[josantoro]

"Free" day around town, not too much good. Got a fairly new iron. Always looking for the perfect combo of lightweight, gets really hot, and non-stick plate.
Hand sanitizer, full bottle. Black Sharpies of various sizes, cute little china animals. Folding yardstick, pincushion with pins.

 

[Zhoen]

Flu shot, egg mcmuffin on a Bogo... didn't need/want the second one, but can't let McDonald's win, so I gave it H...

 

[josantoro]

also picked up 3 winter coats, will give to the food shelf for their coat drive this fall.

 

[MaggieTru]

Jo: great finds!!

Zhoen: you gave me flashbacks from teen years working at mcd's.

I got a bunch of free lumber at the local building supply this morning. Anything in a bin by the chop saw is free to take. I spent 285$ on supplies and lumber and got maybe 50$ of usable wood on top of that.

 

[josantoro]

More free stuff today - two large Pyrex casseroles with lids, one small one with lid. Cobalt blue Pyrex square baking dish. Cool brown pottery teapot. Cookie cook book. Two jigsaw puzzles. Over-the-door multiple hook hanger in wrought iron.

 

[Zhoen]

Another BOGO McDonalds breakfast sandwich-- this time a bacon, egg, and cheese biscuit that I gave to my far-too-skinny 17 y.o.

10 lbs of potatoes

I forgot to mention 2 days of free parking in Baltimore last week... easily $25+!!!

AND Not sure if this belongs here or in "stash management" or "declutter"... BUT Yesterday was a community purge day where people in my BuyNothing group just put all kinds of crap out in their yards for anyone to take... and I. DIDN'T. EVEN. GO!!! This is a big win for me... instead of picking up any free "stuff," I held on to my far-too-scarce free SPACE!!!

 

[Contrary Housewife]

So much stuff already this month:

-- 1lb bacon (with grocery points)
-- a large variety of hobby materials worth at least $100
-- another promotional t-shirt
-- 3 after dinner drinks (part of hotel package)
-- jar of honey from a friend with bees

 

[josantoro]

Also got a big bag of unused ziploc and other plastic bags, very handy for shipping out online sales.

 

[MaggieTru]

Serious scores you all are getting. I got an enamel mug today after donating blood

 

[Zhoen]

Some swag from school: a badge reel lanyard (kept), a click-y pen (kept--nurses losing pens is kind of a trope...), a little notebook (gave to H), a different little notebook with post-it-notes (gave to DD14), and a little bottle of hand sanitizer on a carabiner clip (also gave to DD14)

Also got 2 KN95 masks from the school... that is the extent of the PPE they are giving us this semester... not even any surgical masks... meanwhile I have TWENTY clinical days... that's not gross at all...

Another 2 days of free parking, saving about $27

Some 2x4 scraps that I am going to add to my collection of free materials for my she-shed I want to build. I want to see how much of it I can do from (a)free reclaimed materials (b)not-free reclaimed materials... and then buying the rest new as needed...

 

[Spirit Deer]

We've built so much stuff from free lumber. We built this custom storage for camping gear last yr from salvage. I love how the fridge drawers worked out. The whole salvaging thing for us started a few yrs ago when we found enough composite decking to cover 2/3 of the floor in the greenhouse. It saved us hundreds.

 

[rujerro]

Got a free blender ($37), dental floss ($5.79) and hair product ($5.99) using GC's that were given to us.

 

[andywagner]

"Free" day around town, not too much good. Got a fairly new iron. Always looking for the perfect combo of lightweight, gets really hot, and non-stick plate.
Hand sanitizer, full bottle. Black Sharpies of various sizes, cute little china animals. Folding yardstick, pincushion with pins.

In this month nothing is getting free still. Empty time is running.

 

[Zhoen]

Ok, the most important free thing I got today-- and priceless-- was some FREE TIME!!!! And by that I mean I ditched my lectures today in Baltimore and just did this-and-that. Sorry, NOT sorry!!! (The morning class was covering management theory that I've done to death in my former career, and the afternoon class was preaching opinions and political talking points as incontestable facts... Skipping that was very cathartic... PLUS, I ditched my fitbit and didn't really track my food today-- you could call that free therapy!!!

As for actual free stuff, DD14 was "starving" after practice and craving McDonald's, so she got free fries with her half-pound-of-cow (this is the vegetarian, mind you!) Alas a great number of those fries ended up in my stomach...

And while I was out that way, we picked up five 2-quart jugs of apple juice and some Carnation Instant Breakfast packets from someone on my BuyNothing group. I had already said "me!" to the juice before I realized it was FIVE jugs!!! Oh well, DD17 likes apple juice a lot, and she has been really fighting us on eating and drinking lately. And the instant breakfast (I'm showing my age... they don't call it that anymore, now it is "Breakfast Essentials") when mixed with whole milk has better nutrition stats than most Ensure-type supplement drinks, tastes better, and costs less even when it ISN'T free... I'm not sure if we've ever tried the strawberry and vanilla flavors with her, so maybe this could be good...

Oh, and the little black card in the foreground was free at the thrift shop... it has 4 tiny barrettes and 4 ponytail elastics in Halloween colors... I'll definitely use the elastics, since I wear my hair up at clinicals (and most of the rest of the time, TBH.) I thought I could use the tiny barrettes to clip yarn ends to their respective balls to slow down the kitty making yarn spaghetti...

 

[Contrary Housewife]

Last night I got a free dessert with my dinner at a restaurant.
Today I had a free teriyaki bowl for lunch, from a phone app for a local restaurant.
I also got a free bottle of hand sanitizer, and a free air freshener plug in.
The hardware store gave me an almost free potted mum, I paid 99c after using a gift card.

 

[josantoro]

Free sample of Cerave lotion, thanks luvdietcoke!

 

[Zhoen]

Today I'll celebrate what I DIDN'T get for free... I DIDN'T activate the BOGO breakfast sandwich deal when I mobile ordered McDonald's this morning... I considered accepting it because maybe I could give it to one of my classmates I was meeting up with, but it was our first day, and I didn't want to be the weird old chick who's like "Want a lukewarm, leftover breakfast sandwich, stranger?"

I also didn't accept a leftover brown box lunch from the Community Center where were were giving them out... mainly because I had something packed and didn't need the extra calories.

Then, on my way out of town, I drove past the reclamation store I like, so I perused their freebies pile, but didn't take anything this week. They had some REALLY cool, weathered, old wooden doors, but they were a bit too tall to work for my she shed project... boohoo

 

[Spirit Deer]

Solid wood doors are frequently easy to cut down using a circular saw. BTDT, several times.

Have you seen the shelves made from old doors? Some are very cool. Check Pinterest. 🙂

 

[Zhoen]

Have you seen the shelves made from old doors? Some are very cool. Check Pinterest. 🙂

I have! You are right, so many cool ideas! P

Alas, H and I have very different ideas regarding frugality, self-sufficiency, and creature comforts... I LOVE all the things I see people make, especially recycling and re-making things. But my poor husband is more mainstream and would always rather buy something premade and vanilla (but oddly enough, likes assembling furniture from a box.) It's a constant point of ... "discussion" with us... Over the years, he has gotten better about letting me have my things (remember the jeans couch?) but if we came home tomorrow and found our whole home had be redone in Ikea, he would be thrilled (especially if the last piece was left in the box for him to assemble...)

 

[rujerro]

Facial cleanser & cream from ebay thru swagbucks