Five Tiny Frugal Things
by Katy on June 3, 2025 · 56 comments
-
I took some a hose, soapy water and a scrub brush to all my random outdoor furniture cushions to freshen them up for the season. (A.k.a. grime and bird poop removal day!) They’re currently sopping wet and hanging on my laundry line and hopefully should be dry enough to put back in place by tomorrow. Every single one of them was either curb picked or handed down to me.
-
I curb picked an unused filter that’s the exact right size for our furnace. They only cost around $7 or so, but that’s seven dollars I get to keep in my bank account!
-
I used the last of the okonomiyaki batter for this afternoon’s lunch and then assembled a big pot of chicken soup using the last bits from a rotisserie chicken, plus carrots, potatoes and peas. I really need to go to the grocery store, but I enjoy the challenge of making do from what I already have on hand. I also saved the chicken bones and carrot peels in the freezer for future stock.
I’m proud to announce that I fully used up a ten-pound bag of potatoes, a two-pound bag of carrots and a jumbo bag of spinach without even a smithereen of food waste since my last big grocery shop.
-
I may hit the Pizza Hut that’s next to Winco as I read that they’re offering $2 personal pan pizzas on Tuesdays throughout the month of June. Too much of a bargain to not investigate. You know, for the blog . . .
-
This Saturday, June 7th is a “free fishing day” in Oregon, (no license required to fish, crab or clam) as well as free state park day and $1 bread day at the Franz bakery outlet. Good day to be a bargain hunter!
Katy Wolk-Stanley
“Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without.”
Click HERE to follow The Non-Consumer Advocate on Instagram.
Click HERE to join The Non-Consumer Advocate Facebook group.
Like this post? Then please share it with your friends!
Like this:
Like Loading...
{ 56 comments… read them below or add one }
So many great bargains inPortland!
I went out with co-workers to hit some thrift stores in our school’s neighborhood here in NYC. I found a couple of tshirts and a new jean jacket (my current one is worn to shreds and needs some creative mending).
Congrats on using up all those veggies! A lot of the veggies I buy tend to end up in the compost, for various reasons (forgot they were there, family is vegetable-averse). I started keeping a paper list of what groceries we have on the fridge to try to remind us what we have available, and am trying to meal plan more too.
We keep a white board on the front of the fridge with food that needs to be eaten/leftovers. It really helped when the kids lived at home.
1. Yesterday was the big grocery shopping day, most of which was done at Aldi, with a small bit of shopping at the local grocery store. Last day of sale discounts on two meat items and coupons knocked about $10 off the total.
2. Having lucked upon a 2.6 pound tub of ground beef marked down 50% at Aldi, I divided it up to freeze, making up a meal’s worth of hamburger patties and two smaller packages for future casseroles or meat loaf. This makes the deal much more useful for us.
3. Mended a separated spot in the arm seam of my summer house dress. Sewed up a hole the pup chewed in her floppy fox toy.
4. Stretching a bottle of Aldi sangria by adding store-brand black cherry seltzer to create lower-calorie wine coolers.
5. Hung up laundry to dry overnight in the bathroom.
I also need to go to the grocery store, but like you, I do occasionally appreciate forcing myself to use up all the odds and ends in the fridge, like the random apple or the last carrots.
Because we know if I do a grocery shop, I WILL choose to eat the brand new purchases before the older stuff.
Ooh . . . I took a mealy apple from our Seattle trip a few weeks ago and diced it up and cooked it with cinnamon and brown sugar to top some oatmeal. So true about the new food being better than the old stuff.
1) Homemade yogurt that didn’t thicken is now the base for overnight oats and yogurt cake. That is the first time I have had an instant pot yogurt fail. I think the error was the partial frozen milk at the start. But overnight oats are yummy!
2) Second free pile went out next to the road yesterday and was half gone by this am. This saves me time, hassle and money by not having to bag it up for the thrift store or trash depot (where I pay by the bag). And, as mentioned before, it thrills me to see stuff go.
3) Made chicken pie (in my part of New England that is with biscuits, not pie crust) with broth and leftover chicken from a crockpot stewed rotisserie chicken carcass.
4) Washed some hand me down outdoor chair cushions in the laundromat giant washer and the seam opened up. But this allows me to rearrange batting? This may be a frugal fail, not sure yet.
5) Friend gave us some extra squash starts for the garden. Here’s hoping for a good garden year…
I saw in the comments of the original Pizza Hut video you shared that the deal is only for Canada 🙁
First, my frugal fail. My day got away from me, and rather than making a large veggie pasta salad for a picnic, I bought it at the nice grocery store. And, it cost basically the same as a small car. Procrastination doesn’t pay off!
1) Uploaded an iBotta offer for $6 off, uploaded receipts to Fetch, and earned $7.50 + a free bag of shredded cheese through grocery store game pieces they were handing out.
2) Finished a final interview for a job that’s been in motion for months. Potentially frugal/income earning. We shall see.
3) Used up grocery store gift card to buy dinner ingredients.
4) Planned menu for when my parents are in town for DS18’s graduation, to ensure we minimize meals out.
5) Sold a makeup item on eBay, before it expired. Packaged in recycled mailing envelope.
Good move on the filter. Clean filters are important.
We had a furnace where the filters stood up in the filter slot, rather than laying horizontally.
I found filters on a super clearance that were the right width but much taller than we needed. I just stood them in place and they worked fine.
Well…
Continuing my long, mournful frugal fail story about my car: I was on the phone Monday all morning long trying to get the dealership, the insurance agency and their roadside “service” office to come tow my car to the dealership. The idiot at the latter’s 800 number didn’t even know what STATE I was in (by that time I was in a state of extreme anger) and kept fouling up. I got someone to take me to work, and on my break, I ended up calling the local towing service. I paid them more than $90 to tow the car in, and I should’ve done that to begin with. Right before I got off duty, I made a quick phone call to the dealership to catch them before the closed. Too late! The switchboard was closed and I got some smart a$$ed salesboy who would not transfer me to the service dept. So this morning I called and got the service dept. and politely told them what I thought of their service, or lack thereof.
Someone from the national “24/7” roadside “service” agency then called me and I let her know, in no uncertain terms, that I was done with Germania insurance because of her guy. (I went so far as to calmly suggest he be fired, lest he end up causing someone to be stranded!) I had her stammering apologies right and left.
I called my insurance agent and let them know they owe me the $90 towing fee. Again, I got a lot of stammered apologies.
The dealership is “diagnosing” my car and will call me back with the results. I told them I needed a loaner car and that I better not be without transportation tomorrow when I go to work (today is my day off). My warranty is supposed to cover this expense.
Anyway, all of this may or may not be frugal but if they think they are going to be let off the hook by this little old lady, they are fixing to get an education!
Heavens, hon, I sure hope all this goes better for you!
Give ’em hell, Fru-gal Lisa!
Thanks, A. Marie. I plan to!
I’m tired of people thinking just because we’re relics from the 1950s that we are pushovers.
As a (lady) college prof once said, “It’s open season on…women” and IMO, that goes double for women alone — and triple for women of a certain age.
I will put this as delicately as I can. No intention of offending anyone.
I had a female supervisor tell me one time that we women have much bigger “family jewels” than our male counterparts. God had to put ours on our chest because ours wouldn’t fit where men’s “jewels” are located.
Just because you are female, don’t let them push you over.
@Melissa N – I was once told been told by a male senior VP that I have more balls than my alleged male co-workers. Women being doormats continues from the 1950s/1960s. So @Fru-gal Lisa show them you have hat AND cattle. Sorry you live in the state that you do. But take heart, they’ll be putting warnings on Doritos and M&M packages to “keep you safe”
How did you resist the urge to go back to bed and pull the covers over your head? I hope you are getting a year’s worth of aggravation paid in advance for this calamity.
Well, I took it out on a roofer today. His co. was supposed to come to my house at 1 p.m. to give me an estimate. They didn’t. Later, I called them to inquire about it and they said they couldn’t make it today, could they reschedule some other day. I told them (I did not raise my voice and said this calmly) that since they obviously were not all that interested in getting my business, just forget the whole thing. An hour after that, they texted me and again asked if they could reschedule. I said no.
In yet another text, they claimed their guy came to my house. I informed them I was here all day and the doorbell didn’t ring, the dog didn’t bark and no one knocked at my door, so no they were NOT here.
They texted me several times, hoping I’d change my mind. I told them no. I told them if they were this unreliable in doing the estimate, it’s a red flag, and I doubted they’d make my job a priority. So I was no longer interested in doing business with their company. (Mind you, there are dozens upon dozens of roofers running around town.)
My friend Allison once gave me a clipping from an Oprah magazine, that Allison had framed (thrifted frame and it looked super cute), and it said “When people show you how they really are, believe them.”
These various businesses showed me they are really not interested in respecting my time or helping me out, so I believe I will go elsewhere. If that makes me a witch spelled with a capital B, so be it.
Every woman should be a bitch:
Be
In
Total
Control of
Herself
I wish I’d kept the circa 1980s article where I read this. As well as the article that boomers cannot just accept an act of god – it *has* to be someone’s fault.
Maya Angelou is the source of that quotation.
1) My husband was in need of a funnel to put oil in his car. He suggested that I sacrifice one of my kitchen funnels for a one time use. Instead I went to the recycle bin and pulled out a half gallon milk jug, cut it in half, took the cap off and TA DA a funnel.
2) I love to cook so I went and picked up two library cookbooks, Salsa Daddy and Simply Jamie.
3) Because I do not shop at my local chain grocery store regularly but I do shop there, I went online and added any digital coupons that I might possibly use. Most will expire without my using them BUT if I do buy something it’s nice to save an extra$1.
4) A dear friend is redoing the yard of her new house and is getting rid of her stepping stone pavers. I went and picked them up with the help of my daughter and her friend. The 50 pavers cost me gas and Chick Fila for my helpers, not a bad price
5) The voles have eaten all the green beans that I planted. I didn’t want to leave the bed empty to grow weeds so I did chaos gardening. I mixed left over annual flower and herb seeds plus a few packs picked up at closeout for 25 cents each. I just mixed the seeds well and have scatter them, lightly raked to cover them and watered. Some are already coming up. We’ll see what happens in a few weeks
Sharon, love your funnel story!
I cut a gallon milk jug in half which I use when I buy litter in 40 lb pails and xfer to 20 lbs jugs. Unless you lose it, said milk jug will last well over a decade.
I do the same for chicken feed
FTFT (most really small this time):
(1) I cut open two tubes, one of hand cream and one of Voltaren arthritis rub (which is expensive), to get the max out of the contents.
(2) I found a dime and another $1.25 in container deposits during today’s early morning walk. My May and June container deposit totals are usually my best, since the locals are rediscovering the joys of drinking beverages al fresco. 😀 And a lot of folks still don’t seem to realize that single-use water bottles have been covered under the NY State container bill for several years now.
(3) I’ve begun cutting herbs for drying. The Greek oregano (absolutely the best) that I started from seed last year is now mature enough for harvest, and I’ll be getting to my thyme and peppermint shortly. My peppermint, as noted in an earlier comment, is the “chocolate” variety, and it does smell like Girl Scout Thin Mint cookies. My JASNA Panera friend can’t get enough of it.
(4) A neighbor managed to pick up the first deer tick of 2025 a few days ago. (Our street’s pilot bait/trap/euthanize program seems to have been a success–there are far fewer deer out there–but we still do have the ticks.) Dr. Bestest Neighbor and I weighed in on our street’s Google Group with tips for wearing and treating gardening clothes to avoid ticks.
(5) And I haven’t decided to start drilling for oil in one of the US’s most vulnerable wilderness areas. (This one’s not tiny, and this one’s for you, Lindsey.)
A. Marie–I have been lucky enough to travel all over the arctic wilderness. I have also worked on the construction of the trans-Alaska pipeline (each summer paid for the following year of grad school, with base rate of $35 an hour, time and a half after 8 hours and double time for Sundays. Mind you this was in the 70s, so $35 was an unbelievable pay rate. The story is that there were more M.A. and Ph.D. people working the pipeline than had ever been seen before. There were no other occupations that could match the rate, especially for those parts of the project, like mine, where at one point 80 weeks were required in order to complete a contract on time.) All of which is to say, I have seen the pristine parts of the arctic and the way it looks during and after construction projects. By the end of the contract it cost so much to ship stuff off the slope that they simply buried it in huge pits, which was strictly forbidden. Those things will never decompose and the scar of the digging and recovering the pits of tools and materials will always be visible. To my mind, given that there is oil in less fragile places and we should be funding alternative energy forms, there is no excuse for disturbing things even more. The most heart-breaking picture I have ever seen was of a starving polar bear so thin you could see the ribs, eating the seat of an abandoned snow machine, in a desperate attempt to get something into its belly. The researchers were forbidden to interfere in anything they saw…as if previous interference with food and migration cycles had not caused the current tragedy they were witnessing. Sorry for the rant.
No apology needed, Lindsey. I guessed that this was how you might feel about the AK wilderness drilling proposal, and your description of the starving polar bear is heart-rending. (Personally, I think we should drill for oil in DJT instead. He’s certainly full of snake oil.)
A.Marie,
LMAO. You said it!
Maybe we could take DJT and his minions up to the Alaskan wilds and let ’em be polar bear food. No, that would be too cruel — for the polar bears.
Speaking of using up produce, I had a very ripe banana sitting on the counter mocking me. I meant to eat it sooner, but then it got too ripe for my taste and still I procrastinated. Should I throw it in the freezer for future banana bread? I’ll think on it. Another day or two passes and then yesterday morning I knew what to do with the very, very ripe banana. I made a bowl of oatmeal and then cut it into a small dice and folded it into the hot cereal. It was perfect with no added sugar, milk, or cream. I don’t know when I’ve enjoyed a bowl of oatmeal more. I will definitely save an overly ripe banana to use in my oatmeal in the future.
I don’t have much since I just commented yesterday, but I started bringing pantry items I don’t need into work to leave in the break room and people have been taking them. Then today I noticed someone else had brought in some pantry items to give away. I am happy to have started this trend, previously people just put leftover party food (like birthday cake) in the break room, which is also welcome but I’m happy to have a way to give away other items (I deleted my Facebook account so I sadly lost my buy nothing group)
Also, I sewed a button that fell off our duvet cover. My sewing skills are pretty dismal but I do remember button sewing from the short lived sewing lessons my mom enrolled me in as a child.
1. I made Catalan Vegetable Stew last night and I realized that every single ingredient in it I either grew or was given for free. Most satisfying. It also used the butternut squash that needed eaten,
2. Sold an item on ebay and rode my bike to PO to mail it. Also mailed a piece of red felt my daughter-in-law needed, that fit in a regular envelope and mailed for the cost of a single stamp. I bought stamps, one sheet honoring 250 years of the Marine Corps. I’m honored to be the mom of a USMC veteran.
3. We dropped our monthly allowance of ink cartridges at Staples and received $15 store credit. I have over $100 credit there from recycling ink, and that’s after I’ve spent on whatever I need that they sell (like blue Dawn dishwashing liquid!).
4. My husband brought home a free succulent that a co-worker was gifted and didn’t want. It will be given as a gift when I need one. I also have a small collection of herbs I’ve grown from cuttings of my own plants which I keep around for giving as gifts. Free for me and useful for the recipient!
5. Gifted a couple things to people on BN. Requested a watch for my husband to keep in his pickleball bag. He doesn’t take his phone (he goes to the courts at the local park where it’s free to play and doesn’t want to risk having phone stolen) but he often loses track of time. I figured there might be someone in my BN group that didn’t use their watch anymore, since most of us use our phone for the time.
I just recently finished the last of two gallons of Dawn bought from Staples during the pandemic when all the cleaning products were in extremely short supply. The price there is pretty good, too.
I don’t look for free piles, yard sales, or Facebook freebies. Why would I want more stuff. The more you own the more you have to spend time cleaning, sorting, storing.
I do use a washing machine. I put my wet clothes on hangers and they dry in the closet overnight. I hang sheets and towels in a breeze. I’ve quit a dishwasher though. I forgot how nice sticking your hands in a hot tub of soapy water is. Getting rid of carpet makes a vacuum mostly unnecessary. And I gave away all those pesky appliances that vie for space in closets, cabinets, and counters. I thought back to when I was a kid. Somehow a whole world of healthy non-deprived people did without all the stuff we feel is necessary today. It’s not minimalism. It’s good grief how much do you think you need. Acquiring stuff is a national pastime. It doesn’t matter if it’s free or costs a mint you probably don’t need it. You’ve just habitually acquired this national pastime of owning more and more to be fulfilled or happy or worthy.
In Luke 10:41 Jesus said
“Martha, you are anxious and disturbed about many things. A few things, though, are needed, or just one.”
A lot of my “stuff” (and so agree on limited use kitchen appliances) is from parents/grandparents/great-grandparents and in one case, great-great-grandparent (which is a useful furniture item that once could not replace the quality or comfort these days).
We have limited carpet but since we eat at home a lot, I do use my energy/water efficient (Bosch) dishwasher. But there are enough items that are a) not dishwasher safe or b) are a waste of dishwasher space that I get my “fix” of handwashing.
“Somehow a whole world of healthy non-deprived people did without all the stuff we feel is necessary today.”
Women worked their butts off is how. In the 1920s, a married woman almost always spent at least four hours on housework. No thanks, I’ll keep my dryer, robot vacuum, microwave and dishwasher, thanks.
Correct, Rose. I think we are finished giving away unpaid labor.
Our friend that he and his son hunt called the other day. Asked if I was going to be home. Yes, I was home for the evening. He said he had some wild turkey for us. He brought us not 1, not 2, but SIX gallon freezer bags each containing a breast and a leg/thigh. Some of it is last year’s, but that’s fine. The only thing I don’t like is that he always brings it skinless. I will have my husband separate the legs from the thighs so they will fit in the pot to cook. I found that if I cover the legs/thighs with water and cook in my Dutch oven, the meat doesn’t dry out as much. I will pick that off the bone and use for soup. The breast will go in the crockpot with carrots, celery and onion and be used for a turkey dinner or hot turkey sandwiches or turkey salad or …
Can’t tell you the last time I actually PAID for neat. Cha-Ching! Thank you, Scott (and son, Daniel)!!!
When you first said wild turkey, Melissa, I thought you meant the booze — 6 gallons of it. LOL!
I usually clarify it by saying “not the kind in the bottle.” Oops…forgot to do that this time.
They might skin the bird rather than plucking as the latter is a PITA. Just thinking that I know other hunters who don’t pluck they peel…
All of your FTs sound mighty big!
1. Gave a donation to the local public radio station today (fund drive week). While this is not immediately frugal, public broadcasting is in the crosshairs with me at the moment. Throughout my entire 50 years, I have benefited from public radio or TV from watching Sesame Street as a babe all the way all the way to listening to Live from the Met while running Saturday errands as a middle-aged mom. We’ll all be poorer without it.
2. Taking salads with tofu to work every day and drinking water. I’ve lost 6 pounds. I also am walking the dog nightly and hiking on weekends weather permitting (we have not had a single dry weekend in upstate NY since Dec).
3. Sold a bunch of things on eBay. While nothing was spectacular, all of the items were thrifted at some point, and I made back what I spent at least (mostly more). I am listing more things soon.
4. Gave a bunch of items away on Buy Nothing. I am so happy to have a BN here where I live. I remember back in my KY days wishing we had one every time BY was mentioned on here. 🙂
5. I shopped my own closet and pulled out some more professional dresses (all thrifted) to wear to work. I’ve been receiving compliments on my outfits. I went from working from home in less formal wear to back to office in March (thanks, Taco) and I hadn’t thought much about my wardrobe. It feels good to use things I own (although, tbh, I would love to go back to professional tops and comfy bottoms).
Ah yes, RTO – plenty of companies shoving that down employees throats while aggressively outsourcing tech jobs overseas (read: pretty much slave wages. India has started to push the envelope but not fast enough).
I’d have to dig through paper piles/files but I *do* have a document that states I was hired remote. It appears the “hired remote” was removed from some future hires documents. We’ve lost people due to the “get over it” RTO. And our new CEOs “that question is selfish” (asked after an almost orgasmic senior leadership presentation about AI eliminating humans) isn’t boding well. I have enough time in to retire and since my team of five is already down three people, we’ll see what happens. Suffice it to say my camera has been off and will stay off.
1. I stacked my errands today and only had to make one trip to town for the week (‘town’ for us is 29 miles away and I don’t like wasting gas on extra trips)
2. I had a $0.60 error on a receipt from my grocery shopping trip the other day that I didn’t notice until after I got home. I called the store and spoke to someone at customer service and she said she’d be in for the next few days to fix it if I could bring my receipt. She had fixed SEVERAL errors before I had even left the parking lot when I went shopping, errors that would have cost me $30+ and earned the cashier a talking-to. Tanya, you’re a life saver.
3. I used the opportunity to pick up a few items for my Ibotta rebates and found a receipt in the parking lot that I’ll keep an eye on for additional rebates.
4. While in town I stopped by my old office and caught up with some friends and gave one of them a half full bag of cat food. Our cat passed away last month and I never heard back from the charity shelter that I left a voicemail for about donating it there.
5. The office has installed a small snack shelf since I left and I was told to help myself to anything on it while my kids were eating in the break room. There wasn’t much we’d really eat but there were some fancy individual peanut and almond butters that my husband will love for his morning apple slices.
Frugal fail: I wasn’t feeling well on my way home and made some of my emergency chicken nugget for lunch rather than eat the leftovers I had planned on eating in the fridge. They should be good for another day if I feel up to eating tomorrow. Fingers crossed I haven’t picked up a stomach bug
1. My brother in law was leaving for vacation so he dropped off a $10 coupon that expires soon for our local grocery store.
2. My in laws are using our garage for storage the next 4 months. They wanted to pay us instead of a storage until even though I said they could use the garage but they insisted. They paid us $120 up front which is half of the price of the cheapest storage unit near us.
3. I’m listening to yet another free audio book through the Libby app.
4. There was a newspaper article I wanted to read but it was behind a paywall. So I used my library to get access for free.
5. I didn’t buy my daughter a Labubu doll even though she has asked many times now.
I wasn’t familiar with those dolls so I looked them up. Personally I think the creepy factor is more important than the frugal factor in this, but maybe I’m just not a doll person.
They are creepy and the one she wants is $45!!!
Love to hear everyone’s frugal accomplishments!
1. Went to Costco with my parents. I drove and my Dad insisted on filling my gas tank. I bought us all costco hotdogs and sodas- think he got the short stick!
2. Made taco salads with odds and ends and used cherry tomatoes from my garden.
3. Bought chlorine tabs for the pool at Costco. I’ve been pricing them everywhere and they were 5.00/lb( or more!). Got it today for 3.75/lb. Still expensive, but I’m glad I held out.
4. Cooked some potatoes that were getting ancient and will use them as a side or a bowl starter.
5. Went to Spectrum to investigate a cheaper plan, but a change didn’t save much money so will probably cut elsewhere. I really work at keeping our fixed expenses down.
Just had a memory that screamed “frugal!”
My grandfather’s crude workbench in the basement had 4 or 5 shelves of simple plywood. He had tools and such laying on the shelves, but he also utilized the space UNDER the shelves. Under each shelf, metal baby food jars were nailed fast to the underside of the shelves. Then he would put his variou screws, nails, nuts, bolts, etc in the empty glass baby food jars and screw them onto the lids. The jars were clear, so he could see what he had at a glance and it kept small pieces like these from ending up on the floor. Things were sorted by size and it was easy to get what he needed without taking up a lot of space…and it put empty baby food jars to work.
I don’t have need or place to do something like this. If I were to do it today, I would probably uses OUI yogurt jars or something similar in size.
I use Oui yogurt jars to prepare portion size snacks like nuts, M&Ms, or Cheez-Its, etc.
Melissa, the basement in one of the rental properties DH co-owned had the same setup with the baby food jars that you describe. This basement provided several other treasures, such as old wooden cheese boxes this guy used for storage (I’m still using some of these in my office) and an old, locally manufactured Easy Washer washing machine (the copper/zinc tub for this is currently doing duty for me as a planter for spinach, arugula, etc.).
My next door neighbor did that, but he used jelly jars, peanut butter, etc. I always thought it was clever.
Just had a memory that screamed “frugal!”
My grandfather’s crude workbench in the basement had 4 or 5 shelves of simple plywood. He had tools and such laying on the shelves, but he also utilized the space UNDER the shelves. Under each shelf, metal baby food jars were nailed fast to the underside of the shelves. Then he would put his variou screws, nails, nuts, bolts, etc in the empty glass baby food jars and screw them onto the lids. The jars were clear, so he could see what he had at a glance and it kept small pieces like these from ending up on the floor. Things were sorted by size and it was easy to get what he needed without taking up a lot of space…and it put empty baby food jars to work.
I don’t have need or place to do something like this. If I were to do it today, I would probably uses OUI yogurt jars or something similar in size.
And then the rain hit! I hope you were able to snag your cushions off the line before the weed-waterer started.
Hi, Katy! Do you have a problem with your outdoor cushions becoming dotted with mildew stains? I have been wanting to scrub our Adirondack chair cushion but was discouraged about the mildew knowing that if I used a bleach based product I would have bleach instead of mildew stains. More sanitary and also more unsightly. What are your thoughts about this cleaning challenge? (I definitely DON’T want to buy a new cushion!)
Have you tried scrubbing them with white vinegar? Vinegar usually kills mold/mildew better than bleach, based on what I’ve read, and I’ve always had pretty good luck with it. I used white vinegar in the washing machine if laundry gets washed and forgotten, and it eliminates the musty smell.
1. I have been making meals from the food pantry finds. Today a blend of pasta, spinach, cheese dip, marinara sauce and mushrooms for lunch (sugar snap peas on the side), and chips and salsa for dinner. (My dinner is always light; not my hungry time.)
2. I made no-stir granola and was reasonably happy with the outcome. It was too brown, so next time I’ll have to shorten the baking time.
3. I got a haircut and used a coupon code for $20 off. It was for new customers and this was my second time there, but I explained that on my first time the coupon code didn’t work and asked if we could try it again. It worked, and they were so nice about it!
4. It’s time to renew my passport. I don’t know if I’ll ever use it again, but I would hate to need it and not have it. I tried to renew online, which was pretty daunting, and in the end my picture was not acceptable because of shadows on my face. So I’m going to start over again using snail mail. I went to the post office and got my picture taken and was a little shocked that it was $15. It was $6 last time. So I guess it would have been more frugal to have someone take my picture on my phone and do the online renewal — but I’m actually glad it was done by someone who knew what they were doing!
5. Went to Goodwill and found a gift for a friend — vintage hankies — and some gifts for me! A mug, a gravy boat, and a small cooler perfect for bringing home leftovers. $12 in total and I’m pleased with everything.