Another Frugal Friday

Since my last Frugal Friday post I have contributed the following to food waste:
4 leathery pomegranates (I just wasn't comfortable with how they looked)
4 jalapeno peppers
2 oranges from fresh bags that had mold on them
5 old leathery sour oranges 
1 grocery bag of greens
4 c of cooked rice
2 small bits of lemon/lime

Had I seen the post on FACEBOOK or PINTEREST earlier I would have happily turned my citrus and pomegranates into a frozen ring of bird food.  But alas it popped up after I had already trashed the foods.

Food waste is not currently my biggest frugal fight. 

Is being carless frugal? I guess that depends on where you live. Where I live it is cold (sometimes dangerously so) from as early as late October through late March with mild and even warm days in between. 

More specifically my particular neighborhood touts itself as a "walkable" neighborhood. I have been trying to figure out what exactly that means. Yes we have sidewalks. But from my house the nearest food sources are 2 corner stores and a dollar general. There is also some sort of corner grocery store but it is dirty and I don't trust it, and a German Sausage Shop. To walk to the evil W is 3 miles (each way), to walk to Tops is 2.7 miles (each way), the public market it 1.4 miles (each way) and with the cold temperatures is unreliable as far as vendors. I am not equipped to walk in temperatures below 10 degrees for more than a mile.  And it seems that everything is roughly at least one mile from my house. 

Right now not having a car is not frugal for me. I have to rely on someone else to take me to Aldis (which has the best prices for my current budget) and I feel like I am wasting their time so I try to go as quickly as I can and I always forget something. 

Public Transportation, is a joke. With the build of the NEW downtown Transit Station routes are less useable and more expensive. Routes have been cut in half (with a stop at the new transit station that requires a second fare to continue on the same route that you used to just continue on through. In order to go anywhere I have to plan on 1-2 hours of travel time (most of which I am walking myself) and $5-10 in round-trip fares. And that is if I don't take Sampson with me. Most of the time it would take the same amount of time to walk the distance as to ride the bus (and really I walk most of the distance as I have to catch different busses to get where I am going) so as long as the weather cooperates I'd rather walk. But alas the weather has not been uber cooperative as of late. 

I am hopeful that it is nice enough to walk to the Market tomorrow and that vendors are there. Fortunately, my Saturday contract is up and I can spend a little more time at the market. So I am hoping that I can start getting 90% of my shopping done at the Public Market. I know I can get eggs, meat (ethically sourced), produce (local), and even some prepackaged items. Sadly the harvest season is not upon us so my choices will be limited. 

It is time to start turning the heat back down. This is the time of year where the cold has started reaching my bones and I like to keep the temps up at 68 all day long. Earlier in the season I was comfortable keeping it at 63. So it is time to gradually reduce the temps. Nothing higher than 66 this week and 65 next week, so on and so forth. 

Mother Nature a word please.... SPRING!