The Non-Consumer Advocate

1. I’ve been slowly but consistently selling things through Facebook Marketplace, Craigslist and eBay all week long. No super-wow-amazing-impressive flips, but together they added up to a financially respectable amount. This included another pair of Danskos, a groovy old light fixture, a vintage office chair, a book and two more freebie soccer tickets.

   I have someone supposedly coming tomorrow to pick up a cute 1960s suitcase, although I know to hold off counting that chicken until it hatches.

2. My county commissioner held an informational meeting at a nearby library, and I’m not too proud to admit that I was sold by the promise of “free coffee and pastries.” It was actually very interesting, and I enjoyed increasing my knowledge of various community concerns.

   Of course, the combination of civic engagement with free coffee and pastries, all in the presence of free books practically demands my presence.

   I helped myself to a coffee, a sprinkled donut and a Lucky Day copy of A Woman of No Importance by Sonia Purnell.

3. I received a email reminder about my son’s July rent, so I got on the horn with the property management office as his lease actually ended on June 30th. This company has high turnover, which in the past has meant that an employee ensured me that some issue was of no concern, and yet was long gone by the time it did become an issue. I confirmed that they had the correct information, and then had the person send me an email confirming that we were in no way responsible for July’s rent.

   This may sound paranoid, but getting things in writing is never a regret.

4. My neighbors are heading out on vacation, so they gifted me fresh peas and lettuce from their CSA box, I created a dinner that used up three (THREE!) half-used boxes of pasta, I gleaned a free enormous cardboard box from a local business after hitting up an appliance store that was going to charge me, I almost bought tickets to visit my sister in NYC and then hit the brakes as the tickets were $420+ apiece, (I’ll continue my search for cheaper tickets) I pulled a handy not-too-big-not-too-small box from a neighbor’s recycling bin, (perfect size for eBay) and I socialized with friends by going for walks, sharing errands and simply chatting on our front porches.

5. I didn’t buy a Lear Jet or a vulgar gold-plated apartment in the sky.

Now your turn. What frugal things have you been up to?

Katy Wolk-Stanley    

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

{ 66 comments }

1. My eBay woke from a deep slumber and I sold three items in a single day. (A keyboard, a video game and a vintage marble bowl) Of course, it went right back into a hibernation after having exerted all that effort. I then sold a desk, (the pink and white one from the last blog post) a set of six stacking chairs and a pair of Sanita/Danskos. I also took a box of free books to Powell’s and earned $14 in store credit.

   Not too shabby considering that it’s only Thursday.

2. My son and I spent an hour or so perusing the aftermath of another neighborhood’s garage sale day. (Needless to say, we went in the late afternoon when people were inclined to set any unsold stuff out with a “free” sign.) Although there wasn’t much to choose from, we got lucky and scored the aforementioned stacking chairs, which were “Isaac Mizrahi for Target,” as well as a silverplate coffee set that might actually be worth a couple hundred dollars. We also helped ourselves to a Nike baseball cap, miscellaneous books and a leather purse.

   After hitting up Powell’s I donated the leftover books to Goodwill, except for one which I set onto my to-read stack. I happily accepted the donation receipt for my 2019 taxes.

3. My son and husband went to see the band Mastadon in concert, which was our 21st birthday present to him. I no longer recall the cost of the tickets, (not cheap!) but this experiential gift far outweighs any thing that we could have purchased from him. The two of them had a terrific evening out together, which will be a memory to outlast any physical item.

   Experiences > Stuff

4. I slathered a $4.99 thrifted table with some Restor-A-Finish to ready it for resale, I started reading another library book, my father treated me to lunch, I brought home a graphing calculator from a free box, I cobbled together a faux Pine State Biscuits dinner for my family, even thought it meant having to bake a separate batch of gluten-free biscuits for my daughter, (still cheaper than eating out) and I downloaded a free audiobook of H.G. Wells’ The Time Machine through the Libby app.

5. I didn’t buy a Lear Jet or a vulgar gold-plated apartment in the sky.

Now your turn. What frugal things have you been up to?

Katy Wolk-Stanley    

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

{ 77 comments }

1. I sold a few things including the free FitBit that I got for participating in a wellness program, two vintage lighting globes and some video games/DVDs from a free box. Not crazy impressive, but better than a swift kick to the tuchus.

2. My son got a well paying job within a few days of arriving home from college. And as much as my husband and I could have used our connections to boost his likelihood of finding employment, he independently found this job by doing a web search for “jobs” plus “Portland.” It pays well, is full time and is even close to the house!

   I look forward to him going back to school in the fall with a fat credit union account.

3. My mother and I spent a couple hours cruising around a nearby wealthy neighborhood that had just completed their annual garage sale day. Although I didn’t find as many brag-worthy treasures as the one I hit a few weeks ago, I still came home with enough stuff to deem it a successful outing.

   I brought home:
   – A desk to sell.
   – A working printer for my son to bring back with him to college.
   – A fat stack of books to try and sell to Powell’s.
   – Two pairs of NYJD jeans to sell on eBay.
   – A cell phone case for my daughter. (Her’s looks like it went through a wood chipper!)
   – The aforementioned box of DVDs/video games which I immediately sold to a local store.
   – A handful of miscellaneous stuff such as a skein of wool, a pretty box for eBay packaging, a toy wooden dresser, a recent magazine and a coaster.

   A different wealthy neighborhood will complete their two-day garage sale event this afternoon, so I’ll spend an hour or so meandering through that area this evening.

4. I used up a batch of scratch cooked black beans and prepped another, I read a library copies of Rhys Bowen’s The Victory Garden and David Sedaris’ Calypso, I took advantage of a local grocery store’s 50%-off Tillamook ice cream deal, I walked to the library to replenish my reading options, I stopped into various Goodwill thrift shops while running otherwise dull errands, (Costco for cat food. Yawn . . . ) I listed more stuff on eBay and I stopped at a 76 gas station to fill up my Prius and earn another voucher for two free MLS Thorns tickets. The attendant spontaneously gave me three vouchers without me even asking. Since I’m attempting to sell them for $12 apiece, that’s a potential $72 profit!

5. I didn’t buy a Lear Jet or a vulgar gold-plated apartment in the sky.

Now your turn. What frugal things have you been up to?

Katy Wolk-Stanley    

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

{ 76 comments }

1. I sold a number of things including a Toy Story finger puppet, a vintage suitcase key, an All-Clad kitchen timer, two Thorns soccer tickets and nothing else. It would easy to worry about stagnant sales, but I know that people are on vacation this time of year, and remember from years past that it’s simply a slow time for eBay. A natural ebb in the rhythm of commerce.

   However, I’m always stocking my inventory, and this week picked up four more free women’s soccer tickets by gassing up my minivan, and then thrifted a few more items which I immediately listed on eBay.

   My husband came home with one of those corporate, “Congratulations on blah-blah years of service, please pick out a gift” catalogs. I asked him if there was anything he wanted, which prompted a hearty “No!” I went into research mode to find which item held the best (and easiest) resale value. I ordered a 10-piece set of Calphalon pots and pans, which sells for around $135 on eBay. (They’re $199 new.) I’ll try to sell them locally first to save the buyer the cost of shipping.

   We appear to be in a season of left field expenses, (Medical! Dental! Leftover Spring Term Stuff!) and although our son’s next tuition payment isn’t due until October, his college savings account is pitifully low. Gotta build it back up!

   Creative frugality is great, but it needs to be balanced by creative income generation!

2. I brought home an ironing board that a neighbor had put out for free. Although I already own a board, mine has a disintegrating cover that annoying drops flakes onto the floor. This one appeared brand new, so it was a definite upgrade. I’ll list my old one through my local Buy Nothing Group with an honest description of condition. I also gave away a rug, some seeds and a calligraphy set through the group.

3. I tore through a library copy of The Clockmaker’s Daughter by Kate Morton. I recently read a New York Times article by Ben Dolnick about the benefit of binge reading, which shifted my approach to reading. It’s hard to reach that point of full immersion into a book when reading for a few minutes here and a few minutes there. Characters get mixed up and important plot points are muddied. Instead I’ve been prioritizing big chunks of time to reading, which is a dramatic game changer.

   “If you do push on through one chapter break, and then on through the chapter break after that, something amazing happens. Subplots that would once have been murky to the point of incomprehensibility (what was the deal with that dead sea captain again?) step into the light. Little jokes and echoes, separated by dozens or even hundreds of pages, come rustling out of the text forest.”

   All for the price of a library card!

4. I stopped at an estate sale and picked up a $3 plastic bin of craft paint, (which I gifted to a friend who teaches art) I scooped three quarters from under my credit union’s coin counting machine, I accepted an offer to join my mother and step father for dinner at a barbecue restaurant, my husband and I prepared all other meals at home, I started a new library book, I returned something to Goodwill and I enjoyed raspberries from my garden.

5. I didn’t buy a Lear Jet or a vulgar gold-plated apartment in the sky.

Now your turn. What frugal things have you been up to?

Katy Wolk-Stanley    

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

{ 74 comments }

1. I sold a few things through eBay including a fancy Kermit The Frog stuffed animal that I picked up at the Goodwill Outlet (they sell by the pound, so lightweight items are crazy bargains!) as well as a pair of like-new plastic Birkenstocks.

   The Kermit had been sitting on eBay for at least six months, which made it a satisfying sale. It’s exciting when things sell immediately after being listed, but it’s more common for my inventory to sell months after languishing on eBay. It validates that it’s a perfectly fine strategy to practice the art of patience and wait for the perfect buyer to come along. Essentially — list it and forget it.

2. I unzipped the covers from three matching outdoor throw pillows that I snagged from one of last week’s garage sale freebie pile and indulged them a overnight soak in my trusty Dollar Tree oxy-cleaner. They’re now bright and clean and cheering up the front porch.

   I then laid the demoted sun faded pillows on the corner for the taking. They quickly vanished so I can only assume they’ve set out on a new adventure.

3. I had an annoyingly long commute to and from a scheduled doctor’s appointment yesterday, but kept my sanity by listening to free podcasts including How To Money, Before Breakfast and Scavenger Life.

   On the surface these three podcasts may not seem to have anything in common, but together they dovetail to hit my current main interests which are personal finance, reselling thrifted/found items and intentionality. So instead of finding myself frazzled from the drive, I ended up focused and ready to hit the day running.

4. My son took his last spring term final, which means he’ll be home within the next few days. No, let me reiterate that . . . he and his overwhelming amount of stuff will be coming home within the next few days. An entire bedroom/kitchen/bathroom’s worth of stuff. Oy vey!

   I ventured into his fully outfitted bedroom last night and made a plan to sell a pretty but superfluous Bombay Company desk, as he’ll be heading home with his preferred desk. This won’t fix the too much stuff issue, but my 21-year-old son is extremely organized and can do his own decluttering.

   We save money by signing 10-month leases on his apartment as he comes home for summers. So, yeah . . . schlepping his stuff to and from his college apartment is a less than ideal.

   Extreme frugality can be a pain in tuchus, and this is a prime example of how making sacrifices in the here and now supports big picture financial goals.

5. I didn’t buy a Lear Jet or a vulgar gold-plated apartment in the sky.

Now your turn. What frugal things have you been up to?

Katy Wolk-Stanley    

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

{ 82 comments }

1. I sold a few more things on eBay including a vintage frame, a stack of older art magazines from last weekend’s garage sale freebie haul, a wifi enabled scale I got for free and an unopened pair of Rosetta Stone earphones that I picked up at Goodwill.

   I finally met the requirements for a health promotion program I’m doing through my insurance and earned a free FitBit. (You already know that my plan is to sell it.) The scale was also through this program.

   “You want to send me some free stuff?”

   Immediately starts to research completed listings on eBay . . .

2. I received a robo-call from Fred Meyer (Kroger) about a recall on frozen mixed berries that my husband had bought. The instructions were to dispose of the berries and bring the packaging back to to store for a refund. I was stopping in for eggs and milk anyway, so I made sure to swing by customer service for the refund. $4 back into our pockets, and hopefully no Hepatitis A.

3. My bedroom has a tendency to get very dusty, which triggers my asthma on a regular basis. The cats are already banned from the room, which helps some, but hasn’t eliminated the issue. So this week I’ve spent a number of hours decluttering the room, organizing the closet, mountaineering the mending pile and then sweeping, vacuuming and wiping everything down.

   I’m left with a satisfyingly large bin of Goodwill donations as well as stack of old Mary Engelbreit magazines which got listed on eBay.

   The air feels cleaner and the bedroom looks much better. Without spending a dime.

4. I used Powell’s credit to pick up the Ursula Leguin’s Catwings series for a friend’s baby shower, I nabbed a gallon of 50%-off milk that doesn’t expire until June 23rd, (woo-hoo!) I listened to a Marian Keyes audiobook through the free Libby app, I reread a library copy of Cait Flanders’ The Year of Less and I’m heading out with my husband to stuff ourselves with 2-for-1 pizzas from Mod Pizza, (they sent an e-coupon through their app) and then enjoy 2-for-1 admission to see Spirited Away at a second-run theater which brings the price down to $2 apiece.

5. I didn’t buy a Lear Jet or a vulgar gold-plated apartment in the sky.

Now your turn. What frugal things have you been up to?

Katy Wolk-Stanley    

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

{ 77 comments }

I know I just published a Five Frugal Things blog post yesterday, but I wanted to shine a light on how deeply ingrained non-consumerism is for me. Some of it may be impressive, but it’s really about the dull day-to-day-ness of it all.

To quote my friend Gretchen Rubin:

“What you do every day matters more than what you do once in awhile.”

1. I stopped by a local music store and sold them a free electronic tuner that I picked up at last weekend’s garage sale haul. (Everything was free as I went at the end of the day!) They gave me $8 in store credit, which my son can use to buy guitar strings.

   This store was literally on on my way to the grocery store, so almost no extra time/gasoline was involved due to this errand.

2. My husband and I went to Chipotle to take advantage of their nurse’s week deal which was a buy-one-entree-get-one-free deal. I made sure to first reference this hack from a few years ago, which involved getting bowls instead of burritos, but also choosing half-and-half meat, two types of beans, fajita veggies and tortillas on the side. We’re both hearty eaters, and there was enough for both lunch and dinner. Total cost was $8.25 plus tip!

   We then dined by the Willamette river and then walked over the Tillikum Crossing bridge and looped back across the Hawthorne bridge.

   I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again. I am the world’s cheapest date!

3. I listed eight Thorns Women’s MLS tickets which I got for free from filling my gas tanks up at a Portland area 76 stations. I’m asking $12 per ticket instead of $15, so I should have no problem finding buyers. I’ll continue this flip throughout the summer.

4. I picked up two pennies outside the grocery store, I used my own grocery bags which refunded 6¢ per bag, I spent an hour or so with a library book and I cooked black beans in my Instantpot for tonight’s chili dinner.

5. I didn’t buy a Lear Jet or a vulgar gold-plated apartment in the sky.

Now your turn. What frugal things have you been up to?

Katy Wolk-Stanley    

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

{ 71 comments }

1. I sold a few things including a desk that I got for free, some earrings, (again, free) a Fiestaware plate, an Arthur CD-Rom I plucked from a Seattle free pile, a pair of Keen sandals and some books at Powell’s bookstore.

2. I went to a neighborhood association’s garage sale day on Saturday, but deliberately went at the end of the day when people stick “free” signs on any unsold stuff.

   I brought home:
   – A desk, which I immediately sold for $20.
   – Two boxes of books which garnered me $21.50 in store credit at Powell’s bookstore.
   – A $349 Rejuvenation Lighting porch light which I’ve listed for sale on Craigslist, Facebook Marketplace and Next Door. (Gotta cast a wide net!) I’d install it on my own home, but I already have a gorgeous Rejuvenation porch light that I bought years ago from their seconds department.
   – New (to me) cute pillows for my porch furniture.
   – A bunch of random earrings.
   – A stack of high end Art magazines, which I’ve listed on eBay.
   – A bunch of miscellaneous stuff including an ornate beaded purse, framed art, a pretty beaded barrette, a small vintage Ironstone flowerpot, a dress, a pair of jeans, a Pendleton wool skirt, jeans for my daughter, three blank notebooks, an “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” DVD and a small decorative barrel and some other stuff that slipped my mind.

3. I transplanted rooted spider plant babies into the free vintage flowerpot that I picked up on Saturday. I’ll give it to my friend Sue as a house warming gift.

4. I redeemed two get-2-free-tickets-with-gasoline-purchase vouchers for an upcoming Thorn’s women’s soccer game, I stuck a free Powell’s sticker over a free notebook’s distasteful Well’s Fargo logo, I’m re-reading a library copy of Cait Flanders’ The Year of Less, I arranged multiple free USPS pickups to avoid driving to the post office, I hung laundry on the clothesline and I binge watched the first season of Killing Eve through my generous friend’s Hulu account.

5. I didn’t buy a Lear Jet or a vulgar gold-plated apartment in the sky.

Now your turn. What frugal things have you been up to?

Katy Wolk-Stanley    

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

{ 48 comments }

1. My eBay woke up over the past few days, and I sold a number of things including an antique bronze griffin for $150, a $60 electric typewriter, a $21.50 mug, a $30 barkcloth curtain panel and a $15 diploma case. I also listed a few more items to keep my inventory fresh. I’ll be hitting up some neighborhood garage sales this weekend and hopefully keep up the momentum.

2. I bought a brand new Herschel “Pop Quiz” messenger bag at Goodwill for just $6.99, as it was machine embroidered with a company logo. (They sell for $89.99 new!) Luckily, I enjoy a challenge, so it was no big deal to sew one of my husband’s soccer related patches over it and present it as a birthday gift. He’d been expressing interest in a new laptop bag for awhile, so this was a kiss of kismet.

   Click HERE to view the baggy goodness.

3. Although my husband’s birthday was last week, we didn’t have time to celebrate with a Birthday Day of Adventures until a few days ago.

   Here’s what we did:

   – Ate brunch at Pine State Biscuits, which is one of his favorite spots. There were no discounts involved, but nothing on the menu is over $12.50.
   – Stopped into Goodwill to buy movie candy, as I had a gift card. (I also bought a cute vintage suitcase to sell.)
   – Leisurely coffees at a so-so café. My plan had been to use my husband’s  free birthday drink at Starbucks, but we somehow let it expire. NOOO!!!!!!
   – A 2 P.M. showing of the movie “Us,” which set us back $2 apiece. Such a wonderfully creepy movie! (2-for-1 tickets on Tuesday, bay-bee!)
   – Dinner at a local Japanese steakhouse. This may not sound frugal, but since I won a $50 gift certificate last week, our bill was very reasonable. Especially since they sent a text offering free sake a couple hours beforehand. Our daughter joined us for this meal.

   My husband was extremely pleased with the attention, so I floated the idea that we should do these “adventure days” every month or so. Dedicating an entire day to fun activities and delicious food is too enjoyable to ration out in a miserly fashion.

4. My husband gifted me with a big bag of free-from-work bubble wrap, as did my friend Lise, I returned a $12.99 item to Goodwill as it wasn’t what I thought it was, (they have a great return policy) I continued reading a library book and I schlepped over to Ikea to write without home distractions as well as to enjoy their free coffee.

5. I didn’t buy a Lear Jet or a vulgar gold-plated apartment in the sky.

Now your turn. What frugal things have you been up to?

Katy Wolk-Stanley    

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

{ 83 comments }