Five Tiny Frugal Things
by Katy on May 28, 2025 · 51 comments
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Someone in my neighborhood’s Facebook group posted this photo, letting people know about an upcoming free “Community Shred Day,” which is perfect as my husband has four full boxes of his late parents’ mostly unopened mail to sort through. He’s been procrastinating this task since last summer for all the obvious reasons, but we now have a deadline to check this task from our to-do list. Office Depot charges 99¢/pound for their shredding services and we’ve got a lot of mail to go through! Best part is that there’s “no need to remove staples, paper clips or rubber bands!”
We have a shredder for our own personal use, but we don’t want to burn out the motor by running it continuously for hours on end.
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My next door neighbor got more spring mix lettuce in her CSA box than her family could use, so she brought a baggie over to us. Perfect timing too, as we were about to sit down to tostadas.
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I’m halfway through reading a library copy of Brooklyn: A Novel by Colm Tóibín. I know it was made into a movie, but didn’t see that it was available to watch on any of the streaming services that we mooch subscribe to. No problem though, as the library had seven copies of the DVD and no holds.
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I dropped three things off at Goodwill and took a brief loop through the store without buying anything. I did photograph a few items for a future blog post, but kept my wallet in the upright and locked position.
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Katy Wolk-Stanley
“Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without.”
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{ 51 comments… read them below or add one }
And Goldie Fawn sneaks in once again!
Ooooh, that IS such a boon to not have to remove staples!!
Most AARP chapters have a shredding/protect your ID day once a year. You can usually bring two boxes. It is a handy resource.
As a historian, I want to ask — plead! — that you please make sure you don’t shred anything that others may want, esp. for historical research purposes. I once saw a community African American historical museum, actually I was doing a news story about it for Black History Month, and they were collecting funeral programs. They explained that the newspapers back in the day would not run stories/obituaries about the black folk in town. That’s why they kept the funeral programs, which featured photos and biographies about the deceased. (Some houses of worship do this, too.) Researchers (including those researching their ancestors) could find out information about all the members of this black community from those programs; it may be their only source.
Other items that history museums/libraries may want are ration books, government documents, and informational brochures from World War 2 or other major events, letters from soldiers (in all the wars, etc.), letters from eyewitnesses telling about some event (storms, presidential visits, riots, meeting celebrities, etc.), vintage postcards/photos, and so on. My dad’s estate included some photos of WW2 aircraft he never got around to framing; I inquired at the Commemorative (used to be called Confederate) Air Force (group that restored “war birds” — military aircraft) if they’d want them. They did. Turned out that they did not have photos of these planes, and they wrote me a letter saying it would greatly benefit the researchers. And it was something I almost tossed!
Fru-gal Lisa, your caution about not shredding things of potential historical interest is entirely appropriate. I’m hanging on to several things I found in the cleanouts of my grandmother’s and mother’s residences, including my grandmother’s postcard collection (she was no photographer, so she bought postcards from everywhere she traveled) and the letter my mother wrote to her mother and stepfather to assure them that she was NOT at the Cocoanut Grove nightclub in Boston when it caught fire in 1942 (a wise precaution, given her proclivity for dancing the night away when she was a college student in the Boston area!).
But given what Katy has shared here about her in-laws and their hoarding tendencies, I’m guessing that the ratio of things of possible historical interest to things that should simply be shredded is pretty small. Sometimes “you gotta know when to hold ’em, know when to fold ’em, know when to walk away, know when to run.”
Absolutely, A.Marie. I was not suggesting she keep garbage. But I just don’t want people to “throw the baby out with the bathwater.”
I also have/had a collection of vintage postcards given to me (when I was a kid) by the elderly next-door neighbor. And your mom’s “nightclub” letter sounds priceless!
Imagine waiting for a note that a loved one was okay. We have nearly instant communication now.
Hoarders or not, every stinkin’ piece of mail needs to be opened and reviewed. I once received a class action settlement check of almost $800 that came in an envelope that looked like junk mail. This is why I open everything.
WOW! I’m going to keep a much closer eye on my “junk” mail after hearing that!
I was thinking the same thing. Plus — you never know. There might be some checks in there that could be cashed (doubtful) or reissued!
(The shredded paper can be used in “lasagne” garden beds, or a bottom layer in pots. )
* I got a “Waste Not” box in Lidl (3 Euro) and it contained: a bag of pears, 4 oranges, a net of lemons, 6 yellow kiwi, 1 grapefruit, 1 small box of blueberries, 1 small box of raspberries. Everything was still good except for 2-3 raspberries which had gotten mushed up in the package.
* My friend gave me a surplus pair of hiking boots, however, as they do not fit me I will pass them on to another friend that has a smaller shoe size than me.
* I mended a travel neck pillow that I will most likely donate to a charity shop.
* I lost my sunglasses during an event but someone handed them into the office at the location and I was able to retrieve them there. It was only a cheap pair but I like them (they are just the right shape!) and am glad to have them back.
* Recent favourite library read: Still life (Sarah Winman)
What a great “Waste Not” package!
And on a strange note, I LOVE the cover art for Still Life, but in a strange twist, I like the US version better with the tile look. Usually I’m a fan of the UK cover releases as they don’t look as cookie cutter as US ones often do.
1. I got a $1.99 paper billing charge removed from my mattress firm credit card. I switched to paperless billing to avoid future charges while I make zero interest payments for the next year.
2. I stayed home all day, made coffee and lunch at home, and gave my kitty Purrrrla plenty of pets.
3. Watched a show on Netflix.
4. Used a Christmas Barnes and Noble gift card to purchase The condiment book by Claire Dinhut
5. Opened a brand new box of graham crackers only to find a hole in one of the sleeves of crackers so they were all stale. I sent an email to Honey Maid to let them know since the box its self was sealed and not damaged.
Huge frugal fail, I was filling our pool and left the hose on all night. The hose flipped out of the pool and flooded the yard…..our water bill is going to be crazy….I want to cry.
Oh no, I’m so so sorry about your hose mishap!
Sometimes, if it is the first occurence, your water company will.waive the excess or at least reduce the.total a bit. Wouldn’t hurt to ask.
I’ll at least ask the city. Thanks for the advice.
Your hose situation is my nightmare, only I’m worried that water will flood my basement.
1) I did the math and figured out we spend enough at Costco to make the executive membership, which gives 2% back, worth it. Since I stopped shopping at Target and Amazon, we’ve been relying more on Costco, plus as my kids get older, they are eating more too. It is something to be monitored though, don’t want to start using the 2% back as an excuse to buy unnecessary things there.
2) We had a small wooden kids table and chairs in our backyard for a few years now, that the kids never used. My husband moved it under a tree into our front yard, and now they are using it every day, sitting out there coloring and writing. I guess the change in scenery made it like new. It’s making me think of what other things I could refresh by moving them around or changing.
3) I started watching Andor with my husband after hearing so many rave reviews. We use my parents Disney plus account (and they use our Hulu).
4) I started using tape and a sharpie to clearly label everything in the freezer. Much more likely to get eaten that way and no surprises upon defrosting.
5) Taking the kids to the library today for a book refresh and they love using the 25 free prints a day to print pictures of things they like (mostly trains and kittens)
@Reader Lisa, I keep a hand written inventory list of freezer contents on side of fridge. It helps me save money as I check there before meal planning each week!
1. Saved $4.27 by going to the food discount store on 10% off day. Best deal: raspberries were $1.00/container.
2. Inspired here, I marked my calendar for move-outs at the University of Minnesota to see if I could score any useful items for myself or my Buy Nothing group. My timing must have been off as I found nothing on or near either the St. Paul or Minneapolis campus when I was doing other things in those areas.
3. Had sister over for Memorial Day and made potato salad using some of the potatoes I received from Buy Nothing. Gave her some of the onions that I had also received.
4. Made sweet chili sauce, substituting sriracha for the sambal oelek.
5. Made focaccia. A first! And it won’t be the last. Studded it with rosemary from our patio pot.
Is the discount grocery called Mike’s Discount Foods?
Yes! I go to the Fridley location.
Rosemary is the gift that refuses to stop giving!
1. Inspired by your post saying to wash things in the dishwasher, I (hand) washed a very, very dirty lunch kit — it is cloth on the outside, white vinyl on the inside and had spills galore inside. I was about to throw it away. But it came out great. It’s ready for next school year! Thanks, Katy.
2. Along the same lines, I left a dirty (indoor) trash can outside. It’d been in the garage and got too dirty/dusty for the house. The hard rain washed it out. Now I have another lidded trash can ready to go and Mr. Snuggles Dog won’t be able to get into the garbage.
3. When a coworker called in, I was asked if I’d take their shift. Glad to! Four more hour$.
4. Remember the books I got for free in the back of the thrift store? Got credit for the Outlander hardback at the used bookstore. Also took in a paperback romance novel, which they accepted. The 2 books earned me $11 in store credit. Not bad!
5. Talked to the banker about a HELOC loan, in case I need it for the roof. Will be shopping around for it, though.
Hooray for items that get washed instead of thrown away!!!
Yes. I thought that lunch bag was a goner. I even bought another one at Goodwill. So now I have duplicates. I’m sure I can figure out something useful to do with the extras.
1.Fixed my dishwasher myself. Again. (I have three of them.) I don’t know what it is but my dishwashers always seem to break. Honestly if someone had one of those 70s KitchenAid warhorses I’d install it.
2. Made the most delicious chicken caesar salad of all time, she said modestly. (Not like it’s hard.) Cheap and plentiful.
3. Made homemade pesto with homegrown basil. We had some pine nuts around for some reason so I used them even though I worry about pine mouth.
4. uh….
5. I didn’t plan to annexe other countries whether they want to or not.
grrr. Annex. Annexe is a building.
I have a 1997 KitchenAid dishwasher, as well as a 1997 KitchenAid refrigerator/freezer, both of which are still going strong 28 years later. Turned out to be pretty frugal picks.
I have a 1959 pink stove that will outlive me. I did buy a KitchenAid when I tossed out the hideous chocolate fridge that was installed in the kitchen when I bought the house in 1999. It lasted for 21 years, riiiiiiiiight until lockdown when appliances were in short supply, sigh. I then bought a cheap white Frigidaire as that was all that was available without an 8 week wait. But it’s OK as I painted it pink to match the stove and added 1950s style handles and fake chrome trim. I just wish the Frigidaire had a bottom freezer, as I’m tall and hate stooping to see the fridge contents. Oh well.
1. Picked the first strawberries. Just a few but so satisfying. I have kale, swiss chard, collard greens supplying us with all of our leafy greens. Arugula will be ready soon. Blackberries are ripening and then it will be raspberries. Cucumbers, green beans, winter squash and tomatoes are all planted. Pluot has a lot of fruit, plum barely any. Rhubarb is producing so much. It should be warm enough this weekend to make a apple rhubarb crumble in the solar oven outside.
2. Watering with water from rain barrels.
3. Reorganized ‘pantry’ (shelves just outside kitchen door in garage) so that I know what I have and can use what needs used. Aiming to go through chest freezer in garage today so it can be emptied and turned off before the heat sets in. I’ll start it back up in the fall.
4. Washed a twin comforter in the bathtub. I can’t wash it in my top loading washer. I simply put some Eucalan soap in a shallow tub of water and let it soak overnight. Eucalan doesn’t need rinsed, so in the morning I drained the tub and put the comforter in the machine to spin (which does work fine). It’s now on the line drying and I will fluff it for a few minutes in the dryer with no heat. That’s been on my to-do list for a while.
5. The culinary department at my husband’s school will send out an email when they have extra food. Yesterday they had extra iceberg lettuce which I never ever buy, but I’m super happy to use a free one. Salad and ramen tonight, mexican tomorrow.
Upright locked position I love it!
Katy, the writer of the book, “Brooklyn” has written a sequel called “Long Island.” I have to check with my library to see if they have it. I do own the DVD because I just love the story and will put it on while I’m in my home office doing real work or just scrapbooking.
I read both Brooklyn and Long Island – liked them a lot!
I luvvvved Brooklyn, both the book and the movie. One of these days I need to read Long Island.
I read that book after seeing the movie. Have to say I liked the movie better.
Once in a blue moon, a movie comes along that’s better than the book. My own two nominees are The Wizard of Oz (because I love the “doubling” of the farm hands and Miss Gulch as characters in Oz) and The African Queen (because the ending of the movie is SO much more satisfying than the “meh” ending of the novel).
African Queen is such a great movie! MISTER ULLLNUTTTT!!!
Cheryl, can’t you just hear her saying that!!
Denise and Katy, I haven’t read the book but I thought the movie was excellent.
I divided my boiled potatoes and made two different types of potato salad. One was the old standby with boiled eggs, minced onion, mustard, mayonnaise, didn’t have celery or apple cider vinegar so I chopped up dill pickles and added some of the brine. Then I made ranch potato salad with crispy bacon crumbles, chopped green onion, shredded cheddar, ranch dressing and a little extra mayonnaise to make it thicker. So sorry Grandma I like the modern Ranch potato salad better.
My cat is very fuzzy so I cover upholstered furniture with blankets or sheets so I don’t have to vacuum it to death. I was at a Dillard’s outlet store and they had a $165 cotton sateen king sheet for $10 so now I have a new kitty cover. They also had racks and racks of $2.99 bras so now I’m set in that department too.
The grocery store had 2 pounds of gluten free chicken nuggets for $7 so I’m a go for quick meals. Oh and $5 gluten free frozen pizzas.
1. I stopped into Costco for discounted gift cards for dinner, which made our meals 25% off. I had samples while I was there. I was very hungry. I also filled my car up with gas.
2. I picked up a 99 cent graduation card at Trader Joe’s which is in the same shopping area as Costco and Olga’s where we had dinner.
3. I contacted my insurance agent with the VIN # of the new car I am picking up tomorrow. She mentioned that another client had stated that Toyota provides free towing for the first year. I checked and she was correct, but it’s the first two years. That’s $10 every 6 months. Small change in the scheme of things but waste not, want not.
4. I finished up the last of the Chicken Korma leftovers in the refrigerator for my dinner. Along with the last of a bottle of wine. It’s 5 o’clock somewhere.
5. I didn’t vote to take food and health care away from the poor so my billionaire donors can get richer.
Katy, we had to spring for shredding at Office Depot, but the very kind clerk applied a coupon that saved me a few bucks.
1. Twice a year I have a huge order from Chewy for my dogs, which is their heartworm preventative medication and flea collars. We live in the Deep South, so those items are not skippable. This morning I found a bundle deal on their collars that saves about 10 bucks, and switched to a lower cost heartworm medication (one used by the rescue three of our dogs came from) and shaved another $35 off. I also squinted at ingredients and changed my old dog’s arthritis supplement to something 2/3 less expensive with the same ingredients. Whew.
2. We had leftover baked beans from our Memorial Day lunch, so I ate beans on toast with cheese for supper for two days to use them up.
3. Split a box of on sale cake mix in half and made a dozen cupcakes for my son’s birthday tomorrow. The other half I will store in the freezer and use for my birthday in July. We really do not need an entire cake tempting us.
4. Bought DS a cute card for $1.25 at Dollar Tree — the cards at the grocery store are $5.60 each! — and put some pizzaria gift cards in it so he can treat himself.
5. You know you’ve reached an elevated level of frugal when store coupons for a loaf of bread and a block of cheese make you happy dance at the mailbox!
Bonus: Did not threaten and harrass any venerable universities that I am not smart enough to get into.
Or that my son is not smart enough to get into.
Ruby, love the splitting the cake mix. I’ve wanted cupcakes for awhile! Thanks
I have been learning a lot here – you CAN teach an old(er) pup new tricks. Thank you for helping me keep thriftiness at the forefront.
Learned: Eucalan soap – had to look that up. Good to know!
Made homemade pizza for late lunch to serve as lunch/dinner for me and he will have choice of a few leftovers. Used up a wrinkly yellow bell pepper and my last sweet onion diced for the top, and have a bit of each chopped and ready for a salad.
Planted yukon gold potatoes in three large containers. Fingers crossed for success. First time for those for me.
DH researched and found the battery I need for my 2014 CRV was at the same store I wanted to pop in for seed potatoes so saved about $40 off the auto store. He does deep dives into price and quality comparisons and it works out well for us.
I have a sand cherry tree/overgrown shrub that will need to come out before long. I researched propagation as I really like the tree but it’s too close to a beloved Canadian Hemlock and isn’t thriving. I will give this a try and think i have some rooting hormones from trying to propagate white lilac (?) from DH’s parents’ home after they died before we sold the place. Not successful with that attempt.
Frugal Fail – I love the idea of eating English cucumbers. I buy them. Cukes and tomatoes and onions! Cukes in salad! Cukes are left to sit on the counter and turn into pocked rubber as I let them linger for weeks. I need to check out The Cross Legacy idea for keeping them fresh for a month. Loss: $2 to the compost bin.
FTFT, I Get By With a Little Help From My Friends (Again) Edition:
(1) NDN’s home care aide happily helped NDN and me plant our usual two tomato plants in pots behind NDN’s chain-link fence. My ribs are much better, but I was relieved to let a younger and stronger person heave three 40-qt. bags of potting soil around.
(2) The Bestest Neighbors returned from another long weekend at their Lake Erie house with more eggs from Ms. BN’s cousin out there who keeps chickens. I was delighted to accept another half dozen.
(3) The roofers who re-roofed the attic gable of my house where the plumbing stack is (about 5 years ago) came out for the second time in 3 weeks to try to fix the ongoing problem I’m having with water coming down the stack into my basement. (And I still haven’t gotten a bill for the first visit. Fingers crossed.)
(4) My friend Mr. Fix-It, who to my great relief has returned safely from a niece’s wedding in Vancouver (he’s a Canadian citizen of Sikh descent with a green card, so I’d been worrying that he’d have trouble getting back into the US), has agreed with me that the monitor from his stash is probably DOA, and is helping me locate the best new one for the least $$$ online. He also helped me haul my old iMac out of my office and down to the living room, where I plan to use it as a DVD player.
(5) And I haven’t given any speeches at West Point or Arlington that are insulting not only to the US military, but to the general intelligence of anyone with anything resembling intelligence.
1. I let the mending go too long on a pillow case. It’s super cute so I am turning it into a fun valance for our upstairs bathroom.
2. Dinner was lime cilantro chicken (Costco!) with pasta Alfredo and broccoli. Very yummy. Served all three of us with also being able to make two more meals for DH and DD to take in their trip this weekend.
3. Found a candle warmer (free pile) 2 plastic trellises and 10 feet of plastic garden edging (a different free pile) dropped the candle warmer and one trellis off at my BFFs house.
4. Made black bean hummus with items on hand to take to a girls gathering.
5. Line dried my wash inside today as it is raining. Again.
1. I bought a vintage Tupperware container at a yard sale on Friday for $0.50 and sold it this week on ebay for $10.
2. My neighbor asked my son to weed her flowerbeds. He wasn’t super excited about doing it, so I helped him and we knocked it out together. My neighbor paid him, and he was excited about that.
3. He helped me move the old fridge out of the house into the garage, as the first date Detroit Edison had available for pickup is in about 3 weeks.
4. We buy dog chews that are similar to rawhides, but are highly digestible. We have a couple half-chewed ones that our dog has lost interest in. The foster dog is LOVING them, while our dog gives him the stink eye from across the room.
5. Walked up to the library and picked out a stack of books. I noticed they have been increasing their Library of Things and now have a tortilla press.
Hi Katy! I recently discovered a your blog and LOVE it! I’m getting so many new frugal ideas!
I noticed you mentioned the app Too Good To Go a couple times. Have you checked out the Flashfood app? It sells half price groceries that are close to the sell by date. Mostly produce, dairy, baked goods and meat. I checked and there are stores in the Portland area that use this app.
Hope this helps someone. I’ve gotten a lot of great deals on this app and have even checked out other storea, in different areas of the country while my husband and I were traveling.
1. Picked up a can of chicken noodle soup at a little free library.
2. The other day I made homemade chicken noodle soup. I’ve eaten two servings, and I’ll have another today, but then it’s going in the freezer.
3. Yesterday was a “Four Seasons” day — I watched the whole series remake, and then the original movie. Pretty entertaining. The only frugal aspect is using something I’m already paying for!
4. I hand wash my bras to make them last. I used to do this daily. Recently I figured out that doing two at a time is more convenient and a little more frugal.
5. I arranged my grocery list (on the Make -a -List app) in order of importance, so that when I shop, my meager allowance will cover what’s needed most.