-
I popped into Fred Meyer (Kroger) to grab milk, but made sure to pass by the clearance produce shelf. My expectations were low, as it was late afternoon, but I did grab this $1 bag of bruised apples. I know, I know . . . it’s hardly a brag worthy score, but the price of apples has been steadily increasing and I consider 25¢/apple make it worth the effort to cut off a bruise or two.
Perfect for an afternoon snack!
-
I was inspired by the quote “Sometimes it’s easier to make last-minute plans than to plan in advance.” from Gretchen Rubin’s Secrets of Adulthood.
So I sent out a text to the neighbors saying “The weather is too nice to be indoors, so I’m going to be in my backyard at 8 PM tonight with a cool beverage. You are all invited to stop by with your own beverage for a bit of neighborly conversation.”
I ended up with a small backyard party that required no preparation beyond making sure we had no underwear on the laundry line. Socializing doesn’t have to be expensive or stressful.
-
My neighbor is getting ready to move and set a few things out on her curb. I wasn’t tempted by the lawn chairs or coffee maker, but I did bring home a down throw pillow that turned out to be Pottery Barn. The pattern is perfectly fine and I can use it on my thrifted front porch loveseat. I even washed the cover and plucked the insert.
-
I’m halfway through listening to Katie Naymon’s delightful You Between The Lines through the library’s free Libby app.
-
I didn’t buy anything at Fred Meyer except for the milk and apples. I have an proper ongoing grocery list, but I’ll hold off until I can get myself to Winco. The price difference between the two stores is dramatic!
Five Tiny Frugal Things
Previous post: Five Frugal Things
Next post: Five More Tiny Frugal Things
{ 40 comments… read them below or add one }
Love the pillow! I wish we had piles to look from in my very small town. I truly miss living in the university town with lots of free piles! Anyways…..
1. It was still dark outside and I made my egg salad breakfast sandwich with sourdough bread that turned out to have mold all over it. Note to self: put on glasses or turn on a brighter light. Anyways, I punted after I got to office and realized I had cheese and crackers in the office fridge! I also had my pbj sandwich for lunch and peanut butters crackers from the office stash that is free for employees. So, no money expended for breakfast and lunch despite my stupidity…whew!
2. I washed out my black work skirt in the bathtub and hung it out to dry.
3. I was upset late yesterday and went on a thirty minute walk in my neighborhood to try to clear my head. Bonus points for the free exercise.
4. I raised my windows for the fresh breeze last night before the storm. We do have to have screens to keep out the gazillion mosquitoes.
5. I didn’t have to water my rosebushes nor my onions and greens because of the monsoon like storm last night.
Last night I made homemade pizza! No eating out and used what we had in the fridge. I have two teens so they eat a lot!
1. I had a ton of local strawberries (I’d bought some at the market on Saturday, and then my mom gifted me some she had purchased), and they were started to get soft, so I sliced and froze them. I’ll thaw what I need each morning for my yogurt with homemade granola.
2. Drinking tea at work that I make myself instead of buying anything on the way to work.
3. Switched my new spouse to my health insurance – saves him a ton since his insurance is a lot pricier, and has a deductible.
4. Wearing a thrifted skirt I have had for years and still get compliments on it.
5. Wearing Birkenstocks that I’ve had for years and brought to the cobbler twice. They’re currently in amazing shape. Hoping to hang on to them for many more years.
Hooray for repairable shoes, so many aren’t.
How do you freeze strawberries satisfactorily? Mine were mushy-yuk! Living alone, and love to have them with yoghurt and muesli, but only using a few, sliced at a time, and often have to throw out the last ones!
I freeze my strawberries whole. Then, you can slice them afterward. Stem and wash them, then lay out in a single layer on a cookie sheet or pizza pan or similar pan that fits in your freezer. Once frozen, put them in freezer bags. Take them out to thaw and slice when partially thawed.
I just hull/wash (brief, home grown), let dry and freeze whole. Better half unfortunately has a tendency to over soak and cuts into toddler size bites, like most things he cuts up (I no longer let him cut up leftover steak for my salad). What he freezes will be mixed with a package of frozen sweetened berries.
Don’t wash them/ make sure they’re not wet and put them in a jar with a paper towel, then in the fridge. I’ve read about it so many times but just did it for the first time. I’ve got a few left that I bought a week ago (and they were all red when I bought them)
Can you find dehydrated ones? I like eating them dry, in fact.
I cut strawberries up and mud with 2-3tb of sugar. Refrigerate. Old recipe from my mom. Wonderfully delish
I use a half tsp of sugar per pound of strawberries with a tiny squeeze of lemon or lime. It’s just enough to make them sweet and flavorful, but still light.
Thank you for the book recommendations! And well done on saving those apples, I like to have them with peanut butter, too.
1. Frugal win that turned into a (partial) frugal fail: got a Lidl “Waste Not” box (3 Euro) and amongst other fruit and veg it contained 3 bananas that were going brown. Decided to make banana oat cookies to use them up. Put the cookies into the oven, set a timer – the timer went off but I was busy with something else so I thought I would go take them out of the oven in a minute, then promptly forgot. By the time I remembered to take them out they were quite burnt 🙁 I managed to cut off the burnt parts but was then only left with 1/4 of the original cookies. Oh well …
2. Recent favourite library read: Let the great world spin (Colum McCann)
3. My friend gave me an indoor plant start and I gave her an evening primrose plant and wild strawberry starts.
4. The hydrangeas in our garden are in full bloom now and I am bringing them in for our vases and am also giving some to friends and neighbours.
5. Continuing to use organza bags which I got years ago to keep the blackbirds off our raspberries. If I didn’t put organza bags on the clusters of raspberries we would be left with none!
I love that you and your friends exchange flowers and plants!
I have spent way too much time grating off the bottoms of cookies as ADHD tax. I now set one timer as I leave the kitchen and one for two minutes before wherever I’m going. That way I can “snooze” and still not burn them. I still burn things, natch, but not as often.
1. Wore a nice blue T-shirt from Goodwill and dressy white slacks to my property tax hearing, under the theory that people subconsciously decide if they like you within 2 seconds of your walking in; the color psychology experts say blue makes people subconsciously think you are likeable, honest, and forthcoming. (I learned all this from job-hunting books.) Anyway, I got compliments on my shirt, which featured Texas bluebonnets (another local favorite) and I grinned and said “it’s from the GW Boutique.” A lady on the panel asked “Is that in Crawford?” and I told her “no, that’s what I call Goodwill. I also get things from Salvation Armani.” They all laughed, and I think that put them in a good disposition toward me, and this let them know I was short on funds. It may have worked, as I convinced them to lower my property value by more than a third.
2. Ate cereal (bought on sale from Ollie’s Outlet) for breakfast instead of going to a restaurant when I was out of my usual breakfast food (muffins).
3. Recent rains meant I didn’t have to water. And the crape myrtle bush by the back fence is in full bloom!
4. An old dress, a sleeveless shift, has a hole in the fabric and a stain on the front. It has now been demoted to a summer nightgown.
5. I did not impulsively make ill-advised comments to a Middle Eastern country that could plunge us into a war.
I love “Salvation Armani”! My mother used to brag about getting outfits at Targe’. She was at a fairly posh venue (The Masters in Augusta) when a woman complimented her outfit and when she credited Targe’ the woman wrote it down! I wonder if she’s found the place yet (after 40 years)?
My mother felt bad for misleading the woman but it was too late to take it back.
I’m so happy that you were able to successfully appeal your property taxes!!!!!!!!
Congrats on getting your property tax lowered. I love the approach you used. I would not have been that savvy.
1. Met with personal trainer which is free with my $15/mo wellness center membership. Currently attending the active aging classes 3x week
2 Made a hearty beef vegetable soup with leftover steak from Father’s Day
3. Lots of thunderstorms in Central Oklahoma means no need to
water
4. Friend sent me indoor herb growing kit
5. Got a couple of things sold online
“Leftover steak”? What is this dish you speak of? I’ve never seen it.
Cynthia, I haven’t either. The afterlife of steak Chez A. Marie is usually measured in minutes. 😀
I can’t speak for @Kathy and her Father’s Day diners but unless better half purchases the rare 5 oz steak, I only eat part of my steak.
Often he’ll get a deal on two or three pack. Sometimes the other one/two are frozen for future meal(s), sometimes cooked then frozen for future use.
Once we have x amount of leftover steak in the freezer, it is a steak-pototoes-HG garlic-mushroom/pepper (may be red, yellow, or orange) skillet.
Unless it’s a very spendy steak, I try to cook a few ounces extra for cold snacks, salads, or a quick meal.
I love your non-dramatic list, as it’s the small things that really add up!
Made muffins with brown bananas rescued from work.
Made homemade granola today with ingredients I have on hand.
Picked up a few necessities at Aldi, using a gift card I was given.
Found a penny while walking out of the store.
Had an eBay sale and shipped it with a mailer I had on hand.
Have not thrown an overpriced parade for myself, insulted world leaders, nor have I lost my my decency and blamed an assassination of a state lawmakers/spouse on “leftists”…..
1. Walked to the post office to post a graduation card to my grand-niece. Decided not to drive up to her open house, as it’s three hours away, and I have to be back the next day.
2. Picked up free bok choy at the little free pantry and made a delicious stir fry for lunch.
3. Also picked up a bag of barley. Will have to research how to use it, as it’s not one of usual groceries.
4. Wrapped my daughter-in-law’s birthday gift in materials I had on hand, and it looks pretty good!
5. Earned 50¢ credit by conserving electricity yesterday at peak usage time. Not sure why so little; nothing was running, but I didn’t unplug things.
I love barley in soup, especially the Scottish cock-a-leekie. (chicken, leeks, barl ey etc) Yum. Try it the authentic way with chopped up prunes as a garnish. Sounds super weird but it’s delicious.
I will! I like prunes!
Yay! Beef barley soup is also great, with or without mushrooms. I heart mushrooms, some don’t like em.
Well done on your electric saving. Where I am (Australia) when the electricity companies do the “power down hours” for rebates, it works out better for those who usually guzzle power, if they reduce a lot during the peak time. I don’t usually bother because our usage is so low routinely that we can’t find anything else to turn off.
#2 son and I both love barley, cooked with mushrooms in chicken broth or even with the odd can of condensed mushroom soup added. a warning, however – Barley loves liquid. LOVES liquid. so you need a lot less barley for the same quantity of liquid than if you were making Rice, for example. Barley also keeps soaking up the liquid after cooking, so a nice soupy-soup tucked away in the fridge will need to be loosened with liquid the next day.
None of this is bad, just useful information to have. Also lots of salt and pepper. YUM, now I want barley soup!
1. Reserved books at the library
2. Wore a buy nothing shirt to an interview.
3. Made my daughter a portable dinner for after practice so as not to stop.
4. Brought a cooler to put my free offers from social nature to combine errands.
5. Gave some. Unneeded things to my sil.
What a nice pillow.
1. I found items on my want /needs list at an estate sale – outdoor pillows, cuticle sticks and three bottles of wine.
2. I found several items to sell on Ebay at estate sales.
3. I sold three more items on Ebay. I made enough in the past week to pay my electric bill.
4. My friend took me to lunch for my birthday yesterday and my mother took me today. I can’t think of a better gift.
5. My daughter’s dog unfortunately passed away. I bought her heartworm/flea & tick medicine from her since my dog uses the same prescription. She donated many of his things to the SPCA. I glad I was able to help her out.
FTFT, Miscellany Edition:
(1) The Timex Ironman Triathlon watch I found in the middle of my street 11 months ago needed a new battery, so I took it to the locally owned appliance/jewelry/etc. store that DH always patronized for our own and the rental properties’ appliances. The battery replacement took quite a while (apparently this particular watch is a challenge in this respect). But I waited patiently, and was thanked more than I deserved for doing same. (A sad commentary on the general lack of patience in our times.) And I’d rather (a) put a new battery in my old watch than toss it and buy a new watch, and (b) give this particular store some business.
(2) While I was there, I also found an analog, battery-operated clock to replace the one in NDN’s sitting room that couldn’t be resuscitated last week.
(3) NDN’s home care aide is working wonders on getting NDN to clean out her pantry closet. I’ll spare you the details, but the condition of things in that closet was bad enough to make strong folks faint. God bless this aide for persuading NDN into this, which neither I nor NDN’s CF could do. And I’m sure that Katy can relate, from her experience with her late in-laws.
(4) On the home front, I made a stir-fry from some Reduced for Quick Sale boneless pork plus an assortment of veggies I needed to use up.
(5) And I’ll be going to the Regional Market tomorrow to see if local cucumbers are available yet. My dill is coming in, so refrigerator dill pickle season is coming up.
Your #3 – some people just have “the touch”. And likely don’t give off the OMG vibe when coming across things like NDN’s pantry closet.
Today I dried laundry on a rack on the porch and am dehydrating some grapes into raisins in a very low heat oven, starting them when the oven was still hot from my son baking a frozen pizza. Loaned our push mower to our neighbor because a sharing economy is a strong one. Ate a snack of the last somewhat dry piece of bread toasted with peanut butter on it. The grocery store was out of their regular bags and put my purchases in the heavier blue “cold stuff” bags that I save to line wastebaskets. What a bonanza! Also recycled an empty 20 pound cat litter bag as a yard waste carrier.
1. I cut up a very large seedless watermelon. I shared some with a neighbor.
2. A relative drinks sparkling water regularly. While I was at the grocery store I noticed the store brand, which they drink, is Buy One Get One Free. I took a picture of the sale sign and sent it to her.
3. I bought a rotisserie chicken at Sam’s Club while I was there. Our AC is on the fritz and we are waiting for a replacement part so I am trying to heat up the house a little as possible. It will provide several meals and the carcass will provide the makings for soup.
4. I noticed gas was a decent price an Sunday and I was low so I filled up. The price increased by Monday.
5. I am reading and listening to library books including Your Next Conversation and First Time Caller.
1. I drove the hour plus to the “big city” with a visit to my mom as the primary purpose. I was going to drop by Costco for a rotisserie chicken and croissants as a no-fuss bring-mom-a-dinner meal, however I am feeling a bit of a pinch this month in both time and money.
Good thing that last night I had pulled some chicken (shrink wrapped by yours truly some time ago, still looking fabulous) out of the freezer and managed to rub it all over with home dried herbs and various spices (a rub can be SO cheap when you use your own oregano, rosemary and sage, and you can go WILD with the quantities). I roasted it along with about 12 of the discount potatoes picked up earlier in the week, and tore the bird apart before bed.
I took a breast and thigh down to mom’s, along with three baked potatoes; my daughter brought croissants and discount cinnamon donuts from her local discount grocery; Mom had salad fixings that I cut up and grated, and we had an easy meal. Mom didn’t have to do much, which was the plan, my daughter got some ‘buffered time’ with her (currently querulous) grandmother, we fit in a walk afterward and there was only a minor level of repetition and interruption, so I chalk the visit up on the ‘good time was had by all’ side of the ledger.
2. Another reason for the “big city” visit was to pick up something I had ordered for delivery to a local store.
I was playing the discount games: the day I ordered there was an additional 20% off what was already half off, and they were also offering a $20 coupon for use in the store if you ordered for pickup.
I had researched a different item that we are getting for my daughter for her birthday, and the store indicated it had it in stock, so I was going to pick that up, too, and use the discount coupon (which has a very short window of usability). Turned out the item in the store was marked down because it was missing some important components, so what should have been a quick in-and-out pickup and purchase turned into a bit of a challenge. However some very good support from the manager meant that we WERE able to use the coupon on a phone order, even though that wasn’t really allowed.
The “I drove for an hour” clarification, along with the error at the store, gave me a bit of necessary leeway. We are facing a postal strike so they won’t ship to my home, so I WILL have to go back down to pick it up, however I still have a $20 off $50 or more coupon to use – and a few items on my list – so I will likely make the effort before the coupon expires. Patience and good humour for the win, or at least no loss…
3. Not having time to go to Costco saved me more than the cost of the chicken and croissants, as I have been noticing my tendency to pick up ‘extras’ has increased. However my Costco list IS getting longer – so one day soon I’ll whip in for some laser-sharp-focus-Costco-shopping, list in hand and floor map in my head.
4. Although I am lusting for some quite lovely and comfortable MCM chairs that are part of a set at the local thrift store, the table that comes with is needing refinishing, I don’t need a teak table as I have one, and the price (although appropriate) is out of my current comfort level.
I do have to replace the current kitchen chairs I have, however, as they are falling apart. The same thrift store had three nice solid, smallish and attractive oak kitchen chairs for a really decent price, so I chose to invest in them, instead. They are now paid for, I will need to pick up next trip to town. Currently the back of the Matrix is needing a bit of a purge.
I am quite excited about these new chairs, as I have been scraping by on not-very-good free-pile chairs ever since I gave my old MCM chairs to my #1 Son when he asked for them when he ended up with my mom’s MCM table. I am SUCH a good mom!
5. Spent time with my grandson, who is close to walking. His mom has a serious back problem and I really want to help out by doing things for them, however what she seems to want is for me to have quality hang time with the baby, while she putters around doing things she can’t get to when he needs fairly focussed attention.
So she watered around her porches, deadheaded flowers, cleaned her air conditioner, and poked around. Sometimes we were hanging around, near her (swinging, or hanging out on the porch after she swept it, or crawling around outside), and sometimes we played and practised walking while she was in another room. I did go and water their small veggie plot, as that distance to walk was more than her back could take (!!), and I found and brought back some mint from their shared herb garden, as she was wanting a watermelon feta mint salad. However, she didn’t want/need me to make the salad for them, she preferred that I hang out with her and the baby, instead!
I am learning so much about my own expectations and peculiar way of communicating, and am so very grateful that this Daughter Outlaw is really open to ‘doing the work’ together with me (she is also in recovery which is a HUGE help). What this means is that I can actually HEAR her when she lets me know what I can best do to help, and I don’t get unnecessarily hurt by their rejection when I do or offer what they ‘should’ need without consulting. ONWARD!
It sounds like both you and your daughter in law are being patient and kind with one another. Nicely done!
@Katy – I agree. @Ecoteri – kudos for going with the flow with your DIL. It has not been that long ago that I remember I *just* needed a break from the kid(s). Honest to Pete – I always say good thing a baby of is cute otherwise they’d be dead. The human race would have ceased to exist as 98% of males don’t have what it takes to “incubate”, deliver, and/or be primary caretaker.