Until a few months ago, I had no idea that Jetty Island existed. As it turns out, it is a small, two mile long man-made island just off of the city of Everett, which is about a half hour north of us (when there’s no traffic). The city operates a small foot passenger ferry from the 4th of July to Labor Day. It’s free, though they do request a few dollars donation if you are able, and it fills up quickly on the weekends, so going early is the way to go.

My mother in law has been taking the kiddo there almost weekly, and they really wanted us all to go out there with them, so we took the chance last weekend and arrived a little before the first sailing at 10AM.

We spent the morning and into the afternoon there, walking on the beach and splashing in tide pools. It was a beautiful, albeit, windy day, and the whole place feels like an isolated nature resort community instead of a spot of land just outside of the city. There is a bathroom building right at the dock, but otherwise the island has been left natural. If you’re in the area during the time of year the ferry runs, I would highly recommend it. Or, if you have boat access, the island is open year round.

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Ps – are you a woman and going to be at FinCon? The Women’s Personal Finance group has a joint meet up with Women Who Money from 1PM – 3PM on Thursday, September 5th. Would love to see you there! Open to non attendees for anyone in the DC area who wants to show up at the hotel just for that meet up 🙂

Friday’s Frugal Five

1. We packed our lunch in on our trip to Jetty island, consisting of garden produce and otherwise food we already had at our house. My mother in law brought the picnic blanket she’d purchased during our East Coast road trip last year, and we had a lovely meal looking out at Puget Sound.

Thanks to that packed meal and other similar decisions over the weekend, we didn’t buy a single meal out on Saturday and Sunday. Compared to a time not too many years ago where we went out to at least brunch almost every weekend, it feels like a really big win for us.

2. Friday night was another dinner in, this time with my friend and her two kids. Again, I brought produce from the garden, ground beef from our quarter cow purchase, and hamburger buns I had frozen that were left over from our neighborhood block party a couple weeks ago.

Our kiddos played, we had time to chat one on one, and generally had a lovely evening. It was way cheaper than going out for a meal together, and a lot easier with three children under the age of six.

Saturday night was similar, heading to a different friend’s house for dinner. She had just had her third baby, so I brought over and cooked food for us and helped where I could. They used to live much closer to us, but now are on three quarters of an acre backed up to a green belt, and there home is a fabulous place to hang out. I miss having them close by, but I totally understand their decision to move farther out, which also happens to be closer to her husband’s current job.

3. The friend I saw on Friday had a box of clothes from another one of her friends that was headed to the thrift store, and she knows I’ve been eschewing clothes buying over the last two years and counting, so she kept a few things aside for me to go through. I have had such an easier time continuing this shopping ban thanks to friends like her, and I so appreciate her thoughtfulness this time around. Ps – another month ticked by, and I’m now less than a month from a full two and a half years.

I decided to keep two of the cardigans and two swimsuit bottoms, but left the rest of the items. As much as it’s tempting to accept everything that fits me at this point, I still want to enjoy wearing the clothes I have, and my closet doesn’t need to get any more full. If anything, this ban has made me even more aware of what I will and won’t wear because I pay closer attention to all of the clothing I own.

4. I shared a garden update on Monday, but I feel like I have a new photo (or a few) I’m sharing on Instagram because there’s so much ripening this time of year. We buy very little in the way of produce during the summer months (besides salads and corn on the cob) because we grow a decent amount ourselves.

I also picked a full container for my parents to send with them because some deer had gotten into their garden and ate their apples and blueberries. While I couldn’t replace what the deer ate, I could share some of my garden’s bounty with them. Deer are fun, but I’m glad that we don’t have enough of them in my area to need an extra high fence around our yard.

5. After hearing about Jobspotter from Michelle when she was in town a few months ago, I eventually downloaded the app and let it sit on my phone unused. Finally, when Purple wrote about it on Tuesday, I downloaded the app and started using it.

In two days of short walks, I had snapped a number of “Now Hiring” signs, and as of today, I have so far made $7.18 in Amazon gift cards. Compared to how excited I get about $5 Bing gift cards, I’m pretty pleased with Jobspotter so far.

We’ll see how much I make long term (apparently big chain stores make a lot less than the independent once I’ve taken photos of so far), but I agree with Purple that it’s also a fun “scavenger hunt” type deal and a good way to pay attention to your surroundings as you walk around.

I realize that in the grand scheme of things, a few extra dollars from Jobspotter, Bing, and Ebates (online cash back shopping portal), but I’m now sending the equal amount of cash into my “found money” savings account. Over time, those small increments of money will add up to something big. I’m not sure if or what I’ll do once the amount reaches a significant size, but more cash is never a bad option for when an opportunity (or large expenditure) comes our way.

If you haven’t signed up for Ebates yet, here is $10 to get started. As always, know yourself, and sign up for this kind of program if you will be disciplined to use it only when you are making a purchase anyway – not because of the online shopping coupons that encourage you to spend more.

Exercise Update

I took a long walk on Friday, and then we walked along the beach on Jetty Island on Saturday. Sunday and Monday were both walks to the park near our house, and I managed ten minutes on the elliptical after work.

Tuesday was a walk to work, but I didn’t have time to get to the gym in the afternoon thanks to an extra late meeting away from the office. Wednesday was an early morning run before work and then a walk with my family in the afternoon. Thursday was another ten minutes on the elliptical at the end of my work day and then a speed walk to the park while trying to keep up with the kiddo on his balance bike.

How is the last month of summer shaping up for you? Any big plans while the weather is warm?