Aaaand this is why we struggle with bus use
Yesterday I made garlic & ginger soy chicken after cooking plain chicken for that nightās dinner so that today I wouldnāt want takeaway.
1 Like
*We got leftovers from our wedding, and there was way too put for us to eat before it went bad. Vacuum-sealed it and put it in the freezer. It will be a delicious meal in a month or two.
*Needed groceries (mainly veggies) and had a free trial to try out a delivery service plus a $10 off coupon. BF works at the grocery store they are delivering from so I know the prices arenāt exorbitantly higher for delivery.
ETA: weird formatting thing
3 Likes
Iāve been looking for a small backpack for walking around town or short hikes. Found one on the sidewalk the other day. I know I know, I inspected thoroughly for bedbugs and gave it a little quarantine time before working on it. It was discarded, I assume, due to a large tear in the outside fabric.
Today I stitched it up! Iām aggressively mediocre at sewing, but I had supplies from another buy nothing purge and gave it a try. Verdict: ugly but solid. Might do a second round to firm it up even more, but Iām slooow and this should hold for now. The inner lining serves as another safety net.
6 Likes
I like the contrasting color!
Designed my own landscaping renovations and laid my own pavers. Iām going to end up bringing in professionals at some point, but I havenāt reached that point yet.
6 Likes
Diligent use of leftovers to avoid food waste = less money spent, happier planet both.
It turns out that I am much better about eating at home and avoiding food waste when Wizard isnāt here and I need to examine that, because Wizardās not usually the one who pushes to go out or not use up some ingredient. Why do I change my behavior (in a way that I dislike in the abstract!) when heās around?
4 Likes
I reused the aluminum foil that D used to make roasted potatoes for my pizza. I wasnāt planning to use foil, but it was already oiledā¦ and weāre out of oil.
1 Like
I bought groceries, even though the grocery store is full of gross stuff
1 Like
Husband now makes the best spam musubi I can find anywhere. This has eliminated my main temptation for going to Hawaiian food carts.
3 Likes
DH made me a delicious aeropress coffee so that I didnāt feel like going out for brunch.
2 Likes
Today I stayed in the house and ate leftovers. I saved between 10-20 bucks.
6 Likes
Have you looked at the Prismo attachment? It improved my already strong aeropress game. Also removes the sometimes risky flip step of the inversion method (if you brew it the way).
Iām reviewing our pet insurance (we have it for both dogs) and have had since they were both puppies and currently have them both on comprehensive plans (that include both accident and illness).
We received our renewal notice for the older (4 years) dog: $76/month (the other mutt is slightly less due to a 10% multi pet discount - call it $70/month.
Iām going to apply the bathtub curve to dog ownership. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bathtub_curve
Weāre well out of puppyhood and have avoided any issues there around illness (the occasional ear infection etc which was covered, but nothing major or that we couldnāt afford).
And weād always planned to only have cover until they were 5-6 years old - otherwise it gets more and more expensive and large costs over time.
Accident coverwise - weāve used it once and it covered 80% of a $1000+ vet bill from our younger dog catching her back on an exposed fence nail.
Long story short - removing illness cover will halve our insurance bill, while still covering both dogs for any potential accidents.
2 Likes
As the owner of an uninsurable senior dog, I just want to ask if youāve considered their declining years. (That said, weāve never bought pet health insurance.)
1 Like
My sister (who is a vet tech) has told me that often people (in her area, that go to her hospital) with mid-age dogs drop their insurance (at like say age 3 or 4) because they think they donāt need it anymore, and often regret it because mid-age is when bad but treatable stuff often happens, because when the dogs are relatively young still there is frequently good chance for good quality of life with treatment (for example, thyroid issues or diabetes, or even cancer (depending the type), as opposed to, say, a senior dog with cancer). 
This surprised me (I never really thought about it that deeply.) That being said, I also have an un-insurable dog (I got her at age 14, so the cost would have been ridiculous), so I have no direct experience myself. And obviously it really depends on the insurance as well, and breed, if susceptible to breed-specific issues. And I also ultimately decided to self insure with my cats, because generally they are pretty healthy while young and mine are indoor only (less risk of bad stuff happening) and even with both my old cats getting medical conditions in their middle years it was probably still cheaper overall to not have paid insurance all that time. So YMMV, you know your pets best!
1 Like
Thanks for your thoughtful replies. Weāre in a lucky position where we can effectively self insure by saving/investing the premiums (i.e not insure but be prepared to pay any costs) and not end up bankrupt or suffer any cash flow issues.
I suspect one of our dogs will out live us, and gradually become grumpier and grumpier. The other one will probably live life to the fullest and suffer a lifestyle disease due to gluttony (which we need to start managing now). I also suspect the insurance mob will keep upping the insurance premium each year until it becomes unsustainable anyway - but people are hooked on the āguaranteed insurance for all agesā for your dog.
Current thinking is cut all insurance. The accident cover was a lot more important when the dogs regularly escaped from poorly fenced rental properties. Having spent nearly 3/4 a mil $ on a very well fenced house and yard (think spaceship airlock type set up with backyard and front yard both self contained). Thatāll be saving $125/month.
5 Likes
I admit to being really bad at submitting insurance claims, so weāve gone for setting aside the premiums every month separately from our other money.
Waited 30 min to bus home instead of Lyft.
2 Likes
Filled my scripts at the cheaper (and friendlier!) pharmacy.
2 Likes