Today I am . . .
- Home from work.
- Driving my son back and forth to his job across town.
- Proud of last night’s chicken noodle soup which truly combined random ingredients to create a completely satisfying and 100% frugal meal.
- Draining bacon on a cooling rack over a plate. I don’t buy paper towels, but I do buy bacon.
- Dropping off some stuff from a free pile at a consignment shop.
- Dropping a broken pair of shoes at the Nike store to be ground up for playground material.
- Wishing my father a happy 80th birthday!
Now your turn. What are you doing today?
Katy Wolk-Stanley
“Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without.”
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I am staying indoors due to “unhealthful” air quality because of a wildfire in the area.
Cleaning house, as I am in so I might as well
Eating planned leftovers to prevent waste
Two reasons I have to leave the house this morning: dog walks and pick up foods at the food closet for a friend and delivering them to her.
Hope everyone has a great frugal day!
Today I am:
Planning to make mujadara later this week, so bought lentils at Aldi and Syrian Spice Mix at the little international market downtown. (Also got an impromptu cooking lesson from the owner!)
Putting together dinner for a friend recovering from knee surgery, which I’ll take over tomorrow night.
Boxing up the clothes to take to Once Upon a Child, in boxes I picked up on my Aldi trip.
Had breakfast with a friend who needed a listening ear.
Did the listening ear thing on FB with a friend who lives a couple hours away.
Going to library here in a few minutes to print out the free football tickets I got yesterday from the Browns!! Super excited – game’s in the same city my sons live in, so we can take them and have family time AND enjoy a free football game!
Your post reminded me I need to deal with a lovely, meaty chicken carcass NOW! It is calling from my fridge to be turned into a nice, rich broth before it’s, uhm, well, too far past its prime.
Today I bought a bakers dozen of bagels at Panera for $6.99. Had no idea they were that cheap on Tuesdays. Been driving my child to bible school all week. Packed us each a sandwich and some home brewed tea in my goodwill cooler for lunch. Instead of eating fast food in town. Picked up some garlic bread at Aldis when in the area to go with our leftover pasta from last night. Told teen daughter we would cook four pieces instead of the whole box. Because we don’t need that much starch at one time and it will stretch the garlic bread for another meal.
1.Got my car emission tested. The $9 fee is a cheap price to pay for clean air.
2. Picked up some remnants of fleece and flannel at the fabric shop to make a cover for the cat’s bed (the fleece) and some homemade face cloths (the flannel). They were marked down way cheap because of “spots,” but I didn’t see anything that wouldn’t come out in the wash.
3. Bought a bag of larger dried fish skin chewies for the dogs and cut them down to the right size for our little dachshunds, which will make the bag last twice as long.
4. Instructed my son on how not to overload the washer and dryer so that they can work efficiently.
5. Dried one of the rugs on the back porch clothes line along with some cleaning cloths.
1) I harvested kale and garlic scapes from the garden.
2)I made garlic scape pesto and will use the kale to make Utica Greens to go w/dinner.
3)Did a load of laundry(using home made detergent) and hung it out to dry.
4)I downloaded some free ebooks from Amazon.
5)I also picked some lemon balm to put in my home brewed ice tea-YUMMY!
1. I took the 95 year old mom to her bridge game. I hope I can still function at that level when I am 95!
2. I cleaned 2 levels of my home. I mean, really deep cleaned. Windows, mattresses, under the beds, moved furniture, etc.
3. Tonight’s dinner was taken from the freezer;
4. I am now relaxing with a glass of wine.
5. Tonight dog and I will take a walk. I am fortunate that most neighbors sit on their porches after supper and I get to greet them all.
1) I did laundry in my tub with homemade detergent, then hung it on the line outside,
2) started a big batch of kombucha and kimchi,
3)made a bunch of breakfast burritos (bacon, eggs, cheese, potatoes, and homegrown scallions) for the freezer for quick meals – to prevent eating out,
4) making a healthy and delicious but gourmet meal for me and my fiance – ribeye with sweet potato, spinach, mushrooms and chickpea salad. Not the cheapest meal but still way cheaper than eating the same thing at a restaurant.
Had to go to town for bloodwork, so I stopped at a bread store. This is run by senior and all they ask for is donations for fuel. I picked up 1 loaf of whole grain, and 1 loaf of Dave’s Killer bread. I hadn’t tryed it before, and it’s quite good.
I payed them $1 a loaf.
Also stopped at a Goodwill store that I like. The one close to where I live has junk. I bought a large photo for my living room. We’ve been looking at artwork, and couldn’t quite agree on any or the high price.
This is a photo of Mt. Hood, with Trillium Lake in the reflection. It was 6.99, and since we’ve hiked that area many times, I think my husband will like it.
It’s matted and in a wood frame. I think I’ll sand down the frame and re-stain it
Or you could just paint it black, which would be 98.542% easier!
paint is always my first thought too, katy. But the dark stain fits best, so I think stain. I’ll have to post a photo of it on NCA facebook page.
Please do!
1) Airing out winter comforter on the clothesline before I pack it away for next season.
2) Ate leftovers for lunch.
3) Stopped by the grocery store with my handy dandy list and reusable bags.
4) I also just recycled some old sneakers at the Nike Store! I’m so pleased to know they will get a fun second life like that. 🙂
5) Remembered that I was interested in seeing the recent movie “The Judge”, so I went to the library’s website and put it on hold. It’ll be a while before I get it since there’s a wait list, but the price is definitely right!
1). Making strawberry rhubarb crisp to use up a lot of frozen fruit lurking in the freezer
2). Making cheesy ham English muffins for dinner (with fried eggs on the side) to use up leftover Father’s Day brunch food.
3). Still waiting on my 8 month old to crawl. She’s still doing the army crawl but she’s sooooo close.
4). Amazed that my three year old literally acts a bit more grown up, just in the last two days.
5). Wishing that bedtime didn’t take do long with a baby and a pre-schooler, so I had more leisure time at night. But also wishing time would slow down because they’re already growing too fast.
1) Served a meatless entree for dinner.
2) Potted up plants that have been waiting to colorfully adorn the deck.
3) Received and potted up twelve moringa seedlings. Only ordered and paid for six, so have plenty to share.
4) Found that my Meyer lemon may make up to six fruits this second year. Better than the one lovely one last year.
5) Packed, labeled and froze dinner leftovers for use at other times. Must still mark recipe card so as not to make so much next time.
*Loved sleeping in until 7 this morning as my day job weekly shift changes
*Worked the day job and came home and ate Baba Ghanoush for lunch left over from the soccer party we attended last night AND clicked on Swagbucks
*Went grocery shopping to buy some fruits and veggies (anything on sale) and proud to say that’s all I bought for less then $8 dollars, did not buy other temptations
*Went to the Dollar store and then Family Dollar to find a string backpack – found one at Family Dollar for $3 for me for work, got talked into an outfit from my daughter there of a shorts and top but figured would have cost me WAY MORE money from Kohl’s which is where she originally wanted to go, she seemed super happy with it
*Went to the bank to deposit money daughter earned from dog sitting in account we set up saving for a trip to Washington DC in 8th grade (2 years from now), proud to say she has already saved $150 since last fall
*Came home made dinner of baked chicken, zuchini and mashed potatoes; sorry had to turn on oven which heated up the house; Clicked on Swagbucks the entire time while making dinner
*Accepted a new dog sitting job for the weekend, small job but will buy a tank of gas and dinner out for us one night this weekend
*Keeping the windows open no air, not bad even having used the oven
1. Worked 4 hours today.
2. After work, did about an hour of weeding in my yard. Doing all the yard work myself is definitely saving me money, but it is not my idea of fun. I’m trying to just do a little bit every day,so I won’t get overwhelmed and end up hiring someone.
3. Made appointment to take my 13-1/2 year old car in for oil change. My theory has always been that regular oil changes are the way to maintain car engine. Seems to be working – for this car anyway.
4. My husband is working out-of-town so I was on my own for dinner. Scrambled various leftovers (veggies and cut up piece of chicken) together in teriyaki sauce. Along with rice, it made a satisfying dinner. For dessert, I had a vanilla yogurt with a couple of cut-up strawberries mixed in.
5. This evening, I am going to compose a long e-mail to a friend who lives in Canada. She is someone I have known since kindergarten (!) and we have kept up a correspondence. I really enjoy hearing from her, so I have to make sure I keep up my end of the e-mail exchange.
1- Harvested first row of potatoes
2- Went with neighbor for long walk at Arboretum, Tuesdays are free. Flowers and great chat, so good for the soul.
3-Browsed library books for new pickling recipe for homegrown cucumbers just harvested.
4- Dried and jarred 3 different herbs for use this winter.
5- Dollar taco night, cheap date with husband at our favorite Mexican grocery store.
Katy, we use opened repurposed brown paper bags for bacon, not fans of paper towels, either!
I do that too, but since this was just a few pieces, the cooling rack worked perfectly.
1) hemmed old dated Capri pants into shorts
2) kondoed my socks and underwear and decided to keep and repair nice work socks with small holes
3) managed another HOT day without air conditioning by opening and closing windows and blinds strategically, leaving the lights off, and cooking outdoors.
4) collected water used to rinse produce and reused it to water dry spots in the back yard
5) helped my husband and son get matching at-home buzz cuts
Been following and enjoying and being inspired by all of you for a long time but never posted here on on Facebook.
Today I:
-had my cousin over for lunch and have leftovers for a date at the beach tomorrow with my wife.
-had a friend over for dinner and we had bar b q hamburgers and pasta salad-will add the left over salad to our lunch tomorrow.
-hung a load of laundry out as it was sunny with a slight breeze.
-picked up a few shifts for the next 2 weeks
-prepared 3 boxes of books to take to the used book store this weekend for credit.
-watched my dogs play in the backyard for hours of free entertainment.
-planned a fun no-cost day off tomorrow.
Today (yesterday) I:
I was an Energy Saving day with our local utility (because of the heat and humidity). They pay you to use less electricity (yesterday it was between 1:00 pm and 7:00 pm). I was busy in the morning with laundry and making soup and I made sure the house was cool at 1:00. Then I turned high energy using stuff off until 7:00.
I met a friend for lunch. She plugged quarters into the meter across the street from the restaurant, while I parked at a church parking lot a couple of blocks away (for free and I got a bit of exercise in the process. I brought a Pyrex container with me to the restaurant and brought home enough food to supplement my husband’s supper last night and his lunch today. I was complimented by two waitresses for bringing my own container.
For dinner I ate soup that started with a rotisserie chicken carcass. Because I had some black beans to use up I went with a southwestern theme and added rice and a can of Ro-Tel (received for free when purchasing avocados), as well as some vegetable and spices. It was so good. I am so glad I have leftovers.
I went to have by eyebrows threaded (used a Groupon) then stopped at ALDI to return raspberries that were bad. They give you your money back and replace the product. So now I have free raspberries.
I love your activities, everything from free parking to bringing your own container is small, but it adds up so beautifully!
Today I am:
1. Having an entertainment contractor by to insulate our attic. I don’t know why it never occurred to me before that the uninsulated attic in our 100 year old home is why it stays so hot upstairs. A couple of energy field folks have told us this will make our upstairs more comfortable and maybe save on energy bills.
2. Sending invitations for the bridal shower my mom is throwing for my cousin.
3. Studying Spanish using the book a friend gave me.
4. Reading historiography for my thesis. (The books are from the library or purchased for pennies on Amazon.)
5. Getting a cheap strep test at CVS. My body resisted as long as it could, but I think I have finally caught the strep that has been ravaging my family. Time for meds.
6. Being thankful for cooler weather. The baseball game last night in 95 degree night temps really took it out of me.
7. Preparing lunch and supper out of the fridge.
8. Reading lots of books to my boys.
1. At work
2. Looking forward to physical therapy as it is like having a personal trainer
3. Hoping to go to the football field after work for barefoot running
4. Wishing my foot would heel, so I could regular run
5. Considering taking up ultra trail running
*Coming back from a 3 days vacation with my family
* Happy that we had a first visit of our house (for sell) while we were gone
… and that’s it!
Have a great frugal day!