Five Frugal Things -- A Happy Basement Drain!
1. The drain for our basement washing machine was revoltingly bubbling up and my husband was able to remedy the situation by renting a heavy duty drain snake. Unfortunately it was Easter, which meant Home Depot was the only tool rental option, but it's now taken care of. Without a shred of concrete evidence, I've decided that we saved a thousand dollars.
2. My Trader Joe's is finally back open after their asbestos remediation, so I picked up some produce after visiting with my mother. Specifically bananas, romaine hearts, cabbage and tangerines. Somehow I steered clear of tasty impulse purchases, which'll be annoying once the 9 P.M. munchies enter the chat.
3. The weather in Portland has transitioned to warm and sunny, so I brought out our outdoor furniture cushions, every single one of which is curb picked.
What am I, a Rockefeller?!
4. My apartment above my daughter's flooded, so her kitten "Tuna" is spending a few days with grandma and grandpa. She was initially skittish, but is finally warming up to us.
Luckily I curb picked these plastic IKEA bins last summer and was able to transform one into a makeshift litter box after receiving a panicked 3:30 A.M. phone call to rescue the cat.
5. We've been drinking homemade iced coffees using the leftover coffeepot coffee that inevitably happens when so many adults are sharing one house.
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. Yesterday we fed 6 people with the 11 pound ham I purchased for .99 lb and still had enough to send leftovers home with 2 guests and we're having ham and leftover veggies for dinner tonight. Plus DH had a big slab of ham on bread for lunch today.
2. I optioned to take the Easter lily home that I had bought for the altar at church in memory of my son Nick. This fall, I will plant it in the yard.
3. I used the plastic netting from a turkey we had awhile back to scrub the pans from Easter dinner.
4. Carefully put away my Easter decorations to use next year.
5. Cringing in embarrassment after listening to the Orange Man's Easter message. Shaking head in disbelief here.
Great idea for a makeshift box! My cat also only has one eye...
1. Easter ham special at Winco, 88 cents a pound. That was a great price, but even better was finding an almost 12 pound one for $6.79!! We had plenty left over to share, plus the wonderful hambone for soup or beans.
2. Easter dinner was at my house and of course I served the baked ham, plus a large green salad, as well as 4 vegetables - steamed broccoli, roasted carrots, parsleyed red potatoes, and zucchini.
3. Dessert was at my daughter's house. We had strawberry shortcake with homemade bisquits and whipped cream and of course, the strawberries were on sale. We were particularly delighted with the strawberries because they came from Santa Maria, California where our family lived for many years. We are prejudiced, but we think they grow the best strawberries.
4. Recently I stopped by a small thrift store after I finished a nearby appointment and found some cute summer tops and two pair of yoga pants for the gym. Best of all, they were having their monthly half off sale.
5. We made a trip out of town and made sure to bring along drinks for the car, sandwiches, and snacks. All of which were greatly appreciated on our trip and a big savings over stopping for fast food.
1. My coworkers/friends exchanged Easter goodies and I got a half dozen plastic eggs with small rubber balls and candy inside. I later took the eggs and the little balls over to my neighbors, the ones who hosted the block party/egg hunt. They hide 1,000 eggs, most of them plastic, each year and request kids return the plastic eggs and just keep the contents. Since I have no use for my eggs or toys, and knowing that some eggs probably weren't returned, I was only too happy to pass them along...and "contribute to the cause."
2. Walking down to the neighbors' house and back, I picked up a few sticks for my pal's outdoor fire pit. The limbs had blown down from someone's tree during our recent rain storm. Better in his fire pit than in the landfill!
3. Used some scrap lumber and bolts from the junk drawer as materials for the handyman to repair the backyard gate.
4. Finished the carton of Starbucks coffee that I took home from the block party (see #1) over a week ago. Recycled the cardboard part in the city curbside recycling dumpster. Saved the plastic bag to turn in at H-E-B's plastic recycling bin once the hard plastic spout is cut off. Also saved plastic candy bags for same.
5. Turned off AC during the weekend thanx to a cold front blowing through.
A bookworm I am not. Not that I can't read, I can. I find "pleasure reading" to be very boring. I know...y'all think I'm weird, but somebody has to be the weirdo.
My sister just finished a book written by Mary Trump, Ph.D. (Psychologist) The orange one's niece...and she can't stand him either. The book was released in 2020, titled: TOO MUCH AND NEVER ENOUGH: HOW MY FAMILY CREATED THE WORLD'S MOST DANGEROUS MAN. Our aunt wanted to read it, so we took it with us and dropped it off at my aunt's house on the way home from visiting my sister today. I did read the back of the dust cover, and may just go ahead and read the book when my aunt is finished. For those of you who are book junkies, you may be interested in reading it, if you haven't already.
That was my "frugal" for today: being a carrier pigeon of a book.
My 20 y.o. Boo Kitteh crossed the Rainbow Bridge today. The very kind vet staff let me cry & tell stories/show pictures of him for almost an hour afterwards. They work with a program that helps low income pet owners, so I will be donating his leftover canned food/dishes/toys to them.
My frugal "win" for the day? I managed to plan the route home from the vet so I could pick up my pharmacy & grocery orders on the way. And I didn't stop for ice cream or coffee because I knew I had both at home.
Sending hugs for the loss of your sweet kitty. It's amazing how something so small can leave such a big hole when they go.
1. My sister sent me home with the ham bone on Easter.
2.My neighbor gave me their 2 ham bones. They will get a container of soup next time I make some.
3.I cut a quart size bag of meat off the bones. There is still lots of meat for when I use them in soup.
4.I made omelets with ham for dinner. The rest of the ham went into the freezer for future omelets.
5. I scanned a bunch of receipts into Fetch, Ibotta and Receipt Hog.
6. I ate breakfast at home, I brought lunch to work. I stopped for a walk at a local park on the way home from work while it was still light out.
Glad you could take care of the drain basement without pros. I have several plumbers in the family and the one here today said Holiday weekend $300, weekend $200, use of his power snake $300 + his hourly rate minimum 2 hrs.
Scrubbed and touched up outdoor furniture, took cushions out of storage, set up my solar fence lights.
Planted a bed of daylight style zinnias. Pulled so.many.weeds.
I was setting a goal of 5 gal bucket per day and now I'm pulling 4 buckets a day!
Made my mom her favorite oatmeal cookies, cut the sugar by half, added some chocolate chips given to me by a friend who was squeamish about them being ruined by bloom. Shhhh, it's our secret.
Washed the exterior of one side of the house, now I have 2 sides left. I'm a month ahead of schedule.
Laundered bed linens and hung them outside.
Put yarns and fabric bits leftover from my quilting on the platform feeder, for the birds to use in their nests. The cute ambitious house wren used turquoise yarn, purple yarn and hot pink fabric ( it was hanging out). After he finished, he started singing, trying to lure this season's nest mate.