New Year

One thing I’m really looking forward to in the new house is that there are no stairs. Not because I’m lazy, but because the children are constitutionally incapable of going up and down without acting, and sounding, like an entire herd of thundering elephants.

Food waste: some bean soup I defrosted. We ate some but there was just too much of it. Note to self: freeze in smaller portions. Some chia seeds I had soaking. It should have occurred to me that I can’t just keep adding seeds and water to the solution. Part of a tomato that drifted to the bottom of the fruit bowl and acted like an apple until it got a bit black. I bravely ate the unaffected portion. And the usual suspects from the children’s lunches.

I filled the trunk of my car on Sunday and took it to the Goodwill: clothes, toys, books, old kitchen stuff. I also shredded many documents with the able help of #1Child, who’s discovered a new avocation in shredding. And I sold another book on half.com and several magazines on ebay. I freecycled two decrepit kids’ bikes and a open container of goldfish (the goldfish kept dying, we moved onto a sturdy betta fish). I think I can get rid of 3 bookcases, a couple of small storage units, the enormous and unwieldy dresser in #2Child’s room, and my huge desk which is just a clutter magnet anyway. Phew!

Post-Thanksgiving update

Food waste: half a can of coconut milk, carefully placed in a glass jar in the fridge. Should have frozen it. I made half sandwiches for the children’s lunches at home the other day, they didn’t eat them. Horrible war between eating them myself (saving! but fattening!) and throwing them away (wasting! but slimming!).  I made a meringue for dessert on Tday and saved the egg yolks in the fridge, and keep forgetting to use them in either of the two batches of pancakes or the muffins (made with leftover cranberry relish), so I fear those may turn. I should get off my fat turkey-eating ass and freeze them.

No shopping was committed on Friday.  Small Business Saturday saw us trekking to our local downtown and me spending $32 (including tax) on stocking stuffers. We also ate at a place that turned out not to be participating so Other Adult didn’t get the $25 Amex credit. Whoops.

More spendy times

The children needed new jeans and pants. #1Child was adamant about NOT getting them at the thrift store. Off to Target. 6 pairs of jeans, 1 pair of leggings, $120. Oh well, now they’re equipped for the winter.

#1Child was ranting the other day about how “you never want to spend your money, you have all this money and you don’t want to spend it.” I stopped, took a deep breath, and said calmly, “Why do you think I have a lot of money?  What makes you think that?”  I was honestly curious. #1Child either could not, or chose not to, answer.

Food waste: some leftover white rice that went bad. Most of two pears that went from ripe to putrid overnight, literally. I chopped off the good bits and threw them into the bag in the freezer where I’m keeping other miscellaneous fruit leftovers.  And I don’t know if this counts, but I was making croutons under the broiler and burnt them, so had to throw out the charcoal blocks formerly known as bread AND the baking sheet that had caught on fire.  Whoops.

Food save: I made yogurt with the half gallon of milk I got for 99 cents because it was going to expire the next day. #1Child refused to drink expired milk, even after I explained the difference between sell-by and use-by dates.

A friend just gave me a bag of long-sleeved Ts.  They all fit and look great. 

I managed NOT to buy shoes, even though they were on sale. I don’t need shoes.  I took my shoes with the broken strap to the shoe repair place and had it fixed for $9. I would have had them fix the broken purse strap, but they wanted to charge $25. Since I got the purse at the thrift store of $3.50, I passed on that, took it back home, and used krazy glue. So far, so good.

Food waste, free fun, thrifting

An entire sweet potato went bad. Very sad.

On the plus side, #2Child enjoys my homemade yogurt with honey or maple syrup. I enjoy saving money and PACKAGING.  At the farmer’s market I got a wonderful avocado which made very delicious guacamole. OH! I checked the clearance section of the meat department and found several large roasts, 50% off, with an expiration date a couple of days safely in the future.  I bought two, stuck one in the freezer and the other in the crockpot. The crockpotted one so far provided two dinners for 4 and at least one lunch for 1 — all for $3.50.

This weekend the children and I enjoyed a friend’s birthday party (alas, not having my thrifting skills in place, I had to buy a new present — gift card) and also went to a free outdoor festival with a merry-go-round, bounce house, snacks, photo booth, and temporary tattoos. Did I mention it was all  free? The photo booth was my favorite part.

The other day #2Child and I swung by a thrift store while #1Child had a music class. I found a pair of pants for work and #2Child found some little tchotchkes. The children are not on board with the decluttering. We all went to a community rummage sale where #1Child spent hir own money; for my part, I got a skirt and two tops, a small picture frame for a print we got at the farmers market (it’s a card, but so pretty that we’ll frame it for one of the kids’ rooms — so original art for $3 including the frame!), face paint crayons, a shirt and a teapot for #2Child, all for $10, and the money supports a local food bank, so wins all around.  We went home happy.

Now to figure out how to bring in the kids’ Halloween party for a reasonable amount of money.