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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.
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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.
I agree, Lindsey. Whatever it takes to maximize time with a newborn is worth it to me.
Congratulations, Alice! I hope everything evens out soon and you’re able to relax and enjoy.
Alice, I totally feel you on swimming upstream! We’ve been trying to be careful with our spending…then hubby’s grill died (it was old, and rusty, and beyond repair), and a few other unexpected things popped up. He got a new, smaller grill *and a cover* for an early Fathers Day present. We just do our best, and move forward!
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.
I believe the white bean and rosemary soup recipe is Brandy’s from her blog, The Prudent Homemaker. She paused her blog before Christmas due to too many other demands. I follow her on IG and when people ask about her blog, lately, she said there is a technical issue she can’t fix/doesn’t know how to fix. I really enjoy her blog but it seems she is being hired to design other people’s gardens and that would be more satisfying to her, I imagine.
If you scroll down, you can still see the recipe. I think it’s just the header that has the weird error
You are absolutely right! Good to know we can still access parts of her blog.
Thanks!
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!
I buy trash cans at the thrift stores, usually right after the college kids go home. They are clean and cheap — the cans, not necessarily the kids. Hippie Christmas!
P.S. Your cranberry coffee cake sounds so delicious. What a perfect use for leftover cranberry sauce.
FFT – mostly small but one big one
1. Listed 12 jigsaw puzzles on FB Marketplace and sold 5 at $3 each. Whatever doesn’t sell will get donated to my local library, for unsupervised children to open and scatter all over the Library. They used to keep the puzzles behind the desk but now they are on open shelves.
2. For 6 Saturdays in a row here in the Boston area rain or the threat of rain has prevented people from holding yard sales. We went to an indoor one today at a VFW Hall and I found a Travelon messenger bag and a Vera Bradley wallet for $1 each.
3. Stretched a Costco rotisserie chicken to feed three adults three nights in a row.
4. I’m recovering from Phase II of dental implant surgery so I eat whatever soft food I have in the house and continue to drink the protein drinks I purchased back in October for Phase I (the bone grafts).
5. This is the big one – its really less about frugality and more about spending now to save later. We pay $100 every month for Trupanion Pet Insurance for our three chihuahua-mix rescues. My youngest, only 2, recently ruptured a disc in her back and needed $13,000 surgery so she can walk again. Yep. Our deductible is $1,000. My DD29 is a senior vet tech and knows all about pre-approvals and how to speak to the insurance company. Baby Girl came home today and is able to stand, wag her tail and control her bladder and bowels. A friend gave us a help-m-up harness that her dog used while recovering from a similar injury.
1. I cleaned my house.
2. I walked in my neighborhood.
3. I took a nap.
4. I made noodles I needed to use up and used tomato juice I needed to use up as a sauce.added a bit of mustard greens I grew in my front yard because I am not going to waste garden space and there is no HOA nor restrictions here, chopped up the green onion I had rooted in pots, and put parm cheese on top.
5. I enjoyed my roses in the front yard. I also did not leave my neighborhood today and enjoyed a day home.
Definitely un frugal the past 2 weeks on “vacation” but have rationalized that I am being generous to others and to myself. Have had fun thrifting where we are staying and friends have also gotten great bargains too. I am treating friends and family. I found a great “introductory package” for a wonderful local yoga /exercise studio and have maximized my use and really enjoyed the daily classes and different instructors. I am enjoying reading library books I brought along and have purchased 4 used books that I am enjoying. Have been cooking and enjoying leftovers as well as eating lunches out. I joined the local food coop for a nominal fee and am happy to support a great community minded organization and one I can walk to during our stay.
1. Birthday freebies- as we know live in an area where lots of these offers are local to me – I’ve been having a lot of fun picking them up. P.F. Chang’s, shake shack, and nothing but Bundt were some of the favorites. Honestly, they’ve been an exercise in mapping out errands
School is finally out! It was then my birthday and now wedding week for my ds! So busy, but fun time.
1 – dh actually planned a dinner out with my kids for my birthday. I’m scared to look at the total for 7 people but we did go during happy hour so got discounts on our drinks. And the place was in no way fancy
2 – my gift from dh was concert tickets to Eric Church! We have talked for years about trying to go to a concert. I am very excited as experiences are more important to me than objects.
3 – dh and I had leftovers from my birthday dinner tonight, so no cooking for me and no extra cost
4 – I cleaned the grout in my tub/shower area with a mixture of dawn soap, baking soda and hydrogen peroxide. It’s clean but it didn’t really remove much stain. Worth a shot and my walls are very clean now – with items I already had on hand.
5 – sold an item on ebay
1. I went to work with a bad head cold, so I bopped over to the vitamin section and found some Vitamin C gummies that had $5 in-store coupons with them. So I paid $5 + change –> half price. The gummy bottle had dinosaurs on it and was designed for kids, but I figure Vitamin C is Vitamin C and I need to get over this crud ASAP.
2. Going through a fast food drive-through, one of the tall landscaping plants (with branches that go out beyond the curb) had a seed pod on it, so I got my car pretty close and snatched the seed pod. I see these plants all over the place, don’t know what they are, but I want to try to grow one.
3. A coworker said, “you bring the crackers and I’ll bring the chicken salad for tomorrow’s lunch.” It’s a deal!
4. Used Gas Buddy app to find a good deal on gasoline.
5. I’m setting my AC on 78 degrees F. Outside is 94 degrees. So it feels really cool indoors and saves on electricity. If it starts feeling warm inside, I use electric fans to circulate the air before turning the AC down a notch. So far I haven’t had to make it cooler indoors.
1. Took a day trip yesterday to meet a faraway friend for lunch. We are at a coffee shop/restaurant with very reasonable prices. I ate my sandwich but packed up my rotini salad to go. Today I’ll dress it up a bit more and have it for lunch.
2. My friend brought me some cream cheese and mozzarella. She often passes on food items she can’t use. I was prepared with a small cooler. In return, I gave her some books and some OTC supplements I can’t use.
3. Rather than shop the nearby gift shops, we found a bench and sat and talked. However, after a while we did go get ice cream.
4. When I got home it was still early enough to grocery shop. I spent my designated $20 at Aldi, buying butter, applesauce, yogurt, cheese slices, crackers, dried cranberries, tuna and peanuts.
5. Today I’m going to take it easy!
I liked your phrase “dress up” your rotini salad.
I occasionally have half a chef or other salad left over after eating out and those usually have enough ingredients that if I just add more greens, it makes a very filling second meal. Adding peanuts to reheated Chinese food is another stretch which also adds crunchiness.
I’ll often choose what to order in a restaurant based on the leftovers and how much I can dress them up.
Unless a fast food restaurant, we always order with leftovers in mind regardless of their need for dressing up or not. Tis the key to dining out IOHO. But I suspect Freddy’s fries would heat up quite nicely in the oven *if* I opted to not consume them all. We don’t deep fry at home which is why it is such a disappointment when a fast food restaurant *cannot* cook fries. The deep fryer is likely “idiot” proof – health department says if you cook fries (time based on fresh cut or frozen) for X amount of time, said restaurant meets code for *not* serving raw food.
I’m just chuckling at an amazing typo in your post. Instead of “chat and vent,” your fingers wrote “chant and vent” and I’m just giggling at the idea of you and your friend engaging in Gregorian chants before airing your grievances. :):)
It was an expensive week or so, with graduation & my parents in town. A few things:
1) Used a $10 reward for the pizza we ordered for DS18 & friends + our family after graduation. The teens had very little time to eat before they had to head back to the school for their grad night party, and it was very fun to see them.
2) Had a balance of planned meals out (belated Mother’s Day trip to the winery for my mom, grad lunch, pizza) & the rest were meals at home where we cooked.
3) Passed on DS19’s graduation gown, and have several people interested in DS18’s, but I want to make sure he’s done getting pictures. The day of graduation was very rushed.
4) Borrowed stadium seats from a neighbor for graduation, and dropped off a bag of DS18’s outgrown clothes, saving her a trip.
5) Passed on leftover macaroni & potato salad to my elderly neighbor who no longer really cooks. She was thrilled.
After a year of DS18 & his friends basically always at our house, it’s way too quiet! They are on a senior road trip, and camped in Brookings last night, and are heading to the Portland area today. They will do day trips for hiking, while staying with my sister, and then heading to my parents house, where they will use it as a base, and do trips to Mt. St. Helens & Mt. Rainier. They are very excited. I did attempt to help them with their packing list, but they were pretty confident on their own. Fingers crossed. 😉
Good for you for passing the graduation gown along to the next person! It’s such a ripoff that we have to purchase gowns that will end up in a landfill, when rented gowns were perfectly fine in previous generations. When kid #1 graduated, I bought a size that would also work for kid #2. When kid #2 was set to graduate, the school announced that the design had changed, so we needed to buy new gowns and wouldn’t be able to reuse sibling gowns. I wasn’t the only parent who refused to comply. Our kids blended in just fine in their outdated gowns!
I was able to borrow gowns from the kids’ school, even though most people bought theirs.
I wish I’d been able to do that! I was still new to Portland when kid #1 graduated, and there’s definitely a “Portland freeze” situation in my neighborhood.
Congratulations to your son!
“back to the school for their grad night party, ” seriously? Since when don’t students have their own fellow grad parties AFTER families get together? F* the school at this point, I am DONE.
The trick is to not get roped into being a chaperone for the all night party.
Would love a few ideas on how you use the pintos and black beans you cook up. I like using dry beans but run out of ideas after I cook a crock pot full!!!!
I use pinto beans for tacos and burritos and black beans for chili, cowboy salsa and black bean burgers.
Here’s the recipe:
https://thenonconsumeradvocate.com/cheap-eats-katys-black-bean-burgers-2/
1. Saved about 2 dozen children’s books from yard sale leftovers that were being rained on. A few are duplicates we have so I will post in our BN group.
2. Sold 2 thrift flips on posh.scheduled a pickup so I don’t have to stop at the post office. I really hate short errands with my 1 year old. The in and out of the car is always the rough part of errand running.
3. I went to the bins yesterday and found about 30 clothing items for my little one , multiple toys, a life vest and some odds and ends for me and my husband. I rescued some that s for friends kiddos and nephews, and a few things to flip. I spent 45 dollars and will probably be able to sell at least 1 item for 60-70 bucks. I like being able to “cancel out” my trip in a sense.
4. Husband and I continue to do home projects ourselves , baby steps in renovating our home. A vanity we purchased had handles that weren’t matching the faucet, I was able to find spray paint to match. Instead of buying the 250 dollar light I would love , I got an open box one for 25 dollars and going to spray paint that as well.
5. We’ve been enjoying taking our little one swimming at our rec centers. We have to pay our quarterly HOA fee so dang it if I’m not going to get use out of it. They are great for kids though, and lots of fun without spending *more* on an activity.
Bonus: I curb picked a BOB jogging stroller . It had a bunch of sunscreen stains , however I unscrewed (yes unscrewed) the 2 dozen screws to remove all the fabric parts and power washed/scrubbed each bit, and scrubbed the frame/tires. It looks AWESOME. I don’t run with our little one but we do go on nearby unpaved trails often , which our regular stroller does not handle well.
I know your post was probably meant to say that you had a chat and not a chant with your neighbor (if I’m mistaken, what the hey, who am I to judge?) , but the mental image made me giggle. A free chuckle on social media these days is worth gold!