Five Frugal Things -- Anne Frank & Free Blueberries
1. My friend Lise sent a text asking if I wanted to run a walking errand with her this afternoon. My answer, of course was "yes," as "running errands with a friend" is my first and second favorite way to socialize.
Her errand is not too far from a New Season's Market, so I grabbed a coupon off the front of the fridge for a free pint of blueberries with a $10 purchase. I'd already been thinking about doing a bangers and mash dinner, as we have potatoes that need to get used up. New Seasons makes their own sausages and they're worth paying up for.
2. I keep coming across this Anne Frank quote, which reminded me that's been at least twenty years since I read "The Diary of Anne Frank." I remedied this by going on the library website and putting the book on hold.
3. Today was our garbage and recycling pickup day, so I rolled our yard debris bin out from the backyard to the neighbor's house. We share the cost of pickup with our next door neighbors, which is a bit of extra effort as I have to walk an extra house width to put out our refuse. We still own a own yard debris bin leftover from when we had our own account, which is a bit of a pain to thump down the front steps, but the savings add up enough to soothe any annoyance with the process.
This saves both households $252 per year!
4. I was feeling really low energy yesterday and ended up doing pretty much nothing whatsoever. However, there isn't anything much more frugal than going nowhere and doing nothing. My husband made dinner and we both just took it easy.
5. I put a bunch of random books on hold at the library based on an Instagram stranger's recommendations. I filed this under "doing a favor for my future self."
I like to have huge pile of library books at all times.
Now your turn, what frugal things have you been up to?
Katy Wolk-Stanley
"Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without."
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1. Had some free entertainment yesterday by going to a neighboring community for an ICE Out demonstration. They needed the bodies and I had fun.
2. I stopped by a Bonne Volonté (Goodwill) on the way home and did not buy anything but had fun looking at all the weird, weird stuff that someone once bought and wished they hadn't.
3. Then my husband and I went for a walk in our local botanic garden. I plucked a couple of dried seedheads (the plant had a good 75, so my two were not a problem) and we'll see if we get any flowers next year.
4. Today I made two giant bread loaves. I'd gotten the flour on a pretty good sale, so the ingredients were about 1/2 of what *one* loaf of artisan bread would cost at our nearby grocery store. Add back 1/4 for electricity & water use, and my bread still cost way less than the grocery store bread.
5. Today I went back to the grocery store with a $10 off of $25 coupon and got a lot of organic chicken that I would not normally buy, but 40% is a whack of savings.
I stayed home and basically did nothing today, too. This winter is getting me down, though I have to admit that this week is much better than last week. I had big plans to get out and walk, but somehow it didn't happen.
It was laundry day. I did my sheets and towels and am enjoying the freshness.
I finished reading a library book and I am just ready to start another.
Three of today's meals were pulled from the freezer. No cooking, just warming.
I remembered to take out the garbage between laundry loads, thus saving myself an extra trip up and down three flights of stairs.
I gave myself a very basic pedicure so I won't wear holes in my socks.
Like I said, not much going on.
Doing errands with a friend is super special.
Started the day with technological catastrophe, causing me to be on constant phone calls for 4 hours. Granted, most of the time was listening to hold advertisements. Got a great deal of tax doc prep done, so that's positive.
Made a batch of lemon bars to add a little sunshine to the Monday of all Mondays. Can't wait for them to cool. Not frugal, just yummy.
Invited back door neighbor to tea on the back porch full of sunshine. She's on her way!
Started pea pod seeds to transplant by President's day.