Today I am . . .
- Selling a rug on Craigslist. It’s from my younger son’s room, and was replaced by one I pulled from a garbage can and shampooed back to health. I originally paid $10 at Goodwill, and I’m now selling it for $15. By only buying used, my family’s household goods appreciate instead of going down in value.
- Starting a three day staycation by staying in one of my mother’s guest cottages across town. Not only will this cost me nothing whatsoever, but we’ll get all the relaxing benefits of a mini-vacation without the stress and worry of packing correctly and leaving the house unattended.
- Happy that I put the effort into throwing a few heat-and-eat meals into the freezer for my husband and younger son. My younger son and I will be in NYC for two weeks, and the hubby and older son both work full time and odd hours. This way they can eat regular meals that aren’t served at 10 P.M. I hope they don’t get too sick of baked ziti and enchiladas!
- Taking the laundry off the clothesline that stayed up overnight. Portland’s weather has been crazy hot and dry this summer. Good for laundry, bad in the long run.
- Pleased to have two more Ikea meal voucher coupons from the back of last night’s Timber’s reserve soccer tickets.
- Off to run errands.
Now your turn. What are you doing today?
Katy Wolk-Stanley
“Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without.”
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Today I:
1. Took my 4 daughters to the public library, where we stocked up on DVDs and books for the coming week. I also signed them up for the Summer Reading Club, which offers one activity each week for the whole summer. And it’s free! Craft sessions, a magic show, a birds of prey demonstration, etc.
2. Served leftover pancakes for breakfast, topped with sliced strawberries and pineapple that we’re starting to go. Full bellies and no wasted food!
3. Loaded the breadmaker (my longed-for Zojirushi that I snagged used!!) with the ingredients for pizza dough. Homemade pizza and a movie (from Netflix or the library, usually) is a Friday night ritual for us.
4. Looked up the family swim schedule for the weekend, so we can use the pass we purchased years ago to take daughter #2 swimming while daughter #1 attends a birthday party on Sunday.
Today I am…
* Working a double shift (which equal a normal 7.5 hours, since I usually work part-time (3.75 h))
* Finishing preping the old house for tomorrow’s move.
* Spending time with hubby playing a new game tonight (Ticket to ride), after the kids go to bed
* Figuring out what to do tomorrow night for hubby’s birthday supper. I wish I could just order pizza, but he is gluten and lactose intolerant, so… bummer.
* Braving the 4h pm traffic to pick-up my girl at day care
Have a great frugal day!
1. Took a huge box of really nice kids’ clothes to Once Upon a Child, since my husband was already headed that way to go to Lowe’s. Glad I didn’t make a special trip; they took 2 items. Two. And I made $1.50. Now, I know $1.50 is better than nothing, but I was hoping for a lot more. I may hang onto the rest and take them to a different OUAC before I donate them to a local church’s free clothing store.
2. Went to Dollar Tree with husband so he could pick up a couple of packages pof glowlight necklaces and bracelets (going to a 4th of July party and then fireworks with a group that includes 2 3yo’s, so we drape them in glows, so they can be seen!) Found a bag of lavender-scented epsoms salts that I normaly pay close to $4 for, a lemon verbena soap bar (mmmm!), some really cute enameled bobby pins to put in the Operation Christmas Child boxes in November, and a tiny battery-operated fan that will sit on my beading desk on hot days, plus batteries to go in it. Throw in a 12 oz. Coke, and I spent a little over $6.
3. Started listening to Living Well, Spending Less: 12 Secrets of the Good Life, by Ruth Soukup, on CDs from the library. (I still need to finish the tidying book, but she was starting to get on my nerves, so am taking a break…)
4. Found a really good book of short essays by some of my favorite Christian writers/speakers on the library sale cart for 10 cents!
5. Sold and mailed another book on my Half.com account.
*Working a little overtime (today is the Independence Day holiday for the company I telecommute for), only to discover a problem at the end for which I will need to consult headquarters–at length. Bleah.
*Checking out a few of my local thrifts, partly to work off the bleah and partly to look for things we do need. Found a pair of Columbia shorts for DH at half price. Felt better.
*About to try my first experiment with freezer jam. The patch of wild black raspberries that my neighbor and I encourage is producing beyond our wildest dreams this year.
*Finishing drying things out from the torrential rain earlier this week that flooded our basement. I think we’ve been getting all the rain that Portland hasn’t.
*Looking forward to the spare ribs (marked down at our favorite grocery store last night) that DH will grill tonight.
Today I’m
-at the beach. Had a good breakfast before heading out and packed snacks instead of giving in to ice cream vendor temptation.
-plan to treat ourselves to purchased seafood and will cook it back at the house instead of heading to a restaurant. Avoid beach resort restaurants at all costs near holiday weekends!!
-splitting the cost of the rental with family visiting from out of town. It’s a treat for all of us.
-ventured to Aldi before we arrived to stock up on for our 4 day trip. Breakfasts, lunches, snacks, and one dinner for 9 people cost a total of $79
( including lots of fresh fruit-strawberries $0.99 a container this week!)
-gathered 7 partially used bottles of sunscreen and carted them with us, to “use
It up”
Today I am….
I attended a yoga class. It’s the last day of the session so I wrote my teacher a thank you note. She is wonderful.
Returned eye glasses that just weren’t not working for me. I received a full refund, with no hassle.
We visited a kitchen shop, as our kitchen is terrible. Once we heard the beginning and average price for a kitchen our size we were done. A kitchen is not worth that much to me. I don’t want fancy stuff nor do I want something that will be out dated in 7-10 years. Next…
Our neighbors are away for the weekend. I am watching their house while they are away. They return the favor for us. I love having great neighbors.
I am making pizza for dinner. There will be leftovers for another meal this weekend.
My son had the morning off from swim team so we went to a morning movie using a giftcard he got for Christmas. His birthday is Sunday so this was a nice little extra treat. We saw the movie “Max”, which was fantastic. We shared a soda and small popcorn and I saved $2 by subscribing to the weekly email.
Tonight, our town is putting on the fireworks. Picked up a few snacks at Aldi and Dollar Tree, will take a deck of cards and our $1 sparklers to enjoy beforehand.
It was 60* here this AM, so I opened up some windows and turned off the AC. It’s only 77* now, but a nice breeze.
Washed the sheets from the guest bed, put the comforter on the drying rack on the deck.
Today is an unpaid holiday off from work…..
*Did two cat sits and one dog walk this AM (part-time dog sitter/walker)
*Picked up my daughter from being at away camp for four days (only cost $25!!!! insane price, love it!)
*Started laundry for the weekend, daughters not to bad as would have expected
*Daughter needs new shoes and volleyball knee pads for volleyball camp next week- sorted through emails and found 20% off coupon for Dunham’s 🙂
*Did afternoon dog walk and combined some errands – treated daughter to Starbucks caramel cocoa frap special which was free as had a gift card :-); went to Dunhams sporting goods, got daughter new tennis shoes and knee pads, Dollar store for a few things, a little window shopping then back home
*Dog walk tonight – which will be $60 total for dog walks and sits – not bad for a “day” off and it paid for Dunhams and Dollar Store purchases, win win! 🙂
Happy 4th of July!
I am…
Enjoying my day off with my husband.
Roasting alive in the unusually hot Seattle weather.
Saving electricity and money by not running our non-existent AC.
Going to the movies to enjoy their AC and a gift certificate that I bought back in February for a monthly date I put together for my husband for Valentine’s Day.
Working on a cross stitch Christmas present for my sister.
Today I am:
*Posting FREE stuff to Craigslist/putting out a free pile on our parking strip of old gardening stuff. It was just taking up space in the shed, which we cleaned out today. Seattle has a pretty good free-pile world.
*Selling old Burning Man supplies as we are not going this year or in the near future. Pulling together a bag of donation items for some random costume bits and pieces.
*Selling a car dog gate (my dog no longer needs it), and old folding stools we though we would use, but never do. Selling it for the same price I originally bought it for on Craigslist, and the gate was a hand-me-down from my dad.
*Selling 2 old mobile phones and old comics books of my husbands (with his permission!) Already shipped off an old camera today that sold on eBay. One of the phones was free-to-me and should sell between $50-$60.
*Drying laundry out on the line.
*Drinking beer (it was on sale, at least!)
*Depositing a $55 check from my consignment store. My friend gave me 3 bags of clothes she was going to donate, but I only liked one item. Consigned the rest!
*Reviewing our budget for the month and making some changes. I have not been working as much the past month or two, and my second contract won’t pick up until September (my main one will keep me busy this month and next). We have still managed to stay out of restaurants (our vice second only to travel), and we have bought only used clothing and using our leftovers wisely!
I am figuring out what foods we can take to a 4th of July cookout and pool party and a picnic/potluck lunch on Sunday. I am using what is in the house as I have been on vacation for 2 weeks and have no $$ in my bank account. Decided on homemade ice cream for the pool party and a garden vegetable marinated salad for the potluck. Using fresh fruit and vegetables from our garden and brought back from our vacation and all other ingredients are in the freezer or pantry.
Today My five frugal things:
1- washing the 4 pairs of shorts purchased at the thrift shop for husband last night. Columbia Hiking shorts for $1.49.
2- sanitizing the inside of nearly new Clark slip ons I can wear to work, saved at least $50.00 buying used. And they look great.
3- Cooking dinner with garden produce that is starting to roll in.
4- Making slider rolls and watermelon aqua Fresca for 4th of July party
5- Hanging multiple loads of laundry instead of throwing in dryer.
Today I
-spent the first two hours of the day without power because of some unnamed outage. I doubt we saved any energy (maybe just not running lights) because the fridge and AC just caught up later. But it did make me thankful to have city water and a gas range. Any power outage where I can flush the toilet and make tea (as unrelated occurrences) is a power outage I can survive.
-had lunch with a young friend who noticed that we live a great life and wanted to know how we do it financially as she is 23 and planning her own life. She suggested meeting for coffee, but we invited her over for my husband’s delicious sandwiches. It saved us having to get a baby sitter too.
-continuing work on my thesis and studying for my language exam while the kids sleep and play. It is nice to have a break from daycare bills over the summer.
-going to a goodbye party for a friend at a local brewery. We’ll buy a drink if it keeps us from feeling cheap, but probably nothing else. The honoree told us other friends are bringing kids, so we are bringing ours and saving baby sitter cash.
-having a little staycation of our own. We usually rent our home on the weekens to supplement our income while we decamp for a family home in the country. This is the one weekend of the summer we have chosen to be actual locals. I hate to lose the weekend payment we usually get for the rental, but we will at least save the gas to drive home and the possibility of having to run to the store for something that we would have had in the pantry in the city house.
My sister visited this morning so my husband could put air in her tires–she apparently has a very SLOW leak. She arrived before I finished showering!! My original plan was to get outdoors early and weed the vegetable garden, but I wasn’t early. Husband helped after I started it, so it got done fairly quickly. Found exactly TWO tiny beet plants (rain must have rotted my seeds–no lettuce or swiss chard came up.) I replanted Romaine and Swiss chard and beets from the same packets. Then I headed indoors and did a couple loads of laundry, and made a black bean salad for dinner.
Not the most exciting day, but no money spent, at least.
Today I cleaned the house on my day off from work. I make most of my cleaners and use cleaning cloths and washable mop pads — no disposable stuff.
I took care of my daughter’s dog while she was with friends at the beach today. She’s promised to bring me some fresh, cleaned scallops (scallop season just started) as a thank you. Oh yeah!
Ate blueberry jam at breakfast, which this past week I made from the last of the berries I picked earlier in June. They hung in there in the frig longer than I thought they would, but it was time to do something with them.
We ate leftovers for supper today to clean out the refrigerator; tomorrow, the fourth, will bring ribs which were in our freezer already and yummy black/purple tomatoes from our garden, among other cheap sides like potato salad with celery we are re-growing in a pot. We boiled peanuts for snacking tomorrow, instead of buying them already boiled (and more expensive) from the roadside stands. I watched folks at the store load up on paper plates, expensive snacks, plastic cups, sodas, beer, deli sides, fancy bread, cookies, pies and cakes, and pay a pocketful of money to simply eat a meal on the holiday and have some snacks during the day. We’re going to eat well and have a nice holiday for so much less money; I wish more people realized how much cheaper and simpler it CAN be to have a holiday meal.
Today was an unusually non-frugal day. After spending $20 to park near the Los Angles Convention Center, and waiting in very long lines, my son and I made it in to the Anime Expo. (Our pre-sale tickets were $40 each). We did not spend a dime on food or drinks as I had the forethought to pack lunch/snacks/water.
But, my sweet son wanted a few souvenirs, which I planed for, he got his Legend of Zelda poster, T-shirt and wallet ($45 for the 3 items).
It was an interesting day though, some of these young (and not so young)folks shell out gobs of money on their cos-play outfits, wigs, makeup and accessories.
So much creativity, and much seemed ‘homemade’.
Did have one win – I will be bringing a free apple pie that was handed out by one of our local real estate companies, to my sisters’ get together on the 4th!
My sons attend our local Con every year, and it is the best people watching!
1. Walking up to our fourth of July parade. Pretty sure this will provide a candy lunch for my son.
2. Listing my vintage metal lawn chairs on CL.
3. Relisting the Coach purse that was returned from an ebay sale. That’s the first return I’ve ever had on there. The buyer was a nut, claiming there were stains. There are zero.
4. Making paninis for lunch with fresh mozzarella, farm stand tomatoes, fresh basil, and walnut pesto. Best sandwiches ever.
5. Listed free maternity clothing on Freecycle.
1. I am going to a friend’s for lunch; we always do a bring a dish to share and it’s fun. I am bringing the 99 cent chicken to be grilled.
2. We plan to enjoy all the freebie stuff today: parade, concert, and an unusual pet contest.
3. I must dog sit with my pet tonight as she is mortally afraid of firecrackers.
4. There is an airplane sale this afternoon at the local airport. I do not plan to attend.
5. Later today I will hang out with the neighbors. It’s a byob thing.
I am very impressive with your self discipline when it comes to airplane shopping!
-Picked up four boxes of whole wheat pasta from the clearance rack. Unfortunately I flustered the checkout clerk when they did not ring up at the clearance sticker price, but we got it fixed.
– went to the hardware store for a new doorknob, as my foster dog had chewed the underside of the knob and it was rough and scratched all over. Sales clerk assured me there was no way to buy a knob and use my existing lock. Instead of buying the two pack of knobs and dead bolts he tried to sell me so we could have one key for all our house locks, I bought a piece of sandpaper and sanded the finish off the existing knob. Now we have a custom “brushed” finish.
-put another coat of tung oil on the refinished wood framed mirror I bought at Goodwill for our bathroom. The slab mirror on the bathroom wall is losing its silver backing. Now must Google best way to remove a glued on mirror.
Today I:
– worked an 8 hour day shift at one of my jobs and an 8 hour night shift at my other job.
-in between the 2 shifts I prepped some food to take to my monthly pot luck with my friends tomorrow-when I stopped going to restaurants 4 months ago they all agreed to have a pot luck monthly instead and we are all loving it!
-Had a free hour so I sat in my back yard and was very happy to see 2 of my neighbors have started to also hang their laundry out to dry-its catching on.
-my wife is going fishing tomorrow with a friend so this evening she watered down the garden for a few minutes and caught some worms so she would not have to buy any at the bait shop. This makes her fishing time absolutely free.