Fifth & Final Frugal Friday of May 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. 
My Frugal Week

We had bad thunderstorms last Thursday evening and when Bailey went to leave for book club on Friday evening, she couldn’t get out because a tree had fallen across the driveway. So, I called our neighbor and he came right over to help clear it and Bailey made it to her book climb with minutes to spare. 
On Sunday she baked him a chocolate cake to thank him for helping her with this. 

This is me in my hot pink compression socks helping to clear up the brush, so Bailey could get to book club on time. 
Than, the very next day, Saturday, another tree fell further down the driveway! We warned the people coming on Sunday to be careful. 

On Thursday another neighbor and friends came to cut the tree down and move it out of the driveway. 

Last Sunday we had a relator come and look at the house, Spectrum came and installed fiber internet, and I was expecting my neighbor to come and help with the tree, but then it started to rain again, so that had to wait. Instead I measured and packaged over fifty items for Bailey's online shops. 

The realtor made us an offer on the house, which I immediately turned down as it was well below our agreed upon initial offer. My brother and sister were disappointed and tried negotiating with him, but they are also in agreement with me over the realtor’s low ball offer. 

One day I was walking in the yard picking up fallen tree branches and throwing them into the woods when I picked up one and this snake was hiding under it. This is a small, harmless gray snake, but I won't be doing this again until the cold winter weather comes again because we have poisonous snakes here too. 
I was able to get a big majority of the yard weed eating this week. I also moved the picnic table to a better spot in the jar. I took all my canning jars from upstairs and put them in the cabinet downstairs. I think in the future I will fill some of them with water to store downstairs. 
With rain on both yard sales days last weekend we decided to stay home. Being a holiday weekend also has an impact on the number of sales we've noticed over the years. 
Other frugal things this week include...
- Received a check from Adsense for $119.56 for four months of blog revenue- I made a deal with my garbage man to barter some of Dad's machinery in exchange for garbage service, lawn mowing, and repairing some things around here.- I made my own hummingbird nectar using 1 cup water to 1/4 cup of sugar. 
The Great Cleanup
Last Friday before the garbage men came, I went downstairs and filled a contractor bag with trash for them to haul off with our household garbage. If someone asks me how I got rid of my Dad's hoard, I can tell them "one bag at a time". LOL 
Freebies
- Free vegetables on Saturday from PHO & Mennonites- Ten pound bag of King Arthur bread flower from my friend
Saving on Electric
I’ve been running my bedroom air conditioner on the eco setting to save on electric when I do have it turned on. 
Photo of the Week
With the higher costs these days I find myself having to make changes,  learn new skills, think of things in a different way, and sometimes learn to make do because of the cost of items these days. 

This week I began saving the cans from when I open a can from our pantry. I used to do this and can’t recall why I quit doing this, but the scrap yard will pay me for the metal. And since we are recycling the metal downstairs I might as well add this into the mix. Throwing these away would be like throwing money away. 
Savings of the Week
On Tuesday I had some errands to run in town and went to a new thrift store that opened recently. I feel like I hit the motherload as the "pantry" items were 50% off.  
They had Swanson's wonton broth priced at $1.50, so 75 cents for those and I bought ten of them. 

Then they had cans of pasta sauce priced at 25 cents each or four for $1.00, or twelve for $2.00, so after the 50% off, so I bought 24 cans for $2.00. I love finding new sources of inexpensive food for our pantry. 

I bought these boots in my size there for $5.00. They were marked $20, but everything was 50% off, but when I went to pay them for them she said she was only going to charge me $5.00, which was great!
Saving Money YouTube Videos
Roll Into Retirement is the YouTube channel of a middle class Gen X husband and dad over 55 waiting on his wife to retire. His mother is a 92-year-old grandma named Joan who shares frugal tips and budget meal preps. I've watched several of her videos and it is hard to believe she is 92. I hope to get around that well when I am lucky enough to make it 92. 
She lives on social security in a small house in her son's backyard. Her story is sad as she used to live in an upscale retirement home, but was evicted when she was 80 because her other son, who was an investment counselor, invested all her resources and lost everything. She didn't find out until after he died that everything was gone.  
Saving Money on Entertainment

On Thursday we went to the Tennessee aquarium in Chattanooga to use the free tickets I won a few months ago. Here is a picture of Bailey and the alligators and her with the penguins. 

We had the best time! I think my favorite spot was the butterfly garden and I even had a big butterfly land on me there. It was so neat. 
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