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I stopped at the Dollar Tree store near my father’s house and was shocked with how empty the shelves were. I was there to stock up on bar soap, and ended up leaving with just a single bar of not-my-brand soap to hold me over until I could get to a different store. I asked the cashier why the store was so empty and she had no answer. The above photo is from a food aisle.
Dollar stores serve an important purpose for millions of Americans who rely on them for cheap household supplies and food. I know they’re not perfect, but it saddened me to see how neglected this store had become.
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I found a nickel and two pennies on the floor at Dollar Tree.
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I visited with my youngest at their apartment and came home with a handful of sealed ketchup packets that were about to be thrown away. It’s hard to get ahead financially when all your money is tied up in a small amount of ketchup.
I also brought home a hand held can opener that was no longer needed. I also have no need for it, but I can clean it up and offer it up in my Buy Nothing group.
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My sister is visiting again from New York, but I didn’t spend any money to get our spare bedroom ready for her. I simply moved a pretty potted plant into her room, washed the bedding and ran the robo vacuum — which was all that was needed to spruce the room up.
Reminder of the cute duvet that I thrifted last year for the room!
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I didn’t buy an election and I don’t have 13 children with four different women.
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Our local Dollar Tree went through this right before Christmas. They cleared most of the shelves and most people thought they were closing. Instead, a month later they moved everything around and introduced a big section of (slightly) better quality items in the $5 to $8 range. The store is pretty much fully stocked again. Hopefully that’s all they are doing at your store.
Now that we have a Daiso here in town, we do most of our five & dime style shopping there. Slightly more expensive with items ranging from $1.75 to $20, but the quality is so much better on most of those items.
1. Cut husband’s hair.
2. Husband cut my hair. We find if we do small trims every month, it keeps it from seeming like such a monumental task.
3. Ketchup packets must be having a season. I opened a drawer to find A LOT of them, so sat myself down right then and emptied them into the ketchup container. I probably saved 2 cents but it makes me happy not to throw an edible item away.
4. Cut and hemmed a too short shirt dress and turned it into shirt. I am tall enough that shirts often are too short for my comfort, so this one is nice and long.
5. Convinced a friend who was summarily laid off last week to sign up for food boxes now, rather than waiting until he was totally out of money. He can use his food budget to keep the lights on instead, or pay part of his rent, whatever. He is paralyzed with fear that as an older guy he won’t be hired by anyone, and he is too old to be able to stand for hours to do fast food work. He doesn’t own a car so can’t do gig work. Meanwhile, while I stopped by the food bank to help him enroll, they said they got a huge donation of eggs, so I came home with a dozen fancy free range eggs.
Lindsey, thank you for helping your now-unemployed friend. Food boxes now will help his resources last. While I’m well aware that ageism does indeed exist, I hope he can find employment soon (my DH was unemployed at age 51, due to funding drying up for the non-profit he worked for, and was passed over for many new positions due to his age – though that wasn’t ever the stated reason. Friends have experienced similar situations).
My brother was laid off from his software development job a few years ago. Couldn’t find anything else. (Tech is brutal to older people.) Finally I redid his resume to take jobs from 1984 off and left off the date of his college graduation. In any case, he was rehired by his previous employer. Sheesh.
Age discrimination is scary. About ten years ago I worked for a software company where I was the oldest person on staff by about 20 years. Yeah. They were all about diversity, but whenever I brought up that employees who aren’t 25 contribute to diversity too, they didn’t want to hear.
I mostly agree with you re: tech BUT if you are a mainframe programmer, aka dinosaur, there will be work. COBOL will keep you gainfully employed, assembler makes you a hot commodity, regardless of age.
Even if my employer decides to convert their main system off the mainframe it would be a minimum 3 year effort, providing there is short term and long term money to the current staff. If not, a five year effort.
I’ve been fortunate enough to have made good money “losing” my job. In a few months, I can decide to pay COBRA for a year (doubt if my employer will belly up) until I hit 65. I highly doubt any puke politician has the cajones (well none of them do, couldn’t field a pair between the house and the senate) to touch Medicare and Social Security for those already on it or close to being on it. However they have no qualms about screwing future generations.
Good luck with your plans! We found the Healthcare Marketplace/ACA to be much cheaper than COBRA, though your circumstances may be different.
This is a free seminar put on by AARP. I do not think one has to be a member.
https://www.aarp.org/aarp-foundation/our-work/income/back-to-work-50-plus.html
I meant to add-it’s all about finding a job after 50.
Please tell your friend not to give up on job hunting. I know it is not easy, but there are jobs out there. (Hint: I speak from personal experience of job hunting when I was in my 50s).
I’ve had rotten luck finding employment after 40-something, and yes, age discrimination is a real thing. (Remove all mention of years and ages from your resume and dye your hair so no gray shows.) Therefore, I recommend your friend look into substitute teaching. Different states and school districts have different requirements, but ours lets people with 2 yrs of college start subbing. They are desperate for “subbies”. Try to get into school(s) that are not hotbeds of crime, such as a suburb district. The daily pay rate is good and you do not have to be on your feet. Today, most schools have kids working on i-pads so you just call roll, maintain discipline and sit in a chair. The kids I sub for tell me I’m “cool”, and I just love them all.
If your buddy has some kind of math or science degree, they are desperate for teachers to teach those subjects (and often pay more), so he may inquire about how to get an alternative teacher certification qualifying him to be a full-time teacher in STEM subjects. Foreign languages are also in hot demand. It may be in a rural school or urban district, though.
I only have credentials in history and English, and it took me almost -forever to get on full time, but after 7 years, I got a FT job. But the job paid well. I just had to do summer school at a junior college and pass some exams and I was suddenly “highly qualified” in our state.
The rest of the time, I have subbed and usually supplement that with other “grunt jobs” (insurance offices, retail, call centers, selling things etc.)…and cobbled together a good living for myself, albeit not as good as it was in my original career. If you can’t get one big job, try for 2 or more little ones.
One caveat: some states do not pay into Social Security but have their own teacher retirement schemes, so check with SS first before committing yourself. The last thing you want is to have them dock your SS bc you are getting a teaching pension! Being older, I ended up having enough SS quarters so this did not affect me, but that’s not the case for everyone.
I understand Home Depot often likes to hire “gray” as do call centers, and a lot of folks make $$$ selling online, mowing lawns, doing handyman work, repairing things, etc. Check craigslist for ideas.
Oh, and Goodwill Industries not only helps disabled people but also disadvantaged people. They consider unemployed folks to be in the latter category. I got help searching for jobs, writing resumes, practicing job interviewing and updating my computer skills with Goodwill; in fact, they gave me more help than the local Workforce agency did. They even sponsored job fairs and dress for success seminars. So check with them to see what your local GW can offer you.
Thanks for the info about Goodwill industries. Husband has been mainly unemployed for nearly a year. 64 year old carpenter seems to not a commodity!
Thank you for some suggestions I had not thought of and will pass on to him.
Katy, people are catching on and those with a higher income (for the moment) are shopping at dollar stores. The same big shift happened with the Great Recession.
I scoped out the online ad and went today to Ollie’s Outlet, fave clearance store of A. Marie as well. The bath soap was all gone, as was the Palmolive dish detergent. I bought cat litter, chewies for the dogs, tomato sauce, vanilla extract, dried chopped onions, granola bars and some chocolate and used a 10% off coupon.
Stopped at Aldi, found a dime in the parking lot, got 50% off a loaf of bread, and bought butter, more bread, Italian sausage and a couple of gluten-free items.
Ordered some bias tape for a sewing project from eBay, from which I bought the pattern and the vintage fabric. Am reading a thrifted book for book club.
My husband shared that the Wall Street Journal reported that the largest growing group of shoppers at Walmart are household incomes over $10000
Is that 10K monthly? Or supposed to be 100K annually?
Everybody loves a bargain….
FFT, Shopping at Ollie’s with Ruby Edition:
(1) The winter weather in Central NY continues with only a few breaks. I used one of these breaks Saturday morning to nip down to my own Ollie’s and use my 15% off Presidents’ Day coupon for various things. Since I no longer have any warehouse club membership, it’s Ollie’s for me. (Sam’s Club is owned by the obscenely rich Walton family that also owns Walmart; I have a personal issue with BJ’s; the only Costco in my area is on the other side of the county; and as a single woman, I don’t need most things in club-size quantities anyway.)
(2) I was at Ollie’s too early on Feb. 15 for the Valentine’s candy to have been marked down. So I grabbed some Hershey’s chocolate Santas (and shared these with NDN, who has a sweet tooth).
(3) For the time being, I’m fortunate to have ample supplies of some things folks are reporting having trouble finding. In particular, I tend to get a lot of fancy bath soaps as gifts, since my friends know my weakness for them. And I’d rather have soaps and other consumables/usables than bric-a-brac. (See also Lindsey and her requests for toilet paper!)
(4) I’ve spent the last two days of house arrest (a lake effect snowstorm plus high winds) decluttering and cooking. I made a split pea soup and a loaf of bread machine potato bread, and have shared these with the Bestest Neighbors and NDN.
(5) And I continue to work my way through the list of issues on 5calls.org (thanks again to Cheryl for this link). Today, I put out the word in support of the NSF and NIH to my House rep and Senators, and in opposition to DOGE’s illegal data breach to my state attorney general. It feels good to be actually speaking out.
A Marie – your continued action on 5calls.org makes me happy each time I read it! Thank you and Keep fighting!
1. Hosted a girls night at my house last night to make signs for today’s protest.
Used poster board, stick on letters, paint and markers I already had. A fun free night.
2. Attended the protest today with friends. Exercised my constitutional rights, shook my sign, got some exercise and had fun catching up while protesting oligarchs.
3. Made stock overnight in the crock pot with leftover rotisserie chicken carcass.
4. Turned part of the stock into chicken noodle soup for lunch
5. Dinner will be leftovers.
Thank you, Julia, for speaking out! You rock!
So do you, A. Marie, for calling and complaining.
And to the poster who told us about 5calls.org.
Maybe if we all speak out, something will happen….eventually.
Well Done Julia!! Our Founding Mothers, and Sisters are looking down with pride!
I switched my cat food and litter autoship from Amazon to Chewy. Chewy had coupons for all the things I needed, and between that and the autoship discount I saved almost $20.
I bought eggs on Friday so I could use Ibotta’s any brand egg offer for $2.50 cash back. It’s available every Friday this month.
I made a pot of tortilla soup and had leftovers for days.
I have a free month of Amazon Prime because someone else in the household signed up for the free trial. I’m making the most of it by watching several movies and short series that are only available on Prime.
Chewy has excellent customer service, too. When my friend informed them to stop autoship because of her dog’s death, they sent her a bouquet of flowers.
They sent us flowers when our dog died, too. I thought that was such a sweet gesture.
Chewy was so kind and responsive when our very old boy cat passed away — we had a number of prescriptions for him through their pharmacy — and also when I contacted them about stopping mailings to my deceased brother. Excellent customer service is like a super power these days.
We just finished a free month of Prime. I make a habit of immediately marking our calendar for a few days before it expires so I don’t forget to cancel it.
Thank you, Elizabeth! I’ve been thinking about moving from Amazon to Chewy or PetSmart, and when I went online last night to compare prices I was shocked at the price difference. You’ve convinced me to make the switch.
1. Earned $13 from bringing books and an audiobook to Half-Price Books.
2. Sister treated me to lunch. I got a foot-long veggie hoagie and ate the whole thing in 10 minutes flat, ignoring my stainless steel doggy bag container that I bring everywhere. Had a small dinner that night.
3. Wearing a headband and neck gaiter in the house for extra warmth, especially in the morning while the house heats up.
4. My flair pen is running out of ink, so I now store it upside down to keep the ink flowing a bit longer.
5. Drinking hot chocolate at home using packets of Starbucks mix (with no unpronounceable mystery ingredients) that I bought at a steep discount. I stretch each one-serving packet into four servings made with whole milk. Divine!
1. We cleaned refrigerator out of the odds and ends of leftovers for dinner last night
2. Started cardio rehab today. Zero co pay
3. Used CVS rewards to purchased TP. 9 jumbo rolls cottonelle for $8.51
4. Used bath and body works birthday rewards and gift card
5. Submitted receipts to Fetch and aisle for rewards
1. My husband is switching from his usual sandwich-a-day as his work lunch (homemade bread and sandwich made at home) to taking beans and rice for work twice a week. As a Brit he eats a lot of bread but he’s motivated to save money. He was very surprised that beans and rice (dried beans cooked at home) were cheaper than homemade bread. Today we are cooking a large batch and freezing it in portions.
2. When I close the blind in the kitchen in the evening (always the one that I notice first) I’m making a habit of going around the rest of the house and closing all the curtains. It helps with heating costs.
3. Picked up a free-by-the side-of-the-road children’s book rack and just cleaned it up. Will list this afternoon. Selling steadily for my kids.
4. Picked up some fun magazines and blackout curtains from Buy Nothing. Also received some fresh produce from BN. Using the blackout curtains to help with insulating windows and prevent heat loss. We have a 1960 front door with a large pane of glass (single thickness). We have an insulated curtain we pull across the door in the evening. It helps tremendously. This is standard in many European countries.
5. Attended a volunteer orientation at local state park. My husband came along and hiked for free. I brought home leftover cookies for him from it. After only 8 hours volunteering we get a free park pass.
I had a portiere in my 1820 house. Helped insulate the original front door and a super easy fix.
@Rose, well thank you, thank you so VERY much for the history lesson prompt.
I have now spent more time than I would like to admit ‘researching’ and know how to install a “Rising Portiere”.
I don’t (yet) know where to get the hardware – save for numerous places in England – but at least this is a start. SO cool!
I wonder how the orange slug’s tariffs will affect dollar stores. Probably pretty badly, sorry to say. Doesn’t most of that stuff come from China?
Eddie Izzard, the comedian, in one of the old routines said, “That cnut Thatcher….” (You can figure out what was really said.) Then “I’m sorry for using that word… Thatcher.” Kind of how I feel about the dummy in chief.
1. Made Jamaican cock soup last night. Laugh all you want but it’s delicious!
2. Am about to try to unblock kitchen sink via unscrewing the U-bend pipes. If the news tonight reports on a devastating Long Island flood, that’s me.
3. Applying for a ridiculously well paid ghostwriting book job. I am the perfect person, but gotta convince the client of that!
4. Errr….
5. That’s about it, I think.
Dollar Trees are habitually understaffed, which anyone working there will tell you (and are usually complaining about, rightfully). They get trucks of shipments every week and don’t have the people to get things on the shelves. There’s often one or maybe two people working at any given time ar the Dollar Trees I stop at, telling people that they’ll likely restock later that week when they have time.
I will keep my eyes on news 12 for the story of flooding out East.
Rose,
I hope you get the ghostwriting gig! I just know you can convince that client. If you don’t get flooded out of your house first. 🙂
I’ve been eating popcorn and applesauce, I’ve got a bunch of it.
Monster mush has a trans daughter that calls him a serial adulterer and says she only finds out about her new siblings on social media.
*madconsumeradversary*
Took me a minute to figure out you were talking about M*sk and his m*skrats!!!
1. I patched a hole in one of my pillowcases.
2. My bookclub book isn’t available on Libby in time for the meeting date, so I dropped by a thrift shop and found a copy there.
3. I’m working through my stash of hotel soaps and shampoos before I buy new stuff.
4. The pizza smelled so good at my local pizza joint, but I kept walking and when I got home I made my own pizza! (I cooked it on a free-pile pizza stone.)
5. I didn’t get bamboozled by any orange fascists.
Katy, re your #5: I don’t have 13 children either – or any, for that matter. I came across an interview where Musk said he was doing his part to help the declining birth rate in the U.S. and encouraged others to do the same. Maybe the new administration will force women to give birth in pursuit of its economic goals.
I read the really awful Daily Mail out of London and they had an article a few yrs ago that said he was having all the children because he’s so intelligent. Gross.
Oh yes he thinks he has super sperm. And yet another in your face, factual hypocrisy of the “religious right”. If an NBA basketball player, Hollywood celebrity, or say, George Soros was being nothing but a sperm donor, Mikey and his holier than thou hypochristians would be squealing – yes you guessed it – like Ned Beatty in Deliverance.
1. My office had Pita Way catered one week ago and there were still leftovers in the fridge. People lose interest after a weekend. I took home the hummus and rice for myself which I felt was still good after a week, and all the gyro meat for my dog, whose standards are lower than mine.
2. Sold a set of 9 books and a shirt on Marketplace, and three tops on ebay.
3. Bath & Body Works mailed me a coupon for a free item, no purchase necessary. I stopped in when I was in that area and picked out a free body wash.
4. I walked up to our library sale and bought a handful of children’s books for a quarter each, and two quilting books that looked promising for $1 each.
5. We’ve gotten a bunch of snow several days this week, so shoveling has been my free exercise, which I don’t mind doing.
Here’s a tiny frugal thing I am curious about: what will happen when pennies are no longer produced? Will we Non-consumers gradually find that there are no longer so many pennies abandoned on the sidewalks for us to pocket? It will be interesting.
Or the take-a-penny, leave-a-penny dishes at checkouts, especially gas stations and restaurants?
I think it was Jerry Seinfeld who said that the person who invented those would be rich if s/he got royalties from transactions in those dishes.
They stopped producing them in Canada several years ago. If you pay in cash, they round the price up or down to the nearest nickel. If you pay by credit or debit card, it’s as though pennies still exist.
That duvet is just lovely.
1. DH was still recovering from day surgery, so I took a friend to the free Valentines Day event at the library. We learned the history of Valentines Day, stories of famous couples down through the ages, aphrodisiacs, romantic and funny poems and indulged in handmade chocolate bark with added dried cranberries, chocolate dipped apricots (both an aphrodisiac) and Godiva dark chocolate hearts. A great night!
2. Grandson17 with the Valentines Day birthday loved his homemade cake. I also gave him some money because…17.
3. I cut DH’s hair. I put a drop or two of oil on my buzzer every other time I use it and it stays very sharp.
4. I went to CVS the day after Valentines Day and used a coupon for $4 off anything to buy a heart shaped box full of Hershey Kisses. It had been marked 50% off and the coupon covered it so it was free. I brought it to my friend in the nursing home and it made her very happy.
5. There is something repugnant about a very wealthy man taking USAID away from malnourished children and spreading his seed amongst four women (for now) for the sake of producing more of his own offspring.
I saw a news broadcast where it said that by Elon getting rid of the foreign aid agency, we have the spectacle of “The richest man in the world taking food from the poorest children in the world.”
It really is a spectacle. Just when I think I’ve heard everything from the co-presidents, some new decision made by them emerges and another cruelty against humanity takes form.
We bought my daughter’s wedding veil. It was the floor sample so we saved $200. They discontinued it. There is one spot where there are a few beads missing. My friend said she can fix it. She is a seamstress and is altering my daughter’s dress for us. We are paying her. I would rather the money go to someone I know and trust.
Hubby had never gone to Savers, so we went on Saturday. I am trying to replace baking dishes. I got 2 Pyrex glass ones. I also got a lidded glass container for my daughter’s bridal shower. I will fill it with chocolate kisses and people will guess how many. I got dominoes and several flash card games for the lady I help. Hubby got a vest. I had a 20% off coupon for clothing.
I got a bag of soon to expire food from my buy nothing group:3 cans of tomato, rice a roni, oatmeal, crackers, 2 cans of chicken and a can of tuna. We will eat all of it.
I got 5 lbs of grapes that were on sale for 99¢ a pound. I also grabbed carrots while I was at the store.
Walmart had holiday shampoo/conditioner packs on clearance for $3.24. I bought 3.
1) I used the holiday from work today to have a cooking day. I made chickpea salad for sandwiches, beans and greens using frozen cooked beans from the freezer and a bunch of rainbow chard that came in my produce box, whole wheat banana muffins using bananas from the freezer, and will make kfc bowls for dinner since we have a lot of potatoes (I’ll have beans over mine instead of chicken).
2) My kids are off school this week, we are taking a short trip at the end of the week but I’m doing free activities with them until then. So far we’ve gone on a bike ride through mud puddles (daughter got covered in mud but was so happy, worth the minimal cost to run the washer again!) and we went to a playground today. Tomorrow we will go for a hike and to the library.
3) I usually just get books from the library for all of us but there is a series my son loves reading over and over. He likes to read them in bed before going to sleep and I want to encourage that, so purchased some of them used. The used book website I found had them for about $3-$4 each and if you bought 3 you got the 4th one free, plus shipping was free so it wasn’t too much and books aren’t something I want to skimp on.
4) I’ve been trying to combine trips more, it helps too that my daughter likes to get out of the house every day and stay out as long as possible (son prefers to stay home) so yesterday after her swim lessons we stopped to get gas, pickup some groceries and then return some books to the library.
5) Like a commenter yesterday, we also have a Tesla and are trying to decide what to do with it. We generally like to keep our cars as long as possible, it’s paid off and it’s only about 6 years old but we can’t stand owning it now given everything that Elon has done. I assume no one wants to buy these things now (especially here in California) but might be worth the peace of mind to sell it for whatever we can get for it.
During Bike Week in Daytona Beach every year, a bar sells tickets for an event in which you take a sledge hammer and beat up a Japanese-made motorcycle. Hard-core bikers buy tickets and are given the sledge hammer to take X number of hits on the Yamaha or Honda and when it’s destroyed, the event is over. Perhaps you could do that with your Tesla and make some money; after all Elon doesn’t have too many fans, and in coming weeks, I’m sure his popularity will plunge even more. Or, perhaps you could sell your Tesla to some organization (a federal employee union? environmental group? patriots protesting against Musk and Trump?) that will sponsor this as a moneymaking deal. LOL!
Anon–I LOVE this idea!
1. One of my best friends was visiting Colorado Springs so we met at a brewery, along with our husbands, and enjoyed some appetizers yesterday afternoon. It was so good to see her (she lives in Oregon and I live in Colorado) and they nicely paid for our food. And then gave us the leftovers to enjoy for our dinner tonight.
2. We headed to our local state park with our grandson for a very brisk walk – real feel was 16 degrees – and spot some eagles. Used our state park pass and saw one. (Of course, we always bring our own snacks and drinks)
3. Our Kroger stores are on strike and I don’t want to cross the picket lines. My next closest grocery store is about 20 miles away but it’s worth the drive for me. So I dusted off my Safeway card and will shop there – hopefully finding some good sales and loss leaders.
4. Got a ticket to the Botanic Garden for one of their free days. I enjoy visiting at this time of year because it is the Orchid Festival. They are beautiful and smell so good.
5. Trying to keep up with preventative health care and my chart showed I was due my tetanus shot. Done.
1. Partner ended up with a free CSA mushroom share (someone didn’t pick it up) so he brought it home. SO many mushrooms! I cut up and dried the shiitake and lion’s mane. I’ll turn the lion’s mane into powder, which makes a fantastic addition to soups and stews for its umami.
2. We were going to Ocean State to pick up a couple of items (spices) when I checked my email and saw that they had a coupon for 40% back over $30 (in the form of a gift card). We added a number of items (like jam, walnuts & Drano). A few other items (bird seed) we did not get the 40% back, so I’ll return all of those and use the balance from the gift cards to pay for them.
3. While at Ocean State, I also saw whole grain Dijon mustard for $2 per jar and if you spent $10, you got $10 back in a gift card. So I got 5 jars for free.
4. Signed up for a quick grocery store mystery shop. I’ve gone through the circular and identified items that are on sale, which will make the shop worth even more $.
5. Got a pack of chicken wings from FlashFoods; drank coffee at home or free from work; stopped at BJ’s to fill up gas, saving $0.30 per gallon; repatching 2 pairs of pants so that I can continue to wear them; went out for a lunch date rather than a dinner date. I drank water.
‘It’s hard to get ahead financially when all your money is tied up in a small amount of ketchup.’
I love your humor and writing….
I suffer from trying not to spend money and then grocery shopping with my boyfriend who I lovingly call bogo when at the grocery store. I tried to stop him from putting bogo Pam cooking spray in the cart but he insisted we will use them….you know after the three can we already have.
I mostly suffer from hungry people in my house and maintaining the pantry lately. We also seem adverse to eating in in the last week or two. For some reason I do all the cooking….somehow we survive.
If you’re ever in Northern Vermont, I have SO much bar soap left over from my days working at a soap factory (I was allowed to take home as much as I wanted, and that’s exactly what I did). I have given away so much, and it seems to barely make a dent!
1. I’ve had Covid for the past week so didn’t go anywhere or spend anything. Used my free test kit.
2. Before falling ill, I picked up eggs at TJ’S. It was Friday so I got the $2.50 from Ibotta.
3. I let my daughter use my credit card to pay for a new windshield. My card offered 10% cash back from Safelite. She payed me back minus the discount.
4. I contributed the max to my HSA.
5. I cleared my own driveway. I sold a few items on Ebay. I’m reading a library book on my Kindle. I canceled Apple TV.
1. My nice former roommate and forever friend, now living out of state, phoned and asked if I got my package. What package? Turns out what I’d thought was flooring items was a box from her for both my birthday and Valentine’s. I got 2 boxes of chocolate and 2 cards. One card says “Don’t think of it as being 70. Think of it as being seven perfect 10’s!” (Like the Olympics gymnastics’ scores.) So I will!
2. I haven’t taken advantage of this yet, and may or may not do it, but a friend at church has offered to pay for my next dog. Some “free” dogs now have expensive “rehoming fees”. My friend doesn’t want me to be lonely, so she has offered to pick up the tab when I pick up the pooch.
3. This friend also gave me the name of her handyman who can install lights. And is reasonably priced. Hopefully, no more burned-out old 60 y.o. lights dangling from the ceiling like a loose tooth.
4. Sadly, a friend emailed me to let me know my college roommate’s (different roommate/friend from #1) dad has died. They live more than 200 miles away, so I can’t go there in the winter weather. Was able to send an e-card sympathy meditation right away and make a phone call. Back when we were in college, long-distance phone calls cost an arm and a leg; I’m so happy they are now free (included in basic phone service).
5. Moved some of the furniture out of the room where my flooring is to be installed. In the process, I found several items that had been lost.
Happy Birthday! So many people seem to be turning 70 lately, including my DH in January. 1955 must have been a popular time to have a baby but then again, it was in the midst of the Baby Boom.
1. Cold and snowy weather played a part in my money -saving this weekend by keeping me indoors. I didn’t go to my grandson’s volleyball tournament, and I didn’t go out to eat with a friend.
2. A Goodwill trip garnered three Rubbermaid containers in the small sizes I need most.
3. Enjoyed two pizza dinners this weekend, one at my son’s house, and one at a friend’s. Never too much pizza, especially if it’s free!
4. Got a free bottle of Fairlife lactose -free milk from a friend who didn’t like the taste.
5. I didn’t fire thousands of hard-working people to show what a powerful hard-ass I am.
1. There was a hole in one of my slippers. I sewed it up. Even though I have other slippers, these were a favorite pair because they go up a bit over my ankle for when I’m really cold. So now this pair can live on!
2. Valentines dinner was at home. My husband is a great griller and grilled us an amazing steak. We had broccoli, and potatoes also. And for dessert he made a pound cake with homemade whipped cream and mashed strawberries and homemade chocolate covered strawberries. It was better than anything we could have eaten at a restaurant. And much less expensive. I made him a card. He bought me a card and a small box of Ferrero Rocher as a joke because I had just said, “I can’t imagine anyone liking Ferrero Rocher enough to buy a whole box.” I mean – I’m going to eat them – I won’t let them go to waste!
3. Made some 3 ingredient protein bagels with Greek yogurt that was slightly expired rather than throw the yogurt out. Have eaten half of them and have half in the freezer for later.
4. Just darned my first sock. I was inspired by Katy’s darned sock. I realized I have the same socks and there was a hole in one of them. I didn’t have a darning egg but I had a ping pong ball. I watched a tutorial on YouTube. It feels kind of like a rebellion to not be putting money into the economy right now. “I don’t need to buy your stinking new wool socks, Bezos. I’ll just mend the ones I own.”
5. Went to a Galentines event where we were going to be painting a coaster. It was located at a restaurant. Most people got a meal but I checked out the menu beforehand and nothing really looked good. I ended up eating some homemade soup at home and just ordered a side salad for $4 at the restaurant.
An old lightbulb works well as a darning egg too!
Your Valentines dinner sounds amazing, especially the dessert. Can you tell I have a sweet tooth? You’re so lucky to have a husband who is a good cook. My DD and my DIL both have husband’s who love to cook. I tell them they don’t know how lucky they are!
1. Took our kids to tour a potential school. Accepted the free meal that came with it. Kids each got a t-shirt and notebook too.
2. Drove to my sister’s and accepted her offer if a meal instead of getting fast food.
3. Gave my nephew a Thrifted sloth stuffed animal for his b-day. He’s obsessed with sloths!
4. Went thrifting with friends. Bought some clothes for us and a lamp to resell.
5. Hoping to borrow a book from my sister
1. I trash picked a Madeleine Thompson cardigan. I looked it up and they retail for 500$ I saw some on eBay for 150$. I may try to sell this cashmere beauty. My husband knows how to list on eBay so he can help me.
2. My husband found a huge amount of coffee in plastic cannisters in the Dol Gen dumpster. He also found Keurig coffee & hot chocolate pods.
3, We were getting low on cat food. The Dol Gen dumpster yielded a 24 count box of Friskies wet cat food. The cats are feasting on this.
4. My husband’s fleece long underwear were stretched out in the waist. I took them in 2 ” on my sewing machine. Now they fit again.
5. I got a haircut for 10$ at the local beauty school. I hadn’t had a cut since Nov. It was time.
The dumpster diving has me intrigued!
Glad to hear that you’re still on a hot streak with dumpster diving, Texasilver. I haven’t been able to make it down through the snowdrifts to any of my hot spots in weeks.
We booked an Airbnb for Mon -Wed in a small mountain town with hot springs. On the way (13 miles shy of destination) hit a rock that damaged transmission fluid pan. Airbnb host directed us to small garage. Nice folks. Eager to help. Long story short, can’t get part until Thurs or Fri at the EARLIEST.
Pet sitter ok to extend. Airbnb too.
No uber or taxis.
Paid receptionist $20 to drive us to house.
Packed food to last until wed.
We can walk to 2 restaurants and the springs although 13-30 degrees.
Quite the unexpected adventure.
Working on finding a ride to convenience store 2 miles away as grocery store 35 min drive. We want to stock up and keep restaurant meals to 1x per day max.
Grateful for all our frugal living and savings because we can absorb this.
Dear friends have been without power for 7 days in this cold.
We are warm and cozy, just inconvenienced.
Day late and a dollar short, but here I am anyways.
#1 – Was out running errands on Valentine’s Day, and had a lupper at Hoss’s- since we got there at 3:55, I could get the salad bar for $9.99. Our bill was less than $30 for the two of us.
#2- One of those errands was searching for clothes, and bought only secondhand items; spent a whopping total of $30 for a much-needed work blouse, 100% cotton t-shirt, jeans, and rain jacket.
#3 – Didn’t leave the house for 3 days because I didn’t want to spend any gas.
#4 – Subbed for my grandma at cornhole, for free.
I’d check out John Oliver’s take on Dollar Stores. It is fascinating. They may not be employing enough staff to keep your particular store’s shelves stocked.
Hope all of our northeast friends are staying safe and warm. This storm is wild and the wind won’t quit.
1. Drove home last night from Canada and stopped to charge the car where there was a Sbarro’s. Not cuisine, but hot food sounded great in 6F weather. We were there 10 minutes before closing so they gave us a free extra slice each. Pizza for breakfast this morning was great.
2. Our trip to the mountains was lovely – we had a night out and otherwise packed lunches and made meals at home. Our friends are big on sharing food so we all ate well and had a lovely time.
3. It’s 25 degrees out but the “feels like” temp is 6. I ain’t leaving the house today. We have all the meals and snacks we could ask for in here.
4. Boiling water on the stove to humidify the air – we are steaming up the windows but are comfortable. Adding a little heat as well to our little apartment.
5. I didn’t buy any souvenirs or unnecessary new ski gear on my trip (although I was tempted – so many cute sweaters!)
My oldest attends college 40 miles from home and lives in the dorm, which includes a meal plan and “bucks” that can be used for non cafeteria meals, or in our case to treat his visiting family. The bucks expire at the end of the year, and he has not used any yet, so I’m on a mission to get it used up before mid-May.
1. Saturday I took his sister down to visit, and he bought us lunch in the cafeteria.
2. The 3 of us attended the college basketball game. His student ID gets him and one guest in free, and we paid $5 for the third ticket.
3. Parking at his dorm was $14, rather than $20 for the parking garage by the game, and my 12 year old loved getting to check out campus. (I could have saved another $4, but I chose all day parking thinking the game would run longer than it did)
4. We sat down and looked at the list of where he can use the “bucks”, and saw that the campus convenience store takes them. We made a plan that anything left by the second week of May he will shop the store for quick meals he can use during summer school.
5. He’s moving home for the summer and will commute to summer school. He’s hoping to get the 2 classes he needs knocked out in the first 5 week session, fingers crossed he can get both classes on the same days so he only has to drive to campus twice a week.