modern life

Junk food: Sometimes it just tastes good.

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(Happy Throwback Thursday! This post, originally published in 2014, celebrates something called National Junk Food Day. This year NJFD is on Friday, July 21, but my blog, my rules. DF and I are still eating quite well, thanks to frugal food hacks, our garden and our never-ending search for good deals. That doesn’t keep us from eating some junk now and then, though. Here’s why.)

It’s National Junk Food Day, apparently. And me without a single Moon Pie in the house.

In fact, I’ve eaten quite well today. Breakfast was oatmeal made with half yogurt whey and half water and flaxseed, plus half of the last banana in the bunch (shared with DF, because I’m kind like that).

For lunch I had rice topped with roasted vegetables – carrots, broccoli, Walla Walla onions and home-grown turnip, plus a dish of homemade yogurt mixed with a spoon of homemade orange marmalade and more of that flaxseed.

If only I’d known about the holiday. I might have gone to McDonald’s for breakfast and Burger King for lunch. Nothing says “bad for you” like a single meal that holds all calories needed for the entire day (with way too many in the form of grease).

On the other hand, I did eat white rice instead of brown. So am I junking out sufficient to the day?

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Catching up for Mother’s Day.

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It’s been a minute. A lot of minutes. Life keeps getting away from me. Days go by and I don’t post on this site, then I get anxious because I haven’t posted for a while. And then the anxiety prevents me from thinking of anything to write.

“Tomorrow,” I promise myself.

Riiiight.

Another dilemma: What to write? Sometimes I think I should post only about personal finance in general and frugality in particular. This is true even though my personal writing topics tend to get more reaction and feedback. Then again, sometimes money and frugality are extremely personal topics. 

I’ve been doing this since May 2010, and while I don’t want to give it up, I do want to feel less pressured to write. Interesting how the only person putting pressure on me is me.

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Today’s frugal win: Deal-stacking.

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DF wanted to see the Metropolitan Opera’s HD broadcast of “Lohengrin,” but also second-guessed that wish. The $25 ticket wasn’t so bad when you consider the opera lasted a little over five* hours, but still…And then there was the popcorn and cold drink that he’d surely need to handle five-plus hours of Wagner. He was on the fence until I suggested a few frugal hacks.

Here are the (many) elements of today’s frugal win:

Senior discount. He got $2 off for being old.

Movie Club. This subscription deal at Cinemark gives me one free movie a month plus a concessions discount. I asked the cashier to apply one of my free movie credits to the Met Opera ticket, which lowered the price from $23 to $10.75.

Ibotta gift card. I redeemed a $20 Cinemark card from my Ibotta account. (For more on Ibotta and other frugal hackery, see “Rewards programs FTW!”)  

Cinemark coupon. I got a $1-off concessions coupon by cashing in 25 of my Cinemark rewards points (which you get each time you buy tickets and food).

Movie Club discount. I get 20 percent off concessions purchases with membership.

Once all the discounts and the gift card had been applied, the tab had shrunk to just $1.45.  Now you can see why he decided to go.

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Unclaimed funds: Look for them!

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Recently an acquaintance was contacted by a company that specializes in finding unclaimed property. If she would authorize them to act in her name, they’d make sure she got the money – minus their 10 percent finder’s fee. She wondered if this were legit or some kind of scam.

Apparently there’s some kind of software that matches unclaimed funds to last known addresses. If even half the folks contacted respond with, “Sure, go ahead,” that company stands to make a lot of money.

But why give it away without at least trying to get it yourself?

In about 60 seconds I was able to search online and tell her that yes, the state is holding a bunch of money for you. And while I was in there, I learned that both DF and I were also owed some unclaimed funds.

Not a lot of money: just $19.71. But as someone who picks up found coins, the chance to get almost 20 unexpected bucks sounded pretty good. And as you can see from the illustration above, that money is now in my bank account instead of the state of Washington’s.

Not sure how much DF will be getting, because he’s still waiting for the results. However, the acquaintance was owed more than two grand. If that company hadn’t reached out, all three of us would still be owed money. But this way we get to keep it instead of forking over a 10 percent fee.

You, too, might be owed money – so why not look for it? Here’s how.

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Get 50% off Earn More Writing.

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In the past I’ve written about Earn More Writing, a freelancing course created by my FinCon colleague Holly Porter Johnson. After nearly seven years, she’s decided to close the course to new students – so this is your last chance to take advantage of her considerable knowledge of the freelance market.

And she’s having a big ol’ sale to commemorate this closing. So if you ever wanted to become a freelance writer, or if you’re already one and want to step up your game, now’s the time to take Holly’s course. From now until Jan. 31 she’s offering a 50% discount.

As an affiliate partner, I do stand to earn a little money if anyone decides to take the course. But I’d recommend it even if I weren’t an affiliate: Holly knows her stuff. She brings in six figures per year – often in the $400k-plus range.

To be clear: You won’t leap to six figures overnight. But you have to start somewhere. Holly did: She was freelancing steadily while working full-time, determined to build her business. Those first clients led to other clients. Taken together, she was able to quit her day job and become her own boss.

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Staycation at Abby’s house.

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Having escaped the warmth and humidity of Orlando, I am now experiencing the warmth and extreme dryness of Phoenix. While in Orlando I learned that I am no longer a theme-park person. (More on that below.) Also learned that four adults in a rather small hotel room is a recipe for anxiety; so was the need to schedule daily activities. By contrast, visiting my daughter is like a staycation, albeit at someone else’s house.

Eating whatever and whenever I choose. Reading until late at night and getting up when I feel like it, rather than rising when park activities (or other people’s getting-ups) decide.

Coming and going as I please, when I please. Sitting around and catching up for hours, with Netflix or Hulu on in the background. Doing small chores to give her a break, including helping tidy up the place and prepare snacks for a game night. (Why is it always easier and even fun to clean other people’s houses?)

A staycation, in other words.

It’s not that I won’t ever leave the house. We plan to browse the Savers thrift shop on Monday (half-price day) for a big glass bowl or Pyrex dish, as she wants to start making yogurt. We  plan to hit Bobby Q’s for ribs and sides. I hope to hang out with Sonya Ann, a regular reader from the MSN Money days. And on Friday, we’ll go to see “Die Hard: A Christmas Story,” presented by the All Puppet Players. (Yep: A plush John McClain shouting, “Yippee-cai-yay, mofos!”)

Mostly, though, it’s like any other visit to my daughter: hanging out. 

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Beat inflation: The financial fire drill.

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I figured the words “beat inflation” might get your attention. Let me say upfront, however, that inflation isn’t 100 percent beatable. No matter how self-sufficient we are, we still have to pay taxes and buy certain things (any food we can’t grow, sewing materials, shoes).

Even if we ride bikes instead of drive cars, we need replacement parts. If we do our own home improvements, we need to pay for materials somehow. And we can’t meet all our needs through rewards programs and Buy Nothing Facebook groups (although I’m having fun trying).

In the novel “The Godfather,” mobsters would hole up in anonymous apartments in times of gang strife. They called it “going to the mattresses.” Right now we’re in times of financial strife, and we should all think about going to the frugal mattresses: How to make the smartest, safest decisions to beat inflation?

Here’s how to start: by doing what I call the financial fire drill, a kind of extreme budget makeover. The idea isn’t that you won’t pay your bills, but rather that you’ll look for ways to cut the number and size of those bills.

The financial fire drill is pretty simple. You build a baseline budget, i.e., the absolute minimum you need to survive). That means basic shelter, utilities, medical care, food, clothing and debt service (installment loans, child support). The idea isn’t to starve in an unheated garret. It’s to figure out how little you could spend without jeopardizing health, safety and solvency.

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Easy(ish) food preservation.

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Recently a neighbor offered me a Lowe’s-sized bucket of apples and a gallon of pie cherries. The former became eight pints of applesauce and the latter a 10-inch pie. At some point that day I got a Facebook message from an old friend; while e-chatting, I learned she, too, was elbow-deep in food preservation that day: tomatoes, corn and green beans.

The coincidence made me grin, especially since her early life goal was to become a big-city journalist and live the single-gal life. (She did become a journalist, but spent most of her career in a small town.)

I asked her if she’d ever pictured herself using a pressure canner, or was that something our moms did. Her response: “We are lucky we grew up the way we did, so we can survive. I rarely shop but when I do it’s only for what I can’t grow myself.”

Those are thoughts I’ve voiced myself. Growing up fairly broke got me through single parenthood and a protracted midlife divorce. Now I’m no longer jobless or broke, but the soaring cost of food (and other stuff) is making me really nervous.

Not everyone is able to (or wants to) freeze, can or dehydrate. But hear me out.

For starters, think about broadening your definition of “preserving” food. In my opinion, bulk buying, stocking up during sales, and combining sales with rewards programs are all ways to “preserve” food. As in, you’re making sure you have the groceries you need at the best prices you can find.

You’re preserving your budget along with the food. The money you don’t spend on grub is money that can go toward other essentials. It’s unlikely that many of us will starve in this country, but a whole lot of people will be mightily inconvenienced, in a couple of ways: 

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2 illnesses (one COVID, one not).

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Let me say upfront that I did not have COVID. My poor niece has it, though, and she’s been suffering. Ever the momma, though, Alison opted to quarantine in a tent in the yard (more on that in a moment) rather than expose her two children to the virus.

My own illness was far more plebeian, though fairly uncomfortable in its own special way. It laid me low for most of last week and has left me fatigued and cranky. Which is one reason that it’s been, good grief, 11 days since I last posted here.

Still trying to form coherent thoughts, as well as to catch up on assignments whose deadlines I missed. I’ve also been dropping off things I think my niece could use: ice for the cooler, washed grapes, chicken noodle soup, Ritz crackers and, for fun, a sleeve of Otter Pops. (We’d been reminiscing about freezer pops recently, so when I saw a box of 80 OPs for just $3.29 in the “manager’s special” bin, I snatched it up.)

I don’t go into her home or her tent, or even near them. Instead, I set the stuff near the front door and text her kids to come get them. They come out with masks on, chat briefly (from a distance) about how it’s going and go back into the plague house.

About that tent: A friend of Alison’s referred to the quarantine tent as “the ’Rona Cabana,” and that earworm* would not leave my head.

The only way to get it out was, of course, to write about it. 

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How to get free stuff.

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Once upon a time, it was easy to get free stuff. In the early days of Internet marketing, companies vied with one another to give away everything from candy bars to condoms.

Of course, this free stuff came at a cost: The manufacturers would spam you, and your info would likely be sold so that other people could spam you, too.

But for a little while our mailboxes turned into piñatas, spilling out stuff like protein bars, breakfast cereal, T-shirts, pet food, feminine hygiene products, fabric softener, cosmetics, snack foods, energy drinks and all sorts of over-the-counter medications. Those were the days.

Marketing has changed, and most of the folks who used to run freebie sites either sold their URLs or dropped outta the blogging business. But when asked to find out what’s still there, I found enough to write about for Money Talks News. “6 of the best websites for finding free stuff” notes that times have definitely changed:

“(Some) so-called ‘freebie’ sites are more about items that are free if you:

  • Use coupons and rebates.
  • Pay upfront and then get a loyalty program credit or an online rebate.
  • Jump through multiple hoops, such as creating an account, installing an app and linking your social media account.
  • Enter a drawing for a chance at getting the free item.
  • Take surveys and then use the points you earn to get “free” stuff.

“Hey, there’s nothing wrong with taking surveys; it’s one way of earning extra cash. Nothing wrong with rebates, either. But sometimes you just want to click it and claim it.”

I did come up with more than half a dozen legitimate ways to score gratis goods. (A couple of extras are tucked in as also-rans.) The article also includes pro tips and caveats. Have a look, and score some free stuff of your own.

A few other pieces I’ve done for Money Talks News lately:

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