Friday, March 27, 2020

Frugal Friday

Still not very frugal in the grand scheme of things, but we are feeling blessed & lucky right now that we are both employed & we are all healthy.


Saving on things we buy:

  • I filled Sam's prescription, and then immediately filled out the form for reimbursement from my health care account. We'll get a small amount of credit card rewards as well. 


Earning money:

  • Can't think of anything. No eBay sales, no found change (not leaving the house), nothing to report. However, we are both still employed, so we'll take that as a win. 


Avoiding spending:

  • We used fallen oranges to juice for smoothies, while we were waiting a week for a grocery delivery.
  • We also used a citrus fruit growing in the corner of our property (not accessible, & a strange fruit) to dress our salads, once we ran out of lemons & limes. 
  • Lots of meal planning, using up what we have on hand, and being creative with our pantry ingredients. 
  • We still can't find chicken anywhere, so I suppose we are avoiding spending on that? ;-) 
Bonus quarantine section - things we've done to help others lately:
  • Donated masks
  • Donated to a local food shelter that was reporting a huge increase in demand, with a large decrease in donations
  • Donated to our corporate COVID response
  • Walking our neighbor's dog, as she is finding it hard to get out too much right now. 
  • Bought a workout streaming pass for two local small businesses that are struggling (yoga studio & personal trainer)
  • Ordered takeout 2x to help support small businesses 
  • Sent fun "shelter in place" survival kits to my sister & best friend. They included chocolate, tea, & a puzzle.


What about you? Tell us about your frugality this week or helping others this week!

12 comments:

  1. We ordered takeout from a favorite restaurant. This is huge for me, because I don't generally eat out--each time the kids/dh do, I keep a running tab of what we are saving by my not going.
    I picked up some crocosimia and Solomon's Seal plants from a friend who was dividing them. I need something in my shade garden, and the Solomon's Seal will work great--saves me from ordering them, and saves them from the compost pile!
    Dinner tonight is pasta with ground beef, and salad. I am nowhere near the bottom of my freezer or back of my pantry. Tonight, it's "Romeo and Juliet" a la Alan Rickman, along with a soliloquy on soliloquies and iambic pentameter.

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    1. Love this list, and your entertainment for tonight. My dad was a Shakespeare teacher, so we've had lots of discussions around iambic pentameter. :-)

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  2. I have 5 limes in my fridge from my Misfits Market box. If we lived closer I would give them to you for your salad dressing. That is very nice of you to help others like you have this week. I've seen a lot of that both online and in my own community. It's very heart warming to see people step up to the plate and help out like that have. Thank you for being one of them. :)

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    1. Wish we were closer! When we first moved to California, we rented a house with a huge lemon tree & avocados. I miss that place.

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  3. Not a frugal week as I was paying out for things for the next 30 days as expect a long lockdown soon. I guess not spending money on anything but necessities is my most frugal accomplishment. And starting my veggie seeds, hopefully they will pay off in a few months

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    1. It's smart to pre-plan everything ahead of the lock down.

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  4. We paid our cleaning lady who comes every two weeks for an hour, for two weeks' work and told her for not to come. She was pathetically grateful. Sent an anonymous donation in cash to the local food bank. Roderick

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  5. What a neat idea sending shelter in place gifts. I might do that for the grandsons. Take care my friend.

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    1. The puzzles are arriving tonight to my friends, so I think they'll be nice weekend entertainment.

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  6. I am going to wait until this is over to worry about frugality! Most of my doing for others involves the care for Mom. (Unless you call opening the bank of mom and dad to our son and DIL, both of whom are musicians/bartender in NYC, helping others. )

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    1. That is definitely helping others. Just because they are in your own immediate family doesn't mean it doesn't count!

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