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Giveaway: $25 Amazon card.

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A lot is going on right now (99 percent of it positive), which means my AWOL-ness* has continued. Why not start 2026 with a giveaway? This time it’s a $25 Amazon gift card that’s up for grabs.

A lot of people find January a tough month financially. The bills for holiday spending (even modest spending) are showing up, and homeowners in colder places need to spend more for heating. (One Anchorage woman posted that her gas bill doubled due to a stretch of below-zero days.)

An extra $25 in spending power isn’t much in the grand scheme of things. But it’s $25 you didn’t have yesterday.

Maybe you budgeted perfectly for the holidays (or don’t celebrate them) and therefore aren’t in debt. In that case, I have some frugal suggestions for the card:

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7 essentials to grab at post-holiday sales.

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Frugal folks have always known that post-holiday clearance sales are a great way to stock up on next year’s wrapping paper, holiday decorations and Christmas cards. But why stop there?

Birthday gifts, fun PJs and even everyday food items are just some of the budget-stretchers you can get for a song starting on Dec. 26. As soon as Christmas is over, retailers can’t get rid of holiday items quickly enough.

Discounts of 50% are the usual starting point, and rise as the end of the year approaches. I’ve seen 90%-off price tags.

Here’s how to work those post-holiday discounts for year-round savings.

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Extreme frugality: Holiday deal-stacking.

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It’s a bit late to bring this up – sorry about that – but stacking holiday discounts is the name of the game at this time of year. That’s how DF and I got a free leaf blower and string trimmer. (Well, theoretically free. More on that later.)

A few weeks back, he noticed that Ace Hardware was offering a skookum deal on those two yard tools in a combo pack, along with batteries and a charging kit. The cost was $229, which is a good price in Anchorage.

Then he noticed Ace was offering a bonus $10 gift card if you bought a $50 gift card. When he mentioned it to me, I pointed out that we also had:

  • A $15 reward on the Ace Hardware app (based on previous purchases)
  • Some cash in the washing machine fund*
  • A bunch of scrip from rewards apps and programs

Why not combine them all and see how it shook down?

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Jury duty can cost you.

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(Good morning, and welcome to Rerun Monday. It’s a close cousin of Throwback Thursday. I’m running this post again because I am due at the Nesbett Courthouse at 8 a.m. today. Jury duty yet again. Last time I was called in Anchorage I did get seated, but the case was settled just as we were about to head to the courtroom. Here’s hoping that happens again: Civic duty aside, freelancers really don’t like missing work.)

Everyone complains about the boredom and the bad coffee. But have you ever thought about the potential hit to your finances?

The folks over at NerdWallet (I do love that name) sure have. According to “The cost of jury duty,” some 32 million people are called each year. Only about one-eighth of those actually serve – and those who do may wind up in the hole.

The article notes that in five major cities – Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles, New York and Seattle – jurors earning minimum wage will lose anywhere from about $16 to $78 per day. That’s because companies generally have the option of not paying employees for days spent on jury duty.

Obviously lots of folks who get called are making more than minimum wage. If that’s the case they might have the financial resources to withstand the hit. But maybe they don’t, especially if they live in high cost-of-living areas or are the only people in their households who work.

Bonus: Imagine earning, say, $25 an hour ($200 gross) and seeing your income drop down to as little as $10 a day, which is what Seattle jurors earn. Ask me how I know.

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Want a free Thanksgiving turkey?

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Back during the egg shortage, the Ibotta shopping app gave away four dozen eggs to its users. Right now, Ibotta is offering a 100 percent cash-back deal on popular Thanksgiving food items:

  • “Turkey roast” (more on that in a minute)
  • McCormick gravy mix
  • Idahoan instant mashed potatoes
  • Jiffy corn muffin mix
  • Edwards whole pie

A free Thanksgiving turkey – is there a catch? Kinda-sorta.

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Giveaway: New PF books.

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I’m pretty much done with my holiday shopping. How is yours going? Here’s my suggestion for a potentially life-changing gift: books about personal finance.

On the face of it, this could seem dull. (“Gosh, thanks, auntie, for the book about money,” accompanied by an epic eyeroll.) But consider it a chance to give someone a shot at taking charge of their finances. For example: 

  • A recent high school or college graduate who isn’t sure what they want with their life and has had little to no guidance on figuring out how money works
  • A newly divorced friend, who needs help writing their new money story
  • A relative whose livelihood was depleted (or outright destroyed) by issues beyond their control, such as serious illness or DOGE-related layoffs 

Or maybe that someone is you. Maybe you’ve realized your current money habits don’t allow much room for growth, or are outright unsustainable. But how do you know where to get advice? 

These books might change someone’s life:

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Extreme frugality: Egg substitutes.

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We lucked into repack eggs at $1.99 a dozen last week – the best price I’ve seen for quite a while. Nationwide, the average* cost of a dozen eggs is about $3.59, according to government research.

Back in February, we were paying $7.69 per dozen** – and these were just ordinary eggs, rather than the fancier kinds. I’d blocked the actual price tag. That’s when we got serious about egg substitutes.

For the uninitiated, “repack” eggs are created by combining eggs from various boxes. Ever open a carton to check before buying and found a cracked egg, or more than one? Dairy department managers remove the busted cackleberries and put their unbroken brethren into new boxes; where we live, those boxes are marked “Grade B.” Maybe the B stands for “broken.”

As a result, we get a mix of white eggs, brown eggs, Eggland’s Best (which have little red “EB” tattoos), extra-large and regular. Maybe some are even organic. All we know is that they’re $1.99, whereas large eggs are currently $2.79 and extra-large are $3.19.

Even at a reduced price, we’re looking to stretch the grocery bill any way we can. For us, that means egg substitutes.

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Meet a reader: Beth C. from NJ.

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The reader standing in front of a whole bunch of Falkland Island penguins is Beth C., a retired lawyer from South Jersey. I have had the good fortune to meet with Beth C. on two occasions while visiting family. Next year I may get another chance, as I will be traveling back east for my 50th (!) high school reunion.

Beth got her undergraduate degree in American Studies from a small (“but awesome”) liberal arts college in upstate New York, and then got a law degree. She spent the first seven years of as an attorney with a federal government agency in New York City, and the remaining 30-plus years in a private law practice in suburban New Jersey. Her specialty was health care regulatory and transactional work.

“I kind of fell into health care, since I got out of law school during a recession and the government agency that was hiring at the time needed people to work on health care issues,” Beth says. She loved working with people in that industry “because of the work that they did to help others.”

Now retired, Beth lives with her husband in a home they’ve owned for 29 years. Her two kids live nearby, and she’s able to see her grandchildren regularly. She delights in frugal hackery like using rewards points and airline miles, and taking surveys for extra money.

Being careful about her finances allows her to have fun in retirement and also to contribute to a program called Impact 100 NJ. She and others make an annual donation, and the cash is given out as grants to local nonprofit groups.

“I never would have been able to make that annual donation before,” she says. “It’s something meaningful, and I’ve enjoyed being a part of it.”

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Garden 2025: The ag grant year.

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The peas are still flowering and (slowly) filling up pods, the tomatoes are still reddening in the greenhouse, and, weirdly, our strawberry plants have a ton of new blossoms and a few ripe specimens. Yet I consider summer officially gone, because I’ve finished up the state agriculture grant.

I had until Sept. 30 to create a report on:

  • How much I spent ($1,950.53 out of a possible $2,250)
  • How much food we grew (372 pounds)
  • How much food we preserved (258 pounds)
  • How many direct beneficiaries of the garden (DF and me)
  • How many indirect ones (119 – relatives, friends, residents at a family shelter, and all the people to whom we gave seeds and plant starts)

The ag grant people pleaded with us to turn in reports before Sept. 30 if possible. I sent mine (along with a photo of the garden and a list of receipts) on Sept. 15. It took a lot longer than I thought it would to whip this report into shape, but now I can finally relax.

About time, too. It was a busier spring/summer than usual, because advertising and coordinating pickup of all those seeds and starts took way more time than I’d imagined. Of course, that was because most of the people who stopped by also got a garden tour. Yes, I like to show off our little paradise. Sue me.

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Heading to Portland soon.

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It’s been a long minute since I posted, and for that I apologize. Things are still in flux and I am trying to find balance.

Maybe I’ll find it in Portland?

That’s Portland, Oregon, not Portland, Maine, and it’s the site of FinCon25. I’ll land on Tuesday, Sept. 9 and go home on Sunday, Sept. 13. Anyone interested in a meetup?

That could be for coffee (in my case, an iced tea), breakfast, lunch or dinner. We could also just meet at (or somewhere near) the Oregon Convention Center, which is where the conference takes place.

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