Five Frugal Things -- Trauma Bonding With my Porch Light
1) I walked my plastic clamshell plastic over to New Seasons Market for recycling and then walked myself cheap-ass self right out of that schmancy store.
What am I, a Rockefeller?
2) I passed by this antique cast iron light fixture but left it in place, even though it was gorgeous and period appropriate for our house. (The gears in my brain immediately began to plan how to remove the multiple layers of paint!) I have no need for it as we have a high quality Rejuvenation porch light that was a financial stretch back in the day, even though it was from their "seconds" department. (The glass shade was a Goodwill find.)
This was from an era when my husband was in school and I worked full time as a labor and delivery nurse with little kids at home and every dollar spent was an agonizing decision.
As such, I'm trauma bonded with this light fixture.
Hopefully someone in the neighborhood will bring the other one home to refurbish.
3) My husband spent an hour or two organizing our basement to set up the shelving units from his late parents' storage unit. He came across this empty Band-Aid box, which come with the supplies he assembles for first aid kits. I remembered that my friend Lise has accepted these in the past, so I sent out a text.
I'll walk it over to her house this afternoon and be happy that an item that's not useful for me, can be useful for her.
4) My husband and I walked over to a new food cart pod to celebrate the full and absolute emptying of his late parents' storage unit. (His brother went over the weekend and took the final couple items that we set aside for him.) I ordered some "loaded potato Jo-Jos," which found themselves part of both the next day's lunch and dinner!
They're not especially pretty in a photo, but that doesn't mean they weren't delicious. Potatoes = vegetables, onions = vegetables. These are vegetables and I will abide no information to the contrary!
5) Hmm . . . I can't think of a fifth "frugal thing," as I was a major homebody yesterday. (I did finish reading my library book!) However, there's not much that's more frugal than staying at home and essentially going nowhere. I'm motoring through my summer reading program card, having read ten days in a row. So that's something . . . right?
I do have frugal plans today, so hopefully tomorrow's fifth "thing" will be more interesting.
Now your turn, what frugal things have you been up to?
Having my usual midnight insomnia, I found a frugal website from England. They are suffering from a heatwave and had to be educated about heat exhaustion and other hacks about staying cool when you lack air conditioning. They already had some good ones.
I added my 2 cents worth (or should I say 2 pence worth?) by telling them to tape foil on the windows to keep the sun out. We used to do that in the college dorms; however, most apartment complexes and homeowners associations take a dim view, no pun intended, of that hack. I also described a car windshield sun blocker. They probably don't have those in the UK so I said cut one to size from corrugated cardboard. And, of course, recommended they park in the shade.
And when they go out take frozen water bottles so when the ice inside melts, they'll have cold water in the park or beach. No one had yet added that.
But anyway, it was fun to read some of their hacks and tips and hopefully I helped someone across the big pond, as they call the Atlantic Ocean. A lot of them said instead of parks or the beaches, they were going to air-conditioned theaters to get out of the heat. That's how folks used to cope with it here in the South before AC was common.
I also read their tips that were not related to the heat wave there. One thing I picked up on is that when they have that last smidgen of jelly in bottom of the jar, they add vinegar, shake it up, and make a salad dressing out of it. I've tried adding milk for a sort of fruit-flavored milkshake-y type thing (written about in the Tightwad Gazette), but it never seems to mix very well. I will switch to vinegar next time. Maybe apple cider vinegar.
Another interesting tidbit is that some Brits use the internet and YouTube for entertainment because they apparently have to pay a TV license tax to watch the BBC and other telecasts or maybe even to have a TV set. I relate to that because I absolutely refuse to pay for cable or satellite or even streaming. I feel the airwaves are supposed to belong to the public, as per the very old FCC ruling.
Katy,
I think I would have taken that light fixture in a heart beat. But I understand your reasoning. I love lamps/lights and taught myself how to rewire them. Trust me it is not hard to do.
My kids got me a T shirt once that said Lamp Lady.
my five frugals are rinse and repeat....
1. because of the heat, almost living on smoothies and salads.
2. laundry done and dried on outside lines
3. reading from materials rescued from DD Goodwill donations, they will be donated when I read them.
4. getting ready for a 4 day get away, buying nothing but food to take with us.
5. repaired the jumper hose between spigot and hose reel 1.99 compared to 40.00 for a new jumper hose.
In the middle of a heat wave here in Cincinnati. Shades and curtains closed following the sun. Fortunately lots of rain before it started so only had to water a few pots.
Exercising early and walking to the gym.
Haven’t driven in 3 days. Dropped my car off for oil change today and they have kept it all day! Ugh
Son came for a visit from out of state. All meals made at home except when he took us out for dinner.
Cleaning out one drawer a day. Finding things to use and much to shred or toss.
Pool finally opened after totally being redone. Packed a lunch and drinks for daughter and boyfriend. Cheap date at the new pool.
USPS is raising first class postage for stamps on July 12. (I think package prices went up already in January). Letters, postcards, international letters.
Ollies Outlet is having a 4th of July sale, advertising heavily. I don't have a routine to go there, nor even a store near, but I know some of you do.
Birthright citizenship remains! Never should have been appealed to Supreme Court. Should have been a unanimous decision-- The decision upholds exactly what the constitution says! Huuuge wastes of time, money, expertise, and fear.
After morning yoga, my neighbor and her 5 littles went to my friend's big farm to sweep the seed storage warehouse, collecting dog food bags full of various seeds for the birds.
I brought along 2 hand held dewalt vacuums, a smallish shop vac and 2 large barn brooms. It took us about 90 minutes to clean the 19000sq ft building. Kids had a blast and tired them out.
This evening I am cleaning up a custom home build site. We organize the large dumpster from recyclables, cardboard, metals and wood. Usable wood goes to the shop, metals goes to the community recycling drop off that gets sold monthly and the proceeds goes to a local charity.
Got the idea from a friend, we downloaded a map of the Portland Zoo, into an AI generator and asked it to create a scavenger hunt with 8 sites for 6 year olds. It created the game in about 45 seconds. When our kids were young, my cousins and I would set up scavenger hunts and geocaching events on our farm and it would take hours!
Finished my book, will put it in the truck to drop off at a LL.
Now am reading "A Piece of the World" by Christina Baker Kline