If you’re new here: On Fridays I share a few frugal things I did during the week. Then in the comments you to share a frugal thing or two you did during the week. If you are a blogger feel free to link to your Frugal Friday post in the comments and we’ll come check it out.
1. We ran out of butter. Horrors! It’s so expensive this time of year that I couldn’t bring myself to buy more than a pound at a time even though I was hoping to bake. My mom went shopping with Heather and I, and we stopped at a grocery store to look for the sale priced pineapples. They were sold out of pineapples but had butter for $1.99 limit 2. All 3 of us went through the line separately to buy 2. Let the baking begin!
2. Heather and I needed dresses for our Christmas concerts this week. We’ve both grown and nothing fits. Happy for her, sad for me. I found mine at Ross for $17 and hers at Burlington coat factory for $12. They were both name brand dresses that retailed for $65+. We also grabbed sparkle shoes at payless at a 50% off sale plus an additional 25% off coupon for members (About $12 a pair.) I wouldn’t have had the coupon, but I did a quick google search to see what was out there before heading to the store. I saved the code to my phone, just in case, even though it said “online only” and the cashier made it work.
3. I used up a bag of frozen wild blueberries that had been in the freezer a little too long. I used 4 cups of them to make blueberry muffins for snacks/breakfasts. For half the flour, I subbed the crumbs saved from the bottom of the cereal bags over the last few weeks. Then with the remaining blueberries and thawed liquid I made jello by adding stevia, plain gelatin and chia seeds for nutrition. It’s delicious but the family won’t touch it–more for me ;).
It’s your turn. Inspire us with some of your frugal activities this week.
We needed a new washing machine. The transmission had be going out of it for a while. I was just dealing with it I just had to put it in the spin cycle 3-5 times to get the water out of the clothes. So we went to Lowe’s and in the middle of the isle is where they put the returned, dented, scratched appliances. One had “parts only” written on it for $25.00. So we asked the manager what was wrong. And he said it didn’t work at all. For $25.00 we took the chance that my husband could fix it. We plugged it in when we got home and it worked…nothing wrong with it at all!!
Cyndi, Awesome! What a great find.
I’m so impressed!!! $25!! Wow!! What a blessing!
I’m a sucker for after Christmas sales. I only spent $20 on ribbon for decorating for next year. I even put the wrapping paper back I had in my hands knowing I probably have enough to last me three years.
I really enjoyed the frugal Friday’s! They gave me inspiration knowing so many are in the same boat as us. Some days I get really tired of being so frugal and I also feel like we aren’t getting anywhere with debt. But I do a little each day to save anywhere I can. I’ve said before that sometimes saving money for me is choosing NOT to do something, put it off longer or make do with what I already own. My recent experience with this was with bananas going rotten. I could have made banana bread …. But I needed eggs for that and have too many frozen bananas in my freezer right now. I did myself a favor and threw them away. It was liberating.
Another example was with two jar candles that we’re getting super low. I thought hey, I can make new candles with these two shorter ones and add in extra pillars I never burn. Then I priced the supplies. And then I saw clearance jar candles for $1.79. So I bought a new jarred candle instead and saved myself time and energy. Now I did save the short candles JUST IN CASE.
Most times I just make things more complicated for myself and add things to a never ending to do list. Simplify and cut myself some slack are good things for me to do this new year!!
Nicole, you make such a great point that took me years to come around to. DIY doesn’t always save money especially if it requires additional supplies and tools (and time.) Thanks for weighing in and I’m glad you enjoy Frugal Fridays. They’ll be back next week 🙂
Lol! I can relate to the banana quandary. But at a friends suggestion we used frozen bananas and added a little vanilla and blended In 2 cup portions in the blender …voila — ice cream – delicious and much less work than baking. I have also subbed almost old fruit in any muffin, pancake or bread mix.
Amanda, banana ice cream is DELICIOUS! I haven’t had it in so long, I’m glad you mentioned it.