Frugal Workshop: First Frugal Friday of March 2026 ~ Miserly March

Friday, March 6, 2026

First Frugal Friday of March 2026 ~ Miserly March

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.
My Frugal Week
I’ve borrowed a term from Carol on the Living Simply Facebook group and will consider this month to be Miserly March. My reason for that is we paid the property taxes here this week without dipping into our savings accounts. I’m calling that a victory, but the rest of the month I will need to be extra frugal.
It was 68 degrees here on Sunday, so we took the plastic off the windows and opened them to get some fresh air into the house. The cats were thrilled and sat in one window all afternoon.
The motor on our vacuum cleaner burned up this week and had to be replaced. We bought the same model we had before from Walmart for $72.42 (up $12.43 in price from when we first purchased this model back in 2021) and it was delivered the next morning.
I managed to do a small load of laundry on Monday and washed my homemade bandages. They sure have come in handy after my surgery and saved me money in the process.
On Tuesday I had two doctor appointments, first to my retina specialist for eye injections and second to my surgeon for another follow-up. He took both drains out, which has really helped me to feel normal again. He will see me for another follow-up on Friday.
On Wednesday we had to drop off Bailey’s car as her check engine light came on the day before. I drove my car in order to pick her up, which is the first time I’ve driven my car since my surgery. Naturally it needed gas, so I filled it up at $2.79 a gallon.
We also did some thrift shopping, picked up an item from Facebook Marketplace, went to the courthouse and paid property taxes, my car registration, and Bailey’s yearly business taxes. Afterwards we stopped at Food City for cheese before heading home.
Saving Money in my Frugal Kitchen
On Saturday I decided to use one of two soup packets I have in my pantry. The one I chose was for minestrone soup. I diced up an onion, celery, and carrots to sauté before adding the soup mixture and water. The soup made eight cups in all, so plenty for dinner and several lunches this week.
On Saturday we took one of the ten-pound bags of chicken breast, which I bought at Gordon’s to thaw and placed in the crockpot to cook for Sunday dinner. I seasoned them with onion powder, salt, garlic, seasoned pepper, and my taco seasoning mix. I portioned out enough for dinner and made four other portions to freeze for future meals.
Piggyback Cooking/BIG Timesaver
Piggyback cooking also known as the "three day Sunday roast" involves preparing large batches of food such as the taco flavored chicken I made over the weekend, and then transforming them into different meals throughout the week.
For example, here is a write up I did on three meals I can make when I've made a stockpot full of chili.
This trick involves cooking a protein from which other meals can be created. Cook and allow the protein to be the main part of at least three meals. Try to come up with ways to serve the protein so it does not feel like leftovers.
Depending on how much I make, I use one portion for dinner, save one or two portions for the next two days and then freeze the rest for future meals.
Cooking once and eating three times reduces effort and cost, allowing the kitchen to run smoother. By respecting what's earned and avoiding waste, we can outwit the system and build prosperity.

What’s for Dinner

Monday ~ Chicken Tacos

Tuesday & Wednesday ~ Chicken Nachos

Thursday & Friday ~ Ground Chicken Meatballs, Sweet Potatoes, Baked Apples.

Saturday ~ Minestrone Soup

Sunday ~ Chicken Tacos

Freebies
Our friend gave us two sweet potatoes this week.
Savings of the Week
Food City has their 32-ounce bags of shredded cheese on sale this week for $5.99 with a limit of two. I made sure to stop in and pick up two of them. Kroger also has their store brand cheese on sale this week too in the 32 ounce block or shredded for $5.99, so this is a good week to stock up on cheese.
Saving Money on Entertainment
This week I watched the film, What’s Eating Gilbert Grape? This was a movie recommended by Nedra Glover Tawwab who wrote the book, Set Boundaries, Find Peace. The film provides an excellent example of the need to set boundaries. In the film Gilbert, is a parentified teenager who takes care of his family but struggles to have a social life outside of his family due to unhealthy boundaries. I found the movie on both Hulu and Pluto to watch online, so no cost there.
What I've been Reading This Week

I mentioned last week that I was reading more due to recuperating from surgery. Normally I feel guilty reading for pleasure because I think about all the other things I could be doing instead. But I know that isn’t a healthy way to look at reading.

Reading is such a good activity and slows down memory decline in older age. It also helps with personal growth, stress management, and building vocabulary. Also, when we read a book instead of watching tv or scrolling on social media, our sleep improves.

Books I’ve finished reading this week:
- All the Light We Cannot See, historical fiction written by Anthony Doerr. There is a four-part series on Netflix that Bailey and I plan on watching now that we’ve both read the book together. This was written well and I enjoyed how the author tied up all the loose ends towards the end of the book.
- Set Boundaries Find Peace, written by Nedra Glover Tawwab, is a self-help book that focuses on establishing and maintaining healthy boundaries in various aspects of life. This is such an excellent book on how to set healthy boundaries with people in your life.

How was your week?