Five Frugal Things | eBay shoes
1. I bought work shoes on eBay
As you know, I like my wide-toe-box Altras for my hospital work shifts. My current pair has logged a LOT of miles, and is ready for retirement.
Unfortunately, Altras are pretty pricey.
So, I hopped onto eBay, found a very gently used pair, and bought them.
The lucky thing about Altras is that some people seem to buy them, discover that they hate the way they feel, then list them on eBay.
This setup is fine with me, because there's a steady stream of barely-used Altras for me to buy.
2. I'm going to try to take Ethics at my community college
My BSN advisor suggested I do this to save money, so this week I filled out the form to ask permission from my BSN school.
Hopefully they will say yes to the request because then I can make my hospital reimbursement dollars go further.
Also, I have to say that my community college classes were almost all of higher quality than the classes at this four-year school, so I would honestly rather take a community college ethics class! I am so disappointed in the shoddy quality of the BSN program I am in; I expected more from a four-year university.
My community college is very highly rated, so I guess it spoiled me!
3. I used up a cake mix and my clearance heavy cream
I realized I had a soon-to-expire angel food cake mix, and also that I needed to use up my scratch-and-dent heavy cream.
So, I baked the cake, whipped the cream, sliced some strawberries, and Zoe and I enjoyed it for dessert.
This is not a particularly nutritious frugal thing, but it was delicious. š
4. I used a gift card at Starbucks with my friend Brittany
She and I got kind of volunteered to do the graduate speech at our residency graduation, and we met up at Starbucks to figure out what we were going to say.
It was like a throwback to our nursing school study sessions!
I used a gift card for my drink, of course. š
5. We trimmed Chiquita's nails at home
It does take two of us, but we get it done as a team! Zoe holds Chiquita and feeds her one of those squeezy tuna or chicken treats, and I do the trimming.
Chiquita does not adore this process, but she tolerates it because she does adore her squeezy treats (which she only gets during nail trimming).
The shape of your Altras is a lot like that of my pink indoor trainers that I always use at the gym. The brand escapes me, but they are so comfortable.
Frugals:
- Again, hot and humid days. Again I hooked the corners of a worn through fitted sheet on the corners of the back door, to keep out the sun. The sheet has a tear, but I hung it so that the untorn part is at glass level. I am always amazed how functional this is. It is a difference of several degrees in the entree, at zero cost. And on cool days I just take it down again. I am glad I didn't tear the sheet in cloth sized bits yet.
- I painted walls and ceiling of an attic room, with paint I already had and wearing my oldest shorts and shirt. Afterwards I washed the clothes together with a flannel cloth I used for a brush, cleaned the brushes, and on the lid of the paint bucket I sharpied which room, when used, and approximately how much paint left.
- Because of so much sun, I did my laundry on solar power and line dried my laundry - it dried incredibly quickly even beneath the sunscreen.
- I did not feel like cooking so we had yoghurt with granola and fruits one day. And this morning before work I cooked the components of a salad with chicken for tonight. It was already warm. By dinner time it will be too hot and humid to cook. Also, we had sun tea with decaf tea.
- The water containers now empty, I went to the nearby ditch to get a few buckets of water for the potted plants. The water is nearly a meter lower than usual, I hope the sides of the ditch will remain firm and not crumble. We had a little rain last weekend and I fervently hope we will have more, soon. Putting in a request for a slow and steady drizzle of a few days if it can be had - but any water is welcome really.
--Squash bugs and vine borers invaded!!! I called "Time!" on the pie pumpkin patch, making sure to dispose of all the vines in a garbage bag to contain the infestation. Thankfully, the seven mammoth pie pumpkins that survived were *just* ready to harvest. Two had minor insect damage and were roasted for puree immediately; the other five (after careful inspection) were stored on the squash shelves I built last year.
--Homemade pumpkin puree is 1) made in the crockpot to avoid heating up the house, and 2) traditionally stored/frozen in recycled Talenti containers. This totally excuses the occasional gelato splurge. š
--We started buying eggs from one of my husband's co-workers, who sells them for $3 a dozen.
--I continue to build community through extra cucumbers and am thankful for the zucchini fairies leaving gifts on the porch. I seem to be the only person who can't grow zucchini! š
--My husband and I did a full expenses audit this past weekend. We found a few areas to improve/shave $10-20 off a month, but on the whole we run a tight ship!