Four Frugal Things -- A Splurge That Transforms into Something Frugal
1) I photographed three recently thrifted items for eBay/Facebook Marketplace, even though I profoundly didn't feel like doing it. It's easy to do the things you're in the mood for, it's an entirely different category when those things feel like a chore.
File it under "A favor for future Katy." Current Katy is feeling unmotivated and that's A-okay.
HERE's one listing.
2) My husband was picking out food for his work lunches from Whole Foods, (London broil, Brussel sprout slaw and broccoli salad) which is his weekly routine. The $35 he spends on their Family Meal saves him from hours of cooking, cleanup and decision fatigue, which is a bargain in my book.
This coincided with our weekly Family Dinner having just a single guest, (our beautiful daughter) so I decided to put together my own $35 Tray-O-Food. A pound-and-a-half of salmon fillets plus a double portion of green beans and dinner was suddenly struck from my to-do list. I fired up our rice cooker and there was enough to send our daughter home with her own to-go box.
There are plenty of leftover green beans, which'll anchor a batch of fried rice for tonight. A splurge that transforms into something frugal. I feel like there's a metaphor in that sentence.
3) My neighbors are headed out of town for a few days, so I'll keep an eye on their house and bring in their mail. This is something we do for each other on our block and not only does it enhance safety and community, it also saves money when we don't have to hire gardeners or house sitters.
Out of town during a dry spell? One of us is sure to water your garden.
You can see that I have keys to everyone's houses!
4) My friend Lise runs volunteer events and is tries to minimize single use items, with the goal of zero waste. She's looking to get enough silverware to replace all the plastic utensils.
She's not on Facebook, so I offered to put in a request for random flatware in my Buy Nothing group. Unfortunately no one offered anything up, so we're going to hit a couple thrift stores this afternoon.
Good thing it's senior discount day as I'm guessing she pays for this out of pocket.
Now your turn, what frugal things have you been up to?
Katy Wolk-Stanley
"Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without."
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1. Made an easy and economical pasta salad for a floating lunch on a friend's pontoon. This used supposedly expired noodles and Italian dressing from Buy Nothing, tomatoes from a neighbor, and feta cheese, capers and kalamata olives from the refrigerator.
2. Made an easy and economical (I'm sensing a theme here) corn and black bean salad for a neighborhood bonfire/potluck.
3. Rescued more food via Buy Nothing - a huge bottle of vinaigrette, eight boxes of mac 'n' cheese, and six beets.
4. Gas prices continue to climb - now $4.49 here. Used my discount card for 10 cents off per gallon and once again received 20 cents off instead. Not sure why but I'll take it.
5. Fuel surcharge for our garbage service also continues to climb. The "small prices to pay" for Trump's Iran War - and everything else - are certainly adding up despite his smoke and mirrors.
Could you tell us what that heavy, gothic looking key goes to? I've never seen such a key. Does a neighbor have a dungeon?
It's a key for a steam radiator, to bleed it.
That's actually a key I use as a key fob on a ring that hold my tiny mailbox key. Keeps it from getting misplaced. Found it in a Goodwill bin probably 20 years ago.
I love it! Adds a bit of steam punk whimsy to an otherwise mundane item!
Come to think of it, I need to bleed my 100+ year old radiators before I start the heat up.
It has so much character!
Listing items on eBay is something I don't like to do, either. I don't mind wrapping and shipping. I guess because it means $$ coming in.
I took the train to the library today, returning one book and checking out three. Then I stopped at CVS on the way back to the station. I had $5 on my card and Poise pads were on sale. I wanted to pay for the balance with one of my virtual gift cards, but the two I tried to use from my Wallet were declined. I wish there was a way to see the balance left on the cards. There probably is, but I don't know it. Just looking at a picture of the card is not helpful. Anyway, I paid the balance out of pocket -- $10 -- which was still a pretty good deal. Pads are something I go through quickly, and they are not cheap.
I regularly pour shampoo from large economy bottles into small bottles that fit better in my shower shelves. Today I filled the Head & Shoulders bottle without spilling a drop, a feat I don't usually accomplish! (I rotate three shampoos -- H&S, the purple stuff, and a regular shampoo -- right now it's Pantene)
For breakfast today I had a slice of quiche and some blueberries. For lunch I thawed and heated bean soup, which I ate with applesauce and crackers. Dinner will be popcorn.
I laboriously went through my check register and bank statement, looking for a pesky error. I finally found that I failed to record my mortgage payment last month.
All the food sounds good, we're just trying to eat from freezer and pantry unless we come across a super bargain. Gas here is 4.50 and diesel is 6.25, trying to not drive much. We don't have access to extra funds like some people that preach that everything is fine when it's not. Hope we survive the next two years. It's good we have you to help us in giving tips for frugal living. Thank you for writing every day
On vacation & hiked The Narrows at Zion today, which was a total bucket list hike, but not entirely frugal.
1) Got up early & made coffee at the condo. We bought the coffee pods, but my friend left oat milk that she wasn't going to use up before they left shortly before us, so we avoided waste there. Ate the other half of my protein bar (yesterday's breakfast). I prefer a more balanced breakfast, but this one is guaranteed to not cause any potential stomach issues, and when you are hiking through a river with no bathroom access, that's the most important part! 😉
2) My friend's condo has a washer & dryer, so we were able to avoid checking bags, and still wash our hiking gear. No one wants to smell.
3) Paid to rent canyoneering boots, a dry bag & the sturdy poles (not hiking poles) recommended for this hike. Why is this frugal? Because avoiding an expensive injury or getting electronics wet & needing to replace them is $$$. This hike goes through an active river (the Virgin River) & the park service describes the hike as walking across uneven, submerged bowling balls. The views are 100% worth it. We saw someone in Crocs. Another woman who was barefoot. I'm all about to each their own, but ... nope. There's also no place to stage a rescue if you injure yourself, given it's in a slot canyon. Anyway, money well spent for us & we had an amazing day with no injuries.
4) We did splurge on lunch at the brewery before we drove back to the condo, but we will be wrapping up leftovers from our previous purchases for dinner tonight.
5) Filled up the rental car with gas for the drive to Las Vegas tomorrow, where we will drop off the rental car, as it's not required for the tail end of the trip.
First day out of the flu fog, picked braeburns and made a crock pot of apple butter. Some will get swirled into cheesecake bars, some served with biscuits along side the minestrone soup community dinner.
Sold a set of rechargeable lawn equipment, it came out of a hoarder house that we bought to tear down and build a 4-plex on.
1. I attacked a closet full of stuff...how did I end up with all of my parents' and grandmother's stuff...and threw a few things in the trash. These "things" are not sellable or even give-away-able. This closet is stacked floor to ceiling and wall to wall with bins, a lot of them being full of old photographs. So hard to know what to do. My DS may want some.
2. I did find my father's album of his time spent stationed on Guam during WWII. Some are funny...he and his buddies clowning around...and some are pretty sad of the bombed out cities in Japan. I have a friend who is a military history buff who wants to see them. So I'll meet up with him to look at them. One thing accomplished.
3. I worked at the deli yesterday and was awarded with a large roast beef sandwich to take home (in addition to getting paid and splitting the tip money).
4. I washed and hung two loads of laundry outside. The wind was whipping the clothes around and they dried in no time. We have a Nor'easter with rain instead of snow moving toward New England so I guess the wind is warning us of its approach.
5. I had an event at the library tonight to which I wore marked down black pants and a thrifted shirt. I may wear the same pants and a dressy blouse I already own to a wedding next month.
When I went through my mom's pictures (150 photo albums/scrapbooks ) after she passed, any pictures where people's heads were cut off, I didn't recognize amyone and no names on back, blurry or faded pictures, generic (park, lake) photos that didn't have any people, famous places (Great Wall of China, Eiffel Tower, Grand Canyon, White House) without family in forefront, OUT they went. If there were 3 similar pictures, I kept the best one.
I figure if I want a picture of a famous landmark, there are professional photographers who wait days for the right light/angle, location for the perfect shot.
I saved big envelopes from the mail and got a Sharpie and wrote the names of my siblings/cousins/
relatives/neighbors/friends on each envelope. When I came across something I thought that person might like, I put them in the envelope for the next time I saw the person. Then it was someone else's choice to keep/throw away. A few historical pictures I gave to state archives/historical societies/
libraries/museums (like the WWII Museum in New Orleans).
It took a while, but during Covid, we did some housesitting for my cousin that we treated as a mini vacation. I brought 10 totes and sorted a tote a day. When it is gloomy and we are housebound, I try to go through letters/ correspondence.
Thanks for the advice Nancy. I'm going to follow your advice about unknown people and poor photography (heads cut off etc. LOL). I especially like your idea about big envelopes for relatives. I've already come across some pictures I think my cousins may want. Great advice.
I went through the same process with the same rules. Still have slides to look at, which will be a new process. I am kinda stuck wondering if relatives really want the pictures I sorted out for them!
So hard dealing with old photos!
Like you when we went through my in-laws photos there were so many with people no one knew and scenery that wasn't memorable. We also kept the best ones that had relatives in them, and made sure to write on the back of any that didn't already have names on them. (And I'm sure the next generation will trash them because everyone was long gone before those kids were even born, so they don't know anyone)
My grandma's photos were easier to trash - she was infamous for cutting everyone's heads off, or holding a coffee cup in the camera hand so it covered half the pic. If she paid to have them developed they all went in the album though, even if you couldn't see anyone. Her mind would have been blown by digital cameras.
Made apple-walnut-raisin muffins that incorporated some crushed shredded wheat cereal and the last quarter cup of raisins. The raisins were very large and were chopped up for better distribution in the batter.
Made a pot of hamburger-tomato-veggie soup that replaced the ground beef with a mix of very lean ground turkey and ground pork. It really hit the spot.
Did several small sewing projects that used up all but one of the spools of thread that had only a few feet of thread left on them. I used to have a whole heap of those spools but have made an effort recently to use them up, although it means being patient about rethreading the machine a number of times.
Combined a sale and store coupons to buy several pounds of smoked sausage and five large boxes of cereal for the church food pantry.
Those muffins sound delicious! I love how you incorporated food you already had into the recipe.
Using turkey and pork instead of hamburg in the soup sounds good too. I made American Chop Suey with lean turkey instead of hamburg recently and couldn't tell the difference.
I add a couple tablespoons of worchestershire sauce to the turkey-pork combo to boost the beefy taste. It's very good and several dollars per pound less than even the cheapest ground beef.
Oooh! Good to know about the Worcestershire sauce. Thanks!
My husband and I have big salads every lunch. If there is anything left from the previous night’s dinner I heat it up and use it as a side.
A girlfriend was in town and wanted to meet at a local high end mall. She has been buying clothes for a coming Europe trip. We opted for coffee as opposed to lunch out. I brought with me an RX bar that came from a box purchased for less than $5 at Grocery Outlet. I abstained from buying clothes or anything else I didn’t need. I did get one new towel ( needed) from a Macy’s sale table for $5.99.
We completely closed on our sale of the condo/townhouse that we had been trying to sell for a year. Such a relief! It will free up money for us that will no longer be needed for taxes or HOA dues.
I have been reading some Victorian mysteries which I downloaded free from the library. Also doing some free armchair travel by watching Joanna Lumley’s gorgeous travel expeditions to places like Africa and Japan.
Guess that’s all.
Oh which Victorian mysteries?! I'm in a historical reading kick and I love a good mystery!
It is called ‘A Murder at Kew Gardens: A Victorian Historical Mystery’ by Magda Alexander. It is like the 4th in the series and they just get better. You need to start at the first one because are connected. A bit on the romantic side but not too much.
Read Wilkie Collins, The Woman in White. Actually historic and spellbinding.
The Goodwill store nearest the university campus used to put out bins of mismatched flatware every August -- one box each for knives, forks and spoons. The college boys would come grab handfuls for their new student apartments, along with dishes and drinking glasses and cups. Everything was mismatched -- very Bohemian! When they were done with student apartment living, they'd donate it back at graduation, and start the cycle all over again.
Looking for my lost ID, I found the 2nd missing cellphone, which has long ago been disconnected. I'll see if I can get it frugally reactivated. Or should I sell it instead?