Thursday Thrifty Roundup

This week I…

• Ate homemade food. I wanted to keep things as simple and quick as possible, so I made a big batch of roasted broccoli and some pinto bean and sweet potato taco filling for my entree. I also made the usual big pot of oatmeal. Monday evenings my husband does his weekly food prep so the kid and I fend for ourselves for dinner, and we ate something from the freezer. Tuesday I made a Mediterranean kale salad and roasted potatoes (kale and potatoes were both on sale this week). Yesterday I made a big tamale pie and some sautéed some garlicky kale, and we’ll eat that tonight too. Tomorrow I’ll make a white bean and kale soup to get us through the weekend. It’s not typical that I do all the cooking – we are not that kind of household – but it just worked that way this week, and that’s okay with me because whoever isn’t cooking dinner has to figure out what to do with the kid and after a whole day of that, I’m all set.

• Took the kid to the aquarium over the weekend, where we have a membership. We brought lunch from home. This means the entire half-day outing only cost us our train fare.

• Bought bulk chili powder at PCC for $2.85 (it was on sale and bulk spices are generally cheaper) and also got a free mango for the kid. Kids get a free piece of produce each PCC visit, and we take advantage of that every time, whether we’re spending $30 or $3.

• Made my own play dough. It’s super easy and hardly costs a thing. I have yet to buy play dough.

• Fought with Abercrombie & Fitch until they gave me the full refund their policy promises. This is so stupid, but I ordered some jeans because well-fitting jeans are hard for me to find (I feel like they’re hard for everyone?) and I have a pair I bought from them last year that I really like. I bought the same size in the same style, but the fit was completely different. I drove them back to the store to avoid paying for return shipping, but they only refunded me the subtotal and not the sales tax. When I contacted customer service I was told that’s their policy. This feels like a class action lawsuit waiting to happen – they literally cannot keep sales tax once an order has been returned. Anyway, it took a week of back-and-forth emails and another trip to the store but I did get the money back. And it wasn’t a wasted trip back down there, since I needed to stop at Michael’s nearby anyway to get some ribbon for altering a hat for my kid. I’m gonna go ahead and not shop with A&F again, not like I ever did much to begin with. I’ve taken it as a sign just be happy with the jeans I have for now.