Thankful

Today is my last day at my contract job, and I have never been more thankful for the fact that we've been living frugally. While getting laid off is a bummer and a small bump in our grand plan, it is not a disaster. I am now so thankful that we were not *depending* on my paycheck. I am thankful that I could enjoy the last two weeks of working with people who I respect and admire, rather than feeling frantic about getting a new job. Frugality can do this. Saving and living below your means can do this.

When we make major financial decisions, we ignore the fact that we (sometimes) have two incomes. Sometimes that is hard- we could greatly upscale our lifestyle if we tacked on the money I earned to my husband's income. We could live in a bigger house, take fabulous vacations twice a year, both drive brand new cars, wear new clothes, and have a TV we did not get for free from somebody who was upgrading to one of these. We could have upgraded instead. We could have had a lot of things, and it could be hard to pass up pretty things, knowing that I could, in theory, afford it.

Today I am thankful that I can go to my last day and enjoy the wonderful people who I have come to know rather than panicking about my finances, and the calm and confidence about the future that I am enjoying right now is worth more than any of those things I passed up in the store.

WOW!

Can I say I am floored at how many people have signed up with my Dog Days of Summer Giveaway? WOW. Just...wow! If you have not been here before, thanks for stopping by my blog! I hope you like what you see and will return, even after Dog Days is over.

I will be doing the drawing on Friday evening, and I will both e-mail the winner and announce it on the blog. If you have not signed up yet for my 100% free giveaway, go here.

For other great giveaways, go here!

Sunday Afternoon

I love Sunday afternoons, especially when the weather is nice. It's been so deary and blah in Wichita the past few weeks, and I know that it has been affecting everybody's mood in the household. Today it is sunny and 58 degrees, and everyone in the house is cheerful. Ahhh. My husband is working on his Master's thesis in the office. The roommate is tinkering with things in the garage, and I'm puttering around the house, admiring how differently things look in the sunlight.

Here's my dollar garage sale bowl, filled with sale priced Cameo apples.

Here's dinner in one of my crockpots- bargain chicken legs, being made into Spicy Hot Chicken Legs. I do the baking in the oven part at the end. It's worth it to crisp it up a bit. Yum!

Here's a little treat I got myself today at Aldi's. The Valentine's Day roses were half off. Since the regular Aldi's price is 2.99 for half a dozen, I would say that half off is an exceptional deal. I love fresh flowers!

I hope everybody is having a peaceful Sunday.

Frugal Fridays: Use What You Have

I have been watching others talking about curtains at Crystal's blog the past few days, and ideas on how to make them. Yesterday I thought that I would finally get around to making some for our living room windows. I was excited by this, but did not want to spend more than ten or fifteen dollars.

After puttering around Hobby Lobby and Wal-Mart, I could not find any fabric that I liked for less than 3 dollars a yard. I was a bit bummed out. I was not going to have nice curtains like all the other ladies were making and showing on their blogs right now! I went home and resloved to be patient and to wait to see what I could find later on at yard sales and thrift stores and Freecycle. I frequently see fabric for next to nothing at all three of those sources, so I figured I could wait.

While I was fixing lunch, I had an epiphany. Um, I already had curtains. I've had them for years, and they had spent a lot of time getting dusty in a drawer, for someday. I usually don't keep things around, as I hate clutter, but these were one thing I had kept. I pulled them out, washed them, and hung them with curtain rods that the previous owner of the house had left in the utility room. Ta-Da, and it cost me nothing to do, except the gas I spent looking at fabric. When you want something, poke around your home- you may already have it!

My nice reading corner, now with curtains!

Freecycle Does it Again!

Happy New Year everybody! We're finally back after being stranded in Colorado due to the storms. Luckily, we were at my parents house, and not in an airport.

This year, we carpooled with our housemate, whose parents live in Colorado as well, about two hours from where we were going. His brother met him at a halfway point in Colorado, and Kirk picked him up on Wednesday for the trip back. Our plan was to stay on Thursday for my sister's birthday and leave early on Friday. That did not work out, and it's lucky that we did not leave as planned, because we had A Problem.

Now, you remember I graduated from graduate school on December 15th. I had taken the train out to Colorado. My husband had joined me later. He also brought our house mate, our dog, our four guinea pigs, and our rabbit. The car was quite packed, even without me and my stuff. Then Christmas happened, and while none of us received anything terribly big or tons of things, it added to the amount we had to stuff into our car. Our little, little '89 Honda Accord. Did I mention that it is not a huge car? It really was impossible to fit all our stuff, animals, and ourselves in the car.

Our first thought was to mail things. It was going to be expensive, but we were really unsure what else we could do about it. It was when I was wishing to my mother that they still had their old cargo tub for the top of the car that a thought struck- why not try Freecycle for a top of the car cargo tub?

It was a long shot, but you won't receive unless you ask. I really did not expect that anybody would have something that big to give away. I barely even checked my e-mail during this time. I did not really expect anybody to reply.

But somebody did! They wanted to get rid of theirs, as was taking up too much room. All it needed were straps to attach it to the car, which were inexpensively found at Wal-Mart. I honestly still am in shock that we were granted this wonderful item. Our prayers were answered so directly. We are going to hold on to this item for awhile, as space is always an issue when we travel for long periods of time, but when we get rid of it, we've already committed to giving it away for free.

I think Freecycle is one of the frugal person's best tools, both for giving and receiving. It's a great way to clear clutter from your home. You never know- that item that has been gathering dust in your basement may be a prayed for blessing to somebody else.

Today I'm Thankful

That I passed my thesis defense! I will be graduating with my MA in English on December 15th. There were no problems, the train was wonderful, and my parents came back with me to celebrate Thanksgiving with us here in Wichita. I hope everybody has a wonderful and blessed day today!