Five Frugal Things – Quick and Easy Ways to Save Money with Cheap and Easy Home Maintenance

When we bought our house, the salesperson suggested we change the filters in our heating and air conditioning system every month on the first of the month to keep it from working too hard trying and using a ton of expensive energy to suck air though a dirty filter. Doing so also helps extend the life of the unit which saves a lot of money compared to buying a new filter every month.

I don’t have kids  but I still keep an eye on the Back to School shopping sales because it is a good time to get a deal on office supplies, small appliances (think items you use to cook in a college dorm) for early holiday shopping, and clothing – especially if it involves an end of summer clearance sale.

Of course I will save even more money if I don’t go shopping at all and that's what I do most of the but it’s also nice to check something off my wish list at a deep discount for an up coming event.

Here are five tips I used to save money this week.

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1. Did my monthly home home maintenance. I try to do it on the first day of each month (in theory) to extend the life of our heating and cooling system, keep my seasonal allergies that change with the season in check, and for the health and happiness of Lacey. I changed the HVAC filter (I have this exact reusable HVAC filter. I keep two and switch the dirty filter out with the clean filter and immediately wash the dirty filter so it’s ready for the next month.) I changed the air purifier filter in the bed room even though it says to change it every 3 months, it gets dirty enough that I change it monthly. I also put a new calming dog collar like this one on Lacey to help with her anxiety (especially when we leave the house)  and dose of Frontline flea and tick treatment (learn more about it here) and Heartguard on Lacey. (Disclosure: I am including affiliate links in this post for your convenience.)


2. Reviewed this month’s Amazon Subscribe and Save order and skipped this 4 of the 5 items in this month’s order because I already had enough. Generally I have stuff like dog food, air purifier and water filters on my list because that’s the only way I remember to change them. Well, not the dog food. Lacey lets me know if I forget that in a heartbeat! If you want to try it yourself you can try it out for FREE with this  FREE TRIAL 30 Day Amazon Prime membership (get the details here.)

3. Bought 2 items I needed that that qualified for Ohio’s Back to School Sales Tax Free Shopping Weekend when I batched grocery shopping and errands. I finally got around to buying an Igloo insulated lunch bag similar to this one to tote allergy safe food with me when needed but most importantly it is a lunch bag that is adult and doesn’t have cartoon characters on it like 90% of the lunch boxes out there. I also saved $20 on a pair of jeans at Kohl’s to replace the pair that went from having a hip, punk rock thread bare patches turned hip rips to embarrassing hole in the seat that I can’t patch anymore and I can’t wear in polite public – a bummer because they are broken in in all of the right places. 

Buying thrift or consignment store jeans would have been cheaper but I have hard time finding jeans that fit, especially after a few brands that fit me well changed the measurements of their sizes which means I just can’t buy them from eBay or ThredUp. I wish they would sell women’s clothing by waist and inseam measurements like they do for men. I hate random vanity sizing with a passion!


4. Weeds are taking over my patio container garden. Instead of buying more weed barrier or mulch, I grabbed a couple of boxes from the recycling bin and shredded them in my paper shredder ( I have this one) to make cardboard mulch for my container garden. While I was at it, I started spreading coffee grounds from our morning pot of coffee around the steams of the plants for a little nutritional oomph because I’m running low on my last batch of compost tea and the current batch in our compost bin isn’t ready yet.

Shredded cardboard mulch! It’s not the prettiest but works in a pinch in a flower pot

5. I had Ruth Goodman’s book How To Be a Tudor: A Dawn-to-Dusk Guide to Tudor Life (you can get it here) on my Amazon Wish List when the book went on preorder last year thinking it might be a good reference book to have for historical performances.

Also, I love Ruth Goodman’s books and TV series on how everyday people lived their lives and throughout history.



I was about to buy it from Amazon but searched my library website to see if they have it. They did! I checked it out of the library and will put it on Christmas list if I find it would be a good reference book to have.


Looking for ways to save money? Check out the following ideas - and more! below!

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