First Frugal Friday of October 2026
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
Thank you to everyone for your good thoughts for Bailey. The insurance company went ahead and totaled her car, and she already received her settlement check, so now she is shopping for a new one.
She does her research online and then we go car shopping. We’ve been to Chattanooga and Maryville and test drove five cars so far. We took two of those she really wanted and had pre-purchase inspections, which were both failures. So, the search continues for the time being.
The rental car she is driving had a flat tire yesterday when we got in it, so we took my car instead. We called the rental company and had someone come and change out the tire for us once we got home. We will need to change it out at some point as we don’t want her driving on a doughnut tire.
A few weeks ago I mentioned thinking non-clumping cat litter was more economical than clumping cat litter, and I do still feel that way. But, when you have a house with multiple cats, I think the clumping cat litter makes better sense.
We have one cat downstairs and the non-clumping works well for him, but upstairs where we have more than one cat I think clumping is the way to go.
Earning Money
Our final results are in from the latest consignment sale. We ended up selling 557 items at the sale for a total for us of $1,016. The owner of the sale takes 40% of all sales, so we actually sold over $1700 worth.
Saving Money In my Frugal Kitchen
Since it's the end of the month I've taken time this week to clean out the freezers and use up what's in there before we grocery shop again for the month of October. Some items that we were not using were donated to our local Little Free Pantry as I would rather see someone use these items than let them go to waste.
Our crockpot came in very handy this week and it was nice to come home to an already cooked dinner after being out all day.
Recipe of the Week
This was a recipe I saw someone post on a Facebook reel, but then I made it my own using items we like. For example, I left out the green chilis, used blended cottage cheese for the sour cream and mayo, and added grilled chicken to make this a main dish dinner. It was really good and I'll definitely make this again.
Chili Cheese Dip Salad
Ingredients:
1/2 cup sour cream1/2 cup mayonnaisetaco seasoning mixgreen chilis8 ounces cheddar cheese2 cans corn, drainedred bell pepperred onionblack olivesgrilled chicken, optional1 bag chili cheese Fritos
Directions:
Basically I just mixed everything in the bowl and served it for dinner.
Freebies
I went on Saturday night to People Helping People for free vegetables and loaded up on fresh red peppers!
My Reading Nook ~ What I've been Reading This Week
This week I finished reading Tunnel 29 just in time for book club next Tuesday. We will be reading A Sand County Almanac for the November book club.
This has been another whirlwind week of activity. I’ve been getting in over 10,000 steps everyday though and even started physical therapy for the arthritis in my back.
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
Car shopping is no fun. Good luck.
ReplyDeleteI prefer non-clumping litter. It is easy to clean, no smell, and no tiny granules sticking to kitty paws and being ingested. My vet said not to use clumping, as it isn't healthy.
Great going on the peppers and wow, on the consignment sale.
Thank you, Cheryl. That is very interesting what your vet said about the clumping cat litter, which is good to know. Thanks.
DeleteWe do clumping cat litter (Fresh Step) just for one cat. It works great. I do love cats.
ReplyDeleteI hope Bailey finds her car soon. I know it's hard though.
Thank you so much, Vickie.
DeleteI dont like how messy the cars are with clumping so know the other kind would be everywhere. I hope Bailey finds a good car for her needs.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Sam.
DeleteGlad Bailey is okay and got her insurance settlement without issue; that can be very stressful sometimes. Hope the car shopping goes well and she finds something she likes soon. I'm for sure making the dip recipe soon; sounds right up our alley.
ReplyDeleteI'm so sorry about the car accident! I hope Bailey is feeling better & finds a new car! That is an amazing result from the consignment sale. Well done to both of you! - Hawaii Planner
ReplyDeleteCar shopping is not for the faint of heart, just when you think you have found a great deal, only to discover it has been salvaged from a flood, do take care .
ReplyDeleteWell done on the sale of your consignment items, that is a huge amount of money to have earned.
Your dip saounds wonderful, I've got it on my list.
Hugs,
~Jo
Hope Bailey is feeling better. Sorry that her car was totaled, but I'm glad that she already has the money. Good idea to test drive and have the cars inspected, and I hope she finds a car that is right for her.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the review on cat litter; I think I will stick with the clumping litter too since we have 3 inside cats.
Great sales on the consignment.
Sounds like a yummy recipe. I like those chili cheese Fritos, and thanks for the tip to use cottage cheese in place of mayo and sour cream. My girl had her wisdom teeth out this week, so we have had lots of soft foods and I have cottage cheese on hand.
Hope you have a wonderful weekend. It feels like fall!
Dear Belinda, you do so well in selling things and economizing! I wish you all the best in finding a new car. When I had cats I used the clumping litter. I had two cats at some points in my life and a large hooded litter box. It worked very well!
ReplyDeleteIt worked great with one or two cats! And I like the hooded box because it gives the cats privacy and we don't have to look at it...and it keeps the odours down until we scoop. I scooped twice a day, morning and evening. And I had a stainless steel scoop, as it is easier to clean and disinfect and doesn't crack or break like the plastic ones.
Thank you so much for sharing, dear friend.
Wow on the consignment sale!! You did great! I hate shopping for cars. It just seems like a game and the salesmen are out to win at any cost. That's why I make my husband do it! Good luck to Bailey! It was 91 degrees here today and it's supposed to rain most of the weekend and be about 64 degrees! One morning next week it's supposed to be 41 degrees!
ReplyDelete