Favorite Frugal Items / Must-Haves

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2dogs+someCats
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Joined: Mon Jan 02, 2017 7:46 pm

Favorite Frugal Items / Must-Haves

Post by 2dogs+someCats »

What are some of your favorite "frugal things" around your house? Things that have multiple uses or help you save money or give you big value for little cost, etc.? A couple of mine are:

1. A "blanket scarf" I bought at the thrift store. Warm, soft and can be worn as a scarf, shawl, lap blanket, etc. Multi purpose and highly functional - travels to and from work with me almost every day. Love it.

2. "Fluffy Socks" - LOVE these - received some from my parents for my birthday in October and also for Christmas. I think these are from Dollar Tree and they are very comfortable and warm and great for layering if you are going to double up on socks. I always wear a pair with my slippers around the house and over my regular socks when I wear my boots to take the dogs out.

3. Electric Heater - I have one of those "quaint" little heaters that looks like a fireplace. I have it in whatever room I am in. If in the kitchen cooking, it's in the kitchen; if working at my desk in the living room - it's there, etc. It's a very frugal way to warm just the space I am in and actually warms up an entire small room pretty nicely.

4. Insulated lunch bags and Rubbermaid containers - Easy way to take cheap and healthy lunches to work. The Rubbermaid can go from freezer to frige to microwave. I have picked some of these up at the thrift store for .50 cents each!

5. Clothes drying rack - I actually scored this for free when my parents' neighbors were moving and they put it on the curb. These are the old sturdy wood "clothes bars" like my grandmother used to have and this is a big one. I can hang a lot of laundry to dry on these - and even more if I get creative with putting things on hangers.
ChristmasTrees
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Joined: Fri Aug 28, 2015 12:53 am

Re: Favorite Frugal Items / Must-Haves

Post by ChristmasTrees »

I have a drying rack as well. I use it all the time.

Our woodstove. I can't remember the last time we bought fire wood. It has been many years. There is always a blown down tree or one that needs to be removed. Dh and I cut , split, and stack it.

Warm layers of clothes. We really bundle up and keep the heat down.
jckitty
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Re: Favorite Frugal Items / Must-Haves

Post by jckitty »

Sheila,

You brought up some good ones.
For me,
1. Rubber scrapers... I have some old ones that I even use to scrape out paint cans.
I use the good ones all the time in the kitchen.

2. My wooden clothes drying rack. I use it all the time.
3. wooden pants hangers the kind that have the clip at the top that keeps the wooden parts together I use them to hang jeans on to dry and sometimes heavy towels.
4. different size mason jars, I use them for storage of leftovers and other things...trying to get rid of plastics
I agree with the fuzzy socks....love them.
JCKitty
chocolite
Posts: 1444
Joined: Sun Aug 30, 2015 8:11 pm

Re: Favorite Frugal Items / Must-Haves

Post by chocolite »

That's a great list, Sheila. Some of my favorite frugal items and must-haves are:
--Vinegar - I use it to clean my floors, counter tops, clothes...so many things
--Throws - I keep one on the back of everything in my den (chairs, couch, loveseat), They allow me to keep the thermostat set a little higher in the winter
--Small electric fan - in the summer months I keep a tiny fan on the table next to my chair. Especially during the past several years, it has helped me moderate my "internal heating system" and not have to mess with the a/c
--Programmable thermostats - they end up saving us a lot throughout the year
--Free kindle books - I do a lot of reading and I get almost all of my books for free or under a dollar. I'm on two email lists that send me a list of free/low cost books I can download each day.
--Toaster oven - I use this a lot, especially during the summer, to bake a few biscuits or whatever, without heating up the oven (and kitchen)

And I stole some of my hubby's wool socks when we got married, lol. I have them on right now.
Patty
rinty
Posts: 1919
Joined: Fri Aug 28, 2015 3:54 am

Re: Favorite Frugal Items / Must-Haves

Post by rinty »

2dogs+someCats wrote: Fri Jan 05, 2018 7:58 pm What are some of your favorite "frugal things" around your house? Things that have multiple uses or help you save money or give you big value for little cost, etc.? A couple of mine are:

1. A "blanket scarf" I bought at the thrift store. Warm, soft and can be worn as a scarf, shawl, lap blanket, etc. Multi purpose and highly functional - travels to and from work with me almost every day. Love it.

2. "Fluffy Socks" - LOVE these - received some from my parents for my birthday in October and also for Christmas. I think these are from Dollar Tree and they are very comfortable and warm and great for layering if you are going to double up on socks. I always wear a pair with my slippers around the house and over my regular socks when I wear my boots to take the dogs out.

3. Electric Heater - I have one of those "quaint" little heaters that looks like a fireplace. I have it in whatever room I am in. If in the kitchen cooking, it's in the kitchen; if working at my desk in the living room - it's there, etc. It's a very frugal way to warm just the space I am in and actually warms up an entire small room pretty nicely.

4. Insulated lunch bags and Rubbermaid containers - Easy way to take cheap and healthy lunches to work. The Rubbermaid can go from freezer to frige to microwave. I have picked some of these up at the thrift store for .50 cents each!

5. Clothes drying rack - I actually scored this for free when my parents' neighbors were moving and they put it on the curb. These are the old sturdy wood "clothes bars" like my grandmother used to have and this is a big one. I can hang a lot of laundry to dry on these - and even more if I get creative with putting things on hangers.
Oooh, I remember when you and Trisa bought those quaint heaters !!!! How long ago was that ????

Best frugal stuff for me is GOOD cookware ( I have great LARGE stockpots and pans ) and a drying rack. It simplifys doing frugal stuff, if its toohard to do, it won't get done and people fall back to more expensive ways to doing things...........tumble driers and ready meals for example.
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Jackielou
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Re: Favorite Frugal Items / Must-Haves

Post by Jackielou »

While some of these might not seem frugal, they actually do work out to be with each and every use.

1. Bread machine. My wrists are just too weak to knead the dough like they used to so I let this machine do it for me. Then if the oven is already filled with baking I allow it to bake for me.

2. My slow cooker. It turns those tougher, less expensive cuts of meat into wonderful and tasty meals.

3. Dehydrator. I can dehydrate all that fresh produce and fruit when I am overwhelmed with the harvest.

4. Good cookware. Like Rinty I love my large stock pots, casseroles, and baking pans.
Jackie
http://inthelandofthelivingskiesii.blogspot.ca/
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