Five Frugal Things | gimme my half hour!
1. I put in for a half hour of paid time
Brittany and I met up outside of work to finish up our evidence-based practice presentation, and the coordinator of our residency program had told us we were allowed to put in a clocking for a half hour of outside-of-class time.
So, that's what I did. I will never say no to getting paid. 😉
We met up at Starbucks, and of course, I used a gift card for my drink.
The two of us are not 100% efficient when we meet up because we have to chat too (OBVIOUSLY). So we were definitely there for more than half an hour, but at least 30 minutes of it was paid. 🙂
2. I did not buy a new coffee maker yet
My very old, very inexpensive coffee maker is doing a weird thing where it stays on and running, even if you press the "off" button.
At first, I was thinking I should just go buy another one, but honestly, it's working just fine to unplug it after use.
I do recognize this is a sign that the machine is probably on its last legs, but you know, I'm gonna just let it keep walking until the legs give out entirely. 😉
(Unless you can tell me that there is some terribly dangerous reason to use it as is; if so, I will reconsider!)
When this one gives out, I'll probably buy the current model, which is less than $30. I'm not a picky person about my coffee!
Although, hmm, I think this one is more similar to mine, since it has the timer feature. But since I never use the timer feature, I don't think I need the fancier model!
3. I'm trying to make my fleece jacket work
I bought an inexpensive cropped fleece zip-up to wear to work because sometimes, it gets a little chilly at the hospital.
I like it in every way except that it hangs onto hair like CRAZY. And this is mainly a Chiquita problem; I think the cat hair must have gotten onto it during the wash cycle, from the other laundry.
Anyway, while I was watching some school video lectures the other day, I painstakingly used packing tape to remove all the hairs from the jacket.
(A lint brush is not strong enough; I tried that!)
Then I folded it up and put it in the back seat of my car; my plan is to only put it on when I leave the house and to take it off before I come back in the house.
And I'll probably just launder it by itself; I don't wear it a whole lot, so it's not like I wash it every day.
If this doesn't work out well, I'll shop for a knit zip-up on eBay, but I'm going to at least give this a shot first.
4. I used the minimum-allowable level of TurboTax
I finally did my personal tax return (!) and although TurboTax kept offering me upgrades, I steadfastly said no.
I can't use the free version, of course, because I have a Schedule K from my S-Corp, but I used the most minimal version that I could.
I owed for federal, and I used a bank account to pay that (no fee). I got a refund from state, and I didn't choose the early refund (a fee!) or the gift cards. A straight direct deposit works for me.
5. I planted some questionable basil seeds
This may be a fail; time will tell!
I had a package of pretty old basil seeds in my kitchen drawer:
Please see the sell-by date. Ha.
But, I sprinkled them in a pot of soil, watered them, and now I'm hoping for the best.
Germination time is 14-18 days, so in my Five Frugal Things two weeks from now, I should have some news for you either way.
Regardless, this is very low risk. If they don't germinate, I'm no worse off than I was before.
Frugal Five, post company:
After our family visit was over I used what they left in my fridge:
All of their yummy fancy creamers! I'll have fancy coffee for a few weeks.
A bag of carrots: I roasted them with some potatoes
Leftover shrimp boil: ate up the shrimp, potatoes and kielbasa, and then put the cooked onions, garlic cloves and corn (cut off of the cob) to put into my freezer "soup bag".
Fancy ranch dressing: used for dips, salads, etc.
Fancy balsamic vinegarette dressing: marinated some chicken in it.
one more: used the bunch of grapes in a yummy chicken salad. 🙂
Check fb marketplace for coffeemakers. Sometimes you can grab one for free
We unplug our (very basic) coffee maker after each use too; we've noticed that it seems to make them last longer (I don't know how many years we've been using this current little Black & Decker which I bought already used from a thrift shop - still going strong). We also unplug countertop appliances like microwave and convection oven for the same reason - we started after noticing little wonky things starting to happen in the display screens. We thought they were on their last legs but it's been years and they're working fine too! It seems like it gives the circuitry a chance to rest or reset or something.
I have a black jacket made of the exact material (I could see in your closeup) and I agree it is the biggest pet hair magnet! I’ve contemplated donating it for a long time, then last was the zipper broke, so I can finally justify saying goodbye to it! Keeping it in your car is a good strategy
i use the bounce pet hair laundry sheets and notice a HUGE difference in pet hair on my clothes.
I was at a work convention Friday through Sunday, so my FFT are all related!
--I packed all of my food for the weekend.
--I took advantage of the event's parking passes, which dropped the daily rate from $12 to $6.
--I stayed with friends vs. the hotel.
--Said friends treated me to a wonderful homemade dinner Saturday and homemade scones for breakfast Sunday.
--I gave them coffee bought from one of the convention attendees (small business and GOOD coffee-- https://dragonroast.coffee/ ) as an additional thank you. I had already brought treats for their seventeen-year-old feline overlord and a new insulated lunchbox to celebrate one of said friends starting his own business.
It won’t surprise me if those basil seeds germinate! You may only have a few do so, but if you’d thrown them out, you’d have nothing. The “sell by” date is required to be on there but if you’ve kept them in a dry, cool environment, seeds are very resilient. Good luck for pesto in your future!
I keep most of my garden seeds in the freezer, with silica gel packets in among them to keep them dry, and I rarely have trouble germinating ones that are past their "packed for" date. (My all-time record is 15 years for one packet of lettuce seeds.) The only types of seeds this doesn't work so well for are members of the carrot family (including parsley, etc.) and onion family.
1. I dehydrated some over-ripe grapes. I froze some over-ripe bananas to use in smoothies. I juiced over-ripe lemons and oranges. I used leftover pizza dough to make pepperoni bread for my kids. I used the ham bone from Easter to make a soup for my lunch this week.
2. My mom gave us pretzels, graham crackers, bread, and fruit.
3. I bought 2 packages of chicken breast at Aldi for 50% off.
4. I picked up a shirt for myself off Buy Nothing
5. I finished the last visit of a study I enrolled in at our local university. They paid me $300 for the 1 hour visit. Total paid was $600 for about 4 hours of visits.
Frugal things:
- We parked in the parking garage when we met with the estate attorney and had them validate our pass, so parking was free.
- Cleaned out and organized the freezers. It's now much easier to tell what we have and what we need.
- Used sourdough starter discard to make blueberry muffins using blueberries that were past their prime.
- Baked three loaves of bread, one for us and one for each of our kids.
- Filed our federal tax return using TurboTax and it was rejected, again. We've had this issue for the past few years. Researched the issue and found it was the IRS identify protection PIN number. Added correct IP PIN and return was accepted and refund has been deposited into our account.