budget girl: 5 frugal things & 2 fails: saving money on groceries, laundry & more

Hi friends! It is time for 5 Frugal Things, my favorite series, and y'all's too. Let's get into it. So, 5 frugal wins, 2 frugal fails this week. And just for funsies, let's start with the fails. Alright, so I made a secondary grocery run this week. I had food that I could have cooked, but it wasn't food I wanted. So I ran to the local grocery store, the expensive one, not Walmart. Yeah, I even did that. And I spent $10 on like some just junk to eat for dinner that night. A little pizza and some other stuff. It was ice cream. The ice cream. I don't regret the ice cream. But the other stuff, I regret. Because I could have even probably made a pizza at home and it would have been healthier. But I didn't. I just, I didn't want anything that I had at home. So I made a secondary grocery run. It cost $10. So that's $10 left I have to spend on a real grocery run where $10 would have gone a lot further. So, frugal fail number 1. Frugal fail number 2. I broke my crock pot. And I'm really sad about it. I have an old rival crock pot from the 70s actually. It's really, really cool. Ceramic insert, like heavy stoneware insert. The actual pot is all metal and it's got like old 70s designed on it. It was my mom's. I've had it for 11 years. And I dropped a cup. Like a glass cup. Kind of like a mason jar type thing into the pot by accident and it shattered the bottom. Not at the glass. The glass was fine. But the crock pot broke and I was devastated because I don't think I can replace it. I already looked up some online and there are some that will fit it. But shipping 10 pounds of porcelain is ridiculously expensive. I found one on Etsy that was only $10 but it would cost $40 to ship. And I just can't justify spending $50 replacing an insert for a crock pot no matter how wonderful that crock pot was. Whereas I could buy a new plastic crock pot for less than that. I haven't decided exactly what I'm going to do yet. I use my crock pot a lot. I use my crock pot every week. But in the meantime, until I figure out whether I'm going to buy a new one or look for an insert at a thrift store or something for the old one, I might get lucky and find one. I know I've seen similar ones before, not in this town, but in Hammond I knew I'd seen at least one at a thrift store before where there was an old crock pot like that, an insert. And if I can find one at a thrift store, it'll only be a couple bucks. It'd totally be worth it to replace it and be able to keep my mom's crock pot going because it's fine. It still works amazingly. It's super easy to clean and it's really good quality material unlike some of the newer ones that are just kind of plastic hobbled and they melt and catch fire and stuff. This one was made well and so I threw away the broken ceramic insert. I measured it first and I have those measurements on my phone in case I stumble across one. And then I just put the base on a shelf away because I usually kept it right next to my stove because I used it so often. It's very sad because I don't have that many things in my mom's since she's dead, but you know, that's what happens. I had it for 11 years and I managed to keep it out of harm's way for 11 years and then I just, I slipped one day. So I will be baking stuff in the oven for a little while. I guess it's not, I'm glad summer's over or almost over because I especially use that a lot in the summer when I don't want to heat up my house. So very sad on that. I have a little hope that I might be able to find an insert somewhere. I'll just really keep an eye out in any thrift stores, especially when I'm traveling. I might be able to find one. If not, I may have to just suck it up and buy a new one, which sucks. So yeah, sad about that big frugal fail. My frugal wins though. Let's end on the good part. This is kind of a frugal fail, kind of a frugal win. I got a library audio book CD stuck in my car in the CD player and I've learned my lesson now that this is the second time I've gotten one stuck in my CD player and it cost $20 to get it out the first time. Second time they did it for free, but only because I was also getting my oil changed at the same time and they were like, yeah, we'll pry it out for you. Yeah, that's fine. I'm just going to not use my CD player because there's obviously something wrong with it. But anyway, I had this library audio book. I got a CD stuck in there. I couldn't return the audio book with missing a CD. But fortunately, I had borrowed this audio book from the university library, well, college, the community college library, and they don't have late fees. So it's, well, they say if you get it in by the end of the semester, there won't be any late fees. So I was expecting a late fee since this happened before summer and I just, I didn't want to pay the money to get the CD out yet. And so I was expecting to have to pay for this audio book or something. But when I brought it back by this week, they were like, no, it's fine. You brought it back. No, no fees. So if you have a university or college nearby, I have never heard of a college library that does not allow citizens that live in the area to use their library. You know, the college I went to allowed it. The college in the town that I lived in last allowed it. The one here does too. It's perfectly, it's exactly like your community library. College will allow people who live in the area to use it. And sometimes they have a better selection than the community library because the college library probably has a bigger budget, just saying, because they have all these fees coming in from tuition. They probably have a bigger budget and they probably have more up-to-date books than your local library, unless you just have a huge and a fantastic library program. In Hammond, there was a huge and fantastic library program. I didn't really use the SLU library because there was everything I could possibly need to read at the Hammond library. Here, our local library is not well-funded. They do not have a lot of new releases. They don't have a lot of selection. So I actually use the community college library more than I do the regular library. And the fact that don't have late fees at the community college library is amazing because I tend to, I get late fees. So it's a little bit of a frugal fail, but I don't really mind paying them because it's, it's usually such a small amount and it's, it's worth it to be able to utilize that resource. And I check out a lot of books. So occasionally that happens, but yeah, frugal win. I didn't have to pay for a summer's worth of late fees at, um, at the college library. So if you haven't checked out your college library, absolutely go do that. All right. Number two, I, um, mailed out some stuff for Sell Stuff September. I, um, listed a ton of books on, um, bookscouter.com and got powells and textbooks.com to offer to purchase some. Now they only offer you like 50 cents a buck, two bucks per book, but they pay for shipping and they get them off of your hands immediately, which is a little better sometimes if you're trying to clear stuff out than to list each book individually online and wait for an individual seller to purchase it. So, um, I boxed up books for both of those companies, sent them off. I also sold a single book I listed on Amazon, um, and shipped that off. And I also sold a dress I listed on a Facebook swap group and I shipped that off. So sold a bunch of stuff. Woohoo. Go Sell Stuff September. Um, number three, I bought the, uh, ticket to the Entree Leadership street live streaming event that Dave Ramsey is doing in mid-October. Uh, he posted a, um, this is the first time they're doing this. You know, they always have these big conference events like Smart Conference and Entree Leadership. And unless you, you know, have money to travel and get a ticket, um, and it gets kind of expensive, you just kind of, you miss out on it. Now there are books. I mean, he has all those books and everything, but, um, you don't get to speak, see the live speakers and everything. Um, and so they're trying this thing where they're going to live stream it and the tickets were $29 each. And I just wasn't quite ready to pay that. It's also on a Wednesday, so I'm going to have to take the day off. But he dropped a video earlier this week, um, just kind of chatting with one of the speakers about the conference. And during that video, he gave a $5 off coupon. So I went ahead and bought my ticket for $24, which I don't know why it seems like a whole lot less. So I will get to attend the, um, Entree Leadership conference from here at home in October for 25 bucks. So 24 bucks. Um, and that I consider approval win. So, all right. Um, Oh, I got a new coat. I stopped by a PCDC, the local, uh, charity store that helps differently abled people in our community. And they had just brought out the winter stuff. Now, uh, now is the time to go check out winter stuff. The best time to buy winter clothes is at the end of the season or right at the beginning of the season, like now. Um, but right at the beginning of the season, if you're buying new things are going to be very expensive because people know that these businesses know you do. However, it's the perfect time to go look for things at secondhand shops because if they have any sort of organization at all, they haven't kept the winter coats out all year. They have been getting donations of winter stuff all year, but they've been putting aside until it starts to cool off. So they had just wheeled out these two big carousels of winter coats. And so I started trying them on because I have been wearing the same thick winter coat. I have one, um, for four or five years. I got it from Target. I spent $50 on it. Um, it was, you know, it's fine. It may be older than four or five years, actually, because I got it with Kathy and that couldn't have been too long after college. Um, yeah, it's, it's at least four or five years old. Um, it's fine coat, but it is, is starting to get started to get just worse for wear. You know, the lining is, is, is kind of, um, frayed in a bunch of places and it's sticking out and it doesn't fit as well as it used to. Um, you know, I've, I've done some regular maintenance on it, but it has a few stains that haven't been able to come out even with dry cleaning. And it's just, it's, it's old and it's gotten itchier with time. So I knew that I would need a new winter coat this year. Um, I looked for one at the end of last winter season, but I couldn't find anything, not in my size, not in my style, not in my price, but I found this really cool kind of vintage-y looking coat that's actually like mid calf length and it's huge and really, really soft. It's kind of like a sheepskin type material and it's got these really cool buttons on it and it's a little big, but it was $20 and I like the overall shape of it. It's kind of a bell shape and, um, it being a little big will make it really easy and comfortable to layer. And I'm excited about it. So $20 is a little expensive for the thrift store, but I guarantee you this thing was at least $90 new. Now there isn't a tag in it, which is weird. There isn't even like a spot for a tag. The only tag I found was inside one of the pockets and it had the washing care instructions, which by the way, washing machine, awesome, because the old one was dry clean only and I'd get it clean like every two years, don't judge me, and because it needed it. But, um, it also said that it was a size large, like 12-14 and I am not a size large 12-14, but this thing has about this much space on either side of me. So it's, I mean, it's, it's almost to the point where it's so big that I didn't buy it, but it's, I think once I have like a sweater on under it and stuff like that, it'll be okay. Um, you know, I don't, I don't need things to fit skin tight, but, um, yeah, just weird, but it is a women's coat. It buttons on the right side and everything, you know, it's, it's shaped and the look of it, it's got a big collar. I'll insert a picture of my old coat and of my new coat. I'm not getting rid of the old coat just yet. I will probably get rid of it at the end of this season. I'll use them kind of interchangeably as it gets warmer, but I have a feeling I'll be reaching for the new coat a lot more than the old one, but yeah, $20. Awesome. So go check out your thrift stores if you need winter wear now, because they should be putting everything out that they've collected all year. Super frugal win. All right. And, um, finally, and this is another one you might judge me for, the last frugal win I, um, did was I kind of put myself on a little bit of a laundry strike this past week. I usually, um, do my laundry every other weekend. It's, um, I go, I go to the laundromat, um, cause I don't own a washroom dryer and I don't want to own a washroom dryer at this point in my life. Um, and I, you know, I, it only costs about $10 a month for me to do my laundry there. It's fine. Um, but I usually go every other weekend, wash everything. Um, I usually do two loads, one of regular clothes and then one of either like, um, dishrags and towels or, um, I'll wash my comforter or something like that, you know, more sporadically. But, uh, yeah, I decided to wait one more week this time. And so I haven't done laundry for three weeks. I'm doing laundry right now. Actually, I need to go change it over at the laundromat, which is weird cause it's super safe here. No one's going to mess with your laundry. So, um, you can actually leave it at the laundromat and no one's going to touch it, uh, in between cycles. The, uh, and I just kind of wore my dresses. I, I already wear them usually more than once. Um, but since I knew I was doing this, I did it kind of mindfully. I, I wanted to see how, how long I could go. Um, not, you know, to a gross perspective, but I wanted to see if I could extend it just a little bit and save just a little bit of money. So, um, and I didn't have more loads, which I know would counteract this whole thing. I still did two loads at the laundromat today. Um, but yeah, I left my sheets on a little bit longer. I maybe wore my dresses one more time and I thought this was the perfect time to do it because it's starting to get cooler. You know, you're not sweating as much when in the middle of the summer. I washed my clothes a lot more because it feels gross. You know, you sweat, you've sweated in them. They, you know, they start to smell, but right now the weather is very nice, especially my work clothes. I wear dresses every day. I don't get particularly sweaty or dirty, so I can wear them a couple of times. So I just kind of did that mindfully. The only thing about doing your laundry every two weeks, or, um, in this case, uh, on the third week is that you run out of the, uh, regular stuff, like your lounge wear or your exercise clothes, because I don't like to wear those more than once, really. Well, the, like, tops, but I'll wear, like, the, the likely stretchy athletic wear pants more than once, but, uh, I don't, I'm not gonna wear a tank top more than once after I've exercised in it and sweated all over it. Um, so you do have to have some more of those, which, uh, counteracts kind of a tiny wardrobe, but I am able to keep a very small work wardrobe. I just have some more, like, exercise clothes because it's going to be two weeks before I wash them all. So, um, yeah, it worked out pretty well. Um, I'm gonna, I'm gonna consider doing that again. The only thing I didn't like about it was my sheets. I love changing my sheets every weekend. It's a little luxury to, you know, take a bath and then slip into clean sheets every Sunday. And, um, this time I, I only changed them twice, you know, I changed, only changed them once over the two weeks. So I, um, I changed them on the Sunday that I did laundry and then I waited about a week and a half and I changed it. And then, so they were, I don't know, they weren't gross, but because Rory does sleep in my bed, I just, maybe I should get another pair of sheets or maybe not. I don't know. I'm still thinking on it, but it was an interesting experience, um, experiment and experience. So tell me, um, what frugal things you did this week and what your frugal fails were. I hope you had many more wins than losses. I will see you all soon. Bye. Hi friends! It's time for... I'm so much... super itchy. Ah. Oh God.