the house behind

One of the tools in a frugal person’s toolbox is copycat recipes. Going into restaurants to get your favorite entree or dish can be pricy.

You can find a lot of those recipes at: Get The Most Popular Copycat Restaurant Recipes – CopyKat Recipes

I love the broccoli-cheddar soup (Panera Broccoli Cheddar Soup Copycat Recipe) and Red Lobster’s biscuits (Best Red Lobster Cheddar Bay Biscuits Copycat Recipe). And of course, Panda Express chili crisp shrimp which is one of those limited time food offers so making it yourself is not only cheaper but more convenient.

Copycat extends well beyond recipes and food for the frugal amongst us. For example, I fell in love with the look of Art Deco years ago and recently decided to add a small chest of drawers to one of my guestrooms. I love the look of art deco but I have no painting skill. Luckily the risk was low because the chest was just $3. I found it at a local thrift store for $6, and everything was half off. Score.

If you copycat a design for a particular paint job, one of your go-to frugal tricks should be the use of stencils. I have found that you can pretty much copy any pattern or style with a couple of paint brushes, stencils and some leftover paint or dollar store acrylics. And patience. Always take your time with this kind of project. I always recommend practicing a bit first with stencils because I find you always need way less paint than you think. I usually try out my pattern on plain old cardboard before I commit. And overall, stencils are cheap, usually just a few dollars. I keep mine and lend them out to friends all the time. I also let any furniture I am painting thoroughly dry between coats and prior to applying stencils. Again, patience is key. Take your time and the best news of all? You can always paint over any mistakes you make. And don’t forget to put a final clear coat on any furniture you end up painting. It can add years to the life of the piece.

Another area you can copycat is landscaping. I live in an area with a very pronounced pride of lawns. I see it every spring when the mulching trucks are trundling up and down the streets. Everyone, it seems, has pride of lawn where I live. As for us? My partner is obsessed with a lush green lawn. Obsessed. I myself like landscaping that is clean, spare and minimal which is fortunate because it complements my frugal nature quite well. That being the case, I still needed to augment my runoff system for my new gutters. I did some research and rocks, about the size of softballs up to footballs, was the ideal solution. I just needed to lay a path of rocks to help the water drain away from my house.

Rocks, however, can be expensive but just so happens my friend lives just a few minutes down the road from us and happened to notice her next door neighbor redoing his landscaping. She offered to take as many rocks from his discard pile as possible which was also fortunate the rocks were the ideal size for my minor landscaping project. The cost? Free. All it took was a bit of labor and my friend’s ingenuity.

So before you invest in landscaping materials, check out free areas that allow you to haul away product for free. I myself would like a few boulders in my large backyard but I have yet to find those for free. Hauling may be an issue for some but another couple we know has a trailer and they are always willing to lend a hand. Just be very, very careful when picking up landscaping materials you found on free websites. You can find a lot of freebies from new construction sites, demolition and clean waste sites. You only need ask the supervisor or manager on site and keep your eye out for lists online. Again, exercise caution when approaching or picking up anything from strangers.

There are also many places you can get free plants from. Research online and it never hurts to ask. Every spring The Enchanted Forest fairly bursts with new life, including ferns. My forest floor is covered with them. I don’t mind anyone taking a few as long as they ask permission and ask nicely. I do warn them that my Enchanted Forest can also sprout poison ivy, but most locals are very aware. I’ve even had locals bring me (unasked for) plants to swap which is so nice and neighborly.

If you have any carpentry skills to speak of, wooden pallets can often be found for free for the asking. I myself, again have zero skills in this area, but I know many people who have made their own planters out of free wooden pallets. Again, go online and find some instructions for making them if you have the motivation. Wood can be very pricy so always a good idea when you can get the wood for free.