Thursday Thrifty Roundup

This week I…

• Moved B to his big boy bed, the components of which were acquired using a variety of money-saving strategies:
  • I found the car frame on Offer Up for $50 last summer, and it’s been sitting in pieces in the garage this whole time. I knew I wanted it, so I started looking early just to make sure we’d have it when we needed it. The price of the bed new varies by website, but is about $200.
  • I used up the last of our Costco shop card balance to buy the mattress, so it only cost us $17 in real money. The mattress came with a waterproof protector and a pillow.
  • I bought two sets of Pottery Barn cotton car and truck sheets from someone on Mercari for $70. These go for $70-90 new per set, and I thought it would be useful with a toddler to have two sets so if one needs washed I can just throw the other set right on. I bought the sheets about a year ago, too.
  • The blanket is Kyle’s from when he was a teenager. It was made for him by a lady at church or something, and has been sitting in our linen closet for over a decade.
  • The black surface under the bed is an airflow mat that I bought new from Amazon. It has a bunch of little channels and spaces for ventilation. I’ve experienced mold under a floor bed before, and the $100 I spent on it seemed worth it to prevent a moldy mattress and floor. I hate shopping from Amazon, but I try to limit it to times when it’s the only place I can find what I’m looking for.

• Bought B four basic pairs of pants from Goodwill for $12. He had outgrown most of his pants and we were rotating the same three pairs for a little while.

• Bought B three cute pieces of clothing from our local kids consignment store for $27. It’s more expensive than Goodwill or buying directly from sellers on second-hand platforms, but it’s a good way to get some cute stuff sustainably and for a lot less money than buying new. The firetruck pants alone seem to run about $50 from Mini Boden. There are people out there silly enough to spend $50 on a pair of toddler pants, and I am happy to take their leftovers at a fraction of the price.

• Bought all the snacks for our preschool parent meeting and divided the cost between 6 other participating parents. Our class was asked last-minute to bring snacks, and it just seemed easier for one person to buy everything. Part of it was selfish – I wanted a good variety of food and a few healthy options, and eight people showing up with bags of potato chips would not have been that. It worked out to be about $7 per person, which I think is pretty reasonable, and we had a pretty good spread with fruit, a big salad, hummus and pita chips, and cookies. A few other parents brought things to round out the table (cupcakes, chips and sparkling water). The other classes applauded our teamwork. Everyone thinks we’re the best class now.

• Made homemade food for our little party Sunday. Kyle made pigs in a blanket for the kids, and I prepared a big fruit bowl and baked some chocolate chip tahini cookies. We also had store-bought hummus and pita chips. Not pictured, I made a huge batch of gyro seitan “meat” from scratch and set it out with some pita bread, lettuce, cucumbers tomatoes, olives and feta. Kyle made tzatziki. Buying groceries for a party isn’t necessarily cheap, but it’s certainly cheaper than takeout or pre-made food.
• Froze six meals’ worth of leftover seitan gyro meat and pita. When I say it was a huge batch of seitan, I mean it was HUGE. It’ll be nice to pull those leftovers out of the freezer on hot days when we don’t want to cook.

• Ate more of the party leftovers for lunch all week. I made some turmeric rice and used that for gyro bowls along with leftover seitan gyro meat, feta, olives, vegetables and hummus.

• Food prepped, as always. I made some oatmeal for B, and also made big batches of blueberry pancakes (for B) and whole wheat blueberry muffins (mostly for me) to keep in the freezer. I made roasted sweet potatoes, roasted broccoli and sauteed garlic kale to get us veggies through the week, and I’ve been eating leftover Turkish red lentil soup for breakfast. Monday Kyle made crawfish gumbo and we had leftovers for Tuesday, and Wednesday he made homemade mac and cheese. Tonight I’m trying a new falafel recipe. Tomorrow I’m making a tamale pie that will feed us all weekend.