So, one of our very favorite neighbor couples is moving out of state come next month. They are having their first child and are moving to be closer to family, so I completely understand why they are making that choice, but we are seriously going to miss them around here. Remember when I wrote about going to Port Angeles in January for a neighbor’s birthday? Yeah, that neighbor.
Since they’re moving – and soon – we’re making sure to squeeze in as much fun stuff as we can before they go. And since they love camping and are moving somewhere with fewer and more crowded options, that fun stuff includes as much tent time as possible. I had a vet appointment for our dog at noon on Saturday so we couldn’t leave Friday night, but after I got back home from that we headed across the water to Hood Canal for one night of camping.
The campground we chose is just a twenty minute drive from the Kingston Ferry Terminal, so it is an easy spot for a one night trip. The weather was absolutely gorgeous as well, and camping in sixty five and sunny at the end of March felt nothing short of miraculous. We’re back to rain and colder for the foreseeable future though now, which is more typical for this time of year.

PS – I was interviewed by ChooseFI and the episode aired on Monday. If you haven’t listened yet, download it here. I’m particularly proud of this podcast episode and am honored to have been a guest on such a big podcast in this financial independence space.
Friday’s Frugal Five
1. We tend to stop at local grocery stores along the way to campgrounds and oftentimes grab at least one meal at a restaurant on the way there or home, as well as sometimes visiting a brewery to fill a growler or two. And as I mentioned in my March update, our food spending was even higher last month than it has been lately due to a number of reasons.
This latest camping trip though we brought food for all our meals and basically just hung out at the campground until we headed back to the ferry (other than our traditional popcorn snack on the ferry itself). It was a really nice relaxed night and it made for an extremely cheap camping trip. We basically spent $28 on the campsite and another $32 on the ferry trips and then a few dollars on snacks and that was it.

2. Since we’re now into the month of April, I’ve ticked off another month without buying clothes, bringing that total up to twenty five months and counting. I’m still not sure when I will actually break that ban, and I’m just taking it one month at a time at this point. For now, I still don’t feel like there’s anything I particularly need to replace, especially thanks to the hand me down shoes I got last month.
I also put out an ask on the Facebook page of a mom’s group I’m loosely associated with as a first attempt to set up a clothing swap, both for the kiddos but also for us. If I’m not successful there, I think I’ll reach out and see if I can collect anyone else up to do an exchange with.
I have a few things I’m ready to part with from my slowly shrinking closet as well as some hand me downs from others I keep meaning to drop off at the thrift store, so I’m thinking it might work even better if I can get a clothing swap to happen. The clothes will be more likely to be worn than possibly end up in a landfill, and I could maybe end up with a few new things that could help extend this ban yet again. If any of you have organized a swap before, I’d love any tips on how to set one up to be successful.
3. We washed the dogs this past weekend after getting back from camping. They were already overdue for baths, but after playing in the dirt and the salt we’re we absolutely couldn’t put it off any longer. My husband had meant to do it a couple of weekends before while the kiddo and I were off doing something but found out too late that we were out of dog shampoo, so it got put off again. Which then worked out for the best since we would have had to wash them again after camping anyway.
I didn’t initially consider this a “frugal win” worthy of mentioning as part of the Five this week since we have always bathed the dogs ourselves. But then I remembered that I worked at PetSmart way back in the day and that plenty of people take their dogs in to be groomed regularly. To be honest though, it’s a bit easier to just do it ourselves rather than make an appointment and then drive them to the groomer and back. And of course, it is a heck of a lot cheaper.

4. Monday afternoon I decided to leave my car at work and run to pick up the kiddo from preschool and then take the bus home. The bus was extremely late though, and by the time we got on it we had missed the transfer home. My husband was off work by that time though, so he met us at the park near the transfer spot and we got a ride home with him the rest of the way.
Of course, once we had stopped there and walked again by a new restaurant we had been wanting to try, we stopped for an early happy hour dinner. Whoops. And there goes a little more of our food budget again (though at least it was reasonably inexpensive thanks to happy hour meals and no drinks).
We got dropped off in the morning and then after the kiddo and I had our once or twice a month routine of coffee/hot chocolate and doughnuts, I walked the three miles from preschool to work. Between the happy hour dinner and then the breakfast the next morning, leaving my car at work didn’t save so much money over driving, but it did save natural resources. And we would have done the breakfast anyway even if I had driven (though perhaps not the dinner, but maybe even that).

I do miss the days when our schedules worked that I could run the six miles to work once a week, but figuring out how to commute without my car even once a week now makes me pretty happy. Eventually I’ll get myself a bike again and maybe make it two days a week.
5. I finally got our taxes done this week. We do have somewhat complicated taxes due to the varied nature of our investments, and I have a CPA file for us. Perhaps I could do them myself now (and I did when we were first married and just had a couple of W-2s to deal with), but I appreciate the peace of mind of having someone go through it for us.
The first year I used her, she found ways to get us a larger refund that outweighed her fee, and that made it absolutely worth the cost. While perhaps that isn’t true every year, it’s something that seems well worth it to me. I’m unconvinced that we have to optimize and DIY every last thing ourselves, and the home repairs and maintenance that we do save well more than filing our own taxes.
We also got a $1,000 refund this year thanks to upping our retirement contributions, and while it may not be as “optimal” as closer to zero, I have to say that I much prefer to get a little bit back than having to pay a little bit at tax time. Either way, I’m glad that it has never ended up wildly in either direction, because I wouldn’t want a five or ten thousand dollar refund instead of seeing that money in our paychecks every month.
Exercise Update
I was feeling particularly anxious on Friday night, so my husband convinced me to go out for a run after the kiddo went to bed. He’s been napping less frequently these days, which means he goes to bed earlier and there was a little bit of daylight left after he fell asleep. I ended up running a 5k distance for the first time in a while, and I felt especially better for it. Going for a run doesn’t always make the anxiety go away, but it always helps.
Saturday I headed downtown with my dog before her vet appointment to send off a friend’s old dog and we walked from their apartment down to Seattle Center and back. After the appointment, we left to go camping and did some more walking around the rest of the day. Sunday was more wandering around the campground and then walking the dogs after their baths.
Monday was another twenty minute run and then Thursday was the walk to work and a short bit on the elliptical in the afternoon before preschool pick up. Thanks to all the walking and running, Friday through Tuesday were all 16,000 – 18,000 step days. Wednesday was a short run, but I just squeaked in at my 12,000 step goal that day and Thursday was another short workout on the elliptical.
How was your week? Do you have any frugal wins to share? I love to hear about them! After all, it’s the little things that add up to the big ones.
our dog is getting his annual bath once our attic construction is finished next week. we go to work and he hangs out up there with the carpenter all day in the sawdust and debris. we got a gigantic tax credit from the preservation folks for fixing up our house a couple of years ago and i wanted to separate our tax returns for a year to recoup all of it. long story short is our tax guy, a c.p.a., found that it would have cost us 1800 in extra tax go get it all back now AND you can’t fund roth ira’s if you file separate. i’m fanatic about turning as much dough into roth dough so we’ll just get a large amount now, some for the next two years, and save 1800. that’s also worth the price of the service.
Yeah it sounds like he definitely needs a bath after that! What do you mean you can’t fund Roths if file separately? Do you make over the limit if you file that way?
if you make over 10,000 and lived with your spouse you can’t contribute. i didn’t know about that rule until a few weeks ago. now we both know. here’s an article that has some details. https://www.fool.com/taxes/2018/11/02/2019-roth-ira-income-limits-what-you-need-to-know.aspx
Oh wow. That rule doesn’t seem like it makes sense???
Technically you can’t directly find Roth if married, filling separately. HOWEVER, you can fund a non deductible tIRA, then convert it to Roth. AKA a Backdoor Roth. This is what I do as I also fine separately. It is also how very high earners get that sweet, sweet Roth action.
We enjoy camping too and have one trip with friends planned for this summer and I’m working on planning another trip. It’s so fun to dream of the warm summer nights ahead. As far as frugal wins – we dropped collision on our older car and received an insurance refund. Later today I’m going to yoga with a friend who is able to bring someone to the session for free (me).
Hope you have a great weekend!
While we camp year round, I definitely don’t hate it when it warms up enough to be able to hang out late without needing to be bundled up.
Have fun at yoga!! I miss going regularly.
Loved your interview on the podcast and love your blog. First comment.
Thank you so much! I’m glad you’re here.
Being out of dog shampoo is the WORST. My dog went “swimming” in a puddle of “oh my gosh, that smells terrible”, and all we had was my weird, vegan lavender calming shampoo, which DID NOT DO THE TRICK. Though she’s super soft now, and she rolled around in some grass the other day, and the smell is gone, but she’s green. So I guess you can’t win them all…
Hahaha yes it WAS you that bathed your dog in that shampoo. I remembered reading that but couldn’t remember who it was 😂😂
Yup, that would be me with the lavender poo smelling pup. -_- Since I use super natural stuff, I wasn’t too worried about the chemical component, and we NEEDED her clean. But 10/10 would not do again, and she and I are walking to the pet store Saturday to buy something else for when she needs a wash again. 😂😂
Hahahah 10/10 would you just let her stink for a while instead?? 😂😂
NO! But the shampoo didn’t really help with smell, soooooo…. But now we have a plan to get doggo shampoo before we go hiking again… 😂😂 No more weird doggo smells after her baths. 😀
My week was pretty quiet. I got a pizza when we went out for trivia (though I saved a couple of bucks because we had a gift card from a previous win, which we split among the bill). I got about $25 worth of groceries. And I bought some gummy vitamins for $26 (it’ll last me 3 months). But otherwise I didn’t really spend all that much over the past several days, so my weekly funds lasted 10 days. Which is good because I somehow did the math wrong when keeping out money for the month, and I’m just barely going to squeak by financially at the end of the month. Oh well, I guess I’ll be more careful when my next paycheck comes.
I’m all for gummy vitamins even though they’re a bit more expensive because we actually remember to take them 🙂
Sounds like a fun week and I actually managed to read the Frugal Five on Friday !!! woohoo for having time to get my reading done 🙂
Reading the Frugal Five on a Friday. What is the world coming to 😉
That’s a bummer your neighbors and good friends are leaving 😕 I know the feeling on both sides as I’ve done it/it’s happened to me many times. Hopefully the people that replace them are just as awesome!
I owed on my taxes this year for the first time ever, and found I much prefer the refund too! 😂 going to make sure my withholds are enough to get a small refund next year!
I had the same thing this year! I’ve always had tax refunds in the $500-$1000 range and this is the first year I was at almost exactly 0. On the one hand, we’ve been doing good things with that money all year, but on the other hand, part of me missed the psychological boost of putting a big dollar tax refund into something and seeing a big change right away (two years ago, I paid off one complete student loan, last year, it paid for a home repair project, etc).
I don’t mind close to zero but owing more than a couple hundred bucks totally sucks.
Yeah, I’m tempted to start trying to find someone to replace them because I’m going to be seriously bummed if they aren’t people we end up making friends with.
We’ve paid a couple of times now, and I agree, a (small) refund is WAY preferable.
Wow! Running six miles to work. Very impressive.
I definitely miss it!
We owed on taxes this year since MwC had some kind of credit from her work and it was the main reason we owed a good amount. But it’s fine because we had a decent take home amount. Maybe next year with the arrival of baby #2, we will get refund!!
Ha yeah, kiddos do help at tax time. Though they definitely cost way more than that credit ;$
Flippin tires is a crossfit workout, go easy on him! 🙂
Ha! Totally his idea but I thought it was hilarious.
I belong to a local buy nothing group on Facebook and someone is always posting clothes they now longer need for one reason or another. It’s much better then a clothing swap because you can request specific items if you need to.
I keep meaning to get involved in my local group (beyond joining the FB page, which I have done). I feel like I need to give away a few things before I can start asking though.
I’m doing a clothing swap in May with some friends if you are interested! We will probably have some kids and adult clothes 🙂
Yes please!!!!