Five Tiny Frugal Things
by Katy on June 22, 2025 · 4 comments
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My next-door neighbors are going out of town for a week, so I’ll water their garden while they’re away. Today it’s raining both the cats and the dogs, but that’s an aberration for this time of year.
I’ll also put out and take in their bin, so I’ll take a loop through our house to see if we have large garbage that can go out with their service. We share garbage pick up with our other next-door neighbors, which can be an issue when there’s rare Big Stuff to get rid of. I did replace our furnace filter last week, so I can at least put the dirty filter in their bin.
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My step-father gifted me a $20 restaurant gift card that he wasn’t able to use. It isn’t enough for two meals, so I’ll just get takeout at some point. Thanks, Sam!
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The out of town neighbors also gave me a mostly full package of mozzarella “pearls,” which I’ll be sure to put to good use.
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My plan had been to hit a neighborhood garage sale day with a friend this afternoon, but the rain was just too heavy and we figured very few households would’ve actually participated. We were looking forward to perusing the end-of-day “free” piles, but sometimes Mother Nature has different plans.
I’m making a concerted effort to spend time with friends lately, but do so in a non-consumer manner; such as serving homemade food, last week’s low key backyard party and this. Being on a lower budget than your friends can be isolating, but that can be switched around when you’re the one planning the get togethers.
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I made a big batch of red lentil soup, which paired well with our Junuary weather.
Katy Wolk-Stanley
“Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without.”
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{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
1. Words for today are: HAZY, HOT & HUMID. Supposed to break the record temp of 98 set back in 1988. Managed to get a small load of laundry on the clothesline early this morning and they will stay there until the son goes down.
2. Found a pretty frosted glass bowl at the thrift store for $2. It weighs a ton, is fluted, and has grapes and grape leaves in the glass. I tried to find one like it via Google without success. There’s no makers mark, so maybe mass produced? DH’s sister and husband, their son and daughter-in-law, and their granddaughters have a craft show twice a year at their farm. (The ones I got the free eggs from.) DH’s sister goes to yard sales, flea markets and estate sales and snaps up inexpensive vintage items that she can resell for a profit. I’m going to ask if she wants the bowl for that. Even if she gives me $5 for the bowl, I stll get $3 profit and she’d probably put $20 on it, if I know her. Her husband does wood turning, son makes decorative metal flower stakes (about 3-4 feet high), some of which have rain gauges. He does auto body work in his own shop and paints the flowers with automotive paint and clear coat. Nephew’s wife and daughters are bakers and sell a variety of baked goods. A lot of their stuff is out of my price range; however, I at least try to buy a baked item from each of my great-nieces.
3. Also at the thrift store, I found a bag with about a dozen apple ornaments a little larger than a walnut and 2 rolls of tule ribbon, total $4. I bought those for a friend who makes wreaths. I didn’t charge her – just hoping she makes me a wreath.
4. Working on an afghan for 3 local fairs. First one is the second week in July, so I’ve got to keep my crochet hook moving. I kind of oopsied on the width. It will not only cover a king size bed, there will be spillage onto the floor (unless the bed is elevated, then it will still touch the floor). Crocheting and listening to the radio…free entertainment. (BTW, I got the yarn BOGO, so I got $120 worth of yarn for $60.)
5. Meals are “every man/woman for themselves” until the refrigerator is empty. No cooking for at least a week. Meals may be interesting, but there’s a lot of veggies in the fridge and we don’t eat as many as we should, so this may be a good thing.
I love to put mozz pearls in pasta salad. Planning to make a tortellini salad tomorrow with salami chunks, so mozz would be overkill, probably.
Woke up to the puppy chewing a hole in my dress. He looooves chewing on cloth. Oh well, it’s an old dress and Daughter can cut it up for quilts.
I will say the water gun is working out splendidly at getting him to stop barking so much.
FTFT, Not Commenting This Week and More Garlic Stuff Edition:
(1) Because I’m leaving for NYC early Tuesday morning and have much to do between now and then, this will be my last comment until next week. I promise a full report on my Big Apple adventures on my return. (Actually, my biggest adventure may be the predicted heat: The high Tuesday is supposed to be 102, heat index to 110. I’m less worried for myself than for JASNA BFF, who is terribly heat-sensitive.)
(2) I brought in my 18 heads of garlic ahead of the predicted rain overnight, which we finally got about 5:30 am today (Sunday). I’m thankful that we were on the western fringe of a major series of T-storms, which have knocked out power to about 60K people east of here. All we got were a refreshing few hard showers, which have nicely watered in the 20 Gem marigolds I planted yesterday to replace the garlic.
(3) And the garlic is now up in my warm attic for final drying. I don’t cut off the scapes, so these will do a spooky little dance (they keep growing for a while even after the plants are harvested) before settling down to produce many tiny bulblets, which I use in making stocks. Blessed are the soup makers.
(4) I had to do a thorough hoeing of the garlic bed before I planted the marigolds, which resulted in some of my volunteer dill becoming collateral damage. (Don’t worry that I won’t have enough dill. There’s plenty of it elsewhere.) I presented bouquets of the dill to two sets of passing neighbors, who seemed very pleased to get it.
(5) And I didn’t just drop some bombs on Iran because I was PO’d that my big military parade last week was a bust.