The Frugal Bostonian

I recently attended a function for a friend, had a camera, and was asked to take some photos of folks in attendance.  I got a few great shots!  I always ask before taking someone’s picture (unless they will be in the background and not recognizable).   And, if a photo is unflattering, I don’t get it printed or show it around.  Digital cameras make it easy to get rid of these “mistakes.”

But here’s what I did this time that was different: after the event, I scurried to CVS’s photo area.  Prints were 19 cents each (29 cents if I did not want to wait for an hour).  I got $5 worth of photos, they were ready in about an hour.  I then mailed copies to the folks in the pictures.  I did this immediately, as I did not know when I would see these people again and did not want to forget.  Everyone loved the photos!  And its fun to get something in the regular mail, other than a bill, junk mail, or political stuff.

For 19 cents per picture, you might be able to make someone’s day.  Add a stamp, and you’ve still spent less than a dollar.  People like this alot more than getting a Hallmark card, think of this as a new way to send someone a greeting!

I volunteered to bring the cake for someone’s birthday.  I had four options in terms of getting a suitable cake:

• buy a sheet cake from a local supermarket.  my experience is that these cakes don’t taste particularly great, and I wanted to do something nicer.
• buy a cake at a high end bakery.  these cakes always taste great, but are expensive, and require getting to the bakery and storing the cake until it’s needed.
• make a cake from a box.  very inexpensive, usually tastes pretty good, but I wonder about what’s in the box.
• make a cake from scratch.  requires having or getting the ingredients, but allows total control over the ingredients.

I decided to make the cake from scratch. I got a recipe on the internet from Hershey’s, and made a deep dark chocolate cake.  I had most of the ingredients (floor, sugar, oil, eggs, vanilla, cocoa powder, baking powder).  It took about 20 minutes to mix the ingredients, then another hour or so for it to cook.

I also made butter frosting, consisting of butter and powdered sugar, which I also had on hand.  I put the whole thing together, bought a tube of writing gel, and garnished it with strawberries. I used a pizza box lined with foil as a cake carrier.

Everyone said they liked the cake, which looked good.  (I really liked it, but I may be biased).  It tasted way better than the inexpensive supermarket cake. It did not look as good as the fancy bakery cake, but it had a certain “homemade” effect, which is something I would personally prefer if someone was getting a cake for me.  All told, making the cake was very inexpensive because I already had the ingredients on hand.  Even if I had to buy everything, it would have cost less than anything but the box cake.  As an added bonus, I got to tell people that I “made the cake from scratch - not from a box.”  The guest of honor seemed pleased.

So, if you are bringing a cake or dessert to something, consider whether you can make it from scratch yourself instead of buying it ready-made.  For alot of people, “homemade cake” means from a box, so bringing something made at home totally from scratch can be a new experience.  The only “labor” beyond using the box mix is measuring the ingredients, cake baking is not a high skill project.

Enjoy!

I went to the beauty school to get my hair cut.  This is the place I go when I can’t find a free cut and style.  As I was leaving, I noticed that they offer other services, so I got a brow wax for $5 (brow waxing has become outrageously expensive, sometimes $15 for a 2 minute service).  I spent a total of $20 (for services and after tip) at the beauty school, and felt like I got more than my money’s worth.

The Fenway Alliance is offering numerous free “cultural” activities on Monday, Oct. 12 (Columbus Day). Among the freebies: free admission to museum of fine arts, free admission to isabella stewart gardner museum, freebies at christian science center, berklee, and other Fenway area places.

Places might be more crowded that usual (because admission is free), so consider going early.

Go to fenwayculture.org for details.

I was walking home and saw someone piling stuff up on the sidewalk in a heap - looked like someone was moving out.  Along with two other passers-by, I perused the pile.  Underneath a cracked printer and a sad looking piece of metal, I found a perfectly good coleman cooler.

I took the cooler home and washed it out.  It’s perfect!  I wanted one of these, but never got around to buying one.  This was the exact size I would have bought.  But I got it for free.

Point of this story: if you are passing by a pile of stuff on the sidewalk, take a minute to look at it.