“Two sounds of autumn are unmistakable...the hurrying rustle of crisp leaves blown along the street...by a gusty wind, and the gabble of a flock of migrating geese.”
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My favorite season of the year is just beginning. Thankfully, the past few weeks of September have had warm days, but cooler nights -- perfect sleeping weather. We could have a frost any time (it dipped into the low 40s the past few nights) -- but there's nothing left in the garden to freeze. I thought about buying flowers, but considering that they might get nailed any time, it's not worth it. Hanging baskets were $36.99 at Lowe's -- outrageous!
FRUGAL HITS
(Some of these are from late August -- yes, this is a bit early, but we head for Vegas Wednesday, so I can do some appraising there)
*Finally eligible for Medicare! This brought all sorts of bonuses, including $75 credit for personal items every three months (the Brick gets $40), dental insurance...and help for my gimpy knee. All for pretty much the cost of my regular insurance. Soooo grateful for this. Speaking of:
*Earned a $10 giftcard for listening to a Medicare proposal. October and November are prime months for changing your plan, by the way, if you're 65-plus.
*Furniture offers from dear friends for our new place. Also a free set of dishes. (They have to hang onto these things until we move, though -- no place to store them right now.)
*Photos for future articles -- bought on discount from Ebay. A few postcards, too. The quilt photo prices were way less than I usually see. Like this one, c.1900:
*The Brick drove for Broken Tree, our local church for people with disabilities, ran several errands and did some computer work for them. (He fixed our computer, too, after several grueling hours -- though the printer is still misbehaving.) We sang on Worship Team a few weeks for our church.
*The Brick also did several chores around the ranch, including mowing the lawn -- and the field. (The latter took about 20 hours.) He helped our friend work on the tractor and washing machine. I re-inked their welcome sign and tidied up a bit, in addition to chores needed in the fifth-wheel.
* Red roses -- a dozen for $1.75. Some for me, a dozen for a friend.
*The Brick got a credit for 1 1/2 years' worth on his hunting app -- free -- after it kept malfunctioning. (It seems to be fixed now.) We also used it while househunting, to analyze land.
*A free dinner at Hickory House in Parker (Medicare workshop)...and friends went with us. We have another one coming in October.
*Free birthday supper at the local Chinese buffet - which features unlimited sushi. (Thank you for covering Dad's meal, Daughter #1!) The Brick got me a jar of Seville orange marmalade (yum) and a cookbook of Irish pub food. Yum for him, too!
*Had some paperwork notarized for free, thanks to our local credit union. Dumped in a jar of change, while I was at it. No charge for that, either.
*Sold a bunch of stock - after dividends were posted. This will go to the house payment.
*Managed to sidestep several items that the title company was going to charge us for, including mortgage insurance and an appraisal. (We are paying for an inspection and a radon check, however.)
*Got an election job! Usually I'm hired for only Election Day, but this year I got 1 1/2 weeks worth. Long hours, and meh pay -- but you can also bring other things to work on. It means staying a little past the house closing...but not much.
*Had my teeth cleaned and checked -- free under Medicare! And no cavities. (whew)
*Found a penny on the fifth-wheel steps. A second one in the washer.
*Castle Rock's library is open again-- hooray! I used it for several appraisal appointments (thank you, study rooms). The booksale room produced a number of kids' books for gifts, plus filling a box for our nieces and nephews in Michigan. A few videos, too. They've offered BOGO coupons, and I have several to use in October...whoo hoo!
*Birthday presents: flowers and a hutch for our new house (I'd admired it at Daughter #1's house, and she gave it to me!), some wonderful cards, a lovely pair of fleece-lined slippers (thank you, Daughter #2 and Son #1) ...and salami. (Actually, it was ingredients for a charcuterie board.)
*Bought groceries every other week -- and then generally sale items, or what we needed. Used up items out of the freezer. (Then we won't have to lug as much.) I plan to do this all through October, as well, so we can have the maximum cash for furniture purchases, as well as the house payment. Same goes for household items -- only what's necessary.
*I Did NOT buy sale chicken. (Trying to work freezer space down...both for moving and hopefully for elk meat.) But it was hard...I did cave on King Soopers' butterfly shrimp ($7.99/2 lbs). I also got a $4 credit at King Soopers, and double reward points (for my birth month) at Safeway.
*Fixed two King Soopers mistakes -- one to the tune of $2.49 pound for peaches that were on sale for 99 cents. Too bad they no longer give you the item(s) free, if theirs is the mistake. (And it was, in both cases.) One friend had the same thing happen with her peaches -- and since she had other things to do, went home. I wonder how much extra profit KS makes from 'mistakes' like this.
*Caramel apples: 3-packs for $1.20 and singles for 45 cents. (King Soopers) I always thought of these, as well as Pop-Tarts, as 'rich people snacks.' (You can tell how often I got them as a kid.) Ate a bunch, gave some to our kids, and some to our friend, a teacher, for her class. (And her hungry husband)
*Grocery buys: Gallons of milk ($1.97 ea), Palisade peaches (97 cents/lb), 15 pounds of potatoes ($5), bagels (6 for 99 cents) Safeway. Apple pies, $1.98 each, Buy 2 Get 2 Coke and Barq's, 33-cent dented-box Rice A Ronis, more Palisade peaches (99 cents/lb), 2-pound bags of tomatoes, 3-peppers, 2-cuke bags (99 cents each); cans of enchilada sauce ($1.24 and $1.28), a dozen baked goods ($1.80), half-gallon milk 99 cents, King Soopers. cans of Ortega green chilies (67 cents each), Amazon Warehouse.
.*Free appetizer ($12.99!), plus a birthday burger at Red Robin. We both have a free burger waiting for us, as well. (They had a quickie 20% off sale on gift cards -- I bought a bunch, for us and presents.)
*Lunch with a lawyer friend - who not only covered it, but ordered a brownie-to-go for the Brick, as well as her husband. What a nice gesture!
*More meals with friends -- their treat -- for my birthday. So kind of them.
*Listened to football games, rather than going to a restaurant to watch them. (We haven't had cable for nearly a decade now.)
*Halloween ceramic pumpkins for the girlies, from the thrift shop. I also found a potholder ($1), one of my favorite novels ($1) and two shirts ($5 & $7) -- all at 20 percent off that amount.
*A discount coupon for a haircut -- I needed it, too.
*Finished a big batch of appraisal reports. More to go...
*Sent Advent calendars early to our great-nieces and nephews...they were on sale. (I asked our niece to stash them away for use, starting Dec. 1st. It will come soon enough.) Also sent Curious George and Berenstain Bears movie collections -- Amazon had them heavily marked down, plus free shipping. (30 episodes of Curious George was just $5.00!) The kids will love these.
*Got a pair of 'ruby' slippers and matching hat for our newest great-niece. I'll tuck something in for her big brother, as well.
*Got pre-approved for a house or land buy.
*Bought a house! Now we'll have more space for our money, including counter space, cooking area -- and storage. Lovely, lovely storage.
FRUGAL MISSES
*Used a lot of air conditioning -- a good share of the month was still hot. So glad it's cooled down.
*Replenished propane for the fifth-wheel. We made a tank last all summer -- unusual for us. (We need to make sure the propane tank at the new house has enough for winter, too.)
*Used a lot of gas driving on househunting trips. (We were pretty careful on food, though.)
*Shipped the rearview mirror back for replacement on the truck -- it was getting cloudy. The Brick also repaired the lights in the front seat, and replaced the lightbulbs.
*Bought a house! Now we'll have extra utilities, property taxes and loan payments to make. Let the fun begin.
*My office chair broke. I still am using it anyways, in spite of the occasional poke. But it's definitely doomed.
*No trip to Palisade to get peaches -- we just didn't have time or energy. I made do with sale peaches at the grocery stores -- and let a few spoil. Aaarrrghghghghgghgh. At least I did get five bags' worth in the freezer.
*Put my $2.98 apple pies in the freezer, turned around to put peaches in...and a pie flew out and smashed on the floor. Ruby had an impromptu snack, and the rest got thrown away. So much for that bargain. Thankfully, one pie stayed put.
*Missed out on the National Cheeseburger Day specials -- but just felt better staying at home.
*Spent more than we'd planned in August. Did we do better in Sept? I haven't run the monthly numbers yet.
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For last month's report, see here. For last year's September report, here it is. 2021's version is here, too. A lot of things to get done in October. Here we go!
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