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Win a $100 Macy’s gift card.

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Win a $100 e-gift card from Macy's.

I didn’t set out to be a giveaway site, and thus try not to post too many “win this” articles in a row. Right now I have the Alaskan art jewelry giveaway* going, so this will make the second post in a row that lets you enter to win a prize. But the holidays approach, and I would like for readers to have a chance to win a $100 Macy’s gift card from Savings.com. which is giving away five of them. So here we are.

Macy’s has a wide variety of products, from toys to toasters, to go along with its clothing items. Having a $100 head start on your holiday shopping could be a nice boost to your budget. So what are you waiting for?

Not shopping for the holidays? Already finished your buying? Well, then, you could spend the money on warm items to take to a shelter. If you’re in a warm climate, use it to buy necessities like socks and underwear because I think most (if not all) shelters can never have enough of such things.

Spend it all on playthings to donate to a toy drive. Contact a nursing home to see if you could play Secret Santa to someone who has no family; a hundred dollars could let you buy slippers, PJs, comfortable loungewear for someone who otherwise would not be remembered on the holiday. 

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Holiday 2021 giveaway: Alaska art jewelry.

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I’ve been doing intermittent giveaways of Alaska-made items, in order to support the local economy. Today I realized that Hannukah starts on Nov. 28, and that we have only about five more weeks before Christmas and Kwanzaa. Clearly it’s time for a holiday 2021 giveaway, no matter which holiday(s) you observe.

My friend Linda B’s jewelry has done so well in the past that I’m putting some of it back up for grabs. You can read more about her backstory in the first giveaway write-up. Short form: She’s talented in fields other than jewelry, and she’s also awesome.

As is her jewelry. She started out with beading, and has lately become entranced with metalwork and resin capture. If you want to give gifts to a spouse, lover, friend or, heck, even to yourself, I can guarantee that these are one-of-a-kind pieces. Linda never repeats herself, so every jewelry work is unique and never to be repeated.

Her work is arresting, and it’s hard to pick favorites, but here are the items I will be giving away this time around.

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9 cheap indulgences that bring joy.

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A recent Twitter thread caught my eye: “What’s a cheap indulgence that brings you joy?” The usual suspects showed up: ice cream, coffee, bubble baths, good pens, pretty notebooks, dark chocolate.

And a few less-obvious choices showed up, too:

People-watching at the pub

Pokemon and Yu-Gi-Oh! cards

S’mores Pop Tarts

Soft cotton sheets

Pretty hardback copies of favorite classic novels

Boston Baked Beans from the dollar store (“It has had me in a chokehold”)

Here was my contribution to the thread: “Pay-one-price day at Cinemark with my BFF or one/both of my great-nephews – and kettle corn, of course. Bonus joy points if I am using a discounted gift card and a coupon cashed in from movie rewards points.”

I’ve long been a fan of cheap joy. Given the past couple of years, and the no-real-end-in-sight nature of the pandemic (and its impact on finances), I think it’s more important than ever to find affordable delight.

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Thanks, Dad, for useful life skills.

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(Note: A version of this article was published in MSN Money’s Smart Spending blog in 2009. I am re-running it for Throwback Thursday, because tomorrow is the first anniversary of his death from COVID-19.)

Years ago my dad had two teaching jobs: elementary school all day, and an evening gig with adolescents deemed too unruly for regular high school. One evening, a student flipped a penny at him. Dad picked it up and put it in his pocket. The teens laughed, and another one flipped a penny. Then another one.

When my father had 12 cents in his pocket, he said, “Guys, I want to thank you. All I need is 38 more of these and I’m going over to the Fairfield and have a draft beer – on you.”

He could see the horror in their faces: Man, I’m not gonna buy the TEACHER a beer! Not another penny was flung.

That was an example of what he would call a “useful life skill”: realizing that sometimes nontraditional tactics are needed to solve nontraditional situations.

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Win a $100 Walmart gift card.

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Win a $100 e-gift card from Walmart.

Sorry to have maintained radio silence since Oct. 23, but I’m on vacation in Phoenix. More about that below, however, because I want to focus on the topic at hand: Why five of you should win a $100 Walmart card.

My old pals at Savings.com are giving away five $100 e-gift cards in what they’re calling the #LiveWellWithWalmart giveaway. I see no reason that all five shouldn’t be won by readers of this site.

After all, the holidays are upon us and due to supply-chain and pandemic-related issues, there’s no time like the present to start looking for your presents.

(Disclosure: I get a small affiliate fee for each click on the links in this piece.)

And if you’re in a position where all your needs are currently covered? Consider entering anyway, and then using the $100 to do some good. Buy diapers and donate them to a diaper bank. Purchase gloves, hats and wool socks and drop them off at a shelter; if you live in a temperate climate, then substitute cotton socks and maybe some underwear.

Buy pet food for a no-kill rescue group. Choose some puzzles and stuffed animals to help out your local Toys for Tots drive. Get a hundred bucks’ worth of coffee and tea and deliver it to the senior center. 

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How Alaskans fix their cars.

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Alaskans believe that duct tape fixes everything. Some people call it “hundred-mile-an-hour tape” because pilots have had to repair their wings with that sturdy gray* stuff. But apparently duct tape works on cars, too.

Off and on over my years in Alaska I have seen vehicles repaired with duct tape. On those occasions I didn’t have a camera with me. Having joined the 21st century and bought a smartphone, I now have a camera with me pretty much 24/7.

Yes, I have become one of those people who takes pictures whenever something strikes her as beautiful or funny, or both. For example, here’s a picture of my niece’s pup showing off her winsome doggy smile: 

 

I don’t keep all my pictures, but I confess to having a heck of a lot of pictures of our yard and greenhouse. At some point I will turn them into this year’s version of “Looking back at the garden.”

But that’s not what I came here to talk about. The subject today is fixing cars.

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Monday miscellany: Debt taboo edition.

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Some folks would rather talk about religion, politics, COVID-19 safety protocols or even their weight than discuss their credit card debt, according to a new survey from Bankrate.com. These days, that really means something. After all, families have fractured and friendships have evaporated after discussions over the 2020 election, and whether or not COVID is real. Compared to those incendiary topics, debt seems relatively tame.

The survey revealed that millennials are the most likely (62 percent) to be willing to discuss credit card debt, compared to Gen Z (59 percent), Gen X (51 percent), Baby Boomers (47 percent) and the “silent generation” (41 percent).

Ana Staples, a young credit analyst for Bankrate, thinks this is a good thing. “Even though debt is still an uncomfortable topic, young people are less prone to be cautious of its stigma,” Staples notes.

“Credit card debt isn’t something to be ashamed of.”

No – but it is something to be avoided. And many of those surveyed worry that they’re in this for the long haul. 

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How to save money on meat.

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The price of meat is a little terrifying right now. Before you respond with how much cheaper and healthier vegetarianism is, please don’t. We eat a ton of veggies, grains and beans, but we also like meat. For us, the never-ending question is how to save money on meat.

DF is particularly fond of bacon, eating it at two or three breakfasts a week if he can. The price of these pig mornings has cost a lot more lately; according to this article, bacon has gone up 17 percent in the past year. (Seems like more than that up here in the home of the Alaska Gouge.) Which is why I was delighted to be able to buy Oscar Mayer bacon for $3.62 per pound earlier this week.

That wasn’t the rack rate, of course. Some frugal hacks were required. In this article I’m detailing those hacks, for two reasons:

To remind readers that finding the best prices may take a bit of work – but not that much work, and

To encourage readers to look for better deals of their own, vs. feeling anxiety at the cost of meat (and everything else). Given how fast prices are rising, it behooves us all to do a bit of research rather than just buy without thinking and cry without ceasing.

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Tasting history with modern pumpkins.

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Linda B. clued me in to a new pumpkin pie recipe recently. Or, rather, an old recipe, courtesy of “Tasting History with Max Miller” on YouTube. Miller is an engaging young man who turned his passion for historical food and beverages into a pair of YouTube channels.

The recipe, circa 1670, featured sliced apples, currants, raisins, butter, savory herbs and dry sack, but no custard or even milk. This was to be a layered dish, not a smooth and creamy one.

Back in the day, “pumpions” were a big reason that the colonists survived. Not only is it packed with vitamins and minerals, it survived less-than-ideal growing conditions and stored well over the winter. As the old folks used to sing,

We have pumpion at morning and pumpion at noon,

If it were not for pumpion, we should be undoon.

Since we did manage to nurse two pumpkins through a weird summer, and since DF is always up for a culinary challenge, we decided to give this a try. Naturally we put our own spin on the recipe, including the peculiarly Alaska one of substituting rhubarb juice for the dry sack. (I can’t abide alcohol.)

We had no currants, because I neglected to forage for them this year, but we did have raisins. (Fun fact: They were part of a Buy Nothing Facebook food package.) Miller used the savory herbs rosemary, thyme and parsley. But I wanted to hew closer to modern flavors, so I went with cinnamon, cloves and ginger. She who makes the pastry makes the rules. 

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Is fine dining worth it?

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The other night I brought home dinner from Tastee-Freez: chicken strip basket for me, bacon ranch chicken sandwich for DF and curly fries for both of us. This is not most people’s idea of fine dining, but we enjoyed it immensely.

It didn’t hurt a bit that we were both pretty ravenous, but seriously: The food there is good. They get their burger meat from a local butcher, and are “proud to use” Alaskan cod, pollock, crab and salmon.

But there’s another reason. Dipping a chicken strip into the little plastic cup of honey-mustard sauce, I suggested that the reason we were enjoying it so much is that we hardly ever do it.

Once or twice a year DF and I visit a very fine-dining establishment called Kincaid Grill; one of those dinners is an annual tradition with a couple of friends. The rest of the time, “Where shall we go for dinner?” always has the same answer: “The kitchen table.”

Not just because it’s the frugal thing to do, either. We genuinely enjoy our homemade meals. (He says it’s because they’re prepared and shared with love.) In addition, we don’t have to get dressed up nicely, or even get dressed at all; we’ve eaten quite a few meals in sweatpants and T-shirt, or even in bathrobes if it’s been a long day. We don’t have to wait for a table, examine a wine list, tip a server, or figure out which ancient grain is being sauced up and marked up.

Dining out just seems like…a lot of work. I expect I’m not the only one who feels this way, especially since people have become so accustomed to DoorDash et al. bringing them meals in takeout containers.

A recent article on Grubstreet, written by food critic Adam Platt, suggests there’s another reason. Yep, it’s the pandemic, but it’s also a question of “relevance and tone.” 

“(With) people struggling all over the city and fashionable tastes veering – as they have been for years – toward three-star tacos, burgers and bowls of ramen, a fancy multi-course menu feels like the opposite of sophistication to a new generation of diners.

“‘All these places try to tell a story,’ an astute young Brooklyn gourmet told me the other day. ‘But in the end, they’re all the same. …I just feel like the world has moved on.”

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