2024 Frugal Friday File, March 8...

 

1.  Today makes five days I've worked this week.  Money in.  And it was HARD!  :)

2.  I finished my library ebook, and picked up a just-out book (Hero) by a favorite author (Thomas Perry).  Man I love that the library sends out notices of new arrivals now, I can jump on the reserve list like a bird on a cricket!  This is about the 4th book in the last couple of months where I've been its very first reader at our library.

3.  I saw an Instagram post at lunch yesterday that said if you want to lose $10,000 all you have to do is mindlessly spend $27.40 a day for the next year.  I did the math; it actually does total $10,001.  Now, I don't spend $27 a day every single day, but I am guilty of this more often than I want to think about.  It's so easy to do.  

I bought several houseplants in the past week that we could have lived without.  On the other hand, I've had zero houseplants since I left the two I've been caring for over the past four years at the office when I left.  So I've gone quite awhile without replacing those...and they will improve our inside air quality at least a little...and they are aesthetically pleasing.   See how I can justify?

Guilty of buying meals out when we have groceries at home, though we're doing a lot better than pre-retirement.  And I can definitely cave on impulse craft supply purchases that I really, really need want.  

Heck I have filled my Amazon cart with half a dozen items over the past couple of days totaling $128.  After I started thinking about it, I realized we do need some of the items.  I deleted two items after checking supply closet and found virtually the exact items, only nicer, that have never been used.  I deleted another item when I got realistic about why I wanted it.  That brought the total down to $101.  I remembered that I had a $50 gift card that I had left from cashing in credit card rewards points late last year.  So with tax it came to $59 out of pocket.  At least now I'm sure it wasn't mindless or duplicate spending.

4.  Carey has been working on our coffee table.  It is a very sentimental piece that I wrote about here back in 2010.  (The preceding sentence is a link that you can click on if you are interested in reading about what is so sentimental about the coffee table.)  Its yellow pine color doesn't coordinate well with the new living room, so I was about ready to donate it...until Caitlyn asked, "Does this mean I won't get surprises in my drawer any more?!"  She's almost 20, but that's all it took.  

So Carey has now sanded the entire thing, drawers and all.  We bought three different colors of stain (one at a time), and it just didn't take any of them well.  So he sanded again.  Now we are trying a paint and faux finish.  (He's painted this week, I will try to do the faux finish in the next few days now that the work week is almost over.  Those stain rejects got expensive, but I will donate them (barely used) at the nearest Re-Store.  Fingers are crossed that the project will turn out well in the end.  Not exactly a frugal win, but cheaper than buying a new coffee table, and its special-ness is priceless...at least to me.

5.  I'm writing this on Thursday night, and it is getting late, and I have to work in the morning.  So I'm going to keep the list at four this week.

On the menu this week:

Saturday:  dinner out

Sunday:  Sunday supper at Kasey and Beau's

Monday:  subscription meal that has been languishing in the freezer

Tuesday:  homecooked meal from the freezer - Jambalaya

Wednesday:  takeout Barbecue Baked Potatoes with Brisket

Thursday:  homecooked meal from the freezer - Beef Stew

Friday:  out for favorite Tex-Mex

**designates meatless meal