Thrift My Sass

As Arthur sang in his immortal ditty, "having fun isn't hard when you've got a library card." Your local library likely offers many more services in addition to lending books. Here are some ideas for you to ask about at your library: Children's Programs Your library may have a children's reading room or even a whole wing devoted to it. In addition to helping kids find books that they will enjoy, the library staff and docents may host additional events. Some libraries offer seasonal crafts for kids, story time for preschoolers, and homework help. My local library has both a children's wing and a teen center, and both of these offer educational and recreational programs for their age groups. Adult Education Events Local authors and subject matter experts may offer discussions or informational sessions hosted by the library. Your library likely has an events calendar that you can peruse for these events, which are most likely completely free! Museu

This is a great way to use up your Christmas leftovers. You can substitute most of the ingredients - I recommend keeping the cheese and using cream of something soup, but the rest is up to you! Ingredients: 2 cans cream of something (I recommend cream of chicken) + 1 can of water 2 cups of shredded cheese (you can grate your own full 8oz bar of cheese, too!) Peas (leftover, canned, or frozen) Corn (leftover, canned, or frozen) 1/2 onion, chopped 8 oz (dry) egg noodles Chopped turkey leftovers, as much as you like! Black pepper to taste Parsley flakes as garnish Directions: If you are using frozen vegetables, defrost them by placing in a strainer and running them under hot tap water Cook egg noodles to al dente texture, drain. Mix drained noodles with other ingredients and place in a greased casserole dish Top with parsley flakes Bake at 375F until browned on top, about 45 minutes Additional Ideas I'd love to see how this turns out with ric

When I first started working full-time, I often found myself scrambling to put together a lunch in the morning before leaving for work. This meant that I would give up on bringing something from home a couple of times each week and resort to buying something at lunchtime. Needing to buy lunch is particularly a problem for me because I work in a downtown area in an expensive city with few carry-out lunch options. It is difficult to find a meal in that area for less than $10, let alone something with reasonable portion sizes. This led to my credit card and my waistline feeling a little too plump by the end of each month. Meal prepping on weekends helped me to cut down eating out for lunch, but I still occasionally found myself without a lunch and with no plan. I started to keep snack and meal items at my desk, and that finally helped me to kick the restaurant lunch habit. I often troll the reduced section of my local grocery store to find shelf-stable items to stock my desk at work. Ma

There are a bunch of ways to get things you want or need online, absolutely free! Here are some online communities that allow you to give away or ask for items of your choice with no cash or barter required. Buy Nothing Project The Buy Nothing Project is based on the concept of a gift economy, where people can exchange items freely without anything expected in return. The idea is that each individual group will serve a local community, such as a neighborhood in a city, part of a large town, or an entire small town. This allows members to get to know their actual neighbors through the medium of Facebook. Buy Nothing Groups are formed by volunteer residents of the community, and the group is formed around that person geographically. You are only allowed to belong to a Buy Nothing Group that includes your home. Since there was no group in my town when I moved here, I contacted the Buy Nothing Project and started my own group! The regional volunteers helped me to set the geographic

According to the Leichtman Research Group , the average cable bill was $107 in 2018. Anecdotally, I have heard coworkers and family members cite bills much higher than that, up to about $300 for homes with multiples televisions with their own cable boxes and DVR service. That is a substantial bill for just a single form of entertainment! There are several frugal alternatives, including streaming services, but I have most enjoyed using a digital antenna since buying my house in 2017. This isn't your grandma's antenna - all television broadcasting in the United States (as well as numerous other countries) is all digital, so there is no risk of a fuzzy signal. The signal also comes in at full HD (1080p) resolution so the quality of the picture is excellent. A digital antenna is one of the cheapest alternatives to traditional cable TV service. They are available from a number of retailers, including Amazon and big box stores. This up-front investment is the only cost associ