[NCmom]

Would love to see what others do. I: (1) hung two loads of laundry out to dry, (2) didn't turn on the AC until inside the house was 83, (3) didn't drive to see fireworks even though we wanted to, (4) started painting a free to me dresser for DD with leftover paint from other projects, (5) made homemade cookies, (6) divided and repotted chives (7) transferred flowers that came up by chance from plants from a few years ago into my porch baskets rather than buying flowers, (8) watered flowers using the water in the drip bucket under the air conditioner. What did you do?

[Pilothillcoupons]

I did simular things to you 1.) hung two loads of laundry out to dry, (2) didn't drive to see fireworks even though we wanted to, (3) watered flowers using the water from shower heating up. (4) picked strawberries from garden plus pulled weeds(not really frugal but garden is) (5)cooking dinner on barbque as not to heat up house including cooking corn in their husk so no need for foil, also used free marinade from Safeway when bought steaks there (6) played dice games with company instead of going to movie. (7)will watch movie checked out from library for free tonight,(8) clipped coupons
plus proably 50 other things hahahah


Would love to see what others do. I: (1) hung two loads of laundry out to dry, (2) didn't turn on the AC until inside the house was 83, (3) didn't drive to see fireworks even though we wanted to, (4) started painting a free to me dresser for DD with leftover paint from other projects, (5) made homemade cookies, (6) divided and repotted chives (7) transferred flowers that came up by chance from plants from a few years ago into my porch baskets rather than buying flowers, (8) watered flowers using the water in the drip bucket under the air conditioner. What did you do?

[Jennie K]

Originally Posted by NCmom

Would love to see what others do. I: (1) hung two loads of laundry out to dry, (2) didn't turn on the AC until inside the house was 83, (3) didn't drive to see fireworks even though we wanted to, (4) started painting a free to me dresser for DD with leftover paint from other projects, (5) made homemade cookies, (6) divided and repotted chives (7) transferred flowers that came up by chance from plants from a few years ago into my porch baskets rather than buying flowers, (8) watered flowers using the water in the drip bucket under the air conditioner. What did you do?

You had a much more productive and frugal day than I did LOL. Today I organized my stockpile (my 3rd floor grocery store LOL), cut out all the Cars 2 codes from the Kelloggs boxes ($35 worth in $5 cards!), and picked lettuce and spinach from my garden for a fresh salad with dinner.

[VitaLuna]

Hmmm... Not much! I watered my tomatoes and basil (not frugal in itself, but yummy garden tomatoes are cheaper than the store!), walked to the beach instead of driving or taking the bus, took drinks from home with us and got our food to go (to a beach bench) instead of dining in (saved on drinks and a tip), and went through my mini-pantry and freezer to figure out what meals I could make this week out of what I have and minimal extras. I also washed out our reusable produce bags (love those things!)

Ir'll be great to hear what everyone else has to say!

[goldielocs]

Lets see...

1. I cut off lights in the whole house repeatedly and let the sun shine
2. I cut paper that had been printed on one side in half for notes/ memos
3. I dehydrated some bananas that were almost brown
4. I made some homemade coconut milk icecream that cost 1.08 OPP instead of buying the container for almost $4

That's all I can think of...

[CarrieM]

I found some old cabinets in our machine shop, so I took the doors off of it, so now it just looks like a huge shelving unit...still gotta get help to carry it out and clean it up. I cleaned out our other shop to make room for the shelves, hung clothes on the clothes line, got a trailer full of scrap metal out of the machine shop...taking that to recycle in the morning. We also had to put a lamb down today, so I made lamb and rice for dinner. That's all I can think of right now.

[LetaB]

-Packaged up the granola I made yesterday

-Got my cheese curds pressed, into molds and drying

-Hung two loads of laundry, about to do number three

-Drank coffee from yesterday instead of making new- refrigerated, iced, milk, sugar, YUM

-Ordered $100 worth of food for under $50 from SHARE

-Used slave labor in form of 13 year old

[jennrn915]

Cooked two meals in the time I would have spent cooking one.
Didn't go to Rite Aid even though I wanted to.
Played Wii and watched dvds instead of paying for entertainment.

[Wizard2010]

I fried squash for about 2 hours and put in the freezer.
Got fresh green beans and cooked enough for 2 meals.
Got squash, cucumbers and cherry tomatoes from garden.
On Sunday, I cooked enough ribs to put 3 packs in the freezer.
Stayed home and saved on gas.
Clipped lots and lots of coupons, .

[Shashahx]

Originally Posted by goldielocs

Lets see...

1. I cut off lights in the whole house repeatedly and let the sun shine
2. I cut paper that had been printed on one side in half for notes/ memos
3. I dehydrated some bananas that were almost brown
4. I made some homemade coconut milk icecream that cost 1.08 OPP instead of buying the container for almost $4

That's all I can think of...

I am so tired of having bananas go to waste! Seems lime they turn brown faster when it's hot. How do you dehydrate them!? I would love to learn that. And then what do you do with them? Is it like dried fruit?

Sent from my iPhone

[Shashahx]

You are all very inspiring and I could learn alot! About the most frugal thing I do right now is save my paper from printing coupons for scratch paper!

We also used some cardboard boxes (flat rate boxes from auctions) for bebe gun targets and I used a cardboard box that came with flowers to store some stuff in. I'm not very creative but now that I found this thread - maybe I'll be able to see some great ideas!!

Sent from my iPhone

[LetaB]

Walked downtown instead of driving.

Bartered bulk purchase organic oats for my herd share.

Bartered homemade yogurt for hand milled soap.

Made yet more yogurt to sate the ravenous hordes.

Made lotion and detangling hair rinse.

Hung two loads of laundry.

Decluttered to clear out a makeup case (to use for OTC meds) instead of buying one.

Found a new, very cheap mascara that is the bomb- Mineral Infused by e.l.f. It's $3 per tube. The only mascara I've ever used that's better than this is Definicils, which is $20/tube. The e.l.f. stuff is as good as Badgal or Diorshow (which are also $20/tube).

Paid DSS to Shop Vac out the van, instead of driving to the car wash and pumping in at least $5 in quarters.

Made a $13 gamble on Lucas Transmission Treatment instead of having our transmission rebuilt for $700.

Used microfiber towels instead of paper towels to clean.

Saved laundry water for watering the garden.

[lovemy4danes]

So far today...
1) Haven't turned on a/c even though it is 85 here.

2) Cleaned house with vinager or cleaners that hubby brings home for free.

3) Took dinner from freezer to grill rather than run to store to buy cold cuts.

[ypatton]

Made my own work breakfast and lunch from home as to not purchase take-out.

Obtained two $10 off $40 coupons for my local grocery from "public" newspapers available for all to read at a local shop (left several for others!)

Drove my hybrid to work without AC totally on the battery, so no gas used!

[Wendytww]

I did something weird and frugal in a round-about way. We have paid all of our credit cards off and have no desire to build up debt again. We do want the cards to continue to be active since we will need a good credit rating in a few years when we buy a new house. So I set up 2 reoccurring payments to bill to 2 different credit cards and set up an automatic payment from my bill pay to pay them a week after they bill. How is this frugal? Now I can put my cards in the safe so I am not tempted to use them to overspend and they will still show as an active account when determining our debt to open credit ratio.

I thought it was pretty clever, !

[Jakejake]

Breakfast was home-canned veggie soup from last year's garden.
Worked out at home (pushups, crunches, dumbbells and ankle weights) - no gym fee.
Rode the bike to the bank and the produce market instead of driving.
Worked in the garden (mulching with free craigslist mulch to save on watering)
Made yogurt (healthier than HFCS yogurts)
Hand stone-ground (no electricity) some rye and wheat (got both free) and am making bread.

[Pilothillcoupons]

Showered used towel for 2nd day (saves on laundry) used water from shower heating up to water porch flowers, Made eggs (got from neighbor) for family for breakfast . Put egg shells in garden to help compost and keep slug population down. Put left over fruit in Tupperware instead of Ziploc. Put watermelon rind in compost. Packed leftovers for lunch for work (used produce bags instead of Ziploc), Closed all blinds to keep heat out. Came home cleaned out freezer to inventory what was in there. will make menu with what I have. Made french dip with left over steak and rolls from 4th. To beat the heat made fruit smoothie from strawberries from garden and banana that were in freezer (had spots no one will eat them when they get spots, so peel and put in freezer use in shakes works great) and juice bought on sale. plans for evening weed garden for a short while than cut coupons while watching a movie rented from library for free.Look at ads to see what's on sale tomorow.

[Jakejake]

Originally Posted by Pilothillcoupons

Put watermelon rind in compost.

I came across an interesting recipe for watermelon rinds recently - haven't tried it yet, but I liked that it was treated like a regular veggie, not pickled or sweetened to death: Watermelon Rind Salad (Moroccan Inspired)

[Ginger Lea]

I am happy I found this thread. I was thinking yesterday and also today in regards to a thread called "Frugal Funnies". Did not know what everyone would think. There are some incidents where I have tried to be frugal that have backfired, humor is always good.

[tcsmom]

I watered my tomato plants (volunteer plants from peels/seeds I threw back into my planter last year). My volunteers look as good, if not better than, the plants I bought this year. I plant my "garden" in flower beds beside the house.

Froze some bananas that were about to go bad. I'll use these for banana bread or my DS's favorite cake - Banana Sour Cream.

Brought home scrap paper from work for kids to draw on/me to make notes on

Save water from hand washing/fruit washing in kitchen to water plants with.

[SJRoth]

Wow what wonderful ideas! You all make me want to do more frugal things I did a couple things,not today but this week and last. We made jam for the first time with the plums from our tree. And Monday my son and I tie-dyed t-shirts red,white and blue for the 4th. Of course used coupons for all our supplies, even for the jam! You all are great, keep it up!

[conniel18848]

I didnt do much today. packed some canned stockpile in boxes i got yesterday.
yesterday found some good marked down items i had qs for.
last week i did great a friend called to see if i knew anyone needing carpets answer yes mom.
He gave me 2 full rolls a brown shag and a biege low shag he got free from a carpet store that wanted it hauled away because the roof leaked and the first 2 feet on the rolls got damp. theres enough to do moms whole house except kitchen she likes tile there. The bad parts now i have to install it.
found a used gas tank for my car that got a leak when i bottommed out on bad roads thanks to gas drilling destroying my world.
saved me $300.00 and moms carpeting saved at least $1,000.00 some great shopping trips yesterday. I think i saved around $1,500.00 this week so im happy.
I cant hang clothes out because of the dust from the gas well right behind my house.

[Rheston]

Originally Posted by Ginger Lea

I am happy I found this thread. I was thinking yesterday and also today in regards to a thread called "Frugal Funnies". Did not know what everyone would think. There are some incidents where I have tried to be frugal that have backfired, humor is always good.

I love this idea. God knows I've had alot of backfires that my friends/family have had a chance to laugh at. I need all the laughs I can get lately, so please share.

[brieclark]

Wow, I feel so extravagant! Lol!

[gokstate]

Wow, my day wasn't very frugal compared to the lists above! I did "swiffer" the whole house with microfiber cloths and mopped with my reuseable mop and a spray bottle filled with water and vinegar. But my real savings was waxing my own eyebrows instead of going to the local salon like I used to every other week. I finally broke down and bought a professional waxing pot and supplies and it paid for itself within the first two months.