Friday, May 27, 2022

Frugal Friday

 I find myself overwhelmed by current events, and it's hard to think of anything else. It's been a real struggle. I'm working on taking care of myself, focusing on the things that I can control, and hugging the boys & M extra tight this week. 

Saving on things we buy

  • Picked up Home Depot gift cards at the grocery store, as they generated $30 in rewards. The receipt also generated a $.10 ibotta offer. 
  • Sam needed poster board for a school project, so I went to Rite Aid. That had poster board on clearance, but the only white poster board left was a package of 10, that had been opened, with 4 pieces missing. I took it to the register, and the guy sold it to me for a buck. 

Earning money

  • Nothing this week

Avoiding spending

  • I'm now consistently eating lunch at work a few times a week, which is making a tiny dent in the grocery budget. Given the rising prices, it's mostly keeping us even, I suppose. 
  • Picked up the Friday Freebie at the grocery store, which was taco seasoning. We make a lot of tacos, so this was a welcome surprise. 
  • I picked our first garden produce (lettuce), which we used in a salad. I don't know why we haven't grown lettuce in the past, because it produces well, and we certainly use a lot of it. 

Eating what we have

  • Used up two packages of zucchini (freezer), a bunch of leftover nuts, & the end of a bag of dried berries to make a double batch of zucchini muffins. I'm trying to get all of the zucchini out of the freezer ahead of our first zucchini from this year's garden.
  • Turned a takeout entree into one dinner, one lunch, & then added some lettuce & tomato to the gyro bowl to round it out into one last lunch. It was delicious, & I didn't want any of it to go to waste. 
  • Defrosted chicken to go with rice on Monday. I had a late meeting, and needed an easy meal option for M. He made rice to go with the chicken & round out the dinner.
  • Used the last of a loaf of sourdough bread to make garlic bread one night, after it had gotten a bit stale. 

For others

  • Helping out a friend who is re-entering the workforce
  • Found money on a hike, and gave it to the ranger's station as a donation, and/or lost & found. It was right near the booth, so I suspect it blew out of someone's car or hands as they were paying for entry
  • Gave away the rest of my poster board on Buy Nothing, so other parents of last minute students too could have supplies. :-) 
  • Volunteered to judge entries for a girls in tech global project, that's a lot of fun. 
I hope you are all well this week, and staying mentally & physically healthy. 

7 comments:

  1. Nice efforts to help others. I really think we all need to do our part to show kindness and compassion whether big or small. It's our best fighting tool. I just made rice krispie bars on the cheap with ingredients on hand and an inexpensive ham and pea salad- so delicious. Hopefully your lunches continue to help off set the grocery increases.

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  2. This week has been a hard one to stay mentally healthy.
    I wonder sometimes what doing something for another does in the long run. I like to think it can have a butterfly effect . Imagine what would happen if every person in the world did something for someone else on the same day. The impact could be immeasurable.

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  3. I just can't even listen to the news right now. So sad.

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  4. I find keeping the news off keeps my anxiety in check. After all we have dealt with about vivid you would think us as humans would try to be kinder.

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  5. Prices keep going up faster than I can track so, nothing feels frugal these days. News on my end of the world is even more depressing so, I try to avoid them as much as possible.

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  6. We do not watch any news, we read it, which helps somewhat, but I still found myself weeping yesterday after an accumulation of emotions over the TX event.

    I remind myself, and sometimes others, that humans are violent, and always have been. The preponderance of news can make us lose hope and thinks it's worse than it's ever been, but that is incorrect. We have always been like this even as our tools to effect it have changed.

    All to say, don't lose heart. There is also much good in humans and it shines bright in the aftermath of events like this if we pay attention.

    Over here, thanks to your influence, I sold a ceiling fan and a juicer, both on Facebook marketplace, and made $65.

    Tamara R

    ReplyDelete
  7. We do not watch any news, we read it, which helps somewhat, but I still found myself weeping yesterday after an accumulation of emotions over the TX event.

    I remind myself, and sometimes others, that humans are violent, and always have been. The preponderance of news can make us lose hope and thinks it's worse than it's ever been, but that is incorrect. We have always been like this even as our tools to effect it have changed.

    All to say, don't lose heart. There is also much good in humans and it shines bright in the aftermath of events like this if we pay attention.

    Over here, thanks to your influence, I sold a ceiling fan and a juicer, both on Facebook marketplace, and made $65.

    ReplyDelete