Recent Frugal Wins: Christmas PJs, Greek Yogurt, and Gift Bags

I’m popping by with another random assortment of frugal wins!

• I used gift bags as shopping bags. A few weeks ago I was at Dollarama with Belle, and we were picking up a few fall decor items and some snacks for lunchboxes. Of course, when I darted in, I thought I was only going to get a couple of things… and emerged with an armful. Belle had a single reusable bag with her, but between the two of us, it wasn’t going to be nearly enough. I was loath to buy a reusable bag at the cash register (several dollars), because I have no need for more tote bags at this point. BUT, something I always seem to need a steady supply of is paper gift bags. So I bought a few of those, opened them up, and used them to carry all my purchases out of the store. I seriously felt like a genius in this moment!

• I got a $4 cuticle cream! I’ve heard a variety of people rave about the Burt’s Bees Lemon Butter Cuticle Cream, but the price tag always made me shy away (about $11 regular price at our local pharmacy). A few weeks ago I was trying to hit a minimum spend for a points deal, so I figured buying it full price would still be “on sale” in a way, since I’d get points that have a tangible dollar value. Imagine my shock—AND DELIGHT—when it rang up as $4. I have no idea if it was a clearout or what (it was labelled full price on the shelf), but I wasn’t going to complain.

• I rescued a giant container of Greek yogurt. When we were in Denmark visiting my brother and sister-in-law, they had Greek yogurt with fruit and granola every morning as part of their breakfast spread. So when they were coming to visit us, I made sure to have Greek yogurt. But no one ate ANY of it. The expiration date was fast approaching, and I wanted to make use of it. I have a high-protein waffle recipe that uses Greek yogurt, so I made a double batch. Let me tell you, this recipe already makes a big batch, and doubling it makes… a really big batch. But they freeze well, and hooray for having the impetus to use things up! There was even enough yogurt left to make a small batch of cinnamon muffins.

• We’re still making most of our coffee at home. Belle and I went to Starbucks on a little mom-daughter date, and it was wonderful. Also: expensive! We can make so many cups of coffee at home for the price of a single latte there. It makes going out feel special and gives me a wonderful shot of money-saving joy that we mostly make it at home!

• We’ve had some great thrift store finds. I bought three dresses (two of the three pictured above; each one only $5.95), Belle found two ADORABLE sweaters, and Indy got some indoor shoes and cleats for school/soccer, some new fuzzy PJs, and a snorkel set (still in the original packaging; it’s something he’s been asking for, and it will go under the tree at Christmas!).

• I inherited Belle’s Christmas PJs. Speaking of Christmas… Belle went through her closet and downsized a pair of festive PJs (the red ones in the top left). I am in my PJ set era, and they are red and wintery and so happy, and I love them! I bought them for her for last year, but she prefers a VERY SPECIFIC set of bottoms with a VERY SPECIFIC (random) T-shirt. They were a sunk cost, even though she didn’t wear them very often. If they hadn’t fit me, I would have packed them up for consignment, but they fit! Hooray!
• We used $65 in consignment credit. Speaking of consignment, when we bought Indy’s pajamas and other paraphernalia listed above, I had a store credit of $65. That meant the out-of-pocket price was less than $30.

That’s a wrap.

Your turn.

• Tell me some recent frugal wins in your world!
• Best thrifted find lately?