December Frugals

[early morning]

I understand. But for me, I love the smell of a real tree. And it's dead, already, just wasting away at the tree lot, lol. I generally cut a bit of greenery also. I also like a floor-to-ceiling tree (11 ft if possible). But I really don't want a fake tree that size! We'll see what we feel like next fall, as far as real/fake trees... It would, of course, be most frugal to use the fake white ones DD already owns.

Today, in frugal world, we stayed in, used up some left-overs for meals, baked some squash that was a bit past its prime, and did vdl. A good day!

[Yppej]

My doctor's appointment has been pushed off for a second time, to February. I get why the doctor wants to extend her maternity leave and not come back in a pandemic possibly bringing the virus home to her baby.

My rash is better around my mouth but spreading down my neck. It may be eczema, a condition that can be chronic. So much for people who say masks are just another article of clothing and harmless. I never had this before, and am trying to drink more cold fluids and moisturize more often. It's very inflamed, itchy and red. But I don't want the expense of being seen outside my annual physical.

[SteveinMN]

Frugal chicken soup: two chicken carcasses and one turkey carcass from the past couple of months out of the freezer, and I got to use up half an onion, a scallion and a half, some celery left over from Christmas grazing, a few aging radishes and jalapeño peppers, and some remaining mushroom flavor powder. Dinner is set for a couple more nights.

[Yppej]

I got groceries after skipping a week, and plan to skip next week also. I would like to only go every two weeks until covid lessens which will also save money since I will eat up less appetizing foods when I run low rather than let them sit around.

[Tybee]

That's a good plan, Yppej. I would like to get my husband to try it--he is the one who is constantly going to the grocery and constantly thinking about food, cooking, and eating. Ironically, he is also the one who can eat all day and never gain a pound.

[SteveinMN]

Yppej, we've been doing that, too. By the time the second week rolls around, some dishes get kind of interesting (like this week's chicken soup, in which I forgot to mention the leftover fennel and cabbage I tossed in to use them up). I've thrown away/composted far less food this year because we find something to do with almost all of it. The only exception is eggs -- I cannot recall throwing away so many eggs that are cracked inside the carton; perhaps because with pickup/delivery, I'm not the one who picks out the cartons.

[rosarugosa]

File this one under "I wasn't being frugal; I was being cheap." For years, we have used a very inexpensive kitty litter from Costco (Simply Purrfect). It was the scoopable type, and admittedly pretty dusty. Recently, it seems to be even more dusty, like "new formula, same low price, but now with EXTRA dust!" We tried another version from Costco that was a bit more expensive, but much less dusty (Scoop Away). It clumps a lot better too, but it is highly perfumed, and both our guys smelled like they were wearing bad cologne. After reading a bunch of reviews, we are now trying Frisco from Chewy's, and I think we've got a winner. Unscented, seems to clump well, reasonably priced (everything is a quite a bit more expensive than the first one, but oh well, sometimes you get what you pay for), and since Chewy has home delivery, we have to do a lot less handling of 40 lb containers.

[early morning]

I like chewy, they are very competitive for the specialized dry food we give our cats, and about a third less for the maintenance meds our big cat gets for his asthma. (Yes, he has asthma - trigged by - wait for it - CAT hair.) And yes, we love the delivery, so for us, a convenience AND a frugal! Thankfully, we're able to use wood pellets for litter - cheap, environmentally friendly, smells nice, and we just dump it in the field, where it goes to pretty much nothing. I'm really glad we have that option - I realize most people do not. In other frugals, we set up the sewing machine, and I mended a shirt for DH. Turned a turtle-neck I didn't like into a mock turtle, which I will wear. Bought 2 doz eggs at the dollar store yesterday while on a library run, which will let me move grocery shopping back to the beginning of next week, at least.

Happy frugal New Year, everybody!

[rosarugosa]

Wow Early, never heard of a cat being allergic to cat hair!

[NewGig]

We use oil dry, the corn stuff and the pine stuff, mixed for cat litter. Gives a scent we can stand (pine), the corn stuff is insanely expensive but clumps, and the oil dry is dead cheap.

Just ordered fabric from Etsy for my big kitchen curtains. Fabric was 10% off on sale and I had a little money left on a gift card. Yay!