Thrifty Thursday-Humble Acceptance of Gifts

      I like a good Thursday-particularly on a glorious summer day. People can think about thrift as  depriving ourselves of things in order to save money, but I've really tried to move my mindset to thrift is just the opposite. It's using our gifts wisely, accepting gifts from others, whether that is their time, their surplus, and in return, doing the same for others. Today's post focuses a bit on this thinking.

Time

• The virtual Shower, after work hours, for a colleague was not  huge time commitment, but it sure was  special to be able to celebrate a bit with her. This staff has been on our team about three years, and is a gem! She give her skills, time, and talents freely, and I look forward to her growing into a true education leader. 
  
• To the bullet below in resources, I spent time doing outreach to a few people that I know coordinate food/meals that might be able to utilize the produce my daughters work has available. This included our church's  Food with Friends coordinator, and a few child care programs. This was in addition to the social media broad post. 
• Spent a lovely morning/early afternoon blueberry picking and then lunch with my sister and friends. It was not frugal, but healthy for both body and mind! I picked up my sisters lunch as a late birthday (June) treat. 
• DD2 had a friend join us for a day at the lake cabin We've seen so little of  her friends (as has everyone) so it was a great detour to our normal day to bring her along.

Resources  

• This one is yet another cross over with money as it will help the grocery budget a bit. DD2's food pantry had another glut of food-this time both a produce delivery and farmers market bounty.  Yesterday she came home with a plastic sack filled with red potatoes, probably five pounds, plus another with two massive zucchinis, a head of cabbage, about 2 pounds of carrots, and a handful of mandarin oranges. This is quite a gift and I want to try out Hawaii Plan's zucchini fritters. I can also make my  Panda Express copy cat with the cabbage. Gifts of produce is a win!
• As they anticipate potential more waste today, as the  pantry will be closed for the next three days, I helped her use social media and contacts to do outreach to get  food (that she will deliver) to people that could use it. We can all pay it forward in other ways-which I intend to do. 
• Leftovers have been used for my lunches at home and with DD2. DH has even come home  a couple days in the past week to keep our leftovers in check.
• I was ingredient limited with making seasoned rice (which we like with tacos). I was even out of  chili powder, so improvised by cooking the rice with  a bouillon cube, a hefty teaspoon of cumin, garlic powder, and onion powder, and nob of butter. It was very tasty and might be a new go to side dish on taco night. DD2 was  a fan and loved how easy it was. Learning to cook and  understanding how to make do is a gift I hope to give my youngest the other two already have that skill.
• We are just about out of shampoo and conditioner-so I thought. A rummage under the sink and the linen closet found a few odds and ends that we will use up the rest of the month.

Money

• Pulled together a meal to bring to the lake with pretty much food we already had on hand. I have not done a big grocery shop since July 2nd, and we've been using things up and just picking up what is needed to round out. While I'm not meal planning, we are having home cooked meals.
• We finally had a family night out, going to see Black Widow at a real live movie theater. We went though on Tuesday night, $5 discount seats and free popcorn for members. We paired with  $7 Icee's for DH and DD2, so not that frugal on the concessions, but we are trying to put money intentionally back into the economy with activities we enjoy. A thrifty tip is to sign up for all the membership perks-even if only used occasionally, the savings add up. 
• I have become such a light weight with  alcohol, I  could only drink one beer at Trivia, resulting in being a low budget night out. 
• DH received a  work perk which went straight into savings.
• I still have the $150 Visa gift card I earned through the  focus group back in April. I started looking at Nespresso coffee makers. The one I want is not available, so rather than get a different type or a more expensive one, I just put another pause on it. (Though this is a top want since 2014 when we had in our hotel room in London and I know it will give me complete joy once I own one!!!)
• This is a splurge and a money savings. I decided to re-subscribe to Real Simple. I got an offer for two years for $18, and three bonus editions. I actually did keep many of the old issues I had and will relook at them. Plus, I figure I will share the subscriptions with my daughters and those at the lake for reading.
• Replaced both the Colgate toothpaste and Reach floss we like at Dollar Tree for much less than Walmart or Target for same size. 
• The neighbors got a quote for removing some tree branches and asked us if we would be interested in a quote for our tree. We got the quote  of $350 for  taking it down and  cutting into manageable log sizes. We decided to pass though, as DH has a  chain saw, and we have several family members that would all like some of the wood for fire pits/places so we'll DIY. I'll feed them all and give them a share in the wood for a lot less than $350. We appreciated our neighbors thinking of us, but the price was too high for the job and we have the gift of family to help.

     Mostly, we continue to do the same things-not a lot of spending on stupid things, and yes, the magazine subscription might be the exception. I'm also trying to be humble in accepting what others choose to share, while avoiding waste and more consumerism with little value. How about you? Did you have any gifts this week that helped your thrifty ways? Or, are you the giver this week?