Frugal Friday: Fails and Wins

Given the excitement around here after Ruby broke her arm, had surgery to correct it, and spent a night in the hospital, not to mention that everyone caught a nasty virus with fever, aches and chills, let’s just say I didn’t do so great in the food waste department.

There was food that I intended to save that was accidentally left out in our rush to the hospital, and more food that went bad in the fridge over the next couple of days.

I think I get a free pass, no?

But the week wasn’t a total fail, frugal-wise.

I got two packages of these lovely all-natural Naty disposable diapers in the mail:

I purchased a couple of packages of these last month, and each one had a defective diaper in it that was unusable (missing tab). I thought that was an unacceptably high level of defect-ness. So I emailed the company and they sent these to my door. Diaper me impressed!

Recently, I’ve gotten a bit more bold about asking for compensation for defective products. I bought an Almay mascara that was horribly dried out when I opened it, and it clumped badly on my lashes. I complained to the company and they sent me a coupon for any free product.

Hmm. What other frugal things did I do this week?

– I bought a new baby sling at a yard sale (along with two Ann Taylor blouses for $1 each!) for $10 and flipped it on eBay for $25. (I didn’t need it, I already have 3.)

– I cooked a whole chicken (almost always cheaper than parts), boiled it up to make Jewish Penicillin for the sick people, then saved some of the meat for a casserole for tonight. I made more broth out of the bones and skin.

– I was patient. I’ve been wanting a jogging stroller for months, since my old one bit the dust, but didn’t want to drop $125 or more on a new one. Finally a suitable model popped up at my local Once Upon a Child consignment store in pristine condition for $65, and I had a $10 off coupon.

– We used to eagerly await the return of Starbuck’s Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins, until we went gluten free. The other day my oldest found a gluten-free recipe and made them, they were out of this world, AND far less expensive.

More frugal deliciousness:

Speaking of pumpkin spice and saving money, Educents is offering an entire digital curriculum right now for grades K-12 for $84.60. And you can also save an extra %10 off your order with code PUMPKINSPICE. (Valid through 9/28)

AND ePantry, whom I love and order from every single month, sometimes more than once (their prices on personal care products and cleaning supplies beat Amazon Prime, in my experience) is offering a free bag of Mrs. Meyer’s dish pacs PLUS $10 credit and FREE shipping (with $20 purchase). This offer expires October 12 so don’t dilly-dally.