Five Tiny Frugal Things
by Katy on March 5, 2025 · 115 comments
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We celebrated my stepfather’s 75th birthday at the house and I assembled a pan of rice and bean enchiladas using ingredients we already had on hand. I even had enough for a small pan for the freezer, which is a favor to my future self. I’m very much a “from scratch” cook, but there are a few items that I leave to the experts, specifically enchilada sauce. I try to keep cans of both red and green sauces in the pantry at all times and last night was a green enchilada kind of night. Easy, cheap, tasty.
No recipe necessary, just rice, black beans, frozen corn kernels, three or four chopped chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, shredded cheese, (I used white cheddar) and sautéed peppers on top. I added come of the enchilada sauce into the filling and poured the rest on top. (I never bother dipping the corn tortillas in the sauce as that’s too messy.) Cook at 350° until the sauce bubbles and remove the lid for the last ten minutes or so.
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Someone littered a can from some weird alcoholic drink in front of our house, so I added it to our bag of returnables. I also picked up two pennies and two foreign coin at Winco.
So yeah . . . I recently came into some money!
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My husband had a dental appointment near my father’s house, so I tagged along to combine errands. I got a nice visit in with my father, without the added cost of driving across town. I even had him grab another free lip balm for me.
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I sent a text to my neighbor across the street letting her know that she’s welcome to ask to borrow anything from tools to last minute dinner ingredients from us. Our side of the street already employs this give-and-take, but she’s unfortunately situated next to deeply unfriendly people. She’s the one who gives us her thick Safeway bags to use as bin liners, plus I arranged for her family to visit the American Museum of Natural History for free last year through my sister’s connections. I want her to have what we have.
It’s important more than ever that we as Americans bond together, even if it’s just a cup of sugar at a time.
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I continue to do my best to boycott shitty corporate companies. Specifically Amazon, Target, Safeway, Kroger, Hobby Lobby, WalMart and such. No Spend March!
Katy Wolk-Stanley
“Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without.”
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{ 115 comments… read them below or add one }
1. Made way too many sourdough pancakes for Shrove Tuesday, so we are having them for lunch today and probably tomorrow!
2. Neighbor leaving town offered a half of a cake rather than letting it go bad. Yes, please.
3. Went to the grocery store yesterday and left with only a gallon of milk.
4. Fixed three dog toys rather than buy new ones.
5. Renegotiated our vehicle insurance, saving $90. Not much for a year, but every little bit helps.
I’m not Christian, but I’ve certainly been craving pancakes this week!
Your #4 is something I have been thinking about this week, A LOT. We all need to share with each other , whether its food, ideas, , tools — we can get through this nightmare if we stick together!!
Example: I typically get name brand bread/bagels/Entenmanns goodies for $1.25 at my local dollar tree – the bread people drop it off a certain day of week. Because its too close to its “sell by” date for the grocery store. So, when I go, I text my friends to see who needs cheap bread/baked goods!
We all need friends like you!
Along with Katy, Cheryl, and many others here, I’ve always tried to be the neighbor I want to have. And my efforts are being reciprocated this week by the Bestest Neighbors, Bailey dog’s mom, and other neighbors who are helping me out with things I can’t do because of my broken rib. I’m truly thankful.
I am glad you are allowing others to help you while you heal! Good Neighbors are something to truly be thankful for! My (condo) neighbor goes away on long trips and I collect her mail, keep an eye on her place. In return, when I travel – she watches my cat Penny –who is not a typical cat, she LOVES people so much that I arrange someone to visit her daily when I travel LOL.
We live rural and only have one neighbor that is generous friendly.
We borrow, trade, give to each other.
When you have 10 miles to to town, its nice to have friends
Love hearing about community building activities. I agree, it’s so important right now. Shortly after the DAY in January, we had a big snowstorm hit us in upstate NY. My neighbors cleared my sidewalks, and another one did my driveway. I wondered if it was due the news (they know I am a Fed). It was such a welcome sight to see the heavy snow moved. We thanked them profusely and I plan to return the favor (cookies or produce from the summer garden).
No Spend March!!
1. Stocked up on red lentils (going to make The Soup soon) and chickpeas from the Indian market. They had a Ramadan sale and I also picked up two containers of dates for a really great price. This will probably be it for March for groceries as I am pretty stocked up and have squash from my garden and NY potatoes that I buy locally in the fall from the Boy Scouts to use up. Spring will eventually be here…I think.
2. I actually went to a 50/50/1 protest (I live close to the capital in my state). It wasn’t a huge turnout (maybe 100-200 people), but NYC made up for it. I am counting this as frugal as it only cost my partner some fuel to get us there. He did spring for lunch for us at a local vegan burger restaurant.
3. All the usual things: Make my own coffee, eating leftovers, walking the dog for entertainment.
4. This week is my last week for remote work (yeah…I have to go back to an office despite being a high production employee and having worked remote since 2012), so I planned some meals I can make and grab for breakfast and lunch. I will just need to make a coffee before I run out the door. I plan to make overnight oats, P&J sandwiches, or pack meals in my thrifted Bento boxes.
5. I did my taxes and used the cheapest online method. My son turned 17 last year and I can no longer claim child credit. I did not change my withholdings, so I owe. However, I can send a check for no extra penalty by 04/15 and so I will do that. I am getting a smaller refund from the state so it will offset Fed by 1/3. I am trying not to feel salt in my wounds over this considering I will be paying significantly for my own trauma. I did change my withholdings for 2025 so hopefully this will help next year a bit. I don’t think this one is very frugal, but I am happy to pay for social services and to balance the quality of life for all Americans and I feel grateful I am still employed and can pay the bill.
I agree with your final sentence, Gina!
“I am happy to pay for social services and to balance the quality of life for all Americans and I feel grateful I … can pay the bill.”
Gina, I am so sorry for what you and all our other hardworking public servants are going through. I appreciate you and your colleagues.
Gina: What Vickey said. Even I, who cuss like a stevedore IRL, don’t have enough cuss words for what’s happening to you and everyone else in your situation–so I’m not even going to try, especially on someone else’s blog. But I wish all of you all the best.
Thank you for the support! It means the world to me. <3
Amazon don’t use it
Target rarely go there easy to quit
Safeway don’t go there
Kroger don’t go there
Hobby Lobby I have bought jewelry making stuff easy to quit
WalMart they already put the local stores out of business decades ago so when they are my only choice I’ll still go there
Sam’s I quit when no longer feeding family one child gave me a card and sometimes I buy gas there
After the guys diatribe and how the 77 million liked it and everything that’s going on?
I think I’m more interested in eating whole unprocessed food.
When they clear cut the national forests I will cry however.
I am a hard NO on Hobby Lobby period. Trying to limit Amazon and can easily dump Target. In fact they are already missing me and have sent me a letter warning they will dump me if I don’t buy anything soon.
Costco for the win – especially if I can share with someone.
Jean- I called Target and told them I wanted my customer account closed and they told me they can deactivate but not delete. How silly is that?!
Christina, A credit card? I wouldn’t close the account it dings your credit. Just put it away
But a credit ding only lasts a few months, and if you’re not applying for any credit-needed services, it doesn’t matter in that time, (depending how you manage your credit cards as a whole).
1. Our grown up son got his own phone plan. Saving $30 a month. We left our boys on our plan until they got “grown up” jobs.
2. Packed my lunch for my two day 2 day stint at my part time job.
3. I found a penny in the parking lot. Woo hoo!
4. Will return a plumbing part as my husband was able to fix toilet without that part.
5. Using what we have on hand before we leave for AZ family reunion trip.
Woo hoo and hooray for “grown up jobs”
I love your #4, Katy, and totally agree with the need to bond together
1. After very little snow in December through February, we got our biggest snowfall of the season last night/this morning. We’ll be staying home, the vehicles will remain in the garage, and not a penny will be spent today.
2. Got some good exercise clearing the heavy wet snow off our big wrap-around deck. Exercise for FREE! Good for my health, too. Yes, I’m reaching here to come up with tiny frugal things. True, tho.
3. While making pasta salad, I found the cucumber I’d planned to use had sadly turned to…soup? Swamp slime? Not wanting to experience the thrills of icy roads today, I looked for a cucumber substitute. Since I had an abundance of celery, I chopped up some of that. Like the cucumber, celery is green and it’s a vegetable with not a huge amount of flavor. And unlike the cucumber, it’s crisp.
4. Had a little feta cheese that needed using up soon. My husband was lukewarm about adding it to the pasta salad in #3 (“What if the flavor is too overwhelming?”) so I used it to make a “Greek omelet”, along with the five kalamata olives that didn’t get used in the pasta salad. I had the omelet for lunch, and it was delicious.
5. I’m also boycotting the companies mentioned above (well, I’d announced a lifetime boycott of WalMart about 20 years ago, so they’re probably not noticing my effort). This is making me get a little more creative with my shopping, because there aren’t a lot of shopping choices near where I live. Yesterday I checked out a small grocery store in a town we drive through once or twice a month, but I’d never shopped at. I now have another grocery choice, the store has a 5% senior discount every day, they had a nice variety of markdown items, and I was impressed to see a small shelf of “free fruit for children.”
There’s not much more frugal than being stuck at home, unless you’re an impulsive online shopper!
I like the taste of celery and it’s very important in numerous dishes, but I just wish it weren’t so stringy. Sigh. Texture isssues. The bag of celery we’ve been working through this week seems to be the Moar Strings! variety. Oh well.
@susanna d, great list of frugal – sometimes that ‘reach for what is frugal’ is good (mental) exercise, and I find it changes my mindset in a lovely positive way
Grand rescue of the pasta salad, I love to put celery into everything, so I can relate. My cucumber maintenance program has been sadly lacking this year, more slime than slice, if you get the drift. Celery has come to the rescue several times, and your reminder has me thinking that I could do more of that, although I currently have a rain check for cucumbers since my local scratch and dent store was out when they had a sale. I discovered they do rain checks and I was thrilled. now to remember to use it…
@Rose, I sometimes am string averse – however, Celery retains its ‘crunch’ even when sliced quite thin, so perhaps you can try for a thinner slice (crosswise) to cut the strings, as it were?
@Rose, I recently read a definition of celery as green water with fibers. Wish I could recall the source.
I always destring my celery by cutting only part way through the crunchy bit and then pulling downwards the opposite side to where I have just cut – does that make sense? Who knows but it does eliminate about 80% of the strings that I dislike intensely. 🙂
It used to be quite common to destring celery. My mom learned how to cook largely from one cookbook and newspaper recipes. She would destring celery and so did I, but that step disappeared over time.
But I’m laaaaaazy!
Destringing, which I have also done, is just for raw celery. Cooked, it’s fine. I’m about to chop the rest we have for tonight’s steak and ale pie dinner.
1. Met my monthly meetup group for cribbage the other night. We go to the same restaurant and they give us the back tables. I spent four hours laughing while playing cribbage. I did order a soda and a side of fries (their fries are really good) so in all, four hours cost me $11 with the tip. A good spend.
2. I am currently making another batch of yogurt in my crockpot. $2.17 worth of milk will make 2 quarts of plain yogurt. I go through about a quart a week.
3. I am seriously considering changing my name back to my maiden name in case the save act passes. I have reached out to my Senator’s asking if my marriage license will not be sufficient enough to vote to show the name change before I do this. I did make a checklist of things I would need to change if I changed my name, and there are 31 things on that checklist. The cost of changing my name is less than $200, and then a small fee to change registration name for both vehicles and the titles for both vehicles. So I could technically do it for less than $250.
4. I found this amazing app.Kanopy! It works off of your library card and I currently have 5 or 6 DAYS of French shows and movies bookmarked. There’s also documentaries, Oscar, winning films, criterion collection (my son is so thrilled with that). Another reason to have a library card. I’ve told so many people about this app this week.
5. My T-Mobile plan has given me the MLS season for free and I’m waiting for them to turn on the MLB season. They also have AAA for free for the first year, so I will be taking advantage of that for my son and I.
I am doing my best to educate people on this administration, I’m pretty sure people who follow me on IG (family, and a few friends.) think my IG account has been hacked because I’ve gone from knitting and quilting pictures to current administration foibles. The funny thing is, whenever I go to post something about this administration, the music choices fit perfectly! I’m probably going to end up getting banned from IG because I’m sure the billionaire will not be happy with what I’ve been posting.
I’m not sure why that got posted under your post Joanne in the UK.
Sorry about that
What?! I love cribbage, but can’t get anyone to play with me. Need to rethink my life choices.
My grandma didn’t like the strings either so she always used a vegetable peeler on her celery. I grew up thinking that peeling celery was a normal thing to do. It wasn’t until after I was married and my in laws asked me what i was doing, that I realized that peeling celery was not the norm. LOL! Although my BIL did tell me that he thought my peeled celery sticks tasted better than unpeeled.
I have found wrapping my cucumbers and celery in foil, definitely extends their useful life.
1. Luckily none of those stores are anywhere within an hour and a half from me. I think I’ve been to Safeway in Seattle, but never to a Kroger. As for Amazon, I’m basically Ennis del Mar: “I wish I knew how to quit you.”
2. Son is away so Daughter and I are enjoying Salad for dinner. This time, arugula, feta, strawberries and anything else my beady little eye spies on.
3. I am shipping a beloved antique to a friend (two 5’ painted panels) in Cleveland via Pirate Ship, in a scrappy cover I made myself with plywood and about five acres of bubble wrap.
4. Restrained myself from ordering all the things for this year’s garden as I haven’t even started seeds yet.
5. Didn’t start WWIII though I would if I were in a room with Trump, Putin and Xi. Would probably do my patented “rubbing my giant imaginary phallus” move to all three. Bring it, hotcakes. I double dare you tiny little men.
Thanks for the spit-take! Needed that laugh!
I agree! I laughed so hard I cried when I read #5.
I just get so sick of these aholes’ fake-macho posturing. Mmmm, me and my mom could kick the three of you into next week. Mom died so my daughter can step up to the plate. That includes you, Elon! Bunch of useless, ballsless bullies.
1. My daughter and I shared dinners with each other. I had made a large pot of Minestrone soup and she had made spaghetti with a hearty Italian sausage marinara sauce. I gave her a quart of soup and she gave me some spaghetti and three cups of marinara. It was a good deal for both of us.
2. I checked out a library copy of my book club’s selection for this month.
3. A couple of weeks ago I made a batch of banana peel plant fertilizer and I am already seeing the results, three new starts in my pot of snake plant.
4. I found three pairs of dress slacks that a friend gave me. They had been tucked away on a shelf for winter (which is now almost over) and I decided to try them on again. They are too short for my long legs. They have moved from a shelf in my closet to the donation bag. I think this will prompt me to look through other items to fill up the bag and then away they all go.
5. I am into my second no spend week and I will hold out on any grocery or other shopping unmtil next week. I can work out of my freezer and pantry for awhile.
WHAT?! Banana peel plant fertilizer? I’m going to have to try this, thank you!
teabags also work great on plants that like acidic soil.
It’s a regular activity here. When I eat a banana, I’d drop it into the designated jar and fill it up with water. I let it rot in there for at least three days and then I will pour the water onto a rosebush or other deserving shrub. Then you can throw the banana peel on the compost. Sometimes there will be two or three banana peels in there before I get around to Using the liquid. Excellent potassium for the plants.
Katy, such a nice note that you sent your neighbor.
1. Slowly moving back into some of our rooms as renovation nears completion. Shopped my rug stash and found a rug for the bathroom without having to buy one. Will be taking several unused rugs to the consignment store.
2. Continuing to eat 99% of our meals at home even though we don’t yet have a fully functioning kitchen. Had some setbacks the last couple weeks so it’s going to take longer than expected.
3. Read somewhere to use up coconut water in oatmeal, so we’re doing that.
4. Good thing I didn’t have my car wash discount card with me, as we received 8 inches of snow two days after I was going to have the car washed. I’ll wait until that’s completely melted before I try again.
5. Sister treated me to lunch. We took our brother out for his birthday lunch and my sister insisted on paying for all of us.
I love the message you sent your neighbor. It would be nice if all neighborhoods ran like that.
1. I started to make a banana bread with two overripe bananas. The recipe (my grandmother’s) calls for 3 bananas but a half cup of applesauce will make up for the missing banana. Uh oh…I was out of applesauce. I found a jar of strawberry jam in the refrigerator and used two heaping tablespoons of it instead. It turned out good and DH pronounced it better with the jam.
2. I finished my library book about a woman missing while hiking the Appalachian Trail. I have a hold at the library on the trilogy of books written by Jennifer Worth, memoirs on which the PBS show Call the Midwife is based. I’m very excited about reading them.
3. Sticking to my plans with no-spend March with the exception of buying my DD her birthday present. Hey, she was supposed to arrive in February but stubbornly did not make an appearance until the beginning of March.
4. Our niece’s husband died after years of health issues. Although they live 1100 miles away, DH is the last of her mom’s siblings and we feel we should be there for her. This is decidedly not frugal but we have some cost cutting travel ideas. We’re driving but are packing food and drinks for the ride and we’re getting the senior rate at the hotels we’ll be staying at. We won’t stay with her as she will have a houseful and has her hands full. Grandson17 will be coming to the house daily to take care of our two cats.
5. I did not spew lies to Congress and our nation’s citizens during a long winded, mean spirited, rambling speech.
Re your #4 – how kind of you both to travel so far to see your niece. It sounds as if you have a grand plan for keeping it frugal, and as we all are sharing here, the no-spend is really a ‘no silly spending’ rather than freezing the credit cards. I am sure she will be glad to have your company and hearts.
Thanks, Ecoteri. When DH called her to tell her we were coming, she cried so hard she had to put down the phone for a minute. I would definitely classify this trip as a good spend.
Christine, Now I’m crying!! Safe travels.
Thank you Plaidkaren!
I could already tell we don’t live in the same part of town since we shop at different Wincos, but now you’ve confirmed it by describing your friendly neighbor situation. When I moved here, I suffered through 4 years of the “Portland freeze” with deeply unfriendly neighbors. It was lonely! (I promise I’m a normal person who bathes regularly and who has political beliefs that align with Portland!) I finally learned to find other people who are new to the area. I’ll be honest. We’d get together and joke about deeply unfriendly Portlanders. Maybe it’s just my neighborhood. Things got better during the pandemic, when people were feeling isolated and desperate to have a conversation with anyone, even me!
Yes, it’s good to be part of a community.
1. I’m making red lentil soup for dinner. This will cost almost nothing, since a bag of lentils costs $1.50ish.
2. I’m staying away from the naughty corporations. Two of them (Hobby Lobby and Walmart) have always been on my personal “ick” list.
3. I found a cute shirt in a free pile.
4. I went for a long walk with a friend, which is less expensive than meeting a friend for lunch.
5. I am not the bloviating old puppet of Elon Musk and Peter Thiel.
1. My state requires annual emissions testing so I took my 10-year-old Subaru to the dealership’s express service after dropping off my kid for a class at the community college five blocks away. Of course I requested the free car wash while I was there. It took exactly the amount of time I needed to kill before picking up the kid.
2. I do a lot of genealogical research. I made sure to cancel my Ancestry subscription a few days before it ended so it wouldn’t auto-renew. The day after the subscription ended, I got an offer for 50% off a new subscription. I upgraded (which actually saves me money because I had been paying separately for newspapers.com) AND for some reason the new subscription is a family plan of sorts so I can gift up to four people six months access to all the records and resources as well. I immediately called my SIL to offer it to her, which was good timing because her subscription would have ended in April. Now to offer it to three more family/friends.
3. Have pretty well stocked up on several gluten-free items, especially the one pasta my allergic kid can eat. It’s manufactured in Canada. Not only do we now have enough to avoid the coming price hike due to the stupid tariff, but I was able to take advantage of a rare 2-day in-store sale.
4. Pilot light unit on our 18-year-old hot water heater went out. Husband sourced the part from a local plumbing supply store and fixed the hot water heater. He’s saved us $1000s of dollars over the years because he can fix virtually anything.
5. Checked out several gardening books from the library for inspiration, and just finished We Solve Murders by Richard Osman (who wrote The Thursday Murder Club series). The hold list was long, but I was happy to request large print, which only had a few people on the hold list. I’m a fast reader, so I’ll get it back to the library asap, which will mean someone else won’t have to wait as long.
Your #4…Great savings on the pilot light! It pays to have a handy husband. Mine is semi handy but I’m going to keep him on other attributes…kindheartedness and a strong work ethic among other things!
It seems supremely ironic, Katy, that an ad for Safeway right below your comments about boycotting “shitty corporations”… like (yup, you guess it) Safeway. Perhaps you shouldn’t be making income off the corporations you’re boycotting? (I’m sure this was inadvertent on your part…but it does make you look a bit hypocritical. Really.) I know — I am probably your favorite gadfly, politically speaking. (Actually, I was a registered Democrat until I ran into a deeply-entrenched — and incredibly rude — batch of Democrat judges at elections this past year. Then I registered as independent. Not a huge fan of Trump — but I believe that you respect the office. (Yes, I did for Biden, too. And I REALLY disagreed with him.)
Getting off the soapbox now. We’ve got to work together across the country — we do. I respect you far too much not to try.
*I helped Husband load the woodbox — twice — before our next storm comes in on Friday. Did it in my robe. (It was going in the wash anyways.)
*Trying much harder to use freezer items, so I can actually SEE what’s available. And fighting my Hollander tendency to “save” the Good Stuff — so it eventually gets too old and/or freezer-burned. Shrimp tonight; steak for friends Friday night.
*I don’t include eggs in breakfast dishes like hash — or I cut WAY back.
*Planning a European vacation with friends. Just discovered that we can swap Madrid instead of London — and save $700 per person! (Okay with us – we’ve been to London before.)
*The back payment for the Social Security Fairness Act came in — almost $7000! I am so grateful for this. Husband worked 28 years in private jobs, then retired after nearly 20 in public jobs. (He drove a schoolbus.) For doing this, we were penalized nearly $800/month in Social Security. Now that’s changing…and it is a huge help for paying bills and building up an emergency fund. (And yes, going to Europe. But we’re still doing it the cheap way. The Hollander urge is too strong.)
Keep up the good work, Katy. You are much appreciated.
Cindy, again: Katy doesn’t choose the ads on the blog. The ad network to which she belongs post them, often based on what people are talking about in the comments. So if people are chatting about Safeway there is more likely to be a Safeway ad. It’s not hypocritical in the least, just realistic.
I agree with Rose, Katy cannot help what ads pop up. I believe she would prefer no ads pop up, but she cannot control that either.
This made me chuckle. I live in Safeway territory, but the ads were for Ralph’s, which is not where I live. However, I’ve been in SoCal for a few days…
behavior that contradicts what one claims to believe or feel
The ads you get will usually be related to the cookies left on your computer based on websites that you’ve visited. I don’t choose the ads.
Exactly! Thanks for clarifying this for those who didn’t know or understand pop up ads.
The information we acquire includes contact information; device information and identifiers; connection and usage data; professional information (e.g., company and title); demographic and statistical information, including age, date of birth, gender, income and other personal finance information, religion, union or guild membership, sexual orientation, and race or ethnicity; interest information including, health and wellness information, lifestyle information, hobbies, political views, product ownership, purchase history or intentions; user-generated content, general location, and social media information
California and Virginia residents may opt out of the “sale” of their personal information or processing or sharing of your information for online targeted advertising purposes. We sell or share certain of your information to third parties
It took me FOREVER to find the information about ads on this site and what they gather and then do with the information. There should be more transparency. There’s nothing wrong with wanting to get paid for hard work and good efforts but everything is so hidden. And yes a viewer may have cookies attached but they didn’t necessarily pick them up from visiting Amazon or target, they could have picked them up checking the weather. No, you don’t pick the ads but they are ads brought out by your site that you have monetized. Don’t guilt shame the user. Your site is wonderful and you should get paid for your hard work and creativity but the present state of gathering information and targeting users is so close to criminal that multiple laws have been developed to try and protect the user.
Close to criminal? Are you joking? Selling information about users is as old as time. (Well, sort of.) Mailing lists began to be sold in the 1950s; advertisers have attempted to collect consumer information for years by various means like surveys, contests, special offers for which consumers had to divulge personal information, and so on. The Internet just makes it more efficient.
If you use Facebook, grocery store apps, etc, you are doing just like Katy. Nothing is really free.
Katy, is there another way we can support your work here while still blocking the ads? Preferably not PayPal – some other channel?
I have noticed other bloggers I follow (the few left from the early 2000’s blogging boom) have switched to Subsstack. Several content creators/bloggers are flocking to it to avoid Instagr @ m and F B as leads to their sites. Food for thought?
Katy, I’m well aware you don’t pick out the ads. That’s why I said it was inadvertent. But if you’re going to urge us to avoid “shitty corporations” like Safeway (or King Soopers/City Market, which is also in my area), it might be wise to talk to the company that is running your marketing schedule. Perhaps you can get them to edit ads on your site, so they promote what you want them to.
But please, don’t try to avoid the subject by saying, “Well, I don’t choose the ads.” I have a feeling you can have more influence on this than you think.
We want you to be honest with us. You want us to do the same thing. But yes, I am very much aware of pop up ads and their use. That’s why I choose NOT to have popup ads on my blog. And yes, I go without that extra income, because I made that choice. But that way, my blog does not advertise things I don’t believe in or support.
P.S. I didn’t write this to sound superior or be snotty. I enjoy your site very much, and visit it often. But if you’re urging us to do something… you should follow through, as much as you can. You are a smart, clever woman — and I’m sure you see my point, uncomfortable as it is to face.
You didn’t seem to be trying to be superior or snotty. The content on this site is wonderful for frugality and the environment, but at it’s core it is very much a political blog which means it gets unnecessarily heated fast when opposing comments are made. And like in most political discussions, you really just have to scroll past and ignore what you don’t agree with. While I don’t align with Katy on all of her opinions, I consider the blog “her front porch.” For lack of a better description, she can by hypocritical if she chooses (I’m not saying she is). It really doesn’t benefit anyone to make a comment that is in conflict with the blog writer.
I find it distasteful to criticize or insult someone and then give them a quick “atta girl” in an attempt to make themselves sound less hurtful.
Cindy, no one cares about your blog. Stop being superior while also sounding incredibly ignorant about blogging. Yeah, Katy should sit down with the enormous company who runs her ad campaign and ask them politely to run only the ads she likes. That is certainly how the world works.
I’m not even gonna bother figuring out your blog traffic opposed to Katy’s. Just give it a rest without thinking you have a gotcha.
I love this blog. I just scroll past ads and read the comments, Katy, you do an awesome job. I manage to watch television, see ads and still not spend. I think I can manage that here.
I agree with you, Amanda. I have trained my eyes to ignore computer ads and mute commercials on TV.
Cindy,
I appreciated that President Biden made the SS Fairness Act a priority and signed it into law in his last days in office. There is no way the current administration would have supported this act when DOGE Boy is referring to SS as a ponzi scheme.
I have decent neighbors also!
1. Walked in neighborhood.
2.Cut (butchered) my own hair.
3. Made what Amy described in The Tightwad Gazette, an indescribable but successful concoction to eat. It involved canned spinach drained with lots of leftover tomatoes, ham, cheese, garlic, sourdough bread, cabbage, etc.
4. I took a nap this weekend.
5. I didn’t waste electricity watching the DC circus.
Think of all the terrible haircuts we’ve all paid good money for and you got one for free!
lol Katy, and this haircut I gave myself is a doozy! I call it whack a bob. It was supposed to be a bob that got whacked!
Cooked one cup of lentils and added to 1 pound of Italian sausage making a large batch of spaghetti sauce.
2. Husband drove me to doctors’s office as his entertainment.
3. Feeling sorry for myself because of a hurt knee and suggested we go out to breakfast after doctor’s appointment. Smart husband reminded “me we have everything at home”, bacon, eggs, toast, and we went home and enjoyed it.
4. We aren’t Christian, but we enjoyed making pancakes yesterday and we have lots of leftovers. Kicking myself for not making them sourdough. I just forgot.
5. Continued habit of showering at our YMCA and wringing every penny of membership
We share with our neighbors and friends all the time. None of us have the room for everything nor do we want it all. I grab stuff for my neighbors from the store all the time. They are in their late 70’s and have some health issues. We also pull in each other’s cans.
1. Hubby started ripping out our upstairs shower. It has had problems for years so we are just redoing it. It is frugal because right now Hubby is doing all of the work.
2.I got lots of seeds from my buy nothing group. Whatever I don’t use I will pass on to my daughter or friend who garden.
3.I went to Aldi for some groceries. I got 2 4 cheese pizzas that had $2 off stickers. Each one cost me $3.88. One went into the freezer. The other one is dinner tonight. I add oregano and garlic to them. A plane pizza from a pizza place is $18.
4.I went to King Kullen. They had chicken cutlets for $1.99 a pound limit 2 packs. You had to spend $15 to get it. $15 is very easy to do. They had asparagus for $1.69 a pound and tuna 10 for $10. Rice vinegar was on sale for $3.29 so I grabbed that to hit my $15. Groceries is all I have bought this week.
5. We are going to visit my oldest in a few weeks. I offered to bring stuff for my friend’s daughter that lives near my daughter. They always fly or take the train so taking boxes of books isn’t easy. Plus we get to see her new house.
Enchilada sauce is super easy to DIY. Here’s one example recipe:
https://www.gimmesomeoven.com/red-enchilada-sauce/
I use a similar recipe.
Katy, if you try this, be wary of the chili powder in the Winco bulk section. It has added salt. I get the big containers at Costco instead.
I haven’t noticed that in my chili powder.
Maybe it was a bad batch, but it was BAD.
Thank you for posting this link. I made enchiladas last week to use up a can of enchilada sauce and commented that I really should make the sauce myself but didn’t know what recipe to use. I’ll be giving this a try soon.
I use that exact recipe at least once a month! So good.
1. i got rid of my chase bank accounts. next on the chopping block will be capital one. i signed up for a credit union (finally!) a couple weeks ago. something i’d been meaning to do for quite awhile.
2. today i canceled AT&T and got a local service which also saves $20 a month. (another thing i have been meaning to do but the local service wasn’t available in my building until late 2024.)
3. next on the chopping block is sirius XM radio…something i never thought i needed but i got a free trial, then a very cheap price for several years. while i will miss it, i don’t need it. i still have an old ipod going strong and regular radio, which is all i needed before.
4. made a few ebay sales as i’ve been really trying to declutter lately.
5. unfortunately my oven went kaput and my current landlord is a corrupt corporation so i had to eat out for a week and a half but i tried to make it cheap by ordering a huge pizza and eating it for many nights interspersed with cheapish options in the neighborhood. got the new beautiful oven today.
it feels so good to cancel all these accounts i have with huge corps like AT&T. i feel all pumped up after divesting from such places.
Great work this week! Love my credit union and hope you do too!
thank you, so far it’s great!
Well done on all your divesting! I still have a bank credit card but solely due to the need to keep a long-time card and the impact on my credit rating. I rarely use it, only a couple of times a year to keep it current. I moved all my accounts to a credit union about a year and a half ago and haven’t looked back, they paid me good money to move to them (I took advantage of a number of offers) but I wanted to be there anyway, the extra cash was the cherry on top
I need to investigate the internet supplier – there is someone in my province who is offering internet at a lower price but I am not currently sure of the contract I have with my current supplier. Might do some research this week, thanks for the encouragement.
My daughter moved to a different cell phone provider – we pay pretty horrid rates up in Canada but she found a good deal with an outlier, and I am waiting to see if it is really worth it for her, that switch will come soonish.
ONWARD!
oh yeah i still have credit cards but am not cancelling them either due to the credit rating system, but may try to find better ones if possible (?)
good luck on finding a local internet company, it took awhile for the availability here. a different cell phone provider is also on my list-thanks for the reminder.
Looks like some careful and wise decisions, Kate! Good for you!
You also address “needs” or “wants”, an important budgeting move.
Many years ago, my husband signed us up for a University branded credit card, to supposedly send some money to the university with each purchase. (I would not have done this, though it has proven to be a good basic card). Your note reminded me that I had written to “giving” at the university foundation last December and not heard back. I am curious about how much money the school receives from us having the card. I just re-forwarded the email to them.
After being ill for almost a month straight, we are getting back on board the frugal train! Here’s my frugal things for the day…
#1 – Found change in the bottom of an old purse. Threw it in the Honeymoon Jar
#2 – I turn 30 this month, so my car insurance dropped a few dollars
#3 – Utilized my local library for my daily reading
#4 – Packed my lunch for work yesterday, today, and for tomorrow
#5 – Convinced my boss to let me work from home during Spring Break, saving gas
Glad you’re feeling better Autumn! I love your FFTs. It sounds like you’re back on track after being ill. Congrats on turning 30!
We’ve been home all week so it has been easy to be frugal which is much needed as my 11 year old small business has tanked due to some major changes our state govt has made in the last year.
1. No food waste or spending this week. This is my biggest stress expense so I’m working hard to be sure we get the most out of each items we have.
2. I’ve been catching up on some ARC books that were sent to me for free. I also put a great deal of reads on hold through the public library.
3. We’ve been rotating our board games for some fun evenings.
4. My bestie and I found ourselves with some common alone time last weekend so I brewed ourselves a cup of tea and enjoyed a long visit on the phone. It was so nice to catch up even though we didn’t manage to meet out.
5. I’ve been organizing and diligently working to have an inventory of all products in the household so as not to waste or spend unnecessarily. This is helpful when I place our insurance covered pharmacy order each month too. I am only getting what we actually need. Pennies saved are pennies earned!
Stuck in a rural area of FL and there aren’t many options but I have managed to dump Amazon & Target. I never shopped at Hobby Lobby. None of the other stores you listed are here. I try to avoid Walmart but have no other options from time to time. In this area I’m not sure any of our options are much better as most of our small businesses are loudly supporting the current administration.
Christina, I don’t know if you’re in either of the districts that are getting ready for special elections, but even though I’m way across the country, I just donated to Josh Weil and Gay Valimont’s Congressional campaigns. Hoping to see some House districts get flipped!
1. Travelled to my parents to help my mother through cataract surgery. Packed my lunch for the way
2. Helped my mother clean out expired supplements. She’s an over-buyer. She gave me 3 new bottles of avocado oil! Also gave me some things she’s cleared out. I’ll sell or donate.
3. Sold an eBay item which my husband packed up for me.
4. Got a bundle of free clothes for my granddaughter from FB marketplace.
5. Bought my grandson some beginner sewing supplies at the fabric/craft thrift store. Total $2.80. I love that place! Proceeds benefit the local senior center, so wins all around.
I like how you and your neighbors help each other out. My oldest daughter and I were just talking about how much we would like to be more involved in the sharing economy.
1. My oldest daughter is visiting. We celebrated her birthday which we missed in January. We spent the day going to the Goodwill bins. We both found a few things. I bought a pair of barely used crocs which I will use for gardening this summer. She found a whole bag full of good quality thread for sewing.
2. Since we were out of town at lunch time, we stopped and bought food from the McDonald’s value menu. My mom treated us.
3. We stopped into Duluth Trading Company. They had 50% off their clearance. I bought my daughters each a pair of clearance underwear for their Christmas stockings.
4. My daughter made spicy vodka pasta for dinner last night. It was delicious and the only things I needed to purchase for it were a shallot and small bottle of vodka. There is enough leftover for one more dinner.
5. We spent the evening working on a puzzle that one of my kids bought me for Christmas. We also streamed a few episodes of Grace & Frankie which is my favorite TV show.
Grace and Frankie is probably my all time favorite show. I have watched it thru 2 times. I love your thrifting, it’s also my favorite way to shop.
It was terribly windy yesterday, so I didn’t do any extra outside work. Instead I batched some errands. Took paperwork to bank while enrout to my folks to drop off my mother’s purchase from the school fundraiser. Helped myself to 5# of ground venison and 5# of hamburger. This will help fill in the gaps while we finish the steaks and roasts. Stopped by my brothers to pick up some used books left by his ex wife. I Don think they’re salable but I will put them in the free library. Coming home, I swung by the rental farm and picked up a piece of equipment to use at the home place.
Attended Ash Wednesday service. Wore my new thrifted sweater. I really like it 🙂 The message was on service. I need to get cracking on my mailman care package.
Today is a well child check up. We will hit the thrift afterward while.in town. Ds needs some jeans w/o holes in the knees.
Trash picked 2 foot.locker type plastic boxes with lids. They are large! I’ll put them away today.
I’ve invented a new game while folding laundry. As I work through the clothes, I make a mental note of what is second hand or something I’ve repaired (mostly socks). It’s satisfying to see how many items we use daily that weren’t bought new and I get a cheap thrill from thinking about the $ we’ve saved.
I also play a game during my commute by looking out for roadside buckets. I’ve found 2 so far. A third I on my radar and I will get it the next time the circumstances allow me to safely do so. Can’t have too many buckets on a farm 🙂
Love your games!
I did something similar looking around our living room and realized 95% of items were from thrift store, curb pick, family member clean out. Very satisfying.
What is a mailman care package? Retired letter carrier here. If it is what I think it is, I wish I had more customers on my route like you!
I like your game Laura. I’ll have to try that out with this weekend’s laundry.
I’m just coming in to say I think you should try homemade enchilada sauce. I am not an ambitious cook at all and I use prepared ingredients for some of my meals, but I have found enchilada sauce is super easy and cheap. This is for red:
1/4 cup oil, 4 TBS flour- heat up and mix together. Add 2 TBS chili pwdr, 1/4 tsp cumin, 1/2 tsp garlic pwdr. 1/2 tsp onion pwdr, 2 cups chicken stock. Heat up and mix togehter.
I rarely make red enchiladas, as I prefer the green sauce but think I need to give this a try. Thanks!
No tomato sauce in the red?
You could add tomato sauce or paste if you’d like. It’s pretty rich if you use too much tomato. Regardless, it’s a good recipe to have on hand!
This. “I want her to have what we have.
It’s important more than ever that we as Americans bond together, even if it’s just a cup of sugar at a time.” Sob. So not happening in California.
Really? I had great neighbors in California. The best!
Also I’m California and we have an awesome sharing community. Truly outstanding.
Here in our Northern California town, we have awesome neighbors. Just yesterday my across the street neighbor brought over some newspapers for our puppy’s pen + some homemade cookies. She also gave me a haircut last week! We lend and borrow freely on our street and are so grateful for our community.
I wish we could shop somewhere other than Kroger or Safeway . In CO, our other options are Whole Foods or Sprouts , which are too pricey for all of our shopping .
Are there maybe some Asian grocery stores that you’ve yet to visit?
1. Saw some old colleagues last night for drinks. We split a bottle of wine and a pizza 5 ways. I ate before I went so I wouldn’t be tempted to order any other food. It was lovely and relatively low cost for midtown Manhattan.
2. Stayed out way too late but still took the train home and didn’t get a cab. $35 saved.
3. Leaving on a trip tomorrow – bringing my beat up ski gear. I will not win any fashion shows, but I am not trying to compete with anyone in a Louis Vuitton snow suit. Besides, you can’t ski in the backcountry in one of those. Getting more value out of our ski passes too.
4. Traveling means bare bones – eating my peanut butter toast and black coffee because I’m not about to buy milk to sit in the fridge or bananas to turn brown while we’re away.
5. My kindle is packed with books! Thanks to whoever recommended the book Ultra Processed People. It’s a fascinating read!
re your #5 – it likely will change how you shop and cook. and what you choose to eat. My shopping now is mostly the outside aisles – with a duck into the international foods aisle and some bulk foods. I am sadly deficient in snacks, but that is good for both my waistline and my budget. I do eat Highly Processed Foods, but WAYYYYYY fewer. IYKYK, (If you know you know) and it is scary to know!
If you are looking to make the red sauce, I highly recommend this recipe for chicken enchiladas from The Frugal Girl.
https://www.thefrugalgirl.com/make-ahead-chicken-enchiladas-with-red-sauce/
Interesting article on corporations and DEI: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/nbcblk/us-retailers-publicly-scrap-dei-initiatives-quietly-supporting-others-rcna195121
1. Found a shiny dime and a penny!
2. Saw we were getting low on bread, so I made 2 loaves.
3. I found 3 shirts of my husband’s that he doesn’t wear. My son thought he might wear one of them. The nice polo I might try selling on ebay, and the other shirt I’ll either donate to Goodwill (and get a 20% off one item coupon) or cut into rags.
4. We purchased multiple items from Goodwill, most of which were 1/2 off.
5. I’m using a free calorie counter app to loose a few pounds.
That’s so impressive that you have built a friendly lending neighborhood.
1. My health insurance app has little walking challenges people can do, and I find it very motivating. I am watching Full Swing 3 on Netflix while I walk on my treadmill as it’s still snowy here.
2. The bigger non-profit thrift store near me changed management a few years ago and raised prices significantly. They just had a bag sale where it was $30 to fill a bag. They followed that with $1 on all clothing sale, which they haven’t done in years. I thought it might be picked over due to the bag sale, but there were great brands. I bought 4 bags of clothing, 2 items to keep for myself, the rest to resell.
3. I had to be in the office yesterday and someone tipped me off there were Jimmy John’s leftovers from the prior day, so I had a chicken caesar sandwich and a pickle for lunch.
4. I sold two books on FB Marketplace and 3 items on ebay.
5. I found a stack of padded poly envelopes at my office leftover from a project years ago, and got the okay to take some home. I never turn down free shipping materials.
Budget Bytes website has an enchilada sauce recipe that is delicious, easy and dead cheap. Once I made it, I never bought store sauce again…