Five Frugal Things | I know it’s been quiet here

It’s been a little bit quiet here, I know. I just…I haven’t quite known what to say or what’s appropriate to write. 

Since I am a white person with privilege in multiple arenas, I am often unsure of what the helpful thing is to say at times like these. 

Saying the wrong thing is bad, but sometimes, saying nothing can be even worse.

So, I want to say: racism is terrible and sad, and my heart is heavy as I listen to black people share what they face in this country on a daily basis.

I might not know what to say, but the least I can do is listen, so that is what I am trying to do.

The personal finance community and particularly the frugal blogosphere is pretty heavily populated with white people, and if you, like me, would like to broaden your horizons and follow a more diverse group of people who write/broadcast about money, here’s a little list:

(I realized my Instagram feed was quite a white bubble, so I did some following to balance that out a bit. All of us learn more when we are not surrounded just by people like ourselves.)

• Nicole from Frugal Chic Life

(Nicole’s Instagram post is definitely worth a read)

• Mary and Ken from The Humble Penny 

(Nicole and Ken are both in my mastermind group. <3 )

• Jamila from Journey to Launch
• Julien and Kiersten from Rich and Regular
• Tiffany from Budgetnista
• Chris from Popcorn Finance

And there’s a big ol’ list here.

I know that some of you will not appreciate that I brought this topic up. Some people on Instagram unfollowed me yesterday for it, and I know some of you will stop reading my blog because of this post, and that’s ok.

If the worst thing that happens to me for addressing racism in my own heart and in the world at large is that I lose followers…that’s a pretty small price to pay. 

This isn’t going to become a political blog (just like it’s not a blog about Christianity, even though I am a Christian), but I just did not feel right about saying nothing right now. 

1. I sold Zoe’s math books.

On Wednesday, she finished Saxon Algebra 1.

On Thursday, I listed the books (textbook, answer key, test book) on eBay.

On Friday, they sold and I shipped them out.

I bought those books secondhand, used them for all four of my kids, and sold them for $40. So, I’m pretty happy with that!

I used to have a whole library of Saxon math books here, but as Zoe finishes them, I promptly list them for sale. So now I am down to owning only one set of Saxon math books; the algebra 2 set.

(and you know I’m selling that as soon as Zoe finishes in 2 years!)

2. I sold Zoe’s ornithology book.

Do we see a theme here? Finished non-consumable schoolbooks do not collect dust around here. Heh.

Sometimes I think, oh, I should wait and list these when it’s closer to the start of the next school year.

But they do seem to sell in pretty short order even when I list them in the spring/early summer.

And you know I like to get clutter out of here FAST.

3. We got 3 tree-removal estimates.

In the process, we discovered that we have not one dead oak tree, but two. Sigh.

The estimates varied quite wildly; we are saving $3600 by going with the low vs. the high estimate.

In the end we are paying $2500 for the removal of two oak trees plus removal of dead branches from the other five or six oak trees out there (we have a lot of oak trees!).

And this is a company that we’ve used before, so we feel confident that they will do a good job. 

4. We paid $0.12 out of pocket for dinner for two.

The girls were all not here last night, so Mr. FG and I got takeout and used the rest of our Panera gift card (that one I found in my glove compartment!), plus a $15 gift card from Christmas.

Our total out of pocket was twelve cents. 🙂 

5. I…

• ordered a secondhand book
• used my Target Redcard debit card for a 5% discount (every bit helps!)
• drank coffee at home
• ate leftovers
• bought some marked-down meat and put it in the freezer

What frugal things have you been up to? 

P.S. It’s totally fine to comment on the racism part of this post too. I trust that you lovely bunch of people will keep the tone kind and thoughtful and that we can disagree without being disagreeable.