Search Results for: five things happy

I continue to cook from scratch while visiting with my sister in NYC, even though her neighborhood has multiple tempting restaurants. Tonight was a taco/tostada buffet using pinto beans cooked in her Instant Pot and yesterday was okonomiyaki, inspired by a single cabbage that I found in the back of her refrigerator. Neither of us...

Portland is in the midst of a heat wave, not as bad as the "heat dome" of 2021 when we hit multiple days of 114° to 116° F, but still crossing a line of of +/- 100° for five days in a row. (We're already on day #3) Perhaps you're reading this from Texas, Arizona...

I invited a childhood friend over to the house who's going through some tough times. I'd made an inexpensive pot of chicken soup with dumplings, which she remembers eating at my house when we were little kids. I also threw together a loaf of no-knead artisan bread because everything's better with warm buttery bread. Had...

I drove past another curbside stack of flowerpots and literally turned the car around to investigate. Most of the pots were of the plastic variety, but I chose a stoneware one which washed up beautifully. I was briefly tempted by the big terra cotta pots, but I don't really have a spot for them and...

My neighbors will be out of town next week, so I'll water their plants and bring in their mail. I'm actually happy to have this opportunity to help them out, as they help care for our elderly cat whenever we travel. Not that we're keeping track as some kind of quid pro quo situation, but...

My step mother leant me her library copy of  The Women, by Kristin Hannah, which was welcome as I'm currently #166 of 92 copies for this book through the library! I have one week to complete this 471 page book! I also started listening to The Burnout, by Sophie Kinsella through the library's free Libby...

My husband was gifted a $100 gift card to Cabela's, which was interesting as he isn't a rugged outdoor sportsman-type dude. (No hunting or fishing.) However, he pored through their website and found a collapsible wagon cart for $99.99 that he'd been wanting for his baseball gear. Plus I got to go along in tourist...

My son and his girlfriend were visiting and he mentioned that a $70 electronic device he'd bought on Amazon wasn't working properly. I offered to manage the return and promptly took care of of it this afternoon as it's easy enough for me to drop it at the UPS Store in my neighborhood. Bing, bang,...

I dedicated Monday to doing a full grocery shop, jotting down a thorough list for days in advance. My day was pretty open, so I detoured to the dented vegetable store and picked up the above random items before hitting up Winco. (It's hard to tell, but that's a very full bag of mushrooms.) You...

I had the kids over yesterday to work on their taxes, which was not a task to be procrastinated as they both had refunds coming their way. Especially their state taxes, as Oregon is handing out "kicker" refunds due to the state miscalculating their budget. They both used Turbotax, which is free at their income...

My son was able to find a free Ikea Leksvik coffee table through Facebook Marketplace, which is hilariously the same one that my father and step mother own. Plus it's the same one that my sister regrets selling four or five moves ago. I asked for and am receiving a free tall cat tree for...

My step mother and I went to a empty damp food cart pod to celebrate my belated birthday. I spied a soggy dollar bill off to the side and got on my literal hands and knees to grab it. A free falafel wrap and a one dollar bill? Happy birthday, Katy! Especially since we brought...

My family has started celebrating Chanukah and I started thinking about how the traditional dish of latkes is about as frugal as can be. Shredded potatoes, onion, a bit of flour, salt, pepper and maybe some baking powder and oil! Sour cream, but that's something that's always on hand at my house. Of course it's...

I finished refurbishing my adult daughter's old bedroom, which'll continue as her personal space in the house. We already have a designated "spare bedroom," so both kids get to keep their childhood rooms to chill out in when they're here. We let our daughter take all her childhood furniture to her apartment, so I had...

My husband somehow nicked his car key with a landscaping tool, which resulted in the key being close to impossible to remove from the ignition. It still worked, but it was definitely hinky. He then got the idea to fill in the small nick with resin and then sand it smooth. I was skeptical and...

I finally sold my last set of University of Oregon football eye stickers. I thrifted a 13-pack of them at Goodwill a couple years ago for just $3.99. They were super easy to list, easy to store and certainly easy to mail out. Each set of 200 stickers sold for $15, which added up to...

I made my own sauerkraut on Saturday, which is still in the fermentation phase so I can't report on its success yet. However, I'm feel very optimistic as the process is so simple I can't imagine how anything could've been done incorrectly. I wrote a blog post about it on Sunday, but am including it...

My husband is spending a week in Las Vegas for a baseball tournament, and here's how he's staying on top of the finances: • He paid for the trip by working overtime shifts. • He's sharing an AirBnb with two of his teammates. • Their rental is outside the city limits. • He's sharing a...

We celebrated my daughter's 28th birthday at the house featuring a gluten-free box cake with homemade chocolate frosting. My mother and stepfather provided takeout from our favorite barbecue restaurant, which was much appreciated even though the restaurant forgot to include my entree. Luckily I had a Costco rotisserie chicken in the fridge, which hit the...

We've passed the September halfway point to Recalibrate Our Food Spending, which means it's time to share my numbers. (Mind you, I didn't set a specific numerical goal as I didn't want to set myself up for failure.) I'm shopping pretty normally, which means stocking up on sale items, shopping for the pantry instead of...

My husband and I paired gassing up at Costco, (the least expensive choice) with treating ourselves to a meal at IKEA. Me being me, (the cheapest lady in Cheaptown) I chose a $1.15 veggie hotdog and my husband ordered a plate of their $8.49 meatballs. We also enjoyed a cup of their free coffee and...

We moved our yard debris can from the side of the house to the back yard, which caused an increase of nasty flies around our back porch. (My husband is working on the foundation for this side of the house, so it's a temporary issue.) Excessive flies are nothing new, as the neighbors have a...

I try to have my "frugal things" be somewhat significant, (which is hopefully informative) but there's always the smaller things that fall under the radar, so I thought I'd share a blog post where no thing is too small. I drove past a tasty looking free pile a few blocks from the house, but was...

I took two partial boxes of stale cereal, two partially full but stale bags of marshmallows, the last of a jar of peanut butter and three-quarters of a stick of long leftover margarine and assembled a pan of the most delicious faux Rice Krispy treats. I'm happy to rid my cupboards of this old food...

My husband is getting a replacement Chrome Industries pannier through their warranty policy. (This wasn't his first choice, as he would've preferred for the company to have a repair program.) Oh well . . . he'll be able to keep the old bag, which still functions, just without some of the bells and whistles. This...

My daughter's roommate moved back to the East Coast and abandoned almost all of her furniture and larger belongings. My daughter moved into this apartment last fall and only furnished her own bedroom, as the rest came fully outfitted. This means she just inherited a kitchen table, chairs, rug, shelves, a couch, coffee table, lamps,...

I curb picked a vintage fireplace screen last week, which prompted me to give away the old one, (technically a newer one) to someone in my Buy Nothing Group. The guy said that he'd just moved into a house without a fireplace screen, and it makes me happy to know that my one has been...

My husband and I bought a used propane barbecue grill in "excellent condition" from a friend for only $50. The problem is that it was not excellent in any way, shape or form. Of course, we didn't realize this until we schlepped it home in the back of our minivan. It required all new interior...

My daughter brought me a free $58 Diestel Cook-in-Bag turkey breast from her schwanky grocery store. I'm unlikely to pay this much on my own, but it was by far the most delicious turkey I've ever eaten! Her store gives unsold food to their employees, so she gifts me with a variety of random bits...

I went to Goodwill and came across a cardboard box marked "all hoodies $2.99." I'd been keeping a passive eye out for a new-to-me a zip-front hoodie, so I dug around until I found one in my size. They were all the exact same Target brand and style, which was a dark charcoal color and...

My mother found a box of stuff that I stashed in her basement when I left college in 1988. Many of the contents were easy straight-to-garbage decisions, (which I appreciated) but I did choose to keep a few items, most notably my age ten Nancy Drew Diary from when we lived in London. Please enjoy...

I upcycled a cute vintage fishing rod rack to hang aprons in the kitchen. We've always draped aprons over the pantry door, which meant the door never closed properly. Not really an issue, but it's nice to finally have a designated spot for them. Mind you, these aprons are in frequent rotation as I cook...

I got a "new" tall bookshelf from my Buy Nothing Group for my daughter's old bedroom. This was a much needed item as her room is littered with her old stuff, yet there's not enough furniture to contain it. This newest piece is part of my snail's pace project to build her old bedroom back...

Portland got slammed with a dramatic storm, which dumped close to a foot of snow on a day that had been forecasted to receive a "dusting of snow." This led to nightmare traffic, especially on our hilly streets and freeways. My son's normal 30 minute commute stretched into two hours, although he was luckier than...

I watched a 5-½ hour YouTube video series about farming in 17th century Wales. This Tales From The Green Valley BBC video sent me down the deepest of rabbit holes to unapologetically binge watch Victorian Farm, Edwardian Farm and am now four episodes into Tudor Monastery Farm, all of which are thankfully on Amazon Prime....

I went to the dented vegetable store and bought a big package of organic mixed greens for $3 and was mildly annoyed that it wasn't $2 like it normally is. A few days later I shopped at the Thriftway on Mt Hood and paid $9 for the same thing. No longer upset with the $3!...

I sold a Carhartt jacket for $95, (I paid $14.95) as well as a wintery theme painting for $45 that I picked up for $1.99 last year. My friend Lise and I went to Winco Foods and the dented vegetable store, where I picked up: • 3/$1 avocados. Hard as a rock, but to buy...