Thrift My Sass

       As the first month of my no-buy year comes to a close, I wanted to summarize my successes and shortcomings. There were a few wins, like finding gift cards hidden in my wallet, but there were also some losses, like 2 pairs of my shoes falling apart this month.      If I had really wanted to minimize my spend during a no-buy year, I would have pre-purchased extra running shoes and socks, at the very least. I did not do that, so I have already needed to replace 1 pair of trail running sneakers, socks, and a pair of winter boots. My old boots were 14 years old, so I certainly got my money's worth ($120 in 2011). My new trail sneakers were on sale, but the new winter boots were over $200. Perhaps it was an error on my part not to buy a cheaper pair, but I did not want to have to shop for new boots in a year or two.      As you can see, my mortgage is by far my largest expense, followed by groceries and utilities. I'm very pleased to ha...

 I had read about the recommendation to eat at least 30 plants per week  sometime last year, but I had never gotten around to actually enumerating whether I meet this standard. At the time, I was pretty confident that I would exceed the minimum threshold easily, but it's time to put my calculator where my mouth is. While this is not part of a new year's resolution, nor is it part of my low spend year, I think now is a good time to examine my diet because I will start meeting with a dietitian later this month. Monday Breakfast was a yogurt parfait with a peanut butter chia protein bar layered with nonfat Greek yogurt and topped with a tablespoon of sugar free raspberry preserves. I also had 2 cups of black coffee. Raspberry (1) + Peanuts (1) + coffee (1) + chia seeds (0.25) = 2.25 points for breakfast Lunch was a salad from the salad bar at work.  Arugula (1) + red and orange cherry peppers (2) + carrot(1) + cucumber (1) + daikon radish (1) + scallion (1) +ginger (0.2...

 Decluttering my house and taking stock of my possessions has revealed a few ways I can save money during my low-spend year. Return bottles and cans. This is something I had stopped doing for a number of years, primarily due to my own laziness. I hated bringing the bag of empty recyclables to the store with me and potentially waiting for a recycling machine to free up. Now the deposit charge in my state is 10 cents per container, so I started returning them during the last few months of 2024. I'll continue the habit in the new year. Try using my SodaStream I bought my SodaStream machine in 2023 at a thrift store when it was on sale for $12. It seemed like a steal because it came with multiple sealed flavors of syrup and a carbonation cylinder. I do drink a lot of seltzer water, so I thought this could help save on a recurring expense. However, I have never taken it out of the box. In 2025, I will give it a try and give the machine away if I don't find it useful. My SodaStream i...

Disclaimer:  The views and opinions expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any company mentioned in this or any other blog post.  Any content provided is my own opinion and are not intended to malign any religion, ethnic group, club, organization, company, or individual. I'm a big fan of protein bars (and cookies, etc) as a handy, portable snack. I've tried a huge number of protein snacks over the years and I wanted to compile my thoughts into a blog post (that I intend to update) so that others can determine if they'd like to spend money on these products. I don't usually take pictures of these snacks but I will make a concerted effort to do so and add them to this post. Brand:  Barebells Flavors Tried:  Creamy Crisp, Cookies & Cream, Peanut Caramel Soft Protein Bar, Hazelnut Nougat Review:  I haven't met a Barebells flavor I didn't like! My favorite flavor is the Creamy Crisp, which I think ...

 As part of my preparations for my  Low Spend 2025 , I have been searching through all of my home storage and auditing what I would like to keep or give away. Plenty of kitchen items, ill-fitting clothes and shoes, and unworn accessories have gone to my neighborhood Buy Nothing Group and made others very happy. Removing these excess items has revealed a stash of products that I had previously purchased, but couldn't find due to clutter. For example, I found two separate 3-packs of my favorite body wash in the basement. The packages were hard to see on my cluttered storage shelves, so I had bought duplicates of the same product. I also found two 3-packs of shaving cream! Clearly, my basement is a well-stocked corner store and I likely will not need to buy those products again for several years. I didn't realize I had 2 packs of dishwasher tabs under my cluttered kitchen sink! The cabinet under the bathroom sink was similarly cluttered. I had old hairbrushes and a rarely-used ha...

 It's easy to get into the habit of picking up a sweet treat when you are out running errands, but those bakery delights are sure to add up in cost. I will be sharing my tried-and-true recipes for homemade sweet treats to save you money whether you are budgeting or doing a no-spend challenge. Recipe up top, tips below. This sweet treat is naturally gluten-free and dairy-free, so it is perfect if you are someone with food allergies. This recipe is also very low in points on the Weight Watchers program. Lava Cake Base Recipe 1 banana 1 egg 20g cocoa powder 20g sweetener (I use Swerve) Splash or vanilla extract (optional) Combine all ingredients in a mini blender until smooth. Pour into a greased ramekin and bake at 350 for 18 minutes. It will look underdone in the middle but will set as it cools into a chocolatey molten center! Molten lava cake topped with zero-sugar chocolate chips Optional Enhancements: Swap out the banana for half a cup of pumpkin puree. Unsweetened applesauce doe...