Five Frugal Things -- Blistex & Sasha Dolls
1. I gathered my trusty Starbucks "splash stick" and empty Blistex containers to consolidate everything into a singular tube. (Yes, "splash stick" the official name!) This is a once a year-ish chore and quite satisfying. I know they sell makeup spatulas for five bucks or so, but this freebie works perfectly.
2. I had a childhood friend over to hang out and served reheated chana masala for lunch. We drank our hot caffeinated beverages and caught up on one another's lives for a couple enjoyable hours. Aside from a bit off my grocery bill, this friend date cost zero-point-zero dollars.
3. I had fifteen minutes to kill waiting for my daughter, so I stopped into a nearby Goodwill and scored a vintage Sasha doll for just $4! I had this exact doll as a child, which is why it's on my radar and didn't think twice about bringing it to the register.
Yes, her hair's a bit mussed, but she's wearing her original clothing which is almost unheard of. I've thrifted a few Sasha dolls through the years, most memorably in 2007 or so when I came across a nest of five dolls at a Goodwill, which I subsequently flipped on eBay for over $2000! Sadly, that was the heyday of eBay when all auctions ended high, plus they're not as collectible as they used to be. I should still get $150 or so for her, which is not too shabby for a $4 investment.
I spent a bit of time last night watching Breaking Bad while gently combing out her hair. I then wet down her bangs and stretched a sock over her face. This is what I remember the manufacturer recommended to tame unruly bangs. I'll get her photographed later on today and she'll become part of my Goodwill Gift Card Challenge for the Oregon Food Bank.
4. I found a quarter in the street that must've rolled under someone's car as it was in a spot where a car had just parked. Happy to give it a home in my Found Change Challenge jar!
5. I gave my daughter twenty pounds of unopened cat litter for her sweet one-eyed kitten, as we no longer have need for it since Zelda passed away. We'll continue keep a backup litter box in the basement as Mama's Little Meatball does visit from time to time, but don't need to hold onto quite so much for that rare occurrence.
Happy to share.
Katy Wolk-Stanley
"Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without."
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I think I read something on the Frugal Girl's postings on smoothing out the doll's hair. It was a while ago, but she might still have the post.
I've read that soaking it in a bowl of water with conditioner is supposed to work wonders too!
Ahh the joys of deranging doll hair sounds like it'll be well worth the effort!
1. My husband and I ordered some clearance shirts about a week ago, we're slowly replacing and updating our wardrobes. His two fit well but only two out of three worked for me. I requested a refund and they said to go ahead and keep the shirt and would refund my $5.90! I've added it to my women's shelter donation pile. In the end it was a little under $60 for 4 nice new shirts plus free shipping and now a new shirt for someone in need and that feels pretty good to me!
2. I ordered some groceries from Fred Meyer (Kroger) for pick up tonight, my husband will grab it on his way home from work. They have some 'buy 5 or more, save $1 each' sales going right now and it also aligned with a sale on some dairy free coffee creamer!
3. I used a PayPal debit card and I'll get points for using the card on a grocery purchase, I should get about $3.25 worth of points. I save up my points throughout the month and then add it back to the card to stretch our grocery budget a little further.
4. Our shades are open to let in some nice winter light, keeping the lights off as much as possible since the sun has been hiding a lot and our solar panels haven't been getting as charged as we'd like. The kids also like the free entertainment of watching the neighborhood squirrels
5. Making a nice warm pot of black beans tonight in the instant pot that I'll blend down into 'refried' black beans. Served with a side of rice and a dairy free quesadilla, it makes a nice weekday dinner when we don't have much energy.
1. Our iron stopped working. My husband remembered that we still have an iron in the attic - it came with the house we are renting but when we moved in we put it up in the attic as we had our own (now broken) iron. That iron lasted for a good 15 years.
2. My son brought home a free bag of jumbo oats from his workplace. We have no use for jumbo oats but we do use oat flour all the time so I am slowly using the jumbo oats to grind them into flour.
3. I always open any egg cartons that I buy to check for broken eggs. Yesterday I avoided getting a carton with 2 cracked eggs by doing this.
4. We had vegetable soup for dinner and I made a bigger batch so I would have some for my lunch today. That's my limit though, soup 2x per week is enough, I'll get sick of it otherwise!
5. I requested a book through the library that was recommended in a free magazine.
I discovered a box of hot chocolate packets in the pantry. I’m enjoying having a sweet treat.
Leftover Italian foods tonight: a buffet of ravioli, spaghetti, lasagna. I’ll dig up some frozen veggies
I oiled all the wood furniture. Then I freshened up the marble countertops using lemon scented all purpose cleaner.
Changed linens.
Day 5 of arctic weather in Central Oklahoma. No work today again. Paycheck tomorrow and the next one will be thin
I had never heard of the Sasha dolls. My mom made almost all of my dolls. She offered to buy me a Cabbage Patch doll during the height of the CP craze, but as she phrased it like this "Do you really want one? I'll go try and get one and possibly get trampled, but I'll do it if you really want one." No, thank you, I'd rather not have the guilt of my mother getting squished on my already significant Baptist guilt. LOL
Plus, if you haven't already, I hope you share of a picture of your daughter's pirate kitty on your Instagram!
Winter storm update: The city just notified me, via email, that they think I have a water leak because they've noticed a constant flow of H2O on their water meter computer. Uh, no; in fact, it is deliberate: I have 7 faucets and 2 toilets inside my home, and I've streamed water from the former. That's what you're supposed to do during a hard freeze! Neighbors across the street have water flowing from their house to the driveway and a plumber and a restoration specialist out there (that's what the two work trucks say). Apparently they forgot to stream the water, or wrap their outside faucets, and now have broken pipes. OMG. My utility bills may be sky-high this month, but that's nothing compared to repairing burst pipes/water damage. Poor neighbors!
2. Did a load of laundry. I've been holding off using the washer and dryer due to not wanting to put any strain on the electric grid. When you're nearly out of socks and sweatshirts, it's time to wash. But I washed in cold so as to conserve natural gas (water heater).
3. My back feels a bit better, so I'm taking the Xmas tree box to the attic.
4. Putting the legs on an electric space heater I'd bought at Ollie's with my coupon. Thought it'd go great in the living room since it has faux fireplace logs, but it's so small, I'm not real sure. Will return it if it looks too wonky, or doesn't adequately heat the room.
5. Decided to start my Lenten project, which is also a good Earth Day thing: I am going to downsize: discard, donate, recycle or regift a minimum of 10 things per day for the 40 days of Lent. That will add up to at least 400 items. Hopefully, most will be kept out of the landfill and put to good use by others.
Alice,
Your story about the Cabbage Patch dolls reminds me of what someone told me at the time. Her friends would videotape worthwhile cartoons and children's programs and not let their small daughter watch network or cable TV except for maybe PBS. (This was in the era when people had VCRs and VHS tapes on their old-style TVs.) Therefore, their children did not see any toy commercials or violent shows or other programming that went against the family's values. Christmas day came, and the little girl went next door to see what Santa brought her best friend. Among the latter's "loot" was a Cabbage Patch doll. Their daughter came back home and told them, wrinkling up her nose in disgust, "you should see Susie's ugly-looking doll! It's terrible!" The parents said they felt vindicated, that their plan to limit exposure to commercial fare had been successful. (And, I might add, very frugal! The CP dolls cost a fortune, IIRC.)
That doll is so cute. I hope she finds a very good home.
Yesterday I finished sewing the slipcover for the daybed in our home office. This cost $68 in fabric from eBay and about 4 hours of my time. The thread and elastic were in my sewing stash.
Turning the daybed from soul-sucking dark gray to a print that livens up the room left my cat without the ragged quilt thrown over the original gray upholstery. So today I dug in the stash of fabric and came up with a table dust ruffle in a not terrible color to put around the end table and folded up an old fleece throw to make her a bed underneath. I had thought about buying a cat tent for her, but she's part Maine Coon and is a big cat, so most off the shelf stuff does not fit her. A free homemade version is okay!
Made a halfway homemade casserole for lunch by adding diced ham and steamed broccoli to box mac and cheese. Plused up the cheese sauce with onion, garlic, black pepper and a pinch of dry mustard. Yum!
Aside from fabric, the only optional thing I've bought this month was renewing my out-of-district library card.
I have a Sasha doll! I was a tomboy, was the only girl in my family and was given many dolls as gifts (don't they know but at all???) My dolls went on horse rides, fishing at the pond and built many hay forts. I lost a few barbies leaving them on the bumper of dad's pick up. I collected die cast tractors, farm animals and loved my aquarium. My poor mother who sewed beautiful clothes only dressed me in frilly dresses until about age 5. I would rather wear my brother's worn out toughskins.
My doll is on display in my sewing room. Currently she is quilting a mini log cabin quilt.
I get such a nostalgic rush when I see toys from my childhood.
1. I am sticking to my planned menu this week and I only shopped for the ingredients I needed to round out each meal. I will also cook up some taco meat for tomorrow as the that evening will be busy so future me will be grateful.
2. I dug to the back of my freezer to finish off 2 jimmy deans croissant rolls for breakfast before they get freezer burn.
3. Tonight I have an appointment to donate blood. I just received an email letting me know I will be getting a $25 gift card of my choice afterwards. I’ll be sure to have a free snack and drink there as well.
4. I am having the used car I bought throughly inspected today. It does cost $280 for this type of inspection but if anything bad is found I can return the car for a full refund and the dealership in Wisconsin. That’s what I drove out of state for it 🙂
5. I had a coupon for a free jacks pizza, 50% off a gallon of milk and $1.50 off a pound of ground beef. With those coupons and the sales items I bought, I am cooking 5 days of meals for 3 people for a total of $59.39.