Frugal Hits & Misses: August Report

 A strangely dull month comes to an end.

August has kept us stuck at home, thanks to a nonexistent truck. Ok, it exists, but our only vehicle doesn't work. We've made it to church and errands only because kind friends loaned us their extra vehicles. By the time I'm writing this, the truck should be in the repair bay at our local shop. I hope. 

     It's been hot. And unless you count The Mama's frequent stops in and out of hospital and rehab, uneventful. Nothing sounds good to eat. (Only drink--except potato chips.) The fifth-wheel's stuffy,.even though we've got air conditioning going. (Temps are even worse elsewhere.) No good movies. And when you can get out, the roads are crowded with either construction or tourists. It's been a BIG summer for tourists in Colorado.

Gripe, moan, complain. 

     I'm currently in Michigan, running chores and keeping track of The Mama, as she learns how to care for herself again at home. She badly wants to stay here, rather than go to a care facility. And we want to help her do just that. I think it's possible, with hired help coming in for a few hours daily. But it means I needed to be here for a while, rather than home with the Brick and the dogs. 

Things could be worse. I know that. I keep reminding myself of that. 

This report is a little early.  I needed to finish up my appraisal work.

FRUGAL HITS

*The Brickworks website is finally back up! We should have a working shopping cart shortly, along with several other pages. 

*Green chilis from Hatch, NM: 99 cents/lb.  Snagged on sale as a present for the Michigan cousin who generously picked me up at 1 a.m. (That's what you get with a...

*Discount plane ticket for Michigan -- on short notice. (Thank you, Southwest, for this sudden sale.)

*Finished off a $25 gift card -- $1.88 left to use up before Aug. 31. (The rest of the story will be in the September report.)

*Kept our granddog, Ms. Karmie, while Daughter #2 and Son #1 were taking care of The Mama in Michigan. Saved them money, and gave Charley something else to think about besides scratching. (Allergies have been giving him a merry chase this summer -- he's licked so much fur off, and scratched so hard, that he looks like a scarred-up prizefighter. Fortunately, that's improving.)

*Mended a pillow, t-shirt and my sandals. (The strap had been nibbled by Something last summer, and I'd limped along with it half-cut for a year. The Brick fared worse -- his pair of sandals just disappeared -- or at least one sandal did. (The animal never took both at a time.) My missing sandal was found, at least -- even if it was half-nibbled. Our landlord friend thinks the culprits were foxes.

    Somewhere in the world out there's a fox wearing just one sandal. Because two would be too big for him, I guess.

*Did some judging and appraising for the Cheyenne Heritage Quilters show. (Love these girls.) My appraiser colleague Gina drove us there and back, and stayed with to help out. (Thank you so much, friend.) I got some nice buys in fabric at the show boutique...plus a handkerchief angel ornament for The Mama.

     I brought along thank-you gifts and books for my scribes, plus the ladies who hired me. The guild got $5 from each appraisal written, too. A win-win on both sides.

*Free OJ and pumpkin pudding from friends headed out of town. (It was delicious.)

*So grateful for the extra-large ink tanks on our new printer. We not only don't run out of ink so quickly, especially during a heavy appraisal report session...but it's a good bit cheaper.

*Got rolls, cheese and sandwich meat for the Brick while I was gone...so he'd stop trotting off to fastfood. I also picked up some frozen meals on sale: pizza, lasagna, teriyaki chicken. (Have you noticed how any kind of takeout/restaurant food prices have gone up?? Yow.)

*Some serious cleaning and putting-away. (More to do when I get back.) A suitcase full of books (46 pounds worth!) brought back for storage in Michigan. 

*Gave a piano lesson. Plus 28 appraisal reports. 

*Made cinnamon rolls for a neighborhood brunch. The first time we'd turned the oven on in ages. (Normally, the pilot light stays out, to keep the trailer kitchen area cooler.)

*Started clearing out the trailer freezer.  I can actually see bare space in there! That hasn't happened since we first bought the fifth wheel. That meant that we ate a lot of leftovers. (The dogs  had some set aside for them.)

*Birthday presents for everyone -- both daughters and The Mama's birthday are this month. (We do still owe them a dinner out.) A few Christmas presents stashed away, as well, thanks to Amazon sales and some very nice video sets from the library booksale room. (Whoo hoo!)

*Clothing sale at Sally's (Salvation Army) in Boulder: $2 each, no matter the original cost! I found myself a swimsuit and a gold sharkskin skirt. (Daughter #2 didn't like it -- too flashy, I suspect. But she did like an olive green tunic: basic but nicely cut. As for the skirt -- it got cut up, too -- for its fabric.) My best buys: vintage Staffordshire plates ($1.19 ea) and brown leather fringed moccasin booties: $3.99! (They were mislabeled as size 11, but fit me perfectly.) 

*Found at the Cheyenne Goodwill store: 1 large tube of Christmas wrap ($1), some stocking stuffers, 3 t-shirts for $1.50 each; a sequined shell for $3.50; a high-end Worthington dress for $4.95 (for a girlie, or I'll sell it on Ebay) and a Cold Creek embroidered jacket for $5.95 (ditto).

      Helpful hint: always check the better-known thrift stores in a higher-income city. Boulder not only has these, but 'Sally's' fills up periodically with items from students who think nothing of discarding Good Stuff. 

*Found at the Sparta Mel Trotter thrift store:  A lightweight t-shirt dress and sleeveless dress. (Even the t-shirts and jeans I brought from home seem too 'heavy' and sticky right now.) Walked away from some items, though it was hard to do so.

*Combined errands a lot -- we had to, still without a vehicle. 

*Didn't buy any flowers -- made do with wild ones, plus greens. The Brick did buy me a small bouquet toward the end of the month. (Sweet man.)

*Celebrated The Mama's birthday with several cards and a package...as well as packages left for her, hidden on the stairs at her house. (I didn't make it here until about a week later.)

*Had to be really picky at Sprouts to get the best deals -- but 99 cents each for head lettuce and celery works. So does endive (reg. $3.85) for $1.50.

*Just a few Amazon bargains, including coffee and Asian noodles. The sales on noodles were so good that I ordered an extra package for a friend who's going through a lot right now, as an encouragement. 

*Stopped at the Friday/Sat store -- for the first time in months. (They have great prices, but are out of the way, unless we're headed to Boulder.) Best buys:  $6.79 for 20 oz. coffee beans; 1.99 bottles of 100% fruit juice; 50-cent Campbell's Cream of Mushroom soup cans (I bought a case)...and a huge bag of tortilla chips for $2. Walked away from a case of baby sausages at a screaming price -- we promised our landlords that we'd "eat down" the freezer, to make room for hunting results. (I guess this was a Miss -- but I really needed to do it.) 

*Back to Daily Deals in Michigan. If you live in this state, you should definitely stop and take advantage of this discount outlet:  16-packs of Go-Gurt yogurt -- 49 cents! Chopped 'power' salad: 79 cents, and a huge container of chive-and-onion cream cheese (48 oz!) for $3.99. Chocolate bars: 25 cents each. A large seedless watermelon:  $3.99. You never quite know what you'll find, but it's invariably lower-priced than anywhere else in town.

*Picked up dish detergent and other necessities at the dollar store, instead of Wal-Mart. Their cookies are cheaper, and they stock 5-packs of English muffins and bagels. Found some kids' toys for donating to a Mexican orphanage for Christmas -- a pack of two huge bubble wands for $1! (Our friends are headed there just before Christmas...and planning to bring toys with them for the kids.)  Our local dollar store finally started carrying my beloved potstickers again. (Although now they're 6 to a pkg, instead of 8.) They also have 5 oz. cheese packages -- cheddar and Monterey Jack.

*Vegetarian meals for the biweekly get-your-butt-kicked-at-Ticket-to-Ride contest. Our friends enjoy sponsoring this. 

*Used up some shampoo and conditioner that had been in the shower forever. We have bottles of conditioner leftover from two years ago -- but our shampoo? Forget it.

*Our friends left -- again. This time to Hawaii. We took them to the airport and picked them up (again).  We counted up the roundtrips to the airport this summer: 8, so far. With the exception of my current Michigan trip, we didn't go anywhere. Just took people to the airport and picked them up. (But we did get to borrow their vehicles!)

*Played Vehicle Musical Chairs again while the truck was out of action. (See below.)

*Air conditioning's fixed, thanks to the Brick's wonderful fixit skills. Other stuff fixed, as well. The air conditioning's been going a lot, due to our higher temps -- it would have been just plain miserable without it.

*Another $5 off $5 coupon from Safeway -- plus a free bag of candy, package of cheese, personal wipes AND a free reusable bag. Grapes for 97 cents/lb. (The usual now is around $3.) King Soopers finally came up with bargains, too -- as long as you bought 5: $1.25 Oscar Mayer hot dogs, 99-cent bags of sugar and jars of peanut butter. (We use creamy peanut butter to get Charley to take his allergy pills. Naturally, Ruby also needs a spoonful, too.)

FRUGAL MISSES

*Lost a can of Coke -- it flew out of the fridge, and exploded on the floor. Yikes! (What little left tasted flat, anyways.)

*A package of vermicelli also exploded -- two, in fact. Scraped up what I could and rebagged it.

*I try to laugh about the truck repair follies -- but it's hard. Price tag to fix the truck: currently at $10,500.

*The Higher Ground Fair was cancelled. One less gig for the year. (Surprisingly, I am not that crushed. Gigs are taking more and more energy to accomplish, and I've had more than my share of appraising work.)

*Went out to lunch at a Chinese restaurant we used to frequent-- and discovered that the $5.99 lunch specials were now nearly $10.  (Kept leftovers and had them for supper over rice -- at least we stretched it to two meals.)

*Tried hard not to waste anything. Generally succeeded. Sorta.

*'Fahncy' no-grain dogfood for Charley; it really seems to help his allergies. The Brick renewed his prescription: nearly $2.50 A PILL. For a dog?!? So glad his really bad struggles only last for about a month.

Here's last month's report -- and last year's, for comparison.  Goodbye, August -- it's been nice enduring ya.