LIFE

Bargain Advocate: Five frugal things

Abbey Roy

Breaking news: I'm starting a new Bargain Advocate segment called Five Frugal Things.

Even when I have weeks that are not as intensely frugal as others (for example, washing my hair with baking soda or only cooking over open fire), I frequently find a few things I've used that are great everyday money-savers.

Today I'll share them with you in hopes that you can adopt them as part of your own Frugal Five — or 10 or 20.

Enjoy!

1. Yarn. My new knitting hobby has officially taken off, and the Bargain Advocate successfully completed her first baby hat and a secret Mother's Day gift this past week.

By spending a few hours on YouTube and a few bucks on a ball of yarn — using coupons I printed before heading out to the craft store, of course — I'm set for baby shower, Mother's Day and other holiday gifts for awhile and I have a productive way to spend my free time.

Plus the abundance of free patterns online means I don't need to buy a book.

This isn't to say that everyone should learn how to knit or crochet (though seriously, gents, you would be breaking the mold), but to encourage you to examine ways you can use your time and talents to save money and give gifts: Grow flowers, bake goodies (see Item 3), make a book with your family's favorite recipes, offer to help clean a house, paint a room or play Mr. (or Ms.) Fix-It.

After all — hint, hint — Mother's Day is in a week, and moms love homemade stuff.

2. Rhubarb. There's some sort of myth that rhubarb would survive a nuclear holocaust, and I suppose if I were to make it as well, I would be OK with living on rhubarb pie for the remainder of my days. While other veggies are still being coddled in flats in nurseries (of the plant variety, of course), rhubarb is up and at 'em. Its seasonal debut in a pie this weekend was a great way to kick off growing season — and who doesn't love free dessert?

3. Flour. Baking anything from scratch is cheaper and healthier than buying the pre-made, processed version. Sure, it takes a bit more time. But as long as all goes well (and I'm not saying it always will), it'll taste better.

Flour helped us out of two jams this week: First, it solved a "what-to-do-for-dinner" dilemma by letting us make a pizza crust (we always have pizza ingredients on hand); secondly and most importantly, it solved a "we-have-no-dessert-in-the-house" jam by making a pie crust (see Item 2).

In other words, thanks to flour, I got pizza and a dessert without having to leave the house. I consider that a win.

4. Edger. Apparently there's a weed called Creeping Charlie. I don't know how it got that name, but I don't need anyone creeping in my yard, whatever his or her name is. By the end of last year, Charlie crept through half our front yard and began spilling over the pavers that lined our landscaping.

The harder I tried to pull Charlie away, the more vengeful he became, flaunting his tiny purple flowers as if to tease me — "See? I'm cute. Keep me and please don't mind as I monopolize your lawn."

If I were super-frugal — I mean, super SUPER frugal — I would steep my creeping Charlie in hot water to use as tea or put some on my salad. But that would be an awfully nice way to treat something that's so cruel to my grass.

So I decided to engage in trench warfare.

Enter Edgy the Edger, my (non-power) edger purchased for $40 from Amazon with part of the money we got from our tax return. It was one of my greatest investments so far this spring.

I removed the pavers from the front yard and used Edgy to trench around the landscaping in order to stop Charlie in his tracks and make it easier to remove him when he tries to cross the border.

As versatile, relatively cheap landscaping tools go, Edgy has been fantastic. I'm still working on ways to banish Charlie without using a lawn service, so feel free to pass along suggestions.

5. Colin. He's really made himself at home in our freezer. (Oh, in case you didn't read the column from a couple weeks ago, I'm not a mortician in my spare time. Colin is — was — the cow who takes up space in our basement chest freezer and makes it more efficient while providing us with burgers and roasts.)

Already he has been a great pinch hitter on nights when we don't know what to have for dinner, and he's always such a great sport about it.

You may not have a Colin or an Edgy — and hopefully you don't have a Creeping Charlie — but I'll bet you can find out a way to use one of these Frugal Five, or a version of them, in your own lives. Now go make the Bargain Advocate proud!

If you have insight about a frugal living topic or an idea for a future column, please email me at amroy@nncogannett.com. I'd love to hear from you!

Happy saving,

Abbey