I have Fridays off. Don’t get too jealous – I have to work every Saturday.

After years of being off on Fridays, I’ve finally learned how to do extra during the week so that my Friday is actually a day when I can do what I want to do, rather than a day to do chores.  A day off isn’t a day off if it involves getting gas, picking up the mail, getting groceries, going to the pharmacy, paying bills…

So now I go on adventures.  Usually the day starts with waking up whenever I wake up.  This often means around 10.  I have to be up around 7 every day, and that is not normal for me.  I make up for it by sleeping in when I can.  But I don’t want to sleep in too much – then I’ve slept away my life.

My theme for the day was to only go to places I had a coupon or a gift certificate.  I wanted to spend as little money as possible.  I’ve had some of these saved up for over a year -and some I just got the day before.

This was outside of my car when I got out to go to lunch. I took it as a sign that this was going to be a fruitful adventure.

While eating lunch, I read some of the material from The Wander Society and learned a new word – Zouave. I looked it up and here’s a picture of one.  He’s charming!  And it is in sepia.  I’m not sure what it is about sepia that I love so much these days.

Here’s the definition from the Dictionary website –   “(formerly) a member of a body of French infantry composed of Algerian recruits noted for their dash, hardiness, and colourful uniforms. 2. a member of any body of soldiers wearing a similar uniform or otherwise modelled on the French Zouaves, esp a volunteer in such a unit of the Union Army in the American Civil War.”

I like writing down new words (well, new to me) in my journal and then writing the definition beside it.  It is like collecting ephemera.  I may or may not use the words later in my writing, much like with how I use ephemera in my collages.  I don’t think I’ll have a call to use this word, but that picture may spark a story.

I had a $12 lunch at Panera and paid only $2.  I used a gift card that I’d gotten for Christmas from a lady in my book club.  The meal was tasty and healthy, although not very filling.

I went to Target in the next town over and perused the dollar bins near the front of the store. It actually took over an hour to find something I wanted and needed that was close to my budget for this trip.  The ticket was $9 and I spent $4 because of the free gift card my husband gave me.   I got some Halloween yarn to use in making a quipu, some gauze that was for Halloween decorating that I’m putting in a collage-painting (See the post “October art), and some pumpkin pie energy bars from Larabar.  I was a little hungry at that point but didn’t want to be forced to eat fast food (translation, processed and greasy and mostly meat, as well as taking a while to get to and to get).  Plus, the Larabars were on sale, and there was one more in the package than the Kind bars that cost more.

I spent the most at Yankee Candle, but saved the most too.  The total was $61 and I paid $45.  I got Napa Valley Sunshine (an old favorite that they are discontinuing.  It smells like the convent I like to visit on silent retreat) and Maple Pancake  – for my husband.  I also got a car scent of Autumn in the Park.  I had a $20 off coupon that came with the catalog I just got, and a $5 voucher for buying so much stuff in the past.  I like to supplement the atmosphere of my house with smells.  It helps my mood and helps me concentrate. My first book was finished using candle-scents to focus me.  They had a deal where I could have gotten a $25 jar for $12 but I didn’t want to spend over fifty dollars here.  I was a little bummed that the clerk took the $5 off after the tax was added.

The best deal was the last – it was a trip to Duncan Donuts (why not spell it Doughnut?)  where I got a salty-caramel hot chocolate for free.  A friend had given me a $5 gift card for them (paired with Baskin Robbins) for Easter – last year.  I’d used part of it and kept it.  I saved it and drank it cold at work the next morning.

I kept all the gift cards I used and will make them in to scrapers/markers for painting.

I keep a running total of gift cards that I have not yet used in my phone so I won’t forget to use them.  They are like cash.  I used to do the same with Groupon-type things too but I stopped buying them.  The expiration dates came us too soon and there were too many exclusions and limitations.  Too stressful.

All told, I got $84 worth of stuff for $51 = so I saved $33.

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The weird/interesting/sad part is that I had to leave the house at all.  I really like having time to myself, and right now my husband is unemployed.  So he’s home all the time.  I need a day to reset, to do what I want without anybody watching what I’m doing and asking me questions.  I self-censor enough as it is, so I don’t need help with that.