Five Frugal Things -- Foraging for Berries & Denim!
1) I took my receipt with the "Thank you for completing a customer survey" code to Popeye's and was rewarded with a free chicken and dumpling meal. (With the purchase of a 32 ounce drink.) The lemonade did cost $2.79, which is kind of pricey for soda, but amortizes down when you add in the food. (Is it pricey for soda? I never get drinks, so I'm out of the loop!)
I chose a lemonade, which I had them water down considerably. Next time I'll get full strength lemonade, as 32 ounces of strong lemonade would actually provide enough for multiple people once diluted. I remember from a previous experience that their lemonade is cloyingly sweet.
I ate the biscuit while driving and then enjoyed a car picnic at my secret blackberry patch.
2) Oregon blackberries are so ripe and juicy right now! I went a pickin' just four days ago, but there were already so many more ready to be harvested.
I came prepared with my customized milk jug, Libby audiobook and free box sun hat.
I transfer the berries into a lidded 9"X13" casserole pan, which ensures their security while traveling home.
A full five pounds of blackberries for free! It would cost $40 to buy five pounds of blackberries at the grocery store, and that's not even considering the issue of cyclosporiasis!
3) I then stopped by the library to browse their "Lucky Day" section, and while none of those books piqued my interest, I did grab this book from their "Staff recommended" shelf.
Like all women my age, I grew up reading V.C. Andrews (so inappropriate for middle schoolers!) and thought it would interesting to revisit her writing.
At this point you might be thinking that it's a big no-no to go into a library with berry stained hands! Worry not, as my father taught me to tuck a wet towel into a plastic bag whenever I pick berries. Serves to both clean your hands, but also to help cool you down.
Thanks, Dad!
4) Remember how I watched Andy Cohen's Architectural Digest home tour and fell in love with his embroidered denim shirt? I wrote about it HERE.
I then identified that it was a discontinued Ralph Lauren piece that sold for $450. I have both embroidery skills and unearned confidence a stash of thrifted embroidery floss, so all I was missing was the shirt itself. It needed a western style yoke, pearl snaps and to actually fit me.
Bingo! This Levi's shirt was $9.99, which is more than I'd prefer to pay, but still a whole helluva lot better than $450!
I've put it through the wash and will start working on it tomorrow. Ooh, fun . . . a creative project!
5) I didn't have much energy or inspiration for dinner, but I realized I could just pick meat off our Costco rottisserie chicken and throw it into some sesame peanut noodles. I wish we'd had spinach or some other green veg, but this was very much a "make it do" situation.
The sauce was concocted from:
- Peanut butter
- Soy sauce
- Sesame oil
- Oyster sauce
- Chili crisp
- Garlic powder
- Lots of starchy water from the boiled rice noodles.
Not fancy, but it hit the spot.
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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We are big fans of iced tea and lemonade at my house. Since you make your own sun tea maybe mix some into the lemonade to make it more palatable?
Gorgeous blackberries! There used to be a huge patch in an old ranch across the road from us, but it's since been developed and is now a gated community. There a few remaining spots where the blackberries are growing, and I've snuck in a few times over the years and picked some. The Texas heat cuts the growing season, but there's nothing better than eating warm berries right off the canes.
Ooh . . . that's a great idea, Arnold Palmers! And yes, warm berries are a special kind of delicious.
1. My youngest is visiting for the weekend. I made ingredients for burrito bowls minus the lettuce. We took that and fresh mint that I picked from my patch, simple syrup I made and everything else for mojitos to my mom's house for dinner. We played a game of Rummikub after dinner and my mom and sister provided brownie sundaes for dessert.
2. The air quality was better yesterday so we were able to sit outside and read. I finished The Correspondent and am starting Bel Canto by Ann Patchett. This was from my free Kindle Unlimited subscription that I will cancel at the end of it's 3 month term.
3. My daughter picked a handful of blackberries for an afternoon snack.
4. I sold another large item on Marketplace. Crap out, money in.
5. My mom and sister came over again to do some laundry since their washer is still not fixed.
Crap out, money in for the win!
Was the denim shirt found at Goodwill?
Those berries, and fried chicken, look delicious!
Since I retired a year ago, one of my hobbies is to read, which I did a lot of in my youth, pre-kids, pre-full time job. But now I only read non-fiction. That’s all I’m interested in. When I was young I read mostly fiction but somehow that doesn’t appeal to me anymore.
Yes, I thrifted the denim shirt at Goodwill. I'm the opposite as I'm enjoying fiction more thhan ever.
I'm needing to sit still for a bit, while I heal up from a foot infection, and I'm not great at that. But, travel planning (no booking - just the dreaming part) is free at least.
1) Made dinner out of rotisserie chicken & Costco grain salad. This is our go to "not cooking" dinner, and makes multiple meals.
2) Replied back to a friend offering DS19 some items for his college apartment, and took advantage of a few things he needs.
3) Made a scrappy (if not entirely top nutritionally) breakfast of cheese & pretzel chips, so I could take some medicine before DH got back from the store.
4) Slept a lot this weekend. 11.5 hours Thursday & Friday night! Jet lag + an infection makes you sleep.
5) Figured out how to get DH to log into British Airways account, so I could add that information to our tracker & figure out how to use it for a future flight.
Just returned from my $$ gig in So California. The only meal I bought was at the airport in Denver. Otherwise took my refillable water bottle and ate the airline snacks
Filling up another Trashie bag=gift cards.
Filled dog Rx with Chewy using promos and gift card
Garrett, I'm trying to comment, but the pop-up ads are being especially aggressive today. They're making my screen's keyboard close, which is new behavior. There's even a pop-up blocking the "Name" box at the bottom.
BOO!
Mine is ok.
uBlock Origin Litw takes care of all ads and popups. I have zero idea why anyone puts up with ads and popups when they're easy to eliminate.
That's how bloggers and other creators make money. I don't use an ad blocker to support the content I enjoy. I agree that they are annoying, and it would be nice to have a different model. :-)
I wrote that as "Grrr" and autocarrot attacked. Who is Garrett?
I'm on a device with ad blockers now.
What I was trying to say is I love how quickly you went from one frugal thing to five frugal things. Frugal things may ebb and flow, but frugality is a constant in our lives.
Lemme see if I can come up with FFT off the top of my head.
I've been away for a month. Yesterday, a friend who's been through some things while I was away called to say she was on her way to GW. I asked if it was 50% off day. She said, "It must be, the parking lot's packed." Since it's near my house, I threw on something decent and met her there. Besides catching up with her,
1. I got a top to match a skirt I'd thrifted on the trip.
2. I found a brand-new gift item that will be perfect for a holiday gift exchange.
3. I found eleven like-new puzzles, three of which have never been opened. I rehab, donate, and sell puzzles for the library's holiday sale. Yay, less work for me!
(All of that was $20.00.)
4. I made a double batch of TFG's Granola. No cereal in this house!
5. I batch cooked taco meat for DH and sofritas for me. Our last trip used up all my freezer supplies. Since the freezer was low, I defrosted it before new supplies went in.
Bonus: I used my America the Beautiful Lifetime Senior Pass on the trip. Free National Parks admission plus half-off campsites for the win! We boondock as often as possible, but it's not allowed in NPs. That $80 card has paid for itself many times over.
P.S. Sorry about grousing about the ads. You absolutely deserve to get paid for your work. They were particularly aggressive this morning.
Those senior National Park passes are the best. I'm not a camper so I stayed home but DH and his son camped and hiked in New Hampshire for 3 nights and paid $13.50 a night to stay in a National Park. We've also used it for the Cape Cod National Seashore to park, saving us $25 a day. This is one of those bonuses in life for making it to age 65.
I think $2.79 is on the top end of drive-through beverage prices, though at a sit-down restaurant is normal or even low, maybe to account for refills.
Shout out to our local Dairy Queen! They still use paper beverage cups! Unlike McDonald's or Arby's here, whose #5 plastics will be around in the trash for centuries. I don't know if plastic takes fewer resources in manufacturing costs, just that long term, paper wins.
Looking forward to seeing the decorated shirt! The most I have done recently with embroidery is use all the leftover blue and brown wisps of floss to sew lazy daisies in a random pattern on a blue and brown plaid shirt I got at a thrift store.
FFT, Support Your Local (Four-Footed) Predator Edition:
(1) While taking laundry off my 70+-year-old laundry rack in the guest room early this morning, I spied a gray fox hunting in and around my rather overgrown garden bed in the backyard. It looked alert and healthy, so I wished it well and gave it a mental suggestion to start working on the rabbit population explosion we have here this summer. As long as nothing looks rabid, I'm all for supporting our four-footed predators. (The two-footed variety, on the other hand, should be impeached, indicted, sued, or whatever else is possible ASAP.)
(2) For the first time in 3 months, I completed two laps around the long, skinny park pond where my Sunday morning walking buddies and I meet. (It was a lovely cool morning after yesterday's much-needed rain, and my knees were in relatively good shape.) I was duly congratulated.
(3) And I've suggested to one buddy that she should submit a picture of her dog (who accompanies us on our walks) and a case history of his fondness for chewing her and her husband's winter coats to "Puppy Court" (see https://www.youtube.com/shorts/56C3AjFjY-4). Since the judge seems lenient, I'm sure that Roux would get off with a warning.
(4) I've been able to shut off the AC and open some windows for the first time in what seems like ages. We've still got a little wildfire smoke, but it's not nearly as bad as it was.
(5) And I'm glad that a certain two-footed predator FINALLY had to shell out the $5.6 million he owes a certain woman who was brave enough to pursue her case through the courts. It's about time!
Somewhere there's a chambray shirt that I did embroidery designs on in high school. One is a sunset/ sunrise. Another is a pink elephant and no, I didn't drink alcohol in high school, lol, so no idea why.
I remembered a salad kit was in my fridge that I had purchased from Aldi. It was past the sell by date and I checked the product code which began with the initials TF, which means it came from Taylor Farms.
It didn't contain iceberg, just leaf lettuce, cabbage, broccoli stems, carrots.
But it's in the compost now! And I don't plan to buy precut produce again unless I am going to cook it. It's more expensive anyway and not having explosive diarrhea and vomiting is frugal!
I bought a salad kit from Aldi at just about the wrong time, but I started eating it before I heard the news, and it was fine. It was a Caesar salad kit with romaine, however.
But let me say I totally agree that if you have any doubt, throw it out! I recently had to throw away muffins and tortillas that were forgotten in the trunk of my car. My grandson's purchase, not mine, but it still made me sad they were wasted.
I can't wait to see the finished shirt.
1. My former boss asked me to come in on Saturday and Sunday to work as an employee was on vacation. I happily obliged and was rewarded with not only my pay but both days she sent me home with a large sandwich and a soda and today she added a T-shirt to wear next time I work and 18 eggs from the chickens she and her husband raise.
2. I just picked another cup and a half of raspberries from my yard. That's what I pick about every other day.
3. I learned how to use Libby at the library last Friday. The first magazine I requested ( no wait time for magazines) was the New Yorker and the first audio book I requested and am currently listening to is Pride and Predjudice. You got to me A. Marie! I tried reading it as a young woman and it never hooked me but now at a much later date (ha!) I find it pretty good. Plus the reader speaks with an English accent and is quite animated which adds to the enjoyment.
4. Grandson18 invited me and his paternal grandmother over to swim in his pool tomorrow. I love my "Co-grandmother" and am looking forward to spending time with the two of them.
5. I did not try to deflect from the current urgent issues in our country by yammering on and on about voter fraud which has time and time again proven to be negligible and not in a number which would affect the ourcome of our elections.
Re: #5:
I know several commenters do poll work, and I have met few groups of people as proud of and precise with their work than my local poll workers.
The alleged "fraud" seems to be in the illegal voter registration, which means that it wouldn't be caught at the polls, depending what is required of ID. But I challenge anyone to face up to those people in the fairgrounds community building, or the fire station, or the church basement, or at the armory, and cast an illegal ballot. The sheer force of how responsibly they take their work would scare me away.
Thank you for your service.
I am a poll worker as well and we DO already require IDs for voting AND the voter must be registered in the precinct in which they are voting. The ID is compared to the information in the precinct voter registry book. No poll worker is going to risk a federal prison term either as the pay rate is below state minimum wage.
I'm a former poll worker, and, Same! IDs were required, and people not registered in our precinct were sent away (nicely). Records were kept manually AND electronically, and at the end of the day, they had to match. If they didn't we worked until the error was found. There is no voter fraud. There is only one big disgusting whiny-baby who's jerking this whole country around with his mind-blowing temper tantrum.
I am a poll worker in my town and have been since 2013. I love to see democracy in action and enjoy working each election, be it local, state or federal. Again, any fraud has been proven to be negligible and would not affect an election unless it was perhaps a local election where the candidates or ballot question would be in perhaps a closer race. Of course, the pool of voters would be much smaller too, in most cases unless you were a resident in say, New York City or Los Angeles. Our voting system is pretty tight in this country I'm happy to say.
Christine, re: your #3, I'm always glad to lead another reader to Jane Austen. It's the only kind of missionary work I'd ever do. 🙂 Who's the reader on that audio version, BTW?
Re: your #5, I didn't dare watch that speech; my blood pressure is high enough as it is. And I join Heidi Louise in thanking you for your service at the polls.
Thank you on both of the above mentioned subjects A. Marie! I will get back to you on the reader.
The reader is Kate Kellgren.
1. My shoulder felt much better today compared to yesterday so I chanced it and whipped up a batch of 8 large bagels and peanut butter granola bars.
2. The whole apartment smelled amazing after the bagels finished baking so we snacked on them through dinnertime and then filled in the gaps to try and round out our "meal".
3. I listened to part of my newest Libby audiobook while baking and cleaning up, "Filthy Rich Fae". I'm liking it much better than my last endeavor!
4. My mom and I had a video call for a little while, free catching up as she was waking up and before I needed to get the kids to bed.
5. Husband and I are settled in for a movie night now that the kiddos are down for bed. The cost per watch of the DVD we've owned for probably close to 10 years or more is definitely pennies by this point.
Love your Popeyes hack.
Got up at pre dawn to do chores and make sure animals have cooling fan areas. The cows walk thru a pvc pipe with masters and a smart eye to start and stop. One of the boys made it in 4h and then sold them for his college fund.
Picked the berries, cucumbers and zucchini. Smoked a turkey thigh and drumstick for ramen bowls, plus tons of veggies, eggs, three kinds of broth to choose from. Made 2 batches of finger Jello and cut up a watermelon.
Is that water "misters" instead of "masters"?
I was trying to imagine a PVC pipe big enough for a cow to walk through....
The weather is better, and I had the car for the day, so I decided to go to Goodwill, as it's been a while. I didn't find too much this trip, however. I spent $9, and I bought a small gift, a quality sketchbook, a tin, and a new baby toy in its original packaging, which I will try to sell.
I was near Dollar Tree, so I stocked up on cookies, and then I walked over to nearby Valli Produce and bought butter, canned chili, and dinner rolls. The chili was on the clearance shelf. It is Wendy's baconator chili. I think it will be good with some cornbread. The rolls were also on clearance. They are a bit dry, so I've frozen them and will use them in bread pudding, when it gets cool enough to bake again.
The real find, though was a free box in the alley. I took some medical supplies -- corn cushions and ThermaCare heat wrap, seven packets of coffee that look like they came from hotel stays, two utensil kits from a sushi restaurant, including chopsticks, a can of pear slices, a can of mushroom soup, and a child's unused camping journal, with stickers and a nice plastic book jacket. The latter I may sell, if it looks like there's any call for it. Otherwise, I'll donate. Oh, and the best part -- a tin container made in Germany, long and silver and definitely shabby chic. I think I'll store playing cards in it.
I came home and had another serving of the enchilada casserole. One more serving left. I think it's going to go in the freezer.
Nice finds in the free box!
Free boxes are the best! Like a treasure chest by the side of the road. You scored with your finds.
1. I pass by 3 different BJs (in 2 different states) so I checked to see which one had the cheapest panko, where the prices were $8.99; $9.69; $10.79. I happened to be going to the first to buy some gas, so I popped in and bought it from the first option.
2. Mom has been in a nursing home/rehap for about 2 months, but she is finally on the mend and going a bit stir crazy. She can now get in/out of a car, so I signed her out for a couple of hours, and she bought me lunch.
3. Yesterday, I picked up a mystery shop for my dad and me to do while we were running an errand, so lunch for 2, plus leftovers, was $3.30.
4. My sister and bil invited me over for dinner last night. I had a coupon for a free quart of ice cream at Stop & Shop, so I swung by there to bring it over for dessert. While at their house, I also gave my sister 2 bottles of dishwashing liquid (free from mystery shop) and she, in turn, gave me 10 heads of garlic, from her bumper crop. Here she is, explaining how she harvests and stores her garlic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMma5x62DMA&t=4s
5. My mom has CVS care plus, where she gets $10 a month to spend (no carryover). Since she is still in the home, I asked her if she wanted anything, which she does not, so she told me to use that credit to buy what I need, which I've found 2 products that will now only be $3, instead of $13. I'll walk over tomorrow and pick those items up.
The prices at CVS aren't good BUT with their discount card memberships, and if their pharmacy is used for prescriptions, the savings do add up.
Thanks for the link; I too grow garlic and am always interested in how others cure and store it.
For a drink that you can dilute, I think the cost of the lemonade isn’t too bad. You could also smash a few of those blackberries and add them to the lemonade. That would be delish! And, then there are Arnie Palmers. You could pour the lemonade into an ice cube mold and then add the cube(s) to a drink (coke or seltzer water). Anyways, what a deal!
I once tried to figure out if I could make sorbet from a leftover soda. It’s possible, but I never followed through. I suppose a granita would be quite doable.
Two days my granddaughter and I went on a thrift shop expedition. I really didn’t need much but it was a fun bonding activity. She was going with friends to a club that night and got a super cute outfit complete with jewelry for very little money. Plus we helped a charity.
For lunch my husband and I drove to a nearby park with our picnic basket. It was so lovely and really pleasant in the shade. We hiked some of the park’s trails after lunch. The unexpected thing was that we found a large ‘Patriot Front’ sticker that somebody had put on one of the park’s signs. We painstakingly picked off the entire sticker. We both felt pretty shocked to see something like that.
We are trying to sell a condo in another city. Our wonderful realtor spent all yesterday having an open house. It is very encouraging as he got nonstop foot traffic and everyone was very positive except for one grumpy couple who thought it should have three bathrooms!!
While hiking in the park we found an old apple tree full of yellow transparents. I picked enough for apple crisp tomorrow.
That is all!