Five Frugal Things -- Time to Try Some Chipotle Hacks
1) My friend Lise and I drove over to a wealthy Portland neighborhood that had just completed their neighborhood garage sale weekend. Aka -- garage sale after parties!
Unfortunately Portland rained off and on over the weekend and there were significantly fewer residents participating than in years past.
I did score a pastry brush than can go in the dishwasher, which is an improvement over the one I currently use, (also from a free box) which has an unfortunate wooden handle. C'mon people, it's the little things!
I also got a half dozen or so books for my little free library.
This free box had some wooden "Montasory" toys, which isn't exactly a rousing endorsement for the quality of this person's "Montessori" education.
I enjoy a big basket for storage, but this one crossed a line.
I didn't take anything from this shelf, although my friend took the mug to use for her volunteer events.
Here's everything that came home with me. Books for my library, a new looking insulated travel mug and the pastry brush. Nothing brag worthy, but it was still fun to hang out with my friend. Doing free stuff to get free stuff.
2) I picked up a two-pound package of Safeway strawberries for just $2.99 and have been working my way through them. Here they are being very aesthetic over my morning oatmeal.
Who says being frugal is without delicious joys?
3) Somebody put this puzzle in my little free library, which was kind of annoying as it obviously takes up a lot more space than a book. (Plus the box opened and the pieces went everywhere!) I have no interest in confirming that it contains all 300 pieces, but I found someone to take it through my Buy Nothing group.
Needless to say, I disclosed that I wasn't sure if it was complete.
4) My $15 Red Cross gift card hit my inbox this morning and it'll be fun to browse the gift card options. I chose an Ikea one from Fetch recently, so I might pick Chipotle and then use it to buy a few of their kid's meals which actually contain a fair amount of food for just $5.60. Might even test out one of the viral ordering hacks and report back.
You know . . . for blog research.
5) I started reading a library copy of City of Night Birds, by Juhea Kim. This novel about a Russian prima ballerina had me turning page after page until 1:00 A.M., and I'll likelydive back in as soon as I'm done writing this blog post.
Beautifully written, engaging main character and fantastic pacing. No wonder it's a Reese's Book Club pick! I've already put her other book on hold at the library.
Now your turn, what frugal things have you been up to?
My adult daughter always orders the kids' quesadilla meal with an extra tortilla and turns it into lunch for the next day too.
1. We are in the upper 90’s with heat index supposed to reach around 107 to 110 degrees. My air is off bc I just came home from work. I cannot guarantee the air will stay off but I have it off currently with fans going and windows raised.
2. I had cooked the last of the pink eyed peas with the last of the potatoes. It will be the main ingredient consumed during supper for a few days. I am still working my way through one of the most delicious watermelons I have ever eaten. I ate a peanut butter and honey sandwich for lunch. I had an egg with tomatoes bagel this morning for breakfast.
3. Gas in the more expensive rural counties, where I was working today, is $3.39 a gallon.
4. I am doing my own court filings at the moment to save money.
5. Later this evening, I will be watering my roses in my front yard, and enjoying my own house that I pay taxes on, enjoying the sunset views that I pay for also. I also am avoiding the news, and social media like the plague bc I have decided it is not good for my mental health. I can do what I can do and that is it.
I would like to hear how the Chipotle ordering goes!
1. I picked 5 lbs of kale this morning, tied up my cucumbers and winter squash with free cotton yarn that can be composted at the end of the season, and watered my whole yard with rainwater. A very satisfying free morning.
2. I rode my bike to library to pick up holds.
3. My friend texted that she was going to pick up more free wood chips and did I want some. Yes please. I set my 5 buckets on my driveway. She will pick them up, fill them, and return them. I'm still without a car. She will receive some kale as a thank you! Free mulch is a savings, and the free mulch helps prevent water loss by evaporation from the soil, so I save money on water too.
4. I sold some canning jars (given to me for free) on fb marketplace. Received a brand new Costco box of Oxiclean on Buy Nothing.
5. Tied up my grapevines, I have some lovely bunches of grapes coming along. I love that I can grow a lot of food on my very small urban lot. My grapevines are along the driveway, along with 3 tomato plants and a pomegranate tree. My small backyard has a rhubarb patch, kale patch, loofah, dry beans, tomatoes, green beans, cucumbers, and winter squash as well as 2 pluot trees, an apple tree, a lemon tree (with it's first lemon!), 2 fig trees and some more grapevines over the wooden swing. We bought the fruit trees, but the grapevines, rhubarb and all the seeds to start the veggies were free.
4.
Kara,
Your yard sounds amazing.... and delicious!
Your garden sounds super fulfilling and delicious, Kara!
What are you going to do with your ginormous kale harvest? Asking for a friend....
I've been putting wooden things into the dishwasher FOR YEARS. Cutting boards, wooden handled knives, EVERYTHING. Do they last as long as delicately hand washing? Nah. But they last A VERY LONG TIME. What am I? A Crawley living at Downton Abbey? Nah. No servants so into the dishwasher they go. After all, I can always thrift some more.
Those strawberries look so delish!
Showed my adult son that bed pillows can be laundered and fluffed back up. His were in a dire shape before getting a trip through the washer with some bleach.
Rather than firing up the iron in a heat wave to press out the wrinkled hems on some skirts, I dampened them with a wet washcloth, smoothed them by hand and hung them up to dry. Easy peasy.
Our local grocery store has unadvertised flash sales on some items Friday through Sunday, a time when I usually avoid shopping, but I started making an effort to walk through, list in hand, and look for the plain white signs taped to the shelves. Got toilet paper for a $2 discount doing that.
Am reading my way through the to-be-read books in my Barnes & Noble Nook account. All were purchased at a discount through using the wishlist feature of BookBub, which sends an alert when a book I am interested in has gone on sale.
It took several hours of driving around visiting three Boost Mobile stores, but I finally found a customer service person who told me the most economical way to replace my dying phone and keep our rock-bottom service plan. This resulted in a couple hundred bucks not spent needlessly.
I bought 2 used books off Ebay for a series I can't get at the library. I made sure to use the credit card that was giving 10% back at Ebay. I also was surprised to get 2,500 points through Fetch automatically for my eBay purchases.
Remembered to use my $5 reward at Lowe's before it expired. We have been buying a few bags of lava rocks at a time for replacement in our landscaping.
My husband has to have so many hours of live CE and he's managed to find some free ones, as well as one that's just $99 and will give him 12 hours of live credit while he enhances his medical Spanish.
Yesterday I made a point of using up some elderly foods: sweet potatoes into an African sweet potato stew served with quinoa from the freezer, bell peppers cut and frozen to put in future chili, chickpeas (that are so old I have to cook them twice as long as normal in the instant pot) into a chickpea salad.
I gave away a tote box full of plastic ware and storage containers.
I took a laundry tub full of jeans and pants to the Community Closet.
I gave away my ancient Cuisinart that still is a workhorse, to my nephew. He is an excellent cook.
I sold a small rototiller. Junk out, yeah!
Yesterday was our block and pool party for the whole neighborhood. It's half a block down my street so I walked.
Not only did I get a free BBQ brisket meal, and Dr Pepper soft drinks, but I got to go swimming in their pool and visit with friends and neighbors. Met some new friends, too, including 2 young reporters and their editor. Also ran in to our Democrat candidate running for the state legislature; I promptly volunteered my back fence, which overlooks a main thoroughfare, for her campaign sign! A big one, please.
I wore my T-shirt with the Thomas Jefferson quote about the greatest threat to democracy being a president who doesn't follow the constitution. I got one dirty look and dozens of good comments and/or thumbs ups. So I was in a blue oasis in this red state, and it felt great!
That was the only new thing I wore; my swimsuit probably dates back to the Clinton administration! My shorts and flip flops and beach towel were thrifted.
Stayed the whole time, thankful for the stout breeze and shade trees, and also the pool.
Came home and put some brisket scraps on Snuggles' dry dogfood. He ate it all in record time!