Who's that talking to Timbers owner Merritt Paulson? Why, that would be my husband, Dale!
Today is my first day at home since Friday, although I do have one kid for company. (I think he has strep throat, and I’m taking him to see the doctor at this afternoon.) However, I’ll still be able to settle into my frugal groove.
Today I will:
- Catch up on laundry, including
washing my son’s new white Converse All-Stars, which he picked up for $4 at Goodwill. I will of course use my homemade laundry detergent and wash in cold water. - Cuddle up with library books. (I have many at the moment. Yay, me!)
Experiment with using a wet rag and hot ironto de-dent the hardwood floors. I will choose an out of the way spot to start, as I’m not sure if it will work. Luckily I have many, many dented spots to choose from. Lucky me.- Sand my project chair, which is the perfect project for an indoor rainy day. I brought home a nice clean tarp from the hospital, (They’re used to cover sterile supplies) to lay on the ground. No need to ever pay for a tarp!
Cook up a big potof chicken soup from the leftovers from the rotisserie chickens my husband bought for last night’s dinner. (He spent all day yesterday standing in line to buy Portland Timbers soccer tickets, and did not cook a dinner.) Of course, I will incorporate all kinds of miscellaneous refrigerator volunteers.*- Start to ponder whether or not to sell my antique Morris chair. I love the look of it, but the truth is that it’s damned uncomfortable. And I am over having a chair in my living room that’s just for looks. However, I would only sell it if I could get $300 or so. (See? I’m starting to “ponder,” which in my book is an uber-frugal activity!)
Do you see how nothing here is particularly earth shattering, yet together adds up to the daily simplicity of a frugal life?
How about you, are you participating in any frugal activities today? Please share your thoughts with the Non-Consumer Advocate community in the comments section below.
*Will not include any Thai food takeout.
Katy Wolk-Stanley
“Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without.”
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{ 43 comments… read them below or add one }
Must be the day for it, I also had a child at home with a poorly throat – nearly bedtime now in the UK for them both. Absolutely nothing earth shattering here either, in fact very mundane! Just housework … but I did get a hammer and tacks out which could have ended in tears, but lady luck was with me today! Oh and posted about my frugal skin care regime – does that count?
Yes. It counts! Just like me writing about frugality also counts as a frugal activity. 😉
Katy
Today, I will swing by the local grocery stores to price check their pasta so I can plan my budget for March, and (hopefully) finish a blog post about buying clothes during and after weight loss.
I’m collecting sap and making maple syrup. It’s pretty sweet (sorry, can’t resist and bad pun)!
Homemade maple syrup?! I am waaay jealous!
Katy
Me too!!
Good point – the little things add up to a simple and frugal lifestyle. I’ve been spending my week trying to use up the food that is just hiding in the back of my pantry and refrigerator, trying to make do with the less-exciting food we have rather than going out to buy fun food …
I’m setting up an egg barter for this weekend. 2 dozen eggs for me in exchange for stuff from my pantry/freezer.
Also brainstorming on recipes to make using things we already have. Both for meals at home, and for the meals we will be attending with friends this weekend.
Right now there is cream cheese in the making at my house. How cool is that?
Very cool!
Now, you need to make bagels!
Katy
mmmm… good idea. I have the smoked salmon too.
Ah, Katy, remember all those years of making bagels with our other friend? I have tried several times over the years to replicate them (I have the “recipe”), but they never turn out as good (or even really eatable).
Wow. I had totally forgotten about that. But I’m suddenly picturing the completely steamed up windows in her kitchen.
Katy
Hmm, well… I’m sitting on the couch in front of our wood fire, a dog and my feet and another across my lap. Homemade bread is cooling on the counter, I ate leftover potato-cheese curry for lunch, and after I leave this comment, I plan to pick up my library book and enjoy the rest of this very cloudy, cold, windy day!
That sounds so perfect!
Katy
Washing clothes in my homemade laundry detergent as well. Sold my daughters no longer needed karate pads. Collected eggs from our chickens and shared with a friend.
I picked up a couple of pennies this morning on my walk and thought of you, Coin Girl!
😀
why wash new shoes? Just curious.
The shoes are white canvas, so I thought it would brighten them up a bit to go through a bleach wash with my white towels.
Katy
By the way, I tried out the wet rag + hot iron method of raising the dents in the wood floors and it worked! And I didn’t even burn the house down!
Katy
What is more frugal than not burning the house down? Houses are expensive, yo!
Word.
Katy
Laughing so hard right now!
My older son’s room was drowning in toys, so this morning when he could not find a particular toy I knew it was my chance to convince him to do a toy purge. By lunch we had a much lighter room! Yay! Now I’ll check around and find a friend who might love these toys. There were PLENTY left for little brother to grow into. He also found toys that he had forgotten, so they were new and fun all over again! Does that count as frugal or just mundane?
Why not both? 😉
Katy
I picked up a Freecycle chair to go with my stepson’s new-to-us loft bed with integrated desk so he can sit and do his homework in a designated space that is all his.
Score!
Katy
just a fyi. i checked your homemade detergent recipe and it is very similar to mine, but i make mine liquid- or rather, gel. you just dump the ingredients into a large pot and fill with water. (i use 2 gal of h20. and i use 1/2cup of tha finished mix in the wash.you could use 1 gal and have a more concentrated jel that takes only 1/4 cup.) then heat. everything dissolves, which may not happen if you wash in cold water with the dry stuff. just sayin’…
I’ve been using this recipe for four years or so and don’t have a problem with dissolving.
Katy
I just read your post about homemade laundry detergent. I thought you might want to give Debra Lynn Dadd’s entry on Fels Naptha a read. You can find it at: http://greenlivingqa.com/content/fels-naptha-soap. You may want to consider replacing The Fels Naptha with something less toxic. Thank you for your blog.
Tonight, I’m going to:
– make a fun “sorry you have gestational diabetes” card for my sister.
– eat the last of my leftovers
– look through my cookbook for a new recipe to shop for and make (thus taking steps to avoid future expensive takeout/restaurant dinners!)
I am sick today as well as my youngest. My husband gave us his bad cold. So, I made a bean and rice soup from a leftover ham bone. Very frugal and delicious soup! I can’t believe that many people throw the ham bones away! What a waste!
Also, reading a book on frugality from the library…10001 Ways to Live Large on a Small Budget. I love reading about frugal ways. I guess it’s in my bones!
I made awesome white bean and ham soup with rosemary yesterday from a leftover ham bone. I agree that it is a great fugal (and healthy) meal!
My husband sold our pottery barn mirror for $200 to a work colleague!
Dinner is ribolitta which is basically old soup (minestrone in this case) layered with old bread and cheese then baked in the oven till gooey and delicious!
My son is happily playing with play dough a friend gave him 🙂
I’m working…that’s frugal, right? 🙂
Today I made split pea soup in the crock pot and bread and enjoyed my library copy of “Confessions of a Prairie Bitch” by Alison Arngrim (Nellie from Little House on the Prairie—have nearlt finished it in a day!) Yesterday I planted my spring garden and figured out how our FSA works. Tomorrow I transfer husband’s work bonus straight to savings, before we know it’s there!
I didn’t do anything particularly frugal today, unless you count making money by going to work!
However, I think that you should sell your antique chair because I’m not a fan of keeping things around just to have them. I guess if it goes with your decor it’s one thing, but if you don’t like sitting in it, then I say sell it! 🙂
Just reading this post today and it’s March already! I, too, have a project chair…a sweet little thing I picked up for $5.00. It needed a new seat cushion, so I made one, piecing some fabric together for a soft, lovely look and today I will attempt to attach the fabric and padding to the wooden seat bottom. Since I don’t have a heavy stapler, I’m going to use tape. We’ll see how that works out.
Last night I ate my (delicious) leftover homemade lasagna for dinner. Today I’m bringing my old bottles to the grocery store to get the deposit back. Later on, I’ll put up the paper bunting I made (inspired by Modern Thrifter) for my sons’ birthday party, repair a wooden chair to get a little more life out of it, and whip up a big batch of buttercream. Tomorrow, I’ll clean the kitchen a bit using my homemade all-purpose cleaner. To me, all this is actually way more fun than, say, shopping in a hot, crowded department store.
Agreed!
Katy
Like Jennifer in post 4, I too am making maple syrup. this is my second run, evaporated and boiled down last Sunday, got 1 full quart, and 1 scant pint… too dark for grade A on their color chart but high Grade b and the flavor is exquisite! Using homemade cinnamon swirl bread, maple syrup, my homegrown brown eggs and some leftover cream cheese to make a type of breakfast strata for supper tonight.. making the syrup on top of my woodburner is frugal ,don’t you think?
Sell the chair, I am going thru the same thing with a victorian sofa.. I can’t wait till it’s gone…out of sight out of mind.
Katy, Your days off put me to shame. I’m exhausted just reading about all the stuff you plan to do (except, of course, the reading of the library books!)
We got free tickets to a concert. My husband is a musician, so we’re always getting comps.