It’s Tuesday! Time for a fresh set of frugal happenings!
1. I sewed up my Vans
My trusty black pair of Vans was having a splitting problem.
Well, the left shoe was, to be more specific.
So, I took some black thread and sewed up the split.
Will it hold? Time will tell!
But since it took only a few minutes to do, it will be no great loss to me if it splits again in the future.
2. I saved a non-holey sock
I put on a pair of socks the other day and then realized I could feel the tile floor on the bottom of my left foot.
Sure enough, a hole had sprouted.
These are thin socks and I cannot imagine that I would be able to darn them in a way that would be wearable, so I threw the hole-y one out and saved the other good sock in my drawer.
That way, when another sock from this set wears out, I will just have a mix-and-match pair of socks.
And since these socks are pretty much invisible once I have my Vans on, no one will be the wiser.
3. I used every bit of my CVS Carepass
(Carepass is a CVS program; I pay $4/month and get a $10 credit to use each month. So it’s basically a free $6, but you do have to use the whole $10 at once.)
I needed some saline solution for my contacts, so I bought a big pack at CVS. It didn’t quite add up to $10, though, so I picked up a peppermint patty for myself and some Reese’s peanut butter cups for Zoe.
Might as well eke out every dollar. 😉
4. I used a Panera gift card
I needed to kill a few hours while waiting for Zoe to be done with a class, and I remembered that my Panera account had the remains of a gift card on it.
So, I got a sandwich (Mediterranean veggie is my favorite!) and a coffee and spent several hours doing some serious studying for Thursday’s exam.
And it only cost me $1.36 out of pocket.
5. I did some free gift-wrapping
I bought some Hello Kitty pins for Lisey’s birthday (she has loved Hello Kitty since she was very small!)
To wrap them, I used a black box that I’d saved from a previous gift and I tied it with a ribbon I saved from who-knows-what.
I hate throwing ribbons away, so I always have a jar full of ribbons on hand, and I find that they do come in handy sometimes!
(Remember how I repurposed some packaging ribbons when I made a fish dress for Zoe?)
Eliza
Tuesday 21st of June 2022
-I've been loving the CVS care pass. Sometimes I get a 30% coupon, and then they have a discount on CVS brand items too. Couponing is usually beyond me so this feels awesome to be able delay getting some things, then get them all for a discount. -I make something like fried rice minus the rice. We call it "Yum Pot", ham, eggs, veggies... yum! I use a bag of stir fry veggies and a bag of normandy mix, so it is also very frugal with my time. -I took my boys mini-golfing with the discount card before it expired.
Frugality is a sacred mindset of not wasting things.
Stephanie D
Wednesday 30th of March 2022
New to this, so these may be old hat for some of you. 1. Found some cheap sewing hacks on YouTube, so got small ponytail holders at the dollar store to secure thread ends on my bobbins and spools, rather than order the gadgets the quilt shops sell. 2. Batched errands. 3. Maybe not as thrifty, but I had to get 2 new tires for my truck today. Salesman commented on my 24-yr-old truck that only has 134,000 miles on it, and says he has seen customers come in with up to 400,000 miles on them, because they were well made. I love my little truck and am glad to hear I may still be driving her 10 years from now. If not, it probably will be driver failure, not truck failure! 4. After finally finishing a quilt that was years in the making, I have been able to go through old projects and my fabric stash. I retired 5 years ago, and have a lot of fabric I bought while I was still working. Some of it came from an estate sale of a deceased quilter, and really isn't my style, but as I heard another quilter say once "If you think your fabric is ugly, you just haven't cut it into small enough pieces.". So I have been cutting that ugly fabric down into smaller pieces and chain-piecing them for a later project--and she was right! These pieces will make a great scrappy lap quilt or throw quilt possibly this year. 5. Called about our first bill from Lifeline, as we had been promised a discount, but didn't receive. Actually took several calls, and lots of wait time, but got the bill reduced to the promised amount, and will be saving $11/month.
lisa
Tuesday 29th of March 2022
Wow, great job on repairing the sneakers!
It's been a pretty eventful week and I'm pleased with the great blessings. Here they are: 1) We attended a presentation and was gifted with a $125 Visa card. 2) I did a music survey a while back and got a check for $45. 3) We took a trip and were given free bottles of water (or Starbucks) each day. 4) I was given a food dehydrator and have been using it several times a week for bananas. I'll try my hand at pears, apples and peppers next. Most of these edibles were on clearance for $1 a bag. 5) I will try to garden this year and will use free buckets (from a market) to plant the seeds in.
Lindsey
Wednesday 30th of March 2022
@lisa, Try dehydrating watermelon slices. YUM!
Ruth T
Tuesday 29th of March 2022
Kristen, you never cease to amaze me. When I read, "I sewed up my Vans" my brain went, "Whaaaaaat?!" I love how you expand my idea of what's possible.
My FFT: 1. I was offered another 3 free months of Panera's unlimited coffee, so I took it. This morning when I was already heading that direction and knew my coffeepot at home had been emptied, I put some creamer in my travel mug and filled it with Panera's coffee. 2. My oldest had a field trip on Friday and thanks to the family-friendliness and graciousness of the school, they let me go as a chaperone and bring my 2 younger kids who aren't in school yet. The place we went was really cool and the cost for the 4 of us was way cheaper than if we had gone on our own. 3. On the way home from the field trip, I stopped by the discount produce store since it was only 20 extra minutes of driving (it would be an hour and a half round-trip if I went from our house to there and back). And with deals like $7 for a case of blueberries, it's totally worth the extra 20 minutes of driving. 4. Dinners this week are based around the turkey that I bought at Thanksgiving for less than $5 and cooked up yesterday. I also make it in my 18-quart roaster, so I use the same roaster for making broth and I got about 16 cups of broth that I'm chilling right now. 5. I got my seeds organized! I usually end up overbuying or underbuying (mostly overbuying) my seeds because I don't keep track of what I have very well, so I sat down the other day and made a chart of all of the seed packs I have, what year they are, and if they're a partial pack or full. Now I know what I have and what I need!
Katy
Tuesday 29th of March 2022
Beautiful wrapping job!
1. Husband got 1/2 price Sonic burgers for supper. It came with a free bacon burger since it was our first time signing up. I added carrot sticks and a salad as side dishes. He walked to get the burgers spending nothing on gas. 2. Still not dying my hair. I was told the other day it looked nice, as before the dye made it all one uniform color, but now it has more verigated color (including my silver streaks!). 3. Turned the hot water heater down lower. 4. Did some painting in the kitchen and laundry room with paint we already had. 5. Tomorrow we'll batch errands: dentist, discount store, Goodwill, youth group and meeting our pastor and wife.