A few years ago I noticed something that changed how I live: almost everything I loved most in my house had cost me almost nothing. The cast iron pan I cook in every night — $6 at a church thrift shop. The linen napkins we use daily like fancy people — a dollar for the set. The dinner everyone asks me to make — about $1.50 a serving.
Meanwhile, the expensive stuff? Mostly forgettable.
So Thrifty Katy is my working answer to one question: how well can you live if you stop confusing "spending" with "having"? It turns out: really, really well. Especially in St. Petersburg, Florida, where the thrift stores are deep, the produce is cheap, and the sunshine is free.
What you'll find here
- Thrifting — my hauls (with real prices), what to always and never buy secondhand, and the definitive St. Pete thrift store guide.
- Cheap & Good Recipes — every recipe comes with an honest, itemized cost-per-serving. Most dinners land under $2.50. All of them are food I actually crave, not punishment food.
- Thrifty Living — grocery diaries, budget experiments, and the occasional confession about the thing I overpaid for so you don't have to.
My rules for this site
Real prices, from real receipts, at real stores. If a link earns me a commission I'll say so, and I only link things I'd buy twice. And nothing here will ever tell you to be miserable to save a dollar — thrifty means clever, not joyless.