Five Frugal Things | I’m almost there

We have a furnituker for the maple cabinets in our RV (where we live full time) but my husband discovered that one of the colored pencils in my Prismacolor pack of pencils was a PERFECT match. So if any of you use colored pencils for artwork or coloring then you may find a great match in there too!

i had a huge frugal fail this past week. an acquaintance from synagogue had her cat pass away. she wanted to meet my new puppy. i invited her to the stuy town cafe in my apt complex where buddy can stay on the terrace. i gave her $20. she gave me nothing back in change. i couldn't believe it. she knew my husband lost his job. i told her i would treat but my drink was $5. Am trying not to dwell on it and continue to be my generous self. my hubby is also generous. that is one thing we always agree on.

sorry the markers are guardsman and they came from bed, bath and beyond a thousand years ago. they have not driied out and they were $4.59 plus tax. the price label is still there,

Your daughter looks beautiful in that dress. She is so statuesque. Hope she had a wonderful time at prom.

Here's our Five Frugal Things for the week.

1. I received a VISA gift card for Mother's Day and used it to purchase vegetable plants for our garden. Between the seeds I ordered earlier in the year from an organic seed farm and these plants, we'll be able to fill the expanded space we've tilled.

2. With the price of food rising so sharply, we doubled the garden plot and are planning to do a raised bed for annual herbs. I did a small herb garden last year and dried much of the bounty. We enjoyed it so much that we've decided it's going to be a permanent fixture.

3. A fellow sewing friend took a trip to the New York City Garment District and brought back a "fabric challenge". She bought us both a yard of the same fabric - a patterned denim in creams, browns and golds. The challenge is for both of us to make something from it; not showing the other person until it is done. I decided it would make a pretty summer denim skirt. It wasn't quite enough fabric for the project, so I purchased a yard of light brown denim for $3.6o to coordinate with it. I downloaded a free online pattern, too. I'm excited for a new skirt and can't wait to see what she does with hers.

4. I do costume work for a local dance studio. One of the costumes needed to be glitzed up and I had to source about 18 yards of fabric. The local fabric store chain didn't have enough yardage in any one location and there was no way I was spending time and gas money running from store to store. The store said they could not consolidate it for me either. They suggested ordering online. When I googled, it, I found what I was looking for at a different company at a fraction of the price. The chain was selling it for $9.99 a yard plus shipping. With the coupon I had, I would have been able to get it for about $8 per yard. The alternate place I found had it on sale for $3.09 a yard with free shipping on the quantity I ordered.

5. I think I mentioned in an earlier post that I was contesting my house reassessment increase of 63%. I met with the assessor and gave her photos and comparables from my neighborhood. I got a letter in the mail that they are dropping the increase from $89,900 to $33,000 - doing the math, I determined that this represented an increase of about 4.9% per year since the last eval; which is lower than the national average. After understanding the math she used to calculate the new number, we felt the assessor listened and was fair. I am, however, going to be watching market trends over the next few years and will have no hesitation asking for a re-val if the market drops significantly.

At 72 years of age and my husband 82. We are building a deck off our out building 8x12. We have it framed and the floor joists hung. Working mostly two hours a day. It was to expensive to hire done. The treated lumber is heavy but we will get it done eventually. Maybe in two weeks. We both cut are on hair.