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I scored this Bonne Maman jar from a free box. My neighbor who sets them out in her yellow recycling tub is moving away, so it’s good to have a couple backup jars. These jars + Winco’s bulk food section = a match made in heaven!
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My next door neighbor invited me over for tea and croissant yesterday morning and we had a lovely chant and vent session. I brought my own tea and she supplied the pastry. We take turns hosting and it’s a perfect way to scratch that socializing itch without breaking the bank.
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I made a cranberry coffee cake using this fantastic recipe that’s infinitely adjustable. The “cranberry” part was just leftover cranberry sauce that I swirled into the batter. I brought a couple squares to my neighbor, as well as serving it to the guest I was hosting.
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I’ve started rehabbing a Restoration Hardware metal wastebasket that I picked up for free. I’ll do the reveal tomorrow, but rest assured that it’s worth the effort. Here’s a sneak peek of the rusty interior:
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I made a big pot of white bean rosemary soup yesterday, which was extra yummy as I still had a bit of bacon leftover from making baked beans a few weeks ago. I like this frugal recipe as the white beans are a nice break from the pinto and black beans, which are a staple in my kitchen.
Five Tiniest Frugal Things
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The link to the bean soup goes to the coffee cake.
Oops, I’ll fix that!
Oh my goodness! I lost my favorite easy and adaptable coffee cake recipe when we moved some years ago. I knew I got it from a blog, but I didn’t realize it was yours. As soon as I read the spinach story (something my mom also did, blegh), I knew I had found it again. THANK YOU!!
Yay, hooray for my non-domestic grandmother’s coffee cake recipe!
I’m feeling defeated in the frugal field right now. I’ve worked 12 hours overtime this week and visited our new grandbaby quite a few times, but honestly, I ate out for lunch three times, although once was with a coupon so I just paid the taxes on it. I didn’t dry clothes quick enough, so they soured in the washer, and I have to rewash them. I just feel like I’m just swimming upstream.
There are just times like that. I’m sorry it feels like that right now. And frugal times will return!
Thank you Kara and Katy. I just feel swamped. But it will get better.
We all have weeks like this, just give yourself credit for all you’re doing well and forge forward.
Sometimes you have to do the unfrugal (eat out) in order to do the frugal (work extra hours) and essential (develop relationship with new grandbaby). Your choices seem perfectly reasonable to me.
1. Volunteered at a Master Gardener workshop and came home with 20 alyssum starts. Yay!
2. Towels washed and on the line, as well as the shower curtain and liner (which I only do every so often).
3. Picked up our free donut each at Krispy Kreme yesterday (dh will eat both). Neighbor brought over 2 slices of cake for dh. So he’s doing well in the sweets department.
4. Harvested all my chives and sorted the good from the flowers/dry stalks. I dry these and grind them to powder and use as a seasoning in soups and casseroles. I can’t eat onion or garlic so the chive powder adds nice flavor. I’m going to move the chive plants to a spot that gets more water.
5. Sold a free-to-me under bed storage box. Listed a plant.
5.
FTFT, The Peasants Are Revolting (But the King Is More Revolting) Edition:
(1) There’s going to be a “No Kings” demonstration in my city next Saturday (6/14), and I’m planning to attend. I’m constructing a sign from materials I have on hand. More details as my thoughts about this evolve.
(2) Going down memory lane, I think the last demonstration I took part in was one at my Florida college town’s airport the day Ronald Reagan arrived as a candidate in the 1976 Republican primary for President. I was holding up one end of a sign that read “Bedtime for Bonzo!” (For those of you too young to get this reference–meaning most of you, I imagine!–this was the title of a 1950s Reagan movie in which he played foster father to a chimpanzee.)
(3) I’m also attending a “meet and greet” session tomorrow (Sunday) for one of our local mayoral candidates, hosted by two friends of mine. I’ll spare you a detailed description of our convoluted local political situation, but this candidate does seem to be the best woman for the job. I’ll have just enough time to vote in the June 24 primary for this race before I catch the train to NYC for my visit to JASNA BFF.
(4) Speaking of the train trip, I took advantage of Amtrak’s senior discount, of course.
(5) And, as usual, I will be packing with an eye to whatever I can donate to BFF’s local Housing Works charity shop, in order to make room for purchases. I don’t plan to stint myself at the Morgan Library gift shop or anywhere else.
Good for you attending your local “No Kings” event! We are having one in my city next Saturday as well and I’m trying to figure out how I will participate . . . they are doing kind of a circus/fair thing in a park, so it’s a little different from some of the protest marches I’ve taken part in previously.
That coffee cake reminds me of one I used to make that used whole berry cranberry sauce. It was delicious.
The FFT at our house:
1. Gave our cat and both the dogs a bath and brush out this week. All were very good-natured and cooperative. This would have cost a small fortune to hire out. Our cat is part Maine Coon and has a dense, slightly oily coat. The bath was necessary to get her winter coat combed out. I did wrap her paws with vet wrap to prevent her from clawing me, but she was good as gold.
2. DH and I had our once a month meal out today: the lunch special at our favorite neighborhood Mexican place. It’s half the price of eating elsewhere.
3. Received a $5 off anything coupon from Ace Hardware and used it today to buy a $5.99 pack of wood polish wipes, which are reserved for use on our wooden kitchen table and DH’s WWII army desk. The wipes will last quite a while.
4. Trimmed my hair.
5. Enjoyed the first two cherry tomatoes from our little container garden.
1. I bought a sharpening stone at an estate sale for my daughter and she sharpened my knives for me.
2. I’m trying to empty my chest freezer so I can shut it down. I made chicken salad from chicken breasts that I took out. My daughters and I took it for lunch at their Oma’s. I also used up some berries and melon given to me by my mom and daughter in a fruit salad.
3. My son-in-law fixed the bearings on my youngest’s car.
4. We stopped at a moving sale on the way to my MIL’s and both girls bought kitchen items they were needing.
5. I had a Panera reward for a free macaroni and cheese which I ate for dinner one night.
The link is sending me to a weird error page. Mostly, I’m curious whether it’s the same recipe I use.
1. I ate 5 strawberries from the plants on my porch. They’re tastier than grocery store strawberries.
2. I found a cache of 18 Ranier beer cans when I was out for a walk. The remnants of a party, I suppose. This is why I never walk without a bag for any treasures I find on the way.
3. We had red lentil soup for dinner. So good and so cheap!
4. I’m slowly recovering from the Covid situation, and have had ample time to wrap my head around how to have a civil relationship with the MAGA family member who gave it to me. (Families. Ugh!)
5. No matter how angry I feel about the fallout from my MAGA family member’s ridiculous refusal to get a Covid vaccine, my behavior toward them will never compare to the Musk-Trump man baby rift.
1. Had Renewal by Andersen out to repair some doors under warranty. They need to come back but at least it’s in progress, so I crossed it off the to-do list.
2. Using a different shower in the house that has a lower flow showerhead to save water. It’s also the shower that doesn’t leak!
3. Husband used 20 cents off gas coupon from local newspaper to fill his truck. Significant savings.
4. Made appointment for my annual physical after which I will earn $25 from my health plan.
5. Reviewed May expenses compared to April and to the average of the previous 12 months. Even though we did a lot of stocking up in May, we spent $30 less than in April. Chalk this up to shopping at Aldi and the discount food store as well as making simpler meals. Continued to spend way less on restaurant meals, too.
1. Felt like eating someone else’s cooking so picked up a restaurant shop. Husband and I enjoyed a very filling meal and made enough that it covered the tip, too.
2. Library for puzzle and three books.
3. Realized I had a bunch of grocery points about to expire, plus other loyalty points, so I stocked up on dog food, spending $108 for $216 worth. Half price is great. We spend more on dog food than human food every month. Plus I also did it pickup through My Points, so will earn some points there. Most years I only make about $75 through My Points, but money is money and it takes very little time.
4. Brought home a large carton of blueberries from the food bank. It had some mold so it was not offered to clients, and no other volunteers wanted it, so I brought it home. Once washed, it turned out to be only a loss of 9 berries; the rest were firm and tasty.
5. Neighbor had a yard sale and asked if I wanted to put anything in. I had a VERY outdated globe made of marble so put that in and it sold!! I have tried three other times to give it away or sell it and no one wanted it. It was only $15 and I gave her $7.50 of that but I am thrilled: clutter out, money in.
Frugal fail: Brought home a box of dog biscuits and left it on the kitchen counter. Came out to find an empty box on the floor. Clobber Paws had
pulled it down, stealthily opened the carton and quietly ate 144 biscuits. I know better than to leave anything edible, or faintly edible, on the counter but fatigue’s loss was his gain. It is not his fault, he is still a puppy even if he is 180 pounds. All the years I have had Irish wolfhounds and now a Dane, you’d think I would never make these kinds of errors…
I am excited to see the results of your trash can refurbish! It’s such a great feeling to use a frugal hack for a trash can like that. Trash cans are so often wildly overpriced in stores!! Anyway, I did something a little similar a few years ago when I needed a trash can for a guest bedroom: I found a little decorative hammered copper flower pot I already had out in the garage (but wasn’t using for plants) and just washed the dirt out from it and used that. It was the perfect size for a small trash can, and it looked cute too!
P.S. Your cranberry coffee cake sounds so delicious. What a perfect use for leftover cranberry sauce.