Five Tiny Frugal Things
by Katy on March 19, 2025 · 42 comments
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I picked my niece up at the airport and we immediately hit IKEA for a bite to eat, which meant $1.15 veggie dogs for the two of us. She did add on a $1.99 Plantball Sundae, but only because I was feeling generous. I kid, kid — $4.29 for lunch is far from a splurge!
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We invited my mother and stepfather over for dinner and served a burrito buffet, which was on frequent rotation when my kids were growing up. Super easy to please a large group of people, as everyone creates their own personalized burrito; and cheap since the base is rice and beans. Extra toppings are whatever you have on hand, but mine were queso fresco, shredded mozzarella, tomatoes, lettuce, waffle iron cooked tater tots, sautéed peppers and onions, broken tortilla chips and cilantro. I also set out various salsas and sour cream to complete the yumminess.
I know that once trendy Instant Pots now sit abandoned on the shelves of thrift stores, but I use mine multiple times per week to cook beans from scratch. As easy as adding the beans, water and salt to the pot and just pushing the button that says “bean!”
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I finished The Lathe of Heaven and started listening to George R. Stewart’s Earth Abides, which is one of my favorite books. This is my first time experiencing it as an audiobook and it’s making me feel that I’m reading it for the very first time. I wouldn’t of had time to read a physical book yesterday, but I did get through an hour and a half of the audiobook while grocery shopping and driving to the airport. For those who look down on audiobooks as a lesser literary choice, I have a few choice words for you.
Earth Abides is 1949 post-apocalyptic novel that takes a hopeful look at humankind, without lazily written bad guys or cliché tropes. Of course, I’m listening through the library’s free Libby app.
There’s a new TV series based on the book, but I thought I give the original a reread before watching a show that’s unlikely to live up to its source material.
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I did a big Winco grocery shop yesterday morning before heading out to the airport, spending $130.42 on 52 items. (Grocery shopping fully supporting my No Spend March!) I’m not too mad about it though, as I stocked up on multiple items and splurged on various luxuries such as eggs and eggs. (Seriously though, I spent $20.40 on 42 eggs.) I doubt I’ll need to food shop again during my niece’s spring break and we should be able to create multiple nice meals from these ingredients. I’d normally snap a photo of my haul for the blog, but I needed to be efficient with my time to get to the airport on time. Instead, please enjoy the receipt!
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No swasticars, no gold plated domiciles, no Lear Jets. Just a normal Wednesday.
Katy Wolk-Stanley
“Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without.”
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{ 42 comments… read them below or add one }
I was convinced I didn’t want an instant pot. And then I got one as a present. And it is fantastic and used weekly.
I was the same and it was my husband who bought it. Meanwhile, it’s been me using it ever since!
1. My no-spend, no-shop March has gone ok. I have not done a big shopping, using our pantry and freezer foods. I bought only milk and cat food. And I also did one shopping (Safeway delivery) when we were both super sick, for soup, popsicles, and juice ($100). But in total we have spent less than $200 on food this month, including the delivery. Considering we had a houseguest for 5 days and the cost of food, that’s not bad. Our usual budget is $600 a month groceries/ingredients for two adults.
2. On the other hand, I have spent some cash on garden items (Dollar Tree, hardware store, NextDoor and FBMarketplace) – which in some cases I do count as groceries. Weird accounting system, mine. But all of this has been in the spirit of “stay out of the big chain stores and pay cash, keep it local.”
3. I found another penny. 39 cents so far.
4. Still eating leftovers from a St. Patrick’s Day feast. The shepherd’s pie was super bland so we added a lot of hot sauce to our plates and we like it better. Probably four more portions of this huge pie. It is a money saver but we will never, ever make this overly complicated, not cheap, bland AF lentil pie recipe again. EVER.
5. I didn’t defy the judiciary like some kind of brash king. Even kings could be shamed and somewhat controlled by the church, back in the day.
My cottage pie contains onions, carrots, a blurp (technical term) of ketchup, thyme, parley and a pinch of cinnamon. Everyone loves it.
“Blurp!”
I keep trying to talk my son into the cottage pie baked potatoes recipe you posted, but so far he’s all “Why mess with perfection?” My answer is “this seems like less work and it’s different.” I think in the next few days I’ll put my foot down.
That’s impressively low grocery bill. We don’t have a real pantry, so we don’t have a deep food reserve. Boo to bland complicated recipes!
Julia, I trust that each time you find a penny, you spit on it and stick it in your shoe. It’s customary, you know . . . .
You know it, Bubbles!
That is a nice, mostly fresh ingredients grocery receipt. Go, Katy!
This reminds me that I need to take the broken control knob from the slow cooker to Ace Hardware and see if it can be replaced. It’s already been glued together once but the heat makes super glue brittle. I have not gotten on the InstaPot wagon and still use the slow cooker a lot.
And it’s fixed for $6.79 — yay! Love the helpful staff at Ace.
SUGRU is a great moldable substance for mending/ replacing things likethis
The gluten-free Oreos are for when my daughter comes by.
lol. I used both my crockpots with no knobs for a few years until they both totally died. The plastic knobs fall apart way before the crock pot itself gives up.
The new knob is much sturdier than the original. The pot works fine and I hope to get a lot more years out of. I had looked online for the part and anything that might work was more expensive than today’s fix.
I’ve a feeling the people who are donating their InstantPots never really figured out how to use it. Because it’s great, really.
I don’t think audiobooks are lesser, the way some people feel about e-books, but I just don’t like them. For the same reasons I don’t like talk radio. Just some disembodied voices yapping at me when I could be reading. I read The Lathe of Heaven around 1975, when I was 10. That’s when I read Dune, too. I don’t really like scifi but I was always desperate for things to read. Anything anyone left around, I read. Gothic romances. The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich. The Good Earth. 1940s National Geographics.
I read The Good Earth when I was 17 and I remember not being able to put it down!
I also loved the book Earth Abides.
Yay!
I agree about the Instant Pot. I use mine frequently throughout the week. It’s worth it alone to be able to cook dried beans in a snap. I love my IP!
I also used mine last week to cook some artichokes.
#1 – Attended a FREE conference for professional development at work
#2 – Breakfast and lunch were provided at the conference, so I didn’t need to pack
#3 – Purchased groceries from Aldi instead of Walmart, saving me a little bit
#4 – Remembered my water bottle to work all week
#5 – Didn’t sell out on my morals and values to align with a tyrant
Thank you for #5!
Ditto about the #5.
So good to know there are still moral people in the world.
Meanwhile, some idiot legislator in Texas has proposed renaming I-35 the Donald J. Trump Highway. I want to throw up!!!!!!!
Agree. I don’t think I could travel down that highway WITHOUT throwing up. BTW, on our recent 2200 round-trip to our niece’s husband’s Celebration of Life, we only saw seven Trump signs/bumper stickers and…grrrrr…one Confederate flag, flying high. The disgraceful flag was in South Carolina. So, I only had to give the Triple Trump Tribute eight times on our long trip.
…2200 mile trip…
I’m keeping my eye open for a used Insta-pot. I’m seeing a lot of them on Facebook.
1. I bought gas at Costco as I was in the vicinity. I saved 45 cents a gallon. I bought 12 gallons.
2. I took a walk with a friend and also took my mom for a nice drive in the country since it was a sunny day. My mom fed me lunch and we took water bottles with us. Not a single penny spent except for some gas.
3. My youngest daughter is dogsitting for a friend so I’m only feeding myself. I has some frozen wontons for dinner and a sweet potato.
4. My middle daughter is loaning me her can of Kilz to paint the areas where I patched the plaster. She’s also going to sand the small area on the ceiling she filled for me because I’m too short.
5. I stopped into a thrift store and an estate sale. I didn’t buy anything. I only want a couple things that I’m keeping my eye open for. I’m kind of picky and take my time until I find what I’m looking for. It’s partially for entertainment since I don’t really need anything.
I love that your friend is lending your her Kilz, that’s so great!
My husband is chicken-sitting for his carpool friend. So free eggs are coming our way.
I also use my instant pot all the time, and mostly for beans.
Sold 2 FB marketplace items yesterday within 2 hours of listing them. 2 more are on my porch for pick up today. All were things I picked up for free. One ebay sale overnight, I’ll walk to the PO later.
Laundry dried by solar dryer yesterday on a rare warm-ish and dry day. Back to cold today. There are a couple of nice days ahead for us so I’m planning what bigger things need washed.
I love all of this!!
I’ve made a non frugal decision to give notice at my very part time job. My schedule varies every week and includes weekends. I commute 25 minutes each way for a 4 hr shift. I’ve worked there almost 3 years. I guess I realized at 72 I have more years behind me than ahead of me.
Time to strap on the no spend/low spend helmet
Yeah, that’s a lot of commute for such a short shift!
1. I had a gift card to Rosa’s (Mexican food joint) and got a taco dinner free. A very large taco dinner! Only had to pay for the iced tea.
2. Used last year’s and previous years’ garden hoses to set up a DIY irrigation system. Had to reconfigure it and buy a double faucet thing at Ace Hardware. Thought I’d need to buy more hoses but only one is leaking, and one plastic ring sprinkler has a hole in it, everything else is OK>
3. Animal rescue people are going to repair my fence at no extra charge (beside the rehoming fee). They came out yesterday to survey the problem. Fence is owned by next door neighbors but they will allow us to patch it. One step closer to getting my new pup to come live with me. And, I found all of my dearly departed doggie’s toys and dishes and leashes and bedding, will reuse all that.
4. Pastor and deacon came by and moved the last 2 big pieces of furniture into the newly-renovated front room. They did not charge me to move the furniture back in and they didn’t charge me to move it out. So I will finish setting up the room tonight and tomorrow! Woo-hoo!!!
5. After waiting with baited breath (and yes, I was truly worried), I checked my credit union account this morning: Hallelujah!!!! My Social Security check was deposited OK. Whew! Despite what the Dastardly Duo in the White House are saying about it being a ponzi scheme and needing to be cut back, I got it all and I got it on time!!!!To celebrate, I paid off the credit card/flooring bill. And sent in my Income Tax payment….it wasn’t much that I owed, but still hate for you-know-who to get ahold of it.
1. In stepping back from shopping on Amazon I’ve discovered I can get most things local and often much cheaper with some effort. Instead of ordering from Amazon I got my moisturizer for over half off at CVS ($12.49 instead of $32.79) and the pain relief gel for my arthritis for $2.30 instead of $17.99!
2. Stopped at Panera for my free soda. I got the sip club for $4.99 and Panera is right next to where my daughter attends a group 3 X a week. The soda will go in the crock pot to cook the pork shoulder I got on sale to make pulled pork.
3. Found a lot of clearance items at the grocery store so I’m now stocked up on liquid hand soap (.47 cents each) seeded rye bread ($1.50 a loaf), got a large loaf of garlic bread ($1.50) and canned dog food for .25 cents a can (I use wet food to give my dogs their pills.)
4. Dropped some items off at friends house that I can’t use and she can. She gave me several half burned candles for my project of consolidating wax left in jars into Full “new” candles.
5. My daughter turns 21 in May at which point her personal care hours increase (she is disabled) so as her care aid my paid hours will increase so yea to earning more $!
1. checked out a newly opened vintage/antique/ flea market, we put our name on the list for a booth when it becomes available. Splitting 3 ways and my goal is too let go of things inherited and that I no longer love. I will NOT be buying things to restock the booth. Once my stuff is sold I am outta there!
2. made dishwasher tabs and filled the rinse aid container clearance bought rinse aid.
3. made my own window cleaner and the windows are done. They will probably sparkle for the next 4 years as I clean a window every time tRump pisses me off.
4. doing yard work myself as weather allows and trying to get it done so not to pay someone.
5. propagating baby spider plants and arrowhead plants to use as fill and greenery in the large outdoor pots. I put 1 annual in the middle and surround it with spider or arrowhead, fertilize with banana peel water and coffee ground water and they fill out nicely.
I am on the lookout for an instant pot at thrift stores or yard sales. I am not desperate for one but would like to try it out.
I would love to hear how you make dishwasher tabs.
I cannot take credit for the frugality of this, but I certainly want to celebrate it and be grateful. My mom and I take care of the library in our retirement community, and several of the women in my online reading group have sent us books for it. I received 2 boxes of books today, all newer hardbacks in great condition, from one of those very nice women. There are several that I am interested in reading, so that is definitely a frugal win/gift for me.
Appreciate all of you so much, even if I don’t comment very often.
Free books are the best! It’s nice you and your mom take care of the library. It sounds like a great community.
We are past the 1/2 point of March and No Spend!
1. Today is a friend/colleague’s birthday, so I brought her a card I had on hand and some various TJ candies I bought last month. Nothing (more) spent, and she was thrilled with the candy.
2. I saved a good quality salad container from a (frugal fail) salad I bought at a small deli next to the dr office. I had forgotten my lunch and went straight to the office after the appointment. I refilled the container with a new salad from home and it’s ready to grab for tomorrow. I have been bringing my lunch every other day.
3. I started tomato and pepper seeds. I used salad containers (wow, I think I have a theme going here) that my neighbor saves for me. They are perfect little greenhouses for seed starting.
4. Took the dog for a long walk by the Mohawk River. It’s 70 F out today!
5. Made my own oat milk using a plant milk maker I received for a gift a year ago. I don’t know why I took so long to try it. It literally takes 3 T. of oats and water and only takes minutes. It tastes great (although, it does not froth up like store bought oat milk so I will research why).
1. I was craving Apple Crisp but had no apples. I did have a bag of frozen blueberries, raspberries and blackberries combo so I measured out the 5 cups I needed and followed the Apple Crisp recipe. Not bad for a substitute.
2. For the second time, I’m reading a library copy of Call the Midwife. I also borrowed Volumes 2 and 3 of the same. These I will be reading for the first time.
3. We were able to turn off the heat and open the windows today. Temps were in the mid 60s. Heavy rain and snow showers expected on Friday. Sigh.
4. I dug out my Easter decorations and put them around the house. Some of them I have had for over 30 years.
5. Since getting back from our road trip, we’re eating all meals at home, making our own coffee and tea, making our own snacks (yay for pan popped popcorn), reading library books and enjoying watching Spring slowly creep into New England. The redwing blackbird are back so that’s a good sign better weather is on its way.
Katy, have fun with your niece!
I also use my instant pot a few times a week, mostly for beans or whole grains like quinoa and brown rice. I got it for free from my parents who said it was “too much work” I sort of think they expected to push a button and have a fully formed meal appear inside without needing to chop, measure, etc haha They also said those meal kits like Hello Fresh are too much work, so I think they just don’t like cooking.
1. Picked up a lot of goodies from my BN group this week including new pack of diapers, nespresso pods, tampons, and a towel rack to replace the broken one in our second bathroom. This would easily have been 150 dollars at target. Since making the decision to take the first year or two off with my little one, these savings here and there help to continue to save and add to college savings as well.
2. Putting together a basket for a dear friend who has gone to hell and back in order to welcome their first baby. Most things are new that I’ve collected on sale , but some second hand items as well. I also created a “mini manual” with a few lists of 5 tips (5 newborn hacks, 5 things to bring to the hospital , 5 things to do on maternity leave).
3. Took little one to the new play exhibit at the library. They change each one in our county every few months. He was still a bit too little, but was fun to get out of the house.
4. Sold some baby clothes on marketplace and made a new friend!
5. My local BN group is dividing due to size, and will becoming an admin to one of the groups. Happy to help aid my community in a frugal giving mentality and continue forming relationships with those around me!