Donating, Decluttering, Disaster

Mr. FS is driving to Tuscaloosa to pick up Miss Em. The rest of the semester has been canceled; finals are optional. Miss Em emailed a request list from the United Way: food, toiletries, clothing, linens, the usual.

So I am filling boxes and Mr. FS will drop them off at the collection centers. As usual, I need a kick in the butt to get around to giving back, paying forward, whatever you want to call it. I am sorry to say that I occasionally feel the pull of the object and resist giving it away. That's usually no big deal, but, in this case, the opportunity is now. By the time we return in the fall, the need will be much less. I have to force myself at times to let the object go.

Lesson 1 was the pull of the object. Lesson 2 was/is the realization that a lot of the stuff in my storage boxes would not be chosen by a recipient. Even giving some of this stuff would be an insult. To avoid dealing with my own issues, I will use Mr. FS as an example: how many boxes labeled "Work Tee shirts" does one need?

Interestingly, many of the tee shirts were given to us: blood donations, science fairs attended by others, school stuff. Since Mr. FS works in the yard a lot and does painting, we are the recipients of much tee shirt largesse. These NEVER wear out; they only acquire more stains.

So Readers: a confession. We threw out all but a few tee shirts. So far, I filled one box with shoes, one box with men's clothing, one box with women's, one extremely large box with sheets and towels, and one big shopping bag with soaps and stuff. I am only giving away NICE things.

I guess I should be glad to have so many nice things to give away.

Shopping List for Funny!

Thanks heavens for Funny About Money. First of all, I love her writing. Second of all, her dilemma at Safeway gives me an easy and (to me) enjoyable project to take my mind off all the suffering experienced by those in and around my daughter's college town of Tuscaloosa, AL.

I think Funny lives in Phoenix, so I moseyed over to the Safeway website to check their ads. The key to saving on food is to eat around the ads. Step 2 involves buying extra of canned/pantry/freezer items when they are on sale. As I keep repeating, I don't even use coupons. It takes a few minutes to look at the ads. My one frugal colleague and I do this at school on Wednesdays when the ads come out! Everyone laughs at us, but it will be a sad day when he retires and I lose my one frugal colleague.

Whoa! Prices at Safeway are kinda high!

Still, Funny found the chicken at 99 cents/lb. I would have bought the breasts, since they have more meat.

--Milk (I think Funny may have an allergy?) is half the price that I pay!
--Red seedless grapes are 99 cents a pound. That's good.
--baby carrots are the same. Good too. These last a long time, as do grapes.
--kiwis are 3/$1. Nice treat.
--squash is 99 cents/lb.
--oranges ditto.

How about a stir-fry with chicken, squash, and carrots? Or a creamy pasta with the same?

Sometimes I think I'd like to be a professional grocery shopper.

Back to Basics

As you might not know, Miss Em, the younger of my hostages to fortune,* lives in Tuscaloosa. We were among the lucky ones: not only is she OK, but she was able to call on a friend's cellphone shortly after the storm passed through to tell us she was OK. She is now at a friend's house in a city less hard hit.

She called to say that she doesn't know what to do with herself. School is now over for the year (no finals). But one can't go live it up at Anthopologie when you've just left a place where friends--or friends of friends--may have died. Not to mention all the other ruin you witnessed. So what can you do to honor the people who suffered more than you did?

Well, I certainly don't know the answer to that one. Miss Em said, "It was easier after Katrina." True. We spent the days (no power) sitting around and sweating, walking downtown to see what the Red Cross was serving, getting all excited when we got granola bars. When we were lucky, we would drive to the Target parking lot and pick up goodies handed out by volunteers from all over. By goodies, I mean water.We couldn't do that very much because there was nowhere to buy gas. So we kept busy.

So what to do? All I can think of is to keep being frugal. By frugal I mean being mindful of resources, including, but not limited to money. What else can we do?

Any ideas?

*He that hath wife and children hath given hostages to fortune, Francis Bacon.

Food Prices on the Rise? Yes, but...

Food is still very cheap in the U.S. So says my Frugal Son. He's right. Plus, Americans spend a relatively small percentage of income on food. The global/philosophical picture notwithstanding, I still like to practice my frugal ways on food.

During a recent trip to San Antonio for a conference, Mr. FS and I hit a local grocery for some snacks for the long drive home. It seemed to me that food prices in San Antonio are lower than they are here. In fact, boiled crawfish (which has been the subject of many local laments) was incredibly cheap, not that one wants to spend a 9 hour trip in the company of boiled crawfish.

So, how do you save money on food? Easy. Read the ads. I scanned the ads today and discovered that Albertsons has the most stuff on sale. Now I'm only going to buy one or two things since I am still trying to eat from the pantry and freezer. But if you lived here, this is what you could get.
--whole chicken @ .49/lb
--pink lady apples @ .99/lb
--red seedless grapes @ .99/lb
--celery,green beans,sweet potatoes @.99
--tuna @ .59
--barilla pasta @ .88
--camellia red beans @ .88/lb
--frozen veggies @ .88/bag

For $20.00, you could get a lot of food, some of which could last more than a week. Notice that I didn't mention coupons, because I am too lazy and messy to think about using them.

Hmmmm. A Waldorf-esque salad? Salade nicoise? Plain old roast chicken? Chicken chil1? So many wonderful possibilities.

Do you pore over grocery ads?

What Do You think/Know about Medical Tourism?

Poor Funny About Money. She has a terrible dental bill coming up! I am very aware of these, since Mr. FS and I have never had dental insurance. In the past five years or so, I've had four root canals plus one implant. Mr. FS has had a procedure or two.

I think dental procedures are horribly overpriced. Sorry. That's how I feel. So you can bet your booty that once I retire--or maybe before--I will consider a trip to Costa Rica or Mexico if I need something that can be planned in advance. It's not like the American professionals are so great anyway: SOMEBODY messed up my root canal/crown and I ended up with an implant! SOMEONE messed up several root canals needed by a friend: she now goes to the LSU dental school.

I suppose I'm fairly nonchalant about medical tourism because a fellow student of Frugal Son needed an emergency appendectomy in China: she is fine. I know someone who was destitute and so signed on to teach English in China so she could have a baby there--about 25 years ago. Mother and child are doing just fine.

Also, Miss Em went on a date with the most handsome and sweet exchange student from Mexico. Alas,they had to part ways. His father is a doctor and the student promised to recommend dentists to us and doctors to a friend who has lupus.

Interestingly, the new cashier at Goodwill (around my age, very well-educated, just moved from Oregon--what is her story, I wonder) told me her ex-husband runs a website about finding a good Mexican dentist! Of course, I forgot to get the info, but I will, Funny, I promise!

Would you travel to save money on a medical procedure? Do you know anyone who has done it and lived to tell the tale?

A Favorite San Antonio Spot: Goodbytes Cafe

We love going to san Antonio, but internet sccess is sometimes a pain when you're on the road. Imagine how thrilled we were, while strolling to the famous Mexican market, where we planned to buy a pastry at Mi Tierra, when we came upon the GOODBYTES CAFE.

This is an internet cafe (with free access!) attached to a Goodwill store. Can we say bliss? I usually find a book or two there.

I love San Antonio. It is a very inexpensive city to visit. The good people of the city worked to keep the Alamo free from Disney-ish embellishments. The Riverwalk is beautiful.

This time, I am determined to find a tortilla factory, so I can bring home REAL tortillas. You may hear from me, via the Goodbytes Cafe!

Frugal Bliss with Diana Phipps: More Frugal Decor, with a Luxurious Air

In case you don't know, Diana Phipps is a countess, whose family had to leave their ancestral castle in Czechoslovakia, owing to political changes. She now has returned and fixed up the castle, but for many years, she practiced frugal home design, while hanging out with the social and cultural elite.

Many years ago, when I was in graduate school, I spent a lot of time going to yard sales as a way of avoiding finishing my dissertation--oops, I mean, as a way of making ends meet. I bought a copy of Phipps's book Affordable Splendour. I was transfixed by her tales of ingenuity and making do; the results were luxurious and elegant, though not to my taste at the time.

Naturally, a friend borrowed the book right after I got it and lost it (her name was Rose). And I always wanted to look at it again. So, I put it on my wishlist at paperbackswap.com. And lo and behold, it arrived yesterday.

Unlike those days, when I thought I might one day cover walls with fabric, figure out how to do staplegun upholstery, paint lovely trompe-l'oeil pictures on cabinets, make a wall look like tortoise shell, I now know that I hate doing things that require fine-motor skills. Plus, I lack Diana's fearlessness and patience.

As it happens, I--older and wiser--love her style. I will never attain it, because, in addition to lacking her skills at DOING all these things, I lack the discrimination that let her find all these neat bits and pieces (which she uses in clever ways) at flea markets and auctions. Here is the picture of her living room, courtesy of another blog.

And her writing style! It probably helped that she numbers among her friends Gore Vidal and Antonia Frasier; still, the book has a really distinctive voice.

I look for frugal friends everywhere and how thrilling to find a frugal countess. This is another book to check out of your library (or buy on Amazon). I link to one that shows the cover, but there are copies available for under $1.00!