Author Topic: Cheap Things That Make You Happy  (Read 938997 times)

albireo13

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Re: Cheap Things That Make You Happy
« Reply #300 on: November 03, 2017, 07:04:42 AM »
It's amazing how easily and quickly people lay claim to your time and weekends.  While it's fun to see people and socialize,
I'm not into the non-stop getting together with friends and family.

  I can be quite happy by myself doing something stimulating, intellectual, or just plain outdoorsy.
Some folks seem to get lonely if they're by themselves for more than 6 hours!
Beware of becoming very close to people like that.  They will be constantly calling you and dropping in .... working to make themselves your top priority.


Mrs. D.

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Re: Cheap Things That Make You Happy
« Reply #301 on: November 03, 2017, 09:42:35 PM »
Feeling my baby girl wiggle inside me (I'm 32 weeks pregnant)
How much joy my 2 year old gets from examining the canister of kitchen utensils
Keeping track of the mpg on the Prius we just purchased (okay, the car wasn't cheap but the gas is!)
Netflix, YouTube, PBS
Homemade gluten free corn bread muffins
When my son takes a good long nap (and I get to sneak one in as well)
FitnessBlender

Linea_Norway

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Re: Cheap Things That Make You Happy
« Reply #302 on: November 04, 2017, 02:21:47 AM »
Having a really slow paced breakfast. Enjoing the nice view from the window, watching the birds, reading the online newpaper, surfing on this forum, making plans for the day.

Sometimes I do this on a weekday as well and use 20 minutes extra for my breakfast. It gives me a moment of relaxation at the start of the day.

HappierAtHome

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Re: Cheap Things That Make You Happy
« Reply #303 on: November 04, 2017, 02:39:06 AM »
Seeds or seedlings for my garden!

chasingthegoodlife

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Re: Cheap Things That Make You Happy
« Reply #304 on: November 04, 2017, 01:27:49 PM »
Working in the garden on a sunny day, then enjoying a cold beer with my SO afterwards as we survey our handiwork.

Totally agree on a weekend at home by ourselves - I love having guests but I need my alone time!

lifejoy

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Re: Cheap Things That Make You Happy
« Reply #305 on: November 04, 2017, 03:23:54 PM »
Working on product photography and documenting the jewellery I own! It's free fun and helps me not buy more.

Blindsquirrel

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Re: Cheap Things That Make You Happy
« Reply #306 on: November 06, 2017, 05:19:51 PM »
   A fat fuzzy purring cat on my lap. Makes me happy.

Dancin'Dog

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Re: Cheap Things That Make You Happy
« Reply #307 on: November 06, 2017, 06:02:53 PM »
Looking for images in the clouds, or in other places that they sometimes hide.

Bird watching.  I especially like crows, humming birds, woodpeckers, any soaring birds.

Fish watching from a pier.  I enjoy feeding them too, & occasionally catch a few. 

Having bonfires.

Getting creative with leftovers. 


ACyclist

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Re: Cheap Things That Make You Happy
« Reply #308 on: November 06, 2017, 07:26:53 PM »
Having coffee in the morning with no particular hurry.

a-scho

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Re: Cheap Things That Make You Happy
« Reply #309 on: November 06, 2017, 07:49:41 PM »
1. Finding severely discounted candy after the holidays/close to the sell by date. This also falls under the MPP category. Many times I have to stop myself from buying more than a couple of bags of "snack size" candy for .50 a bag because I already have a few other bags still uneaten.
2. Getting a compliment from a complete stranger on purse/piece of clothing I'm wearing. I'm proud to respond that I got it at a thrift store for a dollar!!
 2a. Them not cringing at where the item came from.
3. Getting "free item" emails from Starbucks, Peet's, Krispy Kreme, Raising Cane's, Auntie Anne's pretzels, etc. for my birthday.
4. How good I feel after a good nights rest.
5. Buying a responsible amount of vegetables.
 5a. Actually eating all the vegetables.
  5b. Actually enjoying the vegetables.
   5c. enough to purchase, cook, and eat again in the near future.....not, like, years later ;) I just found out that I enjoy cauliflower and cheese(it's like mac and cheese) way more than any other method of eating it.


Lmoot

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Re: Cheap Things That Make You Happy
« Reply #310 on: November 07, 2017, 04:16:07 AM »
- learning about things of interest to me, or things that make my job easier/more engaging
- nature...even just walking on the rough brick in the backyard, barefoot, on one of my work breaks
- training and interacting with my "flock" (parrots)
- interior design and architecture (ok this can be expensive, but I get a lot of pleasure just sketching or typing out inspirations, collecting photos etc)
- driving around neighborhoods in the morning and late afternoon, looking at houses, and how other people in the community live. I especially feel peaceful driving through farming/ homestead communities. Sometimes one of my parrots comes along for the ride
- life-mapping and goal setting.  I have a huge whiteboard in my room that has a Calendar on it but also plenty of space for writing little notes to myself. I like to set mini goals and put down things I want to accomplish this year or eventually.
- helping my grandmother in her garden
- movie nights with my mom and siblings
- planning trips we'll probably never take (at least in the near future), with the old "gang". Families, schedules, and distance has kept us from being able to all meet together at once. But it's fun to exchange vacation  ideas.

Helvegen

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Re: Cheap Things That Make You Happy
« Reply #311 on: November 08, 2017, 06:12:29 AM »
Hummingbird feeder.


APowers

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Re: Cheap Things That Make You Happy
« Reply #312 on: November 08, 2017, 10:22:12 PM »
Fresh homemade bread. I love bread. If we didn't have a child whose is gluten-free, I would make bread WAY more often.

surfhb

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Re: Cheap Things That Make You Happy
« Reply #313 on: November 08, 2017, 11:02:24 PM »
Sitting with my girl under an umbrella, at Dog Beach, with a cold Sculpin after a good surf. 

ACyclist

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Re: Cheap Things That Make You Happy
« Reply #314 on: November 09, 2017, 09:07:00 PM »
Good music in my headphones on a bike ride.

Caoineag

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Re: Cheap Things That Make You Happy
« Reply #315 on: November 10, 2017, 07:32:53 AM »
Home make stock.  Save the bones.  Mellenianials...you did not invent soup stock...(which is what bone broth is...sorry..you did not discover 3000 year old cooking techniques).

I love homemade stock as well. I did however have to learn how to make it because no one in my family made it. I suspect a lot of the "make things from scratch" movement has to do with a lot of families having already lost these recipes and techniques and thanks to the internet, we can find them again. I know our oldest recipes only go back 3 generations. Due to a sick childhood my grandmother didn't learn to cook until she was 28 and newly married so we have definitely been working to rebuild our ability to cook. At least I started with knowledge from my mother and grandmother. My husband didn't learn to cook anything until after he started dating me. My husband's mother also had to experiment with her mother's recipes until she could make them again because only the ingredient list, not the recipe had been written down.

Online recipes make me happy. Being able to learn at a moment's notice how to make that dish I am craving is absolutely wonderful.

DumpTruck

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Re: Cheap Things That Make You Happy
« Reply #316 on: November 10, 2017, 10:17:02 AM »
The healthy sautee is my new joy! I started doing this earlier this year, and have not cooked with any oil since. Only using raw oil - EVOO and cold pressed coconut

A thin layer of vegitable broth in a pan, with any vegitable. Heat is on med-low, once the broth starts to steam, add the vegetables and cover, cook for about 5 minutes.

I've been doing home grown beets in that with salt and pepper and little lemon juice. So good! The delicate flavors of each vegetable standing in their own right.

Had broccoli out of my garden for the first time this year. So delicious! Raw, the home grown broccoli has this amazing sweet taste up front, with a spicy note and an earthy slightly bitter finish. Really amazing how much flavor my home grown had vs the grocery store.

Also grew carrots that were amazing.

I've been doing so much with ginger lately. After a healthy sautee of a vegetable medly - adding a homemade peanut sauce. It's so bomb!!!!

Fresh ginger, finely minced, freshly ground peanuts, tamari, fruit vinegar or rice vinegar, at least 7 cloves of fresh garlic, EV olive oil, garlic chili paste, and filtered water to the consistency you want. You put this on top of the vegitables, add some beans and rice. WOWWWWW it's so good. And so inexpensive!


Grr the pic i am trying to insert is coming through massive sized, what the heck. I'll just link the URL
https://imgur.com/a/lorET


« Last Edit: November 10, 2017, 10:38:31 AM by DumpTruck »

TheWifeHalf

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Re: Cheap Things That Make You Happy
« Reply #317 on: November 10, 2017, 10:59:37 AM »
My back yard right now. I love the green and flowers of spring, the different flowers of summer but oh, autumn.
All the colors of the trees and plants touched by a hint of frost!

Dancin'Dog

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Re: Cheap Things That Make You Happy
« Reply #318 on: November 10, 2017, 08:39:04 PM »
Bonfires are great.

I've been limbing up a lot of old oaks & instead of hauling the limbs to the curb in reasonable size piles each week I decided to have a few bonfires.  The place is on a lake with a wonderful view to the West.  My wife & I go over just before sunset and with a few beers & some simple snacks.  It's been really nice.

Tick-Tock

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Re: Cheap Things That Make You Happy
« Reply #319 on: November 12, 2017, 09:35:54 AM »
The library.  So many different books to read!  And if my local library doesn't have something specific that I want, they can get it through Interlibrary Loan.

TheWifeHalf

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Re: Cheap Things That Make You Happy
« Reply #320 on: November 12, 2017, 12:07:53 PM »
$20 for a bag of daffodil bulbs.
Yellow flowers in April/May and the ability to divide them in the fall. I've been doing this since 1981 and last year I counted 186 daffodils in my yard.
It makes me very happy

Dicey

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Re: Cheap Things That Make You Happy
« Reply #321 on: November 13, 2017, 07:05:27 AM »
Having my hair dryer on a hook and positioned to blow its warm air to the middle of the bathroom.  When I'm in a rush I turn it on after my shower to have it dry my hair as I dry with a towel.
On cool mornings like today, I turn it on and let it take the chill out of the room and the tub as I get the cloths I will put on after my shower.
I do this too! Our bathroom floors are stone, and the bathroom entry is merely an arch to the bedroom. There's radiant heat in the floor, but it's expensive and silly, so hairdryer to the rescue! I set mine on a non-skid pad and aim it towards my towel. It warms the towel and the air in the room. Nice!

Zoot

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Re: Cheap Things That Make You Happy
« Reply #322 on: November 13, 2017, 10:40:22 AM »
Making cookies.

Cookies, and the making thereof, have become my concentrated, encapsulated, personal symbol of FIRE.  It's what I tell myself I will do, and have TIME to do, once we hit FIRE.

My company is going through a divestiture right now and people's jobs will be changing or getting eliminated.  I have not yet learned whether I'm on the chopping block or not, but I don't actually think I much care about how it turns out--so this weekend, for the first time in more years than I can count, I made cookies.  It was WONDERFUL--and they were DELICIOUS.

Come to think of it, a nice severance package or retention bonus would be awesome.  So I guess "losing my job" can also go on the list of cheap things that make me happy.  ;-)

sequoia

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Re: Cheap Things That Make You Happy
« Reply #323 on: November 13, 2017, 10:57:24 AM »
Got a new tool box, and was trying to figure out a cheap material to use to line the drawers. I then remember that I saved some laminate material from last year when we re-do the flooring at one of our rental. Free, and if these get dirty, I can just cut up some new ones.

mustachepungoeshere

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Re: Cheap Things That Make You Happy
« Reply #324 on: November 13, 2017, 04:20:09 PM »
Tea lights in salsa jars.

ElleFiji

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Re: Cheap Things That Make You Happy
« Reply #325 on: November 13, 2017, 08:38:32 PM »
The European grocery store had boxes of truffles on sale for 2.75

I am so happy. I might buy some as gifts, but they are perfect snacks

Dicey

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Re: Cheap Things That Make You Happy
« Reply #326 on: November 13, 2017, 10:48:25 PM »
Got a new tool box, and was trying to figure out a cheap material to use to line the drawers. I then remember that I saved some laminate material from last year when we re-do the flooring at one of our rental. Free, and if these get dirty, I can just cut up some new ones.
Another cheap option is to grab a roll of non-skid shelf liner at your nearest Dollar Store. Has the added benefits of well, non-skid, but also dampens sound, which is kinda nice, and it's super easy to cut to fit. I know they sell it, because in my pre-FIRE days, I used to sell it to them by the truckload. Made a lotta money that way.

Astatine

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Re: Cheap Things That Make You Happy
« Reply #327 on: November 13, 2017, 11:12:38 PM »
Going to one of the lakeside parks, sitting there and watching all the water birds. I always feel calm next to the lake (it's a man-made lake but doesn't matter).

Following cute animal accounts on social media.

Sitting on the couch with DH and cat in peaceful silence. (ok, silence isn't always guaranteed because someone small and furry often has to tell us aaaaall about her day of napping and grooming and eating and napping etc)

FenderBender

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Re: Cheap Things That Make You Happy
« Reply #328 on: November 14, 2017, 05:55:46 AM »
Ice cream cone.  My wife and I like spending time together just not always inside the house so going to McDonalds with our dogs for just an ice cream cone together is something we do a lot. It is time out without eating a complete meal out.  I don't own a cell phone so we actually talk to each other too.

PtboEliz

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Re: Cheap Things That Make You Happy
« Reply #329 on: November 15, 2017, 12:46:36 PM »
A bike ride with my fella on a crisp Fall morning, putting on a record during lunch, raking leaves! :)

Prairie Gal

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Re: Cheap Things That Make You Happy
« Reply #330 on: November 21, 2017, 06:42:57 AM »
Sent a friend an anonymous card in the mail, with a $5 Tim Horton's card, to cheer her up.

I think I will try to do more random acts of kindness. They give me the good feels.

Freedomin5

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Re: Cheap Things That Make You Happy
« Reply #331 on: November 21, 2017, 07:44:01 AM »
A strand of twinkly indoor Christmas lights. DD and I like to turn off all the lights in the apartment and play by the light of those tiny Christmas lights.

Bateaux

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Re: Cheap Things That Make You Happy
« Reply #332 on: November 21, 2017, 08:39:46 AM »
Irish coffee at home on my day off.

Linea_Norway

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Re: Cheap Things That Make You Happy
« Reply #333 on: November 24, 2017, 11:33:36 AM »
Buying my well fitting, but worn through winter shoes on sale online at black Friday. A few years after I bought my current pair they now sold the same pair in a different color, but same model.
« Last Edit: November 30, 2017, 01:11:49 AM by Linda_Norway »

BookLoverL

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Re: Cheap Things That Make You Happy
« Reply #334 on: November 24, 2017, 12:43:43 PM »
The way the sun shines across the valley at dawn and dusk on a clear day, highlighting every detail. It's beautiful.

Rural

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Re: Cheap Things That Make You Happy
« Reply #335 on: November 24, 2017, 02:19:19 PM »
Old dogs.


(Who, come to think if it, are super cheap until suddenly and unexpectedly they become VERY expensive at inconvenient times. Worth it, though.)

mc6

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Re: Cheap Things That Make You Happy
« Reply #336 on: November 24, 2017, 08:25:57 PM »
A freshly made bed.  I put clean sheets and a cotton blanket on my bed earlier and my cat was sound asleep in the middle of it just minutes later. 

Linea_Norway

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Re: Cheap Things That Make You Happy
« Reply #337 on: November 25, 2017, 06:17:10 AM »
Walking outside in the thin November sun.

Last night: stargazing (cheap once you have the equipment).

chasingthegoodlife

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Re: Cheap Things That Make You Happy
« Reply #338 on: November 29, 2017, 12:38:01 PM »
Switching out my summer and winter clothes. I now have a wardrobe full of ‘new’ dresses. It’s nice to have a change every now and then.

frompa

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Re: Cheap Things That Make You Happy
« Reply #339 on: November 29, 2017, 04:03:34 PM »
Completing a piece of writing I began several days ago.  Although to any observer it looks as though I'm sitting at my desk not moving much, mostly thinking and once in a while pecking at my keyboard, I feel as though SOMETHING BIG HAS HAPPENED.  It's so cool. 

Zoot

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Re: Cheap Things That Make You Happy
« Reply #340 on: November 30, 2017, 01:13:03 PM »
Making cookies.

Cookies, and the making thereof, have become my concentrated, encapsulated, personal symbol of FIRE.  It's what I tell myself I will do, and have TIME to do, once we hit FIRE.

My company is going through a divestiture right now and people's jobs will be changing or getting eliminated.  I have not yet learned whether I'm on the chopping block or not, but I don't actually think I much care about how it turns out--so this weekend, for the first time in more years than I can count, I made cookies.  It was WONDERFUL--and they were DELICIOUS.

Come to think of it, a nice severance package or retention bonus would be awesome.  So I guess "losing my job" can also go on the list of cheap things that make me happy.  ;-)

Well, looks like I'm staying--so much for the nice severance/retention thing.  So I guess "keeping my current job and my current boss" can now go on the list. 

I made another batch of cookies to celebrate.  :)

stoaX

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Re: Cheap Things That Make You Happy
« Reply #341 on: November 30, 2017, 01:21:41 PM »
The library.  So many different books to read!  And if my local library doesn't have something specific that I want, they can get it through Interlibrary Loan.

Agreed!!!

lifejoy

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Re: Cheap Things That Make You Happy
« Reply #342 on: November 30, 2017, 07:56:01 PM »
Switching out my summer and winter clothes. I now have a wardrobe full of ‘new’ dresses. It’s nice to have a change every now and then.

Yes to this!

fuzzy math

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Re: Cheap Things That Make You Happy
« Reply #343 on: November 30, 2017, 08:01:06 PM »
Flannel sheets. Its like taking ecstasy.

Being on track to have eaten 100% of the Thanksgiving leftovers (just a bit of one item left, intending to eat it tomorrow)

Rural

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Re: Cheap Things That Make You Happy
« Reply #344 on: December 01, 2017, 11:16:47 AM »
A day in December warm enough to open all the windows and doors and get fresh air into the house.

chaskavitch

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Re: Cheap Things That Make You Happy
« Reply #345 on: December 03, 2017, 07:47:50 AM »
An AMAZING pink and orange sunrise - I wouldn't have seen it if I wasn't at work at 6 am, so it made my shift slightly more tolerable :)

soccerluvof4

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Re: Cheap Things That Make You Happy
« Reply #346 on: December 03, 2017, 01:09:16 PM »
I've taken over the cooking the last year and thoroughly enjoy it. Plus with me doing the cooking there is no argument of staying in the budge! so win win...

Linea_Norway

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Re: Cheap Things That Make You Happy
« Reply #347 on: December 03, 2017, 01:24:49 PM »
Today:

Cross country skiing in beautiful December sunlight.

Seeing the supermoon rising above the horizon.

Just Joe

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Re: Cheap Things That Make You Happy
« Reply #348 on: December 03, 2017, 09:33:27 PM »
A day in December warm enough to open all the windows and doors and get fresh air into the house.

THAT! Did this several times recently.

HappierAtHome

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Re: Cheap Things That Make You Happy
« Reply #349 on: December 03, 2017, 09:37:14 PM »
A day in December warm enough to open all the windows and doors and get fresh air into the house.

THAT! Did this several times recently.

For me right now, it's a December day COOL enough to have all the windows open and let fresh air into the house :D