bearisgray

Mine has - sometimes - just said - "go get what you want - here's the checkbook" -

He does not like to shop, either. We are almost at the point where it is very difficult to get gifts for each other. I love to shop at yard/garage sales and thrift shops. Not so much anywhere else.

We've simplified holidays - no gift exchanges (well, sometimes - but not necessary) . It's made life easier for all of us!

One of the recent things that I wanted - not available at the local drugstore at midnight - was a Hiker brand hand grommet press. Well - how would he know I wanted one of them unless I told him about it? (Repeatedly)

The most recent thing we bought was a new vacuum cleaner. I'm working on getting a carpet cleaning machine.

I bought "better" underwear for him this summer.

But - back to cookbooks - I've found a lot of them at yard sales and library sales. But - with this covid-19 thing - are there any yard sales around where you live? Or library sales?

I also like the church/organization cookbooks.

Another suggestion - I bought ring binders for 8-1/2 x 5-1/2 sheets of paper - and plastic sheet protectors to fit the ring binders -
and typed up my "family favorites" - and also included the things i always had to look up - how much salt to add to the white sauce, how long to cook hard-boiled eggs, my version of spaghetti sauce - etc. Also mundane things like "how to make gravy with a roux (fat/grease base} and how to make gravy from liquids with none or only small amount of fat in them.

I also added extra blank sheets and page protectors for them to add their own favorites to the book.

I gave each of my kids and ollder grandchildren a copy, - and kept a "spare"

It is kind of convenient to be able to take out the plastic protected recipe and just have that on the counter when making something.

After a few years, I now have two binders going - one for "sweet stuff" - like cookies, cakes, desserts - and one for "not sweet stuff" - like macaroni and cheese, spaghetti sauce, shrimp with pasta, etc.