Five Frugal Things -- More Frugal Albuquerque Activities
1. My husband and I had seven hours to kill between checking out of our hotel and our flight departure, but that didn't mean we wasted the last day of our vacation. Instead we took a picnic lunch to the University of New Mexico campus and then toured their free Maxwell Museum of Anthropology. I took enough anthropology classes in college to almost add it as a minor to my degree, so I've always loved this museum. However, it was a first visit for my husband.
I've always loved pondering how humans lived their daily lives throughout the ages, especially when you get to see things like this circa 1100 A.D. "Child's Sandal" that's not dissimilar to what's available in modern times.
You see it too, right?
This artistry of this pottery vessel is such a modern aesthetic, as the maker had their own style and I'd love to have met them! Love this little museum, I highly recommend it.
2. Our picnic, which we enjoyed in a shady spot next to UNM's "duck pond," featured free apples from the hotel lobby and perhaps an item or two from the breakfast buffet. You wouldn't think so to look at it, but this was by far the best apple I've had in years! It was perfectly crisp and sweet, my only complaint is that it wasn't bigger.
3. I hadn't done more than a few minutes of thrifting on this trip and wanted to sneak in a trip to a local Goodwill. You know . . . for the blog. I certainly didn't want to buy anything that would take up much room in my suitcase, so I chose to just peruse the books for my next read. I'd already finished one of my two library books and chose not to continue with the George Orwell book and there was a description of a enjoyable rape, which meant I stopped reading it.
We chose the Goodwill on Menaul Blvd. and I quickly grabbed the above book as it was the 50%-off color tag, which took the price down to $1.50.
What am I, a Rockefeller?!
4. We had an hour or so to kill at the airport, but our gate had tables, so I pulled out a deck of cards to play a few hands of gin rummy. I got this free deck from my web hosting company and I love it as it comes in a handy case -- perfect for travel. There's hardly anything as frugal as the humble deck of cards!
My husband beat me handily.
5. We didn't get home from the airport until after 9 P.M. and were unsurprisingly ravenous. Luckily I'd anticipated this issue and "past Katy" had stashed some frozen pre-cooked rice in the freezer, as well as a bag of Trader Joe's frozen chicken potstickers. It took maybe ten minutes to assemble the meal, during which time I was able to throw our dirty laundry into the wash.
I highly recommend planning an easy after-the-airport meal for all future travel. This falls under the category of "doing a favor for your future self."
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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Glad you shared your enjoyable trip! And we always carry a deck of cards as well to take up some time. And I have started having something quick for when we get home from a trip. Unfortunately for us, the bigger airport is an hour and a half away, so we are hungry when we get home!
I'm eternally grateful that you're Rockefeller. You'd have to be a morally/ ethically/ spiritually bereft person to harm/ destroy so many small/ medium/ large businesses, their employees, and so many of their family members. The irony of him being touted as philanthroper isn't lost on anyone. Who'll be next? Trump? Or Hillary?
Thanks for the fun photos and travel log!
1. Brought home homemade cookies from my volunteer gig. My husband always enjoys these and it saves me some baking.
2. Picked up loss leaders at Safeway. No extra purchases.
3. Used a gift card to purchase a small and useful gift for my grandchildren for Valentines Day. It didn't arrive when needed and I had to purchase the same somewhere else. Then the item showed up. I initiated a return and was given one and told the keep the item. I went on the website where I'd purchased the replacement item and was able to cancel the order. So I ended up with an item that didn't cost any money, though I had to put in some time, so it wasn't really free.
4. I recently read the book Radical Homemakers by Shannon Hayes. It has a lot of non-consumer themes. It was borrowed from the library, of course.
5. North Face takes back used items and gives a store credit. I just had 2 items accepted (older items from a free pile that I listed to sell and they never sold) and received a $20 credit. That's pretty sweet.
That Apple looks like a cosmic crisp. I grow honeycrisp, also a good crunchy, sweet apple.
In my go bag...book, hand quilting project, tiny journal for notes & an antique tiny deck of cards from PanAm! No way!
I love to visit university museums and art galleries.
I too like to visit GW while on vaca to find a cute t shirt.
Pouring over seed catalogs to go in on an order with a couple of neighbors. We share plants, too.
Have a huge agricultural fire pile and I offered it to the volunteer fire dept to practice on and to understand what fire can do in windy conditions. Yay for safety.
Friend was gifted a coffee of the month gift and she only likes one brand, roast flavor. She brought me 2 lbs of coffee, I gave her a bottle of wine I was gifted for hosting the Superbowl party.
Welcome home!
I was going to ask you what you did about eBay while you were gone, but I looked it up myself and learned about "Time Away." Soon I'll be out of town for about a week, so I was glad to find this option, even though I haven't had a nibble yet.
I enjoyed your trip very much!
I took another outdoor walk this morning. It was quite a bit colder than yesterday but I survived. I walked past the little free pantry and took a can of peaches. I had half of it for lunch along with a grilled cheese sandwich.
I found a nice pair of gloves. I saw them yesterday, but left them in place. Today they were still there, so I decided to take them before they were ruined by rain or snow. I was going to put them in my Goodwill bag, but decided to keep them instead. They fit perfectly and will look nice with my coat. And they are warm. I'm sorry for the person who lost them!
I also found five receipts. They were all in a state that really tests what Fetch will accept, but three of them were accepted. Yay! And one was worth 400 points.
I'm reading "The Impossible Fortune," a Thursday Murder Club Mystery. It's a library book. Even though it is a new book, just added to the collection in November, it already needs some mending. I'll fix it before I return it. It's an easy fix that will be invisible. I learned how to mend books in one of my early library jobs, so I always try to return a book in better shape than I got it in. It's a lost art, I think. Books are so flimsy now, libraries don't bother anymore.
That looks like a perfect pre-flight morning. I like to be a thrift shop tourist as well.
1. I bought a two pound box of mushrooms for $1.50, so now it’s all about mushrooms at my house. We had mushroom omelettes for breakfast, and there will be mushroom casserole for dinner.
2. I went for a walk this morning and came home with 6 redeemable cans.
3. Tillamook ice cream is on a “buy one get one free” special at Fred Meyer, so now our freezer is stocked up with ice cream!
4. I made up my bed with the new-to-me fitted sheet from the bins. This makes me feel especially frugal! (I had to wash it twice, with bleach, to get rid of the “Goodwill febreze” smell. Ugh. What is that stuff??)
5. I don’t need to worry about losing my job based on what people read in the Epstein files.