Recent Frugal Accomplishments

Every time I start to think that I'm not accomplishing much frugally in the past while, I decide to make a list of frugal things I've done, thinking that, maybe, the three or four things on my list will make me feel better about myself, but then the list expands and expands until I get something like this and I realize I'm not giving myself the credit I deserve. So here are the recent frugal things I did -- maybe some of them can give you ideas, and maybe you can make yourself such a list and feel proud of yourself.

Frugal Shopping

I have really complicated feet and need special shoes. The sneakers that I need cost $200 bought locally, but I can get even cheaper sneakers for myself from the US, that are better quality and suit my needs better than the local ones, for $35, and I bought a pair, with free international shipping!

My kids and I needed new pajamas, so I bought some cheaply from Shein.com using a coupon code and points to lower the price. 

I needed melatonin but it is expensive locally, so I ordered some from iherb which, as it is, is a fraction of local prices. I had thought that you could only use a referral code once to get a discount, but I found out you can use it every time, so did that this time. If you thought the same, use my referral code and you will get a discount and I will get reward points- every time. 

My tenant uses my front yard (included as part of her renter's rights) and wanted to buy some things to improve the yard. Locally our store sells these items, and I had never thought to order this type of thing online because delivery costs a decent amount, but on a whim, I price compared online and found something that was a fraction of the price, and even though we had to pay a delivery fee,  it was still significantly cheaper than buying locally. And since my tenant will be using it as well and was the impetus for my buying it, we split the cost too.

I needed a new nice tablecloth, so instead of buying a "real" tablecloth, I bought colorful velour fabric from a fabric store, which ended up much cheaper and in the exact color and shade I wanted it then a tablecloth usually would cost. And the velour is stain resistant as well! 

Bras are expensive. One of the bras I have and wear... almost every day (ok, I have two, I switch off between them) cost about $100, but anything less and I don't get the right size or good support... but it's pricey. However, the underwire from one of the bras started poking out (I fixed it by sewing it) and I realized that I should get more bras. Only I didn't want to pay so much, Bras from Poland, 30 euros instead of $100 or more, free shipping.

Frugal Back to School

I bought backpacks for my daughters from the US from Amazon that were cheaper than local backpacks, and with free international shipping to boot, because if we buy more than 65 dollars worth of specific items from them we get free shipping. I made sure to get backpacks only from the free shipping list, additionally buying only things my family needs, to reach that 65. I also made sure to spend less than 75 dollars, because if you spend more than that on items shipped to my country you need to pay an import tax. And I managed to find the sweet spot between that.

I bought cheap but good quality English workbooks for my daughter from Amazon, as part of the free shipping program.

My kids asked me to buy them "fancy" school supplies with cute characters on them, so I bought them online cheaply, for cheaper than regular school supplies in the stores, with free shipping. Win win all around.

I bought uniform shirts for my daughter on sale.

For my other daughter, whose uniforms can only be bought in one place and with no sale price, I bought some that had been taken out of the package, for cheaper than the regular price.

I bought skirts for my daughters that were from a cheap store, and on the discount rack

I bought some baby clothes as a present from a discount rack at a cheap store.

Frugal Food Shopping

I did an frugal grocery shop with a whole lot of gluten free and other usually expensive items on sale.

I bought delicious fruit based smoothie freeze pops from the scratch and dent stores for very cheap. 

I bought beef roast on sale, 1/3 off the usual price.

I bought fresh ground beef from the butcher (watched him grind it in front of me) for 2/3 of the price frozen beef with additives generally costs. 

I bought chicken breast at a discount on sale.

I bought cheese from the cheese counter, because it is much cheaper than buying packaged cheese. 

I bought more cans from the scratch and dent store.

Gardening

I used mint and basil from my garden in various recipes.

I bought synthetic grass cheaply and laid it down myself.

I harvested a large amount of lemongrass to use in recipes.

Frugal in the Kitchen 

I had a not-so-great watermelon and I used it up in a watermelon smoothie.

I used the same watermelon in my watermelon gazpacho.

I made homemade fake cheese sauce.

I used up leftover rice to make scallion rice.

I had some cucumbers that were about to go off and I used them by peeling off the yucky parts.

I scrubbed off the yucky parts on zucchini and used them instead of tossing them.

I stretched ground beef in meat sauce and burgers by adding grated zucchini to it.

I turned leftover roast into nachos.

I made homemade salsa rosa.

Other

I bought waterpark tickets for a family trip on a deals site. 

I sold old textbooks to a used book store for credit towards books I needed to get.

I used my app to pay on the bus a bunch of times to get a big discount.

I bartered babysitting service with a friend.

That list... it is quite long. I am proud of myself. Why shouldn't I be? 

Did you do any frugal things lately that you are proud of/? What were they?