Five Tiny Frugal Things
by Katy on February 2, 2025 · 12 comments
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I’ve gone for a couple of cold weather walks over the past few days and been pleasantly surprised both times to discover cozy chenille gloves in my coat pockets. Gloves that I’d found from under the soccer bleachers where my husband and son play. Super soft and warm, with the extra satisfaction that I rescued them from the waste stream and the price was free-ninety-nine!
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I returned books to my sad temporary library that’s open while my branch is being expanded over the next year or so. All this branch/not a branch offers is holds pick ups, book returns and “lucky day” books. I browsed the lucky day books and found a hard copy of Margo’s Got Money Troubles, which I hadn’t been able to finish in time as a Libby audiobook. Now to figure out my place in the book.
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I had my mother and step father over for dinner and kept the meal simple, serving pasta, salad and a $1 loaf of garlic bread from the Franz Bakery Outlet. Plus tap water, as I’m fancy that way.
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My friend Lise gave me a terry cloth robe no one in her family wasn’t using, as she knew I was keeping an eye out for an extra robe for house guests.
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I didn’t buy an election.
Katy Wolk-Stanley
“Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without.”
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{ 12 comments… read them below or add one }
1. Made a chicken pot pie from two cups of diced rotisserie chicken. This was good for six meals with a salad. Even with a homemade cream sauce and a couple of cups of diced vegetables, it is still a cheap and easy meal that never fails to satisfy on a chilly winter night.
2. I have always been a card saver. I decided this year to sort through my saved valentine cards and cut them up to make my own new cards for family and friends. It was fun, easy, and inexpensive as I already had a stash of blank cards and envelopes bought for just a couple of dollars (leftovers from someone’s wedding).
3. I was given a small pot of basil as a hostess gift. I took cuttings from it and made more basil starts for spring when I can plant them outdoors.
4. Following the principle that “a stitch in time saves nine”, I got busy and mended a favorite sweater. I had a button come off a pajama top, found it and sewed it back on then went ahead and added additional reinforcement to the other buttons.
5. No shopping for entertainment, only needs.
I love free gloves, though I normally only find one!! Do have a couple of “odd”pairs, they live in the car for emergencies!
Weeded and pruned my herb bed, neat and tidy ready to grow.
A bargain chicken has done a total of 9 people dinners and 4 dog scraps.
Having a sort out, a few things that are to go to the food bank (a change of recipe and dietary issues) rather than waste them. More things to the charity shop. I have tried selling things, but we are out in the sticks and people aren’t so willing to travel. Can get some to meet up at a local supermarket car park, but it so doesn’t seem to work for me!!
Haven’t been past our gate for 4days, darned a few items of clothing, and sewed u some annoyingly loose button holes,no money for online purchases, so penny pinchers heaven!!
Every year I find a pair of underpants abandoned on the sidewalk, but I am still waiting for this year’s contribution to my garbage (I won’t recycle underwear). Instead, I found a tiny foot’s snow boot. It was 27 below the morning I found it while taking out the garbage, so all I can figure is that some parent was carrying a baby and didn’t realize the kid’s boot came off. I put the boot upside down on a stick I pushed into the snow so it would be more visible.
1. Made borscht with a cabbage, a stray can of beets, and some sort-of-freezer burned kielbasa. Turned out better than I thought it would and fed us for three days.
2. Donated two bags of gently worn men’s clothing to the rescue mission. Got a tax receipt.
3. Gave a cranky printer to someone on the local free group. A kid was eager to get it, for tinkering with electronics I think. Garbage out of the house pleases me.
4. A friend had a birthday so I gave her a certificate for a loaf of challah every Friday for a month. I make it every week, she loves it, and it is a gift that costs me little and does not clutter her house.
5. Sold another book.
Thanks for reminding me that a friend gave me his Ukrainian grandmother’s borscht recipe. Which is one of those grandma like “Take some short ribs…” no amounts given things, but wanna try it soon because we love soup. And I’m experienced enough to wing it.
I used to make challah every week too; exMIL loved it when I gave her a loaf. When Son drives up to visit her in a couple weeks, I’ll send her a loaf. Thanks for reminding me of that too!
Yesterday I took some odds and ends of frozen veggies, spinach, some mushrooms, a little pasta, white beans and a small can of salmon and made myself a skillet meal. The current thinking on a healthy diet is to eat beans, greens, mushrooms and fish often. Also made a pan of mixed berry baked oatmeal for breakfasts and cooked up a carton of chicken livers, rice and some slightly freezer-burned ground beef as kibble topper for the dogs. The oatmeal used up two eggs that were getting elderly. They’ve been so expensive that I was reluctant to use them for the longest time.
Offered my husband a free home haircut, which he has yet to take me up on. I’m using some conditioner my son brought home from the free table at work. One of the odd things about being on the downslope of middle 60s is I have dry hair for the first time ever. It looks a lot better with conditioner.
Getting frugal-er by the day, no thanks to Mr Tariff Pumpkinhead.
1. Eating from the freezer means we’re having the other half of a Costco ham from December tonight, and some homemade mac & cheese using free (food bank) macaroni and leftover cheeses. I was at the doggie thrift store last week and they had freebies leftover from the food bank, which offers groceries near that store. I took home a bag of raisins and two bags of macaroni. They assured me that no one wanted them.
2. My husband loves his breakfast burritos but they are about $1 each, so I made a frittata out of half a breakfast sausage chub, a box of froz spinach, six eggs, and some cheese. I still think I saved money this way. No plastic, either.
3. We wanted pizza Friday but I forgot to make the dough. So I scratched that itch yesterday: homemade dough, plus freezer turkey pepperoni, some kalamata olives and cheese from the fridge, and a few ladles of pasta sauce. It was probably the best pizza I’ve ever made. So good!
4. Like Katy, we don’t make much garbage. I increased our recycling by a second (free) can, and got the smallest garbage possible. We cut out trash bill in half to $32 a month.
5. I am working on sprouting more plants for this spring. Thanks for the tip about basil, @Sandra. I am trying to sprout candytuft, Cape mallow, and any succulents I can. Also hoping to find someone with Euryopps so I can start some of those as well.
I have a pair of chenille gloves too. Not free but purchased at the dollar store back when things there cost a dollar. They are remarkably toasty for only spending $1.
1. An employee from our town library called to inform me I won the January reading raffle which is a pack of more books all by the same author although right now I can’t think of her name! I read four books in the month of January, so I received four raffle tickets.
2. I cut DH’s hair.
3. I worked another shift at the deli due to someone calling in sick. That’s two this week. The extra $ is welcome.
4. An employee from the consignment store called to let me know I have a check waiting there from sold items.
5. I didn’t fire any prosecutors or investigators who were looking into my misdeeds from January 6, 2021. Oh, wait a minute…I didn’t have any misdeeds from that day or any day worthy of investigating.
Haven’t been to a store so haven’t spent LOL.
1. using up the contents of the freezers. Fruits are being used in my daily smoothies, Sometimes its a weird combo but so far everything tastes great.
2.used up the last of the yogurt in the smoothies so substituted half cup of cottage cheese this morning and it is really good.
3. had a very small amount of milk go sour…used in biscuits.
4. had some grapes starting to wrinkle, I help them out but making them into raisins…dehydrating them around the woodstove.
5. have been making sourdough raisin bread with previously dehydrated homemade raisins.
6. trying to protect my mental health (over the orange one) by watching “fluff” movies. Airplane….OMG That is a funny movie.
If you like that style of movie: “Naked Gun 4 1/4: Law of Toughness”, starring Liam Neeson as Frank Drebin, is coming out in August. I haven’t found a movie that interests me in years, but I plan to go see that one.
JC,
My son, hubby and I recently watched Airplane!. You’re right, its soooo funny. I hadn’t seen it in many years, I forgot how funny it is.
Katy I love the blog, been reading for years! Thank you so much for making frugal living “normal.” I have in the past felt guilty for my frugal actions but that is slowly changing.
1. Thank you for introducing me to selling on FB marketplace. No selling fees/returns like on Ebay/Etsy. Made $95 last month on FB marketplace, $115 Etsy, $65 Ebay.
2. I rode my bike in the rain because I don’t have a car. The rain was light and wow do I feel alive when out and about biking in the weather. Another benefit of biking is being easily able to check out the “free boxes” I ride by.
3. I “take one for the team” by eating the leftover beans and rice from Food Not Bombs that no one else will take. (I’m also a FNB volunteer)
4. Listening to free music on internetarchive.org versus paying a music streaming service.
5. Going to a free concert at a bar later today even though I’m not drinking. I will tip the band and bartender a couple bucks though for the entertainment.
This morning, I wore my picked-up-from-the-side-of-the-road Adidas knit earband (I laundered it initially, of course!) and felt similarly pleased at the $0 price tag. 😉