Specifically:

DF’s mom died in hospice recently, which was painful but a blessing in its own way: She’d taken a fall, after which she never got out of bed again. He was there almost every day, even though she was often unconscious during his visits. DF sat by her bedside, reading aloud or sometimes softly singing. Sometimes she knew he was there and would respond to his presence. When she was awake, he’d brush her hair or try to get her to sip some Ensure or at least some water.

This was the end of an 18-month journey, starting with needing to convince her to move to assisted living because she was no longer safe on her own. (She’d been scammed by phone and in person.) To do that, he had to tour existing facilities, furnish the apartment and get her settled, and prepare her house to be sold (which meant dealing with decades’ worth of art and supplies and furniture and such).

He made endless phone calls to untangle the labyrinth called “paying for assisted living”: His mom had an excellent long-term care policy (bless those state job benefits!), but getting it activated took reams of paperwork. The stress was nonstop, but he never complained.

There wasn’t much I could do, except be here for him. I’ve focused on being as present as possible, and to pick up the slack at home.

When I was home, that is.

A new gig

The freelance market is tottering due to AI and algorithms. Clients are disappearing, assignments are fewer and further between. Figured that was fine for me since I was nearing the end of my working life anyway: I’d write when I could and enjoy life the rest of the time.

After months of relative sloth, I started having the bag lady dream again. To quiet my inner alarmist, I took a retail job in early December – and I’m still there. After a couple of months of nearly full-time schedules, they’ve finally gotten me down to my desired 20 or so hours per week of cashiering.

Am I earning a fortune? Of course not. This is retail, remember? But it’s a steady income, and has some decent perks:

Retirement matching. The company matches up to 5% of what I put in.

Employee discount. The job is at a regional big-box store* that sells food, clothing, toys, shoes, home improvement items, and just about anything else you could want. I get a 10% discount on any of a couple of dozen store brands, and I can stack this with my senior discount. Sometimes we’re offered additional discounts; for example, I paid $86 for three pairs of Skechers shoes that are so comfortable I want to wear them to bed. (Shoes with good support are essential in this line of work.)

Proximity to deals. I’m there several times a week, which means more chances to find good prices – and, sometimes, to make them even cheaper with those discounts. A few examples: a pound of ground beef, $1.20; milk, 40 cents per half-gallon; kettle corn** drizzled with dark chocolate, 57 cents; 18 cage-free eggs, 90 cents. After the holidays, I went home with 29 boxes of Stove Top stuffing mix for a dime apiece; some went to friends and the rest to the food bank.

Nice people. Supervisors and co-workers were patient with my first-month jitters working in the “front end” of the store. (Hint: It had been 50 years since I worked retail. The cash registers have changed since then.) It’s hectic, but I feel that colleagues have my back. And I have theirs; I’ve given people rides*** home and bought food**** for a co-worker when she couldn’t find her debit card.

Human connection. Being a freelancer is isolating. Connecting with customers has been fun. People tend to bond over food; many a conversation has begun with me saying, “I’ve never cooked with (item they’re buying).” Customers love telling me how a dish is prepared and what it tastes like. I’m also getting a good look at shoppers’ anxiety over $10-a-pound chubs of 73% ground beef, which explains the amount of pasta coming over the conveyor belt.

The bag lady dream

Twenty years ago I published my first guest column on MSN Money. “Surviving (and thriving) on $12,000 a year” went viral before the phrase existed. It led to other guest pieces and ultimately to my starting the Smart Spending blog (later morphing into the Frugal Nation site) for MSN.

When I finally got my college degree in 2009, I wrote about deciding not to look for a square job. Freelancing paid the bills, re-established the financial safety net lost during the protracted divorce, and bolstered my retirement savings. It was the perfect gig for me: Work when I wanted, writing about topics that interested me and helped others.

It was great, until it wasn’t.

Understand: Those bag lady dreams are driven by anxiety. Thanks to careful living, I now have cash reserves again. The 401(k) from my newspapering days has grown decently. I  have a Roth IRA, and my writing business has been funding a SEP-IRA (although those  contributions have slowed way down). My goal is to let these funds ride until age 73, when I’ll have to take required minimum distributions.

On paper, I’m probably okay. But rationality is not much of a defense against that bag lady dream.

It’s not about getting rich. Who gets rich working retail? The job has been good for my self-esteem, for my health (tons of steps per day have helped me lose weight) and, yes, for the bottom line. Every dollar I earn is a dollar I don’t have to take from savings (or retirement) to cover things I need.

DF has told me I don’t have to work. I thanked him for his kindness and politely said that yes, I do have to work if I can work. I can’t in good conscience let him pay for everything.

I know how lucky I am. So many people aren’t able to save enough to stop working. But I don’t want to test that luck. Until I reach at least age 70 and qualify for full Social Security, I’ll keep playing store.

Readers: Are you still working? If retired, have you considered taking part-time or seasonal work to make ends meet?

*Won’t confirm the name of the store but anyone who lives here could probably figure it out.

**Usually I take a bag of pretzel M&Ms over to share when I get together with my friend Linda B. I was able to buy 10 bags of that popcorn for less than I’d spend on one bag of candy. And dang, is it good.

***Some people use Lyft, Uber or taxis to get home. Don’t want to think about how much of a day’s pay that eats up.

****She paid me back later that day, once she had time to go to the bank.

The post Not gone, just quiet. first appeared on Surviving and Thriving.

The post Not gone, just quiet. appeared first on Surviving and Thriving.

A lot of people find January a tough month financially. The bills for holiday spending (even modest spending) are showing up, and homeowners in colder places need to spend more for heating. (One Anchorage woman posted that her gas bill doubled due to a stretch of below-zero days.)

An extra $25 in spending power isn’t much in the grand scheme of things. But it’s $25 you didn’t have yesterday.

Maybe you budgeted perfectly for the holidays (or don’t celebrate them) and therefore aren’t in debt. In that case, I have some frugal suggestions for the card:

 Sell it. A friend or co-worker might want it (especially if you give them a $5 discount), or you could try one of those gift card reselling sites.

Regift it. These codes don’t expire. Give it as a birthday, holiday or just-because gift.

Donate it. Give it to a nonprofit group to use as a door prize, or for buying needed items. You get to help others without affecting your own budget.

Use it to donate. Send baby items or shampoo to the family shelter. Have $25 worth of dog or cat toys delivered to the pet rescue in your town. Order an herbal tea assortment for the senior center. If you aren’t an Amazon Prime member, maybe a friend is and will order the items for you. (Disclosure: As an Amazon affiliate, I will receive a small fee to those who join using my link.)

Treat yourself. Sometimes people who are frugal and/or on a careful budget neglect themselves. While $25 isn’t a princely sum these days, it could purchase you the higher-end lotion or chocolate of your dreams. Live a little!

Enter to win the Amazon gift card

Need to do a little shopping, for yourself or someone else? Here’s how you can enter to win:

• Leave a general comment below (one per reader)
• Follow me via Feedly
• E-follow me by using the “get new posts by email” box at the top right of this page (towards the bottom of the page if you’re on mobile), or using the little green envelope icon at the end of this article)
• Sign up to follow me on Twitter
• Sign up to follow me on Facebook

Please leave a separate comment for each entry (e.g., “Follow you on Twitter” or “Subscribed by e-mail”).

The deadline to enter is 6 p.m. PST Monday, Jan. 19. If I don’t hear from the winner by 6 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 20, I will have the random number generator choose another name.

Note: The gift card I have is in U.S. dollars, so this giveaway is unfortunately limited to U.S. residents.

*I will write about it eventually.

The post Giveaway: $25 Amazon card. first appeared on Surviving and Thriving.

The post Giveaway: $25 Amazon card. appeared first on Surviving and Thriving.

Birthday gifts, fun PJs and even everyday food items are just some of the budget-stretchers you can get for a song starting on Dec. 26. As soon as Christmas is over, retailers can’t get rid of holiday items quickly enough.

Discounts of 50% are the usual starting point, and rise as the end of the year approaches. I’ve seen 90%-off price tags.

Here’s how to work those post-holiday discounts for year-round savings.

1. Build a gift closet

Think of everyone you want to give presents to in the year to come, and start shopping. Specialty food sets. Spa collections. Luxurious lotions. Art kits. Journals. Three-packs of super-fluffy socks. Toys, toys, toys.

About that last: If you have elementary-aged kids, stash a few classic toys, such as board games or stuffed animals. They’ll be a big help if your child pulls the classic, “I’m invited to Caden’s birthday party” the day before the party happens.

Pro tip: If a relative or friend has a January birthday, hit the calendar section of the bookstore or one of those calendar kiosks at the shopping center. You could score up to 90% off a calendar that matches your giftee’s interests: baking, corgis, shirtless firefighters.

And yes, most folks do have calendars in their phones. But this way they get 12 wonderful illustrations! Besides: If typewriters can become retro chic, so can the idea of crossing out each day before you go to bed.

2. Go grocery shopping

Check the holiday aisles at retailers like Target as well as regular supermarkets. You’re likely to see gift sets for cheeses, sausage, pasta, nuts, salsa and other everyday food items. Sure, some of them are wildly overpriced. But some aren’t! Besides, up to 90% off “overpriced” can equal “affordable.”

In addition to the gift-y items, you’ll see annual holiday treats and ingredients like Italian panettone, specialty flours, fresh cranberries, fancy spices and dried fruits. If there’s a surplus, such goodies could be remaindered. Take advantage of the savings, either for year-round use or for next year’s holiday cooking.

Oh, and don’t forget the Christmas versions of ordinary items. After Dec. 25, who’s going to pay full price for something like a “Feast of Seven Tinned Fishes” gift set or a box of Pillsbury’s Funfetti Santaverse cake? You, maybe, if such things are 50% to 90% off.

3. Scout out housewares

Christmas flannel sheets keep you cozy long after the holiday has passed. A deeply discounted gnome-themed spatula works just as well in July as in December, and will make you grin every time you use it.

Holiday bath towels, napkins, potholders, tissues (yep, that’s real), muffin pan liners – you name it, they’ve probably got it, and it’s all on sale. Who cares whether it’s the “right” season to use these things? They do the job, and for less.

4. Buy candy

The price of cocoa – chocolate’s raw material – rose sharply in the past few years. Even after stabilizing in mid-2025, cocoa cost 300% more than it did in January 2024, according to the industry publication Chocolate Affairs Magazine.

Post-holiday clearance means a brief price break. So why not stock up on discounted sweets? Their sell-by dates are months down the road, after all, and many chocolate products freeze well.

Top a fresh-baked pan of blondies with miniature chocolate bars and spread them like icing as they melt. Substitute M&Ms for chocolate chips in cookies, or chop up fun-sized Snickers to turn ordinary brownies into a startlingly rich dessert.

Pack them in your children’s lunches. Or in your own.

5. Plan for Valentine’s Day

Stores will be unloading watches and jewelry, along with scarves, tea/coffee collections, and other giftable goodies. Hit the clearance wrapping paper for some solid red (or white) paper to wrap them.

Want to keep costs down? Capitalize on the “red” part of holiday colors for a Valentine gift that won’t break the bank:

• Buy a couple discounted bags of holiday M&Ms and/or red-and-green-wrapped candies like Hershey’s Kisses or Rolos.
• Sort out the red ones and put them into a decorative jar, or maybe a small red gift bag you bought at the half-price sale.
• Team the candy gift with another post-holiday clearance item, such as a stuffed animal or a small retro toy.

This combo might not fly with everyone. Some adults are very high-maintenance about Valentine’s Day. But those who appreciate the charm of a Squishmallow or a tavern puzzle might enjoy it.

6. Stock up on holiday décor/wraps

As mentioned earlier, it’s just smart to buy these things now. Wrapping supplies, decorations, ornaments, maybe a new tree if your old one is shedding.

Solid-color paper can be used for non-Christmas giving; be sure to compare roll sizes, since some hold only a dozen square feet and others twice or three times that much. When possible, choose reusable gift bags. (I tell recipients that these are “magic” bags: If I get them back, they’ll return next Christmas, full of presents.)

Pro tip: Got a Christmas-mad friend or relative? This is the perfect time to buy something for their collection, whether that’s a “Santa, I can explain…” cookie plate or a new item for their ceramic holiday village. The savings can be serious.

7. Buy “up” – and ignore motifs

A lot of clothing goes on sale at this time of year, too. Check out deeply discounted items that will fit your little ones in the year to come: jeans, T-shirts, blouses, hoodies. If you’re good at guesstimating how fast children grow, look for next year’s snowsuit or boots.

Remember that “Christmas” patterns may not matter. A typical two-year-old won’t mind  having Rudolph on their PJs or their underwear (yes, Christmas undies are a thing), and a 90%-off Santa Claus T-shirt might be just the garment you need for mowing the lawn or painting the fence next year. Saving money is always in season.

The post 7 essentials to grab at post-holiday sales. first appeared on Surviving and Thriving.

The post 7 essentials to grab at post-holiday sales. appeared first on Surviving and Thriving.

A few weeks back, he noticed that Ace Hardware was offering a skookum deal on those two yard tools in a combo pack, along with batteries and a charging kit. The cost was $229, which is a good price in Anchorage.

Then he noticed Ace was offering a bonus $10 gift card if you bought a $50 gift card. When he mentioned it to me, I pointed out that we also had:

• A $15 reward on the Ace Hardware app (based on previous purchases)
• Some cash in the washing machine fund*
• A bunch of scrip from rewards apps and programs

Why not combine them all and see how it shook down?

Here’s how it shook down

We used $100 (theoretically) from the washing machine fund to get $120 in Ace gift cards. Next, we cashed in both my and his Ibotta accounts for $43.66 and $41.25 worth of additional Ace scrip. Finally, we redeemed the $15 Ace reward, bringing us up to $219.91, or just $9.09 shy of the sale price.

The additional $9.09 came from our washing machine fund. That’s where the “theoretically” part comes in: When we got home, DF decided to leave the $9.09 plus the $100 for those gift cards in the jar. I urged him to use it, or to let me chip in, but he felt confident enough financially to let the fund continue to build.

Our string trimmer finally died during the year of the ag-grant garden, and DF borrows a family member’s leaf blower once a year to blow out the area around the cherry and apple trees. Being able to get both power tools at once felt like a stroke of luck. Thanks to holiday deal stacking, the decent deal became a great deal. Merry Christmas to us!

Glad savings to all

As mentioned earlier, Black Friday and related deals have come and gone. But the closer we get to Christmas (and Kwanzaa), the more anxious retailers become to unload some merchandise. After all, Valentine’s Day goodies are waiting in the wings, along with shorts and bathing suits.

In some cases, such deals aren’t true savings. That’s because retailers may mark prices up ahead of time and then “discount” them starting on Black Friday. But depending on where you live and what you want to buy, you could luck out. I’ve seen markdowns of 20 to 60 percent right now.

Take advantage, whether that’s for gifting or for something your household needs. Or something you want, maybe?

Readers: Is your shopping done? Are your gifts wrapped? Or are you opting out this year?

*We put $2 in a jar every time we do laundry. (Although sometimes it works out more like “Oh, shoot, we keep forgetting so I’m gonna put in a $10 to make up for it.”) This is an easy way to set aside money for your next washing machine. Or your next yard tools.

The post Extreme frugality: Holiday deal-stacking. first appeared on Surviving and Thriving.

The post Extreme frugality: Holiday deal-stacking. appeared first on Surviving and Thriving.

Everyone complains about the boredom and the bad coffee. But have you ever thought about the potential hit to your finances?

The folks over at NerdWallet (I do love that name) sure have. According to “The cost of jury duty,” some 32 million people are called each year. Only about one-eighth of those actually serve – and those who do may wind up in the hole.

The article notes that in five major cities – Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles, New York and Seattle – jurors earning minimum wage will lose anywhere from about $16 to $78 per day. That’s because companies generally have the option of not paying employees for days spent on jury duty.

Obviously lots of folks who get called are making more than minimum wage. If that’s the case they might have the financial resources to withstand the hit. But maybe they don’t, especially if they live in high cost-of-living areas or are the only people in their households who work.

Bonus: Imagine earning, say, $25 an hour ($200 gross) and seeing your income drop down to as little as $10 a day, which is what Seattle jurors earn. Ask me how I know.

Back in 2010 a jury summons landed in my North Seattle mailbox. (I was startled to read in the NerdWallet post that $10 a day is still the juror pay rate.) As a single, self-supporting freelance writer I naturally asked to be released.

Wound up in the pool anyway and spent parts of two days at the King County Courthouse, trying not to stress-eat and listening to other potential jurors’ sad stories. My (least) favorite was the freelance personal trainer who stood to lose not just pay but maybe even clients if she had to cancel appointments during a long trial. Yikes.

Fact is, nine out of 10 criminal cases never go to trial and those that do last an average of five days. Civil trials last about four days. But there’s always the exception.

Not willing, but ready for jury duty

Fortunately I didn’t have to serve, possibly because I’d been injured in a car accident in the past – the case in question was “lost income and enjoyment of life” after a vehicle crash. It may also have been because I was writing for MSN Money and the accident victim worked in securities.

Or maybe it was just that the other guy’s lawyer didn’t like my mom-face, the mug that seems to make strangers believe that I’m nurturing and understanding and trustworthy. “You look like you’re ready to acquit,” a friend told me at the time.

Until actually told I could go home, however, I was extremely nervous. Suppose I got chosen for an exceptionally long trial? While I could write at night, what about the interviews I’d need to conduct – especially those involving government agencies or other 9-to-5 places?

On the bright side, I knew I had enough of an emergency fund to tide myself over if the MSN gig got pulled out from under me during my brush with civic duty.

That’s why, once again, I’d like to exhort readers to build up their own financial buffers. If you were to lose a few days’ pay, would you be able to cope?

Hope for the best, prepare for the rest

Back in the late 1980s I did serve on a jury, for a purse-snatching case.* I was lucky because the newspaper at which I worked did pay during jury duty. Otherwise I would have lost two days’ pay, one during the selection process and one for the trial.

Would that have broken us financially? No, because we had two full-time incomes.

Would I have been happy to lose two days’ pay? Of course not. Who would?

So please add “jury duty” to your list of Oh-Shit Moments, along with stuff like hundred-year storms and flash floods, car trouble, lengthy illness and the ex who stops paying child support. Since the future is unpredictable, please pad that financial cushion. (If this seems hard or even impossible, see “Trick yourself into saving money.”)

If you’re lucky nothing will ever go wrong and you’ll just keep adding to your EF rather than taking money out. Yay! Unlikely.

Jury duty is a particularly frustrating use for your emergency fund, i.e., it feels like being penalized for doing what the law requires. It’ll burn like a Florida noon to see your painstakingly squirreled-away dollars disappear because your boss doesn’t want to pay you (or has to hire a temp to cover your non-jury duties). But it beats having to charge the groceries that month because your paycheck lost weight.

*Even though I had the same face back then, I didn’t vote to acquit. The snatchee was clearly guilty.

Related reading:

• Frugal-hacking my way through a month without pay
• A simple way to save $159k
• Does frugality have to hurt?
• Be yourself, and save

The post Jury duty can cost you. first appeared on Surviving and Thriving.

The post Jury duty can cost you. appeared first on Surviving and Thriving.

• “Turkey roast” (more on that in a minute)
• McCormick gravy mix
• Idahoan instant mashed potatoes
• Jiffy corn muffin mix
• Edwards whole pie

A free Thanksgiving turkey – is there a catch? Kinda-sorta.

Those four free sides are available to any Ibotta user who activates and redeems the offers. One deal will be released each Monday in November, which means you still have a couple days to claim the first one (that McCormick gravy mix).

The free Thanksgiving turkey is a different story. Only new users will automatically get the gratis bird. Longtime users like me (and maybe you?) must refer someone to the app to score a turkey.

It shouldn’t be difficult to persuade someone to join, since whoever you refer will get a free turkey for downloading the app, claiming and purchasing the deal, and scanning the receipt. Not a bad way to get extra protein, or to score a free Thanksgiving turkey to donate somewhere.

Shameless plug time: If you aren’t yet an Ibotta user, I hope that you’ll use my referral link. Enter the code gtotprb (all lower case) when prompted. If anyone joins through my link, I will donate the turkey and sides to a mom I know who’s going through a rough divorce. (Edited to add: My neighbor joined using my link, so now I’m going to offer up DF’s referral code; enter the code jfbsmbn when prompted. If anyone does join with his link, he will donate the free turkey to the city’s holiday food drive.)

Note: Your referral must scan at least one receipt to unlock your free turkey offer. Ibotta will send you an email to remind you of this, so that you can remind them. Be sure to tell them that they, too, can get a free turkey if they refer someone with their own link. Just in time for the holidays: a Ponzi scheme you can eat!

How to get a free Thanksgiving turkey

As noted, a new deal gets released each Monday. If you don’t claim it in time, the deal goes away.

Before shopping, you must activate the deal by tapping the plus sign next to the item (or any other item you want to buy).

You’ll get the money into your Ibotta account within three days. (I’ve always had it show up sooner than that.) Note that you need at least $20 in an Ibotta account before you can cash out* – but if you buy all (or even most) of the items in this promotion, it’ll add up to $20-plus.

But why stop there? Cruise around the app to see the everyday deals being offered at your favorite stores. I routinely get toiletries, food items, pet supplies and OTC medications for free or almost free by combining deals on the Ibotta app with those on other apps, such as Shopkick and Checkout 51.

Grocery prices are appalling lately, so these rewards programs are a good way to shore up your budget, or to help out a food program, relative or friend. For more info on Ibotta, Shopkick and other deal opportunities, see my primer on the subject, “Rewards programs FTW!”

Some pro tips

“Turkey roast” means either a turkey breast or a whole turkey. It does not include ground turkey or deli meat. Among the accepted brands are Jennie-O, Honest Turkey, Butterball, Great Value and Honeysuckle, but others may also be accepted. Each Ibotta offer has a “check product barcode” function, so use it to be sure you’re buying the right products.

The free Thanksgiving turkey deal is good for birds priced up to $13.65. You can get a larger bird if you like, but you’ll be reimbursed for $13.65 only.

Speaking of reimbursement: The rebates are based on the manufacturer’s suggested retail price, which varies from place to place. For example, the gravy mix rebate is $1.29 but of course it cost more than that in Alaska. Didn’t matter to me, since I bought them with a gift card cashed in through the Shopkick deals app. In effect, I was paid to buy those items.

Note: If you’re ordering online for pickup or delivery, be certain to verify the products before you hit “pay now.” It’s a good idea to un-check the “allow substitutions” button, just to be on the safe side.

Good luck! And happy Thanksgiving.

*Ibotta offers loads of gift card options for groceries, home improvement, pet supplies, movies, clothing, restaurants and more. These cards make good gifts during the holidays, or any time. 

The post Want a free Thanksgiving turkey? first appeared on Surviving and Thriving.

The post Want a free Thanksgiving turkey? appeared first on Surviving and Thriving.

On the face of it, this could seem dull. (“Gosh, thanks, auntie, for the book about money,” accompanied by an epic eyeroll.) But consider it a chance to give someone a shot at taking charge of their finances. For example: 

• A recent high school or college graduate who isn’t sure what they want with their life and has had little to no guidance on figuring out how money works
• A newly divorced friend, who needs help writing their new money story
• A relative whose livelihood was depleted (or outright destroyed) by issues beyond their control, such as serious illness or DOGE-related layoffs 

Or maybe that someone is you. Maybe you’ve realized your current money habits don’t allow much room for growth, or are outright unsustainable. But how do you know where to get advice? 

These books might change someone’s life:

CRUSH Your Money Goals: 25 Smart Money Habits to Save, Invest and Fast-Track Your Financial Freedom

This book by the delightful Bernadette Joy is signed by the author (on the back cover, because Bernadette does things her own way). She knows something about money issues, having earned an MBNA and also having “burned her debt” of $300,000. Tired of those “let me pick your brain” sessions that took up time and provided nothing in exchange, she started a podcast and then became a financial coach.

Not everyone can be that cool. But we can aspire!

She’s particularly dedicated to helping people understand the ways that “emotional and psychological aspects that impact financial behavior are overlooked and underestimated, particularly for women and underrepresented communities.” As the eighth child of Filipino immigrants, Joy is no stranger to hard work – but she wants to help readers direct that work ethic toward getting ahead, rather than just living paycheck to paycheck.

Stacked: Your Super-Serious Guide to Modern Money Management

This book is a hoot, but it’s also filled with actionable advice. Emily Guy Birken is the author of four other books about money. Joe Saul-Sehy created and co-hosts the popular Stacking Benjamins podcast.

The two of them promise there will be no “avocado-toast shaming” or penny-wise/pound-foolish advice. You’ll be given a boatload of tools to help you rewrite your financial story, and the ongoing humor is the sugar that helps the money medicine go down. 

(Seriously: Check out Joe’s podcast, recorded live from his mom’s basement.)

Lean Learning: How to Achieve More By Learning Less

Former architect Pat Flynn is an author, entrepreneur, passive income expert, FinCon speaker and, lately, an influencer in the weird and wonderful world of Pokemon card collecting. He’s surprisingly humble for a multimillionaire, and his new book reveals a crucial mindset for the Internet era:

Action without information is chaos, but information without action is a waste. The key to unlocking our full potential lies in finding the perfect balance between the two.

As someone for whom over-researching is an avocation, I approve this message. Flynn’s book could help you take charge of figuring out what you need to know and learning it – but knowing when enough is enough.

This could apply to your finances, obviously. But it might also change a lot – or everything – about your life.

If you’re more of a listener than a reader these days, I’d like to point out a current Amazon promotion: three months of the Audible service for 99 cents a month. You can get new releases, older bestsellers, podcasts and more. Books/podcasts can take your mind off things while you commute, work out, clean the house or do yard chores.

After three months, the subscription will revert to its usual $14.95-per-month fee. (Disclosure: As an Amazon affiliate, I will receive a commission if you subscribe using my link.)

Win some books!

Want to change someone’s life, or maybe your own? A book can do that. There are several ways to enter to win one of these:

• Leave a general comment below (one per customer)
• Follow me via Feedly
• E-follow me by using the “get new posts by email” box at the top right of this page (towards the bottom of the page if you’re on mobile), or using the little green envelope icon at the end of this article)
• Sign up to follow me on Twitter
• Sign up to follow me on Facebook

Please leave a separate comment for each entry (e.g., “Follow you on Twitter” or “Subscribed by e-mail”).

The deadline to enter is 6 p.m. PST Sunday, Nov. 2. The first person to respond to my email gets their pick of the tomes; the second can choose from the other two, and the third will get what’s left. If I don’t hear back from the winners by 6 p.m. Monday, Nov. 3, I will have the random number generator pull more names. 

Note: Due to the high cost of international shipping, this giveaway is limited to U.S. residents.

The post Giveaway: New PF books. first appeared on Surviving and Thriving.

The post Giveaway: New PF books. appeared first on Surviving and Thriving.

Back in February, we were paying $7.69 per dozen** – and these were just ordinary eggs, rather than the fancier kinds. I’d blocked the actual price tag. That’s when we got serious about egg substitutes.

For the uninitiated, “repack” eggs are created by combining eggs from various boxes. Ever open a carton to check before buying and found a cracked egg, or more than one? Dairy department managers remove the busted cackleberries and put their unbroken brethren into new boxes; where we live, those boxes are marked “Grade B.” Maybe the B stands for “broken.”

As a result, we get a mix of white eggs, brown eggs, Eggland’s Best (which have little red “EB” tattoos), extra-large and regular. Maybe some are even organic. All we know is that they’re $1.99, whereas large eggs are currently $2.79 and extra-large are $3.19.

Even at a reduced price, we’re looking to stretch the grocery bill any way we can. For us, that means egg substitutes.

That’s for baking, not for breakfast. DF still has one or two eggs in the morning, four or five times a week. He’s worked hard his whole life and is willing to spend on things that matter to him. But when it comes to cookies and cakes, we’ve found that egg substitutes work pretty well.

Maybe that’s because we substitute only one egg out of the two (or three) called for in most recipes. But vegan bakers swear by egg substitutes like:

1. Flax eggs

I mix a heaping tablespoon of ground flaxseed with three tablespoons of cold water and let it rest until it starts looking gel-like. My research indicates that this is best for pancakes, cookies and muffins, but it’s worked great for most of the cakes I bake (including my mom’s famous sour cream chocolate cake).

Incidentally, our ground flaxseed was free thanks to a Buy Nothing score: One of the members of our neighborhood group was helping a friend clear out her prepper dad’s place after he went to assisted living. We and other BN devotees walked away with cases of beans, oats, wheat and more. As luck would have it, I arrived just when she was bringing out the one case of sugar (36 pounds) and she asked if I wanted it. Did I?!? Then she said, “There’s a bag of flaxseed, too – do you use it?” The bag weighed 20 pounds, and may last us forever.

2. Yogurt, buttermilk or sour cream

Erin Huffstetler of My Frugal Home suggests using a quarter-cup per egg for pancake, muffin, cookie or cake recipes.

3. Aquafaba

Funny word, huh? Aquafaba is the liquid drained from cans of white beans or chickpeas. You use three tablespoons per egg you’re substituting. Apparently you’re supposed to whisk it until it’s foamy, but I skipped that step and it still turned out well.

4. Fruit puree

My Frugal Home recommends a quarter-cup of applesauce, pumpkin puree, or mashed avocado or banana, along with a half-teaspoon of baking soda.

5. Oatmeal or bread crumbs

Not for baking, obviously. This is for meatloaf, meatballs or any other savory dish that uses eggs to bind ingredients together. Apparently you can also use a few tablespoons of aquafaba, but I haven’t tried that.

6. Tofu

Not just any old tofu, but silken tofu – and it needs to be pureed in a blender or food processor. A quarter-cup per egg should do it, according to Martha Stewart. Note that your baked goods won’t get as brown, but they’ll stay tender. You may also have to add a few minutes to the baking time for recipes that use egg substitutes.

What about powdered eggs?

Although we did buy*** some powdered eggs online during the shortage, this isn’t a good strategy for us. They actually weren’t bad: DF scrambled some up and we both agreed they were agreeable enough.  If push comes to shove, I could see doing a panful of half-fresh, half-powdered.

A few more pro tips:

Eat less. If you do a two-egg omelet or scramble two eggs with your toast, that dozen eggs will become six breakfasts rather than four.

Bulk up your eggs. Start your scramble or omelet by sauteeing onions and/or peppers, then stir in some sliced leftover baked potatoes. If you have leftover meat, beans or some shredded cheese, throw that in, too. Throw them in, too. At that point, you might not even want to add any eggs; instead, fold the skillet mixture into a tortilla, top with a little salsa and sour cream (or yogurt), and enjoy. Or go ahead and make it a Mexican or Denver omelet, but with two eggs instead of three.

Eat them less often. Make eggs a treat rather than a daily special. If you eat two a day, you’re talking more than a dozen a week just for breakfast before you’ve even thought about baking.

And yes, we do like to bake our own treats: Not only is this much more affordable, it lets us avoid preservatives. We also get to tinker the recipes, such as adding a little of our homemade green powder or substituting dried cranberries for raisins. Some day, maybe I’ll write about the resounding success of pork cake.

Readers: What are egg prices like where you live? Have you ever tried egg substitutes?

*This average includes the prices of organic, free range and cage free eggs along with traditional ones.

**I know this from reading an article I wrote at the time, but I’d blocked the actual price tag. If you’d asked whether we’d ever spent 64 cents per egg, I would have denied it. Wow, that was a lot of money.

***When I say “buy,” what I really mean is “cash in rewards points for gift cards to pay for the eggs.” Learn how to do this at “Rewards points FTW!”

Related reading:

• Extreme frugality: Liquid assets
• Frugal hack: Grocery substitutions
• Senior Tuesday takedown
• Extreme frugality: Deal eyes

The post Extreme frugality: Egg substitutes. first appeared on Surviving and Thriving.

The post Extreme frugality: Egg substitutes. appeared first on Surviving and Thriving.

Beth got her undergraduate degree in American Studies from a small (“but awesome”) liberal arts college in upstate New York, and then got a law degree. She spent the first seven years of as an attorney with a federal government agency in New York City, and the remaining 30-plus years in a private law practice in suburban New Jersey. Her specialty was health care regulatory and transactional work.

“I kind of fell into health care, since I got out of law school during a recession and the government agency that was hiring at the time needed people to work on health care issues,” Beth says. She loved working with people in that industry “because of the work that they did to help others.”

Now retired, Beth lives with her husband in a home they’ve owned for 29 years. Her two kids live nearby, and she’s able to see her grandchildren regularly. She delights in frugal hackery like using rewards points and airline miles, and taking surveys for extra money.

Being careful about her finances allows her to have fun in retirement and also to contribute to a program called Impact 100 NJ. She and others make an annual donation, and the cash is given out as grants to local nonprofit groups.

“I never would have been able to make that annual donation before,” she says. “It’s something meaningful, and I’ve enjoyed being a part of it.”

The following Q&A was conducted via email and a phone conversation. The two have been combined and edited for length and clarity.

What got you interested in frugality?

I was married previously to someone who was in grad school at the same time that I was in law school. Since we were two full-time students with no income, every single penny mattered. I started stretching pennies by avidly couponing. There was also a quaint little hobby called “refunding” back in those days, where you would get small payments from companies in exchange for mailing in UPC codes.

Dinners out (which were rare) were exclusively from the Greek diner around the corner which had a soup, salad, main course, drink and dessert meal for $10. It took me a couple of months to set aside a “spare” $5 to go see the movie “E.T.”

I was also a single mom for three years. While lawyers are thought of as doing well financially, my income was reduced because I had made the lifestyle decision to work part-time in order to spend more time with my kids. We ate a lot of hot dogs and mac and cheese in those days. 

Years later, you’re still frugal?

It sort of became a habit. Not to say that there haven’t been times when I’ve really fallen off the wagon! But just kind of keeping an eye on things, it’s become a part of who I am. Of who we are.

Now that we’re both retired, we travel and we’ve taken some longer trips. [In 2024 they traveled around the world; this year, they’ve gone to Antarctica and South America.] We saved for years to be able to do that. We’ll go away for a while, and then we have a long period of time where we don’t do anything.

I take long hikes in our local parks system. I use our local library for books.

When I worked as a lawyer, I had a very long commute. I would create menus every week and my husband would do a lot of the cooking. Now that I’m retired, I get a lot of enjoyment putting together meals. What I’m trying to do now is use up everything we have. Our pantry is really well-stocked. Our freezer is full.

Generally being a good steward of our finances has served us well over time. The biggest example is we got a 15-year mortgage instead of a 20-year. We’d throw extra money at it when we had it, and we paid it off in about 12 years. We were able to help the kids through college.

What’s the “why” behind your frugality?

After getting divorced, I was fortunate enough to meet and marry a frugal (and loving) man who had the same mindset that I did about finances. We both believed in saving as much as we could and were debt averse.

We got a 15-year mortgage when we bought our house and ended up paying it off early. We also shared the view that it was important to save for things that we wanted to do in the future, such as travel a lot in retirement. We also enjoy “out-frugaling” each other sometimes. 

I get enjoyment looking for and researching the best deals. Any larger purchase, like a car or appliances, we always look at Consumer Reports. On top of that, we look and see who has the best deal on that particular item. When we buy appliances, we have a credit card that gives us five times the number of points on gift cards purchased at office supply stores, so we’ll go into Staples and buy (a lot of) gift cards, then use them to pay for the appliance.

Is it easy to be frugal in your region?

Yes and no. We live about 90 miles south of New York City, but costs in our area, particularly for housing, are lower. I suspect that our overall cost of living is higher given our location in the Northeast/Mid Atlantic region of the U.S. We live in a community comprised of a lot of professional households, but fortunately our neighbors are not ostentatious and appear to be level-headed about their finances.

We have a great library and a number of pretty parks nearby.  I have discovered the joys of going on hikes and being in multiple book clubs, both of which are low-cost hobbies. We do go out to eat anywhere from two to four times a month. There’s a Facebook page called South Jersey Food Scene, and somebody came up with a list of hidden gems. My mission is to start checking them out, because they’re less expensive.

Any favorite frugal wins?

Discovering the points- and miles-travel community, which taught both of us to be very strategic about our frequent flyer miles and point earnings. We wanted to travel a lot in retirement without breaking the bank. We’ve had many free stays in hotels, and got to travel to Singapore on an 18½ hour flight in business class last year (in addition to other free flights).

A more simple win involved saving up applesauce and baked bean UPCs about 15 years ago for a promotion run by the parent company of both food manufacturers in order to get DH and myself two free tickets to the Radio City Christmas Spectacular. 

How do you stay intentional about money?

I try to always remember our long-term goals.  I am not perfect, and have fallen off the intentional spending wagon on multiple occasions.  When you are working long hours, it is often hard to find the time to spend in an intentional way. When that happens, I evaluate and correct my course going forward. 

I do surveys online sometimes. They’re really interesting to do, and I’ve got a little bit of money to move over (into the budget).

I’ve started using rewards apps more. I’m buying gift cards for Starbucks, which is getting increasingly expensive. I’ve used the cards to remove the cost of an item via Amazon, or something grocery-related.

Worst money mistake?

When I left my federal government job, I was given a choice to either leave my federal retirement plan savings in place or take them out. Foolishly, I took the money out and bought a new car. When I think how much that money would have compounded by now, I cringe. 

What thing(s) do you splurge on?

I bought a brand-new car two weeks after the most recent election, because I anticipated that we would be facing tariffs. We research our car purchases pretty extensively. We save up the cash to buy well-rated cars (that) run for 200,000-plus miles. 

We also save for (and spend a fair amount on) travel, with miles and points factored in to ease the overall cost. We watch our expenses in certain areas, so that we can spend in other areas that bring us joy. 

You see a $100 bill on the sidewalk, and…?

I pick it up and deposit it in the bank. 

What frugal tip(s) would you share?

Do your research! I’ve found that to be really helpful in making our travel dollars go farther and in researching purchases both large and small. Doing this will help you save for any long-term goals that you may have.

You may have to start small with your savings plan, as I did as a broke law student and a close-to-broke single mom. But the results will be worth it. 

Related reading:

• Meet a reader: Ann from South Carolina
• Meet a reader: RoInRocketCity
• Meet a reader: Cheryl from Florida
• Meet a reader: FrugalStrong from Texas

The post Meet a reader: Beth C. from NJ. first appeared on Surviving and Thriving.

The post Meet a reader: Beth C. from NJ. appeared first on Surviving and Thriving.

I had until Sept. 30 to create a report on:

• How much I spent ($1,950.53 out of a possible $2,250)
• How much food we grew (372 pounds)
• How much food we preserved (258 pounds)
• How many direct beneficiaries of the garden (DF and me)
• How many indirect ones (119 – relatives, friends, residents at a family shelter, and all the people to whom we gave seeds and plant starts)

The ag grant people pleaded with us to turn in reports before Sept. 30 if possible. I sent mine (along with a photo of the garden and a list of receipts) on Sept. 15. It took a lot longer than I thought it would to whip this report into shape, but now I can finally relax.

About time, too. It was a busier spring/summer than usual, because advertising and coordinating pickup of all those seeds and starts took way more time than I’d imagined. Of course, that was because most of the people who stopped by also got a garden tour. Yes, I like to show off our little paradise. Sue me.

We don’t plant much before Memorial Day, yet there were always things to point out to visitors: apple and cherry blossoms, the insane rhubarb patch, the greenhouse made mostly of old windows and scrap lumber, Toklat strawberries that had survived another winter and were rarin’ to go.

(See what I mean about the rhubarb? This photo was taken on May 5, about three weeks after the last snowfall. It got a lot bigger.)

Usually our best months are May and June, but this year both were gray and drizzly. Fortunately, all the sun we should have gotten in those two months showed up in July and August. Right now it’s weirdly mild for September, i.e., temps in the mid- to high 50s. On the other hand, it was 35 degrees when we got up one morning last week. Winter is on the way, but right now I am focusing on what we received this summer.

The food we grew

This year we grew potatoes, carrots, cabbage, lettuce, red and golden raspberries, peas (regular and snap), chives, tomatoes, cucumbers, kale, rhubarb, feral and wild greens, apples, fava beans and strawberries. Not bad for a couple of old folks with 750 square feet of growing space.

Some of this food was eaten fresh: tomato sandwiches, snap peas picked and crunched on the spot (our new favorite form of hydration), or salads made of two kinds of lettuce, spinach, rogue* quinoa leaves, and assorted Asian greens from a long-ago planting that has since gone feral.

New to us this year were the fava beans (please, no “…and a nice Chianti” jokes), which to me tasted like the lima beans of my youth. They produce huge pods, but each pod has only three or four beans. Those beans have a rubbery outer skin that’s a lot easier to remove if you blanch them for a minute in boiling water. One pound of unshelled fava beans produced only the amount seen in the picture below.

Being in the garden on a sunny morning to pick fresh raspberries and strawberries for breakfast brought an abiding sense of satisfaction. We grew this. We tended this. We know exactly what’s in it – and what isn’t in it.

We had always shared garden produce to some extent, but not like this year. My ag grant proposal was “City Garden to Preserve/Share & Teach Others,” so we made a serious effort to spread the wealth around. I delivered berries, lettuce and cucumbers to the Clare House family shelter, and dropped off tomatoes and berries to a number of folks from our Buy Nothing group. We gave away 130 strawberry starts, plus seedlings of tomato, English cucumber and golden raspberries.

And when folks dropped by to pick up starts? Most of them sampled last year’s dried apples, strawberries and “rhubarb Twizzlers.” Just about everyone who ate the dehydrated rhubarb treat asked for the recipe and vowed to make it themselves.

The food we preserved

We froze, canned and dehydrated peas, apples, loads of wild and feral greens, red and golden raspberries (26 quarts!), relish, rhubarb compote, cherries and cherry pie filling, applesauce and apple pie filling, and the aforementioned rhubarb Twizzlers.

(Aren’t they pretty? And since we got only 28 cherries last year – yes, we counted them – it was exciting to have enough to can in 2025.)

The wild and feral greens will be turned into “green powder” some time in the near future. We still have about a pint of last year’s, and a little goes a long way in smoothies, meatloaf, stews and even chocolate cake batter. This year’s powder will have the leaves of raspberry, chickweed, dock, strawberry, pea, cabbage, cucumber, radish, turnip, broccoli, mustard, quinoa, spinach, fava bean, dandelion, fireweed, and several Asian greens.

I also tried my hand at fermented pickles, since we grew bush slicers as well as those wonderful Chelsea Prize English cucumbers. Another hat-tip to Buy Nothing: Someone was giving away a fermenting kit, and I was the lucky recipient. I’d never eaten a fermented pickle before, and to be honest, it’s taken time to get used to the naturally sour taste vs. the vinegar slap of commercial pickles. DF really likes them, and I’m coming around, so we will probably do this next year, too.

Again, there’s tremendous pleasure in knowing the provenance of foods saved for winter. No pesticides or herbicides.

The friends we made

When people came by to pick up seeds or starts, I enjoyed putting faces to the names I’d seen in our Buy Nothing group. Often a simple stop-by turned into both a garden tour and an impassioned discussion about why fresh produce tasted better, or how important it was for Alaska children to see how food is grown.

Several times we’ve had parents bring their kids by to “help” us harvest. It was delightful to watch them dig through soil for potatoes, and to hear them say “Whoa!” as they pulled foot-long carrots from the beds. (Some of the grant money went toward making those beds taller and adding more soil. It worked!)

One of those kids, a preschooler with the amusing old-lady name of “Bernice,” was a real hoot. Every time she took a bite of a snap pea or cucumber slice, she’d strike a bodybuilder pose and chant, “Healthy and strong!” Apparently her mom is always telling her we need to eat things that are good for us. Bernice also was delighted to “help” DF hose off the potatoes; using the sprayer might have been her favorite thing about the visit.

We hosted a four-hour open house on a Sunday afternoon in August. About 50 people showed up, all of them eager to tour the garden, pick berries and sugar snap peas, moan about slugs and sawflies, and discuss ways to garden affordably.

The visitors were hungry for knowledge and fearful about rising grocery prices. We were delighted to point out ways to grow (and preserve) delicious, healthy foods without breaking the bank. Some people asked if we’d be giving away plant starts next year. The answer, of course, is “yes,” and for every year after as long as we’re physically able to keep up with the demand.

I’m a big fan of the phrase “Each one teach one,” so I asked anyone who got supplies and/or toured the garden to pass along their own seeds/starts in the future. Also their knowledge: If we share best-practices tips as well as tomato seeds, we can make a big difference in our neighbors’ lives.

Sometimes that difference isn’t much fun: Weeding, sawfly-larvae picking and filling slug traps is no one’s idea of a good time. But being able to pick a fresh tomato or to bake an apple pie on a winter day is worth the splinters and the sunburn it took to get those things.

Okay, readers: How did your gardens grow?

*We last planted quinoa in 2018, yet it still pops up everywhere. Quinoa is like mint: If you have it once, you’ll have it forever.

Related reading:

• The marvel of an Alaska summer
• Always getting ready
• Strawberries are in season
• Harvest home

The post Garden 2025: The ag grant year. first appeared on Surviving and Thriving.

The post Garden 2025: The ag grant year. appeared first on Surviving and Thriving.