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I baked a loaf of no-knead overnight bread to have at home, as the loaf I made yesterday went to my father as a 90th birthday gift. Making the house smell like bread without actually having any bread to eat is a punishment I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy.
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I’m lending our stock pot to someone from my Buy Nothing group. All of us have infrequently used physical items in our homes that could be shared with others. There’s simply no need for each of us to own things that are only used once or twice per year.
My husband and I have been in our home for 28 years, and as much we own a lot of things! This means we lend stuff to our neighbors pretty often. Think wheelbarrow, post hole digger, ladder, cupcake pan, even our car every now and then. In return we borrow a power washer, last minute meal ingredients, cat carrier and such. Imagine if we all had this collective state of mind.
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I’ve been really busy this week and subsequently have a handful of overdue library books. Fortunately, my county’s library system discontinued late fees a few years back.
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I went for an evening walk with my friend Lise that ended with us stopping into New Season’s Market. (Like Whole Foods, but local to Portland.) I thought about picking up a treat for my husband, but wandered unsuccessfully to find something that didn’t make my wallet scream. I realized that I didn’t actually need to buy anything, so I walked home and everyone lived happily ever after.
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I’m not taking my private plane to Venice for Schmeff Schmezos’ widely protested wedding.
Five Tiny Frugal Things
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1. I canceled my MAX subscription. The special rate was up last month and I forgot to do it. I’ll resubscibe again in the future.
2. I’ve been working inside because of the heat. I listed a few more items on Ebay.
3. I ordered Gap Modern t-shirts for my mom and I on sale with an additional email code. My order was enough for free shipping. This is one of those items I’m happy to buy new. I’ve literally never found a used one and believe me I look. My oldest ones I bought 7 years ago and they still look great.
4. I mopped my floors with my estate sale purchased spin mop and used estate sale Murphy’s oil soap on the wood and estate sale purchased Mr. Clean on the tile.
5. I used $44 in rewards when I booked a VRBO cabin for my family this fall in Hocking Hills.
SCHMEFF!!! haha
What a let-down. I was anxiously waiting to see your stylish Venice wedding outfit (sourced from Goodwill, of course.)
1) Added extra broccoli to a beef & broccoli dish I found in the freezer, to make sure there was enough for everyone. Served it over pasta (as per the recipe), which added a bit more bulk. DS18 preferred his with meatballs, which meant we had just enough for the other three diners.
2) Connecting with a bunch of friends this week, ahead of going back to work next week. While I did grab coffee after a workout with one (used a gift card), I’m meeting three for walks/hikes and meeting another for a free lunch at her office. It’s an inexpensive way to do social activities.
3) Helped DS18 deposit his graduation checks, so we can get that money sorted and ready to go for college.
4) My adorable mom bought DS18 thank you notes for his graduation, so I remembered to bring those home from Portland, and he already has them all written & ready to go. Frugal & polite! He was absolutely spoiled by our family.
5) DS19’s kendo gear (it’s a martial arts type of armor) was delivered to OSU after he was gone at the end of the quarter. Mailing it was not an option due to cost, and it had to be picked up. Brainstormed all kinds of options, but in the end, my fabulous BIL drove down from Portland, stopped in Eugene to see his family, & we paid for his favorite dinner as a thank you. Way cheaper than the other options we considered. As a bonus, figured out how to get the armor & large rucksack in our carryons on the flight home, which was no easy feat.
I haven’t made bread for awhile, too hot and I haven’t eaten much bread because of the heat.
1.because of the heat the curtains are closed against the sun, I only have them open when the sun is down and it helps the AC bill .
2. picked about 2 1/2 gallons of green beans from my garden, they are cleaned and snapped in freezer waiting on the next pick so I can process them.
3. weeded the onions and gave the weeds to the hens.
4. all laundry done early, hung outside and dried the towels for a bit on the lawn to whiten.
5. cleaning the beef tallow left from the weekend brisket….after using for deep frying will be used for soap making.
JC
1. Only excursion yesterday was to the grocery store to pick up supplies to make chicken salads. Even the coolers were sweating.
2. Made salad dressing for aforementioned chicken salads with the first cut out of my new herb garden. We might recoup the investment yet!
3. Desperately wanted a nice and cold iced coffee. Avoided going outside and made one with my mokapot express and a cute little mason jar. It’s not perfect espresso, but when combined with milk and some sugar, it’s pretty close!
4. Bought a watermelon whole and cut up half of it – I often will end up buying the pre-cut ones for convenience but at this point, I’m getting 1/4 of a watermelon at 4 times the price.
5. Newest library book haul is in: Black Cake, The Girls Who Went Away, and What I was Doing While You Were Breeding. Balancing some levity with some serious. Should be a good round of reading for the next few weeks.
The collective mindset in sharing seldom used items is part of my family and a group of friends.
1) I searched for and found a coupon code on the hosting for my new business’s website, thus saving $13 on top of the free domain registration offered by my hosting service.
2) We scavenged bricks from the existing landscaping around the house to create a foundation underneath the garbage-picked cedar shelving we turned into a potting bench. It is outside but in a semi-protected area under a porch overhang. We’ve had cedar raised beds survive for decades in the rainy PNW, so hopefully this potting bench will serve as long.
3) I rescued a bunch of perennials from the compost pile at the nursery I work at part time. They are a bit yellow and leggy from becoming pot bound, but they will revive once planted in the garden.
4) I drive a 1992 Japanese Kei truck, which doubles as my work truck and billboard for my gardening business. These are amazingly fuel efficient and they are simple mechanically, requiring nothing more than a metric tool set to fix. Owners typically must service these themselves as US mechanics may not be super knowledgeable about them. Today I found a local community of Kei owners to join, who teach each other everything from how to do an oil change to how to rebuild the engine. I used to repair and service my own old cars back in the 90s when I was a starving student, and I look forward to relearning these money-saving skills.
5) I am continuing to avoid buying anything from Schmeff Bozo’s online circus, thus doing my part not to fund his ridiculous wedding.
I don’t want to be frugal or non consumering. It’s not enough. Driving down an interstate and it’s like a solid wall of huge containers on wheels transporting things everywhere. Even goodwill has huge rolling trailers pushing stuff down the road.
I want to live like my cat. Very adaptable. Can live and sleep anywhere. Eats the same stuff day in and day out. Wears the same thing every freaking day. Doesn’t even have a purse or pocket for money cause she never spends any. And yet she’s the cutest thing on earth. She does get totally fan girl over chick-fil-A ice water though so not perfect. Yet.
1. Got $5 giftcard from fetch rewards.
2. Right after that, got my first fetch rewards referral and got 2000 points.
3. Picked 2 more cucumbers from the garden
4. Baked up 3 pans of potatoes. We had baked potatoes for supper and now lots leftover. These make great fries or fried potatoes.
5. Sold a shirt on ebay. It was one I jammed into a trash bag for a $5 for a bag of clothes deal at a garage sale.