Author: thefrugalportlander

Happy Spring!

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I cannot tell you how pleased I am that Winter is in the rear view. Usually by February most Portlanders are OVER IT. Add into that going into year THREE of a global pandemic and I am beyond over it. I understand that many people have moved on and begun traveling but I am not there yet. I have not been on a plan in almost three years, haven’t gone more than 40 miles from Portland in just as long. Oof. I am tired. So the fact that Spring has sprung is such a joy. I was able to put the above trellises in the garden and to me it just signals the beginning of garden season. My very kind and handy neighbor helped me acquire the cattle panels and install the in the garden beds last week and I am LOVING it. He tells me every day that he has garden envy hehe.

Last week I began the succession planting of some plants in the garden. I planted shelling peas and this week I planted some carrots and lettuce. Tomorrow I’ll add some additional peas. My goal is to be able to have some things ready for picking/preserving continually during the summer months as opposed to everything being ready at once. That was what happened last year and it was definitely a challenge to preserve so much all at one time. This is only my second year having a garden so I am absolutely still learning, and I’m sure I will continue learning every year indefinitely. As my neighbor said we can’t wait to see green growing up the trellises! I won’t put cucumbers and beans in for another month or so, so it will be a while longer but it’s still exciting to see the slow progress!

I made all meals at home this week, resisting temptation to order take out or delivery. It was a very stressful week so I am glad I was able to fend off the call of takeout! I did have two dear friends over for dinner on Thursday and it was so nice to be able to cook a delicious, healthy meal without having to go buy anything. I made halibut that my father caught in Alaska (thanks Dad!) yellow rice, green beans, carrots, potatoes, and we have rice krispy treats for dinner. Oh and pickles as a pre dinner snack. My friend’s husband went to culinary school (a fact I conveniently forgot) and he complimented me on dinner so I am calling it a success!! I have plenty of leftovers so that has provided me with additional meals for days. Yum. I absolutely notice that I feel better when eating food that I have cooked myself. The closer to the source the better. I am so grateful to be able to have these options available to me and I hope to never take that for granted.

Have you seen gas prices lately? Good lord! Doing my best to not go out often, and if I do have to leave the house batching errands when I do. Luckily I am a homebody but I have noticed that I am definitely itching to get out a bit more lately. Trying to see family and friends in my own home is helpful, as I find if I don’t see anyone for too long I start to feel lonely. My animals are excellent company but it’s typically very one sided conversations hehe.

What about you? What frugal things have you been up to lately?

One step forward, two steps back??

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Sometimes it feels like I’m just treading water, making no progress. Or that I may even be going down.

I’m tired of feeling crummy ALL. THE. TIME. I understand that this phase won’t last forever but I am exhausted. I wake up exhausted. During all this, saving money can seem impossible some days. But we have to keep trying. One foot in front of the other. It WILL get better. And to that point I would like to acknowledge that I am beyond privileged to be in this position. I have a safe home. I have family that love me and are more than willing to help me through this difficult time. I have incredible friends who have given incredible emotional and mental support. I have food to eat, a bed to sleep in, and so much more.

So now that we got that out of the way, onto some frugal happenings lately!

  • I make treats from scratch on a regular basis so I never feel like I’m lacking. Today I made rice krispy treats and peach tea with home canned peach slices! There is a delicious Vietnamese tea shop down the road that makes incredible peach tea that I just love. It does however cost upwards of $6 for one tea! So I decided today to attempt my own version. Is it perfect? No. But I suspect it will be quite tasty once it is properly cooled. And rice krispy treats are always a favorite that I am happy to have on hand.
  • A dear neighbor’s birthday was last week and I made a double batch of my famous carrot cake cupcakes from scratch for them! Bonus: I got to keep a dozen to enjoy myself.
  • I made some awesome improvements in my garden for the upcoming season! (The initial cost was not exactly cheap, but I believe it will be worth it in the long run. ) I determined that in order to get the most out of my growing space I was going to need to grow more vertically, necessitating a trellis or arch of some sort. Last year I grew peas up my fence and that was pretty successful so I am hoping to build on that. A friend let me borrow their truck and offered to assist me with the set up. I got four 16 foot cattle panels, and sixteen 5 foot tall t posts, plus wire to secure them in place. Total for the supplies was just around $200 but that is still far cheaper than four garden “kits” would have cost (each of them ran anywhere from $150 to $200!) My friend helped me carry them out to my garden and set it all up! I am SO excited to see how it works this season because it looks AWESOME! If I do say so myself. (Also, I paid my friend in baked goods and we both felt we got the better end of the deal!)
  • Continuing the garden theme, I got my first seeds in the ground! It’s still quite early in the season, but some plants like our cool wet Spring weather including peas and lettuce. It feels wonderful to get the garden started! Like everyone else I am watching food prices soar higher and higher and feel strongly that I want to produce as much of my own produce as possible. What I can’t grow myself I will purchase from local farmers. My parents have been working on their garden as well and I was the lucky recipient of 3 extra blueberry bushes, 2 strawberry plants, and some raspberry bushes! I will find extra places to tuck them all in.
  • Borrowing lots of library books, and listening to library audio books. Returning everything on time though my library doesn’t have late fees anymore.
  • Doing my best to eat from the freezer/pantry and do as little grocery shopping as possible. I did go to the market this weekend for some produce as I had exactly NO vegetables or fruit in the house! I’ve done a good job using up frozen produce but didn’t realize I was totally out! So I got lettuce, carrots, Persian cucumbers, and two apples. That should hold me for a while.

I’m sure there were other things but my brain is fuzzy due to my mistakenly taking drowsy allergy meds! I’m going to take a mini snooze before getting to work on dinner. I hope you are all having a lovely day!

Hello friends

/ thefrugalportlander / 2 Comments

Like I said, the most inconsistent blogger!

Apparently I took a year off. But, it was quite a year. I think we can all acknowledge that the past two years have been……..wild. I remember December 2020 thinking “I can’t wait for the new year. Everything will go back to normal.” How naive we all were! How silly to think that things would be different just because it was a new year. I feel like 2020 and 2021 were one big blur, almost like nothing happened and everything happened all at the same time.

A few life updates from me. Most notably, I am on a medical leave of absence from work. I made the difficult but necessary decision back in November to step away from work temporarily to focus on my health. Crohn’s Disease is a lifelong illness that I have dealt with since I was a teenager. Chronic illness is no joke, and my body was screaming at me to pay attention. I wasn’t able to function like a normal person. I had lost about 20 pounds (which is a LOT when I only weighed 120 lbs to begin with), was nauseated daily, wasn’t sleeping, and couldn’t keep food down, among other symptoms. I was exhausted and my nerves were frayed. Trying to show up daily to work was giving me such stress and anxiety that I knew something needed to change. So I discussed with my doctors and we decided that I needed to step away to focus on my health. My medicine was clearly no longer working, and major changes needed to be made.

This would be difficult and time intensive under normal circumstances. But, as we all know, these are not normal times. Covid has made everything medically related take substantially longer. Offices are not doing in person visits, procedures are being put off unless absolutely emergent, medical providers are dealing with staffing shortages due to burnout and illness, and on and on and on. You get the idea. Nothing is going according to plan. And of course, my doctors were determined to keep me out of the hospital unless absolutely necessary. I did have one minor surgery a couple weeks ago, but even that was done as an outpatient procedure (which to me was WILD). But I must admit I was much happier recovering at home in my own bed.

Now onto the frugal things!

For the months of January and February I decided to participate in the Three Rivers Challenge! The challenge encourages you to use only the food in your freezer/pantry/that you have preserved and not buy groceries. The idea being, you put all this food away and often it goes unused. Why did I can all those peaches if not to eat them? Why did I freeze all those beans if not to eat them? I don’t live on a homestead, I don’t have chickens, my life looks very different than many of those who participate. But that’s the fun! Everyone gets to set their own rules as no two homes or families are the same. I allowed myself to spend less than $10 on fresh produce weekly if needed, and I allowed food gifts (ie if my mom made dinner and dropped off a serving for me, that was acceptable!) I definitely went through a lot of my baking supplies that I had stocked up on, and I made a good dent in my chest freezer! It definitely showed me what I need to preserve more of this year (peaches!) and where I was pretty on the mark (applesauce). I will definitely be doing the challenge again next year, and maybe even again late summer if I feel up to it. I have gone to the grocery store a couple of times so far this month but I’m going to try to get through til April now without going to the store. I still have plenty of food in the house and this will save money and time.

Sort of related but also not related at all, it’s almost garden planting time! I cannot wait to get my hands in the dirt and get those seeds in the ground. I still need to till the soil in my beds and add some perky soil to top them off but I am SO EXCITED. This year I am going to add garden trellises made from livestock panels. I have been watching all the YouTube videos and doing my reading homework. My neighbor was making a similar trellis of their own last week and has offered to go to the farm supply store with me to get supplies as well as assist me in construction of my tunnels. I think having some help bending the panels will be immensely helpful. Peas can apparently go in the ground as early as St Patrick’s Day (which happens to be tomorrow) so I need to get a wiggle on!

I have been working and reworking my garden plan and I think I have it all laid out the way that will work the best for me. Different plants require different plant neighbors, some require something to climb, some require more of less sun. The obsessive planner in my really likes the planning part.

Other frugal accomplishments:

  • My mom is teaching me to sew and I made my first tea towel! Baby steps but very exciting.
  • It’s my neighbor’s birthday today and I made my famous carrot cake cupcakes using all items I had on hand. The recipe makes 24 cupcakes so they got 12 and I got to keep 12 for myself. YUM
  • Reading library books
  • Driving as little as possible because holy moly gas prices! Happy to stay home as much as possible. And because I have been recovering from surgery for the past three weeks, I wasn’t even able to drive until a few days ago.
  • A local grocer offers a free item to club members occasionally. My dear friend picked up a dozen free eggs and delivered them to me today as she doesn’t eat them. I don’t either, but I do use them in baking.
  • I did a full load of laundry and hung everything to dry on a lovely sunny day.
  • Watched Netflix and Hulu to keep myself entertained as I don’t have cable.
  • Reading fellow frugal blogs daily as inspiration.

That’s all I can think of at the moment. It is easy to lose sight of the big picture when it feels like the world is falling down around us. My heart goes out to the people of Ukraine and all those affected by this horrible war. Focusing on the small tasks in front of me is helpful. So I will continue to love on my dogs, vacuum, water my plants, read my books. Take care lovelies.

Greetings from the world’s most inconsistent blogger

/ thefrugalportlander / 1 Comment

Hey friends (all three of you) how are you holding up? This whole Covid-19 situation is really starting to wear me out, how about you? I’m exhausted. I ache. I want to hug people. This sucks. That’s really all there is to say about it.

People are dying at such incredible rates, and there doesn’t seem to be any slowing it down. Luckily, my parents have gotten their first dose of the vaccine and they get their second shots today! I am so grateful that they managed to get on that list, my heart rests a little easier now.

Alright so let’s see, what frugal things have we been up to lately?

I have been really good about using up the food in the house and not going to the store. This is good for a multitude of reasons: I am saving money by eating what I already have, I am not wasting food, I am not buying random goodies that always manage to get snuck into the cart, I am not around people who could potentially have covid, I am not able to spread the often invisible illness to my community. Among others!

I used some of the MANY carrots that were languishing in the produce drawer to make carrot cake cupcakes (my favorite) because obviously we couldn’t very well let the carrots NOT be made into cake. Right? Right.

I have been outsmarted by my thermostat. I have a Nest installed that allows me to schedule the temperature to go up or down at a set time of day. It’s wonderful. Well normally I have it set at 68 during the day ant 66 at night (during the cold and wet winters here in the PNW) but the other morning I noted just how chilly it was. Turns out, my thermostat had restarted and gone into “money saving mode” or whatever it was called. The house had gone down to 62 overnight and was set to 64 during the day. Oof, let me tell you, that’s too chilly for me. And my dogs, let’s blame it partially on the dogs. So I did adjust it but not by much: 66 during the day and 62 overnight. The dogs sleep in sweaters (don’t judge me they have short hair!) the cat sleeps under the covers with me and I generally wear a sweatshirt to bed. During the day we bundle under blankets and generally I am happy with this temperature setting. For now. And hopefully this will save us some money!

I have been getting take out from a local Mexican restaurant once a week in an effort to help them keep the business afloat. There have definitely been days during the week where I am tired and just want to push the easy button and order food. But I remind myself that I am making a conscious decision with how I want to spend my money, and supporting Rocio’s is where I currently am focused in that regard. I have plenty to eat and when Saturday evening rolls around it feels like a treat to have take out.

I read my favorite blogs daily. Reading blogs about how other people maintain their frugal ways, even during all this craziness, helps keep me on track. It reminds me that I am not alone in this, and every little bit helps. Sometimes it is hard to see the positive, especially in the middle of a global pandemic, but I can do this. And so can you friends.

Sending you my love.

A Few Things

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Oof, it has been a while. Let me sum up what I’ve been up to these past few months:

I bought a house! (and moved!)

The election sent me into a total tail spin and I basically had a week long panic attack.

Covid numbers are sky rocketing and boy am I freaked out.

So here we are. Back in a self imposed quarantine, holed up with my furry critters. Thanksgiving is a little over a week away, and in order to be able to see my parents and celebrate safely, we are all quarantining in preparation. I am still anxious, but we are doing the best we can. Four of us should be ok so long as we quarantine ourselves as required leading up to the holiday.

So let’s see, what frugal things have I been up to lately?

  • I have found all of the things I needed for my house from either family members, Goodwill, my local buy nothing group, or for free on NextDoor. I am determined not to just run over to Target to buy these things (cheese grater, peeler, ice cream scoop etc). Giving a second life to an already loved home item makes me very happy. It takes a little longer to acquire what I need occasionally, but I’m ok with that.
  • I combined two random leftovers to make a delicious dinner. I had some sushi rice from my Chinese takeout last week and I had a single serving of veggie soup in the fridge that needed eating. So I added the rice to the soup to bulk it up and it was definitely tasty, as well as feeding me for two additional meals.
  • I ordered my cat food to be delivered monthly through Chewy. My old man kitty requires a pretty standard diet, but since I’m trying my hardest not to leave the house, I have been going through Chewy to get his food. Setting it up to auto deliver every 8 weeks saves me about $8 a bag. (I’ve done the math and know down to the day how long it will take us to go through a bag)
  • I am a little late to the bread baking game, but I have started baking something new once a week just to learn. So far I’ve tried cinnamon rolls and garlic herb dinner rolls. Both were super fun to make, and very enjoyable to eat! I don’t know that it will save me a bundle, but it’s a hobby that feeds me (and others!) and keeps my mind actively engaged.
  • My library system opened up again back in the summer for pick up appointments. Still no browsing, but I was delighted to be able to go pick up books again. Today sadly, they emailed again halting all library services until we can get our local Covid numbers back under control. I totally get it and want them to be sad, but I’m admittedly a little sad to lose the chance to pick up library books. That being said, my mom and I have PLENTY of books among us to share and read. So I won’t be bored, I just love love love my library.
  • I got my flu shot back in early September, and I’ve stocked up on cold medicine and everything I could think that I would need to get through this cold wintery season. As someone who is immune compromised, I have to be extra cautious. I have a happily full larder and we really don’t need anything. Especially now that I’m making bread goodies on my own! I can have produce delivered as needed, but otherwise I have all the food I should need to last for 2-3 months.

It’s a scary place we find ourselves. Covid is running rampant and hospitals are begging people to stay home. So we are doing our part. My dogs can play in the yard, we can go for walks, but we don’t NEED to go anywhere. We will do our part. Stay safe my friends.

Frugal things

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That gorgeous friend up there isn’t necessarily related to my frugal activities lately, but darn isn’t she a beauty!!

So now, let’s see, what frugal things have I been up to lately?

  • Tonight for dinner I made a “chickn” sandwich using odds and ends I had in the fridge/freezer. I find myself often not really interested in eating, which is a bit of a problem. I definitely feel worse if I don’t eat anything. So I pulled out some “chickn” from the freezer and popped it in the oven. Toasted up a frozen hamburger bun (only one left now!) sliced up a fresh pickle and got out the last lil bit of vegan fry sauce. I sliced the “chickn” and put it on the bun with sauce and pickles and LET ME TELL YOU, yum. It was delicious, cheap (I already had the ingredients on hand), and frugal because it managed to save a couple of items that could potentially have gone to waste. win/win/win!
  • I stayed with my parents this weekend. In these Covid times, no one is traveling (at least I certainly am not). Going out of town to see friends isn’t an option. Heck, having dinner with friends isn’t an option. And that has quite frankly been really bumming me out lately. So when it was forecasted to be over 100 degrees all weekend (eww, that is WAY too hot for Oregon) my mom invited the dogs and I to come stay the weekend. Let me tell you, it was fantastic for my mental health. My mom and I made popsicles, ate too much cheese, sat in 3 inches of water in the inflatable pool, read lots, and just generally enjoyed out time together. I adore my mom and we are really close so this pandemic has been particularly stressful for me. I just want to hug her all the time. So we decided me staying the weekend was a safe risk to take for our own sanity. It also gave me some time away from my roommates, and gave them the weekend with the house to themselves. Win/Win!
  • I did not go grocery shopping last week. I did stop into New Seasons on Saturday to pick up some Burrata to go with my mom’s tomatoes but that was it. I ate food I already had in the house and didn’t make any little trips to pick anything up. It was great to skip a week of grocery buying!
  • I am slowly and intentionally trying to stock up on things that are important in my life while not taking up too much space. I am eyeing the sales and shopping accordingly. I just have a feeling that in a month or so, once everyone is “back” to school and fall weather hits that we are in for a walloping flu/covid season. Best start preparing now!
  • In preparation for moving eventually, I went through my books and culled probably 80 books! I filled up grocery bags with them and stuck them in my truck. This weekend I drove around and deposited them in little free libraries all over the city. The books brought me joy at one point but I didn’t need them anymore so I hope they will bring joy to someone else!
  • I shared/swapped food with a friend. I LOVE this part of the pandemic. It has brought out the sharing/trading community and I am here for it. My friend made scones and homemade pudding (drool) and in return I shared potatoes and stock. We both feel it was a winning trade so we are both happy!

What about you? What frugal things have you accomplished lately?

A few more frugal things. Because what else are we doing these days?

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Anyone else starting to get quarantine fatigue? Same. I miss my people. I miss grocery shopping. I miss silly things like going for a margarita with friends. That being said, I am completely good with staying home for as long as it takes to keep my loved ones (and all the other idiots out there) safe.

So here are some frugal things I have been up to lately!

  • I’ve been making some slightly unconventional meals in order to use up the food in my fridge. Today for example, I needed to use 3 celery stalks and an avocado. So I whipped up a tuna salad with canned tuna, celery and smashed avocado. Actually this is one of my favorites so it’s really not weird to me!
  • I took Holden to have a couple of lumps checked. This in itself isn’t frugal (it cost close to $400). However, knowing that they are benign instead of cancerous tumors that are growing free reign all over him is really a peace of mind that I am willing to pay for.
  • While at the vet he also got his rabies vaccine required by the county. I did this on time so I will not have to pay any fees!
  • Libraries here in Portland are still closed for the foreseeable future. le sigh. I read A LOT. So this has been a huge bummer. Luckily my mom is also quite the avid reader so I have still managed to maintain a supply of new to me books to read. They might be different than what I would have automatically reached for, but I am really enjoying trying something new!
  • Almost every weekend my parents go to their local farmer’s market and buy a flat of strawberries. I then always end up with a pint or so. I love strawberries, but my tummy doesn’t like me to eat copious amounts of them. So I’ve made quick jam just about every week. It’s just berries, sugar and lemon juice. And we eat it on toast and it’s gone within the week or so. Saves on wasting the fruit and making sure it doesn’t go bad!
The ever elusive Holden. Rarely pictured because a) he rarely sits still b) he doesn’t always photograph well!

Day 9,325 (ok but really it’s week 12 of quarantine)

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Does it feel like we’ve been at this forever? or that we have forever left to go? Ya, I’m right there with ya. But realistically, that’s not the case. I have been working from home (and not going to the store, or seeing friends, or hugging LITERALLY ANYONE for 12 weeks). Cabin fever hasn’t really set in, but I definitely miss my people. I miss Wayne, I miss going for drinks with friends, popping into my mom’s office at lunch time. But here we all are, and here we shall remain for some time longer!

So, what frugal things have I been up to lately? Funny you should ask!

  • I have not gone to the grocery store in a LONG time. And as someone who loves grocery shopping, this is admittedly pretty difficult for me. But my brother and my parents deliver care packages on occasion, and I food swap with friends/neighbors from a safe distance. So I haven’t set foot in a proper market in over a month. I have instead, been using what I have in my freezer, getting delivered in my weekly CSA (yay fresh produce!) and getting creative. And double plus bonus, it’s going just fine. I definitely end up with repeat meals (hello gnocchi or garlic bread pizza) but I am not complaining. I only freeze and make food that I know I know i’m going to enjoy and I’ve always been one to eat repeat meals day after day.
  • I have spent exactly $0 on gas this month. I think since the beginning of the pandemic (so say March 1 here in Portland) I have put maybe $30 of gas into my vehicle? Other than occasionally going to look at houses, because house hunting right now is a great idea, I’m not driving to work. I’m not driving on fun adventures. I’m really not driving much at all. So that is definitely saving $$$
  • Because I am working from home as opposed to being in the office at all, I am not paying for parking or snacks while at work. Because no matter how diligently I pack my lunch every day, I always end up “needing” a coffee or a bagel.
  • I have not cut my hair or had my brows waxed in MONTHS. And though I don’t get my hair cut that often, I easily spent $25 a month on my brows. So it never seems like a lot in the moment, but I’m realizing how it definitely all adds up!

The above (socially distanced photograph) was taken on Mother’s Day last weekend. My brothers planted tomatoes and lemon cucumbers for my mom per tradition, and we ate an early dinner of her favorite pizza on the porch. It was toasty warm (almost 90 degrees) and it was lovely. I couldn’t hug my mom but we were able to be together while still being safe. It was days like that that I am reminded of how good I really have it. I have such an incredible support system, a family that would move heaven and earth for me, wonderful friends, a safe roof over my head. I am really one lucky gal. And let’s try to remember that during these difficult times, we do have a lot to be thankful for.

How the corona virus is affecting my finances

/ thefrugalportlander / 2 Comments
mmmm…….bread

Like basically everyone on the internet, I decided to learn to make bread this weekend. A coworker offered to teach me over video chat, and it was such a cool experience!

I have literally never made bread before. And not that I need to be buying fresh bread every week, I LOVE bread. So I thought having this skill in my arsenal wouldn’t be a bad thing. We spent the better part of the day (6 hours) prepping, resting, rolling, folding, and finally baking the bread. Was it perfect? Absolutely not. Was it delicious? Oh you bet your butt.

Let’s see, what else? I have been in a grocery store twice in the past 8 weeks, and this has definitely lowered my grocery bill. I am working my way through everything on hand and finding new things to use up daily. I am not going for coffee or drinks with friends, but once a week I am ordering take out from a favorite local spot. So this line item of my budget is also considerably lower. I do get an Imperfect Foods box weekly (mostly produce) so this allows me to have fresh fruits and veggies, and requires that I actually plan accordingly to eat it all.

I will admit, that the first few weeks of home quarantine I definitely spent way more money than I needed to. I was worried about all my favorite local businesses, and my favorite animal rescues, and basically threw money at them all. I don’t regret it. I feel like I’ve contributed, and I ended up with some really cool swag. (I have enough sweatshirts for all of eternity, please don’t let me buy anymore. ever.) I bought a few gifts and pre-paid for a haircut with my friend. She needs the money now and will happily cut my hair when it’s safe to do so again.

On top of that, I’m not driving regularly, and not parking downtown. This is saving me heaps of money as it costs $18 a day downtown, and I typically put gas in my car about every 10 days. Now it’s more like every 40 days. And since I am working from home I don’t need to pay for any transportation or parking costs.

All in all, I think I am probably coming in about even, maybe saving a little money. I think the longer this continues, the more I will save, balancing out the money I spent initially. How about you? How are you handling your finances through this?

More frugal things (because it has just been that kind of week)

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  • Back in January I bought tickets to a concert for my closest friend and I for her birthday. It was scheduled for June 24th and I was crossing my fingers that by some miracle we would be able to attend. Of course, the show has been cancelled. While I am super bummed, there will always be another show. And this morning I saw that the cost of ticket was refunded to my account. So that money went straight into savings.
  • While I was online looking at my bank statement I noticed two charges of $70 from Instacart (the grocery delivery app). Yesterday I ordered groceries for delivery and they put a hold on your card of a certain dollar amount, and then refund you the difference based on what you actually spend. But twice? That didn’t make sense. So I reached out to customer service, and if it doesn’t disappear in 10 days I will contact them again for a refund. It always pays to check your statements people!
  • I have been eating a lot of snacky bits instead of full meals these days, and that works just fine for me. Half a bowl of steamed rice? Snack. Leftover broccoli? Snack. Strange, but it’ll do and it will prevent food waste!
  • I sent referral codes for Imperfect Produce boxes to three friends and they all signed up! I should have $30 credit for this so that’s very exciting!
  • Not exactly frugal, but I have been sending at least one card a day to a friend or loved one. I think it is so important to stay connected now more so than ever. And everyone loves getting mail that isn’t a bill. So I am happy to send random cards to the people I care about to brighten their day.
Wayne and I on Earth Day two years ago. He kept saying “Momo hair” as the wind blew my hair in my face. He would very carefully pull the hair aside, only for the wind to do it again. Sigh, hair Momo. One of my very favorite memories with him.