1. The news of the day here is that rare snow is in the forecast for today and this weekend. So upon getting the kids off to school today, I put Maple in the car and headed for some of our local trails to see how much of the fluffy stuff actually stayed around. We were in luck! I’ve never seen snow at these elevations here and Maple has never been in snow, so it was a frugal adventure that lasted about an hour but will be no doubt remembered for quite some time!
2. I did a little thrifting this week as I was out running errands and popped into my local Goodwill to see if I could find a gift or two for our twin sons’ birthday. I did not find a gift, but spent $26 on 3 items for resale. I listed 2 of the items on eBay and 1 on FB Marketplace. We’ll see how they do.
3. A decidedly unfrugal move was that we purchased a new clothes dryer this week as our 15+ year old secondhand dryer was dying a slow death over the last 2 years. With a 5 person household and kids in multiple sports, I am surprised the previous dryer lasted this long. Let’s hope the new one can get even half that life with how stuff is made these days. I hate to buy new appliances, but in this instance it made the most sense for us. I use the dryer nearly daily and used gas dryers were listed at $400+ locally. The basic Kenmore 7.2 cu ft dryer we purchased from Costco was $711, but includes installation and haul away. I noticed that not all of the big box stores offer haul away for free or free installation, so I’m happy with this decision. Also, Costco’s return policy is hard to beat!
4. I found a t-shirt for each of our twin sons on eBay for their birthday with their taste in mind. Each shirt cost about $12 and I’m hopeful that they will enjoy them.
5. I had a delightful afternoon and evening in San Francisco with our oldest son recently. I scored a free pass to the California Academy of Sciences via our library’s Discover & Go program. This is one of my son’s favorite places to visit as he is a science-loving guy. We spent a couple of hours walking around looking at the exhibits, including a planetarium show we had not yet seen. I bought him a t-shirt and moon sticker at the gift shop ($32) and a bag of chips ($5!) at the café. When asked where he’d like to have dinner, he picked a fancy place we’d gone to a time or two over the years. The meal was not cheap ($103) plus we had to pay $6.50 to park for an hour on the street, but we had a great time and I got to say yes to his requests including appetizer, burger and fries, and the classic chocolate sundae for dessert. For about $150, my son and I had a great day and I’ve decided to use my resale proceeds to continue to fund these types of “special days” with each of our kids. We only get so many years with them and they’re really flying by now.