Five Tiny Frugal Things
by Katy on December 26, 2024 · 47 comments
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I sold a pair of reproduction prints* that I forgot I even had up for sale. Definitely not going to make me rich, but I’ll take the $28! (minus eBay fees.) I joke that my hobbies of thrifting, blogging and perusing the neighborhood’s “free piles” are all money makers; and frankly it’s true!
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I’m taking the day to recombobulate, both myself and my home. The elusive Portland sun is peeking out from behind the clouds and I’m taking it as sign to open up a few windows and refresh the stale air in the house. Staying at home is an extremely frugal activity, especially when the heat is off.
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I’m definitely not hitting any after-Christmas sales as I’ve put my spending patterns back into sleep mode. It doesn’t matter if an item is 50%-75% off, if it wasn’t something I would’ve bought in the first place!
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• I’m listening to The Lost Library audiobook through the library’s free Libby app while I putter around the house.
• I’m also reading my overdue library copy of The Echo of Lost Books, which I’ll hopefully finish up before bedtime. I really like the book, it’s just that my focus has been elsewhere.
• I arranged for the mail carrier to pick up my husband’s baseball glove, which he’s sending out to be re-laced. It wasn’t our regular carrier, otherwise I would’ve handed him the tin of treats that I picked up at Trader Joe’s for him. Being able to schedule these free USPS pickups saves me a couple of post office trips per week, so I really appreciate this service!
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I didn’t buy any vulgar gold plated apartments in the sky.
Katy Wolk-Stanley
“Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without.”
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{ 47 comments… read them below or add one }
I like the word recombobulate.
1. I went down to breakfast at our hotel even though there was nothing I could eat. I took a plate of cold things my husband can eat and put it in the ice chest. If breakfast is included, I’m getting something for someone.
2. I kept good track of leftovers and put all of mine in the ice chest. I also took the offered excess homemade cookies that my daughter was going to throw out. I’ll put them in my freezer when I get home today.
3. I didn’t bring in some of the chocolate that I’d brought for our family celebration because there was already so many sweets. So my husband can ration those out over the next week or so. I can’t eat chocolate.
4. We got gas at Costco in the town our kids live. It is significantly cheaper there.
5. I’m spending the week scanning family photos and we are not buying any food.
1. I ordered a shutterfly book with a 50% off promo code. It still was pretty expensive, but better than full price.
2. I ordered an annivesary gift for my husband off etsy that was on sale.
3. I “saved” $8 at the grocery store by buying sale items.
4. I saved a gift bag that a gift came in. It’s in good shape and we can re-use it.
5. I also saved the bows off gifts. They’ve been used multiple times.
I save bags and bows too and sometimes wrapping paper if it’s in good shape. If the wrapping paper is too far gone, I recycle it. I remember my frugal grandmother doing this back in the 60s and 70s and occasionally rolling my eyes. I didn’t realize then that everything costs money and it was a good practice. Although she probably didn’t think of it at the time, she was an early pioneer in the movement to save our planet! Thanks Grandma.
My grandma ironed used wrapping paper. I didn’t realize for years that this was not the norm.
I always iron and reuse my tissue paper!
Family get together Xmas Eve( started when grandchildren were small , dividing Xmas day between parents, I opted out of the madness, suggested they choose a day, any day, that suited, and I’d be fine with that. $5 Secret Santa, family know I’m fine with thrifted, re gifted or consumable, happy with nice regifted perfume. My daughter’s health is precarious, so we kept it low key, lunch so she could head to bed afterwards. Friends and I either don’t gift or randomly, through the year, gift when something particularly appropriate has popped up.
Wishing better health for your daughter as we head into the New Year. Sending hugs.
Coral, I second Christine’s sentiments.
Happy Chanukah (if that’s how you spell it…) and Happy Kwanzaa (ditto) to Katy and everyone celebrating those holidays! And I hope everyone else had a merry Christmas!
1. Decided against going back to Target to see if the clock box had been put on clearance so it’d be more affordable. I kept one for myself that I’d bought right before Christmas but returned the other two when I discovered they were not on sale, after all.
2. Worked the day shift at the store. Nice lady had a “We Dissent” button (people who voted blue will understand) and when I complimented her on it, she gave one to me. I wore it proudly and later got chewed out by some ignoramus who, in the course of our conversation, revealed she did not know that Germany was no longer a Communist country or that the Berlin Wall had been torn down. (That happened during Reagan’s presidency, for God’s sake!) But she voted for Trump, all right, and said God sent us Trump to make our country better. (I wanted to throw up!) Note to self: send contribution to League of Women Voters in hopes they can educate the ignorant masses before next election.
3. Mrs. Ignoramus later came in with a book to give me, one written by a crackpot conservative televangelist, saying Jesus told her to buy it at Hobby Lobby and give it to me. (If so, the good Lord must have a wicked sense of humor. My BFF used to work for Hobby Lobby and I could write a book about how they mistreat their employees. Like not allowing the women — married women included — to get birth control covered on Hobby Lobby’s employee health insurance plan. We’re talking birth control pills, mind you, not abortions.) I thanked the ignoramus, only because I had to…. and she prissed out. Since there was no one else in my line, waited ’til she got into her car; I then stepped outside and made a big show of dropping it into the outside trashcan. Which was filled with rainwater, fast food wrappers and cigarette butts. Not sure if she saw me, but I hope she did. The front end manager saw me and laughed.
4. Before I left I bought a package of red and green plaid tissue paper for next year’s gift bags. Marked down on final clearance, of course.
5. Used my 10 cent/gallon off coupon card to fill up with gas. It expires on New Years so I’m using it all I can.
Hey Fru-gal Lisa, do you have a gas can for your lawnmower? Might be worthwhile to fill that up too! We never get coupons like that, at least I don’t know where they would be found…
Exactly why I will never give Hobby Lobby one cent of my money. Isn’t that rich…someone who doesn’t realize the Berlin wall was torn down decades ago makes the voting choice she did. Good call with the book. Hopefully she saw you give it its new home. Sometimes people are too much trying to shove beliefs down others’ throats.
Thank you, Christine! I am a retired teacher, had trouble getting a job teaching my first choice subject area –Social Studies. (I had to settle for English, which I also enjoy, but…) Instead, they usually hired athletic coaches, the majority of whom didn’t give a rat’s posterior end as to whether the students fully understood history or how our government works or how to think critically in evaluating candidates and issues; the coaches are just cooling their heels until football practice begins and usually don’t teach much of anything. So it really, really burns me up to see uninformed people — including those who think Germany is Communist when it’s not — vote on the basis of what they heard on the conservative talk radio (esp. the shows that allow comments from all the Bubba types out there), saw on Fox ‘News’ (really a propaganda outlet) or saw on a very biased and slanted political TV commercial or sound byte. No wonder we elect mediocre candidates! (And, ironically the Berlin Wall came down after Reagan, the idol of most conservatives, told Gorbachev to “tear down this wall!” You’d think Mrs. Ignoramus would’ve known THAT!)
I so much wanted to tell Mrs. Ignoramus that she can keep her “prayer” book; I get my devotionals out of the Book of Common Prayer which has served my church for centuries and was NOT written by some phony baloney preacher who just wants to be famous and make a million dollars instead of humbly serving God. (I’m still seething, can you tell?) But thanks for the vote of confidence!
I second your opinion of Fox “News”. Funny how conservatives still turn to it (or should I say: are still glued to it) although Fox network has admitted they are not a news outlet but rather an entertainment outlet. Or as I call it…drivel.
Adventures in moving continue . . .
1. In the seven weeks since we decided to move I have rehomed 1450 items. Having given ourselves permission to move on anything we haven’t used in ten years (may move that criteria to five years), we got rid of all the China except for eight dinner plates that fit in the toaster oven. Also donating half of the service for twelve of flatware that I’ve been moving around since 1978. Now we don’t need the China cabinets—we’re moving someplace with actual cupboards.
2. Found a taker for the kitchen ware, the brass bed, the queen futon, the table in the basement, and tools and bolts. They fit out refugees with basic apartments, so I may throw in gas money to sweeten the deal.
3. I have a friend who gave up liquor a few years ago and has had a box of same sitting near her front door for months. I took it off her hands and gave bottles to several of the neighbors.
4. Got a buttload of moving boxes and packing material via freecycle. Got an estimate for the move from the company whose boxes I received. The mover had me walk around the house face-timing so he could do an accurate estimate.
5. Persons who thought they wanted to buy our house decided against it. But their interest did prod us into interviewing agents. Will sign with one sometime next week.
6. Indoor temp at 62 degrees. Long underwear, fingerless gloves, quilts on the couch, wool socks.
7. I’ve aged out of fixing a big Xmas dinner for just us two, so we went full Jewish and got Chinese carryout. Three meals so far, and the Mister used the empty containers for sorting bolts to donate.
8. Seven more weeks until we move. Oofta.
Wow Mary 1450 items is impressive! That’s one of the reasons I live moving, it forces us to take the hard decisions, as a lot of our stuff doesn’t pass the “would I pack it for a move” question
I’m going to do another round of serious decluttering this winter, with the question “Do I want to take this along to assisted living if/when I go?” as my guide. Pretty similar to “Swedish death cleaning,” actually.
We’re not going to assisted living yet but will have a smaller place in the retirement community. I’ve had too many older friends who stuffed a unit so full they could barely move. Don’t want to do that, and it’s a great time to think over what we don’t use any more. Bill spent a couple days going through his tools and my tools. It has been convenient to have basic tools on each floor (ditto for step ladders), but we are moving to one floor and neither of us should be doing stuff on ladders. A. Marie–I have a list of what I want with in my room in assisted living.
1. I vacuumed my car during the 50%-off happy hour at my local car cleaning center. My home vacuum cleaner is not strong enough to get all the dog hair out
2. Dinner out with family, mum treated us all (thanks mum!)
3. I got a bottle of delicious salad dressing at the restaurant, I’ve never been able to reverse engineer it, so I’m happy when I get the chance to buy some and support this family owned restaurant
4. I really want to try cross-country skiing as a way to get out and move during my lunch breaks (there’s a track 5 min from my home) so instead of buying equipment I rented and borrowed some, to see first if I actually like it
5. I spent a chunk of my afternoon playing out in the snow with the dogs
Always smart to borrow/rent equipment until you know if it works for you.
Does the car cleaning center call it “happy hour” or do you? Love that gimmick if they do!
Yes they actually call it happy hour 😉
It’s back to the regular at my house, with a fair amount of leftovers. I found a pack of Pledge wipes under the sink that had mostly dried out, refreshed them with a little water and used them to clean our faux wicker ceiling fan.
Also refreshed the kitchen chairs and the table legs with some Old English scratch cover. Used a coupon at Ace Hardware to cover all but 99 cents of the cost of a hair catcher for the shower drain, an item that I hope will save us a blocked drain. Had the last of the “use up this chicken thigh” soup from the freezer for dinner as the leftover ham is too salty for me. Mended the old Dollar Tree polypropylene shopping bag that holds odds and ends in the pantry.
1. I’m having my BIL and his family over for pizza. My treat which is my gift to them. Most of my gifting has been money or consumables this year.
2. My sisters and I bought my mother a new TV since hers needed to be replaced.
She would have bought one anyway so it was a good gift.
3. I had my family for Christmas. I made homemade cinnamon rolls and egg strudel with bacon for breakfast. We had prime rib, roasted baby potatoes and veggies for dinner with desserts provided by my mom. Not a cheap meal but definitely less than taking everyone out to dinner and breakfast.
4. I used wrapping paper and gift bags that I already owned. Most either gifted to me or purchased at estate sales.
5. My children gifted me with puzzles. We having been enjoying doing puzzles together so it’s a gift that includes time with spent with them. My mom also joined in and we worked on a puzzle Christmas day in between cooking meals.
5.
The book looks interesting but it’s Goldie Fawn who interests me more. I love that little deer…such an easy decoration for the holidays with a red nose stuck on.
1. I stayed in all day and it was just what I needed. I had 12 people over for my annual Christmas Eve party and then went to DS and DIL ‘s house about 35 minutes away for another party on Christmas Day. Both lots of fun but the fatigue is real. Frugality at its best is staying home snuggling on the couch in flannel pajama pants and a sweatshirt with a cup of hot tea in between easy but necessary chores…laundry catch up, mostly. No money spent.
2. I join Katy in not wanting to shop for after Christmas sales. I don’t need anything and can’t think of anything I will need for next year’s holiday season.
3. We’re eating leftovers from Christmas Eve. We had so much, we frozen some.
4. My 4 grandkids ages 23 to almost 17 seemed happy with cash and one small gift each. Our kids were happy with the consumables we ended up getting them. Although I wasn’t going to buy for the adults, I rethought it and figured with the price of groceries they could use a little help. Each couple and the one single guy each got a nut tray, overflowing with cashews, pistachios and candy coated peanuts. Semi healthy!
5. A small, low, corner table I had picked up at the thrift shop for $10 is now serving as a coffee table in the middle of the living room sectional. I had been looking for the right size coffee table at the Salvation Army and then realized I already own one. This always feels like such a frugal win to me.
I hope everyone had good holidays.
Christine, I love your idea of frugality at its best, being at home, snuggling up with hot tea, reading a book, wearing PJs and comfy clothes! I’m about to do just that, having found a really good history book (reads like a novel) at the Little Free Library. So glad I got a natural gas fireplace after that horrible Winter Storm Uri a few years ago. It’s more than paid for itself. And finding your coffee table without having to buy another — brilliant!
I have a friend who affectionately calls these days “pajama days”. They really are the coziest and comfiest while being ultra frugal days. That natural gas fireplace sounds awesome! What book are you reading? Maybe I’ll put it on hold at the library.
Shopping the house, @Christine! I love it when I find a random ‘thing’ that is already here and it meets a need I have identified. Currently one of my two chair-side tables is a wooden crate on its side = might not be pretty but it is perfect for what I need, and I really do NOT want to use one of the other side tables because they might be pretty but they are less functional. Weird, right, to think a crate is a more functional side table than an actual table….
Funny you should mention crates…my DD stayed with us for a few days. The room she was sleeping in is really small, like a twin bed and dresser fit in ok but that’s about it. I wanted a little bedside table for her and thought of an old milk crate I have from my father’s dairy…turned it over and there was a little table. Great minds think alike…lol!
Just popping in to thank Katy for some great posts and the commenters for such interesting content. I love hearing about how people celebrated and the practical and frugal gifts.
We had a tame Christmas day which was nice after having guests for 4 nights this past weekend. We are still in cleanup mode from the October hurricanes – progress is being made but it’s slow. I did make an assortment of cookies to share with friends / neighbors which I enjoy doing.
I have a Christmas tree that I hang on the wall. I take down a picture and hang the tree on the same hook. The whole process (including putting on two dozen ornaments) takes like 15 minutes max. When I take it down it folds up neatly and does not take up much space. It was a great investment.
1. Made a double batch of GF muffins since I had some milk that was starting to turn. I threw in some cranberry sauce and pumpkin that were extra in the refrigerator.
2. DH bought savings bonds through payroll deduction many years ago. We have cashed most of them but there were a few that had recently matured. He took them to the bank and cashed them. We will owe federal income tax on the difference between the purchase price and the maturity value but it still will keep us in spending money for a while.
3. We had Christmas lunch leftovers for lunch today.
4. We walked to the drug store to buy a gift card for a relative that has done a lot for DD this past year. No need to drive when it is less than a mile away.
5. DH looked up the availability and price of flannel lined jeans. I will continue to wear Cuddle Duds underneath my current jeans. I already have them and it means the jeans can be worn often instead of just on cold days.
Re your #5 – I have a pair of flannel lined jeans – got them on some ridiculous discount, more than 10 years ago. I feel like the tin man when I wear them – they are so stiff! They are warm, and worn only 3 times a year, it seams. No problem, I can store them for when I need them. I think you are wiser to use your existing method, the lined ones are useful for only a few days, unless you live in a really cold place.
Greetings from Oklahoma on day one of our trek to Arizona! Couple frugal things: We packed our own food and lowered the hotel pet rate from $75 to $25, just by asking nicely.
That’s an impressively made $50!
1. We did our annual Christmas bingo party with the whole family. Teenagers through Octegarians and it was a big hit. Everybody brought prizes, so that was the extent of our Christmas giftgiving.
2. My stepdaughter hosted at her house and she did decorate, but not over the top. We all contributed to the dinner which was frozen pizzas that had been doctored up with extra cheese and pepperoni, chili con queso with chips, a big vegetable tray, hot cocoa.
3. On Christmas Day I reached out to each of the older grandchildren and ask them what they got for Christmas. As they texted me back, I sent them money via Venmo. They were thrilled. My hasn’t the world changed!
4. We made a shepherds pie for Christmas day for just the two of us. I’m kicking myself for not draining the fat more thoroughly as the pie ended up a tad greasy. We are eating the leftovers as we should.
5. Work is very quiet right now, but I’m not having to take PTO. Just doing some end-of-the-year cleanup/admin work but also since I work from home, just taking it easy and doing jobs around the house. A very nice time of year.
1) Continued working on 2024 spending recaps, helping us hone in on our plan for 2025.
2) Finished a few surveys & cashed out.
3) We were flying yesterday, so we took (at my mom’s insistence) some leftovers from our holiday celebrations. I packed leftover pizza, which we ate at the Portland airport as lunch. Mixed nuts as a snack, and we all filled our water bottles before the flight. Which, turned out to be a very smart idea, as they couldn’t bring any drinks out on the flight due to turbulence.
4) We only exchange gifts for the young people, but we bring prizes for our games: Saran Wrap, Bingo & the Christmas Olympics. We all bring prizes, which makes it easy and not a lot of work for anyone, plus there are lots of surprises. I won two Starbucks gift cards, and added them to my app. We are heading out skiing today, and the teens like a Starbucks bagel in the morning before they head out. (There is one in the hotel lobby where we are staying.)
5) We were planning on eating at my son’s favorite Italian place while skiing, but just realized that the reservation fell over NYE & they were having a prix fixe menu. Taking a bunch of teens who won’t eat half of it isn’t a good plan, so we will swap out for something less expensive.
First, just a word about the spelling of Chanukah/Hanukkah/etc.: There really is no one “correct” English spelling. I use Chanukah because that’s the spelling that my best Jewish friends over the years (two high school classmates, Dr. Bestest Neighbor, and my former managing editor at work) use. But one reason for all the different spellings is that a Hebrew word is being transliterated differently into English by different users. Another, as Dr. BN explained to me over Xmas brunch (Ms. BN is, like me, a lapsed Episcopalian, and they celebrate both holidays), is that different branches and sects of Judaism have adopted different English spellings for their own. I had no idea.
Anyway, here are my FTFT, Recombobulation Edition (thanks to Katy for “recombobulate”):
(1) Once I got my next-door neighbor home from her other close friend’s Xmas Day afternoon open house, I too have been recombobulating. It’s been good just to sit down for a day and a half and collect my scattered wits.
(2) I’ve been doing some very minor domestic chores, such as moving the contents of a full hand sanitizer bottle with a broken pump into an empty bottle with a functional pump. Frugal things don’t get much tinier than that.
(3) Once the weather warms up over the weekend, I am getting out there and hitting the thrifts. The year-end donations plus the holiday presents people didn’t like should be starting to flood in.
(4) I’m taking the Bestest Neighbors to the airport on Dec. 31 for their annual London theatre trip, and will take that opportunity to visit a Thrifty Shopper near the airport (in the northern part of the county) that I don’t often get to.
(5) And once we get the anticipated warming/thaw/rain, I am also getting out there and bottlepicking. Expect my 2024 bottle/can deposit total along with my found change total as soon as Katy puts up the found change post.
“Recombobulate” is local to the Milwaukee, WI, airport. It is the area just past TSA and offers benches for persons to put on shoes, belts, etc. , and generally get themselves together.
A. Marie, the comment below was meant as a response to your comment.
Looking forward to seeing your year end bottle collecting total. You always do much better than I do but the last few months of this year a knee issue has kept me from walking much. On to the New Year!
Happy Holidays, everyone!
1. My brother gifted the family Christmas Eve dinner! No wasted gifts, and neither my parents or myself had to plan a menu, shop, or cook. We did cleanup.
2. My future in-laws conspired with my parents (FILs live in Germany) to gift us a Raclette Grill and all the fixings for their traditional Christmas Day meal. So another free meal! We had it while we were in Germany last year for Christmas, and I fell in love with it. I also appreciate being able to incorporate my partner’s holiday traditions into our own, as we spend much more time with my family than his.
3. I did take advantage of post-Christmas sales and a $10 voucher to buy a pair of washable sneakers from LLBean. $10 oop!
4. For breakfast this morning, I fried up leftover brussels sprouts from xmas eve, leftover potatoes and mushrooms from xmas day, and scrambled an egg with it. Topped with some fancy sharp cheddar and it was absolutely delicious.
5. Spent some time today reviewing my December budget and creating my January one. Both my partner and I are aiming for a very low-spend month. We do have one trip planned to visit family, and I need to buy a suit. But I’m going to search the thrift stores before buying new.
I like the idea of a time to “recombombulate”.
1. I’m also staying away from after-Christmas sales. Honestly, I’m tempted, but I really need to declutter and not bring in more clothes, books, or things in general.
2. I kept my grocery shopping very minimal this week – some food for my cat and a single bag of on-sale potato chips for me. I have plenty of everything else.
3. I sold a book that I’ve had on eBay for months. I was actually about to give up on it and take the listing down. I have some other books I will probably remove from eBay and take to Half Price Books instead, but at least I sold that one!
4. The last few times I sold things online, I have cut the blank part off the printed postage label and saved it for scratch paper. It comes in handy for to-do lists and grocery lists.
5. I’m reading books I already own, listening to Christmas music and various podcasts for free on Spotify, and watching movies on streaming services I get for free.
1. Received a virtual MasterCard gift card with $11.90 on it from a class action lawsuit.
2. Redeemed grocery points at one store for $8 off my order. This is the same grocery store where I had a bunch of free freezer items (from buying a chest freezer from them). I was able to pick up the last 5 free items (family size lasagna, 3 different types of ice creams bars/popsicles and a frozen pizza), as well as some French bread, 2 donuts for the kids, brownie mix and some frozen breakfast sandwiches for $6.20.
3. At a different store, I realized as I was walking out that my grocery rewards card hadn’t been scanned. Customer service was able to refund me the money I would’ve saved ($14.76! So I’m glad I noticed!)
4. Sold 2 items on ebay for a profit of $54.11. Used recycled boxes and bubble wrap to package the items.
5. I was able to find something in my gift closet to give to my niece for her birthday which is tomorrow. Two different Hello Kitty items (hand cream and sheet masks) that I had gotten from my Buy Nothing group a while back.
1. Avoided the lunch spot down the street on my way home from a doctor’s appointment. Leftovers at home were tasty, which helped motivate me to not eat out.
2. Back to my usual routine of coffee at home and drinking mostly water.
3. Finally had to turn the heat on (annoying) but able to keep it low by wearing sweatpants and a sweatshirt around the house and put us on a budget plan with the utility to avoid any nasty spikes.
4. Offering to have friends stay with us through the weekend as the holiday party circuit starts to blend with birthday parties. This reduces other expenses (lunches or breakfasts out) as we can just have folks over and enjoy time together.
5. Continuing to use up leftover snacks and such when making holiday treats. I don’t care for mini pretzels, but melt a rolo on them and i’ll eat them all (and we have a big ole bag of them!)
Happy Hanukkah and happy holidays to all
1. Needed milk so I went to one of my grocery stores on the 26th and walked through the meat department. I ended up buying $97 worth of meat for $44. I vacuum packed them and it came out to 32 servings of meat in all. Some of which will go to my son to feed him, his BF and their best friend roommate.
2. my son came to the house on the 26th. A deer hit him (he was OK, just shaken up) the week before Thanksgiving and the body shop has had his car for over 4 weeks. It was ready yesterday. He was very happy to give the rental car back (although it was new) and be back in his own car. I am very grateful that I have good insurance.
3. Since the boy is here (and I had him bring his apartments worth of laundry 5 loads). There is a local bowling alley that charges $11 per person from 9 PM to midnight, shoes included. So we went bowling last night. He will be going home tonight. It was nice having him hang out.
4. Gifted a gift card to Michael’s and still have some Memere kitchen towels to finish crocheting. So I used some of the money to buy some cotton yarn. Michaels was having a buy one get 1, 50% off sale, so I bought six balls.
5. Before the boy leaves to go home, I told him we could go out/order in. I’m just waiting for him to decide what he would like.
Oh, one more thing! I had a very weird dream last night about my late sister‘s best friend(who is also deceased). The whole dream didn’t make sense, but when I woke up, I felt like I needed to check the missing money website. My sister‘s name was not on it, but her late husband was and so was my niece. So I sent the link and told her I found their names on the site. She’s going to put in for the refunds. It only totals about $100, but that’s $100 more than she had this morning.
I’ve found money on MassMoney.com twice for myself and called a couple of relatives when I’ve seen their names listed. Like you say, it may not be a lot of money but it’s more than I had when I woke up that morning. However, whoever or wherever you got that urge to check the website from, your niece must be very happy about it.
1. Enjoyed a low key Christmas at home. We smoked a brisket and used it for Christmas Eve and Day dinner, and have been eating leftovers from those meals ever since.
2. Tween daughter’s birthday is day after Christmas, and our tradition is the birthday person gets to pick a restaurant. She always picks hibachi. We go for lunch because its half the price of dinner, but still more food than we can eat in one sitting.
3. Remembered to check Get Upside and got 6% cash back for the restaurant. Brought home a container stuffed with leftover fried rice, vegetables, and teriyaki steak that my always starving teen son ate as a mid afternoon snack.
4. Tried the Too Good To Go app for the first time yesterday, and then again today. Having fun seeing what’s available near me, and the kids enjoyed the cookies we got both times.
5. Met husband at the grocery store gas station we were both driving past on our way to separate outings with the kids and gassed up both cars to use 45 cents per gallon fuel discount before it expired.
I’m gearing up for a hardcore no spend in 2025 because I have major goals such as moving once my son graduates HS this year. I also have a wee bit of anxiety being a remote working FedGuv worker. We seem to be a punching bag of late and it might be even worse soon enough. So, in the spirit of keeping my head above water, here are some of my frugal habits of late:
1. Made eggplant chickpea tagine with cous cous using pantry and refrigerator items. I am also going to be using up pantry items until I feel it’s properly rotated.
2. Created a digital inventory of the pantry and other household supplies (it’s good to know what one has on hand).
3. Picked up the super sale items at the local grocery chain like spaghetti sauce and pasta. This will be rotated behind older stuff.
4. Working on purging and cleaning the spare bedroom (aka junk room). I have started a bag of stuff to sell on eBay/FB/etc.
5. And, this was almost a frugal fail, I misplaced a paper check the state sent me (tax credit) back in Oct. I was going to call them to get a new one, but I found it today as I was cleaning up my office area. This will kind of help offset the massive property tax increase we were gifted with for 2025. I also finally set up direct deposit, so I don’t have to deal with a paper check in the future.
I have learned so much from following these 5FTs through the years. Thank you, Katy and tribe, for keeping this vibe going! Happy New Year!