Still inundated by work, but the end is in sight. Whew!
This past week I:
- Repaired the hem of a hand towel rather than replace it.
- Was also able to reuse some old Command hooks by getting replacement strips. Definitely cheaper than replacing the hooks with new ones.
- We had been looking for a replacement for our small non-stick skillet for a while, and really wanted a ceramic lined one instead of the traditional (maybe unhealthy) kind. We hadn’t seen one in the size we needed for less than $30, but came across one at Tuesday Morning for $12! It was even a pretty green that went with our kitchen colors. We found out at the register that it was on clearance, so we ended up paying less than $10 for the exact sort of skillet we wanted. It really does pay to wait, if you can.
- Stocked up on some extra groceries to take advantage of some good sale prices.
- Read somewhere that the average person spends $147 on Valentine’s Day gifts and laughed myself silly. I’d say Lennox spends about $30 on flowers for me (never roses, roses are for chumps, haha), and I spend about $5 on a fancy card for him. Some years we go out to dinner somewhere casual, often my favorite Mexican restaurant — no reservations required, and only around $35. I’d say spending $70 at the most instead of nearly $300 is a pretty significant savings — and also a good example of the sorts of habits most representative of lifelong frugality.
- Got my eShakti order in the mail, courtesy of a very generous gift card I got from my Mom in December. I wasn’t sure I should really include it here, as I did spend about $60 over the value of the gift card, but considering that I got two custom size dresses and a custom shirt, I still feel like I got a good deal. I rarely get brand new clothes (that I don’t sew myself), so it feels like a real indulgence! However, considering that I do get higher quality clothes from eShakti that last longer and look better than regular off-the-rack clothes, I still think this counts. Considering how disposable fast fashion clothing can be — it rarely lasts more than a few washes, in my experience — I bet I actually save money shopping this way in the long run. I have a dress from eShakti that I purchased in 2010 and still wear, for instance.
- Read only one eBook from the library this week, mostly because I have been way too busy working to read at my normal pace.
That’s about it for now! Back to the salt mines…