Tired. Just tired. But a week's visit to see family in Washington helped. Now on to finishing up things, so I can start new things. One series I've been meaning to mention: The Frugal Girl's weekly 'Five Frugal Things.' These savings are sometimes small, sometimes big -- but always interesting. I make time every Tuesday to check -- as well as hitting up The Nonconsumer Advocate's weekly posts on similar frugal stuff. These bloggers, like My Tireless Retirement, One Hundred Dollars A Month and The Prudent Homemaker, are my heroes! Several have become online friends, too.
I'm grateful for them -- and Gentle Readers, for you. Thank you for sticking with me.
FRUGAL HITS
(a few of these were from late March)
*DVD Bargains: Some season #1, #2, #3 and #4 DVDs of our buddy, The Rifleman, plus a few Western movie collections -- ranging from $4.99 - $13.95 each. (Most were less than $8.00.) Only one set wasn't free shipping. This was a real steal for The Rifleman -- he has remained popular over the years with a lot of viewers, and series DVDs are NOT cheap, despite being from the Sixties.
*Filled out a business survey for a $15 Amazon giftcard.
*Got a Tabor state refund** credit on our taxes -- $1600. A great help, considering we had to fork out nearly $700 on federal taxes. (They messed up calculating my insurance payments. We paid what was specified...but they said we owed more. Sigh.)
**Colorado residents, thanks to a bill called the Tabor amendment, will get a certain amount of money back from the overage of state sales tax collected. Usually it's at least $300-400...IF the legislature allows us to collect. Every year we have lived here, since 1984, the Powers That Be have desperately tried to think of some way to keep these funds for themselves. (After all, we everyday people are probably too stupid to know how to use the money wisely.) They've introduced ballot measure after ballot measure -- and all have failed. Last year, they managed to not award any money, on the grounds that the current ballot measure was still in play. (It failed, too.) So this year, they tied it to income taxes -- if you don't file by April 15, or unless you request the money via a special form, you're out of luck. Too bad.
*We stopped at the ranch in Sedalia, to clear out nearly all our remaining things, including the freezer. On the way home, an upside-down bin flew off. (We figure right at a big bump outside Pueblo.) Lost: just a few bags of veggies -- - and a frozen pizza!
Going to miss this view.
On the plus side, our freezer at home is literally STUFFED with food. It's going to be my job to clear it out over the next month. The only things left to pick up in Sedalia: bicycles, some wooden trays...and Joshua Chamberlin.
*I made up some dogfood mixtures for Ruby, using old elk meat, leftover Hoppin' John and rice. She ate some, and the rest is in the freezer for later. (She loves it.)
*Managed to pay our bills in full, in spite of truck repairs, etc. -- thanks in great part to the emergency fund, and cutting back elsewhere. We also replaced a big chunk of money in our emergency fund. Which is good -- we're going to need it.
*A quadruple payment on the house loan. Thanks to Tabor.
*Found money: $13.50 in half-dollars, plus a bunch of old Mexican currency and a lucky nickel! All from cleaning the fifth-wheel. Also found: an unused Red Robin giftcard. (To replace the ones we gave away, I guess.) And a surprise at the Coinstar machine in King Soopers: 61 cents! I haven't found that much since the bonanza a few years ago.
Our trip to Bellingham, WA produced a bit more: 4 pennies on a seat at DIA, a Mexican peso at SeaTac...and a dime and a penny in a mud puddle at the gas station where we fueled up to go home. Weird.
*Royalties from Arcadia for the two Colorado books -- yay! These continue to sell well.
If you'd like either of these, we'll send an autographed copy for $20 postpaid -- and throw in a copy of the children's book based on Ghosts and Legends. Just e-mail me at cindyjbrick@gmail.com. (Yes, we accept credit cards and Venmo.)
*Found a rental car for $21/day in Seattle...for a total bill less than $300. (Our plane tickets were reasonable, too -- except for the single checked piece of luggage, which cost more than the Brick's plane ticket. Outrageous.)
*We were also careful on food purchased during the trip. Other than a lavish feed of fish & chips in Canada, we stuck to grocery snacks and lunch, and shared Panda Express and Taco Bell meals. Sister-in-law made us some wonderful meals, as well. (Thank you!!)
*Game night with friends -- and the usual monthly potluck at church.
*Did a few more appraisals -- and two large reports. More to go.
*Unsubscribed to a bunch of websites -- I've been getting way too many messages, and it was clogging up my e-mail storage.
*A LOT of work on the fifth-wheel. Propane refilled, fifth-wheel scrubbed and vacuumed to within an inch of its life. It was cleaned again after it was brought back.
*Got a beautiful 'Christmas' cactus plant -- Walmart was selling them post-Easter. Marked down price: $2.99.
*Thrift shop bargains: Egyptian cotton bedsheets ($12), a
sweetgrass basket ($8 - I've looked for these for ages), 4 lamps ($3-8 ea), 5 lovely cobalt goblets ($1.50 ea), two paintings ($12 and $9), some premium towels ($5 and $6), a free camping tent -- and a boatload of clothes for 50% off! I found two pairs of pants, the Brick got a pair -- and a like-new Carhart's overall for FOURTEEN DOLLARS. The man was full of himself, since he also found a pair of Italian leather shoes (handmade in Italy) for $12. Yow! We also got a 10% (20% on Tuesdays) seniors discount off everything.
Buoyed by those bargains, we stopped at Walmart for 50% off Easter stuff -- and three more pairs of pants on clearance for me. (I did refrain from the jeans Wally had with holes already chopped in them -- I do that myself, very well.)
Our Washington trip produced more goodies, including a Japanese engraved tray, Japanese bowls and chopsticks in a presentation box ($15 each) a strange textile copy ($3) of a Japanese million-yen bill, and an ombre silk shawl/scarf ($1.50). We asked the thrift shop lady why all the Asian stuff. She said she didn't know: "Someone just donated it all." I also found several books, a packet of British sewing needles (25 cents) and some Christmas presents.
*Supper with friends at Red Lobster. The birthday girl got the $20 lobster and shrimp special, and I had the 'endless' shrimp, still a reasonable bargain at $25. (Yes, I tried to make it endless. Didn't succeed.)
*Made some changes in our investments, on the advice of our advisors at
Lord & Richards. These should increase the money we will eventually make on one annuity. We will also begin getting regular payments from the other annuity -- overseas travel, here we come!
*Grocery specials: A variety of British teabags for 7 cents each, and king-sized candy bars for approx. $1.35 each (
Amazon Warehouse Deals). I used up the Easter ham
-- even the bone went for
Hoppin' John. (Ruby got what was left.)
*Found a pale pink maxi polo dress on Amazon -- for $13.40, and free shipping.
*The grubby book I got from the Ebay seller? It was refunded!
Second Sale is a reputable seller, and I've ordered from them several times, with great results. They paid me slightly less -- but I got to keep the (mended) book.
*More piano lessons for my students -- one adult, one kiddo. The mom of the latter brought us delicious banana bread and a pound cake. Yum.
*Played and sang at church. (Turns out that our Washington niece, as well as her daughter and husband, also sing on Worship Teams! Nephew does the soundboard.)
*Warmer temps here, in spite of several snowstorms. We are definitely using less wood.
*Adopted Son #1 worked on our furnace. Now it runs more efficiently, thanks to a new thermostat. (Thank you!)
*Leftovers from the kids, who stopped here on their way to Texas for the eclipse (see 'Misses'): tortilla chips, milk, sparkling water, a few veggies-- and a HUGE pan of amazing macaroni and cheese. (Thanks, Dears.)
FRUGAL MISSES
*Truck tires: originally $1800 - ended up $1600. At least we got a $100 or so discount, thanks to the Brick's veteran status and a rebate. As the Brick pointed out, tire prices have just skyrocketed in recent months.
*The truck's wheel fell off! What a fun situation. After three-plus weeks, we are STILL waiting for repairs to finish. The dealer is saying it won't be ready until May 5 or so. (Current bill is more than $4000, and that doesn't count all the cost and hassle in extra trips, etc. Also, ironically, one of the four new tires is permanently missing. (The kids couldn't find the wheel at the scene, either.)
We are still renting another truck to get around.
The claim at the tire store, needless to say, is still ongoing.
*Had to make a special trip to clear out our remaining boxes at our friends' ranch... the initial trip, we both had a feeling that we should just go home. And we hit a very scary blizzard the last two hours of the drive -- that would have been even worse, had we detoured to Sedalia. (The second trip was necessary to finish the job.)
*More trips to Denver than usual, thanks to the Bellingham trip (we flew out of DIA), the Sedalia clear-out, appointments and needed tasks. Oh well.
*And yes, we paid on Federal taxes. (See above.)
*A lot longer to clear out and clean the fifth-wheel than we'd hoped. Isn't that the way it always is? At least it's done.
*Some freezer items didn't smell quite 'right' -- out they went. (The seafood got buried in the garden beds for fertilizer.) Ruby cleaned up some meat, but I still had to throw out some mystery items.
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