Moving stuff out to move

Probably buying a house, which means moving, so decluttering is accelerating.  I took 6 grocery bags of clothes/shoes to Goodwill this week, donated some books to the Prison Library Project, and managed to sell a dress, a pair of shoes, and three books on eBay or half[dot]com. Tomorrow when the consignment place opens I’ll call them about taking a couple of jackets and dresses and combine that with taking in some old-fashioned jewelry to the place that buys such things. 

Went out for a pricy dinner last week.  Somehow I thought “we want to take you out” meant the other couple would treat … that plus the babysitting added up fast.  It was fun, though, and they are wonderful friends.  It evens out because they threw a great party (catered!) this past weekend and my parent came and watched the children, so we had a free fun night out.

Ate lunch for free at work twice last week.  Free lunch today and free dinner tomorrow.  And with Other Adult working through dinner time 5x/week, my dinners are much cheaper. 

Have to remember to make the luminarias with the children to use up the thrift store candles and the miscellaneous glass jars.

Raffle for savings

Last week my mother treated the children and me to a Christmas party put on by one of the clubs to which she belongs.  There were snacks and, excitingly, a raffle for which not many attendees bought tickets, apparently.  I bought 6 tickets for $5 (the party was a fundraiser for a Good Cause) and won a $20 gift card to a local toy/bookstore and a $10 gift card to a local cafe with a pound of coffee.  Each child got a craft kit. My mother (who bought 12 tickets) won a giant Christmas wreath and a journal. SCORE!  We used the cafe card the very next day.

Thrift store this week: I got a bag of miscellaneous candles — I want to make luminarias with the children; a holiday dress for #2Child; a pair of knee-high boots, real leather; 4 tops; and a puzzle for #2Child for Christmas. $35.  The dress was the most expensive item at $9.99.

Had free lunch at work twice.

All this, and we’re buying a house and about to take on hundreds of thousands of dollars of debt and see our monthly expenses rise, not in rent/mortgage so much as in utilities.  Lalala!

Double food save

I hope this counts, haha.  I’ve been saving the uneaten fruit slices (apple, mostly) in the freezer.  The bag filled up so I made a simple fruit puree.  I thought #2Child might eat some, but that wasn’t happening, so I used it in baked goods instead, breakfast cookies and some oatmeal muffins for Other Adult.

I realized that I haven’t bought cheese sticks in a long time.  The plastic packaging was the deal breaker there.  That also led to the homemade yogurt and to the cessation of granola bar purchasing, although OA gets them, and Clif bars, frequently. Now the argument is that OA needs them “for work” although OA also goes out to lunch every. single. day.  OA is not a brown bagger.  OA thinks my efforts to reduce waste and to conserve energy are silly.  Okay, now I’m pissed off.