Things you shouldn’t pay for.

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J. Money from Budgets Are Sexy shared a frugal tip from a reader who needed $1 to get something notarized. The place accepted only cash and the reader had zero money,  “not even change in my cupholders.” Paying a $3 ATM fee for a $1 errand was just too irritating to contemplate.

The solution: Hit the drugstore for an 89-cent soda and a $20 cashback.

This is how I get all my walking-around money. I don’t like waiting in bank lines. I like ATMs even less, because I’m paranoid about muggers or card skimmers.

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Br’er Rabbit and Br’er Bear, Alaska style (aka “a fed bear is a dead bear”).

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From an Anchorage Police Department press release:

“On 7-8-10 at 10:17 hours, Anchorage Police officers responded to the report of a woman chasing a black bear on the 200 block of Yellow Leaf Circle. Upon arrival, officers found that a woman…had indeed been chasing a black bear which had jumped the fence in her front yard and snatched up her pet rabbit in its teeth.

“The rabbit, known as ‘George,’ had been…known in the neighborhood because its back legs were paralyzed and his owner had fashioned a two-wheeled cart so he would have mobility.

“… George’s owner, upon hearing the cries of her rabbit, chased the bear in her stocking feet across several yards and down an alley before the bear reportedly turned and confronted her.

“The bear left the area with the rabbit.”

And this is why I love Alaska.

Now: Where to begin?

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This week’s winner.

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Stephanie is the winner of the $20 Amazon.com gift card. Congratulations, Stephanie, and please respond to my e-mail so that I can send you your prize. This Friday’s giveaway may — or may not — be a geographically specific animal. Stuffed, not real. Stay tuned.

Welcome to Copout Monday.

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My hat is off to grandparents who wind up raising their grandchildren. A mere half-day spent with my niece’s kids makes me want to lie down with a cold cloth on my eyes.

The boys are funny and sweet but very, very high-energy. Bless their hearts.

That’s why today’s entry is short. By the time I got back to my host’s home last night, I wasn’t good for much besides having a bowl of oatmeal and visiting a short time before crawling up to bed. And I’m only 52.

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A big meal plus leftovers for less than a buck.

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A former coworker hosted a potluck for me on Saturday. Among the goodies we enjoyed: Alaska salmon in a ginger-based marinade, burgers (meat or veggie), dilled potato salad, baked beans made from scratch in a slow cooker, a mesclun salad with chicken and grilled sweet potatoes, rosemary bread, eggplant pate, olives, grape tomatoes, melon and several desserts, including a Ukrainian rhubarb torte that was much classier than the rhubarb cake that I made recently.

I was the guest of honor but gently urged the hostess to tell me what I might contribute. It wound up being deviled eggs and two 12-packs of Diet Coke.

Someone suggested that potlucks would be a good subject for a frugality column. I laughed. Then I realized that she’s right. If I were unemployed or underemployed, I’d be attending or hosting potlucks as often as I could get away with it.

Consider that:

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Blog roundup: The stinkin’ hot edition.

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It’s hot just about everywhere but here, apparently. At my nephew’s Little League game yesterday it was in the low 50s and so super-windy that I was actually cold.

Not to rub it in, or anything.

Everywhere else, it’s hot. Too hot to play sports. Too hot to watch sports. Too hot to lie by the pool (the sun’s out there, remember?).

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Malachi and mud.

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malachi in mudThis grimy little guy is my great-nephew, who’s almost 9 and the luckiest kid I know: His mom lets him play in the dirt. Or, in this case, the mud.

They’d gone to Kincaid Park, where Malachi and some other kids thoroughly immersed themselves in play on the muddy beach. Alison brought along dry clothes so he wouldn’t wreck the inside of the family car.

“I did have to hose off his hair at the house, before his shower,” she said.

Playing in the dirt is truly frugal fun: Give a kid a spoon and some old plastic containers and watch her go to town. What’s more, science seems to indicate dirt is literally good for our kids.

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Filthy lucre.

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The most-read piece I ever wrote for the Smart Spending blog was an essay called “See a penny? Pick it up!” Before MSN Money switched blog platforms, the article had received more than 1.6 million hits.

The comments were also numerous, and about evenly split: People who also happily gleaned change and people who thought the idea was unbelievably disgusting. Pick up dirty, germy, dog-peed-upon coins? Eeeeewwww.

I’m fully aware that found money isn’t clean. But it’s not as though I carry it home in my mouth.

Besides: I hate to break it to those folks, but the bills and specie they get from banks and stores are probably just as revolting.

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Don’t hate the payer, hate the game.

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Want to save 50% at the supermarket? Here's help.I’m the grocery store customer who challenges the scanner. Yes, it slows things up a little. But I’m not going to pay $2.89 a pound just because someone forgot to tell the computer that hams are on sale this week.

That’s me. And you? You might be the person behind me, grinding her teeth in frustration because I won’t accept anything other than the advertised price.

My apologies if your checkout is delayed by 60 seconds. But that $1.90-per-pound savings times eight pounds represents almost $16. My budget won’t let me back down.

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