Frugal Hits & Misses - August Report

The Strange Summer continues, with one final smackdown of heat, thanks to Michigan and its humidity. We did our jobs -- got things done -- but it was an effort. The dogs agree; those heavy coats are not conducive to activity, except in the cool of the evening. And Michigan hasn't exactly been cool, even then.

      Now comes September, one of my favorite months of the year. Fall colors (in Colorado, anyways); cooler air, trips up in the mountains to scout for hunting; or just Look for Things. 

FRUGAL HITS

(some of these will be from late July.)

*'Stuck at home' most of the month -- which was really a blessing. (Except when we were cleaning up dog poop or vomit, which happened a lot for a week.) Tried to group errands as much as possible; if I was headed to town for one thing, I'd try to do two or three more, as well. Spending more money in a day, rather than spreading it out, actually helped curb impulse purchases -- and helped me spend less.

20% discount, plus free shipping, on a nice batch of Goodwill stuff -- including Christmas presents and several Rusty Wilson Bigfoot collections I've been reading for years, and wished I had in my library. (If you're reading this on Aug. 28, the special's still good -- just order two or more items, and use the code LEARN when you check out.)

*Finished The Book. Whew.

*Small paycheck from a class-action lawsuit. Every bit helps.

*Free geranium and houseplant cuttings, from a friend.

Petunias will root well in water, too.

*Fixed an appraisal revision -- it took some hours, but just a $10 payment. (To the notary public, ironically.)

*More Christmas presents from Amazon -- plus some honey-roasted peanuts for an emergency stockup. (15 cents an ounce -- I could have spit, barely missing some selling for 14 cents an ounce!  Thus is the drama in a Hollander's soul.)

*Found a dime at Safeway -- in the automatic change dispenser. (Too bad it wasn't a nickel..)

*Kept our granddog, Miss Karmanator, while her parents were away rockhounding. Just a little payback from when they kept Charley and Ruby while we were on the cruise.

*Sold some stock -- just in time. The rest is invested heavily in index funds -- with a chunk staying in cash. That way, it's available for purchases When the Bottom Drops Out. (It's coming. Just a matter of when.)

*Found some birthday presents for the girls on sale. (The Mama and both daughters have August birthdays, along with a handful of cousins. This makes present/party/special meal purchases verrry interesting.) Got some for The Mama, too. 

*Cleaned out cupboards. Found some things I didn't know we had...then we ate them.

*Turned in reimbursement requests for the Virgin plane tickets. And the cruise deposits (for the new cruise that got cancelled when CMV west bust). And the cruise partial refund (promised when the cruise was cancelled while we were in Indonesia).

'Attended' a class 'Embroidery Up-Close' from the Winterthur Museum, via Zoom ($15). Another lecture, on 'famous fakes' in the art world, from Skinner Auctions, was free online. (I need these to keep the 'education' part of my ASA membership covered. Another $35 one, on clocks, happens in the fall.)

*Missed out on some Ebay purchases. (I didn't really need them, anyways.)

And the cat's response:

*Bought some more photos -- including railroads and some very cool ones from Denver's July 1912 flood. Because I bought more than five, they were 25% off -- in effect, purchasing the last 1 1/2 photos for free. Still way cheaper than renting them. (Used my Ebay bucks to take a few more dollars off.) A second batch of postcards was $1 each, plus shipping. Even better. These will pad out The Book, and be handy for future publications.

Nice, huh?

*More $2 videos. (Slowing down now, as the library's not cleaning out old inventory as quickly.) Gave a few to friends. Took a few back to Michigan for gifts. Beautiful books in terrific condition for Christmas presents; $2-3 at the library's used-book room. (But I get to read them first!)

*Milk and eggs. Milk and eggs. Milk and eggs. I miss our chickens...

*Specialty craft beer -- $21 per case! About 88 cents a can -- that's a STEAL in our area. We bought three cases; some six-packs will be presents. This is not for me, by the way; I'm more a tequila girl.

*Treated to supper out by friends. (Thanks, guys.) Their trash pickup happened while they were gone -- we added our trash to theirs, saving the Brick his bimonthly trip to the dump. (It helps our landlord out, too.)

     To my surprise (but not the Brick's), we only went out to eat twice in July on our dime: once to Red Robin and once to Burger King. Then again, we made up for it on the trip to Michigan this month.

*74-cent packages of 'Tuscany frozen veggies:' broccoli, peppers, onion. Half-price chocolate milk. (Guess I'm just a kid at heart.) Celery heads: 99 cents each. Bacon: approx. $2.75/lb. 

*Replenished my bakeware -- higher-quality pans, including a french ceramic piece, for 50 cents - $3. Half-price day at the thrift shop. Whoo-hoo! (I also walked away from several home dec pieces I would have loved to get...thanks to hearing the Brick's voice in my mind: 'Where are we gonna put that?')

*Made my own carrot cake and cheesecake for the girls' birthday party. Instead of paying for a restaurant dinner, they wanted to eat at home -- two bags of $3.99/lb shrimp did the trick. (I forgot to bring the mushrooms and sweet corn I'd also planned...duhhhh.)

     The irony of all this? My family, plus our landlord, loved the homemade carrot cake, far more than the storebought kind. 

*Mended a pair of jeans and the Brick's favorite shirt. (He was going to throw it out. Ironically, I have never cared for this shirt -- but he loves it.)

*Made a flying trip back to Michigan -- the last batch of things for storage out of our landlord's garage went with. We attended two cousins' funerals, and celebrated The Mama's 83rd birthday. (Made her a chiffon cake, too.)

*Bought 10 storage bins to carry the rest of the garage items to storage in Michigan: $9.99 each. They worked beautifully, and kept our stuff safe and clean. (And of course this time there was no rain to deal with, unlike other trips carrying stuff back to Michigan. Figures.)

*Took nearly all my books back to The Mama's for storage. It hurt, but the Brick is right; we need to cut weight in this fifth-wheel, to make it easier to pull.
    It also helps that The Book is done, which means fewer books are needed for research and writing.

*The Brick continued to make repairs -- both on our house, and The Mama's. He's wonderful at this.

*Got haircuts at our friend Anne's in Michigan. (The dogs will be getting washed, clipped and their nails trimmed when we get home. Yes, we'll do it ourselves.) Charley's allergy meds were renewed at Wal-Mart -- no doctor's visit needed. Both dogs got sick - we combined home remedies with patience until they got better..

*Went swimming several times at a cousin's pool. Took our grandnieces and nephew one afternoon -- they loved it. A stop at McDonald's for lunch, plus a swing by the thrift store for a toy and book each, and they were happy campers. (I have to instill the thrift shop gene early!)

FRUGAL MISSES

*Bought a generator. And it wasn't cheap. But it was the best for the money that the Brick could find.

*Prices are heading up in the Denver area -- big-time. A recent week trumpeted $2.87 boneless chicken breast -- on sale. Before this, $1.60 or so/lb was the usual sale. Milk -- and food prices in general -- have jumped about 20%. If the price hasn't changed, the package size has gotten smaller. Sigh...

*Broke a sandal strap on a favorite pair of sandals -- which meant I had to do an appraising appointment with one bare foot. (Bet they never saw that before!) Found another pair of leather sandals damaged while cleaning up our friend's garage. (Mice?) Two nice pairs gone. Sigh.

    (On the other hand, found the two pairs of Chaco sandals I'd squirreled away 'for safekeeping' when we sold the house last year. Just in time, too.)

*Booked another cruise! But this time on Royal Caribbean, with cousins. (Yes, it was on sale. We also got extra discounts for the Brick's age and military service.)

*Still waiting on any money back from CMV for our cancelled cruise...or from the credit card company. Sometimes that works. (We did get our deposit back from the 2021 cruise we'd booked with them.)

*Bought a gold tooth (!!!) and a small handful of garnets from The Mama. She needed cash for her insurance payment. 

*Ate out. A lot. Paid for most of it -- cousins and The Mama paid some meals, though.

Last month's report is here. Last year's is here. 

Hurry, September -- come quick!

Columbine = 'endurance' in the Language of Flowers.
(It's also Colorado's state flower.)