Friday, January 19, 2018

Friday Things, Most of Them Frugal

As I slowly move through this "reset" month, one of the things I am evaluating on the financial side is subscriptions. Those ever lovin' subscriptions. For Ancestry.com (temporarily on hold due to time), The Great Courses Plus, Craftsy (yep, they now have a subscription to all of their arts and crafts classes), Netflix, Amazon Prime, and a couple things I'm sure I've left off here. But seriously, how do you evaluate this kind of thing. How often you log on? Number of times viewed?  Tis a conundrum, I tell you all.

Meanwhile, this week:

1.  While beautiful Colorado is having among the mildest, nicest weather in the country, we did have a cold spell from Sunday to Monday, with a little ice on the roads. Since I don't leave the house in such weather, a fun and frugal day was had. I sewed, listened/watched this Great Course class on the aging brain, and changed my fairy garden from Holiday decor back to a fairy garden again. I'll just add elements for Valentines and Easter/Spring. Oh, and today it's 70 degrees. Sorry, Southerners!  







2. My daughter has indecision issues when it comes to decor.  She had purchased this turquoise quilt and matching shams and pillows some time back. And by the time she decided that she didn't want blue, but pale lavender (and yes, her husband likes it), the receipts were long gone. So said bedding set was given to me. It's now on my bed, topped with this bright quilt (much more my style than the one you've seen lately). I still need to get new sheets, as my previous are gray (yellow or pink, maybe?). I have yellow walls. But new sheets on sale are a small price to pay for my new decor!  




3. I'm in the process of making my new bullet journal. While many people use these to make frilly writing, the original purpose was that you can design for your own needs. Month by month. You can have a monthly calendar and nothing else, month and weeks and whatever serves you-as well as individual sections. its a great tool (frugal and otherwise) for those of us who are visual types. Even I need some organization, ya know!  And these dot journals and coordinating pens are extremely cheap on good ole Amazon. 




4. On Wednesday I headed to King Soopers (Kroger to the rest of the masses) to take advantage of the loss leader sales and get back to frugal cooking after all the holiday meals. I got three pot roasts for 2.77 a pound, two large pork tenderloins on a BIGI, and packages of ground turkey for cents. Oh, and bone in chicken thighs for the same. Because none of us loves to cook (but neither do we love to eat out on a daily basis), I do alot of big cooking and then either freezing it or leaving it so we can have leftover. We literally eat everything around here, although we've cut way down on the carbs (opting instead for veggies and salad and fruit some nights). We've already cooked the two pork loins.

5. I've been wanting to come up with something like Laura's change jar, except there's one problem. I literally only use a card (which admittedly can be difficult when you're walking out of the grocery store and the firefighters want a donation, or you see someone truly in need-I'm working on it).  A friend had mentioned an app called Acorns. Put simply, they take the rounded out amount after purchases and transfer it into an account on the app. In 22 days they've rounded up $40.00, including the five bucks they gave me for starting the account. Yesterday, 83 cents after I spent 45.17 at Safeway. Now, they also offer to invest that for you (and I'm sure that's how they make money). But at this point, in my view, it's just my change jar, man. 


5. Lately, I've been eating two breakfasts: my morning caffeine and a couple breakfast biscuits as soon as I'm awake-because I'm one of those people for whom the hunger pangs hit before the body is conscious. Then an hour or so later, I'm having a couple eggs, sausage and a cutie  or oatmeal. It works for me, as I eat lunch and dinner slightly later than the average gal. The late breakfast also means I don't always need a "lunch" when I go places from eleven to one or so. So, frugal and healthy as well.  




6. Because I've been trying to get caught up on my knitting, am enjoying staying home, and the weather was cooler at the first of the week, I have been plowing through my Netflix shows faster than normal. Both La Mante and The Frozen Dead were fantastic, subtitles and all. Apparently the latter is one of a series of books, which I'll be checking out. I'm thinking my next choice may be either Wormwood  or No Second Chance (French but based on a Harlan Coben novel). Thoughts, anyone? Again, The Crown is simply not calling to me right now.

7. I'm walking around with a low grade cough and the occasional sniffle-for like five days. Hasn't gotten worse, hasn't gotten better. Can't decide if it's a small common cold-not enough to keep me home but enough that I hate to share germs-or if it's flu residual after my shot fought off the rest. Either way, sleepy time tea with honey and good old Vicks are my go to faves here.  




8.  Every Monday, I head out to my volunteering gig at what is a very early hour for me. So I end up grabbing a drink and a sausage and egg biscuit at the arches. I don't mind the single purchase so much as the fact that I end up eating only one half or none of the biscuit itself. Trashing it is an occasional solution, as is giving it to a resident on rare occasions. I'm not going to eat it later. Last Monday, as I drove up to the intercom, I said something along the lines of "Will you laugh at me if I ask for a sausage and egg biscuit without the biscuit?". Once I got up to the window, the nice young man informed me that I can order ANYTHING just by itself at McD's. Including the egg, sausage, biscuit or half biscuit in any order or combination I choose. Not a fast food eater with this one exception, but I see how they remain the leader in that space-and feel pretty silly that this idea never occurred to me before. But hey, morning person I am no!.

9. And finally, I'm going to be having some new series and topics here on the old blog. One will be mainly frugal but in a different way. The other, a bit more serious. I've had requests for a long time to actually write about widowhood around here-as opposed to single hood. I've been wanting to do that, after all I began this blog a couple years post widowhood. It's ten years, and it's more than time. I'm also going to talk about living with an ill spouse and being a caregiver, beginning next week. Because for many of us, that's part and parcel of the whole deal.

Meanwhile, happy weekend. And if you're in the frigid portion of the country, reach for the tea, hot toddy or whatever moves you. While saying a small prayer that the Federal Government is functional tomorrow. For all our sakes.

6 comments:

  1. Thanks for the tip about Acorns. We used to be able to round up to the nearest $5 whenever we used our debit card, but the only store that still lets us do it now is Safeway, and we rarely shop there because it's so expensive here. This is a great solution.

    I've enjoyed reading your last few posts about finding ways and activities that are meaningful. I am tired these of being "busy" all the time and take great pleasure in spending my days more slowly, either reading, or taking walks, or even coloring in the book my daughter gave me year before last. We'll be busy again when we being our travels later this year, but for now I'm enjoying doing less and still finding my days quite full.

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    1. I thought USAA had something like this but when I went to their savings account area, no such thing. I also have two other savings apps that giveme points or dollars per dollar spent with certain stores-I'll share more about that. I thnk I have turned really lazy and inward and am going to embrace it while it lasts!

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  2. I am looking forward to your blogs on care giving for an sick husband. Thank you

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    1. My husbands course ofillness was not in years, but this is an issue that affects so many of us I feel like I have to share.

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  3. Loved this full meal of a post. I really enjoyed it. You packed a lot of information for us.

    While I do not have a sick husband that I have to care for,I would still be interested in your experience. You just never know and women traditionally usually out live their husbands.

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  4. Life is full, isn't it? I find January to have a mood of its own after the Christmas holiday buzz and with usually colder temps. There's time for reflection on the past year and anticipation of the year ahead. This includes budget setting & tax prep. As long as the temps are >-15C, I do the 2-mile walk. I need to up my indoor activity game. I also need to stay in winter-driving practice. It's so easy to be a fair-weather driver. The Christmas decorations are put away with just some seasonal décor left out. The holiday leftovers are used up and it's back to regular menu planning. I have the same bedspread/pillow shams in the guest room. A deep red provides a nice contrast as well. I have a granddaughter who enjoys a second breakfast 1-2 hrs after the first one.

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Thanks for stopping by! I love to hear from others, and I also love to hear all points of view.. Just leave the profanity and insults at home, OK? Thanks!!