Five Frugal Things -- Gluten-free Birthday Cakes & Hostess Gifts
1) We had the kids over for dinner, which included a birthday celebration. Nothing fancy, but I wanted to bake a cake. Unfortunately I didn't have a gluten-free cake mix, but I did have a brownie mix in the cupboard.
Birthday brownies it is!
I also had 98¢ can of Winco frosting on hand, as I'd stocked up when it was on sale. I somehow didn't grab a photo, but my frosted "Funfetti" of brownies were a hit!
My experience is that gluten-free baking mixes are hit or miss, but we were all pleasantly surprised with the results. I'll definitely pick it up again. I texted a friend whose kids have Celiac disease and she shared that their coffee cake mix is also a hit.
2) My sister is visiting for the next couple of weeks and brought an empty Tiffany & Co. satin box as a hostess gift. ("You can sell it!") It came to her a few years ago with some earrings and now I can put it up on eBay to resell!
She knows me well.
3) My sister also brought six unripe tomatoes from her garden, which are currently sitting on my kitchen windowsill to ripen.
I aniticipate B.L.T. sandwiches in our future!
4) My husband spent hours and hours microcleaning/detailing the interior of our minivan to remove the garbage-y scent from clearing out his parents' storage unit. The smell meant we avoided driving this car, so it'll be nice to be able to have it as a second vehicle again.
Click HERE to read my "Garbage is not an inheritance" blog post.
5) A neighborhood squirrel lovingly placed a walnut in my outside spider plant. How'd I get so lucky?
It's hard to get ahead financially when all your money is tied up in walnut.
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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Thank you to everyone who sent packing and moving advice!! All great reminders 🙂
The moving/packing saga marches on! I posted in all my community groups for boxes so we can start packing. The following leads came up:
1. A reddit post in another neighborhood of someone giving away a full packing set from home depot, unused
2. Someone who is moving TODAY who is looking for someone to piecemeal take her boxes (80 of them?!) since she can't store them all
3. A wine store that offers wooden crates from some of their products that are good for heavier items
4. A neighbor who has been hoarding chewy boxes but has realized he doesn't need them
5. Our favorite bar that agreed to store liquor bottle boxes for us to move our home bar and book collection
We have considered also renting the plastic bins to avoid waste, but this puts us on a good trajectory to get started.
My older daughter's favorite part of dessert is frosting and my youngest doesn't care much about cake but they both lose their minds over a good chocolate brownie! The celebration sounds like a success!
1. I had a hold come in from Libby, just in time since I have a lot of work to do and will want something to listen to.
2. We began unpacking suitcases and unloading our Ikea haul today! We got the keys to our new apartment last night and we saved ourselves a pretty penny on the delivery fee from Ikea by picking up everything from the store's "click and collect" option.
3. All of our dishes came through okay! Nothing was broken or even cracked. We had three flights to get from Europe to Ohio and our luggage took a tumble getting onto the hotel shuttle, so I am incredibly pleased!
4. We leave our Airbnb tomorrow morning (hopefully our last Airbnb for a VERY long time) and the klepto itch to see what amenities I can bring home with me is very strong. I don't think there's much that we haven't already used up, but I'll be sure to take a peak before we finish packing in the morning!
5. I reminded my husband that our apartment has a Starbucks machine in the lobby since he's taking a load of stuff over this afternoon. He was very grateful for the reminder!
Bringing tomatoes across the country is a real gift of love!
1. My partner and I have started our vacation - we are currently en route to Quebec province, but are spending 2 nights in BIL's house in VT, for free (they are actually on vacation themselves, so we have the house to ourselves, and save on 2-nights lodging.
2. BIL makes a LOT more money than we do, so it is difficult what to do as a thank you for letting us use his house. I know that there are certain foods that they like having (Nutella, good chocolate, name-brand seltzer) so we purchased them at our local grocery chain (Market Basket) where I know the prices are lower than at their local grocery store.
3. We brought some food with us to eat in Burlington (yes, we know no produce into Canada). This included 2 croque monsieur that I had made for our last night's dinner at home, but I made 2 extra. The milk, cheese, bread, and ham were all free from various mystery shops, I think it was about $2 for 4 delicious sandwiches. Since our original vacation was supposed to be France (before the orange man started a war and caused airline tickets to rocket) this was a bit of a nod to that trip. We also brought food for breakfast, but are splurging on dinners out (that will be paid for using credit card rewards). We are bringing some coffee with us, however (it is okay, I checked) in case our Airbnb doesn't include it, so that we don't need to buy any while there for breakfast.
4. All of the other lodging will be paid for thanks to Chase, who sent me an incentive for $900 if I stash some money with them for 3 months. I'll hit that milestone just when the credit card is due to pay for the lodging.
5. I secured 2 free tickets to the McCord Steward museum in Montreal for Wednesday evening (free from 5 pm onward). Other than that, our favorite activity is just walking around neighborhoods, so that will be a low/no cost activity, other than eating.
A friend delivered 10lbs of homegrown apples. I gave her a bag of travel supplies (plug adapter, money belts, shawl).
I sold an item on ebay and an item on Vinted.
Being a chair dweller today as yesterday's foot surgery has been surprisingly painful since the nerve block wore off. Thankfully I can still attend my online Spanish class. It cost $79 for 10 lessons, each 90 minutes long. If I attend all 10, I get a refund of $30. I'm going for the refund!
Used the 3 homegrown kohlrabi that I was given to make some slaw. Picked a lot of basil which I'll have dh put in the dehydrator when he gets home. I grow enough basil, thyme, parsley and chives to eat fresh and also dry for a year round supply.
Dh accepted the offer of a ride to work. Builds friendship and saves gas!