Fourth & Final Frugal Friday of April 2026

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. 
Thought of the Week

"If it's out of your hands, set it free from your thoughts".

My Frugal Week
My intentions were to stay home this week, but Bailey's ear drum ruptured on Saturday evening and I drove her to the minute clinic on Sunday. She came home on antibiotics and rested. 
We went back to the doctor on Tuesday as the pain was bad, and the doctor gave her antibiotic ear drops and a stronger antibiotic. Hopefully this will heal up and she will be out of pain asap. 
Saturday night it rained, which was good as there is a fire in the Cherokee National Forest here, which has burned 650 acres so far and is 60% contained, and thankfully is not threatening any structures. The rain brought cold weather with it and we woke up to 48 degrees with high winds on Sunday. 
The Great Cleanup

On Monday I pulled an old wooden ladder that was rotting and an old wine bottle out of the yard in the area where we had been putting garbage from downstairs for the garbage man to pick up. He didn't do the best job at picking everything up, so I finished the job myself. 

On Thursday I took some of the metal Dad has laying around here and took it to the recycling center. This load was 193 pounds and they paid me $17.37, which is good yard sale money. 
The recycling center is on Highway 411 here and it's time for the semi-annual 411 Yard Sale, so I stopped at a couple of places on the way back home. I picked out a pair of black pants at one sale for $1.00. but then when I went to pay her, the lady said I could just have them, which was so nice of her. 
Other Frugal Things this Week
- I earned a $25 Walmart gift card from my insurance company. - Caught up on all the laundry this week- Mixed up a bottle of cleaner with water and two squirts of Dawn. - I sold eight School House Rock Videos on FB Marketplace for $15.
Yard Sale Saturday 
Bailey woke up on Saturday and asked me if I wanted to tag along with her to a church yard sale, so I did. I found two pairs of denim capris, and six flannel baby blankets (to restock my stash) all for $1.00. 
At another sale I found a shirt for 25 cents, and at another sale found a great raincoat for 25 cents! I also found a pair of like new Isotoner slippers for 10 cents, and a bed rail for $3.00. She had great prices at this sale and Bailey really scored by purchasing all her name brand clothing for $15 total. 
One thing I did not buy was a very well made large bird feeder. I would have loved to have bought it, but bird feed is expensive here and the squirrels will not leave the ones we already have alone, so I decided against it. I hope it's not one of those things I regret buying for years to come like some things. 
Bailey’s Greenhouse

Bailey recently acquired a greenhouse on the second hand market. 
We went to Home Depot for their sale on soil priced at five for $10. She now has spearmint, peppers, and spinach growing in the greenhouse. 
She wanted something underneath the greenhouse to hold water runoff, so it wouldn’t soak the porch. I kept a lid from a storage bin downstairs, which worked well and cost nothing. #usewhatyouhave
I also picked up a Shasta Daisy seed packet for her for free from the local Blessing Box when I was dropping off stuff. 
Freebies

From our Buy Nothing group I was able to pick up this box of laundry detergent sheets for free. There are twelve sleeves with sixty-four sheets in each sleeve, so a lot of laundry can be done with these. 
Clean Freakz, who posts on TikTok, made this video about how laundry detergent sheets are a scam here. According to him, a single laundry sheet is four grams of detergent, but a large load needs 24 grams, which means using six laundry sheets for the correct dose.
So, I experimented to see how many I needed to use to ensure clean laundry, which was between six and eight sheets depending on how large the load was. These will still save us money while also getting the laundry clean especially since they were free. 
My Reading Nook ~ What I've been Reading This Week
I’m back to riding my bicycle pedals for one hour every morning, which leaves me an hour to read guilt free. 
Grandma Donna wrote a lovely blog post about the times we are living in and how people here do not want what is going on, and how we cannot judge the people of a country for what their leader is doing. Click here if you would like to read it. 
How was your week?

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