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Five Frugal Things | What color will this chair be?

See #4 for the chair story!

1. I placed a Chewy order and used TopCashback

Oddly, I’d forgotten about TopCashback for a while! In fact, it looks like the last time was October 2021. Whoops.

Anyway…I needed some litter and food for Shelley and Chiquita, and Chewy’s prices for those beat the brick and mortar stores around here.

arm and hammer slide litter.

So, I placed an order there but logged into TopCashback first, and now I’m getting $4.48 back on my purchase.

By the way, we use Arm and Hammer Slide litter. It’s not the cheapest litter ever, but it is really easy to scoop, and it is amazing at keeping a litter box from smelling funky.

litter box with lid.

In fact, when my friend Carrie was here, she said, “I can’t smell the litter box at all. What is your secret??”

If you’ve been using smelly litter, definitely give the Arm and Hammer stuff a try!

calico cat sleeping on brown leather couch.

2. I got some free ice cream + discounted dented cereal

I stopped in at Safeway to buy some berries, and as usual, I opened the app to see if any deals stood out.

Surprisingly, I had an offer for a free full-size container of the Safeway brand of ice cream.

java chip ice cream.

SWEET.

I also took a quick peek at the clearance shelf and picked up a dented box of cereal.

dented cereal box.

I always appreciate when stores mark down damaged goods instead of just throwing them away, and I want to support the effort!

3. I got some free eyeglass cleaning spray

For better or for worse, I have very oily skin.

The worse? I still get zits at the ripe old age of 45.

The better? I’ll probably take a while to develop a super wrinkly face.

My skin is so uh, self-moisturizing, my glasses get kinda greasy as I wear them.

A pair of glasses on a black dresser top.

So, I end up having to clean them pretty regularly, and I was delighted to pick up two free spray bottles of eyeglass cleaner from my Buy Nothing group. 

eyeglass cleaner.

I have a larger container of cleaning spray that I can use to refill the bottles when they’re empty, and now that I have a couple of bottles, I can throw one in my backpack to take to school.

Excellent.

4. I got a free Adirondack chair

As I was about to leave to pick up the eyeglass spray, I saw that someone had posted their yard sale leftovers for free, and that house was nearly next door to my eyeglass spray destination.

So, I popped in and picked up a plastic Adirondack chair, which is weathered but still in sturdy condition.

red plastic adirondack chair.

Prior to this, my only outdoor seating was the backless bench that’s by my front door, and that’s not great for relaxing with a cup of coffee.

Kristen on a bench holding a coffee mug.

I have done it before, but this bench does make your rear hurt after a while.

Now I have a much more comfy place to sit.

And you know I’m gonna clean and then spray paint this chair.

I have a stash of spray paint I got last summer from my Buy Nothing group, so I will decide on the chair color by seeing which cans of paint are pretty full.

spray paint cans.

5. I used up a deodorant I don’t love

When I posted about all the natural deodorants I’ve tried, a reader suggested the Dr. Teal’s brand.

dr teal deodorant.

I ordered a two-pack from Amazon, and I give this deodorant a thumbs up for

  • affordability
  • effectiveness

And I give it a big thumbs down for being too dang hard.

Trying to spread it on my armpits was a big challenge, and I could really only make it work if my armpits were pretty well post-shower. 

I initially thought perhaps it was a cold-weather issue but nope, it’s still very non-spreadable in the summertime. 

So, I am quite happy to have made it to the end of my second container. 

A funny thing: the container says, “New, easier glide” and now I’m wondering how hard it was to glide before

I added my review of Dr. Teal’s to my original natural deodorant review post now, by the way. 

Your turn! What frugal things have you been up to lately? 

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Emily

Wednesday 13th of September 2023

Have you heard of Nuud? I tried every natural deodorant and none of them worked for me but this does and I find it lasts awhile.

Ginger Bruce

Wednesday 6th of September 2023

Hello, everyone. These are my favorite posts. I'm posting before reading the comments because Kristen talked about one of my FFT's. I bought one of those bottles of spray for glasses awhile ago. I was talking to a friend and she said that those are just glass cleaner in a smaller bottle for more money. I thought, "maybe." I finished the bottle and decided to try it out. I added extra water because the spray seemed to be streaky and I didn't want that for my glasses. I also like the mist spray for glasses. I've been using it for a few days and it works great. I did see something on the original bottle saying it was safe for glasses with the reflective coating. I will have to watch for that. I'm happy with the tip so far. โ„–2 I reuse water bottles after drinking the original water. Water bottles works for me and I haven't been able to find a reusable one I like and am willing to pay the price they're asking for it. โ„– 3 I take food with me when I travel for work. It saves so much vs. getting something at a restaurant or mini market. โ„–4 I make coffee from the hotel so I don't stop at coffee shop on the way to work. โ„–5 I'm moving soon. So I picked up some boxes from work to use. My roommate picked some up from her work as well. They are not consistent sizes but this is how I have always moved. I hate paying for something that people just throw away. I try to recycle them when I am finished with them. I will sign off with that. I'm grateful to be part of this community. Thank you for all your tips and ideas. I love the support for this lifestyle.

Auntiali

Wednesday 6th of September 2023

Pretty frugal Labor Day weekend. Hubby and I never go out to dinner but we did on Monday as I had a $5 off $25 coupon. Still ended up costing us $25+ but I had a hankering for one of their bacon cheeseburgers. I also ordered a drink. I could only eat half the burger, none of the fries and 2 sips of the drink. Won't do that again! Got a free bottle from Bath and Body Works for men's moisturizer. I'm putting it away for dh for Christmas. Also got two $1 hand sanitizers. Had a 9 minute massage in the massage chair at the mall. I spent $3 and felt much better afterwards. Hubby is stripping the wallpaper from our bedroom walls and he will repaint it. We were inivited to go swimming on Sunday at a friend's daughter's pool. She had told her daughter that while she, her husband and baby were away she (friend) was going to have a pool party, lol! Friend was there to watch her daughter's 2 dogs and her 1 dog.

Jenny Young

Wednesday 6th of September 2023

- I scanned one receipt per day on my Fetch app so I could spin for extra points. - I enjoyed a free catered dinner thanks to my husband's work. - I was given three homemade blueberry raspberry scones. I gave one to my son & ate the other two with tea over a couple of days. - I came up with some fun games to play with my 5 yr old grandson using things I already had at home. - I bought a hutch top for $19 at Goodwill to add storage over my washer dryer....instead of having custom cabinets made.

JEG

Wednesday 6th of September 2023

A day late, but Last Thursday I took my grandson to the children's museum. On the way we stopped at the library to pick up the pass I reserved, which reduced the admission price by half. This was a great museum. I think they had 14 indoor rooms with different themes and a small outside park with a story walk. We returned the pass to the library, and he used the children's room for a while. (When I searched the information for the library that had the pass, I noticed a playground on a beach nearby. I'll be checking that one out soon.) I made mini apple cider muffins to take for our quilt night. I saved on the muffins, I spent on the ice cream. I'm still working on a set of cards for donate to a raffle auction, mainly using items I have on hand. And a scarf that I am using yarn from my stash. I need a hat for a tea next week--I have a straw hat, which fits, and I bought silk flowers 60% off to adorn it. I always imagine one of those English fancy hats. I'll see if I can pull it off. I made dough to freeze for future pizzas. The recipe made enough for 4 pizzas. 2 take out pizzas are $20+, depending on toppings. I'll keep pepperoncini, pepperoni and cheese on hand. The other night we had naan pizzas. The naan package was $1 off at Aldi. 4 pieces. The naan packages at other stores are only 2 pieces.

The nightstands look good. I should buy me an orbital sander and do a small chest I have in the living room.

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