Five Frugal Things | mouse mending
1. I mended a mouse
A catnip mouse, to be specific.
Both of our cats love these catnip mice, which is funny because they are such a low-tech toy. Both cats chase them around like they are alive, though. 😉
This one had come apart so I did a quick hand sew to put it back in business.
2. I paid for my contacts with my HSA
I now have a health savings account (HSA) at work! I know some people use these as investment accounts (which is great!), but I mainly opened one to get tax-free cash from my paycheck for things like glasses, contact lenses, copays, and so on.
I needed a new box of contact lenses, and that was my inaugural HSA purchase. SWEET.
I have no idea if I elected the appropriate amount to contribute to my HSA, but the nice thing is that the funds do not expire at the end of the year. So, if I have extra leftover for next year, no big deal.
3. I rented a schoolbook
I neglected to realize this second summer class required a second book. I actually only need it for about three weeks of the class (!), so I found a place online that will let me rent it for $15. Yay!
My hospital does reimburse me for books, but I have a limited amount of tuition reimbursement available every year, so it behooves me to be frugal like this. No sense in wasting my tuition dollars.
4. I submitted tuition forms again
I submitted all my paperwork for my upcoming fall classes, and I also submitted my grade for the class I just finished.
(For the BSN program, you are required to submit proof that you got at least a C or better in order to qualify for the tuition assistance.)
The process is a little tedious, but I am motivated. I might be suffering in this BSN program, but I can at least make it an inexpensive type of suffering. 😉
A cheerful add-on thought: during the process of downloading my school paperwork, I scrolled through the "Your Degree Progress" section, and a satisfyingly large number of the required classes are now in green, not red (meaning they are completed). Yay me! I'm getting close.
(I'm slated to be done in May of 2027.)
5. I got some markdowns at Giant
I found batteries ($1.17 a package), some flatbread ($2), and three packs of meat.
I put the flatbread in the freezer for some future easy pizzas, and I also immediately froze the meat for some future meals (as yet to be determined!)
Summer frugal five:
All of my company is gone now, so I'm sad, tired, and gave myself time to rest and get the house back in order:
1. Gave extra produce to a coworker, including a nice watermelon.
2. Shopped my freezer and pantry, made dinners for a few nights with frozen shredded bbq and a can of baked beans. Baked beans are only bought around here when we have company, I don't care for them, but it was easier to just heat them up then to get creative with the ingredients this week. Lazy = recovery time for me.
3. My garden got seriously overgrown with the heat and company. The whole lettuce parasite thing motivated me to harvest all of my overgrown lettuce and salvage the good, new leaves. Eating those for lunch salads this week. I'm not ready to buy any lettuce from the store quite yet.
4. Stayed off social media for a day or two and read a novel my daughter brought me. She knows I love historical fiction.
5. I treat myself to one pedicure a year, in late spring. It was growing out and looked terrible, especially since I garden so much, haha, so I did my own toenails with supplies I already have. That will last until I stop wearing sandals to work in September.
I fully support your "lazy" baked bean dinners as you give yourself time to recover and get back in your normal rhythm.
Thank you for prompting me to look up the lettuce thing. I have heard about it in passing but just didn't really worry about it until now (head in sand). I searched and see that it's actually just iceberg lettuce which I can easily avoid. Nice. Enjoy your garden lettuce!
I read a novel this weekend too, and it was so much more restorative than scrolling or watching something. I love historical fiction, too. Any good titles to recommend? I just read Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi which a friend let me borrow. Powerful!
We're having some big changes to our lives recently and trying to look at them all through a frugal lense.
A deer totaled our son's car this spring so we're loaning him my car with the hope that he'll like it so much he'll choose to buy it. He's coming around to that 🙂 which also means we're now a one car couple plus my husband's adventure van that's not a daily driver.
Our daughter moved back in with us to escape western smoke and fires, and recover financially from living in an expensive area for work. It's good to have her back for awhile!
Our other son is building a camper and hopes to be out of here by early winter. His excess stuff will either go into storage, or be gotten rid of. Either way, we'll have some space back in our house.
Aldi confirmed yet again yesterday why I shop there. I bought a box of Annie's mac-n-cheese for $1.48, then saw it at Giant for $2.59 (and that's just one small example).
But Giant comes through with local produce. The larger location near us has local cantaloupes that are large and sweet (also called a mushmelon–the big ridged kind) for $3.99. I've been buying 2 each week while they're still in season. And I always scout the meat counters and sale bakery rack for yellow discount tags. There can be some great deals there but nothing I needed yesterday.
And I'm enjoying the next book in a mystery series on an interlibrary loan. The series is currently up to 19 books. I'm on book 12, and 7 of those loans have come through ILL. I could just order it from Amazon, but the local library and ILLs save me tons of money; just the remaining books in the series would set me back about $90.
Just like Rory on Gilmore Girls! He got hit by a deer! On a serious note, I'm glad he's okay and I'm sorry about the car
Thanks Sophie! And yes, blissfully he was ok and no one got hurt (except possibly the deer who disappeared into the woods). The neighbors there all came right out to check on him and help him. The car was an absolute mess but the airbags deployed (thank God for airbags!) and now he has my very nice, newer car. When I was young, an accident like his could easily have resulted in major injuries or even death. I thank the auto industry for installing airbags and excellent seatbelts in vehicles every day!! His younger sister also was saved by airbags and her seatbelt when her car slid on ice in northern Vermont. That car was also destroyed when it finally came to rest against a line of trees above a small river. eek!!! An off-duty firefighter and his family were first on the scene and helped her.
Wear your seatbelts, folks! and be safe out there! And step up to help those in need because you never know when you or someone you love might be in need and someone will help you.
I bought my sister's cat a toy mouse for Christmas but she ignored it! I tried not to take it personally 😉
Frugals:
1. I got a lovely tunic top from a charity shop. It's a good brand, well-made and its only flaw is not having pockets!
2. I borrowed three books from the library.
3. I went to an archaeology event with my parents. The entrance was free and the talks were £1 each, which my parents treated me to. I treated my parents to some slices of cake from a food stall, but we brought lunch and drinks with us.
4. I wanted to reread a book I once borrowed from the library. It no longer seems to be in the system, so I bought a cheap copy from ebay.
5. I went for walks near the house and went running outside for free exercise.
You may be able to add pockets.
Does your job reimburse you for school when you work part-time?
Yep!
1) I was able to spend a day preparing about a months worth of slow cooker freezer meal kits, so we will have easy dinner options ready when August arrives (a really busy time at work for me, and the hottest time of year when we don’t want to turn on the oven). This way we won’t be as tempted to pick up takeout for dinner every day.
2) I was able to make a repair on my truck myself, buying a used replacement part on eBay and watching how-to videos online.
3) A storm took down a tree in our yard, and our sweet neighbor, who has the tools and training, offered to chop it up and haul it off for a few hundred dollars, which is much less than what it would have cost us to rent equipment to try to do it ourselves (and much safer, too, tbh).
FFT--Garden, garden, garden!
--I glued the loose sole on one of my gardening shoes.
--My gardening shed is actually the original garage for our 1890 house and has as many surface textures as it has decades. (We also have a more modern 1950s garage.) I repainted the exposed wood previously; yesterday, I watered down the remaining half gallon to paint the side covered in tar paper. It protects the wood underneath on the storm-facing side, so I understand why a previous owner installed it even if it is a $-%# to paint. 😛 Watering down leftover paint saved on materials and made the process MUCH faster!
--It's officially "zucchini magically appearing on the porch" season! That's fine by me, as the $&&$# squash bugs destroyed all mine. Hopefully my late revenge planting will do better. I have round zucchini this year (softball size), and the ONE fruit I did get was superb.
--My cucumbers (Boston pickling) have thankfully been going gangbusters. We've been making fridge pickles, salads, eating sliced cucumbers with just a sprinkle of salt, and sharing with friends and neighbors. This is my first year actually using fresh dill--it turns homemade pickles up to 11!
--All of my tomatoes are on the cusp. Next week and the week after will undoubtedly be all about soups and sauces for the freezer. Amusingly enough, the volunteer tomatoes* are doing as well as the ones planted on purpose.
*Plant cherry tomatoes once, and you will have them forever. I also have volunteer Romas and beefsteaks.
Bonus frugality--I keep being asked how I get such large, long-lasting blooms on my flowers; everyone is always taken aback by my answer of "benign neglect." Water is reserved for the vegetable garden, so everything else is a drought-tolerant native (bee balm, milkweed, bachelor's buttons, etc.) or hardy species (irises, day lilies, Asiatic lilies, etc.) that can hold its own. It saves money, water, and makes it look like I know what I'm doing with the yard. ;P We just finished a brutal heat wave, and everything still looks fine.
To give a sense of scale, we own a 1/4 acre lot. Our little house, the garage, and gardening shed take up maybe 1300 sq/ft all together. The vegetable garden is up to 250 sq/ft (I companion plant, so it is crammed tight), and the assorted flower beds are even more than that--and still expanding!
It sounds like you have a little piece of heaven!
My garden is in a similar situation. I had several zucchini plants, but only one is still alive and it’s the one that grows round squash. I’ve had a whooping two zucchini this year, but have restarted some more seeds inside. On the other hand, my cucumbers have gone nuts. Last week, I made sweet and spicy cucumbers, sesame soy cucumbers, creamy dill cucumbers, and sautéed cucumbers for my kids that don’t like them raw. The dog even gets them for a treat. I still have a pile to use up. The tomatoes have just started harvest time, so that is very exciting.
Nice grocery store finds! I am using pickup, which is frugal in a way (saves time, no temptation for extras) but I don't see marked down items. My pickup is from WalMart, though, and there I don't usually find a lot of markdowns on stuff I'll actually use anyway.
I'm curious since you have an HSA if you also chose a high-deductible insurance. I moved to an employer without this option and miss it, though I also went through cancer treatments with the less skimpy insurance and was grateful that it was "easy" for the most part as they covered what my doctors said I needed. Thankfully, I was able to throw some money in the HSA before leaving my last job, so I'm hoping to leave it for long enough that it becomes something more. I tried an FSA last year, but the paperwork and their communication process was too much for me and I decided not to continue it for this year. I used to be good like Kristen about doing all the tedious things, but my tolerance in this phase of life is so much lower that I have let it go for now.
I decided I didn't feel like driving to town to go the pool one day, so stayed home and took a walk and did YouTube yoga instead.
Went to a free art museum with friends where another friend volunteers as a tour guide. It's an hour away but I only had to drive halfway to meet.
NOT FRUGAL, especially the timing - A/C went out on Friday evening. We paid the extra $100 for a Saturday house call but thankfully "escaped" with a bill in the hundreds, not thousands.
Not much frugal over here as I had a small eye surgery and one of my cats had to be sedated, dental xrays, and a cleaning. She's only a year old, but has started this grinding/click noise with her teeth. They found absolutely nothing wrong with her teeth or mouth, and she doesn't present with pain anywhere on her body day to day or during an exam. No idea what the grinding is about, but it cost $500 to rule out resorption of her teeth. Ugh.
I have stayed home most of the week with my eye swollen so that has been frugal, I cooked ahead so we could avoid take out or eating out, I've been eating through the freezer so grocery bill has been low, DH washed our cars rather than take them through the car wash (which we do sometimes with the heat here), and I trimmed my own hair rather than go to the salon.
Oof, Shelley had to have some dental work done last fall and it was pretty expensive!
Side note; I'm going to be cat-sitting a cat this week who has no teeth! She was a stray and her teeth were damaged, and had to be removed.
The Commodore has those same mice--we found five stashed under a bed once when we moved it--and I also mend them frequently! I have to cut the tails off before giving them to him, otherwise he will bite them off and swallow them.
1. DH and I used our bikes to go to the grocery store, using his handy home-built bike trailer. So nice to build exercise into a daily chore and not use gasoline!
I can't think of much else. DS#3 is home from the hospital but we have many follow up appointments and labs so lots of driving--hence the using bikes whenever we're not transporting DS#3. We're eating at home, planning menus around what's on sale. Oh, I did find a pair of Birkenstocks I thought I'd donated, and I was glad to find them, as my Crocs almost have holes in them and I really didn't want to buy anything new. I like to have a pair of slip on shoes for heading out to the yard or garage.
I used to do so many dog toy sewing repairs when my dog was in his early days and toys would get holes from rough play. Well, as rough as you can get from a tiny 7lb dog. Sadly we lost him about a year and a half ago, but held onto a couple of his favorite toys.
I sewed and restuff a toy my dog gutted. She looked me dead in the eye and ripped it into unrepairable rags as to say, "when I rip open a toy, it STAYS ripped open!" At least she plays with now rags. If I throw it out, she gets offended, LOL
1. While we were gone for a few days, our housecleaner cleaned our home. Before we left, we turned up the AC. Since we like to have the house cooler for her, I used the HVAC app on my phone to turn the temperature down the morning she cleaned and then turn it back up after she was done. Pretty wild.
2. Shopped my kitchen for something to corral a few seasonings and a cruet bottle that we keep out on the counter. Thirty plus years ago, I would have been thrilled to put that on my "To Buy" list, but now I just want to use what I have.
3. Our suburb has started free food scrap pickup as part of our garbage service. We receive 120 food scrap bags annually. At the processing center, robots separate the special bags from the regular trash. This will save us from making special trips to the compost drop-off site.
4. Saved $10 off at Target for purchasing $50 worth of health and beauty items. My husband's OTC eye supplement costs $40 so this was a nice offer.
5. Splurged on frozen pineapple coconut bars at Trader Joe's, although at $3.80 for 6 bars, that's a frugal treat. We indulged on a 96 degree day and sang the lyric "If you like pina coladas" like goofballs.
My little dog chews up cat toys, so I grow cat mint for the kitty and sprinkle a handful of leaves on the porch rug for her to enjoy.
I made a skillet meal of various pantry/freezer finds that turned out very nice. That's lunch for me for a few days. Also made some bran muffins for breakfasts using crushed bran flakes cereal that was $1.99 for a large box.
Am "reading" the next book club selection as an audio book from the library, using Kristen's trick of slightly increasing the audio speed so that I can return it early.
1. I cut a t shirt into rags and used one to polish a pair of character shoes I've barely worn and put up for sale.
2. I didn't find curtains or anything I could use for fabric at the Goodwill Outlet for camper curtains. After researching prices on drop cloths, raw fabric, and ready-made curtains, buying 2 sets of ridiculously long curtains to rework for fabric goods was cheaper and hopefully easier.
3. We bought a medium size CO2 tank made for soda fountains and an adapter to use with our 1st generation Sodastream since it's hard to find and exchange the small tanks. A refill of the new bigger tank cost less than the exchange of 3 little tanks that don't last long because of use. Not to mention, we've stopped buying fizzy water and sending a mountain of cans to recycling.
4. My father-in-law is cleaning out his garage and gave me a bubble level, new in box garden hose, and a couple of plastic pull out drawers for the camper.
5. I reserved campgrounds for the next two renaissance festivals on my tour and got a long term stay performer's discount at each one. Unfortunately neither show offers free camping in my contract but on the upside, I'm getting full hookup and will stay completely dry cooking and living in horizontal rain.
Our late cat, Sanders, had a bunch of those nice all over the house. He chased them like they were real, too. And they looked so real that we often told non-cat people that they were toys so they wouldn't think we were overrun with mice!
Here are my FFTs:
– l stopped at Kroger on a Friday and used my double points coupon to get a few treats to take to a visit with an old friend. I got donuts on sale, a few other things and earned double gas points.
– I bought a card of buttons on clearance at Hobby Lobby to add to my now-complete button jar I started a few months ago. I realized cute buttons are kinda hard to come by. I longed to have a button jar like my mom had. And now I'm the old lady with a button jar! 🤣
– a friend gave me a cute, fluffy flower a neighbor had made from Kleenex. It looks like a peony. I wondered what to do with it and then hot glued it to a plastic straw and slipped it into a fused glass wall pocket another friend made for me. It looks adorable on the wall in my bedroom.
– I made our leftover pork roast from a previous dinner into BBQ pork sandwiches. They were good.
– With free advice and backing paper from my artist neighbor, I helped my sister-in-law fix a print of my late father-in-law's painting that had slipped away from its mat inside its frame.
We took the framing apart, re-tapped the print to the mat, reassembled the frame and added new backing paper to the frame. I'm guessing this probably saved $50 or more vs. taking it to be repaired at a framing shop.
Have a good week. I'm waiting for a "cold" front to drop out temps into the 90s. It's going to be over a 100 degrees here today. I am very thankful for ceiling fans!
Whew...for a minute I could see a little mouse, supine on your kitchen floor having had a slight amount of anesthesia having his tummy stitched up! ROFL.
FRUGALS:
1. DH found dried pintos for a very frugal deal. Cooked in crackpot for Future Linda.
2. Spent several afternoons photographing my bird feeder birds. No money spent.
3. Used air fryer instead of oven. No oven heat and a saving on air conditioner.
4. (Frugal fail) DH bought cheaper peanut butter. Had to make seed balls for the birds...which is ok for them so guess not a complete fail.
5. Used ThriftBooks to get some children's books for granddaughter. They were her favorites as a child. We don't have lfl and this was as frugal as I could find them.
So proud of you, Kristen! 4.0 grades!
SLOW COOKER....NOT CRACKPOT!
How do I get back on the frugal wagon? Ideas?
We are almost out of the the old house ( staging items left because the buyers in escrow are try to hold us up for $15,000 in ransom and we might have to put it back on the market.)
We are "in" to the RiverHouse meaning the essentials are in place. The painters haven't finished the outside.
For the first time in my life food is one quick grab dining out, crackers and cheese, hot oatmeal and dates. Big ticket items are still coming in - $850 cash for window seat cushions, we don't have a window covering in the house, and the windows desperately need to be cleaned.
Problem: I have absolutely no motivation. Nothing is settled. Hubby is starting radiation. My car is getting a new transmission while I am driving the rental to drive 6 hours away to get my Dad's player piano moved. It still feels like freefalling so I am not practicing any of the tiny saves that have been so successful for me. Help!
When you don't know where to start, start small and start anywhere. I rely on this tactic a lot, at work, at home. Don't overthink it!
I love this. Start small, start anywhere. I think this will be my new mantra.
We have those mice, which our cats love. I also sew them frequently!
1. I bought 3 packs of ground beef, 4 packs of chicken skewers, 2 packs of chicken breast, and 2 packs of sausage for 50% off at Aldi.
2. I went for my yearly breast MRI, which has no copay. Prevention is always frugal!
3. My husband fixed his road bike himself, which would have cost $150.
4. I picked up mini muffins for my kids off Buy Nothing.
5. I took my kids to see the new Minions movie at a discount theater. For tickets and popcorn it was only $37.
I have been up to a lot of nothing. The continuing heat and humidity has sapped my energy.
I did make two Goodwill trips this week, and I got a gift, a sweatshirt, some household supplies, and some potential resale items.
I stumbled upon a free pile and got some coffee, canned goods, medical supplies and a cool tin to enhance my decor.
Ebay sales have dwindled. I occasionally get questions from potential buyers, but nothing happens. This has made me feel unenthusiastic about listing new things.
I am trying to empty my freezer so I can defrost my fridge, but it's a vicious cycle. I thaw something, I create something out of it, and then I have something new to freeze. If I could just get it down to what would fit in a cooler, I could defrost. Which I really need to do.
I have had an ongoing saga about getting dental care -- have finally resolved to use my Flex card now and get better insurance next year.
That's about it.
Nice work on the mouse repair. I too was confused when I read the title.
1) I'm on jury duty this week, but so far it's only meant calling in & confirming I don't need to be there. Two days of not having to drive to jury duty instead of working.
2) Repurposed some dinner ingredients when all four of us were home for dinner, to make things go further. It's a good thing I made that call, because we ate everything, including the leftover pasta I heated up & the bag of veggie fried rice (TJs) I pulled out of the freezer.
3) Bought clothes for DS19 & DS20 at Uniqlo when I was in Japan. The yen was very weak, which made the clothes quite inexpensive compared to the US. Out of everything I bought, it all fit & people were pleased, minus two shirts. I'll list those on eBay. One is a collectors item (an anime Tshirt) that DS20 loved, but didn't fit. That should sell easily. I'll donate the other shirt if it doesn't sell.
4) I ordered a new Kindle when mine died last week. I am a huge reader & can't live without mine. The new one came with three months of Kindle unlimited. DH was somehow able to reboot my Kindle through a lot of effort. I'm returning the new Kindle, saving money, but the Kindle Unlimited subscription is still working. Maybe it will end when I return the Kindle? Either way, I'll be reading up quickly, as the library typically doesn't have a large volume of Kindle supported ebooks & I've made my way through quite a few already.
5) DH gets a few days off 4x year. He has "unlimited" vacation, which really means taking days off outside of those days is sort of questioned. I hate the system. Anyway, he really wants to maximize those days off. We agreed on Palm Springs/Joshua Tree in March of next year. I used Chase points to cover some of the 3 nights in a hotel. The remaining amount was $540. I'll get a Chase credit of $250 back on my next statement, dropping the cost to $290 (total). We will also get a $100 resort credit when we check in, and free breakfast. I've never been to Palm Springs, and March looks like a good time to go, and I'm always looking for new (to me) national parks!