Tightwad Gazette Tour | That's one way to get fill dirt
Ready for another trip down a frugal memory lane with the Tightwad Gazette? Let's go!
Cemetery dirt
A reader wrote in to tell Amy that when he needed some fill dirt, it occurred to him that cemeteries need to take dirt out but don't want to put it back in.
(!!)
Sooo, he got free fill dirt.
This is creative, I'll give him that!
On faux wallpaper
A reader sent in a tip to Amy about how to make a faux flowered wallpaper using paint, and Amy mentions that you can also use a sponge to create a textured wallpaper-ish finish.
This was the 90s, we have to remember, and wallpaper was quite popular!
Amy herself says she likes white walls, and I am similar in my thinking (although I do sometimes like a bit of color on a wall.)
I removed so much wallpaper from the last house I lived in, and it was sometimes several layers thick. That tedious experience was enough to make me never, ever want to put wallpaper up.
I like paint because it is easy to put on the wall (vs. wallpaper, which is rather fussy), it's easy to touch up if it gets damaged, and it's so simple to change if you get tired of it.
Also: paint is generally cheaper than wallpaper.
Annnnnd as someone who leans more minimalist, I like the quiet calm of solid-colored walls.
Mail-Order Companies
Since this was the pre-e-commerce time in history, Amy compiled a list of mail-order companies that offered good deals. Isn't it wild how much easier it is now to find deals to be shipped to you??
I chuckled when I saw her recommending Christian Book Distributors because it reminded me that relatively recently, they changed their web address from cbd.com to christianbook.com, for obvious reasons.
I will say, they did have good prices on some homeschooling materials. But I'll bet their cbd.com address brought them some customers who were not looking for grammar books. Ha.
Before Mapquest and Google Maps...
A sign of the times:
A reader wrote in to say she keeps a notebook in her car, and when friends and family give her directions to their homes, she adds the directions to the little notebook. That way she saves on her phone bill because she doesn't have to call them for directions.
How times have changed! Not only do we have easy directions on our smartphones, we also do not generally have to pay by the minute for phone time.
And thank goodness that is true because my Hawaii girl and I would have racked up some insane bills by now.
The Pantry Principle
The pantry principle, taken to an extreme, is the idea that you should always keep a stock at your house of all the ingredients you use.
You can make any meal you want by simply pulling things from your pantry, so then all you ever do at the grocery store is restock your pantry (frugally, by shopping loss leaders and markdowns and doing bulk-buying).
I have never been quite as hardcore about this as Amy, but I have always been at least a partial pantry principle kinda girl.
I might need a random one-off ingredient here or there for a meal, but generally I shop to fill my pantry, fridge, and freezer with inexpensive staples and I make meals from those. So, I always have enough food here to make meals for a while even if I can't get out to the grocery store.
This is convenient when a week gets busy or there's bad weather (I never have to make emergency grocery runs before a snow storm).
I do differ from Amy when it comes to fresh produce; she mentions that she buys fresh produce at the beginning of the month, and then as the month goes on they switch to dried, frozen, and canned produce.
I know frozen produce is just fine nutritionally, but I'm not gonna lie: I would be a sad human if I did not have fresh produce in my house all the time.
So, I don't really use the pantry principle for fresh fruits and veggies; I happily go to the store each week to replenish my supply!
Go to court, save money
A reader went to court to explain that she had just forgotten to renew her license plates, and she got her fine reduced from $133 to $75.
($133 is kind of a steep fine for back then!)
I did this the one and only time I got a speeding ticket; Sonia was a baby at the time, and I took her with me to the courthouse.
I stood before the judge, baby in arms, explaining that the speeding was completely an oversight from a tired mom of three, and that I had never so much as been pulled over before in my life.
Annnnnd he completely dismissed my ticket and the points.
We will never know if having a cute baby with me helped my cause or not. 😉 But I don't think it hurt.
Test Tube Tightwaddery (or...try it and see!)
I love this article! If you've been reading here for a while, you know that I frequently recommend an experimental approach to frugality.
Not sure if you can freeze an item, substitute an ingredient, sell something, or repair something? Try it and see! You don't always need to consult an expert; if you do some experimentation, you can be the expert!
It's like the time I tried using Rit dye on a bleach-stained dress.
Amy acknowledges that sometimes there will be fails (she tried making cookies with a soy flour "egg" and applesauce in place of the oil and the cookies were a decided flop), but we tightwads know that since everything is data, even a fail is useful.
Had a fail? Well, now you know what doesn't work!
And over time, I think we tend to have more successes than fails. 🙂
How did the test go? Did you already let us know?
I didn't! I got an 86%, which is lower than my usual. But everyone I talked to scored lower than usual on this exam, so I'm not too fussed about it. And besides, now we gotta move on to studying states of shock for our next exam, so we are too busy to focus on our exam scores. Ha.
@Kristen, I know it doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things (the 86% being less than a 90%+) but if you're anything like me and would *prefer* to keep it in the 90%+ range (just a matter of pride and satisfaction), hopefully my experience will help: When I first transferred from my community college to a traditional four year university (as a junior), I scored something like a 73-77 on my first of three tests that counted for 75% of our overall grade. When I say I was devastated, I mean it was a real existential crisis for me (I can look back and laugh on it now). Keep in mind I too was a returning/mature student and this was fairly recently as it was 2018 and I was 41 (so *not* an adolescent or young adult, lol >.<). Anyway, I worked *really* hard to make sure I was super duper extra prepared for my next two exams (and totally changed up my studying style since what I'd done to prepare for the first exam apparently wasn't it, ha!) and I ended up with a 90something for my overall grade when it was all said and done. So, if this was the hardest test you encounter this semester, I have no doubt you'll do great will manage to pull out a 90something when it's over.
@Kristen, You did great!
@Kristen, well done!!! You are an excellent student and will be a wonderful nurse.
@Kristen, congrats!
@Kristen,
Well done you!
@Kristen, I just want to say that 86 rounds up to 90.
Math makes life better!
Hehe, yes, that is a fair point!
Sadly I am perfectly capable of losing my whereabouts even with excellent directions.
On fruits and veg: we stock some cans and jars, but I prefer fresh. Not only do fresh vegetables give me scraps I can use to make vegetable bouillon, but also I do not like the white inside of lids and cans. There are enough microplastics in human bodies as it is.
(As a girl I was taught to turn jars of homemade jam or sauce upside down to secure vacuum, but recently I came across several recommendations to not do that unless you have an unlined lid. I may be overcautious)
Adorable Sonia baby pic! That was a smart idea to just show up and be honest with the judge. Being your authentic self pays off in the long run in many ways, and that time, financially too!
Given the usual scene before judges, I imagine he was probably delighted to see you and your adorable baby in his courtroom. 🙂
I guess I follow the pantry principle. Although it's more like pantry+refrigerator+two chest freezers principle.
@kristin @ going country, I was thinking the same thing about the judge: a sweet, law-abiding mom with a clearly well-cared for baby would likely be a lovely sight for a judge!
I use flax seed eggs ( 1TBL ground flax to 3TBLwater) in a lot of baking because my daughter eats plant based. Who knew how important that substitute would become for pretty much all of my baking, even if not a vegan bake! I love keeping Dollar tree shelf stable milk in my pantry for the reasons j not to make a last run.
@Sam, My son is allergic to eggs, so I use ground flax, too. I have the bag in my freezer and it lasts forever. I hadn’t noticed the crazy egg prices until it became a frequent news talking point!
@Sam, We've been using flax seed eggs in baking for a while now. I get a large bag of golden flax meal and it keeps very well in the freezer. I also add it to my oatmeal for more nutrition. We haven't used eggs for main meals in a while--we use maybe one in a large batch of tuna burgers, and sometimes I scramble some for fried rice, or for a special breakfast.
@Karen A., we eat a lot of chick peas so we use the aquafaba as an egg replacement in baking.
@Marybeth from NY, aquafaba from chickpeas is my favorite egg substitute!
@Marybeth from NY, how much of the stuff equals a large egg?
@JenRR, it is really nuts. here in nyc my local tj's has limited purchases to one dozen per customer and the price is 3.49. but c-town a usually reasonable grocery a few blocks from my apt has eggs for 11.99. you know those eggs are never coming home with me. we drink so much milk i joke with hubby we need a cow. now we need hens too.
@Marybeth from NY, I always forget to save the aquafaba! Does it keep well in the fridge, or do you have to freeze it? I would love to try that in brownies next time.
@Marybeth from NY,
is aquafaba from chickpeas the liquid they come in (canned) or the water left over from soaking them?
@auntiali, The liquid they come in. I saw a cook yesterday on the news talking about it.
The kitchen is where I do most of my experimenting. When working on switching my recipes over to using xylitol, I found a recipe for chocolate cookies that sounded promising...except they spread like crazy and took forever to bake and did not have the texture of cookies at all. But the flavor was good, so I made another batch and this time baked them as brownies, with an additional step of cooling and freezing before cutting.
I'm not sure if we are Pantry principle people, but recently I just decided we would have the same menu each week. With DH back to full-time in-person work (telework has been canceled), and me in school as well as everyone else, it's just easier if I don't have to decide what we're having each week. Luckily everyone here is fine with the same routine, as long as I jazz things up with different salad stuff and side dishes occasionally!
Produce--I seem to be buying a lot of mandarins, every time I go, because the guys are mainlining them for snacks. I don't mind, as we rarely buy chips or things like that, and if they're not eating a lot of vegetables they need their fruit. I do prefer frozen fruit for my oatmeal, though. We do stock canned vegetables and applesauce in our emergency food stash, as well as boxed soymilk and coconut milk.
Re: cemetery dirt, I asked my husband--a cemetery groundskeeper, not joking--if this was a good idea. He said he saw no problem, with caveats. Chances are you don't want to vegetable garden with it, as cemeteries often use herbicides for weeds. Also, depending on the age of a given cemetery, not every burial is sealed in a cement vault, so "people juice" is more than likely in your soil. (They have bottled water at the shop--ALL the taps and outdoor spigots are marked with "Do Not Drink The Water.") If you just need dirt, have at, but be aware there WILL be glitter, which gets into the soil from fake flowers and holiday decorations. (He has absolutely come home covered in sparkly mud!) His cemetery actually doesn't have much spare dirt, as it is usually used elsewhere on the grounds.
@N, “people juice” is very funny & quite apt!!
@N, this is actually very interesting. Lots of things that I never thought of — people juice and glitter dirt!
I know ashes from cremation make a poor soil addition for growing things because the ph is wrong. But now I am wondering about people juice. Ha.
@Diane, I wish there was a more delicate way to make the point, but when you're talking a mix of natural decay with unnatural materials (embalming chemicals, coffins [which may or may not be wood, and if so, how treated], etc.), "people juice" is about right!
@N, The idea of embalming chemicals getting into the water table is exactly why I have informed my family they can either bury me at sea (it's legal!) or bury me in a local cemetery that specializes in natural burials. They do not allow embalmed bodies on their grounds. On no account are they to have me preserved with pickling brine.
@Karen A., There are now places where you can give them a human corpse and they will compost it, along with those of other folks. You can pick up made compost later, although it won't necessarily be the mom or brother you turned into them. Seattle has one of these places.
@Bee,
I thought the same thing!
@Lindsey,
I realize it's "ashes to ashes, dust to dust"....but the idea of using compost made from dead human bodies gives me the heebee-jeebees.
Oh, the glory days of sponge painted rooms...
I can attest to failing at sponge painting. It does take a little skill and apparently, it goes along with painting (as in pictures) for me; do not attempt anymore. I certainly can paint a wall a solid color though.
Yes, I feel like these techniques do require a little bit of artistic skill. Painting a wall a solid color, not so much!
@Kristen,
Actually, sponge painting for a textured look was easier for my sloppy self than a solid wall. It was more forgiving; since I'm incapable of straight lines. lol
@Maureen,
I never sponge-painted anything, but I did "crackle-paint" an old dresser of mine. You know, to make it look old and time-worn. 🙂 Another 90s decorating trend that has fallen out of favor, for good reason. Ha.
I loosely follow the Pantry Principal and don't go to the store before a forecast storm. We eat fresh produce everyday especially fruit. I do buy some frozen vegetables (and berries) but canned fruits and vegetables remind me of my childhood in the 1960s and 1970s.
I have used organic soy flour and water as an egg substitute in cookies for decades. I may have read about it in the Tightwad Gazette. I adopted the practice to avoid the possible bacteria that eggs can contain.
Oh, the sponge painting phase. Growing up, I have found memories of going through wallpaper books to choose a new border for my bedroom. It felt like almost every room ended up wallpapered. My dad even set up makeshift scaffolding on the stairs to put it up. As an adult, I haven’t so much as purchased a house with wallpaper. I haven’t painted almost every room of the three houses I’ve owned. No white for me, though. I love a light color!
With my son’s allergies (wheat, dairy, eggs, nuts, peas and previously soy and other beans) , pretty much everything I cook started out as an experiment on my part! I had also been a vegan in my 20s, so I feel like I’ve just learned to use recipes as a guideline rather than a set point.
I’ll have to pass on the glittery people-juice soil for my garden this year.
I too have removed wall paper. Never shall I use it in my house.
My mom loved wall paper so much that even our ceilings were wall papered. And often the inserts on our gorgeous solid oak doors. EGADS
To each their own!
Oh my gracious. Imagine the headache of wallpapering a ceiling!!
@Stephanie, @Kristen, have you heard this song? "When Sammy put the paper on the wall, He put the parlor paper in the hall. He papered up the stairs, He papered up the chairs, He even put a border on Grandma's shawl!"
@Kristen, I have a friend who wallpapered her refrigerator because the gold color clashed with her pink kitchen. It looked better than you would expect.
On the day I went into hospital to have my elective c-section with middle son, it was really, really early in the morning, there was no traffic at all, and we broke the speed limit just a little - literally, just gradually were doing a bit over the limit for one stretch of road. Anyway, the HUGE fine came along and we got it squashed by saying entirely truthfully in our letter that we were on our way to have our baby and here is a certified copy of the birth certificate and time of birth, which, because I was first in theatre, was about an hour and a half after the speeding infraction!
@Caro, I always tell myself and my husband when I/he gets road rage that we should be kind, because maybe the person who broke a minor rule on the road is having a baby and on the way to the hospital.
In the 90s we definitely sponge painted to create a textured wallpaper-ish finish. At least it was easier to cover up than if we had to remove wallpaper.
We removed wallpaper from a house build in the 80s which was not properly applied, so no matter the method used, you got almost as much sheetrock off as you did wallpaper. After those experiences, I would never use wallpaper!
We can get free mulch from our city. They use the large brush waste and recycle it to wood chips. All you need is a container and a strong back to take what you want. Some people are wary of this- they fear the mulch might be diseased- but we don't have anything too fragile out here we're using the mulch on. So we do it and have had no trouble.
I remember when the world‘s largest hardware store had a whole section dedicated to painting techniques — sponging, rag rolling, Venetian plaster, and so forth. However, wallpaper is now quite stylish again. I do like it when it’s done correctly, but sometimes it’s overwhelming. This trend like all others will soon pass. I think it is best just to buy what you love and not worry about what everyone else is doing.
I use a modified pantry principle. I usually have a spare of items that I use often. I rarely buy multiples anymore now that my children are grown. For example, I once used a bottle of ketchup a month. Now, I go through two a year. I did begin using a 2020’s version of Amy D’s price book (a spreadsheet) when grocery prices began escalating rapidly. It’s so easy to do now with access to the Internet.
I primarily buy fresh fruits and vegetables from the farmers market. There are only a few things that I eat that are canned or frozen. However, I do freeze my own fresh fruits and vegetables for some reason they taste different.
@Bee,
I agree that wallpaper, done well, can be quite nice. I've seen "removable" wallpaper, too - I guess it has some sort of non-permanent adhesive on the back, so it doesn't have to be scraped off? I've never tried it.
I remember all this from the TG. It's so much fun going over these again.
I've rarely had a good way to haul dirt, so a cemetery is not much of an option for me. Besides, around here, their dirt would be as sandy and poor as mine. I have to work to build up my soil regularly.
I used to keep a notebook of directions in my glove compartment. I would go over them before setting out. My car is a 2018 - it has navigation, but it is often very wrong, and I suspect I am supposed to pay $$$ to update it. No thanks. I use my phone, but it sometimes will tell me a way to go that I know is just stupid, so I confess to still looking at maps before I start out.
I experiment in the kitchen, less so elsewhere. When I had to avoid eggs for a while, gelatin eggs were recommended since I had to avoid seeds and soy as well. I tried them in several things, and mostly they worked. I'll try cassava flour in a wheat flour recipe, switch out coconut sugar for brown sugar, that sort of thing.
My friend once was called to jury duty so she went to the judge and asked, very politely, if she could be excused, because her 5-year-old girl was singing a solo in her very first school Christmas play on the day of the trial, all true. She admitted it was not a legal excuse, and said she would serve if she had to, but she really hoped she could be excused. She was excused. Sometimes, it works, because judges are human, too. Having a clean driving record and taking a darling baby with you, Kristen, probably helped quite a bit.
I follow the pantry system pretty well, except, like Kristen and probably many others here, I indulge by re-stocking fresh fruit and vegetables on a regular basis. I try to make sure I have staples on hand at all times, so I don't run to the store before storms, either. As summer approaches, I will buy special hurricane staples such as single serving packages, dried foods, shelf-stable milk and the like, because I can't use my refrigerator in a several-day power outage, but normally, I have the regular staples I need on hand at all times.
Darn. I guess I'd better start stocking up for hurricanes again. Hurricane season will be here before I know it.
Thoughts in random order: I love wall paper and don't mind hanging it. I don't have any at this time. When I moved into this house 30plus years ago, I put ceiling border in the bed room. It is the "beach themed room." I stenciled ivy in a continuous line on the wall above the kitchen cabinets and above backsplash. I repeated the motif in the corners. For the bathroom, I picked out the motif from the floor vinyl and stenciled red and green country tulips at the ceiling line. They're dated, but I still like them.
My cabinets and back porch pantry are full, as is my freezer. Just acknowledging that again makes me want to get things used up. Same for non-food items. For three years now, I've wanted to do my Christmas cookie spree. Three years ago, I gave away the ingredients to some friends that like to bake. I still have some stuff in fridge and freezer from two years ago. This past year, I took a two week vacation before Christmas and still did not bake! I have not given up the idea of using the items and calling it a late or early Christmas. But, I will clean the house first! And then bake! And share!
I don't know if it is because it's a country cemetery, but the one I'm most familiar with uses up all of it's dirt by mounding over the graves because they will settle. As for glitter, my sister purchased glitter before she died for us to put in her grave before the dirt was put in. Up to that point, everything was bio-degradable.
Did the Rit dye work on the dress?
My husband protested a ticket he got for driving in a right turn only lane. He was able to go back and take a photo that showed the sign had been turned so that it was unreadable, and got the ticket dismissed.
I had mixed results. You can see all the photos here: https://www.thefrugalgirl.com/does-rit-dye-work-on-bleach-stains/
I didn't have a baby handy, but I did get a sympathy pass from a police officer on a "speeding" situation. Going 25 mph in what was a "trick" 15 mph stretch of a road that was otherwise posted for 25 mph.
@JDinNM, here's my own speeding ticket story: I was once busted for going 47 in a 30 mph zone because I was in a hurry to get to the Salvation Army store on the other side. Couldn't talk my way out of that one. Frugal fail. 🙁
@A. Marie,
I got pulled over for speeding after going around someone going too slow. I was on my way back to work after one of my first doctor appointments after being diagnosed with breast cancer. The reality was all just settling in and I immediately thought, " oh great, what else can go wrong here?" When the police officer came up to my window I just lost it crying. And was so embarrassed. This older cop was just taken back. I told him I was in my way back to work from an oncology appointment and I didn't mean to speed. By the time the stop was over, he was pattying me on the shoulder saying everything would be okay and it was since I'm still here 13 years later. I don't think he even have me a warning ticket. I was grateful for his kindness and empathy.
We needed fill dirt, so we asked our truck driver neighbor to swing by our house with dirt next time he was asked to haul dirt to dump it.
I’m with you on the partial pantry thing. We are expecting some winter weather and the only thing I feel worried about is whether I have some fresh produce and enough milk.
@Ann on the farm, my HB drinks a lot of milk, and it is almost done. As we have a major weather event being declared for my city going through until Thursday, and my driveway probably won't be cleared until Friday, I popped out and picked up milk for him (this milk comes in a 4Litre quantity). While at the drugstore, I lucked out on that the Deluxe Mixed nuts 1.13kg, that I like to buy were on sale, $19.99 Cdn down from $27.99 Cdn. I bought 2. And the expiry isn't until November. Sometimes I win.
@Linda in Canada, That’s a lucky break with the nuts! It’s supposed to start snowing tonight, so I got stocked up while it was still nice out.
I still do the pantry principle and it has saved untold thousands over the years. Lots of my church friends were into rag-painting walls in the 90s, which I thought looked awful.
Cemetery dirt would be a no-go with me. We do buy soil for our container garden but recycle it at the end of the season by spreading it on the low spots on the yard. Tomatoes do not do well with using the same soil every year.
@Ruby, maybe that is why my tomatoes are so pathetic. Thank you for the tip!
@Ruby, I do the same thing you do with my tomato container dirt. And I've gotten excellent results (both in the tomato containers and as a top dressing for garden beds after tomato season is over) with Coast of Maine brand tomato and vegetable soil. I watch like a hawk for the annual sale on this at my local Country Max.
i may not have a car now but as a senior in high school circa 1972 i had a 1963 plymouth valiant named van after van johnson my favorite actor. i drove it to my mother's helper job and parked where i was not supposed to. got a ticket and my dad went with me to court. the judge said if more parents did that there would not be so many juvenile delinquents. don't remember what happened after that.
your hawaii girl looks fab. thanks for the photo. thanks so much for continuing to post during your new life as an almost nurse. congrats on your 86. that is nothing to be ashamed about.
I think Lisey looks so pretty and mature with the more natural hair color. I hope she doesn't miss the colors too much.
I did do some very rare pre-storm grocery shopping yesterday, but it was only because I didn't want to shop today which is my normal shopping day and I had skipped it last week. Could we have held out another week? Of course, because I naturally squirrel things away-yoi could attribute it to internalizing the pantry principle, or you could call it my own special brand of crazy. However, we were out of milk except for powdered (shut up, 2020!), out of fresh fruit except for a handful of carrots AND, most distressingly, completely out of cheese. The shopping experience itself wasn't too bad, but the manager decided to close the store early as the storm worsened and as I was leaving, I had to hear people pleasing with the security guard to be let in, and then I basically slid the length of the parking lot to my car which was already buried in two inches of snow. After my short trip home where I "slithered and slunk with a smile most unpleasant" according to my son, taking several extra turns to avoid stuck cars, and then hauling the groceries in covered in a fine layer of snow, I am firmly back into the pantry principle to the extreme camp: having what I need plus two at all times and hang the expense. Note to self: buy a cheeserator?
Also, congratulations on passing your test! I imagine you are in a somewhat permanent state of shock these days induced by the endless cycles of studying, testing and waiting for results, but you're almost done, right? You can do it!
@Becca,
Pleading, not pleasing, and it was indeed, not pleasing to overhear. ;(
She does miss the fun colors, but alas, her job specifies employees can only have "natural" shades of hair.
She looks beautiful this way too though!
Bringing a baby to court can make a judge feel they are being manipulated like how I feel when I see pictures of celebrities at grocery stores with their kids. Everyone knows how to use delivery services. Or when billionaires take kids to press events when they’ve just trampled innocent hardworking peoples personal rights. Maybe you get a judge in a good mood, maybe not.
@Tiana, Not everyone has the resources (I'm talking non-celebrities here, obviously) to leave their children with someone when they have to go to court. I had to go to court for a traffic incident and my husband had to work and we had no family or babysitters in town, so my kids went with me. And by the way, I did not get off with sympathy votes; I had actually hit a police car so there was no way the judge was going to let that one go without a fine. But I think the fine was less because I was willing to come to court and plead no contest.
@Karen A., I had an ex who was always filing harassing motions I had to show up in court for. One time I took my baby for the reasons you mentioned. I do know that if it had been a dentist appointment there is no way a baby would have been on my lap while the dentist drilled. I should have tried harder. Court is no place for a baby. My bad. Hindsight is 20/20.
@Tiana, depends on the baby and the court…but also I have done several dental appointments with my son in my lap (our dentist encourages it from when they are tiny because it helps the dentist be a norma and familiar experience…I was skeptical, but he had his first proper checkup earlier this year and it was no big deal at all - he hopped up in the chair, opened wide and chatted away at the dentist without a care in the world!)
@Tiana, I don’t know. I think it’s great to see parent’s taking their kids grocery shopping. I think it helps the kids learn life skills. Recently, while grocery shopping, I saw a Dad asking his little one names of various fruits and vegetables. It was really sweet, a learning experience for the kid and probably most importantly the Dad and child were really engaged with one another. It made me smile!
@Jules the First, yes of course, it’s good to take a baby to court. That is why their name is included on the paperwork, they are wanted there. And having your baby on your lap while being drilled on and spitting blood and mucus makes perfect sense why I didn’t see this is beyond me, literally.
@Karen A., Glad to hear I am not the only person to smash into a police car. Strangely, I did not get a ticket.
@Maddie, In the world we now live celebrity children are at risk of harm and exploitation. They are hunted by paparazzi. Most of the parents do all they can to shield and protect their children. Some do not and use them to garner attention and publicity. You like that so take pictures of them or just stare at what should be a private moment, I don’t care.
Elon musk has at least 20 bodyguards that follow him everywhere even to the bathroom. He pays millions every year for security. The child who was exposed to the world for his father’s interests did not have any say. His mother was upset when she found out. But the richest man in the world gonna do whatevs he want to whoever he want to. Good times.
@Maddie, I think taking kids to the grocery store is okay as long it is not busy shopping days/hours.
@Tiana,
I work in criminal court (which includes traffic court.) People bring babies and small children to court all the time. No one is trying to manipulate anyone, people just don’t always have childcare. Everyone understands. I keep stickers in my court folder to give to little kids.
I’ve never taken a baby to the dentist with me, but my single mom friends have. It’s not ideal, but sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do.
Yup, that's what it was for me; my younger brother watched my other kids, but I couldn't leave a breastfed baby for a whole afternoon, so she came with me.
@Tarynkay, finally, someone who agrees with me. Thank you!
I remember that a friends house had that sponged painted look on the walls in the 90's. I had no idea that is was meant to be a faux wallpaper look. Also, after struggling to remove wallpaper in the 90's, I can appreciate the beauty of the look in friends houses . . . but plain paint for my walls please.
Such a darling baby; hi little Sonia. I’m surprised that the judge didn’t have the police officer who gave you the ticket dismissed, along with the fine.
Not trying to be ugly, but cemetery is spelled with 3 Es, not an A.
Oh my goodness, yes, thank you for catching that. I don't know why I spelled it two different ways in the post, but I fixed it now!
I was curious and googled if any of the company's Amy recommended still exist, and All of the book sellers still exist! A quick look at the websites and they are still affordable, and you can support a smaller business.
I'm going to court next month for the accident I had back on Thanksgiving. Locally, when you are in an accident you get a ticket if you are at fault. I hydroplaned, and the officer gave me a ticket for driving too fast for conditions. I was going below the speed limit on the interstate. 10 minutes after I hydroplaned, another girl did in the same spot and ended up in the median. Anyways, I'm going to court hoping it is dismissed since the officer didn't witness the accident and taking DH as my witness. My insurance will probably go up from the accident...don't need it to go up from a ticket and points also.
I'm definitely a fan of the pantry principle. I keep extra butter sticks in the freezer, for example. If I'm out of butter and need more, to the freezer I go. And then, next time it's on sale, I replenish the freezer stock. I'm not quite ready to say Bring on the Apocalypse, but I could outlast a pretty substantial blizzard if need be.
I have a ticket and a wallpaper story.
I had a friend who got a parking ticket and she was actually parked legally. She took pictures and measurements and got poster board and created her defense. When she was called up to the judge he took one look at her coming with her poster board and said dismissed before she even opened her mouth.
- I was invited to a party years ago at a home I had never been to. The wine was flowing freely and I had some. I’m a lightweight so it didn’t take much to make me tipsy. I went into the bathroom and closed the door behind me and realized after washing my hands that the entire room, including the door itself, was wallpapered in a tiny floral pattern. It took me several minutes and some determined focus to find the door handle to let myself out!
@Pattilou, oh my gosh I'm laughing so hard at your finding the door handle story. Made my day.
@Pattilou, I love the wallpaper story, that's excellent. I think this is proof that wallpaper can truly be a safety hazard! 🙂
@Linda in Canada, I’m glad I gave you a good laugh. We all need that right now! I laugh about it to this day!
I loved the cemetery soil idea. It reminded me of one birthday, when I asked for a truck load of horse poop for the garden as my gift. Found out later that the husband drove around until he found a yard with horses, and he knocked on the door to ask for some from a perfect stranger. (This was before internet, now he could just post a request.)
Years of living in the bush, where you ordered heavy canned items to come in on the once yearly barge, taught me to plan and have a very well stocked pantry. When we moved to the city, I just sort of kept up with never running out of staples. I do buy fresh fruits and vegetables but I also keep canned versions of some of them, just in case...
I don't care for beige or white walls. Our rooms are painted saturated colors, deep yellows, scarletts and cobalt blues.
@Lindsey, I like the idea of colored walls but I lack the skill to pick them and the nerve to risk getting it wrong. I have a lot of art from my travels so I paint white and let the art do the talking. Maybe someday...
A crying infant in a proper car seat can prevent a speeding ticket too.
Removing wall paper - hear you on the layers. I helped a woman remove from her house, you could tell economic times. Newspaper and cardboard also served as wall paper.
My family lived in some turbulent places, and we were advised to be prepared to be house bound for at least six weeks. We stocked rice, powdered milk, canned tomato juice, pasta, etc. and I still do. Helps a lot thru winter storms and unexpected illness. I do plan meals carefully and am grateful DH doesn’t mind leftovers.
I love wallpaper when done well. It holds up for a long time. It made our old bathroom feel like a lovely bamboo grove, and provides life and color in our small guest room. It fits our house well—built in 1898.
I use the pantry principle in that whatever I use, I keep an extra or two in the pantry so I never run out. Sometimes it's a lot - dish soap was 60% off so now I have a dozen - sometimes it's just one. I remember Amy's statement about once-a-month produce plans and am glad I don't need to do that.
I've contested a couple of tickets, all successfully. The trick seems to be to seem prepared to fight hard.
You know what would be cool? If you interviewed Amy Dacyczyn for the blog someday. Would be so very cool to hear from her! Her books/newsletters have definitely inspired so many, myself included.
Sadly, she doesn't seem to grant interviews these days!
My husband needed fill dirt last year for an empty lot we own, so I put a post on marketplace that we were willing to take free fill dirt, and we got lots of responses from pool companies and construction crews working near us. They were happy to dump it at our place and save themselves the time from having to drive another 20 miles further through city traffic to the landfill, as well as the savings in gas and dump fees.
I then did another post that we would take shredded trees and brush from tree crews, and we got plenty to mulch the place to keep the dirt in place until the grass could grow back in.
Best part was we didn't have to move any of it, the dump trucks unloaded where we wanted it and kind of spread it as they pulled off, and then my husband moved the rest with the tractor.
I agree about wallpaper being less convenient and more expensive but I really love having wallpaper. I only have one wall, and it's an indulgence, but somehow it is a way for me to invest in myself and my happiness.
If it's making YOU happy, then that is all that matters. That makes it a good expenditure!
Just gotta comment that, Amy and her Tightwad Gazette newsletters/books changed my life in the 1990s. Debt-free, mortgage-free for the past 10 years or so. So I love whenever you highlight Amy.