Third Frugal Friday of December 2025

Welcome to Frugal Friday
Each Friday here at Frugal Workshop, I love sharing the frugal wins, quiet savings, and simple strategies that helped us stretch our budget over the past seven days. It’s a gentle look back at the small things that make a big difference.  
This Week's Thought...

When finances are tough, focus on what you need rather than what you want. 

My Frugal Week
I want to send a shout out to Bobi E, who sweetly sent me a Christmas card this week with a gift tucked inside. Thank you so much, Bobi. You made my day and I'm so glad you are part of my blog. 😘🥰
We had rain with high winds last night and lost power for about three hours, but it was in the middle of the night. If we’re going to lose power it’s better when we’re sleeping or trying to sleep. 😂
This week I received a $25 gift card to Walmart from my insurance company for filling out a survey. I went and bought the last few items I needed for our Christmas get togethers. I'm done Christmas shopping, and all the gifts are wrapped and under the tree. 
I also earned a $15 gift card to Food City, which I’ve not spent yet. I was thinking I could use it to buy the meat for Christmas dinner, but realized I have a huge ham bone in the freezer from the Honey Baked Ham company. There is so much ham left on one of their bones, so that is what I’ll make for our Christmas dinner. 
I deep cleaned in my bedroom on Wednesday. We pulled furniture out, took the curtains down, washed them, and vacuumed really well and dusted everything. 
I put the quilt on my headboard (since it’s on an outside wall) a few weeks ago and added the plastic to the windows last week, which all works together to keep my room warm and toasty. I have lamps I can turn on, which is cozier to me than the overhead light, which makes the room all the more inviting to me. I’ve created a clean, organized place where I enjoy spending time. 
Reward Programs
This week I started back using the Microsoft Rewards program. I'm working on a Kroger gift certificate. If you're interested in joining, please use my link here and we will both get additional points for the referral. 
Car Tire Pressure ~ Found Money
When the weather turns cooler, my car’s tire pressure warning light sometimes comes on, which happened to me this past Saturday. I stopped at a local gas station and paid to fill my tires. The air machine is timed and only runs for four minutes, so every second counts. 
When I arrived, the vacuum hose and air compressor hose were tangled around each other. After I finished filling my tires, I neatly wrapped the air hose back onto its hook and took a moment to straighten the vacuum hose for the next person. 
My reward for doing that? As I went to hang up the vacuum hose, coins fell out, four nickels. Then, while searching the ground for one of my tire valve caps, I found a quarter too.
Processing
On Sunday I measured and packaged forty-one items for Bailey’s online shops. This will be the last load for this year as she is out of inventory at this point and takes two weeks off at Christmas time each year. Afterwards I washed dishes including our Zero water filter and pitcher, which I do every Sunday and then rode my bicycle pedals for one hour. 
Swing Away at Estate Sale
At the estate sale we went to last weekend we picked up a Swing-away can opener. The original vintage ones were real workhorses and would open cans for years and years with no issues. After seeing all the vintage items in their home, I was hopeful. I had to soak it in Goo gone as there was sticky residue on the gears, but I’m tickled to say it’s definitely a vintage one and works like a charm. It was a great find. 
Christmas
We decided that this would be a debt-free, low-spend Christmas.  I’ve made my decision, decided that I’m done, and I’m going to stay done. In years past I’ve always continued to buy even when I thought I was done, but not this year. My priorities have changed these days. 
We’ve heard from family and we will have two get togethers next week, one on Tuesday and one on Sunday after Christmas. Which means Bailey and I will be spending Christmas Eve & Christmas Day here by ourselves. I already have our menu planned out too. 
Freebies
M&M Mars has a large manufacturing plant in Cleveland, TN. As a result of that, the community often benefits from free candy M & M donates to the community at certain times of the year. This month they donated both M&Ms and Twix candy bars, and we received a gallon bag full of them at no cost to us. 
Saving on Electric
We've been using our door draft dodger at the back door to prevent cold air from entering the house. It was fourteen degrees outside here on Monday, so I had three sweaters and mittens on along with socks and shoes to stay warm. We applied for and were approved for LIHEAP, and although they have no funds right now, they did put us on the waiting list for when and if they do get funding.
Photo of the Week

Pictured above is my homemade simmering potpourri jars I made for Christmas gifts this year. I worked on getting supplies all year long in order to save money. I wrote the directions on the back of the tags. 
I used oranges I dried that were too tart to eat, apples I dried, whole allspice and cloves from my kitchen, rosemary I dried from the summer community garden, pine cones gathered this fall from my yard, cinnamon sticks bought for 99 cents at UGO, and Aldi cranberries for 99 cents. The smell is incredible!
The jars were bought at various yard sales for 25 cents this summer and often found free at various places throughout the year. The labels were some we already had from a past Christmas. They are an affordable gift to give to others at this time of year and I hope the recipients enjoy them as much as I enjoyed making them. 
Saving Money on Entertainment
I used my Walmart plus membership to download Paramount on my tablet. It’s a free perk for having a Walmart plus membership. I’ve been watching full episodes of Everybody Loves Raymond this week. It’s great to watch full episodes verses the partial ones on Facebook reels. 
What I've been Reading This Week
 Instacart is using an AI experiment to quietly add about 25% to some customers grocery items. 
The article states, “Instacart shoppers are unknowingly enrolled in AI-enabled experiments that can charge up to 23 percent more for the same item ordered from the same store at the same time” and “this investigation shows how it’s becoming more common for companies to use hidden algorithmic pricing techniques without telling the customer”. 
How frustrating! But, we can solve this issue by knowing our prices on items we use regularly, and not buying groceries online when in a hurry or pressed for time. 
Planning your grocery shopping order ahead of time by perusing the ads and knowing your prices will help avoid this scheme. I haven’t used Instacart since the pandemic due to the additional cost associated with their service. This is another reason for me not to use their service. 
How was your week? If you celebrate the holiday season, are you ready for the big day? Either way I hope you’re staying safe and warm or staying cool if you’re down under. I’m a little envious of those of you in the warm summer months right now. I hope, above all else, that you’re doing well. 

Thank you for dropping by my frugal blog, you are always welcome here. 
We would love to hear all about your week in the comment section.

Belinda 🫶 💕 Homemaker at Heart 💕 ~ Living within our Means ~My Linktree
~ She looketh well to the ways of her household ~Proverbs 31:27