We’ve somehow ticked over into August, which means this past Tuesday was our state’s primary elections. Washington is a 100% vote by mail state, which is completely awesome. I’ve actually never had to go down to a polling booth to vote. Of course, I waited too long to put it in the mail (no stamp required!), so I had to swing by City Hall to drop off my ballot. Regardless, my vote was in, and no masked line for me.

It’s hard to believe that mail in voting is such a hot topic right now, when my state has done it for so long with no issue. If we can trust the mail for other important documents, like social security cards and passports, it makes sense that voting can be done that way as well.

Friday’s Frugal Five

1. I’ve been a member of my local Buy Nothing group for a very long time, but the only things I’ve ever picked up from them are from a neighbor I know when no one else spoke up wanting the item. That finally changed this week, when someone posted asking for a Lincoln log set for their child, and I was able to pass off a knockoff version that had been sitting in the kiddo’s room (unplayed with) for far too long.

Like with not lying to him about Santa, we don’t sneak off toys in the night, but talk it through with him to get him to acquiesce to the giveaway. Right away, he said it was fine because he knew he didn’t play with the set, but then the tears flowed a couple minutes later and he really struggled with letting it go. It might be a lot more effort and emotions to work through the process with him, but I hope it will lead to a better future for him in regards to giving to others and letting go things he no longer needs or wants.

2. Another month of my clothes buying ban has been ticked off as of August first, marking three years and five months. That is, if I don’t count the bridesmaids dress I bought for a friend’s wedding. She knows about this ban, and felt a little bad asking me to buy a matching dress, but I told her it was absolutely okay and I was more than willing to buy it. In my eyes, the spirit of the ban still holds as it is for an event versus general clothing – though she did make sure to pick dresses we would be able to wear again.

Since I’m only in the office a couple of days a week now (and in a separate office when I’m there), continuing this ban hasn’t been a big deal, and I find myself relying on the same set of clothes most of the time. With hotter temperatures lately, my dresses have seen a lot of use. A coworker also brought a big bag of clothes for me to look through, but I haven’t had a chance to look through them yet. Once you let people know you aren’t buying clothes, they get into the habit of sharing with you first instead of heading straight to the thrift store.

3. While summer is in full swing, it’s time for fall seed sowing. With warmer temperatures and pre-soaked seeds, the broccoli and kale have already sprouted in a big way, as have the carrots and onions that I planted ahead of them. I’ve been less good at fall plants than spring and summer, but with the need for a Coronavirus victory garden this year, it feels more important to grow through the whole year.

Military Dollar tipped me off to the recent onion salmonella outbreak, which I have to admit I hadn’t heard anything about. Thanks to my garden, the only onions we’ve eaten lately have come from the front yard – or a couple from a local farmer’s market – so that outbreak wasn’t concerning to me. Food security has always been important to me, but current events has upped this in my head; PrepperFI is more important than ever.

4. One of our skylights started leaking around the seal, so we’ve had it covered much of the summer. My husband finally got up on the roof this past weekend and fixed the problem. I have no idea how much something like that would cost to have a contractor come out to complete, but I’m certain it wouldn’t be cheap.

Another perk of living in a smaller, one story home means that it’s much easier and safer for us to do our own work, saving us a ton of money. And with the pandemic continuing to rage on, we don’t have to worry about having another person over to our home who we would need to be careful around.

5. The timing on fixing the skylight was perfect – as Thursday actually brought us rain! We get just over an inch of rain in August on average, so when rain was on the forecast, I was expecting to maybe get a light sprinkling. Instead, we got a real soaking for half of the day.

With such an extensive garden these days, I’ve had to water my plants most days, even with a good amount of mulch. A heavy natural soaking meant that I could take a short break from the sprinkler, saving money and potable water use. I don’t worry about our grass browning in the summer, but the edible plants need regular water.

Exercise Update

This past week was a particularly good one for running, and my heel seems up to it more readily than it has since January. Saturday was a run with the kiddo and my youngest brother, the first one we did all together. My brother has run with me since he was a kid, so it was really fun to do the run with the kiddo as well. I also ran by myself on Monday and Tuesday, and again with the kiddo on Thursday.

Friday was a long walk through the park with the husband and the kiddo, and Saturday we took advantage of low tide with my in laws to go for a walk on the beach. Wednesday was a socially distanced walk with my dad.

Does your state vote by mail? Or will you have to mask up and stand in line to vote?