This past week wasn’t exactly a super frugal week between me being out of town and then coming home sick.
Now that I’m feeling more like myself, I’m hopeful that this week will be a little more like normal.
But there are a few frugal things to share.
1. I bought a set of marked-down hangers.
I use wooden hangers because they make me happy. So tidy! So sturdy!
And usually I have a hard and fast rule that I will not buy more. If I run out of hangers, it’s time to get rid of some clothing.
But Joshua has recently bought more button-down shirts due to his coffee-shop work, and we were low on hangers.
So while Mr. FG and I were out on a date night the other night, we stopped into Bed, Bath, and Beyond for something else* and I happened to spy this set of marked-down hangers on the clearance rack.
They were marked down because the packaging was messed up, but of course I don’t care about that.
*This is the type of behavior that earned us a sarcastic moniker from my brother over 20 years ago: The Fun Couple. We are obviously still within our rights to keep that badge. 😉
2. I placed an order on ThredUp.
I got an email saying I had a $30 credit so I browsed around and found a few items. Hopefully they’ll all be winners, but luckily, ThredUp (referral link) does let you do returns.
So, I’ll be good to go even if I woefully misjudged sizing/styles. 😉
3. I wore a thrifted dress to my grandpa’s service.
This is pretty inadvertent, but I’m counting it anyway. 😉
I’d kind of thought maybe I’d need to go shopping, but before I did, I tried on some outfits I already had and with some texting help from my sister-in-law and my friends, I put together an outfit from my closet.
And the dress I wore happened to be something I’d picked up at Goodwill some years ago from their Target New Goods section.
I’d have been willing to go shop for a dress, but I really hate the kind of clothes shopping that involves looking for a specific item. So, I was happy I had something that worked!
4. I exchanged some bad earrings for a pair of nylons.
I’d bought a pair of earrings on serious clearance from Kohl’s, only to discover that one of the clasps (not sure that’s the right word?) didn’t work.
So, I bought them back to Kohl’s and took home a pair of nylons to wear with my dress.
(I pretty much neverrrr wear nylons, so I had none!)
(While we’re on the topic, can we discuss how annoying nylons are? I hate they way they run if you so much as look at them too hard. It’s a sweet mercy that they’ve largely fallen out of favor as legwear.)
(Further evidence of the Fun Couple thing: we stopped to get the nylons while we were out on a date.)
5. I….
ate homemade chicken noodle soup from the freezer, used two squash that had been sitting around to make butternut squash soup (soup is good for rehydration!) and pulled up a 20% off coupon on my phone when I bought saline solution at CVS.
Your turn!
Join in and list your own Five Frugal Things in the comments.
Joanne
Saturday 8th of April 2017
My five+ last week were: -mended clothes by replacing buttons and mending seams -cooked from week menu, planned meals from frozen/cupboard ingredients, as well -brought lunches to work (this is an ingrained habit by now) -combined errands, so lower transportation costs -stuck to budget, still have a little to spare for future bulk purchases -line dried all laundry -discussed and agreed on budget and how to stick to it with husband. most important step of all!
Krysten
Friday 7th of April 2017
It's spring break for us so, it's been a less frugal week but after seeing what lots of other families are doing on Facebook, I feel like our fun has been pretty frugal. 1. We drove to the big city in our decade + old, purchased used hybrid and took our kids to the zoo. We have a membership so entrance was free and gas was $20. 2. Since we were there any way we stopped at Trader Joe's and I picked up some artificial dye free Easter candy - ordering something similar online would have been much more expensive. 3. We had a fun family night playing soccer at the playground, and playing board games. 4. My husband is coaching our son's soccer team so we will be refunded the $75 player fee. 5. Being home for break has prompted me to do some spring cleaning so I have an almost full bag of clothes to go to ThredUp and a nice pile of books to sell to Powell's.
Tina S
Friday 7th of April 2017
I cannot think of 5 new things that I do but we have not eaten out going on our 5th week. This is huge for my family. I can't tell you how easy it is to eat out in our family. So the blog has help me stay on track.
Marlena
Wednesday 5th of April 2017
My cost savings efforts: I diluted my shampoo/conditioner with a little bit of water. It has lasted another week.
I reused shopping bags to hold trash and scraps from cooking dinner. This avoids trash/scraps from going in the kitchen trash. Take shopping bag outside every night. A box of trash bags last me forever this way.
I have been making effort to eat cleaner and consume less processed food. The result is less packaging, less trash. And healthier eating รฏยล
When washing dishes by hand (I never use the dishwasher except to store my Tupperware), I start off with just a small amount of hot water. I wash silverware first. Every time I rinse something, I rinse in the side of sink I am washing in. This avoids running hot water down the drain on the opposite side of the sink just to rinse dishes. I end up with a sink of hot soapy water needed to larger items.
I make breakfast at home every day. I bring my home brewed coffee to work with me everyday. I eat lunch from home everyday. I cook most every night. Any scraps are saved in container in fridge for our dog . Vegetable left overs are frozen for home made soup starters.
I repurpose the mesh bags from lemons to use as scrub pads on glass top stove.
Printed recipes for homemade bread and pizza dough. Will buy ingredients at Aldiโs this weekend so I can prepare at home. No more store bought bread and chemical preservatives.
Roasted medley of vegetables from refrigerator that was approaching expiration.
Jenelle
Thursday 6th of April 2017
We also use the small grocery store bags every evening for food scraps. It keeps the nasty "trash" smell down.
gina
Wednesday 5th of April 2017
#1 Found 2 cents at a self-checkout register at Walmart. #2 got a free quarter from a cart someone gave me at Aldi's. No one to give the cart to when I was done. #3 Have been wanting an elliptical machine for everyone to use at home. Spotted one at the roadway & only had to put new batteries in it. #4 Hubby smoked a turkey breast that he thought was boneless when he bought it, so before smoking it, he removed the bone & i made turkey stock from it. Hubby is learning some of my frugal ways so I was happy about that. #5 Co-worker said they wouldn't use a 150 Ft. roll of freezer paper & asked if we could use it. I took that and also some food storage containers she was no longer using. #6 Leftovers for lunch