Five Frugal Things -- Sunflowers & Star Trek
1) My sister and I were still in the mood to get out of town, so we drove out to Sauvie Island, which sits just north of Portland and is one of the largest river islands in the United States. Sauvie Island is known for U-pick farms and is a popular destination for Portlanders looking to visit farms, bird watch, cycle or just lounge on the beach.
We chose Topaz Farm, as I'd seen their sunflower "maze" online and thought it looked like a fun destination. It was free to enter the maze, but would've been $1/stem had we decided to cut flowers. We split an $11 caprese sandwich, made with their freshly grown tomatoes.
They had animal pens with goats, sheep and donkeys; freshly grown food to purchase and lots of good props for photo ops!
Like so:
We then drove down the road to The Pumpkin Patch farm, where we saw more animals, (rabbits, turkeys, ducks, goats and a miniature horse) and walked over to see their brahman cows.
I wish we'd gone earlier in the day to spend more time exploring the island, but we'll just have to save that adventure for a future visit.
Such a fun day for a couple of city gals!
2) I bought fresh produce from the Pumpkin Patch store including apples, corn, beets and fresh lettuce. It's been a hot minute since I've enjoyed a salad in the United States and I look forward to eating lettuce that doesn't put me at risk for weeks of diarrhea!
3) We had the kids and their partners over for "family dinner night," which as always was an enjoyable evening. The theme was "hotel breakfast buffet" and I served cheesy scrambled eggs, hash browns, cantaloupe, croissants, bacon and orange juice. My sister refilled some of the empty mini-jam jars from Canada and everything was set out buffet style.
They're just so cute!
We played a few rounds of a recently thrifted Telestrations game ($2.50 -- it was the half-off tag color!) and served ice cream cones.
4) We added a 7-day free trial of Paramount+ onto my sister's Amazon Prime account to watch the fourth season of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. We'd been waiting to start a trial until most of the episodes were released.
Initially I was going to bite the bullet and pay for a 30-day subscription, but this is better as we can motor our way through the season while she's still here in town. I'd prefer not to give CBS/Paramount a single penny as their CEO actively promotes the current fascist regime.
How we spend our money matters.
5) My husband was able to resurrect our youngest's college-era printer by following the directions from a YouTube video. This is HUGE for me, as I've been scrambling to print eBay labels and going in person to the post office to have them scan a QR code. Now I can go back to my norm of using the USPS.com website to arrange pickups.
Ahh . . . .
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 forgot to mention that I found a discarded water bottle on the ground in the sunflower maze. Of course I brought it home and will return it for to 10¢ deposit!
I went on a girls’ trip with my mom and one of my sisters to Louisville, KY. My mom insisted on paying for the air bnb and some of the meals so my part wasn't too much. I paid for trolley and boat ride tickets and parking for both of those, and bought Indian food for myself and my sister one evening. I would have paid for 100% of the trip just to make memories with my family.
Our hybrid Rav4 get good gas mileage and the first 47 miles runs on electric. I took along our charging cable and plugged into the garage of the air bnb every evening, so all our local travel was free to us.
When we left for home, we went by Cinnaholic to get some goodies for the family members that had to stay at home. They had day old cinnamon rolls that were still delicious and we got those for 1/2 price, and then they gave us 2 more for free.
I got signed up for the 3 State Farm dividends being issued to go into Venmo. We pay our trash pickup that way, and this will pay for about 6 months of service.
Got a $20 multi-pet discount for taking two cats in together for their yearly checkup and shots. We are so lucky to have a rural vet that charges very decent prices. It’s $90 for a thorough check-up, dewormer, FVRCP and rabies shots per cat.
My vet gives a multi-cat discount as does my siblings (even though she brings one in that gets an exam/vaccines then drives said cat home to bring the other one in). Sibling's vet is a rural vet (does livestock as well) but mine isn't. But I've been a client of that vet clinic for 40 years (prior vet and now this vet). I purchase all meds from this clinic - not looking to save a buck or three. If my financial circumstances changed, I know my my vet would work with me to cover annual visits/any meds. You can't put a price on that.
You take both in by yourself or have help?
Looks like you and your sister are having lots of good times. You know all the most amazing places!! Enjoy all the pictures. Faye AL/FL
A caprese sandwich sounds delicious.
It’s that time of year when anyone who invites me to a potluck will get a caprese salad from me. We are eating caprese salad every day. Also BLT sandwiches.
I’m continuing to work my way through the mountains of produce the farm is yielding. It feels good to see the cans lined up and full of things we will eat in the less abundant seasons.
I got some good clearance items yesterday. Half price pork and sunscreen. The sunscreen had a manufacturer’s coupon for an extra $2 off.
A cute vintage tablecloth I got at the free estate sale fell apart after an oxyclean soak. The design around the edges is still intact, so I might fashion it into a window valance. If I’m going to live in the country, I might as well go all the way with it!
We are huge fans of Telestrations! Hope you enjoyed it.
Sauvie Island,discussed in the Kyron Horman disappearance.
So sad, his poor family never knowing what happened to him.
What a fun day out and congratulations on resurrecting the printer. We've been eating produce exclusively from our garden so I have no worries about food safety. It is very nice.
I'm now the closest caregiver to my mother in assisted living and after spending a grueling 4 hours in pulmonology with her yesterday, I've realized I need an emergency supply of snacks, water and an activity in my car. This was an emergency appointment and I was in such a hurry to get out the door I realized I didn't have my wallet or phone. It was a bad day.
I'm switching out of gmail because I object to all of my email being read by a company. I've researched and found a good company, it will cost $4 a month, but I'll pay that for privacy. I'm slowly changing my email on everything, a few emails a day.
I'm not sure there's anything frugal going on. Too many trips to assisted living/hospital, too much time spent emailing/scheduling/arranging, and not enough time for anything else. Also my brain is fried.
Kara,
I'm sorry that you and your mom had such a challenging day. Sending get well wishes to her! Praying that all is well by now.
Nice (safe and frugal) you have your own produce to eat. There is a grower in our area who has a very safe method of irrigating his crops so I make sure to always buy his lettuce. No issues so far. But free from the garden like your produce is much better!
Wonderful pictures and it looks like a great time was had by all.
I just finished cleaning my chest freezer, had to repair the lid .Used liquid nails and it worked great. I have it all sorted and put back together. I cleaned the upright freezer yesterday...trying to get things done. I really needed to find out exactly what I have in there.
We are going into "second summer" this weekend, back into the 90's. Ucky.
Gardens are winding down, will be harvesting grapes soon. Will be making jelly and juice.
JC
Glad you enjoyed a country day with your sister!
Today the window washers arrived bright and early, and now my living room windows look like you could stick your arm right through! My other windows are in the back of the building, and they will do those tomorrow.
The nurse practitioner from my health insurance provider came today for the house call which will earn me a $75 Walmart healthy living card. She spent about an hour with me going over my history and taking my vitals. She was lots of fun, and I enjoyed the visit.
I called my son because I couldn't find the app we use for our family football pool. I was sure I hadn't installed it correctly. It turned out I just couldn't remember the name of it. It was right there. Having him on the phone gave me the opportunity to ask about his job search. He is still waiting for a job offer or a ding from his best opportunity yet.
If this doesn't pan out he will continue at the casino in a new role as a blackjack dealer. Not what he ever thought he would be doing! But you do what you gotta do.
I know someone whose spouse was a dealer at a casino. They make decent money with the tips they receive and the perks were great. One thing is they got a free meal each day they worked.
That's good to know!
Again, I am thoroughly enjoying your travels and trips, as I sit here, holed up in my house bc I'm staying inside during our heat wave. It's 106 degrees right now, shortly after 5 p.m.
1. Bought a large box of those little bitty square tins of wet dog food, which I'm mixing up in Snuggles' dry kibbles so he'll eat supper. Got the box on discount. But instead of turning up his nose at his supper, he is scarfing it down. So the extra expense is worth it. (Boy, does he have me well trained! LOL!)
2. My AC is set at 77 degrees but it feels cool to me, thanks to the ceiling fan. Setting it any cooler will make the electric bill be as high as the temperature, or maybe even worse.
3. Instead of buying snacks at work, I've been brown bagging it and bringing in my own eats and drinks for break time.
4. My lunch today (my day off) was a small container of turkey and dressing that you put in the microwave for 60 seconds, let sit another minute, and then enjoy. It set me back all of $2.80. Pretty cheap for a hot lunch....it isn't easy to cook for one.
5. Doing the laundry late at night when electric rates are lower and hanging things up on drying racks in the garage. Not running the electric dryer; the hot air is free, courtesy of Mother Nature. By morning everything is super dry!
Today I woke up old and sore after yesterday's marathon of "I do need whiskers for that kind of help on the farm". Even a fun yoga session could not, would not ease the knots.
Neighbor offered me her infrared sauna, hot tub and cold plunge IF I helped exercise her horses. Yes please.
I finished planting the fall garden beds.
Have batch of spicy plum bbq sauce cooking in the insta-pot. Will freeze for future use.
Dehydrating hot peppers to infuse honey for holiday gift baskets.
Loved your Sauvies Island tour. One of my favorite places.
"I do need whiskers for that kind of help on the farm". OMG I have a few of those chores on my honey-do list - and there ain't no honey here to DO those things. I gotta call up Wonder James, who has been absent most of August (and much missed).
There is more here than one woman can possibly do. And some of it requires muscles that I haven't yet managed to build, even though I am actively and persistently lifting heavy weights with a trainer at the gym. A hormone I wish I had just a teeny bit more of is Testosterone!
Then you might get your own whiskers!
I had a frugal day or two buying groceries.
1. I got a 12 pack of bottled Pure Leaf green tea for $2.00. I also got a 12 pack of sparkling water that was cranberry flavored for 50 cents at the Habitat store. Not sure why they were so cheap. I have sampled the green tea & it's good. I like to take these in my packed lunch for work.
2. I got red seedless grapes for 99 cents a lb. I also snagged a 2 lb pot roast (marked down) for $9.50. Once pot roast was an economy meal. Now it is a luxury meal.
3. I made smothered pork chops w/ some small potatoes that were starting to sprout, cream of mushroom soup and a can of turkey gravy. I did not have any whole carrots but found a container of shredded carrots in the freezer. In the crockpot they went. The recipe turned out well.
4. The terrible Texas heat has limited my scavenging. I did find a free pile this week. I got a 12 oz bottle of coconut shampoo, a kitchen apron, and a XL man's tee shirt that looked new. I also found a box of colored pencils & a ruler. The shampoo is Purezero brand which I have never heard of. I'm sure it will clean my hair just fine.
5. I went to the local thrift store (that helps fund the local food bank). I got 3 pairs of shorts (1 for me, 2 for hubby), 1 long sleeve tee for myself, and 2 soft knit bras for $20 plus tax.
A sunflower maze must be so cool! We have corn mazes here but I've yet to see a sunflower maze.
1. I returned a book to the library and while there I picked up a book I had on hold. I also noticed they had Valerie Bertinelli's new memoir so I borrowed that too.
2. Not frugal for me but gratifying: while leaving the grocery store, I saw a man on the corner asking for money. I had two gallon sized food storage bags full of things the homeless or homed but down on their luck folks might find useful. A team at my church makes them up and the congregants can give them out if they so desire. It was the highlight of my day to hand them to him.
3. I cut DH's hair.
4. I'm still looking for a glass pitcher for my iced tea machine to replace the one I broke. Like Katy with Goodwill, I know everything will eventually show up at the Salvation Army Store in town. If not there, a yard sale, a thrift shop or consignment store. This may be described as my own "trickle down economics: I know things people bought at full price will eventually trickle down to me at a reduced price. Ha ha!
5. Hanging all laundry, cooking meals at home, batching errands and keeping my speed down to save on gas, bringing tea to go in my to go cup when leaving the house, wearing clothes I already own, reading library books, enjoying the happy home we have.
It must be the week for pork markdowns! Mine comes with a funny (to me, anyway) story. I was at the store and looking through the meat case. At the end, there were 2 boneless pork roasts with the yellow stickers. One was approximately 5 lbs for $10. I was reaching for it when I hear someone yell "DIBS!!!" & then I was shoved to the side while a Karen grabbed it. Old me would have fought her for it. Current me knows my limitations & decided that it wasn't worth the risk of getting hurt. And, DIBS?!? REALLY?!?
Anyway, a stocker who had seen the whole thing came over to see if I was ok. I had just been knocked off balance, but the cart prevented me from falling, so I was fine. He disappeared into the back & came out with a gentleman who turned out to be the meat dept manager. He asked if I was interested in the other roast, which was a 9.75 pounder. I hesitantly said yes, even though it was well out of my budget. "Great!" He said. "Let me go put the correct sale price on it for you!" Less than 5 minutes later, I had a $6.58 roast in my cart.
Karen wound up behind me at checkout. I heard her audibly choke when she saw the price on my sticker, and she was arguing with the cashier about hers as I was leaving.
After I got home, I emailed the store manager to praise the stocker & meat mgr for their kindness. Then I butchered that roast into chunks for stir fry & 2 smaller roasts, one of which went straight into the oven. It was delicious and I've gotten 4 meals out of it!
WOW, what a story! I'm sorry that someone felt she had the right to push and bully, and boy howdy do I love it when a someone gets their 'just desserts'. Bless the stocker and meat manager, and the righteousness of the checkout timing. Sounds like you will be 'eating out' on that story for long after all the meat is gone, too!
That is a great story! Karma is real. Lol. Wish I could've seen her face when she saw the price of your roast. And DIBS? I guess she never progressed from 4th grade.
I swear it wasn’t me! 😉
What a rump! Sorry, pork humor.
I've been in situations where I'm sorting through the discounted meats next to older women and I'm the opposite! I know I might get an elbow thrown at me or a lawsuit if I try and take her first choice. I'm not much of a runner so I try and choose wisely.
1. I'm back on regular gym sessions with my weight trainer, which isn't apparently frugal yet is priceless for both my mental and physical health. She and I have had various interruptions during the Summer so my workouts were not as regular or often as I would prefer – although now I get to regularly revisit the body aches that come from hard workouts, so not sure why I'm so glad to be back on track.
2. Earlier this week I quartered and roasted a huge roasting pan of heritage tomatoes. I ran them through my food mill twice to get the skins then the seeds out, and cooked down by almost half, then got them pressure canned. I added a jar of roasted tomatillos and one of San Marzano tomato sauce that I'd put by in the fridge two days earlier, to fill my canner up. Feels great to have the first of the good tomato canning process done.
3. My Gardening Buddy, who has hurt her body so she can't garden with me, came by to visit. We ended up down in the garden where I continuously had to remind her to not do too much! Came back up from the field with a wheelbarrow overflowing with kale, broccoli, beans, tomatoes, dill, arugula, nasturtiums, mizuna, peppers, and a handful of sunflowers. GB also took home a bucket of purple plums, a huge bag of cherry tomatoes, 7 zucchini, more tomatoes from the house, and some peppers. I'm so grateful for the effort she put in to prepping the garden beds this winter, and the company even for a bit of a visit is delightful.
I've got a big bucket of tomatillos to process, more San Marzano tomatoes almost perfectly ripe, a box of mixed peppers, a bucket of new to me green plums (that are AHHHMAZING) from a tree I planted 10 years ago, another basin and a half of purple plums, three more boxes of tomatoes in various stages of ripening, some random potatoes, and, oops, some zucchini that I neglected to fob off on GB.
4. GB brought me three boxes of various sizes of canning jars that she and her sister had collected for me. Yes, please – free canning jars! What a money saver.
5. I tried to donate blood yesterday but was rejected until I get results from my 'girly parts' explorations. I was disappointed as my Surgeon figured that it wouldn't be an issue. I was encouraged to collect goodies from the snack table when I left, which was poor but sweet consolation.
6. I've finally done the Popeye's Chicken 'free chicken' redemption that Katy has shared about. There is a Popeye's near my gym, and last week I visited, then immediately filled out the survey.
Today, I was pooped after my intense gym workout, yet I managed to convince myself to go take advantage of the offer. The 'obligatory drink' I chose was root beer, a true treat for me – next time it will be the lemonade if I can swing it.
I promptly filled out the survey on my new receipt while I was waiting for my order, and have marked in my calendar the day I'll go in to redeem again (after a gym visit to 'errand stack'). It isn't the healthiest meal, but satisfying and the price is certainly right.
1. Gas is $3.59 gallon.
3. Stopped at Aldi on way home from work, $3.19 deli roast beef slices, frozen broccoli $1.15, frozen Brussels sprouts $1.49, sliced Swiss cheese $1.49, 8 pk of frozen beef and bean burritos $3.79, hot dogs 99 cents, deli egg rolls for $3.89, pepitas for $2.39, etc. No salads for me all summer… such a bummer.
Somehow I separated 2. Walked 50 minutes today. Forty minutes consisted of walking to the courthouse and back, twice!
Katy - Love to read about your adventures!
1. Been making all meals at home.
2. Took a 4 day trip out to the Finger Lakes in Western NY with son and his family. 4 hour drive from here so packed sandwiches and snacks. Only stopped once for bathroom breaks. We stayed at a pretty cool lodge, very comfortable, but very basic. No kitchen. We brought our own coffee pots, and Coleman stove to make most meals. Enjoyed several state parks (no entry fee) and a winery tour.
3. Like you and others have said, no diarrhea lettuce here. Also, no salads with lettuce. Grew some tomatoes, cukes and squash. Local farmers have beautiful produce, but expensive.
4. The weather here is changing, Fall is in the air. Can't wait to start baking.
5. Hanging all laundry outside on the portable drying rack while weather still holds.
Oooo Maura, would you mind sharing where you stayed? I absolutely love the Finger Lakes. I stayed on Keuka with some friends earlier this month and was in heaven.
Ditto on the baking! I can't wait to bake an apple pie.
August was month of overspending, so I spent time time this morning reviewing my budget and making a plan for the next few months.
1. I cancelled a fitness app subscription that I have only half halfheartedly used.
2. Made dinner last night with food that was gifted to us, along with produce that needed to get used up. Ended up with a caprese-esqu salad that included tomatoes, mozzarella (from the dairy company my partner works for), avocado, and basil pesto. Had smashed potatoes, which I also drizzled the pesto over.
3. My partner woke up his sourdough starter and is prepping it to make bread for Sunday breakfast at my parents' house. I took the discard and made discard crackers with dried thyme that I was gifted from my friend's garden. These will also be brought to my parents' this weekend.
4. I cancelled a social lunch today as I have ended up needed to help a friend out. This keeps me from spending money.
5. My partner and I took our dogs for a walk in one of our stunning local parks yesterday after work. Cheap date!
I forgot to add - we've been invited to join a pickleball league by a coworker of my partner! We have never played before and have no idea if we'll like it. I asked in our BNP group if anyone had a pickleball set we could borrow. My neighbor a few houses over has one that she won at a silent auction and hasn't even opened yet! She said we can borrow it for the duration of the league (Sept-Nov). If we end up wanting our own set, I'll check the group again. If no one has one to give, I did see some for a fair price on FB Marketplace.