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I picked more wild blackberries for the freezer. I know this a repeat “frugal thing,” but I’m determined to get my lazy tuchus over to my secret berry patch once a week! I plan to take full advantage of this brief seasonal opportunity. Free amazing food that’s easy to either freeze or transform into jam? I’d be a fool to ignore this nonconsumer opportunity!
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Someone in my Buy Nothing group offered up a baking sheet for my friend who needed one. I then thanked them by walking over some propogated pothos starts, as they’d asked for some a couple months ago.
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I stopped at Trader Joe’s on my way home from berry picking. I bought the one thing on my list — six of their 23¢ bananas. Nothing more.*
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I made my own salmon schmear using some leftover salmon. I simply mixed it into cream cheese and then added lemon zest, garlic powder and salt. I didn’t have any bagels, but it was rather tasty on crackers. Eating whole leftover cooked salmon would’ve fed a single person, but mixing it into cream cheese expanded it into something to be enjoyed by multiple people.
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I didn’t cut funding to health care, public radio, medical research, education, national parks and LGBTQ+ crisis lines in the name of fiscal responsibility; and then build a vulgar $200 million ball room.
Five More Tiny Frugal Things
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I am very depressed to hear the Corp. for Public Broadcasting is quitting business, mainly bc the result will be our news is getting more and more censored. Already, our weather forecasting is not as accurate and now the economic news from Federal Reserve will be falsely reporting how great Trump’s fiscal policies are, thanks to his firing the lady who came out with less-than-stellar statistics this time around. I no longer watch CBS News (I haven’t been happy since they demoted Nora O’Donnell) and I am only watching Colbert on CBS. After he leaves so will I, since I figure 60 Minutes is going to have to muzzle itself. We’re seeing Goebbels’ methodology of telling the big lie applied here; Trump, the Republican party, conservative radio commentators and Fox News have been doing it for quite a while, but now it’s spreading, and it is very scary and depressing. Even worse are the naive people who swallow these lies hook, line and sinker. Please pray for our country!
OK, off my soapbox and on to my frugalities:
1. The contract for my electric utility provider expires in October, so I have begun researching electric rates of all the different retail utilities. Here in my state, we have the “power to choose” electric companies and their rates vary widely. (Oncor provides the electricity from the generating station to the power line but different retail companies sell you the electricity from the power line to your home.) I found out that the ones offering “free nights” (where they don’t charge you for power after a certain time) also charge 19 cents a kilowatt hour; other companies are as low as 9.5 cents per kwh. (See? I knew there was a catch!) I’m also going to ask if the city is negotiating a wholesale group rate I can get in on; that’s what I’ve had for a few years now. It’s just like health insurance: group rates tend to be cheaper than individual rates. Which company you go with makes a HUGE difference as to your power bill!
2. Now that the roofers are finished, I gathered up the soda cans they left and put ’em in the recycling bag. Checked the going rate for recycling cans: it has already risen from 29 cents to 34 cents in the last couple of months. I expect metal recycling rates to skyrocket thanks to the Felon-in-Chief’s tariffs. So I am collecting aluminum cans in a contractor’s bag and hope to get some fairly good $ when it’s full.
3. Found some leftover roofing screws, which match the color of the roof. Put them in the garage, in case they are needed later. Ditto, 3 caulking guns.
4. Began boycotting Walmart and Lowe’s as per the national movement. Continuing to boycott Target, Home Depot, and Hobby Lobby. It’s frugal not to go into those stores!
5. Took some items to Goodwill for another 20% discount coupon.
The 2 million dollar ballroom is unbelievable. What next?
1. I made some blueberry muffins with the last of some frozen blueberries. I’m still working to empty my chest freezer.
2. I cut open a tube of aquaphor to get the last of it out.
3. I bought two partial boxes of zip lock bags at an estate sale for a dollar each. They were a size I didn’t have.
4. I helped my daughter renew her passport online. We took our own photo. They crop it for you. This saved the $15 photo fee at Walgreens.
5. I sold another item on Ebay. Sales have slowed down again. Time to start listing.
Wild blackberries are also starting to ripen in Ireland, we have some in our rather overgrown garden but I will be foraging for more, too, as the ones in the garden get eaten straight away! Blackberries are indeed great for freezing for future use in porridge and yoghurt.
* We’re just back from holidays and I have a huge pile of washing to get through. The weather is good and the first load is drying on the line as I’m typing this.
* Thankfully water refill stations are becoming very common now and we were able to avoid buying plastic water bottles at airports.
* Our carry on backpacks were quite full (due to unexpected gifts from family members) and we were a bit nervous that one or two of us would be charged for oversized cabin bags (Ryanair is notorious for this!) but all was well, they didn’t check the bag sizes in the boarding area. We got lucky there!
* We did not eat out once during our holiday. We stayed with family and enjoyed cooking and eating together at home.
* I sold some items for an elderly family member on FB marketplace while staying with them.
* There was a stack of requested library books waiting for me when we got back – looking forward to reading them and will of course be posting my favourite reads here 🙂
1. I was awarded a grant through work this week, which means my plane ticket, and 9 nights in France (along with food) will all be paid for. I will pay for an additional 5 nights myself, and we will stay with my partner’s friend the last night, but for 15 days in France, it will be really affordable.
2. I taught my last class before my sabbatical begins. This means 14 weeks of not having a 3.5 hour commute each way, and about $800 savings in gas.
3. To celebrate this, I wanted to go out to eat but I came home last night and ate toast and caponata.
4. The caponata was made with eggplant, zucchini, and onion (from free CSA box), raisins (that had been given to me from mil before then downsized) and olives (a giant jar given to me from Buy Nothing from a bar that was closing). I ate it for 3 nights.
5. I picked up another mystery shop for a grocery store and, after combining the shop money and coupons, I bought 4 pounds of bacon for $.49 each. BLTs, here we come!
1. We are eating almost entirely at home. No interest in going out right now.
2. I painted a Goodwill frame and inserted a gifted print.
3. I am in the process of lining fridge shelves with $ Tree vinyl place mats. It will be much easier to remove the mats for cleaning than to remove the shelves.
4. I got 25% off total purchase at my favorite craft store in their 3 day promotion.
5. My husband said he was giving me a bottle of shampoo because he didn’t like what it did to his hair. I said if I didn’t like it as shampoo, I would use it as shower gel. It WAS shower gel.
lol
The national parks have a sign on the bathrooms that they are conducting a study on lighting. In short, the lights are off. It is very hard to find an unlit building in a large wilderness like campground after dark. The stars are beautiful, but is the heavy breathing next to me another lost camper or a bear?
>^..^<