ONE | I continue to buy reduced produce. I find arugula rarely goes slimy (unlike spinach). If spinach is on the cusp of turning slimy, I toss it into the freezer and use it in soups and stirfries. But, in this case, arugula was marked down. We bought it before the best-before date, but it was still in “great shape.”
TWO | A free stamp! A few months ago, Nicole sent me a lovely postcard. Somehow it made it through the postal system without getting stamped. Which meant I was able to send her back a card (once our postal system was functional again). I used the same stamp.
THREE | Using things up! I am on a mission to go through my cupboards and use up various odds and ends. It both gives some structure to my meals (what ingredients do I have that I want to use up) and it gives me a fresh slate to work with moving forward. Oh, and it’s frugal. This way I’ll be sure to use things up long before they go bad or expire.
FOUR | Walking club. This might be a bit of a stretch, but we all know how important daily movement is to overall health, so I figure it’s actually frugal to be moving my body each day as I may very well be helping to offset future medical costs.
FIVE | A festive mug. I have been wanting a new fall/Christmas mug and have spotted many cute ones in the course of my travels. But, I have zero desire to spend full price on something like this. Thrift stores are OVERRUN with cute mugs and they’re one of my favourite things to browse through. Usually they stay at the store, but I couldn’t help bring this little fella home with me for the cool price of $2 (no tax!).
SIX | John found an Apple MagSafe phone case – still in box! – for $2.99 (well, $2.40 after our discount). The original receipt was still inside. It was originally $68.97.
SEVEN | Chocolate chips have become so expensive! A few weeks ago they came on sale for $3.99 (which until recently would have seemed like regular price). They sold out quickly, I got a raincheck, and I recently used that raincheck to get…less expensive (but still expensive!) chocolate chips.
EIGHT | DIY + thrifted Halloween costumes!
NINE | Gassing up in Nova Scotia. The price of fuel is about 0.15 cents cheaper per liter in Nova Scotia. So I made sure my tank was full before I went to New Brunswick to visit my parents. If I can fuel up in either province, why not choose the cheaper one?
TEN | My parents do all sorts of frugal things, including: combining leftover slivers of soap to make one larger cake…and repairing broken reading glasses with…a popsicle stick. These sorts of behaviours have definitely rubbed off on me. One key to my frugal success is having very frugal parents!
And that’s a wrap.
- What frugal things have you been up to lately?
- Any hacks for using up the bits and bobs left in your fridge and cupboard?
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Oh, I agree – arugula rarely goes slimey, but I had a bag last week that got slimey before the “best used by” date. GAH!
I love all your frugal hacks (although I don’t know if I would fix reading glasses with a popsicle stick like your dad LOL).
The mug HAD to come home with you – I mean, a racoon in a sweater? What’s more festive than that?
Not a very recent hack, but I made leftover buttermilk into buttermilk-vanilla ice-cream cubes last summer (delicious!).
I also keep baking my own bread – which is the fraction of the price of what you’d pay at the store or the farmers market where they’re asking $13 for a rye sourdough loaf. WHAT???
It is such a cute mug and feels amazing in my hands (like it fits perfectly).
I love the idea of baking my own bread. I used to years ago and it was so delicious but I’ve gotten very lazy.
Food prices are insane. INSANE!
Frugal thing: the last jar of peanut butter I bought was weirdly thick and clumpy. I complained to the manufacturer; they sent me very nice coupons in return ( free jar of the pb- up to eleven dollars).
Walking is also frugal because it can be cheap ( cost = nothing) entertainment! Beautiful scenery, chats with a companion, etc.
I make fried rice to use up leftover veg and meat. No recipe needed- it can be a side dish or a meal.
My mom’s go-to was always stir-fry and/or fried rice with leftover meat and veg! No recipe, indeed, and it was the best way to clean out the fridge.
Yay for free peanut butter. It never hurts to “complain” and it will often result in free products.
using up things in the kitchen is one of my favorite hobby. it feels satisfying. we are not picky eaters, so I mixed up, add some seasoning and usually comes out good.
frugal thing lately for me would be canceling running coach and switched to runna. it saves $$ and I feel less pressured to run more/faster. that’s until I stabilize my knee and find another marathon to run next year.
I hope your knee continues to heal. I’m pretty sure I have a torn meniscus and really need to double down on exercises to strengthen that part of my knee as I do NOT want surgery 🙁
Love these wins, Elisabeth, especially the phone case score!
And I’m 100% with you on the walking club being frugal. Walking is so underrated: not only does it help offset future medical costs, it’s also amazing for mental health.
My frugal win this week is using up my trail shoes until they fall apart. I just picked up a new pair yesterday from a guy who literally sells them out of his car boot, 20% off retail. No idea how he gets them, and meeting him under cover of night feels a bit like a shady deal, but the shoes are perfect!
Eeks. That does all feel a bit dangerous, but you seem like someone who lives life on the edge (in a very controlled, safe manner!). 20% is a great savings and I’m so glad you have shoes that work like a charm.
One thing I see Liam and Rachel doing – cutting the top off lotion and liquid soap bottles to get at the dregs. And I also had to thrift a new mug after Don dropped my Surrey Libraries one from a school tour 10 years ago. Mine has a sweet bluebird with watercolour maple leaves. My coffee tastes better in it! See you tomorrow morning.
I’d love if you texted me a picture of that mug. I LOVE it.
I can’t imagine buying a mug new now that I see the array of gorgeous mugs at thrift stores. I don’t need any more, but I can’t help but browse when I’m there. (The Salvation Army in Dartmouth has a huge display of mugs; not sure if you’ve ever been there.)
It’s great to hear of the “next” generation doing frugal things. And cutting off the tops of bottles is a great hack for getting the last few drops of soap and such.
You are the Queen of Frugal, Elisabeth! I love how you come up with such great ways to save. You learned well from your parents! Ooooh, I really, really, REALLY love your cute Christmas mug!
Yes, maybe someday I too will be repairing reading glasses (that were probably $2 at the Dollar Store) with a popsicle stick…
I probably already said this, but that Christmas mug is SO CUTE. I’m very glad you bought it!
I thrifted my daughter’s Halloween costume this year! Luckily she just needed a “long white dress” and they had one that fit her.
Since i eat salads almost every night for dinner, I try to throw in any vegetables that are in danger of going bad.
It is SO cute and I absolutely LOVE drinking from it. It has great “hand” feel. I refuse to buy a mug that doesn’t. IYKYK.
Lol, you used the same stamp and I didn’t even notice! I should actually look at the stamps that come my way. Yay for a functioning postal system. You don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone, I guess. I will never stop being grateful when we can send and receive mail.
Hmm…frugal things…gosh I don’t even know. I got my Christmas shopping done and some of the ladies’ stores where I bought gifts for my mom, MIL, and SIL all had good sales. I guess that’s the only thing!
Sales are a great win!! And I was thinking of you the other day assuming you had all your shopping done. I am part-way through my list but there is a ways to go yet. I really should sit down and track what has been purchased and what needs purchasing.
Booyah for frugal wins! My recent ones are: using points to stay in a very nice hotel in Ottawa for free, and making nice dinners at home on the weekends instead of going out now that I have more time & energy.
Can’t wait to read all about your trip to Canada, complete with a review of that nice hotel.
I have not felt very frugal lately but it’s kind of good to have a break from frugality, and the money I’ve spent is gift cards from coworkers and friends. I’m really blanking on anything that I could describe as frugal… I would probably say all the meals we eat at home? We haven’t ordered take out as a family for a couple of weeks, and when we did, it was pizzas using door dash giftcards and Phil went to pick them up to save on the delivery fee!
I have NEVER had food delivered to my house a single time in my life. I feel like I’m missing out on a rite of passage, but it’s definitely cheaper to go get the food (I guess unless delivery is free in which case it would be cheaper…)
A cortisone shot helped my husband with his partially torn meniscus.
That cortisone shot comment was supposed to be in reply to Elisabeth in reply to Coco! Your commenting section is acting up. Wouldn’t save my name and into again. Grrrr, stupid WordPress.
Sorry. Comments can be such a nuisance. I fixed one issue and seem to have created more…
Thank you! I have a doctor’s appointment next week and why did cortisone not even cross my mind?!
Do you make stock? Collect all the produce scraps you would normally toss or compost in the freezer and then boil them up and reduce to make vegetable stock? I used to that, especially when I was getting a weekly CSA. It’s great because it cuts down the price you pay for stock and uses up every bit of vegetable. It’s probably my #1 frugal tip for the kitchen. If you’re a meat-eater, you can do chicken stock with bones/carcass.
I do chicken stock with bones/carcass, but not usually veggie stock. That’s a great hack, though!
I love your frugal heart, Elisabeth! While I consider myself pretty frugal, I am NOT. Let’s see. The most frugal thing I’ve done recently is collect my $20 payout from the Disney / YouTube TV conflict and discuss canceling YouTube TV completely (after football season) because it’s so expensive.
I had no idea YouTube TV was even a thing. It’s a thing?
We do have Disney+ and Netflix and Spotify. None of them are cheap but we use them all (Disney+ is mostly John + the kids; I like Netflix documentaries for datenight and I would give a kidney to keep Spotify, I think. Music is LIFE for me.)
Since postage stamps became adhesive stickers, I can no longer reuse any that don’t get postmarked. Whenever I have leftover food, I look up that food on Pinterest recipes to find a way to use it. I have a big box of paper that I use the back of to print things that are only for my use.
This was a sticker; I just tore off around it, plopped it into a cup with some water and a few hours later just slid it off and let it dry!
That plate with the soap – I grew up eating off those same plates!! One of the frugal things I do is cut open the bottle of lotion when it won’t pump anymore. Then I scoop out the remaining lotion into a small jar that I repurposed explicitly for this. I can usually go about a month or more on that remaining bit of lotion before having to buy another bottle.
Brilliant! Very frugal, indeed.
My parents have a whole set of Corelle. As my mother would say: You can’t break these things!
I haven’t bought Arugula for a while…maybe I’ll pick some up next time at the store. I don’t feel like we’ve been very frugal lately, but I think this post has inspired me to use up what we have. My husband went to costco instead of trader joe’s because of a weird traffic pattern, and so we ended up with a ton of some items on the list and none of the other things. I think I’ll see how long I can use what we have before filling in from the store.
I feel like groceries is a constantly moving target. I often have too much of one thing and not enough of another. I do secretly wish sometimes that we only had to eat like one meal a day. It would make life much more streamlined. But I love food too much for that sort of existence, I suppose!
Great list, Elisabeth. I love the little mug! I. too, have set my mind on using up the odds and ends in my cupboards. Amazing how much you can save by just using what you have 🙂