In a world where there are 63.3 mugs per person, this PDXSidewalk Joy mug exchange is a perfect way for people to scratch that "new mug" itch without prompting unnecessary manufacture or expense.
Three of these mugs are from my mother's house, where they sat waiting to be listed on her Buy Nothing group. Instead, they're now available to one and all.
Portland may currently be in the news cycle for false accusations of being a war zone, but really, this is us in a nutshell. Whimsical, probably a bit scrappy and willing to share our excess.
I might need to do another round of decluttering to see if I also have extra mugs!
Now your turn, what frugal things have you been up to?
I love the mug exchange. Sometimes you just want something different. This is perfect, variety, sharing, and no cost.
We went for a hike on Saturday at a local state park. We each have the $10 for life senior pass. We are trying soak up as much warmth, sun, and fall beauty as possible before winter. Winter is a season we tolerate.
DH will be switching positions and offices at work next year. He is slowly cleaning out his large office and bringing home items no one wants. Most of them are gifts he received over the years but a few items are office supplies that are no longer wanted/used due to digital technology. I gave away several things last week.
That mug exchange is a great idea. I just came back from a visit with my sister and they have an entire large cabinet that is just mugs. It was fun to pick one out in the morning.
I made a breakfast casserole out of my restaurant leftovers. Basically, I chopped up leftover omelets, potatoes and scrambles, added mushroom soup and topped it with cheese.
Had to renege on attending my grandson's volleyball game..I wasn't feeling well. This decision did save me some gas -- the game was an hour away, and in the evening to boot. So I avoided night driving.
I picked up free bread and bagels at the little free pantry.
Only in Oklahoma we went to a bull sale. We enjoyed free food and ice tea.
I made $43 at garage sale. Kirklands kcups went up $9 in a month. My last pay check was short 18 hrs. I’ll get it in this paycheck
I love that mug idea.
My one frugal thing: yesterday my mother in law treated me to lunch and we went to our library book sale where we got a paper bag full of books for $5
1) Continued to put money in the 529 my work offers a match for. While we have another 529 for each of our college students, this offers a full match for the first $1k you put in. I'm not one to pass up $1k for college students, particularly when now is that season of life where we can use it.
2) Met a friend for a free hike in the nature preserve that is walkable from my house.
3) Made a double batch of dinner, and invited DS19 (he's always invited of course) & his GF to join us.
4) I was able to move DS18's flight back to college after winter break out by a few days (they start back on a Thursday?), so I saved $100 as a credit for another flight.
5) We were out of canned tomatoes for our dinner recipe yesterday. I used a can of tomato paste, some additional water & chopped tomatoes.
Bonus: made two giant batches of homemade chicken broth, from the remains of our very inexpensive Costco rotisserie chicken.
Love the mug swap. Went to Grandson’s senior night for the band at the football game. He asked me to be part of the family walking him out at halftime. I actually thought about buying a T-shirt representing his school, but I thought that would be a waste of money to wear it once. I chose my outfit using red, black, and silver the school colors. Went to the farmers market on Saturday and supported local vendors and farmers. That evening, we had a chili fest in our neighborhood. Made gluten-free healthy chili and added two cans of pinto beans to make it stretch. Also made and brought to the chili fest gluten-free pumpkin muffins, the same dinner I would’ve made for our family. We had a great time visiting with neighbors and everybody else’s chili. Making 2 Halloween costumes from what we have at home. One son wanted an outfit that would have cost over $100. I agreed to a t-shirt with the character on it. He called his older brother and convinced him to buy him a wig and sweatshirt. Fortunately costumes will be used for 2 parties and Halloween. Changed dentists to one that took Medicare and exam and cleaning paid for. Also found out I didn’t need expensive dental work other dentist insisted that I did ( 3 crowns).
Love the design of the mug exchange library. Hopefully the Feds won't shoot it up or haul it away in a masked kidnapping.
1. Brought my husband to the airport and went to the nearby IKEA to take advantage of free coffee (in my large reusable canteen) with my free membership. Also had a kids' meal for $2.71. Thanks to Katy for inspiring me to become a member.
2. Using trial and error, I learned that using a flour sack towel for cleaning eyeglasses is very effective. Those little cloths we receive from the eye clinic don't always work well.
3. Went to a matinee movie with my sister. Saw Eleanor the Great which we liked a lot.
4. Bought a $2.49 pumpkin at the local hardware store. This is our sole holiday decoration and afterward we'll use it to make pumpkin bread.
5. Received several useful things from Buy Nothing: dog kennel for our car, cushion for dog kennel (separate transaction but perfect fit), drywall corner bead, landscape edging, face powder and brush. I learned later that the powder and brush are expensive Laura Geller products. Great, since I know very little about makeup.
MB, 100% on the glasses cleaning cloths. Never made any sense that manufacturers of glasses gave items to clean their products (including those little bottles of sprays) that didn't work! This is such a pet peeve of mine. I have rubbed off the expensive coatings while trying to remove streaks or smears. Now I use small household micro fiber cloths that are really soft and hottish water. : )
MB in MN, I'm with both you and AZ Lynn on lens cleaning cloths. I've found that disposable lens wipes (I buy the Bausch & Lomb brand) work a lot better. Not good that they're disposables, but a lot better that they actually work and are kind to my expensive lens coatings.
There was a church where I used to take Jazzercise. They did one better: the wall in their hallway was lined with those expandable cup holders. There were dozens upon dozens of coffee mugs there! All kinds of cups! Each parishioner was expected to bring his or her own (non-disposable) mug, and use that for coffee each week. They would wash their cups before rehanging them, and the sign said this saved X amount of waste every week. The church had coffee cups for visitors, and a little sign explaining what they were doing and why. It was genius!
An office where I worked was challenged by HQ to do an Earth Day project: each branch office was supposed to come up with ways to save/recycle/be good to the Earth. My friend Allison had the genius idea to go thrift some coffee cups (enough for every employee + guests), and buy dish soap and the necessary dishwashing equipment. We had a small office (think: Mary Tyler Moore Show) and took turns washing the dishes at close of business. Every worker had a day, once every 2 weeks, when they'd wash dishes; anyone staying past 5:30 or working on weekends washed their own. Everyone bought in to the idea, we all pitched in, and it worked great! Our branch won the Earth Day competition between offices! The big bosses liked Allison's idea so much that they ordered company coffee cups, great big ceramic ones with the corporate logo, and handed them out to every employee (and lots of customers). Our company wasn't very well-liked, however. So for years afterwards, I'd see those coffee cups at all the different thrift stores, LOL!
The Episcopal church I worked at years ago was the smallest one in the diocese and had an awesome green living program long before it became policy. It included the mug rack over the coffee bar in the fellowship hall.
My husbands office has real plates, cups, bowls, mugs and utensils in the kitchen. They also have a dishwasher and it gets run every day. The mugs are a mix of some with the company logo and some that people have donated to the cause.
Mugs are the worst gifts ever. I don’t drink coffee, so I rarely get a mug as a gift, but it still happens, and then I feel guilty when I donate it. I recently had coffee-swilling out-of-town guests, and I had to scrounge around to find enough mugs, so I guess I’m succeeding in keeping the mug-rubble to a minimum. Ugh. Why would anyone buy a new mug??
I think if I lived near that mug exchange, I’d donate most of my mugs to it, and borrow a few mugs from it next time the coffee-swilling guests are in town. It’s near my kids’ dentist, so maybe I’ll make a drop off next time one of them has an appointment. Haha.
(When the coffee-swilling guests killed off my bag of coffee after the first breakfast, I ran to Fred Meyer and miraculously found some close out coffee beans that were half price. Hooray! )
I express a hatred for mugs, yet I’ll confess that I recently brought one home from a free pile. (It was a good one!)
There are so many things that should never be purchased new. Another example is knick-knacks. I don’t understand why people go into stores like Home Goods and pay for boring, mass produced crap to sit on shelves, when there are higher quality, interesting, and less expensive things available in thrift shops everywhere. I used to regard Goodwill as a knick-knack rental. I’d buy something cheap, put it on a shelf to jazz up a room, and re-donate when I got tired of it. Now, the prices at Goodwill are too high to make that a frugal practice.
Lamps are another one. There’s no need to ever purchase a new lamp.
Mugs are at least 99 cents at the Portland Goodwills, and they can get pretty pricey if it’s a Starbucks mug.
When my kids were little, we begged the grandparents not to gift us any stuffed animals! There are too many! The Goodwill where I lived at the time, would not accept stuffed animals, so it was hard to get rid of them.
If the stuffed animals are NEW, consider donating them to your local police, fire department or children's hospital. Kids that are in car accidents, houses burned, or hospitalized (especially long-term or during holidays) really benefit from the safety and comfort a stuffed animal provides them, making things less scary.
Yes. One of my kids was the recipient of a hospital bear during a health scare. (A tiny, joyless, part of me groaned at the addition of one more bear to the menagerie, but I got over it!)
Leading up to Christmas, a local community thrift store puts out bins of holiday-themed mugs with a large FREE sign.
Love the free mugs at Christmas. Every year I lead a Merry Mugs class at the local council on aging. Each person makes a Christmas mug centerpiece with real greenery and plants. The first year we got mugs at thrift store. Now, participants bring their mugs back every year to refill. Also, we’ve had plenty of mugs donated. Teachers usually have a lot to give us.
I had a MAJOR downsize, now own 2 pairs of sheets, 2 bath sheets , 2 bath towels, 2 hand towels, etc. All my larger scale catering and serving ware has gone to homes where it will be used. The ONE error I made was cutting down to 4 mugs! Easily fixed , though, bought 2 nice bone China ones at the thrift shop. Before you bow in admiration, I have to confess to far too many lovely wine glasses kept, but I do so love them, so every week I use a different one for water etc! Logically, I should then donate 5 of each set, but that’s a bridge too far, for now anyway!
Today's one frugal thing: I went out for a walk later than my usual time (from now till "fall back" day, it's too dark for me to go out when I'm used to doing it), and I found a trash pile with a bunch of toys. Most of these were plastic crap, but I brought home 42 very nice wooden alphabet/number blocks. Inspired by my visit with JASNA BFF to the American Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore last week, I may use these for an art project--and if not, I'll make sure they get donated.
I'll have more to say on the next FFT about my visit to Baltimore and my time at the JASNA Annual General Meeting. But for today, this is what I have.
@A. Marie - I still have my childhood wooden blocks - yes they are made of wood. Mixed emotions on their eventual re-home. Might find a family with a child who can benefit otherwise they'll be sold. Though selling might have to wait until the demented elected "officials" are part and parcel booted out of office.
Went for a nice walk with neighbor, we picked up a kitchen bag worth of cans.
The family crew of construction guys who built my new brighter patio cover (replaced the rotting 50 yr old one). One cousin lost weight and now has 6 pairs of levis that were my husbands. One cousin makes smoothies everyday, so he got a cooler full of berries, applesauce and peaches. The boy wonder who climbed the beams without a care or caution (youth!).
He got a new computer as the company where I bought my laptop, sent me the wrong one and told me to keep it?!? Crazy. I got a bid from 3 contractors, bought the product from the supplier and averaged out the labor and the cousins gave me a price. I know that I'm very fortunate. Let the atmospheric rivers come!
1. Friend's wedding weekend was a success! I did my own hair, makeup, and nails and looked fantastic.
2. I rented a dress since my body and style changes way more frequently than I am invited to a black-tie event. I was able to get a rehearsal dinner outfit and a gown for $50 to rent. I spent both evenings fending off compliments 🙂
3. Also did a friend's hair and it came out great. I love doing other peoples' hair and I was so happy she trusted me to do it!
4. We drove a different friend back to our home city today, saving her money and giving us a bit more time to hang out.
5. We did our part in our neighborly pet sitting arrangement, feeding and petting our upstairs neighbor's cat while they visited their nephews. This is a major joy of living in our building as they have watched our dummies for up to two weeks at a time.
It's weird how mugs and tumblers seem to breed once they get in the house. I am the only coffee and tea drinker in the house and somehow have nine mugs, not including two travel mugs my son uses. I already took a box of them to Goodwill, and yet there are more!
I've been having a great selling spell. Today a person bought a shop stool I was selling for my son and they sent me a picture of it in their workshop. I said how much joy it gave me to see things put into use again. The $100 worth of stuff I sold today (4 items) I set out on the porch and money was left in the mailbox. Pretty sweet.
1. I had $10 in Kohl's cash so I bought a Christmas present. It cost me nothing.
2. My son likes B&BW. They were having their fall sale with 75% off so I got him some soaps and a candle for Christmas.
3. On Saturday, we went out east to go apple picking and visit farms. My best friend and son came with us. We had a wonderful day. We bought apples, mums, broccoli, cauliflower, cookies, apple cider donuts, roasted corn and some jelly for my dad for Christmas. Do we see a theme.
4. On Sunday, I made a batch of egg bites, chicken noodle soup and a pot roast. We are set for several days of meals.
5. I had some leftover chicken pot pie and a piece of crumb cake at my clients house. I am happy to eat leftovers with her. Her family is not big on leftovers.
I’m back! Not sure why I was gone so long, but here I am.
1. One of my cats has kidney stones and crystals in her urine. She has to be on prescription food, but I can’t just give one cat the food and not the other because they eat each other’s food. So my chewy order has doubled. I had 37 cans of the other cat food left plus a 4 pound bag that was unopened that I’m going to donate to my local food pantry. This way, someone, or multiple people, won’t have to worry about buying cat food for a little bit.(Chewy was going to send me a return receipt to send it back to them, but I decided to just donate it instead.)
2. I was in Michigan for work, working on a reservation. I had a good time, we accomplished a lot, it didn’t cost me a dime (other than the few pieces of jewelry I bought on the reservation for my son and myself). And a visit to the dispensary Since it’s less expensive there than Massachusetts. I’m very fortunate that my company paid for 130 of us to travel so that we could give back.
3. When I came back, however, I found out my job is being eliminated, and I’ve been offered an early retirement package, which I am happily accepting. So on December 31, I will officially be retired. I will have employee rate healthcare through November 1 of next year and then pay the retirement rate (which is currently about $60 more/month than an employee pays.). I’ve already talked to my financial planner and I will be all set. And then starting next November, I could start collecting my husband’s Social Security. Retirement is a little earlier than I had thought was going to happen, but they’re paying me to retire and I’m not turning down that severance package.
4. A friend gifted me a Costco membership for my birthday. And I desperately needed new glasses so I got two pairs of glasses for less than one pair would’ve cost at the eye doctor and roughly the same price through zenni, but I found two styles that I really liked. (Regular transition and actual polarized sunglasses)
5. Of course I bought a Costco chicken, ate chicken for four days straight, made a bunch of broth, made a bunch of soup, and currently have five or six servings of soup, frozen in my deep freeze.
@Nancy from mass - based on your post, you are at FRA (full retirement age)? I do believe that is a factor when it comes to collecting on a deceased spouse's account. Please *please* verify before you sign up for SS on his account.
@Nancy from mass - you are not at FRA. Don't know if your late spouse was. Please, please, check into this as I suspect your claiming on his account will be as much as you think. Just looking out for you - far too many women think they can collect more from an ex than what they can. No offense to financial planners but they are not the final say-so on collecting SS.
My spouse is older than I and has already reached FRA. So if I kick the bucket, he can collect what is likely more than what he is collecting. Once I reach my FRA, it is even more. All I can say is he won't be relying on SS if he outlives me.
Hi there: Love the mug exchange. Sometimes it's nice to change things up. As far as the "war zone" that is Portland, we here in the Northeast are getting a kick out of that. LOVE the frogs! Especially love the "Benny Hill" soundtrack while ICE and Kristi Noem were atop a building waiting for the "violent Antifa crowd" to act up. You make America proud, Portland!
@Maura @Katy - pretty sad (but not surprised) that the idjit doesn't realize that Antifa is a mindset versus an official group. All I can say is these days is better half is truly appalled while I've been carping about what passes for the "r" party for over 20 years and am not surprised. Resist, survive, thrive remains my 365 years history of my family being in the US.
Just back from some traveling and it feels good to be home.....We had a great time but am sick of eating out.
1. we did pack a cooler for lunches and drinks so that was a help.
2. thawing beef roast from flash foods to make beef stew. Comfort foods sound really good as we came home to cool, breezy weather.
3. making sausage gravy to use up milk and will freeze some for individual meals.
4. potted up all spider plants and arow plants for use next year in the planters.
5. laundry continues to be done in cold water and because of the iffy weather racked in the house for drying.
Is this just not the epitome of Portland??
I love the mug exchange. Sometimes you just want something different. This is perfect, variety, sharing, and no cost.
We went for a hike on Saturday at a local state park. We each have the $10 for life senior pass. We are trying soak up as much warmth, sun, and fall beauty as possible before winter. Winter is a season we tolerate.
DH will be switching positions and offices at work next year. He is slowly cleaning out his large office and bringing home items no one wants. Most of them are gifts he received over the years but a few items are office supplies that are no longer wanted/used due to digital technology. I gave away several things last week.
That mug exchange is a great idea. I just came back from a visit with my sister and they have an entire large cabinet that is just mugs. It was fun to pick one out in the morning.
Sharing is caring!
I made a breakfast casserole out of my restaurant leftovers. Basically, I chopped up leftover omelets, potatoes and scrambles, added mushroom soup and topped it with cheese.
Had to renege on attending my grandson's volleyball game..I wasn't feeling well. This decision did save me some gas -- the game was an hour away, and in the evening to boot. So I avoided night driving.
I picked up free bread and bagels at the little free pantry.
Only in Oklahoma we went to a bull sale. We enjoyed free food and ice tea.
I made $43 at garage sale. Kirklands kcups went up $9 in a month. My last pay check was short 18 hrs. I’ll get it in this paycheck
I love that mug idea.
My one frugal thing: yesterday my mother in law treated me to lunch and we went to our library book sale where we got a paper bag full of books for $5
1) Continued to put money in the 529 my work offers a match for. While we have another 529 for each of our college students, this offers a full match for the first $1k you put in. I'm not one to pass up $1k for college students, particularly when now is that season of life where we can use it.
2) Met a friend for a free hike in the nature preserve that is walkable from my house.
3) Made a double batch of dinner, and invited DS19 (he's always invited of course) & his GF to join us.
4) I was able to move DS18's flight back to college after winter break out by a few days (they start back on a Thursday?), so I saved $100 as a credit for another flight.
5) We were out of canned tomatoes for our dinner recipe yesterday. I used a can of tomato paste, some additional water & chopped tomatoes.
Bonus: made two giant batches of homemade chicken broth, from the remains of our very inexpensive Costco rotisserie chicken.
Love the mug swap. Went to Grandson’s senior night for the band at the football game. He asked me to be part of the family walking him out at halftime. I actually thought about buying a T-shirt representing his school, but I thought that would be a waste of money to wear it once. I chose my outfit using red, black, and silver the school colors. Went to the farmers market on Saturday and supported local vendors and farmers. That evening, we had a chili fest in our neighborhood. Made gluten-free healthy chili and added two cans of pinto beans to make it stretch. Also made and brought to the chili fest gluten-free pumpkin muffins, the same dinner I would’ve made for our family. We had a great time visiting with neighbors and everybody else’s chili. Making 2 Halloween costumes from what we have at home. One son wanted an outfit that would have cost over $100. I agreed to a t-shirt with the character on it. He called his older brother and convinced him to buy him a wig and sweatshirt. Fortunately costumes will be used for 2 parties and Halloween. Changed dentists to one that took Medicare and exam and cleaning paid for. Also found out I didn’t need expensive dental work other dentist insisted that I did ( 3 crowns).
Love the design of the mug exchange library. Hopefully the Feds won't shoot it up or haul it away in a masked kidnapping.
1. Brought my husband to the airport and went to the nearby IKEA to take advantage of free coffee (in my large reusable canteen) with my free membership. Also had a kids' meal for $2.71. Thanks to Katy for inspiring me to become a member.
2. Using trial and error, I learned that using a flour sack towel for cleaning eyeglasses is very effective. Those little cloths we receive from the eye clinic don't always work well.
3. Went to a matinee movie with my sister. Saw Eleanor the Great which we liked a lot.
4. Bought a $2.49 pumpkin at the local hardware store. This is our sole holiday decoration and afterward we'll use it to make pumpkin bread.
5. Received several useful things from Buy Nothing: dog kennel for our car, cushion for dog kennel (separate transaction but perfect fit), drywall corner bead, landscape edging, face powder and brush. I learned later that the powder and brush are expensive Laura Geller products. Great, since I know very little about makeup.
MB, 100% on the glasses cleaning cloths. Never made any sense that manufacturers of glasses gave items to clean their products (including those little bottles of sprays) that didn't work! This is such a pet peeve of mine. I have rubbed off the expensive coatings while trying to remove streaks or smears. Now I use small household micro fiber cloths that are really soft and hottish water. : )
MB in MN, I'm with both you and AZ Lynn on lens cleaning cloths. I've found that disposable lens wipes (I buy the Bausch & Lomb brand) work a lot better. Not good that they're disposables, but a lot better that they actually work and are kind to my expensive lens coatings.
There was a church where I used to take Jazzercise. They did one better: the wall in their hallway was lined with those expandable cup holders. There were dozens upon dozens of coffee mugs there! All kinds of cups! Each parishioner was expected to bring his or her own (non-disposable) mug, and use that for coffee each week. They would wash their cups before rehanging them, and the sign said this saved X amount of waste every week. The church had coffee cups for visitors, and a little sign explaining what they were doing and why. It was genius!
An office where I worked was challenged by HQ to do an Earth Day project: each branch office was supposed to come up with ways to save/recycle/be good to the Earth. My friend Allison had the genius idea to go thrift some coffee cups (enough for every employee + guests), and buy dish soap and the necessary dishwashing equipment. We had a small office (think: Mary Tyler Moore Show) and took turns washing the dishes at close of business. Every worker had a day, once every 2 weeks, when they'd wash dishes; anyone staying past 5:30 or working on weekends washed their own. Everyone bought in to the idea, we all pitched in, and it worked great! Our branch won the Earth Day competition between offices! The big bosses liked Allison's idea so much that they ordered company coffee cups, great big ceramic ones with the corporate logo, and handed them out to every employee (and lots of customers). Our company wasn't very well-liked, however. So for years afterwards, I'd see those coffee cups at all the different thrift stores, LOL!
The Episcopal church I worked at years ago was the smallest one in the diocese and had an awesome green living program long before it became policy. It included the mug rack over the coffee bar in the fellowship hall.
My husbands office has real plates, cups, bowls, mugs and utensils in the kitchen. They also have a dishwasher and it gets run every day. The mugs are a mix of some with the company logo and some that people have donated to the cause.
Mugs are the worst gifts ever. I don’t drink coffee, so I rarely get a mug as a gift, but it still happens, and then I feel guilty when I donate it. I recently had coffee-swilling out-of-town guests, and I had to scrounge around to find enough mugs, so I guess I’m succeeding in keeping the mug-rubble to a minimum. Ugh. Why would anyone buy a new mug??
I think if I lived near that mug exchange, I’d donate most of my mugs to it, and borrow a few mugs from it next time the coffee-swilling guests are in town. It’s near my kids’ dentist, so maybe I’ll make a drop off next time one of them has an appointment. Haha.
(When the coffee-swilling guests killed off my bag of coffee after the first breakfast, I ran to Fred Meyer and miraculously found some close out coffee beans that were half price. Hooray! )
I express a hatred for mugs, yet I’ll confess that I recently brought one home from a free pile. (It was a good one!)
There are so many things that should never be purchased new. Another example is knick-knacks. I don’t understand why people go into stores like Home Goods and pay for boring, mass produced crap to sit on shelves, when there are higher quality, interesting, and less expensive things available in thrift shops everywhere. I used to regard Goodwill as a knick-knack rental. I’d buy something cheap, put it on a shelf to jazz up a room, and re-donate when I got tired of it. Now, the prices at Goodwill are too high to make that a frugal practice.
Lamps are another one. There’s no need to ever purchase a new lamp.
There's really no need to purchase stuffed animals, either.
Mugs at the thrift store near me are ten cents each. Not sure that even makes it worth giving them shelf spacew and putting them out for sale.
Mugs are at least 99 cents at the Portland Goodwills, and they can get pretty pricey if it’s a Starbucks mug.
When my kids were little, we begged the grandparents not to gift us any stuffed animals! There are too many! The Goodwill where I lived at the time, would not accept stuffed animals, so it was hard to get rid of them.
If the stuffed animals are NEW, consider donating them to your local police, fire department or children's hospital. Kids that are in car accidents, houses burned, or hospitalized (especially long-term or during holidays) really benefit from the safety and comfort a stuffed animal provides them, making things less scary.
Yes. One of my kids was the recipient of a hospital bear during a health scare. (A tiny, joyless, part of me groaned at the addition of one more bear to the menagerie, but I got over it!)
Leading up to Christmas, a local community thrift store puts out bins of holiday-themed mugs with a large FREE sign.
Love the free mugs at Christmas. Every year I lead a Merry Mugs class at the local council on aging. Each person makes a Christmas mug centerpiece with real greenery and plants. The first year we got mugs at thrift store. Now, participants bring their mugs back every year to refill. Also, we’ve had plenty of mugs donated. Teachers usually have a lot to give us.
That's great!
I had a MAJOR downsize, now own 2 pairs of sheets, 2 bath sheets , 2 bath towels, 2 hand towels, etc. All my larger scale catering and serving ware has gone to homes where it will be used. The ONE error I made was cutting down to 4 mugs! Easily fixed , though, bought 2 nice bone China ones at the thrift shop. Before you bow in admiration, I have to confess to far too many lovely wine glasses kept, but I do so love them, so every week I use a different one for water etc! Logically, I should then donate 5 of each set, but that’s a bridge too far, for now anyway!
Today's one frugal thing: I went out for a walk later than my usual time (from now till "fall back" day, it's too dark for me to go out when I'm used to doing it), and I found a trash pile with a bunch of toys. Most of these were plastic crap, but I brought home 42 very nice wooden alphabet/number blocks. Inspired by my visit with JASNA BFF to the American Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore last week, I may use these for an art project--and if not, I'll make sure they get donated.
I'll have more to say on the next FFT about my visit to Baltimore and my time at the JASNA Annual General Meeting. But for today, this is what I have.
@A. Marie - I still have my childhood wooden blocks - yes they are made of wood. Mixed emotions on their eventual re-home. Might find a family with a child who can benefit otherwise they'll be sold. Though selling might have to wait until the demented elected "officials" are part and parcel booted out of office.
Went for a nice walk with neighbor, we picked up a kitchen bag worth of cans.
The family crew of construction guys who built my new brighter patio cover (replaced the rotting 50 yr old one). One cousin lost weight and now has 6 pairs of levis that were my husbands. One cousin makes smoothies everyday, so he got a cooler full of berries, applesauce and peaches. The boy wonder who climbed the beams without a care or caution (youth!).
He got a new computer as the company where I bought my laptop, sent me the wrong one and told me to keep it?!? Crazy. I got a bid from 3 contractors, bought the product from the supplier and averaged out the labor and the cousins gave me a price. I know that I'm very fortunate. Let the atmospheric rivers come!
@Blue Gate Farmgirl - this is known as being in "the circle". People you can trust who don't keep track of "favors".
This is such a cute idea! I love it.
1. Friend's wedding weekend was a success! I did my own hair, makeup, and nails and looked fantastic.
2. I rented a dress since my body and style changes way more frequently than I am invited to a black-tie event. I was able to get a rehearsal dinner outfit and a gown for $50 to rent. I spent both evenings fending off compliments 🙂
3. Also did a friend's hair and it came out great. I love doing other peoples' hair and I was so happy she trusted me to do it!
4. We drove a different friend back to our home city today, saving her money and giving us a bit more time to hang out.
5. We did our part in our neighborly pet sitting arrangement, feeding and petting our upstairs neighbor's cat while they visited their nephews. This is a major joy of living in our building as they have watched our dummies for up to two weeks at a time.
It's weird how mugs and tumblers seem to breed once they get in the house. I am the only coffee and tea drinker in the house and somehow have nine mugs, not including two travel mugs my son uses. I already took a box of them to Goodwill, and yet there are more!
I think there's a MacArthur "genius" grant out there for whoever can figure out the mating habits of mugs and tumblers.
I've been having a great selling spell. Today a person bought a shop stool I was selling for my son and they sent me a picture of it in their workshop. I said how much joy it gave me to see things put into use again. The $100 worth of stuff I sold today (4 items) I set out on the porch and money was left in the mailbox. Pretty sweet.
1. I had $10 in Kohl's cash so I bought a Christmas present. It cost me nothing.
2. My son likes B&BW. They were having their fall sale with 75% off so I got him some soaps and a candle for Christmas.
3. On Saturday, we went out east to go apple picking and visit farms. My best friend and son came with us. We had a wonderful day. We bought apples, mums, broccoli, cauliflower, cookies, apple cider donuts, roasted corn and some jelly for my dad for Christmas. Do we see a theme.
4. On Sunday, I made a batch of egg bites, chicken noodle soup and a pot roast. We are set for several days of meals.
5. I had some leftover chicken pot pie and a piece of crumb cake at my clients house. I am happy to eat leftovers with her. Her family is not big on leftovers.
I’m back! Not sure why I was gone so long, but here I am.
1. One of my cats has kidney stones and crystals in her urine. She has to be on prescription food, but I can’t just give one cat the food and not the other because they eat each other’s food. So my chewy order has doubled. I had 37 cans of the other cat food left plus a 4 pound bag that was unopened that I’m going to donate to my local food pantry. This way, someone, or multiple people, won’t have to worry about buying cat food for a little bit.(Chewy was going to send me a return receipt to send it back to them, but I decided to just donate it instead.)
2. I was in Michigan for work, working on a reservation. I had a good time, we accomplished a lot, it didn’t cost me a dime (other than the few pieces of jewelry I bought on the reservation for my son and myself). And a visit to the dispensary Since it’s less expensive there than Massachusetts. I’m very fortunate that my company paid for 130 of us to travel so that we could give back.
3. When I came back, however, I found out my job is being eliminated, and I’ve been offered an early retirement package, which I am happily accepting. So on December 31, I will officially be retired. I will have employee rate healthcare through November 1 of next year and then pay the retirement rate (which is currently about $60 more/month than an employee pays.). I’ve already talked to my financial planner and I will be all set. And then starting next November, I could start collecting my husband’s Social Security. Retirement is a little earlier than I had thought was going to happen, but they’re paying me to retire and I’m not turning down that severance package.
4. A friend gifted me a Costco membership for my birthday. And I desperately needed new glasses so I got two pairs of glasses for less than one pair would’ve cost at the eye doctor and roughly the same price through zenni, but I found two styles that I really liked. (Regular transition and actual polarized sunglasses)
5. Of course I bought a Costco chicken, ate chicken for four days straight, made a bunch of broth, made a bunch of soup, and currently have five or six servings of soup, frozen in my deep freeze.
@Nancy from mass - based on your post, you are at FRA (full retirement age)? I do believe that is a factor when it comes to collecting on a deceased spouse's account. Please *please* verify before you sign up for SS on his account.
I will turn 60 next October. Which means I can collect his Social Security.
I’m just hoping it still exists. And I should be able to switch over to mine at a later date.
Wow! What a lot of changes!
So this is technically survivor's benefits, not spousal benefits for social security?
Yes.
@Nancy from mass - you are not at FRA. Don't know if your late spouse was. Please, please, check into this as I suspect your claiming on his account will be as much as you think. Just looking out for you - far too many women think they can collect more from an ex than what they can. No offense to financial planners but they are not the final say-so on collecting SS.
My spouse is older than I and has already reached FRA. So if I kick the bucket, he can collect what is likely more than what he is collecting. Once I reach my FRA, it is even more. All I can say is he won't be relying on SS if he outlives me.
Nancy, I'm glad you're back! And happy that your retirement situation is all set.
Love this!
I got my son’s Halloween costume within 24 hours of requesting it on Buy nothing!
Hi there: Love the mug exchange. Sometimes it's nice to change things up. As far as the "war zone" that is Portland, we here in the Northeast are getting a kick out of that. LOVE the frogs! Especially love the "Benny Hill" soundtrack while ICE and Kristi Noem were atop a building waiting for the "violent Antifa crowd" to act up. You make America proud, Portland!
@Maura @Katy - pretty sad (but not surprised) that the idjit doesn't realize that Antifa is a mindset versus an official group. All I can say is these days is better half is truly appalled while I've been carping about what passes for the "r" party for over 20 years and am not surprised. Resist, survive, thrive remains my 365 years history of my family being in the US.
Just back from some traveling and it feels good to be home.....We had a great time but am sick of eating out.
1. we did pack a cooler for lunches and drinks so that was a help.
2. thawing beef roast from flash foods to make beef stew. Comfort foods sound really good as we came home to cool, breezy weather.
3. making sausage gravy to use up milk and will freeze some for individual meals.
4. potted up all spider plants and arow plants for use next year in the planters.
5. laundry continues to be done in cold water and because of the iffy weather racked in the house for drying.