Donna Freedman - Surviving and Thriving

The Mensa member makes jelly.

January 24, 2016October 19, 2010 by Donna Freedman

Last week I got permission to pick grapes from a nearby fence. My first batch of jelly turned out a lovely wine-purple color and my apartment smelled like communion.

But it was a lot more work than blackberry jam: You pick, then crush, then simmer, then strain the pulp through a cheesecloth-lined colander, then add sugar and cook.

On Sunday I picked pretty much all the ripe grapes that were left. Yesterday I patiently pulled out the stems, made sure there was a one-to-four ratio of underripe to ripe fruit (I don’t use commercial pectin), washed them, crushed them, simmered them, and poured about half the results into a cloth-lined colander set over a bowl.

The yield was three cups of juice. I scraped out the drained pulp, poured the rest of the simmered grapes into the colander and walked away to do another chore.

And then.

Two prizes, one winner.

October 19, 2010 by Donna Freedman

CandiO wins this week’s dual giveaway of “Does This Make My Assets Look Fat? A Woman’s Guide to Finding Financial Empowerment and Success” by Susan Hirshman and the “Who makes this stuff up?” package of items from BlogHer 2010. Congratulations, CandiO, and have fun with that Jimmy Dean alarm clock. I’ll give you one hint … Read more

Rockin’ the surveys — when it’s worth it.

October 16, 2010 by Donna Freedman

In the past few weeks I’ve been having good luck with online surveys. Not only have I earned more than $20 for relatively little work, I’ve been asked to test several products.

Can’t say exactly what they are – confidentiality agreements – but they’re all things I was happy to get. Even though none of them was a pony.

Giveaway: Better living through chemistry.

October 8, 2010 by Donna Freedman

Not that kind.

This is the “Better Living Through Chemistry” package that I put together entirely with items that my freebie-lovin’ daughter obtained from tables at BlogHer 2010.

Here’s what you’ll get if you win:

Think you’re broke? You probably aren’t.

January 4, 2014October 6, 2010 by Donna Freedman

Recently I linked to Laura Rowley’s excellent column, “Why the rich don’t feel rich,” in which she wrote about University of Chicago law professor Todd Henderson’s struggle to survive on a combined family income of more than $250,000. The column was a stark contrast to something that happened while I was in New Jersey last month.

I frequently stopped by to see my Aunt Dot, who’s 87 and very frail due to several medical issues. She and her son live on Social Security and disability plus her small pension. One evening I discovered that they had exactly one dollar in the house. Her check was due the next day and she planned to walk to the bank to cash it.

The bank is at least a mile from where Dot lives. And did I mention that she’s on oxygen?

Why you need renter’s insurance.

October 3, 2010 by Donna Freedman

Water is an incredibly destructive force. I saw this three times during my five-year stint as an apartment building manager.

An ice dam on the roof, which hardly ever happens in Seattle, caused water to leak into a couple of units.
A flash flood caused by days of heavy rain and a sewer-system failure dumped five feet of muddy water into the underground parking garage.
A backed-up toilet overflowed for about three hours, leaking into several apartments and the basement laundry room.

None of these situations could reasonably be anticipated. Then again, most of us don’t get hit by uninsured drivers or diagnosed with rare illnesses — but most of us consider car and health coverage to be necessary evils.

You also need renter’s insurance, to cover that which comes out of the blue — or from the apartment upstairs.