Five Tiny Frugal Things
by Katy on June 22, 2025 · 38 comments
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My next-door neighbors are going out of town for a week, so I’ll water their garden while they’re away. Today it’s raining both the cats and the dogs, but that’s an aberration for this time of year.
I’ll also put out and take in their bin, so I’ll take a loop through our house to see if we have large garbage that can go out with their service. We share garbage pick up with our other next-door neighbors, which can be an issue when there’s rare Big Stuff to get rid of. I did replace our furnace filter last week, so I can at least put the dirty filter in their bin.
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My step-father gifted me a $20 restaurant gift card that he wasn’t able to use. It isn’t enough for two meals, so I’ll just get takeout at some point. Thanks, Sam!
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The out of town neighbors also gave me a mostly full package of mozzarella “pearls,” which I’ll be sure to put to good use.
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My plan had been to hit a neighborhood garage sale day with a friend this afternoon, but the rain was just too heavy and we figured very few households would’ve actually participated. We were looking forward to perusing the end-of-day “free” piles, but sometimes Mother Nature has different plans.
I’m making a concerted effort to spend time with friends lately, but do so in a non-consumer manner; such as serving homemade food, last week’s low key backyard party and this. Being on a lower budget than your friends can be isolating, but that can be switched around when you’re the one planning the get togethers.
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I made a big batch of red lentil soup, which paired well with our Junuary weather.
Katy Wolk-Stanley
“Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without.”
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{ 38 comments… read them below or add one }
1. Words for today are: HAZY, HOT & HUMID. Supposed to break the record temp of 98 set back in 1988. Managed to get a small load of laundry on the clothesline early this morning and they will stay there until the son goes down.
2. Found a pretty frosted glass bowl at the thrift store for $2. It weighs a ton, is fluted, and has grapes and grape leaves in the glass. I tried to find one like it via Google without success. There’s no makers mark, so maybe mass produced? DH’s sister and husband, their son and daughter-in-law, and their granddaughters have a craft show twice a year at their farm. (The ones I got the free eggs from.) DH’s sister goes to yard sales, flea markets and estate sales and snaps up inexpensive vintage items that she can resell for a profit. I’m going to ask if she wants the bowl for that. Even if she gives me $5 for the bowl, I stll get $3 profit and she’d probably put $20 on it, if I know her. Her husband does wood turning, son makes decorative metal flower stakes (about 3-4 feet high), some of which have rain gauges. He does auto body work in his own shop and paints the flowers with automotive paint and clear coat. Nephew’s wife and daughters are bakers and sell a variety of baked goods. A lot of their stuff is out of my price range; however, I at least try to buy a baked item from each of my great-nieces.
3. Also at the thrift store, I found a bag with about a dozen apple ornaments a little larger than a walnut and 2 rolls of tule ribbon, total $4. I bought those for a friend who makes wreaths. I didn’t charge her – just hoping she makes me a wreath.
4. Working on an afghan for 3 local fairs. First one is the second week in July, so I’ve got to keep my crochet hook moving. I kind of oopsied on the width. It will not only cover a king size bed, there will be spillage onto the floor (unless the bed is elevated, then it will still touch the floor). Crocheting and listening to the radio…free entertainment. (BTW, I got the yarn BOGO, so I got $120 worth of yarn for $60.)
5. Meals are “every man/woman for themselves” until the refrigerator is empty. No cooking for at least a week. Meals may be interesting, but there’s a lot of veggies in the fridge and we don’t eat as many as we should, so this may be a good thing.
I love to put mozz pearls in pasta salad. Planning to make a tortellini salad tomorrow with salami chunks, so mozz would be overkill, probably.
Woke up to the puppy chewing a hole in my dress. He looooves chewing on cloth. Oh well, it’s an old dress and Daughter can cut it up for quilts.
I will say the water gun is working out splendidly at getting him to stop barking so much.
Rose,
This may be kind of run-of-the-mill to some, but a friend brought a Caprese-inspired salad to a marching band dinner/potluck made with mozzarella pearls, halved cherry tomatoes, a balsamic dressing, and fresh torn basil. It might have had a bit of sliced onion in there, too? I forget, but it was delicious.
Can’t go wrong with caprese. I’d add thinly sliced red onion because onion improves everything in my experience. Also, could turn that into pasta salad easily with, I duno, elbow macaroni or similar, and more dressing. Then I’d sprinkle parm on top because MOAR CHEEZ = MOAR GOOD.
FTFT, Not Commenting This Week and More Garlic Stuff Edition:
(1) Because I’m leaving for NYC early Tuesday morning and have much to do between now and then, this will be my last comment until next week. I promise a full report on my Big Apple adventures on my return. (Actually, my biggest adventure may be the predicted heat: The high Tuesday is supposed to be 102, heat index to 110. I’m less worried for myself than for JASNA BFF, who is terribly heat-sensitive.)
(2) I brought in my 18 heads of garlic ahead of the predicted rain overnight, which we finally got about 5:30 am today (Sunday). I’m thankful that we were on the western fringe of a major series of T-storms, which have knocked out power to about 60K people east of here. All we got were a refreshing few hard showers, which have nicely watered in the 20 Gem marigolds I planted yesterday to replace the garlic.
(3) And the garlic is now up in my warm attic for final drying. I don’t cut off the scapes, so these will do a spooky little dance (they keep growing for a while even after the plants are harvested) before settling down to produce many tiny bulblets, which I use in making stocks. Blessed are the soup makers.
(4) I had to do a thorough hoeing of the garlic bed before I planted the marigolds, which resulted in some of my volunteer dill becoming collateral damage. (Don’t worry that I won’t have enough dill. There’s plenty of it elsewhere.) I presented bouquets of the dill to two sets of passing neighbors, who seemed very pleased to get it.
(5) And I didn’t just drop some bombs on Iran because I was PO’d that my big military parade last week was a bust.
I look forward to reading your NYC adventure stories! May you find all the air conditioned spots.
@A. Marie and anyone else who has garlic scapes that either are escapees (see what I did there?) or you just chose to not cut, the bulbils that form can be used to increase your garlic plantings, if you are patient (takes a couple of years). I currently have 61 (!!!) different varieties of garlic growing in gallon pots. They are from last year’s scapes that were sent to me by mail.
In Canada, if you are a member of Seeds of Diversity (membership is free), you can get 5 different kinds of scapes for $15 (IIRC). It might take a couple of years to grow scapes into larger bulbs, however the first year can be in gallon pots, and there are so many different varieties available this way if you know where to look and to ask.
Or, you can use them for soup… 😉
(I have this many different varieties as I wrote to SoDC and asked them to send me the leftovers at the end of the season, scapes don’t last from year to year and I knew they would want to get them in the ground. I did the same last year, too, which is how I got so many different varieties. Labelling for a three year grow-out is a bit tedious but hey, it’s only time….)
Thanks, Ecoteri, for the reminder that garlic bulbils/bulblets can be nurtured as plantings. I choose not to do this because there is only one of me and my garden space is limited, but I’m delighted that the possibility exists and that Seeds of Diversity Canada is encouraging it. My guess is that Seed Savers Exchange here in the US may do something similar, though I don’t know this for certain.
Ecoteri,
Sooooo…..I’ve never tried to grow garlic. The scape is the green part, like a green shoot, correct? And little bulblets form at the bottom? And you then plant the scape + bulblets to (eventually) get more garlic bulbs? Do I have that right?
(Mind whirling at the possibilities…..:-))
DD and I went to NYC on a one-day bust trip for my 50th birthday. Doesn’t seem possible that was 11 1/2 years ago already. DD (17 at the time) gets off the bus and starts on her way while this paranoid mother is waiting to be attacked by a mugger. Did get to see the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree, which was nice. Learned that NYC is not.only the “city that doesn’t sleep.” It’s also the city that “doesn’t pee!” Hard to find a restroom that you don’t have to spend an arm and a leg to use. I take a diuretic. I have no plans to ever go there again.
If I had to go to NYC again, I’d wear Depends.
https://www.got2gonyc.com/about
It sucks, but as someone who remembers the bad old 70s/80s with an exploding homeless population, private businesses just don’t wanna deal.
Also, crime in NYC is pretty low these days compared to most of the US.
1. DD wanted to use offers at a few businesses at the mall. We went together so I could make a return.
2. Our AC repair was $174. It was misdiagnosed as being about $1700 more. We will be replacing out home services company with a local firm recommended by a few people I know. The formerly locally owned business was bought by a large company that is more interested in making money than providing service. This incident was the kick in the rear I needed to fight the inertia of not fighting back.
3. I attended the Frugal Girl get together. It was a nice afternoon of chatting with Kristen and some of her blog followers. It was a bring your own lunch and items to swap event, held at a park. I think most of the FG readers also follow Katy.
4. I continue to listen to digital audio books borrowed from the library.
5. I used a $10 off coupon at the grocery store.
I went with my daughter shopping for maternity clothes. The price for new is mind-boggling! We hit a slew of thrift shops on Weds. and scored big time. Plus, Weds. is half price senior day at the ones we hit. Best part? I got carded!!! Yes, it was for my senior discount, but I’ll take my thrills where I can get them at this point in life. 🙂
Wegmans cards everyone for beer purchases, regardless of apparent age. (My graying hair serves as my bona fide almost everywhere else.) I’ve started saying to the usually young cashiers, “As if I weren’t old enough to be drinking beer with your grandmother…”
A reminder. Cashiers can be fined for selling items to underage people. Not the store. The cashier. When I was a Kmart cashier long long ago, I carded everyone. Most older folks laughed or thanked me. Several would get mad. I explained that I could be fined FAR more than I would earn in several days at my job. That seemed to calm most but there were always some who were still upset. Not my fault if you didn’t have your ID when you wanted to buy beer.
No, no, I don’t want to get the cashiers in trouble, and my teasing is entirely good-natured.
KELLY,
I’m one of those oldsters who would laugh and pretend to be complimented if I was carded. One look at my gray hair and wrinkles is a dead giveaway! Lol! But I would never complain or get angry because someone was doing their job; I, too, would not want a cashier to get in trouble for not carding me.
I just thought it was fun. I realize cashiers need to card for alcohol and other reasons. I don’t take myself too seriously, and happy when others don’t either….
Several local businesses got into trouble for serving underage kids. Driving past the most tiresome one:
Me: “Maybe I’ll go in, ask for a drink and tell them I’m underage.”
Son: “I’m not going to flatter you by pretending you’re underage, ma’am.”
Though the owner of the most tiresome one says I’m “awesome,” so.
We used to do Cocktail Hour in the driveway with neighbors — just let them all know to BYO beverage and a snack; we brought out a bag of pretzels and a few lawn chairs. That way no one wanted to use my bathroom and I didn’t have to clean up. Free fun! It turned into a Neighborhood Watch meeting and then we had an official label!
1. It’s hot here this week. We got out and walked yesterday and today early in the morning before it was unbearable.
2. We arranged my son’s bedroom so he would get better airflow. He asked for a lamp for his bedside table, and I found a nice one for $1 at a yard sale.
3. I made a pot of minestrone soup. I think of it as a summer soup because I top it with a mix of olive oil, minced garlic, and fresh basil. I have two pots of basil growing right now.
4. I noticed my neighbor was putting free items at the curb, so I joined her and put out an assortment of items.
5. Went to yard sales this week and last with a friend. I found a few things that we wanted/needed and have a pile of stuff to list on ebay and FB Marketplace.
1. When I worked my shift Saturday, I used my break time to shop, and I bought the last box full of organic farm-grown fresh tomatoes. Today, at church, a lady had her garden surplus on the table for anyone to take home, so I got a little berry box full of her homegrown tomatoes and a jalapeno pepper — free!
2. Not frugal for me, but for him: I gave my favorite newly-minted high school graduate a care package for going off to college. When I had given him a birthday gift, he responded with a written thank you card. None of my young relatives ever did this, the selfish little punks, and I finally cut them off from being gift recipients. But this young gentleman is just one of the nicest kids ever! So I decided to fix him up like I would’ve fixed up my young relatives, had they not been so bad. I went into my teacher supply closet and got him a LOT of good stuff + a couple of new items. Today, at church, I met him on the parking lot and gave his care pkg. to him, explaining that some of the items were thrifted and old, but they were heavy-duty and sturdy and should last. He was delighted to get them, and as we chatted, he mentioned how he is getting stuff at Goodwill and other thrift stores. (I did not tell him that his care package was, in part, a bit of my “Swedish death cleaning”/uncluttering project. Can we say “redistribution,” boys and girls?) I told him the check inside his card was not for beer and pizza but for school expenses, and he said he wouldn’t think of blowing any $$. And I know he won’t, because he’s been in my classroom before, and even at Halloween, he didn’t do any pranks. It gladdens my heart to know there are still amazing young people out there, and this one is both good AND frugal!
3. Inspired by Katy, I scrubbed a lot of caked-on dirt off an old Lazy Susan so that it is once again presentable. I might not use it again, but at least I can give or donate it — redistribute it — without embarrassment.
4. Took a small bin from an old refrigerator and rigged up a “DIY icemaker” — I fill the little bin with hot water then dip the ice cube trays in it for easier popping-out. Already am using a second bin, which was the old fridge’s icemaker bin, for storing the ice cubes. Not as handy as having a real icemaker, but tons more frugal.
5. At church we prayed in response to Trump’s bombing of Iran. The (Episcopal) Book of Common Prayer contains a lovely prayer for peace, which should be online if anyone wants to reference it. Personally, I’m very disturbed about this news, esp. when I think of the young (and not-so-young) men and women in our church, school and community….and, above all, those in the military. Our rector preached on the fact that the good Lord rescues us (spiritually if not physically) and walks with us always, no matter what happens. Whatever your faith, may God be with you all during our time of trial!
I cannot stress enough how much I agree with you about WRITING THANK-YOU NOTES!
Although hand-written is lovely, I would even be pleased with electronic messages from my family to at least acknowledged they received a package from me. Like you, I have quit sending them gifts and most cards. Their losses.
I continue to send Christmas cards, because I like to and I do not expect reciprocal responses. But tangible gifts? Take three minutes to acknowledge the things weren’t lost in the mail.
My sister called me about ten years ago, absolutely flabbergasted that my son had handwritten a long and lovely thank you note to her for the wedding gift she had sent him.
I hadn’t known he was in the habit of writing them (I always had the kids do this when they were small, but he was 27 at the time, so clearly I did ONE thing right when I raised him)
Now that he is a new dad, he and his partner were so very fast about sending really nice thank you cards. The cards were simple, the nice part was in the care they took in writing, it clearly wasn’t cookie-cutter thanking.
Fru-gal Lisa,
I know I always appreciate a hand written thank you note! My bestie’s two kids – they are all part of my extended family, and my bestie is my sister in all but blood – both wrote lovely and heart-felt thank you notes when they graduated from high school. I recently wrote thank you notes to three friends who donated to the American Cancer Society when I was doing a photo-a-day fund raising challenge. It doesmt take that long, but its sadly becoming a lost art.
My grandson sent me a delightful thank you for his graduation gift thanking his grandfather and I for the support and love we have given him, including a couple of sweet child memories of his. He thanked my husband for helping him with his Flat Stanley grade school project (my husband worked offshore, and took photos of Stanley in the helicoptor and the crane on the oil platform, etc. so it was a hit with the class.) He thanked me for “the most useful lesson I ever learned…how to have a true aim by dropping Cheerios in the toilet to aim for!” LOL I couldn’t believe he remembered that from toddlerhood potty training and thought to include it. That was the most hilarious thank you card I’ve ever received.
I understand it can feel awkward to write the, but I read somewhere a simple formula that is just fine by me.
1. Thank you for the X.
2. It something specific about the X. (we love it, it looks just right, it fits just fine, will spend it on something, reminds me of one my parents had, glad you thought of me).
3. Thank you again.
Just three sentences besides the salutation and close.
I would like to jump in on the “handwritten thank you note” bandwagon! I was raised to sit down after Christmas/Birthdays and write out all of my thank you notes for gifts that were sent to me. I am BIG on sending hand written “thank you’s” – and like many here, have stopped giving to family that do not send them. All you need is paper, pen and envelope — and it costs a stamp.
1. Sold something on fb marketplace.
2. My friend came for the weekend and took me out to dinner.
Dinner in white was postponed here due to heat but we did see a few people out and about, wearing their ivory duds, on June 21.
3. Signed my child up for the last babysitting free class spot at the library,
4. While it’s not pretty, old brake rotors are stopping the dogs from digging.
5. Brought our own drinks instead of buying at an out door event.
We currently have opposite weather in the southeast…sweltering heat. So I was able to go to our neighborhood yard sale and score a Little Green upholstery cleaner for $9! I’m hoping it will be helpful in cleaning my Buy Nothing bar stools from last year!
We’re having weird weather. Up until the end of last week it was classically hot (90-100), then Friday night it dropped 30 degrees in 3 hours so the low temp was in the 50s. But, oy, so. much. wind. There are multiple wildfires burning (mostly out of control) in my state due to high winds and super low humidity (between 5 and 10%). It’s nice not to have high humidity (I once lived in Kentucky, so I know how uncomfortable heat + humidity is) but being too dry has its drawbacks as well. Temps will stay a little lower than normal for a few days, so as long as the air quality continues ok where I am, I’m trying to get more gardening done.
1) My parents gave us an unexpected gift card to a pricey restaurant for our anniversary. Without even trying, our total (before tax and tip) was only $1.50 more than the GC. We also had leftovers that provided us with lunch and snacks the next day.
2) Scored a tumbler-style compost bin from someone in our Buy Nothing group.
3) Garden is growing nicely: good harvest of garlic scapes; excellent germination of seeds for bush and pole beans, cucumbers, zucchini, borage; waiting on melons and pumpkins. I do better with starts for tomatoes and peppers and some are starting to produce, and it looks like we’ll have a bumper crop of blackberries. I always have a lot of herbs, especially oregano (which reseeds everywhere), chives, rosemary, and thyme (which is also starting to reseed in a lot of places).
4) Almost the only books I buy are from my favorite book series, though I wait until they come out in paperback. Picked up the latest one today and since it had a crease on the corner of the cover, the bookstore gave me 15% off. Then, when they rang it up, I discovered I had over $10 from loyalty points. My total was just over $5.
5) Went to a No Kings protest on the 14th. Made a sign from items I already had. Since the rally was near my husband’s office, we found easy, uncrowded, free parking and walked a few blocks. Also took our reusable water bottles so we wouldn’t have to buy water (and it was HOT that day).
How do YOU use up mozzarella pearls? I often get them free and am unsure as to what to do.
PASTA SALAD! Yum. Makes it more hearty and main dish-like aka frugal.
1. The Turkish Carpet Delivery guy called me, and when he heard about all the scrambling I was doing to accommodate him on Friday, we decided that he should come on Saturday. This meant that I could still meet my trainer and I had a very intense (and joyous) “Fun Friday” workout. (groan)
In many ways, I was the one supporting my trainer as her youngest child, her daughter, was graduating a couple of hours after our workout and she has been feeling all the feels. So I kept her entertained and ensured she felt seen and loved. Transitions are always challenging, and she has been hit with a lot of them in the last 5 years (both her parents and her husbands have all died, her favourite aunti just died, she has made a major career shift into self employment with two distinctly different business, her son graduated and moved out [although close enough to raid the fridge] a couple of years ago and now her daughter is going to move across the water to University in the Fall.) This week has been pretty tender for her.
I followed the workout with another intense workout at home, prepping for the delivery by clearing space… Whew.
2. One of my best buddies is an interior Designer, as well as a much missed friend; our lives have just not been connecting for a few months, and we miss each other enormously. She came over to help out with my Turkish Carpet decisions– where to put them, and how to stage – we had coffee and laughs.
I worked really hard over the last couple of days to get a lot of ‘stuff’ out of the living room (AKA junk room) and put away in its proper place, including into my car for donations, into the barn, into other rooms, etc… As a result there was lots of opptions for us to decide what would work, as I ended up (ulp) buying a second carpet for the floor; the first is so lovely it is going to be hung on the wall.
This buddy is careful with money, too, and so instead of deciding what new furniture I need to purchase, we ended up moving some of my existing furniture around in order to accommodate and help display the floor carpet, as well as clear in front of the wall for the to-be-hung carpet.
3. I have an overstuffed chair (that she originally gave me) that we decided to remove from the space (it is really a bit too big), and according to my middle son, his girlfriend is getting her own place soon and wants it. #2 son has space in his apartment to store the chair for a while, thank heavens. I just have to wait for him to get home from Montreal, so currently it is in an awkward place at the entrance to the living room.
4. My friend had some great ideas about how to hang the carpet (by sewing a sleeve in the back and threading a pole, and hanging it from the ends of the pole). Her mom has done this with lots of quilts. We searched through my stash of sturdy cloth, and found a really nice heavy duty sheet that had ripped (not worn out, it caught on something). I had loved the colour so had saved the sheet, (smart Past Ecoteri) and it suits this purpose. I might even salvage enough extra material to make a couple of pillow covers that will complement what I use on my bed.
I went to the hardware store to get a wooden handrail, as suggested by my friend, as they won’t sag under the weight of the rug, However the VERY VERY helpful man at the hardware store suggested just a sturdy dowel, and then he and I had a grand time deciding what the best wall hangers would be. I came home with some very solid wall butterfly thingies, and our joint cleverness meant that I I also picked up the 4 bolts and 2 special washers needed to complete the process. It will require a hammer drill on my 100 year old lath and plaster wall, but the hangers won’t fail once we are done. .
5. Buddy and I also used our time together to deal with some plants of hers that I had brought home to care for while she was on holiday. We too, Katy, have been experiencing much needed rain. Her plants needed to be potted up; she had brought some soil, we used some that I had, and she already had the pots. I had transplanted a begonia of hers that she thought was finished; it was very happy in its larger pot, so she had a surprise extra plant in full bloom.
I also gifted her one of my hostas, of which, as you know, I seem to have an abundance. We are going to mark the pots of some of my other hostas that she was lusting after, for when I divide them up. I will give her a few more varieties in the Fall or Spring once they die off and can be safely separated.
6. I made a point of calling the company that had the mixup about something that wasn’t really in stock – I mentioned this a few days ago. Actualy getting to talk to a real human turned into a bit of an effort, but I put my headphones on and worked on the mad-dash-cleanup-before-the-Turkish-rug-delivery, while I waited for the hold music to end.
When I got through, I told the customer support person that I was mostly calling to give kudos to the store manager who solved my problem. She was delighted to get THAT kind of feedback!
Then I said that I did want to comment on the need for training for the employee who was supposed to be helping me in the actual department; because I had started with positives, I know my advice about what could be improved was heard without irritation.
We finished the conversation talking about how this company has come back into Canadian hands. (It had been a cooperative and there were a lot of REALLY bad feelings and outrage when the board of the co-op decided to sell out, rather than take their problems to the membership. ARGH. AND they sold to an American company, which we all felt added salt to the wounds!) I shared where I felt they could ‘up their game’ to get back the many disillusioned customers who had begun to shop elsewhere, and again I really felt heard.
I find that it really is worthwhile to provide positive and constructive criticisms, particularly if I honestly care that things get better.
7. My chosen #3 son asked to borrow my truck to tow a trencher that he was renting – his car was giving concerning noises and towing something wasn’t a great idea. He returned the truck filled up (YAY ) and so grateful. He gave me three empty egg cartons and I loaded him up with 6 dozen eggs (to share with his young helper, who is in a financially challenged household with two other hollow legged brothers). They both were so grateful, I am just thrilled to have some fridge space available again (the 20 hens are laying like the production machines they are bred to be… Daily).
8. Today was the pride parade and event in my town. I get really anxious if asked to walk in a parade, however was willing to staff a booth with my other buddy for a couple of hours. The organization I was helping out is working hard to increase voter awareness and is pushing for proportional represenation, so we had petitions for people to sign. One of my superpowers is talking to people while holding a clipboard, so we were very successful during our stint and got tonnes of signatures and had some really great conversations. I visited the other booths and came home with various rainbow themed buttons, some flyers about things happening around town, and a really good feeling about how welcoming many are in our community.
After dropping my friend off at her home, I stopped at the homeless shelter to unload a few car things – a hiking backpack that was very warmly received, some summer weight pants tthat I am admitting I am unlikely to ever wear again, and the bag of socks from my hospice companion. More stuff out and not to the landfill
I’ve spent a lot of money lately, so finding five frugal things might be difficult.
1. Read a couple books, which I checked out for free from the library.
2. Signed up for a free family membership to our community center because my DD got a job as a lifeguard there.
3. No new summer clothes for me. All of my outfits and swim wear are from previous summers.
4. I got rid of some easy reader children’s books thru my local buy nothing group.
5. Made my coffee at home with my drip-coffee maker.
1) Ate plenty of food before we left my parents house yesterday, which means we didn’t need to buy anything at the airport.
2) Researched least expensive transport options to/from the airport. (Pre-paying for parking was the least expensive, over an Uber or Lyft). This varies a lot based on duration of the trip, so we always price out both options.
3) Ate at the lounge (free access with our credit card) before our flight on Friday, and bought no food on our departure day as well. DS19 then had some pizza (thanks to my mom) when he arrived at my parents.
4) I have an incredible family, who treated DS18 & his friends so very well over their senior trip. They hiked & backpacked in between pit stops with family members, and everyone spoiled them with snacks, meals, laundry washing, showers, etc. They felt so loved. My mom also made poster photos for each graduate, and sent them home with them, for their families. I’ve already received messages from the other parents about how much they appreciated the photos, and how well the boys were treated over the trip. It also made the trip very inexpensive for the boys, which I know was a big factor for all of them. A few of them forgot needed items on the trip (it was much colder than expected!) & the all bought what they needed at the Goodwill, and did a thrift shop crawl in Portland as well.
5) I am going back to work mostly for health care, but also because it will allow us to splurge, primarily on others. I’m not done working quite yet, and I’ve been motivating myself by planning what percentage of our income I can give away. I’m starting off with a “scholarship” of sorts to my 20 year old nephew, who is fabulous & works really hard. I’m so happy to be able to help him, and it makes going back to work sound much more enjoyable, thinking of how I can pay it forward.
Sidenote, Katy, what was up with the PNW weather this weekend? It’s been so fabulous & then the day of the outdoor party, a high of 59 & rainy! We had to put tents up for our Cornhole tournament, but plenty of fun was still had.