Five Frugal Things -- Parallel Lives & Used Jock Straps
1) My husband and I are soon to venture up to Canada, so we took our Subaru to the mechanic for a trip check. We bought it used last summer and had yet to bring it to a professional. We felt it was prudent.
Yesterday was still "unhealthy" from the wildfires, so I wore a mask while walking to pick up the car.
I chose to walk by my favorite house in the neighborhood, which is a twin our our 1914 craftsman home! The owner happened to be gardening in front of his house, so we got to chatting and he offered me a tour.
We toured one another's homes in 2002 or so, but otherwise have been living our parallel but separate lives.
Our houses have undergone disparate changes through the past 112 years. The twin house owners have a kitchen design business and bought their house ten years before we did, which means "Brett and John" been able to indulge their remodeling hopes and dreams.
Think "We bought this Venetian glass chandelier in Paris and had it shipped home" instead of "I garbage picked this light fixture -- isn't it cool?" Both are wonderful and valid ways to decorate a home. Plus various additions and remodel jobs.
I was in a hurry to get to the mechanic before they closed, so I didn't have time to fully tour the house, but we exchanged numbers and are making plans to invite them over.
I feel like we're twins separated at birth.
2) The mechanic didn't find a single thing wrong with the car, so she didn't end up charging us a single penny! I'll probably chase this feeling the rest of my life.
Mind you, I brought the Prius in last week and spent more than $800, so I think she took that into account.
3) My daughter and her girlfriend came over for dinner last night, bringing along her cat "Tuna." (Short for "Petunia?" I'm unsure, as she's an unreliable narrator.) They're also off for a short vacation, which means we now have all three grand-kitties at the house for the week.
The two sibling kitties, (Mama's Little Meatball and Myr) are suspicious of Tuna, so my living room definitely has that classic Spiderman meme vibe. No one sits still long enough for a photo, but I'll keep trying.
I'm happy to serve as a cat sanctuary and am hoping they'll be fast friends by week's end. If anyone has any tips to acclimating two chill kitties, (one still a kitten) to a nervous suspicious cat -- I'm open to suggestions.
4) I served the exact same meal last night that we'd eaten the previous evening, when our youngest and their partner came to dinner. No reason to reinvent the wheel!
Black bean soup, red lentil soup and grilled cheese sandwiches made on homemade bread. Ice cream for dessert!
5) I sold the Goodwill bins vintage jock strap that I picked up in May. This is a Goodwill Gift Card Challenge sale, so it'll add another $19.55 donation to the Oregon Food Bank. (Oops, did I overcharge for shipping?) Either way, these are the list-it-and-forget-it sales that add up.
$18 might not seem like a worthy sale, but keep in mind that the Goodwill bins charges by the pound, and this jock strap weighs almost nothing. So . . . 20¢?
Would you have bought a used jock strap to resell? Click HERE to see the full listing.
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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I laughed out loud at your “garbage picked” light analogy. LOL! I have always found cats around other unknown cats to be tricky. Good luck! Stay safe with your air.
It's a specific actual example!
I think I might be too squeamish to even pick up a used jock strap. But I'm glad you can get past that because the food bank benefits.
My grandmother and her cousin were results of two brothers marrying two sisters who after marrying built twin houses side by side on identical size lots in 1914. I don't know if they were Craftsmen houses but I don't remember my grandmother ever saying they were. My grandmother and her cousin lived in those side by side twin houses as seniors after their parents died. If you visit the cemetery a few miles away, you can see the two couples' twin gravestones, side by side. The women's brother and his wife who lived a few houses down the street in life are buried a few graves down. Just thought I'd share our family's sweet story.
I'm happy your car was okay Katy, and you were not charged anything.
Christine, two of my aunts who were sisters married men who were cousins. Their children used to describe themselves as 'double first cousins."
You have the best blog titles.
You also are drenched in moxie for buying and then selling said vintage jock strap.
I have been calling and asking for discounted feed for all the extra animals. My local feed store sold me a pallet of my favorite dog food that will work for any size or age in a pinch.
A friend of a friend delivered a semi truck load of horsey hay. The FFA kids are distributing it. I love this team work!
I picked more gravensteins for apple sauce. The peels and cores go into vinegar jars to create the mother.
Tonight we are community feeding hamburgers, veg & dip, any salads that people drop off, slab blackberry pies and homemade whipped cream.
I made 4 gallons of sun tea and my friend just dropped off 2 gallons of lemonade.
For the kitties, the cheeks and head and behind the ears are scent/pheromone spots. Rub Mama's meatball first and then pet Tuna. Wash hands and do it in reverse. Give treats if they are in the same room, play with toys and praise them.
Re: jockstrap: OMG, no. Even I have my limits, and as my sainted mother would have said, "That just pulls my pucker strings."
And re: cats: What I used to do when introducing a new one to an old one was to open a can of tuna and pour the juice liberally over both. By the time they'd finished licking themselves and each other off, they'd at least be tolerating each other.
I've heard the tuna method as well, but I think I saw it on a TV show, so not certain about it! It makes sense, though.