May is such a strange month -- one minute, it's warm and sunny. The next, it's icy. Living up in 8600 ft altitude makes this uncertainty worse, particularly when the temp can drop 30 degrees or so in minutes. The last freeze was just a week ago. Fortunately, the greens I planted shrugged off the cold. (But they couldn't fight off the dogs, unfortunately.)
We soldiered on, nonetheless. Bills were paid, including property tax and insurance. (Why do they have to come due around the same time??) We made a oft-postponed trip to get our storage trailer. And we survived a dual bout of flu. So hey -- all good. It's even getting warmer outside and more springlike. We've started eating meals out on the back deck, which is lovely.
No Mother's Day celebration for me -- we were in Michigan. But I know my girlies and their mates...and I know they love me. That's what counts. Our Memorial Day was quiet, too.
FRUGAL HITS
(some of these are from late April)
*Money found: 59 cents from the local Safeway's change machine; a penny and dime on the floor by the washing machine. (I think the kids dropped these, but who knows.) At the last minute: a crisp dollar bill from the Nielsen survey people!
*A Bigfoot citronella candle -- to keep the bugs away. It should help! (Thank you, S and S.)
*Friend Tommy gave us tomato plants -- thank you! I also planted peppers, beans, zinnias, sage and basil.
*We kept the woodbox full - but only when needed. The Brick and I both had some achiness that kept us from being too industrious about this. (Daughter #2 and Son #1 helped load wood, too. The sweethearts.)
*Sold some books -- always nice.
*Homemade bread and chcolate chip cookie bars.
*Benefitted from several chores Daughter #2 and Son #1 did, including loading the dishwasher, vacuuming, etc. And the big one: taking care of the dogs while we were on the Michigan trip.) We will return the favor by keeping our granddog Freya this summer.
*A beautiful pot of 'Brick house pink' roses, from Daughter #2 and Son #1 for Mother's Day. (I'm going to try starting more from cuttings.)
*Harvested 'lemons' from our indoor trees: 4 large and a few tiny ones. But they never did turn yellow. Were they really both limes?
*Did a few appraisals. Finished up a lot more. Got paid for several, plus my Money Diary.
*Thrift Shop buys: dog collars ($4 each), NICE bath towels ($3), framed columbine print for $2. Half off linens, plus10% senior discount (Treasures in the Park, Castle Rock). A designer sofa pillow ($6), a pair each of sandals and upscale sneakers ($10 each), and a huge landscape painting that reminds me of the folks' farm; this one was a $14.99 Mother's Day buy via the Brick. Sweet man. (Mel Trotter thrift shop, MI)
*The Brick fixed the kitchen sink, and added a new faucet. He also did some electrical outlet work for one friend, and helped another get his windmill anchored again. (We have had a LOT of wind here.)
*The Free Little Library is done! And on its way to being set up in front of Calvary Blanca Church. (In Blanca, naturally.) Now I have to figure out a way to advertise it on Main Street.
*Received an insurance check for the truck damage.
*We finally achieved our crowning goal!! Whenever something extra happens, particularly moneywise, we say to each other, "well, that paid for a lunch at Calvillo's!" We love the buffet at this authentic Mexican restaurant, and keep planning to stop there. Well, we finally did -- only to discover that it's up for sale. (Still open for now. Reasonably-priced, too.)
*Attended the opening reception for 'Stampede' at the Mitchell Western Museum of Art in Trinidad. And yes, it was great fun.
*Another batch of Buy3/Get 1 Free books from my Second Sale, plus another seller on Ebay. This will keep me going for a while...and I need to save for our July trip. Free shipping was appreciated, as well, although both packages arrived intact, but beat-up and barely closed. (What's going on with this?)
*Played and sang on Calvary Blanca's worship team. Wrote up notes for the quarterly business meeting, as well.
Plants for the folks' urn -- they were beautiful, but $6.99 each separately. However, a larger pot of three were $12.99. Less than a dollar for the third plant? You bet! That made two lush petunias for The Mama's and Pa's gravesite, and an orange trailing plant for Grandma's urn.
I know. Their bodies are in the cemetery -- but as my cousin pointed out: "They're not there." Thank God. However, it was very important for The Mama to keep flowers on Dad's grave, especially for Memorial Day. I had no assurance that anyone in Michigan would do this -- so I put them in myself before we left.
*A succulent - in colors I've been looking for -- was also $6.99. It survived the trip back to Colorado nicely. Extra babies in the pot should eventually fill the planter. (I avoided Walmart's garden center, to keep myself from buying more plants. It was hard.)
*Bought some quilts! Thanks to Daughter #2, who'd been following the auction, I got them at a steal of a price, as well as a big box of doilies and handkerchiefs, and some Days of the Week tea towels. (My secret love) The kids picked them up on the way to a show in Cheyenne, WY, saving on shipping costs.
*A $40 giftcard from Costco -- for signing up with them.
*Grocery deals: $4.27/lb sirloin steaks; $1.99 gallons of milk; buy-2-get-3-free 12-packs of Coke (Safeway). $1.27 half-gallons of milk; half-price eggs ($4 final price); several 99-cent red mesh bags of veggies, including bok choy, zucchini, eggplant -- and a turnip! (City Market) Large bottles of KEDEM (Passover) grape juice, $1.99; a number of 'healthier' chips, veggie stix, etc. (79 cents - $1.99); ready-use packages of meatballs and taco meat (79 cents - we've had the meatballs before, and they're good); large bag of puppy dogfood, $11.99 and beef snacks, $2.29 - reg. more than $8; a big batch of juices, Pellagrino, etc. 3/$1 (SLV Amish Grocery). I minimized grocery shopping this month, hoping to balance out the money spent on our Michigan trip, stretching our whole milk 50/50 with water, using a lot more from the freezer & storage, and being stingy with eggs. Not sure the Brick even noticed. We did a big shop at the very end of the month that will carry over into June.
*RAIN!! Any moisture is good in this dry country. We also got some heavy snow that melted quickly -- but left lots of mud.
It's hummingbirds for us.
FRUGAL MISSES
*Attended the difficult funeral of an old friend. We made a special trip to Castle Rock for this, although I did manage to squeeze in a trip to the thrift shop there, plus an appraisal session.
*Six months worth of homeowners insurance -- and the county cashed the property tax check about the same time. Ergh.
*Struggles with the pups are generally lessening, though both Bo and Tiger have a disconcerting habit of disappearing within seconds, if you don't keep your eye on them. In-house pee and poop accidents still happen now and then; if Tiger gets excited, he'll race through the house, spraying as he goes.
*A bed of spinach was growing nicely on the back deck planting box, and new 'babies' were coming up in the second bed -- until Tiger and Bo dug both beds out. (Charley did this years ago, also to a bed of spinach. What is it about greens??) I yelled at them, then replanted. About a third of the spinach managed to survive the onslaught. (sigh)
*Dozens of blackberry and grape cuttings that didn't 'cut,' from an Ebay seller. In spite of following instructions, all but one remained sticks, and began to rot. One grape vine cutting has a root; I'm hoping it continues.
*Several lunches, coffee and suppers covered in Michigan for family. Otherwise, we were very careful with trip food, including a huge $1.99 bag of gas station popcorn that lasted several days. We were also fortunate that our cousins made excellent coffee, and filled our travel mugs. Ss there was little need for buying more.
*Paid tolls going through Chicago. Inevitable.
*Three flat tires, two unusable wheels -- and a wheel that nearly came off, in three separate incidents. All part of our fun excursion to/from Michigan. But I am so grateful that we were able to limp home. Thankfully, the truck ran like a champ throughout.
*Flu. Need I say more? I was supposed to take notes at the quarterly business meeting for Calvary Blanca, but a friend took care of it, instead. (Thank you so much.)
Doing these reports helps me curb expenses. (Because otherwise I have to report it to you!) But it also encourages me to see how far we've stretched our money during the tight months. I hope it encourages you, as well. By all means, if you come up with some wonderful moneysaving hints, let me know -- I'll pass them on! We're in this together, you know.
Last month's report is here. Last year's report is here, plus the year before that.
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