Five Frugal Things -- Backyard Deck & a Lucky Day!
1) I walked to Walgreen's for my scheduled Covid vaccine and was rewarded with both a penny and a nickel. So yes . . . I "recently come into some money!"
I want extra credit for walking instead of driving, as the skies threatened rain.
2) I then stopped into the library to peruse the Lucky Day shelf.
I grabbed a copy of Mad Mabel, which I think I already had on hold. It'll have to wait until I finish The Measure, but that's okay as I have three weeks until it's due.
3) My walk home included a Free Box, which is always a "Yes, please!" in my book!
Fresh home grown tomatoes for the win!
4) I threw some black beans into the Instant Pot for a batch of chili. This recipe, (ha!) incorporated a number of random items, including:
- Leftover sausage from our "bangers and mash" night.
- Leftover carmelized onion and seared corn kernels from a "homemade pizza" night.
- The last of some homemade marinara sauce.
I enjoyed a bowl for dinner and will serve the rest of it over baked potatoes.
5) My husband refurbished our small backyard deck by power wash and sanding it and then spraying it with a fresh stain. He spread the task over a couple days, but the deck is once again protected against the elements and we saved money by DIYing it.
This photo illustrates how bad the wood had become:
Four years of Oregon elements will take their toll!
By the way, this deck mostly utilized wood from our kid's old tree house, so it was a "frugal thing" to begin with.
Click HERE to read the 2022 blog post from when we built the deck!
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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Love that you were able to repurpose the tree house wood!
1) Left DS20 a plate of leftovers for dinner, as he worked a double shift yesterday, and has another today. I'll do the same thing for tonight. He also enjoyed the banana chocolate chip muffins I made for him, using overly ripe bananas.
2) Drove my electric car to my workout class, and then avoided the siren song of Trader Joes, which always ends in me buying too many delicious snacks.
3) Packed my eBay sale in a recycled envelope & dropped off at the USPS mailbox near our house, on my way to my class.
4) Talked to DS19 about what he would like us to bring from the house to Boulder next weekend, and then played around with the bags we are planning to carry on, to see if we could fit it without needing to check a bag. The tent has stakes, so regardless, those need to be checked. Luckily, I'll be getting free checked bags on the flight.
5) Looks like I will get another chance to use my National Park pass, as we are tentatively planning a hike in Rocky Mountain National Park next weekend, weather permitting. It was very difficult for me to buy the pass, because it comes emblazoned with our current president's face. You know, the person who has done nothing to protect our national parks & has tried to erode decades of protection instead, to sell to developers.
Enjoy your hike! I thank my lucky stars that we bought our National Park pass before the fragile ego of our infantile president needed to paste his ugly mug and/or name on so.many.things.
Try to look past the petulant puss of the pompous pampered puddingface on your pass and enjoy yourselves. I have to admit we've been putting off renewing our passports because we didn't want one with his picture on it but recently found out it's optional. Hmm...wonder what we'll choose...
I purchased a sleeve on Etsy that conceals the offending image and instead features an actual national park. A worthwhile, sanity-saving purchase in my opinion. 😉
Refurbished deck looks great!
1. Gave away a snowblower on Buy Nothing.
2. Gave away six mini loaf pans on Buy Nothing.
3. Received a wooden dog bowl stand from Buy Nothing. Brought it back to life with some lemon oil applied with a cotton ball and a Q-tip. Plan to thrift bowls to fit the two openings.
4. Made a spaghetti sauce out of expired tomato paste, homemade veggie broth, caramelized onions, roasted eggplant, sauteed mushrooms, and dried herbs. And later added the dregs from ketchup bottle.
5. Husband's brother treated him to lunch.