Five Frugal Things | A bit of trash-picking

1. I trash-picked a pitcher/vase for Sonia

When Mr. FG and I were out for our walk on trash/recycling day, I spied an interesting piece of glassware that someone had set out to be recycled.

I knew Sonia would love it, so I picked it up and brought it home. 

And she does indeed love it!

I am always confused about why people put these things out for trash/recycling instead of donating them. Goodwill would definitely have been able to sell this. 

2. I did my van’s emissions tests myself

Our emissions center now has a self-serve lane, which gives you a 30% discount on the test.

I figured that if they were letting random citizens test their own emissions, it couldn’t be very complicated, so I went ahead and got in that lane.

I turned out to be right; it was super simple. There’s a touchscreen and a cable that’s very easy to plug into my van, and the whole thing took about five minutes.

Not only is the self-serve lane cheaper, but it’s also open 24/7, and I will keep that in mind next time one of our cars needs a test.

I mean, I won’t be going at 3:00 am (!!), but I could see myself popping by on a Saturday. Or after dinner one evening.

3. I returned my bag of disgusting gingerbread coffee

I saw a bag of Target-branded gingerbread coffee on clearance, and I thought it might be fun to try.

But it was seriously gross. I barely tasted any gingerbread spices, and the coffee itself had a terrible flavor.

I considered composting the coffee, but then I saw that Target has a moneyback guarantee on their private label items. So, I brought it with me when I went to Target to pick up something else, and I got my money refunded onto a gift card.

Yay!

4. I packed a lunch for my parent-of-the-day turn

At Zoe’s tutorial, the parents have to take 1-2 parent-of-the-day shifts every year.

I had to leave in the middle of my shift to go take my muscle exam, so Mr. FG tag-teamed with me.*

For lunch, apples (still some leftover from the two boxes of bruised apples I got), smoked Gouda from Aldi, a homemade pumpkin muffin from my freezer, and a nut bar worked just fine, and saved me from stopping somewhere on my way back from class.

*A silver lining to this last year and a half: Mr. FG’s work had always said that working remotely was Most Definitely Impossible (with capital letters, no less.). But miraculously, they found a way to make it work when push came to shove and that means that now he can do things like helping out with the parent-of-the-day job because he can just bring his work laptop with him.

5. I…

• got my book for our November book club (The Henna Artist) at the library
• got two pumpkins at Aldi ($3.50 apiece!)
• printed my muscle anatomy worksheets on the backside of the worksheets from the previous module
• filled up my gas tank at Costco since I was nearby for my emissions test
• used a $10/$30 coupon on Target groceries

Your turn! Share your five frugal things in the comments.