Five Frugal Things -- Day One in Vancouver
1) My husband and I took everyone's advice and explored North Vancouver's Lynn Canyon Park to traverse its famous suspension bridge. The drive there was chock-a-block, but the spectacular Lion's Gate bridge made up for it.
I had to snap a photo for my cousin "Lynn," because, c'mon . . . . they even spelled it correctly!
Be not fooled by the smile on my face, this narrow suspension bridge was supporting more humans than I felt comfortable with, especially as people walked both directions. It's hangs 50 meters above a ravine, which is the approximate height of a 15-story building.
It's in constant motion and terrifying.
I did some souvenir foraging to self regulate.
Luckily it had been a full nine days since a black bear was observed in the area.
This bridge was much more sturdy. Please enjoy that I'm sporting my recently embroidered baseball cap.
2) This was thirsty work, especially as there were 160 stairs from the canyon floor back up to the top! Luckily I'd filled my trusty reusable water bottle from the hotel gym's water dispenser. I'd spied it on my initial hotel exploration and it's my go to from here on out.
The hotel does provide free bottled water in the rooms, but I try to avoid single use plastics whenever possible.
We enjoyed our breakfast buffet apples in the car after our hike.
3) It's good that our breakfast and lunch leaned heavily into protein and fruit, as dinner was straight up junk food! Yes, we drove all the way up to Canada to dine on Costco Polish dogs and poutine!
We did choose plain seltzer instead of soda if that helps. Please enjoy that the cups say both "Go Canada" and "Allez Canada," which I didn't notice until I uploaded my photos.
I can report that the Costco poutine was straight up delicious! I've had poutine in the past and absolutely did not enjoy the "soggy French fry" mouth feel. However, these fries were extra crispy, which helped to retain their texture and the cheese curds melted really nicely. Much better, I get it now.
Our grand total was $10.61, which converts to $7.62 American dollars! Did I just win the frugal Olympics? This meal was especially inexpensive as we were initially in the neighborhood for Japanese udon noodles, but balked at paying $14 to park in a nearby structure.
5) We took another evening walk along the harbor, making sure to end the evening at the 2010 "Fire on Ice" Olympics cauldron/sculpture/thingy. I can imagine it was very dramatic with the flames.
We even made it all the way to the beginning of Wolk-Stanley Park, although we had to turn back as it was getting dark. Got our daily steps up to 14,872!
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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Ooh! AND you are wearing your embroidered jacket, too!
1. Washed clothes at night for less expensive energy cost
2. Washed clothes in our 40+ year old washing machine, which was a hand-me-over from my parents.
3. Hung clothes out to dry on a drying rack.
4. Partner and I are doing a mystery shop for dinner tonight.
5. I made a small batch of "golden gravy" (sauce made with yellow tomatoes) that we will not have a chance to eat before they go bad.
I absolutely brought my embroidered denim shirt!
Yellow tomatoes are my favorite.
I laughed out loud at your “self-regulate” comment. LOL! I could not do that suspension bridge, all a-wobbly and full of people! No ma’am! I always enjoy your daily posts, Katy! Stay safe up north!!
It was swaying, which didn't help!
You were very brave to go on that suspension bridge. For years I had a recurring dream where I was on a swaying suspension bridge with big gaps in the slats and the water below was whitecap turbulent. A dream analyst would have had fun with that.
I made a big pot of veggie soup that included using bags of frozen veggies that had been hiding in the back of the freezer. I tried edamame in the soup and loved it. I also added a random grain (farro) I need to use up.
I pressure washed the entire deck that has needed it for years. Every single board from top to bottom, plus the inside part of the fence I didn’t get to last year, and the part of the siding that gets the most shade thus has the most green on it. I still have some more to do but I need a break after those 7 hours in the heat. I know I saved hundreds because my mom had her house siding and drive done and it was $900.
Sewed a towel that had a large rip instead of demoting it to the rag shelf.
Yesterday I went to the bent ’n’ dent grocery store and spent $17 compared to the $60 I would have spent at WM. That includes our 9.75% tax on food. I mostly got canned basics (tomatoes, green peas, and a few cans of beans) plus a couple of fun things, like a vegan m&m-type candy that was $1, normally $5-6 and some vegan Kraft mac and cheese, priced at .59 each instead of the usual $3 or so a box. When I got to the register I was told they were now 3/$1 so yes we now have 6 boxes. Lol All dated this year and I can pretty much guarantee the white pasta and powdered cheese is going to be good for quite some time!)
Got a surprising 4,575 points for a receipt on Fetch and a planned $12.48 back on Ibotta for the exact pet items I needed to buy anyway.
Took our almost-15 year old dog for his first pup cup when we got ice cream at ColdStone. He got his free whipped cream and we got $3 off our Silk chocolate ice cream thanks to an offer on my rewards card.