Five Frugal Things -- Division Street Food
1. My Husband and I spent an afternoon walking down Portland's S.E. Division Street in the name of enjoying a series of small treats. For those outside the area, Division Street has become a central area for small restaurants and dessert spots. Especially for desserts!
First up was this taco plate from Taqueria Bravos Tacos. Okay, perhaps not a "small treat," but I got outvoted and the two of us shared everything. It was every bit as delicious as it looked. I think we paid $14.95 before tip.
Next up was this slice of banana chocolate cream pie from Lauretta Jean's, which was also a top tier choice. Again, we shared it which helped to dull the $10 cost for the slice plus my husband's coffee.
This dessert spot consistently has a line down the block, but is actually worth the wait. However, this is only the second time that I've indulged, as I'm a bit of a cheapskate and "we have dessert at home!"
Our last stop was Blue Star Donuts, where we shared this blueberry bourbon basil donut that I think was around $6. Yes, you read that right! Luckily it was delicious, with a fresh cake base and a flavorful icing top. Will I return? Unlikely, as my brain simply cannot compute a single donut being a dollar more than an entire Costco rotisserie chicken!
Total cost of our afternoon was $30.95 before tipping, which actually isn't that bad considering that it also included a lovely walk on a sunny January afternoon.
2. I donated $133.60 to The Oregon Food Bank, which was the amount I profited in January from selling thrifted Goodwill items for the $100 Goodwill Gift Card Challenge. I still have a $50.15 balance on the card and will get myself to the Goodwill Outlet bins this week for some fresh inventory. Hopefully high value inventory!
3. I made a nice big batch of okonomiyaki for last night's dinner. This savory egg and cabbage pancake is a traditional Japanese dish and worked perfectly to make good use of the 99¢ eggs that I picked up last week.
Yummy, cheap, healthy and easy!
4. My husband switched out our normal light switch to a dimmer for our downstairs bedroom. I recently decluttered and rearranged this room to serve as a den/TV room, but hated the brightness of the ceiling lights. Now we can watch TV in the evenings without the force of a thousand suns beaming down upon us.
The cost of the dimmer switch was $17 and the labor was free. I'm sure we could've sourced a cheaper one, but chose instead to support the locally owned neighborhood hardware store.
5. I ran a couple loads of laundry through our wash for our daughter, which helps her save her hard earned dollars. I love helping our kids save money!
Now your turn, what frugal things have you been up to?
Katy Wolk-Stanley
"Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without."
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That food looks amazing!!!
1. It is very cold for here so I have not left the house except to take the garbage out for tomorrow’s pickup. Not driving anywhere equals frugal. I did not leave yesterday either.
2. I took a nap because it is the weekend and it is COLD.
3. I made coleslaw, potato salad, turnip greens mixed with mustard greens, bbq chicken legs, yesterday to eat this weekend.
4. I plan to exercise inside my house.
5. I am contemplating what I want to do when I grow up…. lol. I am getting my clothes ready for work tomorrow.
Kudos on your first food bank donation. It's wonderful.
1. I grabbed a $4.98 rotisserie chicken at Sam's Club yesterday.
2. I loaned our ice chopper and coal shovel to a neighbor. Her house faces north and she's had a hard time getting rid of the snow (more like ice) in the street in front of her driveway. If it warms up I'll help her. I did help a neighbor down the street clear the end of her driveway. She offered to loan us their roof shovel but we have a steep roof.
3. I listed more items on Freecycle. There's no need to keep items you don't use.
4. I downloaded the free NYT Crossplay app. It's basically like Scrabble. I have played with DD and will soon play a niece.
5. I stopped at Aldi for cheap avocados, apples, oranges, and Greek yogurt.
My husband is on a solo trip to Portland right now and I texted him your tacos and pies suggestion 🙂
Nice date walk. I’m with you on the donut. Too expensive for me.
You’re a good Mom helping your kids like that.
I’m in central VA with “snowcrete” covering everything. Husband has fallen 3 times. No church in 2 weeks because not able to get parking lot cleared. Thank goodness we never lost electricity. The weather you described sounds marvelous. The positive of being stuck in the house is I’m not spending any money. I hit the GW bins too. I call it the scroungy place. It’s in a bad part of town so have to be careful and look around me. I took my cousin a while back and she was petrified so I won’t be bringing her back.
Sent in an order to ThriftBooks and have $16 credit when I want to use it.
$1.05 off each gallon of gas using Kroger points.
Husband had shoulder surgery which is awful but at least it’s covered by Workers’ Comp since it was due to an injury at work. He will receive 2/3 of his pay while he’s off so won’t have to use as much sick time.
Husband had a CT unrelated to WC injury. He went ahead and paid the full amount of what we owed so we could get the 25% discount.
We are stuck at home from the Southern ice storm, currently on day nine. County roads are solid ice and temps have been down to single digits at night so there has been no thaw. We have kept electricity the whole time (as compared to many in the Nashville area and Northern MS who are still without) and are exceptionally grateful for that. We are eating out of the pantry and freezer, and I haven’t amused myself by doing any online shopping.
Very cold here, so I have stayed home and cooked from what we have on hand. Last night we had a choice of leftover chili or tuna mac and cheese with green peas (a classic broke college days recipe that I love). Today I made two pan pizzas topped with pepperoni, black pepper salami, Italian sausage, peppers and onions. All toppings came from the freezer. Made chocolate muffins for dessert.
Been in need of some fuss-free exercises and printed out the vintage booklet of exercises by the Royal Canadian Air Force.
I’ve never heard of okonomiyaki. I’ll have to try it out!
I had a similar day yesterday, but I went to check out the new library and explored the area around it. I’m surprised that the library is so tiny! Otherwise, it’s a nice space. When you posted about it, someone asked if the thing hanging in the rafters is a snake. I took a good look and can report that it’s abstract twisted metal painted blue and green. More of a seaweed vibe for me.
After I checked out the library, I strolled around the neighborhood. Since it was a sunny day, people must have been doing some spring cleaning, because there were several free piles. I came home with a nice storage container, 14 redeemable cans, 12,000 steps, and some chocolate covered almonds from Trader Joe’s.
I’m SHOCKED that you spent that much on a donut, but I’m a weird person who doesn’t like donuts. I’ll splash out on a different extravagant treat one of these days.
Maybe I’ll look at Division on our next nice day!
I love helping our kids save money too. Much of it is done by finding free things that they need in the wealthier area where we live and schlepping it down to them when I go visit the grandkids.
1. My youngest brought over clothes to donate. I took them to consignment store first and got $11. While I waited for them to look through the clothes I went to the grocery store next door and got redemption fee for a bag of bottles.
2. Worked on our taxes and walked to local ice cream place afterwards as a reward. I had a gift card so that was free.
3. Picked up a picture frame in a free box on our way back from ice cream. That's one of the perks of walking. Frame is already listed on FB marketplace
4. Picked up a lawnmower a friend of ours is giving to our oldest child. Saving money for the kids!
5. Keeping up my daily listing on eBay and my daily Duolingo Spanish practice (free version even though I despise the ads).
Felt a bit better today, after a period of being unwell. Made a new soup recipe with red onions and tomatoes, and donated some to my vegan neighbor. We received soup from the community warm lunch yesterday, and it reminded my how nice it is to receive small food gifts. I did check if she wanted it first!
Whilst I was in the kitchen I also made some pink pickled onions and stewed some frozen berries with some blueberries which weren't as nice as I had hoped. I like frozen berries in the winter as an economical choice. I cooked off two random burgers after shaping them into little balls, to use up in a cheeseburger themed salad later. I did have to go and lie down after, but that's ok 🙂
Finally getting around to sorting out the last bits from our big trip. Feels good to get stuff stored away properly so they are kept in the best shape for next time.
I think we've got the hang of the wood burner now, and are only burning small amounts of wood. It's very different to our old one, and has taken a bit of getting used to.
One of the free tv channels recently announced that they have the contract for a lot of top level rugby, in the UK. I am hoping this means we can cancel the expensive sports package we have.
The treats look wonderful! And it looks like you have such nice weather.
1. My collegiate grandson ordered some homemade cookies from me yesterday. (A Christmas promise). I baked a big batch from ingredients I had on hand and got them sent out the same day. There's nothing frugal about this except that I didn't have to shop, and I used mailing materials I already had. I made enough so I could take a bunch to his younger brother today. All in all, a tiring but satisfying experience.
2. I am keeping up with daily walking by going to the community center. I don't find stuff, I don't get errands done, but it is warm and safe, and I am doing a favor for my future self.
3. I visited the center's branch library and checked out two more books. I am reading a lot this winter.
4. The little free pantry had a bag full of loaves of bakery bread yesterday. The loaves were hard as a rock, but I took a chance on one, and yes! It was frozen, not stale. After the loaf thawed I sliced it and put it in the freezer for toast. (It's delicious!)
5. I was very tempted today to get lunch at a drive-through, but I talked myself down. I went home and had pork stir-fry from the freezer. I also talked myself out of going to Goodwill, mostly because I remembered that it was the weekend and it would be packed.
We are once again able to get out of the house after being iced in for 6 days. We were very fortunate that we only lost power for 1 day.
1. Shortened the sleeves on a shirt my husband got for Christmas.
2. Attempted to cook some potatoes and cabbage in foil packets in the fireplace while the power was out. The cabbage worked well. One pack of potatoes worked OK and the other was charcoal. I need to research fireplace cooking for the next power outage.
3. Stocked up on groceries before the ice storm. Some things I cooked while iced in were macaroni and cheese, a great fritatta with spinach and feta, cinnamon rolls from a just expired gifted mix, ramen with stir fried vegetables and eggs, baked apples that were withering, pizza. I had not made pizza from scratch in so long, I have to review the process before I make it
4. Frugal for others- we are storing frozen foods for friends who were without power much longer than we were. They also came over to do laundry. The husband helped my husband get the iced-over tree limbs off my car. I was sure the windows were broken but all was well.
5. Got a $25 gift card from Swagbucks and used it on a Walmart order
$133.60 is a great donation! To think you only used about half of your gift card on that is impressive.
1. I found a 2 quart Pyrex covered casserole dish for $4 at my church's thrift shop. I had been looking for one for quite some time so I'm thrilled.
2. I'm burning a Yankee Candle from Christmas 2024 to make this closed-in house smell nice.
3. I found a bag of frozen butternut squash in the freezer so I'm cooking it along with the stuffed chicken I have in the oven. I love fresh butternut squash and have never bought frozen so I think I mistook this for frozen turnip which I do buy frozen. It won't go to waste.
4. DH walked on a wooded trail in the woods today, thanks to snow shoers packing down the snow so making it walkable. Free exercise but at 25 degrees it's still too cold for me. I need it above 32 to spend any considerable amount of time out there. I stayed in and read.
5. I did not go to the theater and see the new Melania movie and have no plans to go in the future.
Christine, not only do I have no plans to see the Melania documentary--but I haven't bought anything from Amazon in 2.5 years, so I haven't subsidized Schmeff Schmezos's major contributions to the movie. Besides, reading and viewing the various reviews have been providing much-needed exercise for my abs in the form of belly laughs. 😛
I'm with you on cutting the Amazon cord, A. Marie. I did it a few years ago and have never looked back. And like you, I feel very happy to not have contributed one cent to the making of that epic (failure) of a movie.
Christine and A.Marie,
Methinks that the "Melanie" movie will be supplanting "Plan 9 From Outer Space" as the worst movie ever made in the history of Hollywood!
I never saw Plan 9 from Outer Space but I'm guessing it's pretty bad if it's in contention with Melania!
Don't forget that I have a dozen or so unsold items as well!
So amazing! I can't wait to see your total donation amount.
The food all looks fabulous!
1) Went for a long hike with DH today, & spent no money.
2) Bumped into neighbors & chatted for a bit, & had a wrong turn, so we were much later getting home than expected. Only to find out that DS19 ate my planned lunch (he didn't know, to his credit), so I was frantically scrambling to find something to eat before my upcoming call. It was a long hike, so I was starving. Found 2 Trader Joes corn dogs (turkey version), which were not exactly the pinnacle of health, but paired with an apple, banana & blueberries & it worked.
3) We've been stumped on how to pack our hiking backpacks for our trip (too big to be a carry on, and you wouldn't want all of the pulls/zippers getting caught on equipment, so they wouldn't be good to just check on their own.) I finally realized we could empty out our ski bags (my ski bag predates DS19, so it's lasted a while ;-)) & put the backpacks inside. A free solution that will hopefully protect pretty nice hiking backpacks.
4) Spent no money yesterday, which is always a win.
5) Made a mini menu plan for the short week before we leave for New Zealand.
6) Bonus: my nephew called and asked if he & his dad could stay at our house for Superbowl weekend while we are gone. No problem, and saves them money!
1. I made it through my January no buy challenge, and didn't buy anything this first day of February either.
2. Got 73¢ cash back on a gas purchase. I'll try not to spend it all at once.
3. My brother-in-law has been cleaning out his parent's home after their passing. He gifted me several purses. I sold one on Posh for $175. The others I plan to regift.
4. The cold weather has me reading lots of library books. Earlier this week I finished Theo of Golden, and today I finished The Colony by Aubrey Magee, and now I am getting ready to start The Mad Wife. I also took part in a free yoga class at the library.
5. Getting a lot of satisfaction from using things up at home. I often say I am going to eat from the freezer and pantry or I will use up other household things, but I have been bad at follow through, but not this month. My husband is on board and we have been crushing it.
Well done on your no spend challenge. It's no spend February for us!
1. We celebrated my mom's birthday yesterday! I made pizza and brownies, all with ingredients I already had except for a purchase of some mushrooms for her pizza and two bottles of wine from Grocery Outlet. Total birthday cost was under $15.
2. We got a call from our realtor last night asking for a showing this morning. We took the opportunity to run several errands and came home to a clean house.
3. I cashed in my manufacturer's coupon from Tyson Chicken and am now 4lb of free chicken richer. I also snagged a 4.5lb package of chicken breasts from WinCo for $1.28 per lb!
4. I finished my library books and found two audiobooks on Libby that I'm excited to listen to.
5. While driving home, my oldest had to go to the bathroom so we took a detour at the Grange Co-op and looked at their animals. The bunnies were a huge hit.
Katy, your $6 donut makes me feel slightly better about the $5 medium-sized muffin I bought at a local coffee shop.
1. At the local bakery, I bought two "fresh yesterday" cookies for the price of one fresh cookie. Still delicious.
2. Found a white bandanna in a parking lot. Washed it for my husband to use as a do-rag.
3. We eat a lot of raisins so we buy large bags. The price has reached a whopping $7.39/bag at Target. On sale for $5.99/bag so I bought two.
4. Found a few items at McGary's Discount Groceries in Tucson. Kinda underwhelming.
5. Noticed on last week's grocery receipt from Sprouts that I spent $12.79 on a bag of eight buns. Yikes! I thought the price was much lower so I brought in the receipt to get an adjustment. Not only was that the correct price last week, but they went up to $15.99 this week. Two dollars per bun?! They're the size of an English muffin. I think I'm just going to stop eating.
--Instead of going out to eat after work, I popped by the local H-E-B and got a chef-prepared "Meal Simple." These are entrees cooked by in-store chefs; you just take 'em home and plop them in the oven (not microwave). So happy that my Ollie's Outlet tabletop oven works great for this! Anyway, I got a Low-carb "Spinach & Parmesan Stuffed Salmon with zucchini, spinach and tomatoes" entree along with a baked potato salad. I microwaved the latter and ate a small amount as an appetizer while I waited 22 minutes for the main course to cook. I served it with some canned pears. Such a fancy Sunday meal deserves the best, so I put everything on one of Mom's china plates. Snuggles got his dog food served in the aluminum container the food came in, so he had some scraps of salmon and garlic sauce on zuccini mixed in with his Ol'Roy. He is one spoiled rotten Rottweiler!
-- While at H-E-B, I bought some trash bags. They had a special on: 200 Texas Tough (store-brand) trash bags for $19.99....a dime a bag, plus if you bought a box, they'd give you $2 off your groceries. Oh, shame on me: I passed up buying a box of their 65% recycled plastic trash bags to get this one. Which apparently did not contain any recycled plastic in it; the Texas Tough label didn't indicate any of it was recycled. The recycled plastic bags came out to be 17 cents a bag, almost twice the price of the Texas Tough ones. I had wanted to be good to the earth, but instead I was good to my wallet.
--Decluttered a whole bunch of stuff, putting scrap paper in the recycling bin. Also found some long-lost writing pens. Mostly advertising pens that were given as freebies. Took the ones from my former school district (boo!) to work -- we are always running out of them at the registers. Put the others in my desks and other places where I need them.
-- Bought some Zapp's potato chips, New Orleans style, at our store. They're a special buy -- a whole big bag is only 99 cents. Hadn't tasted them before, so it was a new food to try. Will be buying more; they are delicious. I got really tickled as I read the label: although they are supposedly N.O. "voodoo" style chips, they are made in Hanover, Pa. I didn't know there were any Cajun cooks in Pennsylvania! LOL!
-- Collected rainwater (melted sleet) for indoor plants.
-- Did not go to the movies to see the "Melania" documentary.
That Taco plate looks delicious!
1. I had made two round spice cakes on my Son's and Mother's birthday – and iced them with what we call 'easy penuche icing' – a fan fave. #2 son and his girlfriend came over with the cake SHE had made for him, so we had a delicious feast of homemade carrot cake (YUM) and my spice cake. I was gifted with an hour of conversation with the two of them, always a blessing to me. Hard to believe that he is 27, he still looks 17.
I took the second cake down to my Mom the day after her birthday, and my daughter joined me. We had a visit with her that included my daughter helping sort out some email logging in issues, where we discovered that Mom's missing antibiotic was at the pharmacy, rather than having been delivered.
DD and I walked to the pharmacy, a much needed time for me to do a bit of blowing off steam as Mom was being resistant to moving her body; when we got back I helped mom get the drops into her ear. DD wrote up a schedule so mom can tick off when she puts the drops into her ears (oil in one ear, antibiotic in the other, GAH).
I managed to get home a bit after dark, however the drive was extremely foggy and spooky. My healing yet still broken left arm is aching with all I have done with it.
2. I had two quarts of Costco rotisserie chicken broth that I'd already re-used in the instant pot to cook up a) a 4 pack of legs and backs and b) two large packages of drumsticks. During this re-use, I added taco seasoning to the chicken, so the broth was very flavourful.
Half following a couple of recipes, I threw some sad, chopped onion, 2 cups of frozen corn, the last cup of black beans from earlier in the week plus another jar of home canned black beans, some canned whole tomatoes and some tomato paste, and some red peppers at the end of their life,and several cups of chopped drumstick meat into a bit pot, along with the broth.
The recipes called for pinto beans, and I didn't have any ready, so I put some dry into the instant pot and (after two extra cooking sessions!) got some for the soup and some for another meal later this week.
I ended up with more than 4 quarts of nutrient dense 'taco' style soup, really delicious with some discount sour cream, grated cheddar and crumbled tortilla chips.
I took some jars down to my Mom and daughter, and the remainder is being used for lunches and suppers by the 'kids' and me.
3. Speaking of Costco, I dropped in to pick up a rotisserie chicken on the way back from my Mom. There were none available, and thanks to the crew on this blog, I looked closely at the ovens to check the wait time. It was going to be too long, so I abandoned my empty cart and headed for the exit.
I got sidelined by a price tag that had been handwritten, and ended up getting two sets, of 6 pairs each, of heavy weight winter socks, plus a two pack of winter weight fleece leggings for under $5 each. It made it worth standing in line at the tills (faster than the self checkout lines, this day). The socks are in my bag destined for the homeless shelters in town, the tights are for me.
4. I asked #2 son to help with replacing the filter for our well water system. We now know the series of steps necessary to do it easily, however it still takes ALL his muscle to break the seal of the filter cover, so I am glad he is so willing to help. It is a pleasure to watch him do the messy parts without complaint, particularly because I really do need his help with this.
While he was helping, I also had him cut up a squash that was in need of baking – and a strong arm to cut through the thick skin. He also stepped up here and got a spoon and scraped it out once cut, something that he might have slipped out to avoid, a year ago. He is working hard on noticing the hidden labour that goes into running a household
The squash baked up beautifully and is now portioned out and in the fridge – ready for baking and feeding a bit to the dog every day.
5. My roommate and I had a team meeting, I was able to ask her to hang the toilet roll the other way (Dear Abby? Or was it Ann Landers? Am I dating myself?). I shared the history of the toilet roll wars, she laughed and said she was just putting it on the holder without paying attention to which way it hung. Fun to have a small request.
I was also able to thank her again for taking over some of the morning routine with the sheep and chickens, and we talked about the nights I will be down with my Mom until late, so she will plan to get home directly in order to care for the dog.
6. I found a toque on the road a couple of months ago, brought it home and washed it. I finally located it and have put it in the donation bag with the socks for the homeless shelter. Thanks, @Katy, for inspiring me to pick up a soaking wet and perfectly fine and durable toque. It wasn't even going to make it to the landfill, just rot on the street. Now it will keep someone's head warm in these cruel winter months.
Wowzers! Great job on the Oregon Food Bank donation.
Your street food looks yummy. I about fell off the stool when I read the price of the doughnut... I'm a savory over sweets person, but it makes me want to experiment with my freezer berries. There's somebody always rooting around in the kitchen or pantry for a treat.
Renter moved out and left enough stuff to fill my cargo hauler. Bless his heart. He also left 3 chickens. Today was family dinner day, so we made quick work of boxing up the discards and chickens. The kids will go through everything to rehome, resell or toss. The chickens are at a neighbors to make sure they are healthy before integrating them into our flock.
Sold a piece of tree harvesting equipment that I had no earthly idea of its worth or how to use it. The neighbors dad helped me with it and found the buyer so I gave him a 20% share of the sale. I win, Now there is more room in the tractor shed.
I dug out an ancient water trough heater from the shop and installed it. I made an insulated, half lid for the trough out of materials we had on hand. It is electric and thats not frugal, but I'm hoping that the top helps to mitigate some of the electric use. It has a thermostat to keep the water around 40. Goodbye ice.
Chopped ice...... a lot. Most of the ice on the ponds is 6-8 inches thick. We cut 12-18 inch holes and then remove the resulting ice cubes for the cattle to drink from. I cut 5 holes on one pond yesterday. 1 preexisting hole they liked. 1 they deemed too murky. 2 were frozen dry and had to be abandoned. 1 new hole that did the trick, both clean and plentiful. My elbows ache. Hanging up a clothes hanger hurts......meh.
Went grocery shopping and checked cows on another farm on the way home. Cut more ice. Cows looking good on that place.
We will defrost soon. When that happens, the mud will be atrocious. I'll load and haul cattle home today ahead of the mud. No use in getting stuck!
Still working to get my new feed wagon ready.
Fell on the ice closing the gate. I'm okay. I've had enough of ice.
A person we go to church with is in need of a better winter coat. My mom found a very nice carhartt at the thrift. Unfortunately it has "residential life" embroidered on it. I am slowly picking the stitches out. Duct is a real booger to pick stitches out of! I want to have it ready by Sunday.
Could you share your recipe for okonomiyaki? Thank you.
I didn't follow a specific recipe and actually forgot to add the flour! I simply sauteed onion and thinly sliced cabbage and carrot and then added them (once cooled) to whipped eggs, to which I added sesame oil, soy sauce, salt and pepper. I then cooked them in a little oil in my cast iron skillet like pancakes. I topped them with sriracha mayo, hoisin sauce and sesame seeds. This recipe is infinitely adjustable.
We have had an ice storm and snow storm here in South Carolina. My frugal five:
1. Went to grocery store to stock up prior to ice storm and kept to my normal shopping habits. Knowing I had plenty of food in the house, I have cooked a whole chicken in the crockpot (.99 cents/lb) which led to more meals and chicken stock and pieces in the freezer. Made a chuck roast (1/2 of one I bought earlier on sale for $5.99/lb). This made several meals served over rice, the bits used to make a huge pot of vegetable beef soup which emptied left overs stored in freezer marked “soup”. We were able to get out for one meal in between storms and used a gift card we received for Christmas. My next grocery visit included some “snacks” which I never buy so definitely a frugal fail but snow in the South is just like a hurricane: stressful! Gotta have snacks!
2. Used the snow to “wash” my wool Icelandic wool sweater. Layered it in snow which was still falling so it got covered up. Spread the snow all over, then shook it out and brought inside to dry.
3. Cleaned out my papers to prepare for taxes.
4. Mended two pairs of wool gloves. Started sewing on a project that has been in “time out” for over a year. Because I have had no where to go, I was able to take my time, solve the issue, redo my mistake.
5. Fear of losing electricity is the biggest issue here so we made sure we had extra water, batteries, firewood, canned goods that did not need to be heated, etc. Thus the cooking while possible and conserving energy inside by wearing more layers including hats and gloves inside.
1. I saw someone else commented "it's cold, I took a nap!" which was my exact philosophy this past Saturday. It was incredible.
2. I went to a tag sale at the local film studio and perused all the old props and costumes up for sale. I wound up buying two tiny aperitif glasses for $2 each that were gorgeous cut glass after having broken one of ours a few weeks back. While we are not big drinkers at home, it's sometimes nice to have a taste of something.
3. Spent Saturday night post-nap reading and watching TV and staying cozy on the couch. Not a bad life.
4. Sunday I spent the day making chili and some other food prep. We had friends over to eat and one made cornbread that would have made the angels sing. I am so, so, so excited for leftovers!!
5. Took a walk and stopped into one of our local overstock/deals stores. Found Bobs Red Mill farro and quinoa at a steep discount. I was pleased to stock up on these at a reasonable price!
1. I stayed under budget this month! I'm very happy with myself for this - it has been a struggle the past 12 months.
2. Brought leftovers to work today for lunch.
3. My partner cooked last night and it will be enough for dinners at least through Tuesday night, maybe Wednesday.
4. Put a book on hold at the library for book club.
5. My Feb and March goals are to declutter my whole apartment. I've broken it down into sections and need to do 2-3 sections a week to get it all finished. I did the kitchen (except the fridge & freezer) and the bathroom yesterday. I'm going to tackle the fridge and freezer after work. And then I'm going to try and get the laundry area done this week too, as it is a light lift.
Hooray for your #1! Good luck with your decluttering!
I saw you and your husband waiting in line as I walked out of Lauretta Jean’s on Saturday but didn’t want to bother you. I was too cheap to get something but my husband had a slice of the Bourbon Pecan Pie and he said it was amazing!
That's too funny, as that's the variety that my husband initially wanted! Next time please feel free to introduce yourself.
That taco plate looks amazing!
I have on Frugal item to report.
After receiving an email from Spectrum that my mobile plan was going up to $40/month (from $30/month) on next billing cycle -- which they were ONLY increasing the price of "single" line plans -- insert eyeroll here as I get frustrated that there are never deals for "single" line mobile plans!! Also, I feel $10/month is a BIG increase!
But, I digress...I switched to Visible Wireless -- My Sister had switched a month ago and told us about her savings and so far no issues (she chose them over Mint as they support Apple watch) - so I jumped at their $19/month promotion! It remains that price for the first year, then it goes to $25/month -- still a big savings!
On top of that - I used her referral code and got us both a $20 credit - so double win!