Thrifty Thursday $1.49 Adventure Blogmas Day 10

 

You might be seeing this picture as a placeholder
when I have nothing new this blogmas. That's thrift.

     Oh am I excited it is Thursday and I am past both Tuesday and Wednesday of the week. Yesterday was a clear  Covid Impact on Life kind of day. I ended Tuesday with having to put together a budget proposal, for a request that isn't even a priority for my organization, in an effort to play along with someone else's priority list-basically a bargaining chip. After refining and sending it very early yesterday, I was asked to create three versions, of the same proposal, with three different  budget targets and outcomes-oh yeah, and by 11:00. I also had to drive 45 minut each way into  the office for a computer issue that was unsuccessfully resolved remotely. Once home, I had back to back meetings before needing to facilitate another. I learned my shared rive access had been removed unknowingly with the computer fix, so had to have IT resolve that-literally done as the meeting started. Top it off with a few voicemail and emails of stress and panic by others, and it was a simply glorious day. I guess this was a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day. 

     But today does not have to be. Onward to my thrift and a little cheer. As a reminder, my definition of thrift includes value and savings of time, resources, and money and below is a mix of my success.

• Despite the sucky day I made a nice dinner for DD2 and I with it set aside for DH. I had refilled my stock of basmati rice at TJ's the other day, and made a big pot, turning part into fried rice with a handful of frozen veg and a couple eggs. This is one of my daughters favorite meals and it costs literally pennies a serving. DH and I had plain rice with frozen chicken kievs, which were quite tasty. I made  a box of stuffing as well, just because I clearly needed more carbs in my day. Our whole meal was $4.02, with leftover veggie fried rice for  my daughter today  and plain rice, ready for a broccoli cheese side dish for tonight.
• I turned 1/2 of the block of one of the cheeses into a grilled haloumi salad, trying to replicate a dish I had at Shaya in New Orleans. My version  was under $4.00, and Shaya's was $13. I still want to go back and eat at Shay again-loved it, an dy meal brought back a good memory of last summer dining out with a group of friendly colleagues in a NOLA neighborhood  miles away form the French quarter, but with charm.
• Through comparison shopping and discount codes, I found a nice  Swiss Colony meat, cheese, and sweets box for my son, which came with a free box of 20 chocolates and 24 petit fours.  I know giving him money towards holiday treats would have been more economical, but likely would not have been as festive. I had looked to see if there was a more local source, but was unsuccessful. 
• I had $ .47 cents per gallon through our local grocery  store. I hadn't put gas in the car since filling up on my way back with my daughter, three weeks ago and was now on empty after  my office trip. I saved $6.68 on my fill up.
• And the $1.49 Adventure? After filling the tank with my discount coupon, gas was only $1.49 a gallon. DD2 had a text from a friend that her family was going to drive out of town and try and see the Northern Lights, which were supposed to be visible yesterday and  tonight because of clear and very dark skies. We decided to go light searching as well. DD1 was happy for a reason to leave the house so we picked her up. We drove out of town heading north and East, hoping we would get a sight. The best we might have done was a little glow, but we mabe imagined it, being wishful. I still enjoyed myself more time with my girls and it was pretty seeing light sour as we drove out of town, and i he little village we went through with a marina. Round trip was under 28 miles, what my car gets per gallon. That's Covid life when your highlight of the day is an adventure bust!

     I think that is about it. I need to see if I got a credit yet for  a botched delivery and need to then reorder the final purchases for Christmas. I have the $20 in Kohl's cash for stockings stuffers for the girls. I'll head there shortly before they close when the store might be empty-at least other years it has been. The cash is good until the 20th, so will combine with a final Aldi shop to make the most of the trip to the town up the road. What thrifty wins did you have?