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You may have noticed that The Non-Consumer Advocate was down for a couple of days with this message:
My web hosting company shut down the blog due to mysterious malware. Here’s the message I received:“There are multiple suspicious files detected on your website, I am afraid that we cannot allow the public access to your website as it puts our whole server infrastructure in risk of inheriting a bad reputation.” (“A bad reputation?” Sounds like the other girls at school might start whispering about her. Wouldn’t want that to happen!) I finally threw some money at the situation, ($79 to be exact) and hired wpfixit.com to fix the issue. Money well spent. But, damn!
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My husband and I have been driving the same Honda minivan since 2005, which finally rolled past 100,00 miles. It’s never given us any a moment of trouble, but 13 years is a lot of time and our mechanic had increasingly been suggesting maintenance and repair work. We’re finally pulling the trigger. The mechanic called to confirm the bid this morning, which caused me to ask if “that quote includes a month in Europe.” She laughed. I didn’t.
Goodbye, Gdansk. Hello, functional minivan.
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I drove eight hours over the weekend to pick up my son and then return him back to college. His friend was having an art opening here in Portland, and I really wanted my son to support him. Of course having my son in town prompted a number of restaurant meals, which were delicious but exponentially more expensive than home cooking.
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I bought a $2 cup of coffee after dropping my son off at school and spontaneously decided to sprinkle a little cinnamon on top. The “sprinkle” turned into a deluge and ruined my late night treat. I tried to get the clerk’s attention, but she was busy with other customers and I wasn’t in the mood to play the role of “pushy customer.” I valiantly tried to drink it down as I abhor food waste, but finally dumped it down the drain. Blegh.
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My cats have utterly ruined the arms of the amazing $30 vintage love seat that I picked up a few years ago. They’d never ruined any other furniture, but you know . . . cats are jerks. My mother is going to sew antimacassars as my birthday gift, but I’d rather it not be ruined in the first place. However, the recent Buttload of Cats song from Crazy-Ex-Girlfriend put a humorous spin on the situation. I’m not sure that two cats can be considered a “buttload,” but they can still enact some major damage.
Five Frugal Fails
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{ 110 comments… read them below or add one }
OMGosh you’ve had a tough week for sure. And no weeklong trip to Europe to show for it? Bummer! LOL Here’s hoping this week rocks!
~TMH~
My Honda minivan rolled 100,000 mi a few months ago. Yes, I expected the month in Europe too, but when they told me what a broken timing belt can do, I smiled and wrote the check.
So glad my husband can do our car repairs (replaced timing belt, water pump, exhaust system) and save us $ in labor and costs, but he had to work under my car for three weeks in the freezing cold. What steams my bean is that they make the cars so hard to repair yourself now — you HAVE to take them to the dealer! My hubby had to grind solder off the bolts on the parts –that’s right–the automaker soldered the bolts in! BTW I am still driving this 2006 Hyundai with 133,000 miles on it, but we are getting ready to sell it and buy a newer used car. Its been a great car up to now.
I am fortunate my BIL is a mechanic. Extremely Reasonable rates and more importantly we can trust when he says something needs fixed, it needs fixed. That said we had to go to the dealer once too! Some kind of electrical board went out.
I am also fortunate that my husband is a mechanic and my dad owns a company in which we can take advantage of his wholesale parts purchasing. But you’re right in that they are making cars more difficult to work on – my husband had to remove my entire bumper just to replace a marker light bulb! I do still pay for oil changes because it’s not worth his time to crawl on our dirty garage floor. There’s almost always coupons and I can get it done for less than $30.
If you did regular routine maintenance on a vehicle throughout the years of owning it then you do not usually have to spend a ton of money all at once… And you are pretty much guaranteed that you will never be stranded and waiting for assistance. Just sayin’…
Gotta disagree. We drive older cars (one is a 2001 Subaru Outback) and have always done regular maintenance. At some point, the mileage just catches up with the parts and things that weren’t a problem become one. Plus, some parts are designed to be replaced at specific mileage (like 100k). Just sayin’…
We have 4 cars 10+years old. He is very good about getting oil changes done, fluids flushed, belts done, etc. But things break. I would rather have a $900 bill per car once a year then 4 car payments every month.
Sometimes the car just gets too old to find replacement parts. I’m still driving my 1997 Ford Taurus station wagon but my mechanic is having to Macgyver parts for it — even simple things like belts and hoses. So it’s time to put it out to pasture.
I agree with Cathy and Marybeth. Between the boyfriend, the kids and myself, we have 6 vehicles that range from a 1998 Ford Ranger with 90,000 miles to a 2007 Toyota Corolla with 300,000+ miles. All have had routine maintenance done on schedule and all have had to have major(ish) repairs. Tire rods, transmissions, brake lines, catalytic converters, computer issues, motor blowers, defrosters, electrical issues, starters, plus things that I just don’t remember (and don’t really understand, lol).
It happens to the best of vehicles and routine maintenance does help, but it only does so much. We just accept the fact that if we choose to drive the older vehicles, we need to keep a reserve in the bank for the inevitable repairs.
It still works out cheaper for us than buying new or newer vehicles, especially for the younger drivers who can be a little rough on vehicles.
We like our hassle free 2000 Honda – DH is careful about maintenance and we’ve been lucky. Also, we don’t want to replace it, because if we got a different car I would NEVER know where it is in a parking lot!
My 2009 Toyota Highlander hybrid is due for a biiiig maintenance visit…..I’m not looking forward to it, but it’s paid for, has 174+K miles on it, and it’s still cheaper than getting a newer to me car. I know eventually the day will come when it needs to be replaced…hopefully not for another 174K+ miles.
This reader got the same message as you. FORBIDDEN… wow, that got my attention and as a firstborn, I figured it was something I had done…
Hope the rest of your week is better.
Joyce
Another first-born here and I also thought I must have somehow messed up. LOL.
Me three!
I thought something was wrong with my web service because I kept getting that “forbidden” message. I had my husband spend an hour trying to figure out what was wrong with our internet. I trust you all won’t tell him I completely wasted his time, lol.
Same here, except my tech-savvy hubby was too busy doing other stuff to try and “fix it”. He finally cleaned out his closet, which is now a thing of beauty….no regrets that he didn’t get to my computer, lol!
When I got the ‘forbidden’ message, I assumed I got banned. But how did Katy find out about my full price perfume purchase? “Be gone wasteful spender! Take your 3.4 ounce bottle of Black Opium and leave! You are not welcome here!!” 🙂
Lol, Rosanne!! “You paid *full price*?!? Was there no sale? Was there no promo code?”. Bwahahaha! Enjoy!
love that perfume !
Ouch, what a week! I think you deserve a wonderful frugal week to make up for it, one with lots of found money besides!
About the minivan, even a big car repair bill is way cheaper than a new car – we finally “retired” our truck last year after 26 years of amazing service. I think it’s worth the investment to keep a reliable vehicle running. Until it isn’t and there are just too many huge repairs and the question isn’t if the passenger door will fall off, it’s when…yes, personal experience.
And the coffee story reminds me of the time – early in the morning – when I grabbed what I thought was the cinnamon jar and poured some in my coffee. Then I thought “what IS that smell?” It was garlic powder. I’ll do a lot of things to keep from wasting too much food but drinking garlic coffee isn’t one of them.
My own frugal fails:
Took the car in for an oil change. I was thinking it would be a cheap visit, since I had a $20 off coupon. That lasted until the service tech presented me with the cabin air filter. It was so gross and dirt clogged it was embarrassing. Tech said it was pretty heavy too but I took her word for it; I was not going to touch that thing. Added another $60 and change to the bill. I just keep repeating…at least I had a $20 coupon for this visit. Worth it, though.
Instead of eating the leftover rice and beans I’d planned to have for lunch, I’m eating pizza. No good reason for not eating the rice and beans except that sometimes I just want pizza.
Despite my vow to try and waste no food, a partial list of what hit the garbage can in recent weeks includes several slices of too-old-to-safely-eat-meatloaf, 3 shriveled Clementines, half a container of hummus and a partial container of spoiled milk – the expensive, lactose-free kind.
Give me time, I’m sure I can come up with two more recent frugal fails.
F*ton of cats! Hahahaha!
So funny! I love that show!
I am glad you are back online!!!
Ugh, I’m sorry about the malware! My site got infected a few months back too. So frustrating.
At least you have in house tech support!
Luckily, malware removal is included with my hosting package…so neither of us had to mess with it!
I need to switch companies.
I love that we can all laugh about a few frugal fails every once and a while!
1. I’m on a no-carb diet and was tempted 2x during this pay period to go out to lunch. I get tired of the same thing over and over and going out to lunch gave me some variety. I’m sure others go out to eat much more than 2x in 2 weeks, but 2x is a lot for me.
2. My work hosted a 40% off night at JCPenney for our college students to stock up on career clothing. I vowed that I wouldn’t buy anything, but I did spend money on some items that were already on clearance. I ended up buying 2 sets of socks for myself, a multi pack of earrings, a t-shirt for my daughter for next Christmas, jammies for my son for next Christmas and two nice dress shirts for hubby for next Christmas. Spent $50, but did get some nice presents to put away.
3. Hit up the Goodwill before going to a church event Saturday evening and found some items that I did not need. =( new minnie mouse hat for daughter, rubrics cube for my son, pack of brand new cub scout napkins for the upcoming dinner celebration and a cardigan! I should not have even got out of the car.
4. We drove a bit further (using up gas) to go to the cheaper movie theater. So I guess we saved by going to that cheap theater, but we did have to use the gas to get there.
5. So this will be a frugal fail that some may laugh at, but my church had a “Minute to Win It” game night for the kids Saturday evening where they played a tissue box game. The players had to pull out all the tissues using only one hand. I was going to scoop up all of the tissues that my son grabbed and take them home to (re-fold) and use but didn’t get to them in time before they were trashed! Frugal or just cheapo?
Definitely frugal. I would have run so fast to gather those tissues that you would’ve thought I was the birthday girl after the piñata cracked open!
My cat is a jerk also…and does not care. 1. I made homemade granola, using free coconut and free mulberries. It was not the greatest, but whatevah….I made 40 cent lb chicken and used cheap vegetables to go with it, carrots, potatoes, turnip greens, onions.
2. I walked at the local walking trail for free. It is 70 degrees here…thank goodness after the horrible January.
3. It has been raining constantly, and my backyard is a pond. I saw two robins staking a bath. Apparently, my backyard made for a very big bird bath. Birth watching is free entertainment.
4. I went to church and sang with the congregation. Free music without the embarrassment of doing it alone, as far as I am concerned.
5. I read, for the first time ever, one of the Harry Potter’s books that I got from one of the little free library boxes with free books inside, by the walking trail, of course. My kids, when they were growing up, loved Harry Potter, but they read it to themselves. It was entertaining. I am easily entertained…..lol
uhmm “bird” watching, not “birth” watching….. ….lol
Hey, I get paid the big bucks for “birth watching.” <--- RN humor!
Five Frugal Fails
1-Did the addition, and my exercise routine of choice (zumba classes and water aerobics) add up to around $100 a month. Not as thrifty as just walking the neighborhood, but I work extra to pay for it.
2-For a pot luck I got lazy and decided to buy packaged “Delux” macaroni and cheese (2 boxes for a tuna casserole). At $2.98 a pop plus the extra ingredients, it won’t be cheap.
3-As a protein source I’m eating way too many walnuts. Not frugal.
4-Going to give into my cravings and will be getting take out Thai food this week. Haven’t eaten out in weeks, so it’s ok to indulge occasionally I guess.
5-Our dear elderly dog’s health is starting to fail which means extra vet care, including a recent weekend visit. He still enjoys his life, so we will help him be more comfortable.
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Lol…Kathy!
Lol…Katy!
Lol, Katy! You’re the real deal!
“taking” not “staking”…it has been a Monday….
Yes, I was worried about where you’d gone. Oh no! Frugal news is that I’m blogging and keeping focussed, eating found fruit and going to bed early with a book and NO tv. Glad you’re back.
Oh lord, those cats! A few years ago we bought a bonded-leather sofa because I thought it would be easier to clean with a couple little kidlets around. My jerk cats quickly scratched the daylights out of it and mostly not even on purpose, just from climbing and jumping around on it. That purchase is one of my biggest regrets! And I caved to a latte from Starbucks yesterday, it wasn’t very good either! I don’t know if you’ve ever considered an electric vehicle, but used Nissan Leafs sell for surprisingly little and they require very little maintenance. It made economic sense for us, but it might not for others.
Terri at The Frugal List
If it’s any consolation..my car needs motor mounts to the tune of 700…..hmmm….drive 20 mph while people give me the finger or spend 700? I choose the former.
Frugal Fails!
1) Went to Anthropologie in The Pearl and they had a sale on SuperGa, Tretorn and other fashionable sneakers- 50% of the sale price. So yes, I bought two pairs, and may buy a couple more after work if they are available
2) I went out day drinking on Mississippi Avenue with some new friends who just moved here. Oy, cocktail prices! But they were GENEROUS cocktails and came with food.
3) I am having acne PIH issues, so I got some very bougie price potions from Sephora, plus some foundation. I hate to say it but the stuff works and the foundation is a good cover up.
4) I have been going out to see the Oscar nominated films. Films actually worth the admission price. I have been seeing same group of naughty ladies who sneak in their own ‘juice boxes’ and they have been sweet enough to share, so hey.
5) I bought all my food ready made from a deli this week. From the New Season deli, mind. Oy. OY! That will teach me to batch cook my lunches!
Frugal Fails:
1. My son is driving my husband’s old car. It is a 2006. He said it was making a noise. My husband checked it out and said it was making lots of noises(leak in the steering column and needed new brakes and rotters). $900 later it is all better. We pay the bill since he lives home while in college and needs the car to get back and forth.
2.While my son’s car was in the shop he borrowed my daughter’s car(1998). He left a light on and found the car dead at 8pm when his classes were done on a really rainy day. My husband drove the 20 miles and jumped his car.
3. My husband went out one morning this week and found he had a flat tire. I drove him to work 2 miles from the house. The tire is shot. Thankfully my bil had 2 tires from his truck that he sold a couple of months ago so no $OOP!
4. My hours at work have been cut recently because it is a very slow time.
5. Your blog was down so I had nothing cheering me up. Glad you got it all worked out.
First, Katy, I’m glad you’re back, and thanks for speedily addressing the 403 issue on the blog. Your Facebook-averse followers were getting withdrawal symptoms!
Now, my FFF, FIF (F**k, It’s February) Edition:
(1) We’re having to run our gas furnace more in the early mornings than I personally would like, because DH is now an old guy and gets chillier than he used to before we can get the wood-burner going. (Me, I seem to share Queen Victoria’s personal thermostat. She used to run around at Osborne and Balmoral throwing all the windows open and freezing out Prince Albert and the courtiers. Dunno if this is a detail you’ll see on PBS, since we don’t have a TV.)
(2) Just wrote another check to the guy who’s doing our snow removal this winter. But, like #1, I consider this a “good spend” in view of DH’s and my increasing age and decrepitude.
(3) Took two boxes of books to our favorite secondhand bookstore yesterday. Promptly blew the profit plus considerable cash on a rare book on a topic of great personal interest. (Can’t decide whether to keep it for my mean selfish self or give it to my NYC BFF, since this is a topic of great shared personal interest.)
(4) Possibly a Frugal Fail, possibly not: Since the closure of our local Sam’s Club, I have decided to go without a warehouse club membership. I parted company with our local BJ’s last year when they gave me a hassle in the checkout line over renewing (believe me, this was out of the ordinary), and our only Costco is on the other side of the county. I think I already see a drop in our spending, since I’m no longer tempted by “that might be useful” purchases. And one of the two supermarkets I use gives gas discounts at the Sunoco across the street, so that’ll help make up for the loss of Sam’s cheap gas. Thoughts?
(5) Finally, I continue to struggle with the neighborhood issues I mentioned in an earlier post–and with a couple of the neighbors who fall into the “with friends like this, who needs enemies?” category. Expenditure of considerable time and psychic energy = Frugal Fail, in my book.
The drug house across the street from me burned a few months ago (no one was injured)…my neighborhood has issues also…sigh
A. Marie, your “FIF” reminds me of this bit from the Northwest Edible Life blog:
“My friend told me a great thing the other day. She said, ‘Oh when people ask how it’s going, I just say “F.I.N.E.” and leave it at that. Of course, F.I.N.E. is an acronym for “Fuck, It Never Ends.”‘”
Whoops – meant to redact the spicy vocabulary word. Admin, delete if not appropriate!
I LOVE your F.I.N.E. I said that to myself last night when my phone rang kinda late. I knew I had to answer, and I knew it would be Yet Another Thing To Deal With.
My co-workers and I have had so much fun with “F.I.N.E” today!
After I posted above, I had reason to mention FINE to my mom, who’s already had good reason to use your acronym. So good to know we’re all FINE!
Omgosh. Sharing this with hubby. We’ll be using FINE all the time now. Lol!
Lets face it. Having pets (or kids) is not a completely frugal choice but they are often worth it.
1. I’ve gained 2kg (about 4.5 pounds) over the Christmas/New Year period and my clothes are not fitting properly. I’ll have to lose the weight or replace my clothes. Replacing the clothing will be very costly. So I will have to lose the weight. This is making me very cranky.
2. We have had big expenses at the start of the year, including school fees, school camp fees, water bills, home insurance…the list goes on. Hoping for a frugal February.
3. The big bills wouldn’t have been so difficult if I didn’t have to pay an additional insurance bill of almost $800 for hitting a stationary car that was parked right outside my house. The damage to both cars was minor but the bill was steep.
4. Spent $15 on totally unnecessary hot chocolates at a cafe the other day. $15 seems pretty steep for hot chocolates. They weren’t even that good.
5. I bought expensive leaf tea. I won’t admit to how much I spent. I have a thing for good quality leaf tea. Truthfully I hesitate to call it a frugal fail. Cheap tea is a blight (in my opinion). I’m drinking some beautiful Irish breakfast right now and it’s delicious and makes my life more pleasant.
Cheap tea is indeed a blight! Truest words have not been spoken. A good cuppa is a salve for any moment, any day.
My frugal fail, and it is one because it is so duh, it counts for 5:
I lost my smartphone.
Ugh.
Yes, the same smartphone that has had the screen replaced, has been reset, has been actually a great phone when it works but a pain in the ass when it doesn’t. And I don’t know if it was lost or stolen or where! drives me crazy.
I am of course hugely disappointed. But because dark humour is me, I have a laugh over the person who stole/found it and how they will find this cursed phone and wonder what the hell they ended up with; and also think well, good riddance now I can get another phone that works better.
still.
UGH!!!
I’m lucky in that my employer provides my iPhone. Am just waiting to get my fourth phone in 18 months…I am just jinxed with technology. Perhaps I held your phone in an earlier life, and ruined it for you, Carla!
Good luck with finding a great new phone.
1. I went to the dentist for a routine check-up/cleaning. It turns out I have a cavity on my root, under a crown. And while the dentist takes care of that he wants to file down problems with two other teeth. Our dentist is not part of our insurance plan network and he charges more than they allow to begin with. It will not be cheap.
2. A friend has not been feeling well. I called him today to see if there was anything I could bring him. He wanted a salad and soda from Chick-fil-A. He offered to pay me back but I declined. It was almost $10, be still my beating heart.
3. We were invited to a fund raising event because of my husband’s job. While our tickets were paid for my husband bid on and won a silent auction item that he did not need.
4. We rented a Rex Box movie then did not finish it (since my husband read about the ending and did not want to see it).
5. I have nothing.
Given the $80 investment in getting rid of troubles can you share any advice on how to prevent it happening in the future?
Super glad you are back!
I am so happy I am no longer “forbidden” to access your site! AND it’s the perfect week for me to do frugal fails as I have indeed been feeling like a frugal failure….
1. I have been doing SO MUCH BETTER at not on-line shopping but had a VERY stressful couple of weeks at work and “relapsed” last week — bought (75-80% off natch, but still) a gorgeous spring bag, a pair of high-end, high-wasted jeans and a pair of navy suede espadrille sandals. I felt VERY guilty and money is very tight after these impulse buys because I’m determined to stick to my upped savings level notwithstanding falling off the wagon. Sigh. But very cute, and actually things I will use A LOT this Spring/Summer. I do love clothes and I buy most things at thrift stores these days, so overall it is fine.
2. Had a dinner party Friday night to honor a retiring colleague. Mostly had a reasonably priced menu (prepared by me) but did spend some $ on spanakopita and tzatziki from the catering department of a local world foods market. Had 3 vegetarians for whom the spanakopita was the main dish and it was the side dish for everyone else to go with grilled pork tenderloins, roasted turmeric carrots and Greek salad (plus appetizers of cheese platter with cheeses left over from superbowl, plus hummous, veggies, pita bread). Worked all week and dinner was Friday night so didn’t have time to make my own. Total cost (including the takeout dish and flowers) was $10 per person, not too bad for a nice dinner party (had people BYOB on wine since we don’t drink and everyone asked what they could bring, which definitely helped with overall cost)
3. I have 3 dear girlfriends who all are quite comfortable financially. For many years we have taken each other out for dinner for our birthdays in lieu of gifts. With busy lives it assures we get together a few times a year, in addition to an annual girls’ trip. January is two of the friends’ birthdays and so the other friend and I split the tab each year. We went to a lovely restaurant and had a wonderful time. My share was WAY more than I would usually spend eating out — ouch but well worth it for a really special occasion.
4. Had to leave at 5 a.m. yesterday to drive two hours for daughter’s volleyball tourney. Frugal fail is buying breakfast of coffee and pastries for the three of us at Starbucks. But did well otherwise, driving almost two hours each way (5 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. = long day!) there and back to avoid hotel expense, plus packed lunch and dinner food so didn’t eat out (except for Starbucks).
5. Continuing to save for Disneyland next month, a frugal fail by definition! Hubs and DD love it, me not so much. But after two nights at a reasonably priced hotel near the resort, we will spend 6 nights with his folks in Palm Dessert which will be free accommodations and not much money spent as we will eat in and not pay to do much (hiking, running, tennis, pool time will all be no to low cost). And plane tickets already purchased with combo of miles and money at reasonable cost.
Not sure if you’ll see this, but one of my favorite Palm Desert expeditions is the Coachella Valley Preserve. It’s right behind Sun City Palm Desert. Take Washington St. or Ramon Road. (Same street, name changes depending on direction) to Thousand Palms Canyon Drive. CV Preserve will be on your left. Parking/ admission are free. Miles of hiking, some easy, some hard, so lots of choices. It is a bona fide oasis.
Thank you Diane! We’ll check it out — great to have a tip for a new place.
The electric company is laying fiber optic in my area. They sent a crew that came in my fenced backyard and tore up my lawn. Some laughing jerk of a man said they would fix it. Hasn’t happened but he did dump over my trash container. I read one review where these workers let someone’s 2 dogs out and one got run over and died. I want to be one of those hermits living off the grid in some wilderness with a big ole shot gun strapped to my side. Or some zen goddess who flies high above he common rabble. I don’t like being normal and dealing with crap. Sorry something messed with your site Katy.
Two cats are definitely a buttload. When we had three, it was sort of a critical mass of cats, laying waste to everything they could get their claws on.
My FFT:
1. Bought a pair of corduroy slacks from Swap.com for $7. I really did not need them. Clearance fever struck!
2. Unfortunately have discovered black cherry soda, when I had been doing really well drinking tea.
3. Bought lunch out twice last week, which is pretty remarkable considering I worked only three days.
4. DH did our taxes and learned we owe $4K due to a stock sale. We can pay it, but it puts a huge dent in our savings account.
5. Went shopping with a list and still managed to spend $92, after a couple of months of keeping the grocery expense low.
“…critical mass of cats, laying waste to everything they could get their claws on.”
I nearly snorted coffee out of my nose reading that! Thanks for the laugh this morning, I needed it.
The coffee incident — ugh. Sure, it was probably the least expensive of your fails, but I imagine you were really looking forward to that small, RARE, treat. Especially after all that driving. 🙁
My FFF’s:
1 – Grocery-shopped while hungry, not once but twice in the last two weeks. That’s why I now have craft ramen in my pantry.
2 – Missed a golden Ebay listing opportunity. I have three love-themed decorative tiles from a highly-collectible pottery design studio. Said tiles would have fetched a nice price had I posted them for sale before Valentine’s Day. Which I didn’t.
3 – Took my daughter to see an all-area high school production of Godspell at a local opera house. Live theater experience = not a frugal fail. Feeling festive and dropping $4 for eight ounces of diet Coke at the theater snack bar = #fail.
4 – Paid a $50 late fee on a $9 bill. Ow.
5 – Got root canals #1 and #2, and had them topped off with crowns #5 and #6. My dentist told me no more sticky candy, EVER.
Sheesh, Jenzer — call them and ask nicely if they’d kindly waive/cancel that horrible late fee! On the rare occasion this happens to me, it ALWAYS works. (Tho they solemnly say it’s “a one-time courtesy”!)
This was for a business-related tax that the state government collects. Pretty sure our state treasury department doesn’t waive anything out of courtesy. 😉
You might try pleading small business record keeping requirements hardship, bookkeeper error or lapse due to illness, etc, all while apologizing humbly. That’s worked for me a time or two. (But only if it was true.)
I’m surprised you still have two cars (Prius + minivan) now that the kids are gone and you live in Portland with an employer-subsidized public transit pass. Any plans to sell the minivan?
But they’re so darned handy for hauling stuff home from the free piles! And for getting the kids to and from college with all their worldly goods at the start and end of term! Etc.
1. DH has started the process of getting a tooth implant after finding a tooth had a cavity below the gum line that could not be fixed.
2. We gave in to the inevitable in our new home and today had a water softener system installed. Less spending on hard water deposit cleaning supplies (extremely hard!) but a new monthly expense.
3. DH decided he wanted to keep the home delivery paper subscription despite a large increase in price.
4. I have been indulging in going out for a mid-afternoon coffee and cookie. It is at the library cafe but still …
Our newspaper subscription also increased tremendously, but hubby still wants it. I do clip the Sunday coupons, but that no longer covets the cost of the subscription. And it really frosts my cookies when it’s wet from not being double bagged!
Covers, not covets. {{Sigh}}
Hey Katy, I don’t know if you have heard about this book, Small Great Things by Jodi Piccoult but as I have been reading it I have been thinking about you. The main character is a labor and delivery nurse.
I am only 150 pages in but so far I really like it. I is a page turner.
I just found out today that my 2006 Prius needs $963 worth of work. Sigh. It only has 92,000 miles and a lot of life left (and has been paid for since 2006 LOL) so of course we have to bite the bullet and get it fixed. This would be easier to stomach if we didn’t have $2000 of medical bills plus a lot more coming in that I don’t even have a dollar amount for yet—my husband just had surgery, I had to have a sleep study done, my teenage son had a colonoscopy/endoscopy and was diagnosed with two (!!) chronic diseases. Oy. But I have to say, having a kitty in the family calms me down and is worth all potential damage. Our current kitty, a 10 year old rescue (we’re her third family and will be her last!) is an absolute doll and she never scratches anything but her sisal scratcher, she almost never barfs (unlike our last kitty) and she’s never peed anywhere she wasn’t supposed to (again, unlike our last cat). Lastly, I had a similar experience with coffee: just as I put a spoon in my coffee at a coffee shop, I realized I had pulled the spoon from the “dirty” cup and not from the clean ones. I’m a huge germaphobe—I couldn’t drink it. COULD NOT DRINK IT. I didn’t want to pay for another one and didn’t want to ask for a replacement, since it was entirely my fault. But man, I had really wanted that coffee, it was a treat like yours and I felt like such an idiot.
Our cat did not claw the furniture, but could not resist clawing my suitcase. It’s noticeably shredded on top. I have decided I don’t mind since I figure no one will mistakenly pick my suitcase off the luggage carousel anymore (this happened once before the shredding took place).
Mine did the same thing, last time I flew the airline had me sign something stating the suitcase was in that condition when they got it lol
1. I was having trouble pulling a gallon of milk out of the fridge, because there were things in the way. Rather than removing the containers of juice and homemade iced tea, I yanked the milk. Then I lost control of it and it dropped to the floor and dumped milk everyplace. I was so angry at myself for bringing this on by being lazy that I literally stomped my feet and screamed and ended up slipping and fell on my butt. My dogs rushed over…to start licking up the milk before I could clean it up. Since I have some mobility issues, it took time to get to my feet and by then my pants were filthy from milk and slobber. Wasted milk and made more laundry.
2. It was 26 below and I was too lazy to get out of the car to fuel up. My husband normally does this, but he was out of town for a week. So, I drove up to the non-self serve line, even though it costs a few cents more a gallon. The guy noticed the wheelchair in the back of the van and asked if it belonged to me. I explained that it did but that day I was fine, just lazy and cold. He said they don’t charge handicapped people the extra price…I tipped him just for being out in the cold to serve me. So, spent more than needed for gas, a frugal fail.
3. Managed to knock a roll of toilet paper into the toilet. Thank God it was clean water.
4. Our electricity has been going off, due to snow heavy tree branches breaking off onto power lines. I forgot that my oven’s default when there is a power failure is to go into the oven cleaning mode, locking the oven door. The cleaning feature ran clear through, a five hour process. The problem is that I had run it the day before…
Can’t think of a fifth thing right now.
Although it sucks to shell out the cash, proper vehicular maintenance is quite frugal. Ask your mechanic if any of the new parts come with a manufacturer’s warranty. Many of the expensive ones have at least 1 year. I drive a 17 year old car everyday and have a 54 year old in my garage.
Glad you’re back!
Only a few things:
1. The big one is that our handyman started on the pantry remodel I have been thinking about for 6 months. We have a nice big closet in the kitchen with shelves all the way across but the shelves are deep and close together and things go to the back, never to be seen again. It was impossible to keep organized and difficult to get things from the back even when they are visible. I expressed my desire for a different arrangement with words that don’t usually come out of my mouth-“I don’t care what it costs.” We spent quite a bit on lazy susans. I bought 6 and was only able to use coupons on 2 of them. Fortunately the handyman loves finding the thriftiest way to do things. He cut the shelves in half to make them more narrow and used the extra pieces to put short shelves on the sides. No wood was bought. If I can fit everything back in and then see it all and get to it, I am going to have a hard time feeling guilt about it.
2. We continue to spend way too much on food. I don’t know how two people and a gazillion animals can spend so much at the grocery store. I can’t figure out what is wrong so I can’t fix it.
3. The free dog that we adopted from my cousin as a favor when he (my cousin) got sick now has an allergy and an impending staph infection. Vet was visited and 2 medications were bought.
That’s all at the moment. I still haven’t recovered from the massive Jan. spending : the highest electric bill ever in my personal memory, two root canals, two crowns, cataract surgery and seemingly endless car repairs. I don’t know what we could have done about any of those except been colder for longer, but it all still hurts to remember.
1. Very happy to see the blog is up and running. Although I admire your frugal ways and you help to keep me on a frugal track, we are on opposite ends of the political spectrum and I thought you had blocked me!
2. My son has the meanest, most unsociable, and inappreciative cat ever. When they come to visit I put treats down on the floor and back up. The cat eats the treats, hisses at me, and walks away. He is a one person cat and I am not that person.
3. I drive a 2001 car which has 152K miles on it. DH’s truck is 7 years old with almost 200k miles, but is the more reliable of the two. We had to have repairs done on the truck that cost over $1400. Ouch.
4. We all have frugal fails at one time or another, but thank goodness we have frugal successes that allow us to cover the fails’ $$$. And sometimes it is just that stuff happens…
5. I am very close to spending my grocery budget for the month and it is only the 12th…
Am loving every single one of these comments. It does seem that teeth + old cars + cats/dogs + coffee fails = classic frugal fails. Or, in other words, life.
How nice to see my town here:) Gdansk for sure is worth every penny:)
I tried to buy some shoes from Nordstrom’s website, but the website went down. I ended up realizing that I don’t need new shoes. Frugal fail averted!!!
Probably a previous owner of the love seat had cats that marked it, making it a magnet for your cats. Unintended consequences of purchasing used fabric covered furniture.
Cats are suuuuch jerks. Zap has ruined our fancy custom-made window shades that we paid ~$700 for. Ugh.
Is there a bus, like Greyhound, your son could use to get home from school? Not as convenient for him, but saves a lot of driving!
I love the time together in the car.
1. I was sick and had to reschedule 12 clients.
2. Had Chinese take out.
3. Through out produce that didn’t get eaten in time.
4. While I was sick, a friend brought me some groceries. So kind of her but I don’t eat yoghurt or honeydew melon or use ricola cough drops. Very grateful for the thoughtfulness, just wish she had asked me what I needed……
5. That’s all I can think of right now.
3. threw out-I blame the nyquil
1. We have a loose downspout three stories up that rattles when it’s windy and rainy, and keeps my tenant awake. She says it sounds like a drill. I have been quoted $450 to have just this pipe replaced/reattached. We’ll have to pay it, as it’s far too hard for us to get to (and dangerous, as it’s so high).
2. I had lunch out three times this last week.
3. I have to have a tooth extracted. I do have dental insurance but it doesn’t pay for much. I’ll be seeing a periodontist for a quote on 3 implants. I’ve been told they range between $3-5k each.
4. DH and I took a walk downtown for exercise. I checked out the Eddie Bauer store, and bought a sweater and a hoodie that I didn’t actually need, but will wear. I paid around $75 for the two, regular price on the hoodie was $155, and the sweater,$65. I don’t think I have ever paid full price at EB.
I also drive an 18 year old car, a Subaru Outback, that runs fantastically. We maintain it well, and I hope to have it for many more years.
5. Just remembered. My cat is a diabetic, so his most recent blood work/checkup cost $500. His special canned food and insulin was another $175. It’s a good thing I love that big ol’ mummy’s boy!
I can definitely do the Frugal Fail thing.
1) Dog got very sick so dh called out the mobile vet ($165) to be told we need to take him to a vet that can x-ray, blood work, etc. We did minimal testing to figure out what was wrong while doing the in-patient hospital for 2 days. turns out it was cancer all over his lungs and we had to say good-bye. Devastating to all of us. And when we picked up his ashes we were presented with an $1100 bill.
2) Gymnastics meet in Nashville = 3 nights hotel, 2 very long drives, lots of meals out and the rodeo with her team was twice the cost they had originally said. But oh it was fun and she won floor, so yay! Plus combined it with a college tour and she loved the school.
3) Dh went to the store while I was out of town. Paid $0.79 each for yogurt, as well as way to much for everything he got. He did NOT get milk. So I could not cook my frugal last minute dinner (pancakes) when we rolled into town at 6:30 pm. I asked him to pick up milk on his way home so he stopped at the gas station and paid $4 for a gallon of almost expiring milk.
4) Ds’s college textbooks – $375 this semester. What is with having to pay over $100 for a “code” only?
5) Hit the discount grocery for mainly produce. Got mostly produce and my bill was $58. And I passed up on the beer and wine I was tempted to get!
Frugal fails
1. My husband has been sent home early for the past 2 days and since he is the sole provider in our household….that sucks!
2. I have to pay $400 to the federal gov for taxes due to having used a subsidized government health insurance plan last year…things they do not tell you when you sign up…
3. My husband picked up a bottle of children’s ibuprofen and did not use his Walgreens rewards card, so he bought a tiny bottle for $6……sigh
1. I made a new chicken dish for dinner that we both disliked. Also made some sort of risotto from a packet that was a free Friday from Kroger. Holy hell it was terrible. Free or not, I felt bad tossing the whole thing in the garbage.
2. My bosses suggested at the end of 2017 that we would be getting raises in January. But no, we did not.
3. Applied for a Kroger Mastercard to get a $75 statement credit. The day immediately following I got an offer for $100 credit to get the same card. They refuse to give me the better offer since I had already applied.
4. My office orders lunch for everyone once a month, but this time it was from a place that I loathe.
5. I knew that my attic needed better insulation when I bought my house, but I didn’t address it before winter. I regret it now.
Hi Katy
I have a great book about how to get cats to stop scratching and other jerky stuff
The Cat Whisperer by Mieshelle Nagelschneider.
I got it from out library before I bought it.
Thank you for inserting “antimacassars” into a sentence. I haven’t heard that word used for 50 years.
Thanks for the book recommendation, and yes, “antimacassars” is an excellent word.
My 2003 Honda Civic just rolled past 200,000. My husband and I decided no more repairs. I’m hoping it lasts a few more months to give me time to test drive more cars. We have our eye on a Honda HRV (which is like a civic but taller) but they are hard to find used since it’s a fairly new car.
My husband was pulling the car out of the garage, and he forgot that the truck was already in the driveway. He didn’t look when he was turning, the car’s bumper hooked on the truck’s bumper…and pulled mostly off. It will be over $1000 to replace — so I called the insurance company. We do not have rental car coverage, so we’l be out a vehicle for days.
On the plus side, the 1997 truck did not show any damage at all. And this is a good experience for my son, who is 15 1/2 and looking to get his license. He was the one who pulled the truck out of the car, under my supervision, and we discussed looking all around while you pull out. An object lesson! And when he does get his license and crashes the car, at least he’ll get sympathy for it.
Alas, FFFs is so easy this time:
1) Drove 14 hours round trip for a daughter’s 19th birthday. She’s having a rough time this first year and it seemed like the right choice. I think it was, but that’s a lot of time and gas, plus 6 meals out.
2) Asked her and her brother who lives nearby what they’d like to do for fun. Grocery shopping. It WAS fun, and we meal planned and price-compared for a couple of hours on a Saturday night, which was lovely, but it wasn’t cheap.
3) Birthday girl opted for dinner at a local Greek restaurant for the actual celebratory meal. It was terrible and crazily expensive. On the way out, we saw the sign that said: “Students: 50% off dinner only. Must show ID before ordering.” Uggghhhh.
4) Forgot to set up a pet sitter until the last minute, so paid about double what I would have if I’d planned better. At least it’s to a local kid we’re glad to support.
5) Got home to a freezing cold house – out of oil AGAIN. There is clearly something wrong with the furnace, but we’ve already had it serviced once this winter and I’m really hoping to just sell the damn house before I have to figure it out. Slept under a zillion blankets to save the $150 after-hours fee, but will have to pay extra to have the delivery guy come in and restart the furnace.
We were given 1% sale of a house based on improvements we helped with over the years. It was unexpected and a beautiful gesture. It has been burning a hole in my husband’s pocket ever since. He wants to get a family pass to LEGOLAND, the premium version of it. It comes with a free night at their Resort. But it doesn’t come in time for his week off work. He asked if we could shell out the $440 to get a Resort room during his week off. Ummm, no, never in my life am I agreeing to that. I have to reign this guy in!!! We’d really like to save this and our tax returns for a few years to get an in-ground pool, but I just can’t get my husband focused. Ahh!!!
We had a horrible thing happen to our van. During our Christmas vacation, our cooler leaked. We toweled it off and opened the doors and thought the floorboards dried out pretty well in SoCal when we got home. This week I pulled up the seat we had stowed in the floor boards and it is moldy all over. Bad! I wanted to trade the vehicle in, and husband wanted to wipe it down. I couldn’t agree to it, we compromised with hiring someone to switch the seat out for one we found on eBay. The eBayer said free shipping to anywhere with a loading dock, and my husband can do this at work. Hopefully it won’t be more than $500 out of pocket. I feel sick about this!
Had my in-laws for a visit. I love them, but I struggle with anxiety and depression so terribly. They push for a visit, and I push back because we’re homeschooling and it interrupts our schedule pretty bad, then they call my husband behind my back and push. We let them come. I really do love them but 4 visits a year is just too difficult in this stage of life. So to cope, I went to the store and bought enough prepared meals to span their visit. It’s not the nutrition we want or good to the budget, but helpful to my mental health. I probably sound like a jerk, but I lived with them for 4.5 years. It was tough. MIL thinks it’s her God-given duty to analyze and review with me my every move. I hate it, but I love her. It’s just tough.
Well, I have 3 not 5. Those 3 are depressing enough, but kind of therapeutic to put it all out there on the table.
Hi… I was in the same both w mil for 35 yrs….when it was just the two of us doing something she was fine but if another person was around the scrutiny began. I guess cause she had an audience. Caused a lot of problems in my marriage. When she went into hospice i stayed w her and she apologized profusely for how she treated me. I thought it was so sad. I would hate to be on my deathbed and have to apologize to people for how i treated them. It never had to be that way. The only advice i can give u is to try to ignore her…i know it’s not easy…walk away if u have to.
1) I’ve been focusing on being more positive, AND have been writing down my FFT’s so I could post them here, but now it’s FFF’s time.
2) The washer had a small leak. DH was certain he’d identified the part that was the culprit, so he ordered it, along with a possibly extra set of clamps, since the seller couldn’t say for installed if they were included with the hose (!) They were.
3) DH installed said hose and clamps, but still the washer leaked. He had to remove the housing (as, you know – the wife suggested he do the first time around?) and spent hours troubleshooting. Finally found the cause – an aging rubber gasket. He caulked around it with caulk we already had, so the hose purchase could have been avoided, too.
4) Meanwhile, when he was home troubleshooting the washer for two days, he wasn’t going to work. He’s self-employed, so not working =not getting paid. Usually his repairs save us money, but this time it would have been more cost effective to have hired an expert repairman.
5) Washer snafu was immediately followed by another cold snap, and since he’s currently renovating an unheated, uninsulated building, he lost another 3-4 days work.
6) I’m going to have to call a wahmbulance, and it won’t be covered by insurance.
Oh, dear! I *hate* weeks like that. I have them frequently, and it’s enough to turn a person to drink. In my case, coffee. Lots and lots of coffee, with the random mug of strong tea thrown in to keep my taste buds on their toes.
One of my plans to be more frugal seems to be back-firing on me a bit. I have grown increasingly depressed by the amount of money we have been spending on Christmas gifts these past few years. I’ve tried floating the idea that we stop exchanging gifts amongst the adults, and just buy for the kids, but that went nowhere fast. It isn’t really that we can’t afford it, but that I feel bummed out because it feels like we all just throw lots and lots of money at one another in the form of gifts that don’t have a lot of feeling behind them, if you know what I mean. So, I decided that this year, I want to give homemade gifts. It won’t decrease my gift list any, but if I make the gifts myself, there will be more feeling behind what I’m giving, anyway.
So, for some people I will be making knitted gifts. That’s fine, because I have an absolutely ginormous stash of yarn, so it won’t cost me anything but time. But for other people, I plan to make hand-embroidered linen kitchen towels, and for others, quilted table runners. The problem is, while I have plenty of embroidery floss on hand from the time 3 decades ago when I was doing counted cross stitch, I have no sewing materials/machine/supplies to speak of. And whoo boy, is that running into some bucks. Granted, I have found a lot of great patterns for free, and classes online for free, and even have some very pretty clothing items I plan to make for myself, also free. But holy crap, fabric and needles and special tools and this and that and every other blasted thing… even without the cost of a decent used sewing machine, this is running into a few hundred bucks. I had no idea it would be so expensive. But I suppose in the long run it will eve
n out? I hope?
On the plus side, the embroidery is going marvelously well and is also a heck of a lot of fun, so there’s cheap entertainment value there on top of being a source of gifts. And my husband seems mightily impressed by my unexpected skills, which amuses me to no end. You’d think I was recreating the Bayeux tapestry, the way he is acting. Heh.
1. Went out to dinner with friends I had not seen in a long time. At first, the venue was one with specials, but it got changed to a pricey steak restaurant and I had already committed to going. Overall we had fun, and I brought home leftovers, but forgot to ask for foil, and had to throw away another Styrofoam take home container. I hate those, and have no use for them.
2. DH is begging for another app on our tv. Apparently this one shows movies we can’t see anywhere on the apps we already subscribe to. I might give in. He can be relentless.
3. DD mentioned that my granddaughter loves bath bombs. Saw some in the store the other day, grabbed a couple of containers. Now I have to mail them. Hindsight says going onto a place with free shipping would have been wiser.
4. Getting ready for DH’s birthday. Either dinner out or friends over is what he really wants. Can’t decide, the $$$ is stressing me this year.
5. I had a coffee episode too: sleepy in the morning, reached for what I thought was cinnamon. Drank some, and my throat was burning. Realized I’d put cayenne pepper in the coffee instead. Threw it out.
I bet you weren’t sleepy after that!!
Frugal Fails aka “Why One Should Not Try to Fly to Buffalo in February” :
1) Only connecting flights to Buffalo from where we live. Second half of front end trip delayed past the point of reason for traveling with a 1st grader. Rental car #1 and 6 hour drive ahead.
2) Breakfast on the road the next morning since we were only half way to Buffalo hotel previously booked = $18 for three at golden arches. Heart disease in a brown bag please!
3) Originating and connecting flights on Sunday delayed or canceled so Rental Car #2 is reserved and we begin the 11 hour drive home. Hotel room and room service come into play at hour 6.
But this part is what makes ALL of it worth while:
We arrived in time to celebrate the 100th birthday of grandmother/great grandmother and see the whole fam damily!
ps – travel insurance will probably help cover some of it. A huge frugal high five to Dear Wife who got the insurance when we booked the trip.
I am glad you are back online, I love reading your blog. 🙂
to the people that have commented that they don’t like beans:
Perhaps it is only that you don’t like certain beans prepared certain ways. I would call myself a bean liker but I don’t care for some bean dishes. In general my husband likes beans but has not yet gotten to like garbanzo beans.
So glad you are up and running. I can’t get your posts to load from bloglovin. I never had this problem until you had yours.
any suggestions ?