Five Frugal Things | a tree edition
But first, a homeschool frugal thing. 🙂
1. I did early renewal for the umbrella group.
The yearly family fee starts out at $85 and goes up each month from June-September.
So, I mailed mine off and it'll get there long before the June 30th deadline.
(An umbrella group is an organization that handles homeschool record-keeping and also sends records to the government homeschool office. It's not required, but it is a service that can make homeschool families' lives easier. It's worth $85 to me!)
2. I split wood with my dad from our dead trees.
We had the tree guys leave some of the good wood when they took the two dead trees down, and my dad brought over his log splitting machine.
I worked with my dad on the wood and now we have a lot of wood to burn in our fire pit in the fall!
In some senses, this is very expensive firewood (tree removal costs a lot), but we were going to have that bill one way or another. Getting firewood out of the deal helps soften the blow a bit.
The extra logs we had went to my neighbors and my sister, so our dead trees blessed lots of people!
3. We paid to have dead branches removed from all the trees.
Tree companies usually offer a pretty good deal on additional work once you've already asked them to come remove dead trees.
So, while we were at it, we had them do a bunch of trimming on the rest of our many oak trees.
It didn't add a lot to the price of the job, and it will hopefully save us money by preventing branches from falling on our cars.
A single large branch can cause hundreds of dollars of damage, so an ounce of prevention is definitely worth a pound of cure.
4. My dad brought us a load of sand.
We're working on a patio project in the back of our house that needs sand, and we have no vehicles good for picking up a ton of sand.
A ton seems like a lot, but it's a small enough amount that the local companies won't even do a delivery (and delivery fee is $75 anyway!)
Buying bags of sand is an option, but that's expensive and it's a lot of plastic waste too. So, my dad kindly picked up a load for us on his way over to help with our logs (see above), and that sand cost only $42.
Yay for a dad who is generous with his time!
5. A fail...
Since working on tree clean-up took a surprising amount of time, I spent less time in the kitchen over the weekend, which means that I was not as on top of my fridge as usual.
I know there are several containers of leftover meat-containing food that are bad, and I also know there's a bag of spinach that is mostly liquid.
(!)
So, today I'm going to clean it out, throw away the bad food, and organize what's left.
And I'm going to make muffins with my overripe bananas. I can at least save those!
I'm envious of your access to a log splitting machine. My roommate has a pile of tree trunk sections to split for firewood, but I have my doubts about whether he'll ever get around to it.
Not doing much of anything, so I guess that means a lot of frugal.
1) My freezers are stuffed with meat so my food bill should go down in the next few weeks.
2) Melted the wax from candle ends to make new candles later. I have jars, molds, and wicks already.
3) Planted a few veggies, using seed for everything but the tomatoes. March and April were quite chilly, then it got hot quickly so I don't know what, if anything, will grow.
4) I used homemade compost to enrich the veggie bed.
5) I pruned trees and shrubs, saving the branches for the fire pit. The three very small dead boxwoods made really big, really quick fires - that was fun. There were marshmallows, of course.
Have you considered lobbying to be adopted by my dad? I think the log splitting services are complimentary for children. Heh.
And yes, boxwoods burn almost as excitingly as pine!
I would love to be adopted by your dad. Not only does he sound like a good person, he raises such great kids, too.
1) I realized that my anxiety had been doing most of my grocery shopping for me. This past week I was able to do a small, quick shop and use up some of the stuff from our pantry and freezer.
2) I've been making cold brewed coffee at home for an afternoon pick-me-up for my husband and I. Yum!
3) No take out at all this week. Restaurants are reopening in our state for dine-in, but we'll be sticking to carry out for the time being. I'm enjoying being able to visit with my folks (who are at an increased risk) more than I miss sitting at a table while someone else cooks me food (though I do miss that, too).
4) Instead of buying a new set of every day dishes (I'm tired of our wedding Fiesta Ware), I pulled my grandmother's China out of storage. It is such a joy to use her beautiful things every day. (I'm sure she'd have palpitations over them being out all the time, but I'd rather use them and remember her than have them sit in the basement).
5) Just as my anxiety was doing the shopping, it has also been doing my eating. 🙁 So, I've restarted following the No S Diet: No seconds, no snacks, no sweets, except (sometimes) on days that start with S (Saturdays, Sundays and "special" days). It's a lovely, not obsessive way to keep things in check without having to count calories or carbs. http://www.nosdiet.com for those interested in more information (though the one sentence summary is really quite complete).
Just checked out the nosdiet, thanks for the link! That sounds good to me, think I'll give it a try!
1. Packed a cooler for a small road trip No snacks purchased, only Gas!
2. Using up leftovers.
3. Getting 12 BLUE quart jars from my Dad. FREE
4. Continuing to pick up perennials from local BUY NOTHING group
5. No thrift shopping whatsoever!
1- got busy taking photos and uploading them to my local BST site and sold a LOT of items that were unopened/unused and collecting dust.
2- collected a pile of things my kids no longer used/played with and gifted them to a friend who runs a group home. They are still quaranteening and these 4 men with D.S. are fighting boredom. I told her if they don't want it pass it along!
3-went on date night with husband ( first time since Mid Feb)... used a gift card.. decided we don't need to go out to eat as the whole gloves/masks/nothing on the tables is really eerie! Actually the gloves thing is the worst for me. Bare hands make it so you can FEEL things on your hands.. so you would WASH them to get the yuck off.. these gloves prevent you feeling that.. so how often are they replacing gloves??? Makes me worry that they are passing more crud along via dirty gloves!
4-Got my little garden planted and it is looking nice! Had some crazy rainstorms last week so less watering for me! lol
5-refinanced our mortgage and LOC and will be getting a MUCH lower rate than we had. such a relief.
Yay on the refinancing!
And yeah, I have such mixed feelings about gloves. It seems like regular handwashing for employees would be more effective because you can wash hands more often than you can reasonably change gloves in a restaurant.
Studies have shown that, during normal times, food service personnel who wear gloves have poorer sanitary practices than ones who don't. The ones who wear gloves tend not to change them often enough (need to wear one set for handling food, then change them after doing something else, such as handle money), whereas those with bare hands are more likely to wash their hands at appropriate times.
Getting trees removed is very expensive, but it is better than trees on your house or car. That's great that your dad has a log-splitter!
1. Since my favorite little pet food store is going out of business, closing this month thanks to the pandemic, I went back by to see what they had left. I am hoping they can sell everything, to minimize their loss as much as possible, poor things, and wanted to help if I could. They had reduced all of the food, so I bought two big bags of the frozen raw food that my dog loves as a topping on her kibble at 25% off, plus two bags of kibble at 30% off. All of it went straight in my freezer until I need to use it.
2. I put another recurring charitable donation on my cash back credit card.
3. I bought a big bag of grapes. I put them through the vinegar water soak, pulled them off the stems and put them in a bowl in the refrigerator, where they are being eaten instead of left to mold in the bag.
4. I reused an old jar with shaker top to hold my homemade meat rub. I re-labeled the jar using some old canning jar stickers from a stash that I've had for no less than 20 years.
5. I started a few years ago buying my spices in bulk from the food co-op, which is so much less expensive. The per pound prices on the bulk jars look high until you figure out your price per ounce compared to buying spices in little jars.
And a fail of sorts: I paid good money to order some prepared freezer meals that are autoimmune protocol (AIP) compliant. Although I try to keep some leftovers in the freezer for just in case, working full time while handling my husband's health issues occasionally leaves me with nothing to make a packed work lunch, or we have a late supper, and there is nothing I can eat that doesn't require a lot of prep work. I can't just order out, since most of take out food is non-compliant, so I end up not really eating much. I decided the frozen meals are going to be worth it, although I don't want to buy them regularly due to price.
Nice to keep all that wood for the firepit. I have also heard of some people with valuable wood that can be used for woodwork selling it off rather than having the tree removal people hauling it off (and selling it..)
My frugal things,
1. Our cars were covered in pollen after sitting in the driveway for two months. Washed them ourselves rather than taking them to a car wash.
2. Bought swimsuits for my twins from another mom of multiples who had bought the wrong size for her kids. She recouped some money and I didn't have to pay full price for new with tags suits.
3. Been making a lot of salads from lettuce and arugula from the garden.
4. Got reimbursements from spring sports that had been cancelled, which we put immediately into savings.
5. Fishing, swimming and kayaking on our community beach on the weekend; very frugal entertainment. But it feels wrong that there are so few public beaches, when we have so much shoreline. There should be more that are accessible to everyone. Also, I fall into the comparison trap when I see so many of our neighbors taking out their expensive boats. Complicated feelings.
One frugal fail. Forgot to cancel an Adobe subscription as soon as I was done with my freelance project, in which case I would have gotten some money back and no cancellation fees. Now I'm paying for an extra month plus have a cancellation fee. Oh well.
1. After two no-show deliveries and a multitude of phone calls (which I had to initiate) Home Depot delivered our order. I called to ask for the Express Delivery fee to be refunded. I stayed calm and pleasant throughout the process, which generally works in your favor.
2. All social events have been no cost, joining different friends for walks and then talking afterwards, joining friends outside for knitting, joining a friend on her patio, etc.
3. I found out I will receive a small inheritance and I'm trying to figure out the best thing to do with it. It will go into my savings account for now but I know I want to give at least 10% away. In light of events the past couple weeks I will be looking beyond my usual charities.
4. I have not had a haircut in 4-1/2 months. Luckily I am not seeing that many people as an overgrown short, layered cut is not great looking after that much time. It is a first world "issue".
5. The weather was gorgeous the past two days so we had the windows open the whole time.
Zoe's growing out her partial pixie right now (she was planning to even before COVID) and is feeling super frustrated by it. But she does acknowledge that this IS a perfect time to go through the growing out process!
From photos, I'd say your Zoe is so attractive that any kind of hair style would look fine!
Well, I mean, I think so too! Ha. Thank you. 🙂
Made pico da gallo with tomatoes, jalepenos and limes that begged using!
Used lemons before they'd go bad to squeeze a jar of juice and container of lemon zest.
Packed my lunch each day with things on hand.
Made meals with items (odds and ends) in my freezer.
Made several handmade cards for upcoming birthdays and anniversaries.
1. The library reopened and a book I requested before the shut down is here. When I received the email I felt as though I'd gotten a present.
2. It looks like we have a sale for the armoire from my daughter's apartment. It was bought second hand and I wasn't looking forward to wrestling it into the elevator and her having to rent a bigger vehicle to get it here.
3. With a little work I was able to adapt a mask pattern to fit my husband's big head. (He says it's because he has a big brain!)
4. Discovered my no-egg, bake and mix in one pan, chocolate cake recipe will make a dozen cupcakes. Why didn't I try this before?
5. My six year-old nephew created an obstacle course in his back yard and his dad recorded him running it and send me the video. Free smiles every time I watch it.
Your nephew's obstacle course reminds me of the "trap" my nephew often made for my Mom coming home at 2 a.m. from second shift at the hospital. Before going to bed (my sister, her husband, and the nephew lived with my parents for a couple of years early in their marriage before their other kids were born), he would run string everywhere in the living room in front of the front door to "catch" her. Since she always knew to look for the "trap," it was more humorous than anything. We still think about it periodically even though he is now 30!
I also have a big head and I, too, say it is because I have a big brain. Once I went to the Harley dealer to buy a motorcycle helmet and nothing fit. The clerk yelled to the back counter, "Another big head here so we'll have to order special. And it is a woman!" He was not impressed by my big brain defense.
1. Picked up some used toys off Buy Nothing that I plan to gift to my daughter for Christmas. She is 1.5, so she doesn't care if toys are used.
2. Juiced some lemons, before they went bad, and froze the juice.
3. Signed up for budget billing with our gas and electric supplier. We are very cognizant of our gas and electric usage and use an Ecobee to help with this. Our new monthly budget is $112 per month for a 3-bedroom home. This is very cheap for our area.
4. Car insurance company reimbursed us another $25 due to limited driving during pandemic
5. We paid my niece, to help us watch the kids, while we work from home. My husband's employer reimbursed us for the total cost.
My husband is working alongside the contractor to reduce the number of hours we will pay for our kitchen remodel. It’s going really well. Husband has learned to do several repairs by watching YouTube. He didn’t always want to give things a try.
I keep putting off going grocery shopping and so far we are still eating.
We shopped around for a better interest rate on a savings account and switched money over when we found one.
Scheduled a bulky pick up for free through our trash company. We get 2 free per year. It will take care of the kitchen we just removed. We sold the sink, fan hood and stove top. Oven given away, but it saved us dump fees.
Thanks for all who comment, and to you, Kristen, for inspiring us !
1.) I bought 20 lb of Japanese style rice. We eat a lot of rice in my house so it's cheaper to buy in the large bag. I did stash it in the freezer first.
2.) Buying in at the bottom of the Pandemic really helped my portfolio. I was finally brave enough to look at it again and I'm almost back to where I was.
3.) Got a good deal on snacks for lunches. Now that things are starting to return more to normal (at least for weekdays) I will need to start packing lunches again. I also got $1.50 no rush ship credit.
4.) Cleaned out some old junk and found some items that I was planning to buy. Always good to shop from your own house.
5.) Bought some journals and such on clearance at Michael's for the wife.
1. On step 2 of baby steps and have a good debt snowball plan
Going.
2. Made hand sanitizer with ingredients I had at home.
3. Used up some about to go peppers and made stuffed peppers. Used up soft tomatoes in taco soup.
4. Using my library again. Yay!
5. Dropping stuff off at Goodwill, as I clean and sort. Found new to me Tupperware bowl with lid for 2$. Its the kind I have and live for big salads, etc.
Kristen, I feel your pain for the expense of tree removal. It is a shocking price! I'm glad we have done it when we have needed to. We've had more than one neighbor who didn't do it when they should have and it has resulted in even more expense. Repairing a deck, replacing a porch, replacing a fence ... those are not cheap! I think you should rate this as a frugal move!
Oh man, I had such a fail this morning. My mom brought me a TON of produce when she came to visit, which was nice, but then my refrigerator was crammed so full it was like a Tetris game to get anything in or out, with the result that I lost track of a full bag of green beans. Like two pounds of them. They just went bad.
Such a bummer.
The chickens will eat them, so I suppose I can consider them an investment in eggs, and I didn't pay for them myself, but still not happy about that one. I hate wasting food, especially precious fresh produce.
1. We've been eating lettuce for four weeks now that I started inside and then put out in a cold frame. I've also been eating my asparagus (and making a soup base with it and assorted green stuff from the garden for soup base), but it will soon be going to fern growth... Sure is nice to have super fresh veg though!
2. Did a pickup of milk at my local Foodland -- and found a pound of lean ground beef and a package of 4 chicken legs at half off.
3. Got half price thin buns and discounted pre-made burgers at another store. Basically I got protein for 22+ meals in a shopping total less than $50 (and that included some things like mushrooms, milk, and carrots too!)
4. Attended a Zoom version of a conference that normally I would have driven three and half hours too with $20 fee as well. It was great seeing old friends!
5. Redid a garden bed with retaining wall blocks I had scrounged last summer (also used some of the blocks to construct a winter storage area for my rainbarrels -- I can't leave them in place because of possible ice damage).
I had a socially distanced visit with family this weekend. I hadn't seen them since March. It was awesome.
I have perfected making homemade biscuits and gravy at home during isolation. This is a dish I previously only ever ordered at restaurants.
I am so grateful to have a job that has been super flexible about working from home, working off hours in office, granting paid leave for those who can't work or have childcare issues. And now they are being super thoughtful about reopening - 25% capacity at the office starts next week but I probably won't be back in the office until August or September, and then only part time and work the rest from home.
Our library branches are supposed to open for drive through (if they have a window) and curbside pick up next week! So excited. Even though I am in the middle of a 900 page book and won't need the library for a little while
Curious about the book. I love long books!
Remembered to use coupons at the grocery store. Also grabbed a bunch of clearance food items for the kiddos & stocked up.
Made homemade orange dandelion loose herbal tea.
Made muffins with leftover Raisin Bran for snacks for the kiddos.
Hung clothes outside to dry a few days because it was way to hot to turn on the dryer.
Made homemade beef stock from marrow bones.
Bought my son a balance bike when it was 10% off on Amazon
Made some birthday cards myself instead of buying them.
When we lived in Upstate NY, we had a wood burning stove. So when we had trees cut down, we would spend weekendS in the fall, cutting, stacking and moving wood in prep for winter. And if we weren’t doing the wood thing, we were raking leaves. Although I miss all the colors of fall and apples, I do not miss - at all - the work that was involved.
1. I cut my hair myself for the first time (it's been 7 months)! Not perfect but not a disaster.
2. I haven't had my eyebrows threaded since early March (one of the few beauty things I actually do pay for). I did it myself and it made such a difference. Not perfect, but not a disaster.
3. Hubs and I haven't ridden our bikes in 10 years. We've moved with them four times and It's too hilly where we currently live to ride. We no longer have the car with the hitch for the bike rack so we can't take them anywhere either. So my husband said, "We've tried selling the bikes a few times and they're just sitting there, getting rusty and dusty. Wanna just list them for free?" So I decided to try one more time by listing them for $25 each - all three sold in less than 2 days! I'm kinda sad to see them go because they remind me of our more active days but I'm happy that they're being put to use.
4. Got a good deal on avocados and blackberries so I bought extra and we're eating our way through them. Tomatoes were starting to go soft and broccoli was starting to brown so I made a weird but delicious salad with aforementioned avocado. Tomatoes and cruciferous veggies combined have cancer fighting properties so win-win!
5. Haven't done it yet but the girls and I are going to wash the downstairs windows this afternoon. We've paid someone to do it in the past and it's pricey. I'm looking forward to a brighter, crisper view from the kitchen window.
Just wanted to swing through and say I love your blog! I don’t always comment, but I read it faithfully.
Aww, I am so encouraged to hear that. Thank you!
1. In the past, my library has told me that I can ask them to buy a book if there's one I really want and they can probably buy it. So I asked about 4 books (2 for me, 2 for my kids) that friends have recommended about implicit bias, anti-racism, and valuing diversity. I'll order them through interlibrary loan if they don't buy them, but it'd be great to have them available in our community.
2. Our library opens tomorrow for curbside and I've already got my order in.
3. I was really tired Sunday afternoon and my husband offered to pick up something for dinner. Instead, I laid down for an hour and made dinner at home afterwards.
4. A friend gave me a few baby jalapeno pepper plants. I planted around 60 green pepper plants and apparently only planted 1 jalapeno. Whoops.
5. We've been having some plumbing issues for a couple of weeks, but I've been patient as my husband figured out what was wrong and what needs to happen to fix it. He's able to do it himself, so we'll save a lot by the time it's all over.
1. We needed a shed for things like our snow blower, and the one on the property when we bought this house was literally falling apart. Years ago, husband would have built a new one himself but he is too old now. Our neighbor is out of work due to the virus and he is a carpenter by trade, so we hired him. He used some of his own materials and charged us less than the lumber yard would for those supplies. His wife is still working and the day care is still closed, so he offered us a really good hourly rate if he could bring his five year old to work with him. He stayed in the fenced off area of our yard and played with the dog and chickens and “helped” me garden. Babysitting is not something I enjoy and I much prefer teens to youngsters, but I agreed. It took a week but we got a shed at about half of what it normally would have cost, and he made money plus didn’t have to pay a sitter. (Plus I always think it is good for kids to see their parents working and to have some ide of what it is they do for a living.)
2. Salad greens are now coming out of our garden, although not much else is edible yet.
3. Daily I move our four chickens to a different part of the yard so they can forage. Cuts down on their food bill and the bugs in the yard and keeps them occupied and happy.
4. I am old. Husband is old. Compost is old and needed turning. Every day we both went out and worked for five minutes on turning the pile by pitch-forking it from one compartment of the compost pen to another. It took us a month but we finally finished moving not one, not two, but three piles. The worst part was after the five minute sessions, which often stretched to about 20 minutes, we would sit down with iced tea and reminisce about what we used to be able to do in our teens through 50s. It can be pretty depressing. I wish I had been more aware of and thankful for how my body looked and worked back then!
I love the carpenter bringing his son to work. I don't get to see the grandchildren very often, so I would have loved the five year old, whom I much prefer to teens. 😀
I'm old, too, or, because I have rheumatoid arthritis plus osteoarthritis, I probably feel older than I should, if that makes sense, and it's just me now, trying to do all the yard and garden stuff. I love it but it's physically very taxing. I think I should try "the Lindsey method" of 5-20 minute sessions. I often wonder and marvel at how much I used to be able to do, without batting an eye- I guess I never appreciated it at the time! I'm glad for all the strength training I have done so I can still do as much as possible.
It's pretty awesome that you were able to make it work with your carpenter and his child. Sometimes my employees or people that do work for me here at my house bring a child, and I have a feeling that it means an awful lot to the child. My daughter used to LOVE going to work with me or my husband!
I used to clean houses. I only did ones that allowed me to bring my daughter with me. One of the elderly ladies loved having her come. One time she didn't come with me. She had slept over at my parent's house. The lady was so disappointed. I made sure to always bring her to that ladies house in the future.
I'm hoping writing Five Frugal Things will get me out of my Covid funk and make me count my blessings!
1. Meijers had Smithfield spiral sliced ham for .99 a lb. I did a quick run in because I had 5.00 off anything coupon from Meijers. I bought an 11 lb ham and was out of pocket a little over 6.00.
2. A friend asked me about a discount grocery store I didn't know existed nearby. They're only taking online orders with no contact delivery. We were both very pleased with what we got and they were giving out snack bags with each purchase. In the bag were 12 individual chip and snack bags. Woohoo!
3. I had committed to writing encouraging notes as a church ministry. I dug out card making supplies and made 8 or 9 cards with odds and ends. During the heat wave this week, I hope to get them sent out. For the trash pick up guys and the mailman, I thought I would add a bottle of frozen water and.......one of snack bags mentioned above!
4. The sedums in all my gardens have reproduced mightily and the chicks and hens are sprouting new ones. I think I have plenty but will fill a couple new pots and give them to a couple of friends. One has a bird bath she thought she would give away. I think I may have talked her into making a fairy garden with my leftovers and plants.
5. My ten dollar flat of pansies is giving color to my yard! I noticed while deadheading today, one pod had split and it appears to have seeds inside. I'm hoping I can grown pansies from those seeds next year. Anyone know if this will work?
Thanks for letting me join today. Remembering how blessed I am at this difficult time is vital to getting through this!
I’m making kefir right now, so easy and cheap!
We are eating from the garden...chard, many types of salad green, peas, strawberries and rhubarb.
It poured rain overnight and into the morning so I can save on watering for today and tomorrow. (We are on a water metre so every drop counts!)
I made a card for my mum’s upcoming birthday...homemade cards are the best!
And the present for my mum will be a bouquet from my garden and some strawberries. She is lucky to have a mid June birthday!
I have been trying to not waste food but I need to empty the fridge as there are some containers that slipped through the planning. There isn't a lot more to add as we have stayed close to home and haven't spent much or needed fuel etc.
The big thing I did was hit the sales, but not for myself.
We have a service here that started off as a youth refuge, but has now expanded to also running foster care and providing support to children and teenagers living in non-foster out of home care.
As a result, their clients need lots of different kinds of support.
So because we’re in Australia and it’s cold, swimsuits and summer clothes are on clearance racks all over town, so we bought a bunch of them.
Because of Covid, supermarkets over ordered on loads of things, as a result we were able to pick up ridiculously cheap diapers and wipes, so we bought a few bulk boxes in different sizes.
We also found really good quality toys on clearance, so added some of those to our stash.
I know we could donate cash to them, but we’ve been told that they love it when we shop from their Wishlist for them, because their staff don’t have time to go and hunt down bargains, so we’re helping provide more to them. So I keep an eye out for markdowns all year and drop them off whenever I’m going to be going near their offices.
Just a tip, I get fresh spinach a lot and when it's close to the end of it's life span I toss the whole bag in the freezer and use it in smoothies. Works great!
1. We have avoided the grocery this week and have eaten from the pantry and freezer
2. My son needed an end table for his room and by being patient I found one on a local site for FREE! In perfect shape too!
3. The library is JUST opening for reserves but this past weekend before I knew that I needed new books to read, borrowed a few and got several secondhand for $2 each
4. We are going camping this summer and I reached out to a friend to borrow some equipment. She ended up having even more than I thought so I was able to cancel several items I planned to order
5. Our dishwasher basket was falling apart. We really need a new dishwasher but now is not the time for big purchases, so I fixed the basket with zip ties. Should hold until we are able to replace the dishwasher!
I know...freezing spinach is SO EASY. If only I had paid attention and rescued it before it was too late.
Next time.
Yay for a free end table!
All sounds good to me. I have been sawing up a large amount of old trellis for next winter kindling. I make my own fire lighters as well. Dry out used tea bags and when dry place in a oven tray and the place old candle ends in the tray. Heat them in the oven until the candle bits have melted and soaked into the tea bags. Take out, cool down and use each tea bag as a fire lighter. Works a treat. Talking of treats , how do you get a peanut out of a child’s ear? Pour in melted chocolate and it comes out a Treat. BOOM BOOM!
1. Made shortcake, pancake or ice cream sauce from yucky peaches and strawberries.
2. Made Chex mix from all bits and dabs of cereal, crackers and chips. Simple in the microwave.
3. Made granola from oats, walnuts, craisins and sunflowers seeds - easy in the microwave. (Didn’t wait for missing coconut or correct amounts) It is super tasty!
4. Made up game they LOVED with big empty container and cut-up foam (hide and seek the Unicorn poop!)
5. Dropped off load at recycle store.
1. Attended a yard sale across the street with mask firmly on and spent $9 for a new photo frame, three CDs from college-era favorite bands, two unopened packages of thank you notes, four soda can cozies for a friend who loves and uses the things, and an almost new Ralph Lauren summer handbag, which was good because I actually need a summer handbag.
2. I sewed valances for our bedroom windows from a huge length of fabric bought for $2 at another neighborhood yard sale. The best retail price I could find was $40, so definitely worth the effort.
3. Bought two blouses and a pair of shoes off eBay. One of the blouses unexpectedly has panels at the bottom of semi-sheer fabric, and I am too old for that, so I am lining it with some gauze fabric bought for $1 a while back from the Salvation Army thrift shop.
4. Our middle dog has many allergies, mostly to foods, and I have begun making her food, with our vet's approval, to get a bad flare-up of allergy-related colitis under control. The ingredients are inexpensive and she is doing great.
5. Had another good run of drugstore coupons and paid around a dollar for two jugs of laundry detergent and a small bottle of dishwashing liquid. I'm not sure I have paid full price for dish liquid in years at this point.
What kind of food do you make for your pup?
Brown rice mixed with sardines in oil and canned salmon, canned pumpkin, cooked apple and salt-free green beans. In a couple of weeks I will re-introduce either rabbit or pork into her diet and see how it goes. Fish, rabbit and pork are the main proteins she can eat.
Commenting on you #1 we had a similar incident. A very large tree was in the process of falling over. We had the tree removed and the stump ground down. This left a very expensive pile of mulch, like your expensive fire wood. Lol but we had to have the tree removed so at least I didn’t have to buy mulch that year.
I put a book that my sister bought for me, & I had read up on my local freecycle site. I gave it away & when the woman who brought the book, she left me one! It's one I've wanted to read & she didn't even know. Plus my sister came home to visit & she brought me another book I wanted to read b/c she was done with it. With the price of hardbacks, 2 free new titles are awesome!