldiering through leftover broccoli that is a little sad, but I don’t think I’d eat onion ice cream.
If I eat ice cream, I want it to be a seriously good experience. Otherwise it’s not worth the sugar to me!
It’s more like we could smell the onion while tasting the mint-chocolate chip. I guess the hot weather may have played a role in our willingness to chow down on a less than ideal ice cream experience.
Take the onion ice cream, put it in a blender with a pint of vodka, after a few glasses you won’t notice the onion flavor at all.
I never drink, so I’m a complete lightweight when it comes to alcohol. I would definitely get my money’s worth!
I’m also impressed with the amount you made off of free items.
Onion-flavored ice cream? Ack! If you ate it, you are a frugal fanatic for sure! Wouldn’t it have been better to save it for an April Fool’s dessert?
1. Guy at work brought big boxes to the break room labeled “free stuff.” Sadly, it contained leftovers from his mom’s estate sale. I got a basket and a framed print. Upon closer examination, the basket is peeling paint and it is evident that they once glued a Styrofoam block inside. This won’t cut it as a gift basket, as I’d intended, so off to Goodwill it goes. I’ll combine it with other donations (I’m uncluttering!) and get a 20% discount coupon from it.
2. In this heatwave, I’ve been parking under some trees. The shade is nice, but the bird droppings are not. The car stealership had given me a coupon for an automatic car wash on the wrong side of the tracks. Since the drive-through carwash was closed, I went there. Coupon didn’t work and there was a guy behind me who wouldn’t let me back up and get out. I summoned a worker and explained my problem, saying I didn’t want to pay for his carwash when I’m a member of another carwash across town. He said he’d honor the coupon anyway, punched a few buttons into the control, and I got a free carwash. Nice of him to do that, but here’s yet another reason I will not buy a car from that dealership again.
3. Eureka! I found the missing credit card. I had already de-activated it, but the banker said I had 7,000 points and that I should use it 2x a year or they’d cancel it. This would supposedly mess up my credit rating. So I phoned their 800 number to re-activate the card — and got some poor foreigner in another country. I could barely understand her accent and her “verification” questions were insane. Let me ask you this: it’s July, and could you remember various random purchases you made back in November? Me, neither. I’d be at a loss to tell you what all I spent it on in June! She was rude and arrogant towards me. So I hung up and went to the bank (it issues that credit card). They took care of the business and redeemed my 7.000 points for me. I was thinking wow, this sounds like it’ll be a lot of money; should I take a round-the-world trip, put on a new roof or buy a riding lawnmower with such a princely sum? None of the above: it turns out the 7,000 points equal to only $14. Oh, and I lodged a formal complaint against the telephone lady. Methinks if you can’t speak English well enough for an average American to understand you, perhaps you shouldn’t have that job. Give it to someone in the U.S. who needs to work! I told the banker that Discover Card uses all U.S.-based telephone operators, so why can’t they? I also said if I have any more bad experiences like this, I will take all my money out of their bank and go to the credit union instead. His eyes got wide as saucers and he typed up the complaint right away. Maybe it’ll do some good!
4. Used a fast food coupon. BOGO free; my friend and I dined in frugal luxury, not having to cook on a hot summer day. Took a survey at another fast food joint; got the free meal with purchase of large drink.
5. Instead of buying lights for my covered patio, I dug out some clear Christmas tree lights and a string of old patio lights I’d used in Florida. The latter had 10 bulbs out. The bulbs were inside little “lanterns.” Got some WD-40 and sprayed the metal lanterns and was able to screw off the tops. Bought some night light bulbs which fit the sockets, and used those. Reassembled the lights and hung them around. Also put a box fan outside. Chez Fru-gal Lisa is now in business for al fresco dining! (Assuming the evening temperatures are below 100, that is.)
I understand about the onion flavoring — except in our case, it was peaches. I chopped and froze 25 pounds of onions I got cheap — and those bags promptly flavored the peaches I’d also put in the freezer. You’re gutsier than me, Katy — I just couldn’t eat those darn peaches.
Hit a good thrift store hosting a $1 special on shirts — we bought 16! Some we kept, some were gifted to a son and daughter. The Brick especially needed these — his work shirts were looking pretty faded.
Went to the local Amish grocery/salvage store and got a bunch of bargains, including Japanese steakhouse shrimp sauce for 79 cents. Our best buy, though, was a wheel of Swiss cheese (5.5 lb) for $12.99. Whoo! Swiss is usually $6/lb around here.
And I’ve been cooking at home — over and over and over.
Almost $195 is nothing to sneeze at! Good for you Katy, especially as you didn’t spend a cent so it’s all profit.
1. A. Marie, you’ll appreciate this one. I don’t know what the laws are regarding deposit cans and bottles in NY but here in Mass. the State Senate passed a bill to expand the Bottle Bill. Now it just has to pass the House and go to Governor Healey’s desk to be signed. This must be done by July 31st so I’m keeping my fingers crossed. Cans and bottle deposits will go up to .10 and added to the list of items already on the bill are other bottles and cans, including water bottles and my “Grrrr…trigger”: nips. Picking up bottles and cans may soon be more lucrative.
2. I reused a large plastic bag my meds. get delivered in (although it’s 3 little pill bottles) and stuffed it with clothes and cloth to donate to St. Vincent de Paul. The meds. also arrive with a bulky cotton padding that I donate to the church where sleeping bags for the homeless are sewed. The ladies who sew love them as they can be made into pillows. They’ve tried to recruit me to make sleeping bags but sewing is not my thing, except I’m willing to mend. My part will have to be donations. Now if only pill bottles could be recycled…
3. I found three pairs of reading glasses in a drawer while looking to find things to sell at my upcoming yard sale. One pair is too weak for me now but the other two were too strong when I bought them but guess what, are perfect now. The weaker pair I will sell at the yard sale.
4. I picked up a book I had on hold at the library: Long Island by Colm Toibin, the sequel to Brooklyn which I read recently. Can’t wait to start it.
5. I used the $10 from my CVS Care pass to buy Ben & Jerry’s ice cream for DH and me. It was also on sale BOGO 50% off so two pints cost me $1.68. This feels warranted during the heat dome and it keeps us from the temptation of stopping somewhere for ice cream. Plus, we each got our favorite flavors, Half Baked and Strawberry Cheesecake.
I have seen a news story about an entity that reuses old pill bottles, such as for distribution by medical missionaries, but don’t know the details. Also saw a mention of how veterinary offices can use pill bottles when they dispense only a few pills to their patients; don’t know how widespread this is.
Thank you. I will ask my vet about the reuse of pill bottles. And I’ll research the medical missionary med. distribution.
https://m25m.org/pillbottles
This is the place I have donated pill bottles to in the past.
Thanks Lindsey. I just read the link and it sounds easy enough. I also got on their email so I can get notifications. How many pill bottles would you send at one time?
I think there was/is a Matthew 25 Mission that did this. The thing is, you have to wash ’em and dry ’em and take the labels off and sort them and put the caps back on and make sure no sticky residue remains and do this and do that before mailing ’em in. By the time you pay postage (or shipping by another means) and spend all that time and effort, it just might not be worth it. I normally love to give things to recycling efforts and mission work but I gave up on this one.
https://m25m.org/pillbottles/
Christine, I wish you and the rest of MA luck on the passage of your expanded bottle bill. The one for NY State is still tied up in committee and unlikely to get out of it any time soon.
Thank you A. Marie! I hope NY catches up soon too.
Both the husband and I take a lot of pills so I wait until I get 50 bottles. The husband uses Goo-Gone to take label residue off while he is watching TV. Then I wash them and throw them in a box we have for saving them. When the box is full, off it goes. It is a bit of a pain but I could not stand the thought of throwing them away and really overall it probably adds up to an hour of time for a load. Before that, our vet took them but he was bought out by SWEAR WORD equity firm and they only care about raising prices and not much about community improvement or relations. Soon the vet will go the way nearly all other equity acquisitions go—the land will be mortgaged and eventually sold and the practice closed while the parasites move on to a new location or industry (like doctor practices or buying homes to become slumlords…)
Thanks for letting me know what is an appropriate amount to send. I already have goo gone. Good to know it will work well on the pill bottles. I’m sorry about your vet being bought out by SWEAR WORD. Sad when a valuable asset to the community disappears.
That was a profitable afternoon of curb shopping!
Target is trying to increase usage of their App. I purchased some household supplies that I needed and received a $15 gift card to use on a future purchase. I also purchased some reef-safe sunscreen, shampoo, dental floss, and face cream which put my total over $90 which earned another $10 gift card. $25 in gift cards will come in handy later.
I am listening to The Dead Romantics on the library app, Libby. After reading and listening to several excellent but emotionally heavy books, I have chosen something lighthearted and sweet. This story about a romance writer who sees ghosts is entertaining but won’t leave me gutted.
I took my sister to lunch yesterday to thank her for watching my kitty and helping with my dog when my daughter had emergency surgery last week. Restaurants are getting so expensive, so it wasn’t especially frugal. However, it was much less expensive than boarding Rescue Pup for 4 days. Besides it’s always nice to spend time with my sister.
Of course. I have been brewing my own coffee, drinking filtered water from the refrigerator, and eating home cook meal with exception of yesterday’s lunch.
Wishing everyone peace, good health and prosperity.
Hope your daughter is on the mend and feeling better.
Thank you! She seems to be doing well, but tires easily. I wish I lived closer so I could help her more.
I’m also hoping your daughter is feeling better.
Bee, I add my good wishes for your daughter’s continuing recovery to everyone else’s.
Have a great time in NY. If you ever make it to Long Island, I would love to meet up and show you around with free library passes.
1. I am picking wineberries(Japanese raspberries) every day, about a quart. I have frozen lots and shared even more. It is definitely a great year. We did have a very rainy spring. Sugar snap peas, peas, lettuce, basil and parsley are every other day pickings.
2. I had 2 doctors appointment and my daughter needed me to drive her to get a prescription. I grabbed a chicken cutlet in between to keep me going. It was leftovers from last night.
3. I took my 3 little cousins to see Despicable Me 4. I had free passes but it was my old manager on box office. She told me to save the passes and got us in for free. We brought our own drinks and snacks.
4. My cousin texted me if I wanted to eat over so I did when I dropped off her boys. I’m all about a free night of no cooking.
5. Hubby is working late so he will eat leftovers when he gets home.
1. I found around 24 cans of food outside a clothing donation box. They are expired so I know the area food bank won’t take them. I will give them to the homeless on street corners who are asking for food. I may use a few of the canned veggies myself. I have eaten canned goods that are past the sell by date & have not been sickened. I keep food in my car to pass out to those who need it.
2. I sauteed some radish greens with some chopped onions & served them to my husband. He likes turnip and mustard greens & he liked these too. (I checked online 1st to make sure they are edible and/or not poisonous.)
3. I needed some new low quarter socks. Eureka, I found a six pack of new ones in a sack in a dumpster. The cardboard packing was torn so I think this was why they were tossed.
4. The husband found a 20 lb sack of Purina Cat Chow in the Dol Gen dumpster. I have trained him well.
5. I used my quarterly Medicare Advantage credit to buy OTC meds & vitamins.
Your and your husband’s trashpicking abilities never cease to amaze me, texasilver. I’ve found next to nothing lately myself, except for one can of chickpeas (still well within its date) in a pile of stuff cleaned out of a recently vacated property. The other foods didn’t seem safe to collect (breaches in permeable packaging), but I didn’t have a problem with bringing the can home and rinsing it off.
Well done on the dumpster diving to you and your DH. Quite a haul!
I join the others in being in awe of your trash picking! I inherited 10 pepper plants from the food bank where I volunteer. They were gives dozens and no one wants them this late in the season so they were about to go to the dumpster. I took 10 for the greenhouse. They may produce nothing but I had the soil available so why not? They are expensive at the store, so even if I get two peppers per plant, I will have made out. And at the end of the season, the plants will go to the chickens next door, from which we get eggs as part of the deal of selling them our chicken operation. But never have I made out like you do trash picking!!
Caramelizing onions before freezing them takes the stink out of them, but is a fair amount of work.
A medical appointment took me near the big Goodwill, so I popped in and bought two sweaters on clearance and six Lenox Spyro pasta bowls. The whole stack of bowls was $2.99. For giggles I checked the prices on eBay, which are simply ridiculous.
The appointment also took me past Aldi, where I did some shopping to aid DH, who has been diagnosed with gluten sensitivity. Spent $35, which included a huge jar of mixed nuts, for a big shopping bag of no gluten products.
Otherwise, I washed and vacuumed my car out on the driveway, saving myself the $45 charge at the nice car wash, knocked $2.90 off the grocery total with store coupons for peanut butter and toilet paper, and picked a bunch of cat mint to entertain my fat girl kitty, who is on a slimming plan and not happy about it.
Ruby, I wish you luck on the cat mint slimming plan–but, unfortunately, my plump Betty (see my remark above about her catnip addiction) only seems to get the munchies after a catnip revel. Sigh.
A friend once said he read that catnip is like marijuana for cats. Perhaps the munchies are a related effect.
The homegrown fresh cat mint seems pretty mild. She just rolls around on it and gets a bit cheerful. I don’t like to get them drunk on it because they can’t tell us how it feels, if there’s a hangover effect afterward.
Thank you, I’ll caramelize them next time.
Wow, you scored at Goodwill!
1. I am wearing a dress that a friend passed down to me that is perfect for hot days spent in very chilly offices. I feel great and happy to know this dress is getting a second life (and it has pockets!)
2. Traveling a lot for work means some reimbursed meals, some not. Have finally zeroed in on my formula for road trip snacks — a combo of clif bars, peanut butter crackers, and seltzers– to feel full and not be tempted by vending machines.
3. Sister is getting married in Europe this summer – managed to avoid most flight costs by booking trains for 1/3 of the price to get around, plus used my good standing with Expedia to get a few discounted rates on hotels and such. Total cost? About 1/2 of our estimate!
4. Made a few strategic purchases outlet shopping to bring a lot of things in my closet back into the rotation! Very excited to get to wear some things I haven’t felt were quite right.
5. Spending lots of time out of the house, reducing the amount we need to run the AC and keeping our energy bills down.
I would add small packages of fruit to your snack stash. More waste but some more nutrients. Or grab mandarin oranges…though they wouldn’t store well in your vehicle.
With the heat wave, the priority is unmeltable and unrottable 🙂
That’ll be fun to go to a wedding in Europe! Hopefully with better snacks.
Clif bars now, buffalo mozzarella later!
1. Eating from the fridge even though I wanted differently.
2. Froze whole tomatoes in the freezer. I saw someone on youtube do it. I think it was Laura Leggett. I froze bananas on their last legs as well.
3. Watching Wimbledon and soccer (football to the rest of the world) for entertainment.
4. Not buying a couple of things I would like because I really didn’t need them.
5. All the regulars-coffee and water from home, keeping aircon between 72-74, ect.
I like to just eat chunks of frozen ripe bananas, they’re very satisfying on a hot day.