Another Friday, huh? Honestly, I’m ready for life to just slow down a little bit. I keep wondering though, is life really all that busy, or did we just get used to life being slower for a couple of years due to COVID?

Perhaps it’s somewhere in between, but I think it really is the juxtaposition of the early COVID days compared to now. Though there have definitely been more visits from people who don’t live in the area / gone on trips to see people that have all gotten squashed into these summer months.

I absolutely love seeing people in person when it happens, but I’d also love some down time where we didn’t have anything on the agenda either. We’d considered going camping again for a long weekend, but even that seemed like more planning than we wanted to do. Anyone else feeling this same way?

Friday’s Frugal Five

1. I found the kiddo an almost-new bike at Goodwill, which is more his size and in much better condition than the hand me down we got from the neighbors a long time ago. However, he’s comfortable on the smaller bike for now, so we haven’t switched over yet. Likely still worth the $30 price tag though, because it retails for $150 new. And eventually he will want the bigger, newer bike, but apparently not this week.

We also bought some new “back to school” clothes because he keeps growing. I’m starting to see the end in sight for when he’s still shorter than me. Hopefully he won’t pass me until he’s ten or eleven? I blame his tall dad for sure.

2. I ended up biking extra this week: to work on Tuesday and then to the petstore again on Thursday. I’m finding that the longer I have and use my e-bike, the more car trips I’m able to replace with the bike. And it is so much more enjoyable than sitting in my car, and not just because I’m not using gas or spending money on my transportation.

I’ve now ticked over the 200 mile mark on the bike, which feels awesome, and means I’m putting on about 100 miles a month. I’m still many, many, many miles away from paying for the cost of the bike, but it’s absolutely been my best purchase in a very long time.

3. One of the kiddo’s regular egg buying customers told him he was undercharging and has started paying him $7 for a dozen instead of $6. That felt like a lot of money to me, until I looked up the cost of heritage blue and brown eggs at our local grocery store (closest to what our chickens lay), and the price is $8.50.

I realize that you can still buy cheaper eggs from the store, but it was mind boggling to realize eggs could be that expensive from a regular grocery store, not even farm fresh from a farmers market. We’ve not gotten enough eggs from our hens to “pay off” the cost of the coop perhaps, but those eggs are getting relatively cheaper and cheaper as time goes by.

4. It’s been a weird year for the garden, with very few tomatoes and peppers ripe so far and the blueberries later than normal. The onions, peas, and beans (and kale, of course) have done fabulously though, and I’ve been able to give away some any time someone is interested.

Thursday, that meant sharing with both a neighbor a few doors down and a neighbor about a mile away. I’m the only one in my house who loves fresh beans, so it makes my heart happy to share them with those who like them as much as I do. And then the neighbor came back to toss food scraps to the chickens, which they love, and that means that they eat less of their expensive chicken feed.

5. My parents had a COVID exposure this week (it appears they are hopefully in the clear now), but to be extra safe, I worked from home with the kiddo the day he would normally be there. While perhaps this was an overabundance of caution, it seemed a reasonable decision when they had a known exposure. I don’t play the lottery, so why would I want to play the lottery with COVID?

We’re definitely doing a lot more things than we did this time last year around COVID, but some precautions still make sense. I mean, even if you don’t end up with long term effects – or a miserable acute infection – who actually likes getting sick? Not me. I mean, honestly.

PS – Regina and I went live with The Poor Proles Almanac on Monday to talk money and collapse. You can check out the recording here.

Exercise Update

I was on my bike Friday, Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday. I’m still not used to spending so much time in the seat, and my tailbone is a little sore. It’s gotten better with time, but I don’t yet have an iron butt like people who put on miles and miles in the saddle.

Sunday was ninety degrees (again), so we went swimming in the lake (again). Tuesday was a run in the afternoon, which was in the eighties and a much nicer temperature, especially in the shade. Thursday was a couple of walks with the kiddo, mostly sticking to the shade, because he’s a PNW kid and doesn’t love the heat.

How are things going for you these days? Is it back to school time, or does school not start in your area until after Labor Day like here?