A day of little frugalities
Yesterday was an unremarkable day for me, but unremarkable days are usually filled with little bits of frugality. So, I thought I'd make a list, especially since I didn't set out to make yesterday a big money-saving day.
When I got up, I hopped onto my eBay account to accept an offer on a discounted textbook for Sonia. $40 instead of $150 at her college!
I also edited my Chewy Autoship order to remove an item I didn't need and add one I did. I sometimes miss these Autoship emails so I was pleased with myself about this one!
I brought my Christmas tree stand basin inside (it had been outside to air out from the spray paint!) and admired the pretty-good-for-a-1997-item rehab job. 😉
I did an at-home weights workout using one of the workouts I saved from my time with Ben Palocko.
And then I went for a walk on the trails that I can access from my neighborhood.
I stopped to listen to the running water for a little while, of course. 🙂
After my walk, I showered, and then it was time for breakfast. I had a tomato that needed to be used up, and I had spied a bread heel in the freezer. So, I made a plate of fried eggs, toast, and a salted/peppered sliced tomato. And of course, I made some coffee.
Then I went to my 50% off haircut where I opted, as usual, for air drying afterward. My hair isn't remotely thick, so paying for a blow dry is a little bit pointless; it's dry by the time I get home anyway!
Next, it was time for a trip to Aldi, where I bought most of the groceries I needed (for the menu plan I concocted the day before).
I also needed a few non-Aldi things, so I popped in at the nearby regular grocery store (for pasta shells, Barilla protein pasta, and some bananas because I don't usually love Aldi's bananas.)
For lunch, I had oranges and a sandwich made with the last of the ham, the last of the cheddar, and a leftover bun from when I made burgers.
In the afternoon, I put away groceries, wrote some blog posts, and made a big batch of stuffed pasta shells. I froze a bunch of them on a sheet pan, and I'll put them in a Ziploc bag when they're hard.
That way, they'll make for some easy post-work meals for me down the road!
I also finished MORE paperwork for my BSN program reimbursement from my hospital (!) and watched the required online Healthstream class for onboarding into this particular reimbursement program.
I am seriously earning this reimbursement money. GEEEEEZ. I am grateful that when I started, I had no idea how much paperwork was required because I might have quaked a bit. 😉
After Zoe and I had dinner, I packed up my work lunch. I also grabbed some egg bites from the freezer and put them in the fridge to thaw for the next morning's breakfast.
Then I did my PT exercises (PT appts. are a waste of money if you don't do the work at home!), and my daily Duolingo lesson.
I washed my face with one of my plain old washcloths, put on my unfancy Cerave lotion, brushed my teeth, set my 5:00 am alarm, and went to bed!
And now I am back in Hospital Mode, which means my day will be completely different than yesterday! My only frugalities today will probably be my lunch packing and my cooking dinner at home. 😉
I like the idea of celebrating the little frugalities, as that's all I've got as we're vacationing in Florida. Here goes:
--Groceries are more expensive here in Florida than back home, but we're still cooking most of our meals here at the house, rather than eating out, which is more expensive! The one exception so far has been the Publix subs, which everyone agreed lived up to the hype.
--We're doing free or cheap outings; yesterday we all biked up to a park for a hike, then biked over to Publix. We were pondering the pre-made deli offerings, when a nice employee tipped us off that the made to order Italian subs were "on sale" so we got three HUGE subs for the guys and a salad for me, some fruit and chips, then biked over to a small, dog-free park (my youngest has severe dog phobia) for an awesome picnic. We packed water from home.
--Free entertainment: I've been getting up early and biking over to the beach in the mornings to watch the sunrise. My friend's TV has a Netflix account she lets her guests use, so DH and I watched 11.22.63 together.
--Avoiding the nightlife: getting up early means we're getting to bed early, so no temptations to go out! 😉
--We were able to bring our computers (and they miraculously survived the downpour while packed in the bed of the truck, protected by many layers of trash bags!), so that DS#4 and I can start our online class--nothing frugal about missing assignments and getting a poor grade.
The textbook looks interesting! I'm impressed with how much you pack into a day!
I have very thick hair so I always opt for getting it dried at the hairdresser!
My little frugalities:
1. I made lunch at home today.
2. I baked lemon cookies at the weekend.
3. I'm planning on going to the gym later. I don't have equipment at home so it's useful for me to use it there, along with the machines, and attend classes. Overall, it's a good deal for money...as long as I actually go 😉
4. I want to watch A Room With A View before going to Florence but it isn't on streaming anywhere, so I've borrowed the DVD from the library. I'll probably borrow the book from there too.
5. I went for a sunrise walk and swim the other morning which is totally free as I live in walking distance.
This is not a 'little frugality' but I have to go to the dentist for a mouth guard, which isn't cheap - worth the investment in health though!
We don't have an Aldi's nearby, but we do have a Trader Joe's. Same parent corporation, and their bananas aren't very good either, enough so that we just won't buy them there anymore. Even a low price isn't cheap if they get thrown away!
Outstanding photo of Chiquita!
A day of frugalities is an excellent tutorial into how all those little habits make up a lifestyle of not wasting resources, whether time, money, or opportunities. You do more before breakfast than many people do on a day off work. Thanks for demonstrating that frugal living doesn’t mean missing out on good things.
My eldest son is doing some dual enrollment classes at a college, and his psychology professor this semester actually sent them a PDF of a whole textbook and told them to print it. Really? How many students are going to do this? This is a 758-PAGE BOOK.
We did it, though, because my husband is used to printing and binding large documents for his legal work, and actually has a binder at home. It seemed kind of ridiculous, but my son will work much better with a physical copy and even with the cost of that much paper and ink, it's still waaaay cheaper than textbooks are at a college bookstore.
Figured out that I can safely sit in my not fully assembled office chair.
Drinking water. Trying to eat at home.
Participating in the decluttering challenge for a Facebook group I belong to.