1. I turned some towels into napkins
In the comments on a recent post, Kristin-with-an-i said she was surprised that I buy paper napkins, given that I vastly prefer dishcloths and cloth towels to paper towels.
I thought, “Hmmm, this is a fair point. Maybe I should give cloth napkins a fair shake.”
Kristin recommended cotton napkins, with patterns to hide stains. And several of you said these are easy to find at thrift stores.
So, I popped by Goodwill, and sadly, only found these buffalo-print napkins.
They were $2 apiece, which is dumb because these new ones are about $2 apiece!!
But the main issue is that they did not feel like cotton. However, I did find two cotton towels for $0.75 apiece.
And it occurred to me that if I cut off the designs on both of them, they would be a square shape, just like cloth napkins are meant to be (a whole oblong towel is a little too bulky to be convenient as a napkin.)
I need an “Eat, Drink, and be Unmarried” towel, actually. Ha.
So, I cut and hemmed them, with Chiquita’s supervision.
And now I have a couple of cloth napkins to start my collection.
Since I didn’t want to waste the trimmed part of the towels, I hemmed those too and I’ll use them as small napkins or hankies.
White cotton is not exactly an ideal color for a napkin in terms of stain issues, so I might use some liquid dye I have on hand to make the white ones a different color. Stay tuned.
2. Zoe and I trimmed Chiquita’s nails
Her front claws get so sharp, it’s a spiky experience to have her on my lap! So, I am glad to have her nails clipped.
The trimming takes such a small amount of time if I have Zoe here to help by scruffing Chiquita’s neck.
And it costs $0 (the clippers were $10 and paid for themselves in a single clipping session.)
3. I got $50 for doing a health assessment
My new health insurance has a rewards wellness program, and they offered $50 just for doing a “find out your body’s age” assessment online.
I did it, and supposedly my body is more like 36 than 46 (who knows how accurate this is??), but regardless, I have $50 loaded into my account now.
4. I used a Sharpie on my black scrub top
When I got off a work shift recently, I noticed four little bleached spots on my scrub top. UGH.
We got some new bleach wipes at work that we have to use on the glucometers, and I must have accidentally touched my shirt with a wet glucometer.
But I tried using a black Sharpie on the spots, and thankfully, they’re pretty invisible now. Yay!
I will be very careful with those bleach wipes from here on out.
5. I used a fabric shaver on my scrub top
In the spot where my badge rubs, the fabric was starting to pill. That makes me think I will not buy more of these scrubs; I’d prefer something that doesn’t pill!
I used my handy-dandy fabric shaver, though, and now that area is pretty smooth again.
I have a fabric shaver from Aldi, but this one is virtually identical and it comes with two replacement blades.
Being able to de-pill clothing is a serious game-changer; I highly recommend a fabric shaver!
auntiali
Tuesday 14th of January 2025
It's been freakin' cold here! 1. Hubby and I went to Fuddruckers last night. Restaurant that has the best burgers or cheese and bacon burgers. They have an outrageous toppings bar so hubby just gets a plain burger and piles on the toppings. We don't go out to eat often so this was a treat and I paid with my allowance. We got a senior discount and didn't even remember to ask for one! Whoot $3.25 off our bill and 25 Fetch rewards. 2. I turn the heat down at night but that makes my bed nice a cozy and it's hard to get up from that. But I won't pay for more heat. 3. Opening up the livingroom curtains when the sun is shining to get more light and heat in the hose. 4. Had dh order a picture from Walgreens where he probably paid less than a dollar. He got a coupon for spend $15 get a $5 Walgreens cash. I used it last night to pick up some on sale toiletries to donate. I earned two $3 register rewards to use on my next purchase. I also earned $18 in Walgreens cash to use on a future order. 5. Hubby and I went through my closet and cleaned out some of it for donations. He's getting very OCD in his retirement. We did get a good small stack of stuff to donate. 6. My electric company changed providers who do their electronic billing so now I'll have to pay .50 to pay a bill!!! Whaaat? If we do automatic payment with a credit card it will be free. I hate the idea of having a credit card number out there floating around.
DebbieR
Tuesday 14th of January 2025
1. At work, they are offering a new feature where you can transfer some of your already earned money to your bank account prior to payday as a sort of payday advance. I won't ever use it, but they offered a $45 bonus to sign up for an account, so I did. Once I got the bonus, I transferred it to my bank account and won't use it again. Free money, though!
2. Found 50 cents at Aldi in 2 carts parked in the corral, but not locked up.
3. Met up with a friend at Starbucks and used my Stars for a free coffee. She asked me to buy her food so I could get the Stars and then she promptly venmo'ed me back, which was really thoughtful.
4. My son's backpack zipper is failing so he asked me to buy him a new one (rather disappointed in the quality of backpacks these days as they do seem to wear out faster these days, even the expensive ones. But I wonder if it is because kids carry EVERYTHING in their backpacks all the time, and don't ever use lockers anymore). After some research, we decided on a Jansport backpack because of their lifetime warranty. I've taken advantage of that in the past, when my husband's 20 year old backpack zipper needed replacing, which they did, minus the cost of shipping it to them. Was able to buy at a lower price on Amazon also using some credit I already had. Hopefully this will last him until he's done with college (he's a high school junior now).
5. Did the usual: lined dried laundry, returned library books on time to avoid fines, ate up random items in the fridge, scanned receipts to Fetch and ibotta.
Elizabeth M
Tuesday 14th of January 2025
1. I baked pumpkin muffins using an extra can of pumpkin from Thanksgiving, as well as some cream biscuits to use up the last of a container of cream I had bought before Thanksgiving. I still haven't bought groceries this year. 2. I made a pasta dish with ingredients I had on hand – diced tomatoes, sausage, cream, and Italian seasoning blend. I put two servings in the freezer for future easy dinners. 3. I salvaged an old pair of socks by trimming the threads that were coming loose. They won't last much longer, probably, but at least I should get a few more wears out of them. 4. I sold some old magazine clippings on eBay and have just listed some more. I didn't even realize how many of these I still had from my younger days when I collected fannish things. 5. I reused two ziplock bags in different sizes. I don't like washing them because it's so hard to get all the nooks and crannies clean and to get them fully dry, but when I can just reuse one for the same type of thing without washing it, I will.
Hannah
Tuesday 14th of January 2025
In regards to cloth napkins, for anyone who doesn't want to wait it out for them to appear at thrift stores (at least the thrift store near me is very hit or miss), I've had these for 5 years now (and used them for nearly every meal since then) and they have held up wonderfully. They don't attract stains, despite being a light color. I recently ordered a second set, due to now having two small children, so we go through napkins more quickly than I always have time to wash them.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01N4KMTII/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&th=1
Hannah
Tuesday 14th of January 2025
@Hannah, If I could sew, I would consider Kristen's method, but my sewing mostly stops at fixing buttons and mending popped seams.
Kristina
Tuesday 14th of January 2025
Cotton bandanas make excellent napkins, about $1 each at Walmart. Any color, or mixed colors.