Yesterday was my favorite kind of day. I checked off an impressive number of tasks from my to-do list, spent next to nothing and enjoyed it all.

Here’s what I did:

• I washed a load of laundry in my free-from-my-mother washing machine and hung it to dry on my backyard clothesline.
• I spent an hour or so tidying up the garden. (Hire a landscaper? Fuggedaboutit!)
• Both kids left in time for school in order to take advantage of free transportation. (Sadly, a rarity these days.)
• My older son and I walked my ballot over to the library, (thus saving the cost of a stamp) which also included the errand of returning a late library book and picking up two “Lucky Day” book. (The new Pioneer Woman cookbook and the new Jennifer Weiner novel.)
• I saw that Grand Central Bakery had a mention-this-tweet-for-a-free-coffee deal going on, so I swung by on my way to pick up my older son from school. I found a dime on the ground outside and enjoyed a lovely fifteen minutes or so filling out paperwork for my son’s passport renewal. I rarely, if ever treat myself to fancy coffee treats, so as a result they are very special. (Do you notice how I also batched these errands?) Of course, I left a tip.
• I used a free trial of the computer app iFototessere to take my son’s passport photo. This was an immediate $10 savings. BTW, it worked perfectly!
• My husband, son and I met up at the county building to turn in the passport paperwork. This errand is finicky, (all three of us have to be present at once on a weekday) but doing it on time saves the cost of an expedited passport.
• I went through someone’s free pile and gleaned a pair of brand-new-with-tags girl’s Levi’s, which I will take to Buffalo Exchange to swap for clothing my sons can wear.
• Dinner was pasta, made using ingredients we had on hand, plus a well priced half-pound of chopped clams from New Season’s.
• The evening included an hour or two watching How I Met Your Mother with my older son through Netflix. (Although we do have cable-TV, I would dump it in a heartbeat, but am outvoted on the issue due to certain perceived international soccer game needs.)

It was my idea of the perfect day. Frugal and fantastic!

Katy Wolk-Stanley

“Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without”

Click HERE to follow The Non-Consumer Advocate on Twitter.

Click HERE to join The Non-Consumer Advocate Facebook group.

Click HERE to follow me on Pinterest.

Today I am . . .

• Raking up and sweeping the teeny tiny oak seeds in our backyard. They are choking our new lawn, which is simply unacceptable.
• Tracking down Soul Eater: Volume One, which is two days overdue at the library.
• Voting. (Hooray for living in a country that gives me this incredible right!)
• Working up the courage to deal with my compost, which appears to be housing a rat. *Gag*
• Meeting my husband at the county office to put in the application for our younger son’s renewed passport.  This is an annoying task, as it requires both parents plus the child on a weekday.
• Doing laundry to take advantage of the terrific clothesline-friendly weather.
• Crossing my fingers that someone besides scammers respond to my Craigslist ads for my TV armoire and Goodwill rug.
• Still laughing about how I spontaneously invented the swear word “Bluggery” yesterday.
• Enjoying that my mother finally moved back to Portland from Nebraska. (Master’s degree, schmaster’s degree.)
• Anticipating that I will accomplish a lot of stuff in the name of procrastinating the rat-in-the-compost task. Again, *gag*!

How about you, what are you doing today?

Katy Wolk-Stanley

“Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without”

Click HERE to follow The Non-Consumer Advocate on Twitter.

Click HERE to join The Non-Consumer Advocate Facebook group.

Click HERE to follow me on Pinterest.

I don’t how it happens, but family birthdays always seem to clump up together. (Okay, as a labor and delivery nurse I actually do know what, ahem . . . leads to birthdays. But that’s neither here nor there.) And my family is no exception. Our birthday-clumpage occurs in October, December, January and May.

This week brings birthdays for both my younger son, who’s turns 14 and my husband who inches along middle-agedom to the grand ol’ age of 47.  Sadly, my husband’s celebrations have become obscured by our son’s birthday ever since 1998. It mysteriously only falls on weekdays, (I swear it’s true!) and lives under the shadow that is Kid Birthday.

I haven’t started planning yet, but I would like to do something special for my husband. The evening already involves a mandatory parent meeting at the high school, but that doesn’t mean the whole day is shot. So I ask you:

What are your special family birthday traditions, frugal or otherwise?

C’mon, I need some fresh ideas and inspiration!

Please share your ideas in the comments section below.

Katy Wolk-Stanley

“Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without”

Click HERE to follow The Non-Consumer Advocate on Twitter.

Click HERE to join The Non-Consumer Advocate Facebook group.

Click HERE to follow me on Pinterest.

Happy Mother’s Day from all of us at The Non-Consumer Advocate. May your day be joyous!

Katy Wolk-Stanley

“Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without”

Click HERE to follow The Non-Consumer Advocate on Twitter.

Click HERE to join The Non-Consumer Advocate Facebook group.

Click HERE to follow me on Pinterest.

Flying from Oregon to Japan, I was surprised to experience next to no jet lag. We spent a full 24 hours getting from point A (Portland) to point B (Hiroshima) and hit the ground running the next morning.

Flying back from Japan to Oregon has been a different story. I am a walking zombie, despite being home since Monday, and I’m able to fall asleep faster than, well . . . pretty much anything. I’m also able to sleep all night long, so it’s not as if my daytime naps are interfering with my ability to get a good night’s sleep.

Just this morning I got the kids off to school and lay down to read my library edition of Drop Dead Healthy by A.J. Jacobs, (which I highly recommend. This man could transcribe the phone book and I would be first in line to devour every word!) and I was asleep within moments. So deeply asleep was I, that I ended up being late to meet up with my father and sister for lunch.

Oops.

I work all this weekend, as I did yesterday. I’m hoping that the necessity of clocking in at 7:00 A.M. will kick me back into my proper time zone.

If nothing else, I can live a vicariously healthy and well rested life with A.J. Jacobs. That’s worth something, right?

Katy Wolk-Stanley

“Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without”

Click HERE to follow The Non-Consumer Advocate on Twitter.

Click HERE to join The Non-Consumer Advocate Facebook group.

Click HERE to follow me on Pinterest.

Oh, Japan. . . why must you overpackage everything? And then put it in a plastic bag, which you also tape shut.

Did you not notice that an orange comes with its own thick rind, which works perfectly as built-in packaging?

I’m perfectly fine with less plastic. As is our planet.

Arigato gozaimasu.

Katy Wolk-Stanley

“Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without”

Click HERE to follow The Non-Consumer Advocate on Twitter.

Click HERE to join The Non-Consumer Advocate Facebook group.

Click HERE to follow me on Pinterest.

Being a Non-Consumer in Japan is not an easy task. Especially when on a regimented trip (chaperoning eight graders) that includes many, many forays into Omiyage shops. For those not in the know, “Omiyage” are souvenirs, and are imbedded into Japanese culture. Each town has their own specific omiyage, and they are bought by both foreign and Japanese tourists.

Although. . .  in my two weeks in Japan, I saw maybe a dozen foreigners, total. It probably would have been different if we were traveling in Tokyo, Sapporo or Kobe, but our travels took us to Hiroshima and the small towns of Asago-City. We took daily trips to different fun destinations, but even the popular touristy spots (like the hot springs onzen town of Kinosaki) were frequented by Japanese nationals only. And let me tell ya’, those shops did not seem to be hurting for business.

It would have been so easy to pick up a knick-knack here and a tchotchke there, because let’s face it, it’s fun to buy souvenirs when abroad. (Hence, the term “Dutch Tulip Fever.”) But I couldn’t picture any of it being all that fantastic once I returned home. Of course, I already own a zillion Japanese souvenirs, as we frequently host Japanese exchange students and teachers, who always come laden down with gifts.

So I made a self-rule of only buying things that were useful or edible. (Although I did break this rule by picking up a super teeny ceramic Daruma for 125¥ for my older son who collects them.)

Here’s what I bought:

"Rilakkuma" stuff, which my older son loves. I sprung for a Japanese-style lunch box, as he's been complaining that his "Tiffin" doesn't fit into his backpack. I also picked up two chopstick sets for the kids, some cookies, a ball-point pen and a school folder.

My kids *love* Pocky, so I bought one of every kind that I could find. My goal had been to track down the elusive green tea Pocky, but was unsuccessful. My host family thought this was hilarious, and kept saying "Pocky, Pocky, Pocky" to me.

Green tea or "Matcha" flavored treats hold a special place in my heart. (Or arteries, if you want to get more specific.) And that "Cream Collon" candy? Who among us could resist the temptation of someone's creamy colon?!

Unphotographed are two more Japanese reusable lunch boxes with matching chopstick/silverwear sets from the 100¥ store. (Thank you Vanessa from Thrift Core for suggesting that I track one down. And by the way 80¥ = $1 when I exchanged my dollars.) I will give these to my niece and nephew as birthday gifts. I also bought a tiny glass leftover container with snap-on plastic lid from the 100¥ store.

You know, as a gift from me to me.

I can’t think of anything that I regret not buying, and I had enough spare room in my suitcase on the return trip to store other people’s sake, gym clothes and a neck pillow. I also had enough unspent money to lend Yen to three people and slip extra cash into my younger son’s hand.

For which I requested and received his deepest bow.

Now, to start getting ready for my older son’s five-week trip to Sapporo at the end of June. How do you say “Oy Vey” in Japanese?

Have you come back from traveling with a suitcase full of souvenirs that look junky in the light of day? Please share your thoughts in the comments section below.

Katy Wolk-Stanley

“Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without”

Click HERE to follow The Non-Consumer Advocate on Twitter.

Click HERE to join The Non-Consumer Advocate Facebook group.

Click HERE to follow me on Pinterest.

I am finally home from my two week trip to Japan. I had a fantastic time, and although I’m apparently not quite ready to write at any length, I do have a couple of photos to share.

Here I am with my host family at the end of my stay in Japan.

Don't you love the apron that this Japanese potter woman is wearing?

Because it's the mending job that melted my heart.

Katy Wolk-Stanley

“Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without”

Click HERE to follow The Non-Consumer Advocate on Twitter.

Click HERE to join The Non-Consumer Advocate Facebook group.

Click HERE to follow me on Pinterest.

I will be away from the blog until May 8th, so until then I leave you with this:

Spend less than you earn, but make sure to treat yourself now and then. Especially now.

Make do with what you have, but make sure that what you have gives you pleasure.

Declutter your home, but hold onto the stuff that makes you smile.

Keep your expenses low, but allow for rich experiences.

Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without. You know, most of the time.

Katy Wolk-Stanley

There is not much that can be called “frugal” about traveling to Japan. The flights are expensive, the hotels are expensive, transportation within the country is expensive and I imagine that the food is expensive. Because this is a highly organized group trip, (33 children, six adults) there’s not much under my control. Everything is planned out, so it’s not like I can take off on my own and find a cheap noodle joint for lunch. There will will be some free time, but I’m not counting on it.

But my goal with this trip is to be as frugal as possible with the things that are under my control.

For example:

We needed four roll-aboard suitcases, but we only own three. I borrowed instead of bought the extra suitcase. Total cost = $0

Both my son and I had to bring a “formal outfit” for the trip. Because we are casual Portlanders, we started this from square one. I first tried to borrow the slacks and dress shirt from a friend, but my son is rather small, so this went nowhere. However, I was able to find him a new looking pair of trousers at the kids’ consignment shop for $6. I actually head store credit here, so they handed me five dollars and change when we completed the transaction. It turns out we already had a dress shirt, and a child-size tie was found at Goodwill for $3. Total cost = +$2.

I wanted a book to read during the trip, so I stole a copy of paperback copy of The Hour I First Believed by Wally lamb from one of my mother’s guest cottages. Some tenant left it there, and my plan is to abandon the book in Japan rather than cart it around once I’ve finished. My mother is A-OK with this plan. Total cost = $0.

I went to my favorite consignment shops and bought a pretty skirt and a Chico’s Travelers top for myself, which together look fancy. And the top can also be worn with jeans or anything else. Total cost = $30.

I am neither bringing my cel phone nor my laptop. I am bringing my son’s iPod touch, (which came free with our refurbished laptop.) and my husband has set up a FaceTime account, so we can communicate if necessary.

I needed an attractive bag to put host family gifts in, (can’t wrap the gifts, as customs might unwrap them) and I wanted to give something non-disposible. I had seen that Powell’s bookstore was giving an extra $5 to all book sellers this weekend, so I brought in a couple of my son’s books, which they bought for $4. With my $9 in store credit, I bought two darling lightweight canvas totes with the Powell’s logo and some extra decoration. (Yes, they put a bird on it.) Total cost = +$1.

Bringing ”Omigaye” host family gifts is a big deal, but I neither wanted to burden the family with useless knick knacks, nor did I want to spend a fortune. I ended up buying:

• Bob’s Red Mill apple and blueberry granola packets on a day when all B.R.M. products were 40% off at Fred Meyer.
• A box of six-packs of Oreos in different varieties. The host family that my son will stay with is the same family my older son stayed with two years ago. The daughter, Erina then visited us for two weeks that summer, so I know them well. This little slip of a girl motored through an entire box of Oreos one day which was entertaining to say the least. This was very on sale at Safeway.
• Two boxes of organic Tazo Chai tea. It was also on sale at Safeway.
• Two small boxes of Applets and Cotlets, which is a local company. Of course, on sale.
• Two pairs of cool hipster knee socks that say “Portland” up the side for both Erina and the teenage girl in my host family. (I bought these at Sock Dreams, and used a $5 off coupon from The Chinook Book.)
• A bag of Ghiradelli chocolate mints. Yup, on sale.
• A set of Mod-Podged Portland map coasters for each host family.
• A tea towel printed like a vintage Oregon tablecloth for both of the host moms. And no, these were not on sale.

I estimate that I spent $45 on everything for the two host families. I’m pretty sure that I’m actually bringing too many gifts, but I end up doing this.

I do not plan on buying a whole bunch of souvenir knick-knacks while in Japan, although I am bringing $300 in spending money. (What’s leftover I’ll give to my older son who’s going to Sapporo for the summer.) I would like to go to a Japanese fabric store if I get the chance. (I get one free weekend with my host family.) Otherwise I do not plan on shopping my way through the land of the rising sun.

My younger son does plan on emptying out the shops. He has spending money from his grandparents and is hot to spend it all.

I still have a few tasks to complete, like buying slippers, grabbing a couple of smallish Goodwill wallets for both of us, (mine is stupidly huge) and you know, cleaning the house. And, oh yeah . . . I still need to pack.

Wish me luck, I am absolutely dreading the long flight, as my bad back makes extended sitting a nightmare. ARGHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!

CLICK HERE to see what I sent along as host family gifts when my older son went on the same trip two years ago.

Katy Wolk-Stanley

“Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without”

Click HERE to follow The Non-Consumer Advocate on Twitter.

Click HERE to join The Non-Consumer Advocate Facebook group.

Click HERE to follow me on Pinterest.