Five Frugal Things -- Am I Lady Catherine DeBourgh?
1. My husband and I attended his friend's surprise birthday party at a local schwanky restaurant. (The one where we'd planned on on asking for a separate check.) It turned out to be a fully hosted party, which hadn't been clear in the invitation. Of course we couldn't clarify ahead of time, due to the surprise element!
It was a lovely evening and fun to indulge in delicious food while chatting with new friends. On a budget!
2. I'm continuing to watch the Great British Sewing Bee through the free ROKU channel and am not ashamed to admit that I'm close to finishing the third season!
Mind you, I don't sew, but am feeling like Pride and Prejudice's "Lady Catherine DeBourgh," who famously spoke on playing a instrument:
"If I had ever learnt, I should have been a great proficient."
So yes, that's me. I feel that I'd have a chance of winning The Sewing Bee, even though I don't sew.
3. I sold two items on eBay, one for the $100 Goodwill Gift Card Challenge and one from my stale inventory. Neither were impressive sales, but I'll take the money all day long!
I accepted a $16 offer on this thrifted rugby from the Goodwill bins.
Click HERE to see the listing.
I'd had this baby blanket listed since 2021, but at least I didn't have to accept an offer!
Click HERE to see the listing.
4. My husband gifted his friend a hand-me-down quality stethoscope that he's no longer able to use due to his hearing aids.
5. We packaged up the birthday gift in a used gift bag and both eBay sales went out in reused padded envelopes, turned inside out.
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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The baked spaghetti I made from leftover spaghetti turned out quite tasty. And most of it was eaten, so that made me happy.
I have received $18 in NBPR (No Beer Purchase Required) rebates - these are put out by alcohol companies for non-drink purchases ($1 food item, hot food item, frozen or fresh seafood, sunblock, etc) but do not require you to actually purchase alcoholic beverages, which is good as we do not drink. I'm assuming it is to offset their taxes, but I will take their free money.
I'm having my kids and my young college friend to dinner tonight. Everything is from our stash except for a package of mashed potatoes, which I picked up last night at Kroger when I grabbed my free jar of PB.
I'm doing a "cozy mystery bingo" on goodreads, which encourages me to read the ARCs I've received in this genre.
We are having a St. Paddy's Day potluck at work tomorrow, and I could not think of anything suitable to bring. I've decided to modify my Lemon Poke Cake, which uses lemon pudding and jello, to a Citrus Poke Cake, still using the lemon pudding, but lime jello, just for the green. I'm sure it will be well received, as cake is always a winner at our office.
1. It was 82 sunny degrees yesterday and is 52 gloomy, rainy, and windy degrees today. I managed to keep the heat off until just now and I caved bc this house, when I got home is decidedly cold!! So I guess keeping the heat off for several hours while at work is frugal.
2. I packed my lunch and breakfast of course. I have corned beef, cabbage, potatoes etc to eat tonight that ai made over the weekend.
3. Gas has shot up from $3.24 and $3.29 over the weekend ti $3.49 and $3.69 at the gas stations in my work town…. Sigh. I top off every day bc it goes up every day it seems.
4. I bought lettuce and spinach seeds I intend to plant as soon as the temp stabilizes. I intend to buy mustard seeds again this year. I plant in my front yard (no HOA) bc my back yard is shady and tends to go under water for real every time it rains hard. I suppose this falls under being frugal and using whatever land you can. Also the neighbors don’t complain. So I will have greens growing between my rose bushes again this year!!
5. I am truly trying to be careful with all my spending and I am attending church on my phone so I don’t use gas, not flushing if it is mellow, family cloth with the same, batch cooking, etc. we are required by our city to use garbage bags but I buy the cheapest ones I can find, throw scrapes out for the animals/birds, eat lots of cooked dried beans, etc.
1. Yogurt in the instant pot at this very moment.
2. Rode my bike to the independent bookstore and took pictures of books that I will look for at the library for my grandchildren. I do buy at this store from time to time, it is worth supporting.
3. Tea towels and tablecloth were washed and are currently hanging on the line.
4. Swiss chard is in the dehydrator.
5. I am halfway through sewing a blouse for myself. It is made from a $4 thrifted blouse. This is the most economical way to sew.
6. Asked for a refund for a deodorant that caused a terrible rash.
7. Sold an item on Facebook marketplace and have another one lined up for this afternoon. Sent 2 offers for items I have listed on eBay. Added the Tetris waffle maker to my eBay listings. It would be fun for somebody!
1. At the grocery store today, I found 3.25 lbs of bacon for $4.99. One of the packs was a bit oxidized, but otherwise looks/feels/smells fine. Rewrapped and popped it in the freezer. Also found a "dented" tomato on the clearance rack, so we made discounted BLTs (bread was free from farm share that partner gets free from work, and mayo was free from mystery shop).
2. Also at the grocery store, I found taco shells (.99) and baking soda (.69) on the clearance rack. Baking soda was on my list, so this was particularly a giddy find.
3. I found a grocery receipt in the parking lot - I was excited because it was FULL of name-brand items. Scanned through Fetch, and it was worth 1,000 points. I also had to make 2 purchases on eBay for work (so I'll be reimbursed), which earned me an additional 3,000 points on Fetch. Finally made it to 28,000 points, which I promptly cashed out.
4. Shared bananas, avocados, and ice cream (that we had to purchase for a mystery shop) with neighbors and friends in an effort to reduce food waste.
5. Making quiche (free eggs and milk, discounted sausage, leftover cream) for my dinners at the work apartment this week. I'm making 2 (dictated by the amount of cream) and I'll put one in the freezer.
Frugal fail: had my partner stop by the store to get the fish for last night's dinner party, and he got the more expensive salmon ($18.99 per pound) rather than the on-sale salmon ($13.49 per pound), which put my dinner party budget of $25 over by $6 dollars, which was disappointing.
1. My youngest helped me reassemble and nail up the aluminum fascia that blew off my shed. It was very windy here.
2. My youngest was visiting for the weekend. We brought lunch to my MIL's. A quiche my daughter made and soup from me.
3. I shared some Wheat Thins crackers with my mom. I buy the bulk size at Costco. She sent over some potato salad she made with potatoes that needed to be used up.
4. I cut up carrots and celery for snacks. I also cut up the rest along with a partial onion to put in the freezer for future soup.
5. I'm listening to a library audiobook on my phone.
Because the weather was correctly predicted to be awful today (severe thunderstorms in the night followed by snow), yesterday I made a big pot of white bean-sausage soup jazzed up with diced butternut squash, chopped frozen spinach and mushrooms. All ingredients from the freezer and pantry.
Made a pot of chili for my husband today, along with some corn muffins that we shared, and chocolate chip muffins for dessert. Left the oven door open after cooking to heat up the room.
Our 1994 Bose kitchen radio got zapped by power surge the other day, and DH diligently searched for a repair shop. He mailed it off today, so fingers crossed it can be fixed.
DH dug up a weedy section of our yard over the weekend and discovered loads of buried rocks, probably thrown in there as fill long ago. I used them to edge a flower bed so that the mulch does not wash out in the rain.
Groomed my super-fluffy big girl cat myself. She helps by being very good natured about her spa sessions.
I am behind. This is actually a comment for the last posting, the one that featured the tape repaired
diaper bucket. My laundry basket has no damage at all, but it does have a numbered sticker from when it traveled by ship for a military tour overseas. My son was born during that tour. He is 43. Laundry basket is still going strong.
The birthday party sounds very nice.
1. Past frugality brought us a free high chair/booster seat/youth chair which was used by our now 3 year old granddaughter (the self-declared big girl who would rather sit in a regular seat now with her chin almost in her plate lol). I got it back together from its booster seat incarnation and will put it out with a free sign. Frugal for someone else next.
2. We prepaid car registration for the 2011 car we have since donated. I found the form and process for requesting a refund of the fee and will send it off this week.
3. Finally made a vegetarian chili that we like. Mostly made it because we want to slot in more meatless dinners each week, but it also was less expensive.
1) I saw it’s supposed to be hot this week so I made some cold brew coffee yesterday. I always want iced coffee when it’s hot and I usually end up buying it from a coffee shop. Planning ahead paid off, it turned out well and I brought it to work in my travel mug.
2) I finished my book club book (which was from the library). One of the best books I’ve read in a long time! And a perfect choice for our book club for women’s history month and given what’s happening in Iran. It’s called The Lion Women of Tehran by Marjan Kamali. I highly recommend it!
3) I’m hosting book club on Friday. Everyone that attends usually brings a food to share or a drink so I try not to go overboard as host, providing tons of food and drink. I’m going to make kale bruschetta since I already have all the ingredients for it except bread. I have an abundance of sparkling water so I’ll share those, there’s usually more than enough wine provided by others (and I don’t drink it myself) so I don’t feel the need to provide it.
With that subject line, I'm delighted to be among the first to comment. I wrote a short story about Lady Catherine's pre-P&P life that's part of a collection titled "What Jane Austen Didn't Tell Us!: The Backstories of the Characters in Pride and Prejudice." (Only available as an ebook, alas.) And I based my Lady C on my maternal grandmother, who was similarly imperious and similarly musically untalented.
That said, here's my FFT, This and That Edition:
(1) The preliminary cleanout at NDN1's house continues. I emptied her refrigerator last week so that we could unplug it and cut down further on her National Grid bill. (I'd already turned the furnace down from her preferred 74 to 62, now that she's no longer living there.) And, believe me, the stuff at the back of the fridge would have made strong men faint. Fortunately, I'm a strong woman.
(2) NDN1's CF and her younger sister (who's on spring break this week from the university where she teaches) are coming over tomorrow to help with more cleanout and the search for more valuables--which keep turning up in the oddest places. (Remember that this house could probably qualify for an episode of Hoarders.) CF has been regularly running the loose coins we're finding through her credit union (which saves us a service charge) and then banking the money in NDN1's account.
(3) Here on the home front, I made banana bread yesterday, substituting maple syrup for brown sugar (since my brown sugar had turned into a brick). The result was excellent, and I may do it this way from now on--especially since I'm using up a quart of syrup I got Reduced for Quick Sale at Price Chopper a while back (the lid was damaged).
(4) While I had my flours and other dry ingredients out, I also made up a batch of whole wheat pancake mix.
(5) And I didn't start a war in Iran for reasons that change daily, and then whine because our alienated former allies won't help in a fight I shouldn't have picked in the first place.
I’m with you on the sewing thing. It’s so bad that I have a vast collection of sewing notions and a high-end sewing machine from the goodwill bins. One of these days, I’ll put it all to good use! Until then, I’ll use this great stuff for easy projects like repairing seams and hemming.
1. I went to an estate sale on the last day, and the chemicals were free, so I got two big boxes of “damp rid” and some all-purpose surface cleaner. Yes!
2. I also bought a nice set of Laura Ashley towels. They’re white, and will blend in nicely with the white towels I already own, and will be a good replacement for the towels that have gotten too tatty.
3. I’m making a big batch of cooked carrots because it’s been a long time since I’ve eaten cooked carrots, AND they are frugal!
4. I was going to drive a mile to run an errand, but it’s such a nice day that I walked instead! Free exercise plus no gas used!
5. My NYT subscription was going to go up in price, so I started the process of canceling, and they offered to stick with the lower price.