Out and about, frugally!

Met up with a friend for brunch, we haven't seen in almost 1.5 years I think! It was nice catching up, I also redeemed my free movie ticket since I arrived early (but I forgot to pick up another birthday gift from a dept store...). Anyhow the meetup was positive and I felt good about connecting with friends (haven't felt this for a while). The best part was the whole bill got 30% off, lol because the protests had been driving the businesses awry so they gotta do something to keep customers coming in - good news for us! 

Last week I mentioned my friend and I would go clothes shopping...well I said I would abstain from this. I didn't leave with my hands empty BUT, I did much better than previous visits. In the past I would have left with 8-10 items back home but today I got only 2 :-) the best part was, they only costed me US$15 for 2. I don't know if it was the horror of purging my closet, the piles of clothes in my room, or that I have become too old to battle with other shoppers in the tiny but dense mall. My friend and I both felt the same - in the past we would still be energetic at the end of the visit (4 hours later) and today my shoulders felt like they're going to break down after an hour. Plus, the clothes in the mall no longer intrigued me, I either find them too "fast fashion" (short lifespan in the closet), taking up space in the closet, or just not top quality. Anyhow this is good news for me. I kept delaying this visit with friend (she suggested back in October), and I can see that we won't be needing such a visit until half a year or more later. 

The 2 items I got are: a functional skirt + legging one-piece, and a long-line black cardigan with neon pink trims, both US$7.5 each. I turned away from shoes, bags, tops, anything really. The skirt + legging piece would fit with any top, cardigan, or hoodie on top so this will be a staple bottom piece. Am OK with that. I could have skipped the long-line cardigan to be honest though!

Also picked up some soft gummies, oh god I felt like a kid at the candy / snacks store. I happily went home with a 500g of pick 'n' mix gummies. *eats one* Oh penguins, hearts, mangoes, grapes, all shapes and sizes. *eats another* Guess how much 500g costs? US$1.5, now I just need to keep my grubby hands away from the bag. I picked up some dish detergents on the way home, that's US$1.8 for 2 bottles, a house brand of the grocery store (no frills).

I had chunky mushroom soup for dinner -  first time having soup for an entire meal! I used canned cream of mushroom soup (expired for 2 weeks but smells just fine! lol), bought a few mushrooms for US$1.2, added some faux crab sticks and it tasted amazing. I love mushrooms of any kind, and I love me a warm hearty soup. Oh I had a banana before the soup to fill up the stomach, or else my stomach would be screaming an hour later.

All in all, today was a good day :-)