Shoe Shame, No More!

by Katy on September 16, 2010 · 19 comments

The entryway to my house is a natural disaster zone. Kicked off shoes, soccer gear, karate stuff and the debris of daily life are magnetized to this area. I really don’t want the first image that people see of my house to be a maelstrom of madness, so I have special bin for soccer gear, a special bin for karate stuff, and yes, a couple of baskets for shoes. It’s not a perfect solution, but it works alright.

But today I found the perfect shoe shelf while perusing the aisles of the Habitat Re-Store in my search for the perfect bathroom sink. And the best part is that it’s antique and has the exact same clover-style cutouts as my banister. Plus, it was ten bucks!

I’m very excited! Used stuff shopping, a fantastic bargain, a clutter solutions and supporting a great charity?!

Be still my heart.

Before. Note that there are many, many more shoes in the baskets than actually need to be there.

After. Note that I showed some restraint about how many shoes actually need to live in my entryway.

The shelf as seen from the side, which is how it will be viewed when entering the house. It is the exact same design as the banister. I am totally going to show this to the people a couple blocks away whose house is the same as ours. All tremble in fear at my almighty shopping prowess!! Oh, oops . . . was that out loud?

And yes, I found that the sinks at the Habitat Re-Store are wickedly cheap, and that tile is 50¢ per square foot. I will be going back!

Katy Wolk-Stanley

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

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The Power of an Improperly Ordered To-Do List

by Katy on September 15, 2010 · 14 comments

I run both hot and cold when it comes to to-do lists. I like the feeling I get from  accomplishing this, that and everything in between, but I also like just taking it easy and not feeling like I have to function as a personal task master. Goof around on the computer, read for a bit, maybe even nap. It’s all good.

Today was a to-do list day.

I knew I would be getting together with a friend tomorrow, so I set myself down with pencil and paper and mapped out my day. Grocery staples from Fred Meyer, scour the kitchen, write a blog post, get my hair cut, scoop the litter box? It was all there. I methodically worked my way through the list, all the while ferrying kids to school and back, assembling homemade sushi for the staggered dinners and feeling pretty damned proud of myself.

But the litter box? I would get to it after the rush of the day.

Or . . . I would end up having to strip my bed, spray it with Nature’s Miracle and wash all the bedding because a certain small feline creature released a puddle of urine the size of Lake Superior into the middle. (Although really, the covered litter box was on the ugly side of disgusting and I wouldn’t have gone into it either.) But thankfully, my mother has a extra large capacity washing machine that fit my duvet, and she was up at midnight, when I drove it over to her house.

From here on out, I’m going to start all to-do lists with “scoop the litter box.”

See? Something new to learn every day!

Katy Wolk-Stanley

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

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Frugal Tidbits

by Katy on September 14, 2010 · 5 comments

Frugality invades every aspect of my life. From what I buy, (or don’t buy) to what I read, (library books) and there’s just no escaping it. But instead of being confined by monetary limits, it’s actually quite freeing. I get to do things I couldn’t otherwise afford, and my creative juices are constantly flowing.

Here’s how I frugalized my day yesterday:

  • Sent the kids to school with home packed lunches.
  • Put two loads of laundry through the wash. The machine was a hand me down from my mother, I used cold water, handmade detergent and then hung the laundry on the clothesline.
  • When it was time to pick my son up from school, I coordinated errands into the trip.
  • I went to the library and checked out two different world atlases, since my son had to memorize 50 different countries for school.
  • Stopped into the credit union to deposit my son’s hundred dollar bill from grandma before he loses it. It can now earn interest.
  • Brought a small bin of kid clothes to the consignment shop. They bought almost everything, including a batch of hand me down button-down shirts that my kids would rather die than wear. I found a pair of Converse high tops in my younger son’s size, and was able to use store credit to buy them. I was handed $5.50 in cash from a previous drop off.
  • Took my older son out for an ice cream cone. I had a 2-for-1 coupon from an about to expire Entertainment Book that a friend gave me, and chose the child size cone, which actually a normal size. This set me back $2, which I had from the consignment shop.
  • Drove by a Goodwill so my older son could look for a ping-pong paddle, at his request. Didn’t find anything we needed, and left empty handed.
  • My husband made dinner, which was grilled lemon oregano chicken, served with heated up leftover rice and a big green salad. I buy lettuce by the head instead of bagged. I always choose the biggest specimen and then wash and cut it immediate and store it in the salad spinner, which drains off any fluid and keeps it from getting soggy. I can get at least three big salads from a single head of lettuce.
  • Drove my older son to soccer practice, and also arranged a carpool for the rest of the season.
  • Rummaged through our huge bin of writing utensils to find enough colored pencils for the boys to take to school. No reason to buy what we already have.
  • I also watched a gluttonous number of Lost episodes through Netflix. We have the minimum subscription, which allows
  • Tucked everyone into bed in their thrift store pajamas and then packed up the next day’s school/work lunches.

Today I’ll go for a $10 haircut, walk to Fred Meyer to buy loss leader milk and eggs, clean my house, (saving on a housekeeping service!) run another load of laundry, and deal with any buyers for the Hanna Andersson jammies, which I re-listed on craigslist this morning. I’ll listen to a library audio book while I putter, and maybe even put a couple wheelbarrow loads of free mulch under the treehouse in the backyard. And tomorrow, I’m getting together with my friend Sasha.

Frugality is infused into almost every aspect of my life, but that doesn’t mean I have limits. Instead, it’s just the opposite. And I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Katy Wolk-Stanley

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

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Bargaining — You Just Have to Ask

by Katy on September 13, 2010 · 25 comments

I don’t know if it’s because I did a lot of foreign travel before having kids or simply my love of a great deal, but I’m a big fan of bargaining. I do it at garage sales, thrift stores, foreign markets, and most recently, at the mall. At this point you may be asking:

“Whoa, back up. The Non-Consumer Advocate goes to the mall?!”

Let me preface this little story by saying that my younger son is fashion obsessed and had saved up his cat sitting money for a pair of purple Levi’s skinny jeans. We had unsuccessfully scoured the thrift stores all summer, and the constant whining about how he needed this particular pair of pants had worn me thinner than a supermodel on a hunger strike. Yesterday, he broke through my steely exterior. (He did his homework, fed the neighbor’s cats, looked up the phone number for the Lloyd Center Macy’s and handed the phone to me. I’ve said it once, and I will say it again. I am putty in his grubby little hands!)

The Macy’s store clerk confirmed that yes, they did carry purple Levi’s skinny jeans priced at $19.99, and even put a pair aside for us. This put my son into a frenzy of excitement, which propelled us across town only to find that the pair that fit my son were $29.99 not $19.99.

Big deflation of frenzy, as this purchase was 100% my son’s, (I have bought three pairs of these jeans for him at thrift stores and am done) and he only had $20.

However, by pointing out the that my son was using his own money, and that the almost identical pair was $19.99, the clerks lowered the price on the jeans my son had pinned his hopes on. We were polite, patient and friendly, which is key to successful negotiation. And my son saved $10.

Think our mall-haggling was a fluke, a one time occurrence? Nope, because we then wandered about the mall a bit more, as my daughter was looking for a specific style of sunglasses. She found these at a kiosk selling sunglasses for $12 apiece or two for $20. I told her to ask the clerk if she’d take $10, and guess what, she did!

I am very pleased that both of my kids learned a lesson in haggling yesterday. No price is written in stone, and all you have to do is ask if you want to get that lower price. They may want to go to the abhorrent mall, but they’re still their mommy’s kids. And yes, we did stop into a Goodwill afterwards, where I found a 3-hole punch pencil pouch, which was the single missing item from their school supply list.

Are you a bargaining enthusiast, or does the thought put you into a cold sweat of embarrassment? Please share your thoughts in the comments section below.

Katy Wolk-Stanley

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

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What Would You Do With an Extra $100, $1000, $10,000?

by Katy on September 12, 2010 · 24 comments

The following is a reprint of a previously published post. Enjoy!

I had the privilege of taking my aunt Anne out for breakfast today. It was her birthday, (which I had actually forgotten about) which made it all the more special. Our original plan had been to go out for dim-sum, but we ended up finding a wonderful little café not far from my house which hit the spot.

This aunt is actually only 15 years older than I am, and lived with us for a few years when I was growing up. She has always been a true inspiration to me — gleaning fabulous treasures from thrift shops and taking me and my sister to musty old used book stores when we were at our most impressionable ages. (The smell of old books still arouses an overwhelming feeling of contentment for me.)

She is smart, funny and generous beyond a fault despite never having excessive income.

Sadly, she now lives in Florida, which means that I hardly ever get to spend any time with her.

On our way back from breakfast, (plus a couple of garage sales) she started talking about what she would do if she won the lottery. I can’t actually remember what she said she would buy for herself, but she did say that she would give us each $11,000 per year. She said this is the amount one can receive annually without having to pay taxes on it.

I started to think about what I would do with an extra $44,000 annual income, (yes, she said she would give $11,000 to each of us!)

I would most definitely eradicate any and all consumer debt, but then what? Travel? Charitable giving? Cool clothes? Savings?

What would you do with an extra $100, $1000 or $10,000?

Here, I’ll start:

$100 — I would put it in savings. (There’s nothing for $100 or less that I don’t already have.)

$1,000 — I would pay off debt.

$10,000 — I would travel with my kids to somewhere like London, Japan or Greece. Perhaps somewhere sunny like Hawaii or Mexico, (which would be cheaper and allow for leftover funds.)

Okay now, your turn! Please put your answers in the comments section below.

Katy Wolk-Stanley

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

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Aspirational Spending

by Katy on September 11, 2010 · 17 comments

The idea of Aspirational Spending has been swimming around in my head lately. I re-read The Millionaire Next Door while on vacation last week, and this style of conspicuous consumption was touched upon a number of times throughout the book.

What on G-d’s green earth is Aspirational Spending?

It’s when you make expensive purchases to match the lifestyle you want to be living, instead of the life you’re actually living. You see yourself as a style maven, so you buy a closet full of expensive shoes and purses, or you see yourself as a successful business person, so you lease a brand new BMW. But in reality, you’re living paycheck-to-paycheck. (The most common vehicles driven by actual millionaires are domestic cars such as Fords and Jeeps.)

We all know people who live this way. The friend who gets her real estate agent’s license and thinks her Toyota Corolla is not high brow enough to chauffeur her clients around town. So she purchases a Lexus SUV before even making a sale. The straight out of residency doctor who buys a luxury home while still shouldering a mountain of student loans. (These are actual examples from people I know.)

Or, as the authors of The Millionaire Next Door put it:

Big hat, no cattle.

Then, I started to think about the way I live my life. I definitely want to have my belongings reflect a higher income level than is true. I want to live in a nice neighborhood, dress my family well, and furnish my home with craftsman style antiques. So I scour thrift stores to buy this stuff for pennies on the dollar.

However, the “live in a nice neighborhood” aspect pretty much backfired on us. Our fixer-upper has drained at least $100,000 from us over the years, (not counting lost income) and has kept us from putting our income and energy into quality of life, both in the present and future. If we had been willing to live in a less desirable neighborhood, we could have bought a move-in ready home that only needed cosmetic changes. Of course, we had no idea how much work this house needed, and it’s easy to look into the past and see what decisions should have been made.

Was this aspirational living on our part? Yes and no. I wasn’t trying to impress anyone, I really liked the house, and I was completely naive. The condition of the house when we first bought it would not have impressed The Clampetts.

Do you know people who subscribe to the Aspirational Living style of spending? Or I guess I could phrase that as:

How big is your hat and how many cattle are in your pasture?

Please share your thoughts in the comments section below.

Katy Wolk-Stanley

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

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Saying Goodbye to Guilt

by Katy on September 10, 2010 · 38 comments

I have a shocking confession to make. Sometimes I procrastinate the tasks in my life until they become an oppressive shadow that crushes down on me, mocking any semblance of togetherness that I may attempt. (I know, I know . . . I’m the only one who does this.) There’s no logical reason for this tendency, and frankly some of the tasks are not at all difficult, but it seems to be how I’m hard wired.

But over the past month, I have been tackling these pseudo-daunting tasks one by one. Not on any formal schedule, but as the time and inspiration presents itself.

Here’s what I’ve done so far:

I took the time to answer the interview questions that the lovely Naomi Seldin of Simpler Living sent over on June 4th. I did this on August 17th. I wanted the answers to be perfect, which of course was a barrier to just doing it. In the end, I actually think I did a decent job.

I dealt with a bungled medical bill, as well as a soccer camp refund that was far from straightforward.

I finally mailed out a package of gifts to Michiko, the Japanese teaching assistant who lived with us in 2005. She had a baby in January of 2009 and another one this May. I had yet to send any baby gifts, and this made me feel like crap. I consider her to be a part of my family, so it was really weighing me down.

I had bought some board books for her in January, and every time I passed them, I would feel bad about myself. I also wanted to send some goodies for her, so I bought her a cute Oregon T-shirt and a handmade tote bag. Unfortunately, the shirt smelled like incense, (that’s what I get for shopping at a head shop) and hanging it on the laundry line didn’t abate the odor. A quick trip through the washing machine took care of the hippie stank, and everything was ready to mail.

But for a number of inane reasons, (I didn’t have any wrapping paper, I had to locate a not-already-used package) it still took me another month to just send it. But today, I finally wrapped every gift, wrote out a nice long letter and dropped it at the post office.

Huge relief. Waaay worth the $26 in postage just to make the guilt go away!

These two tasks may not seem that gargantuan, but they served as constant reminders that I was not on top of my life. I still have more items on my things that make me feel like crap list, which are:

  • Schedule, and then take the inpatient labor and delivery RN certification exam. Once I have passed this test, I get a $2.75 an hour raise. Forever. I cringe when I think of how much income I’ve missed out on over the past 15 years that I’ve been in my job, but I can’t let that deter me from just taking the damned test. I am a really good test taker, so as long as I study, I should be able to pass it.
  • Touch up the paint job on the exterior of my house. There are all these little spots that got missed when my husband painted a few years ago, and I told him I would finish it up. It would literally take a couple of hours to complete, and the house would look so much better. I consciously or unconsciously cringe every time I come into the house, so this would be fantastic to just be done with.
  • Answer the interview questions that Angela Barton from My Year Without Spending sent to me in May of 2009. Yup, almost a year and a half ago. She probably thinks I forgot about them, but sadly, I have an annoyingly good memory.
  • List a few items on eBay that are worth a fair amount of money. I bought a large glass vase full of hundreds of collectible antique marbles for $2.99 at Goodwill awhile back, and many of them sell for $15 apiece. I collect marbles, so I knew a bargain when I saw it. But they’re worth nothing if I never get them into the hands of serious collectors. I also have a $3 Goodwill Sasha Doll that should bring in a couple hundred dollars.
  • Continue the decluttering that I’ve been working on is a big one, although I actually feel pretty good about this. However, we’ll be hosting another Japanese teacher starting in October, so I have an actual deadline. I want to get rid of pretty much all of our extraneous crap before we open our home up again.

It saps my energy to ignore what needs to get done, and keeps me from moving forward with what I could be doing with my life. (Exercising, socializing, pursuing a book contract, etc.) I really feel that I would enjoy life so much more if these draining tasks went on their merry way.

Goodbye, things that make me feel like crap, I have no room for you anymore!

Do you let procrastination hold you back from living the life you want? Please share your stories in the comments section below.

Katy Wolk-Stanley

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

{ 38 comments }

Too Cheap

by Katy on September 9, 2010 · 13 comments

My Non-Consumerism has evolved over the years. When I first began living the consciously frugal life in 1998, (after the birth of my second son) I was all about the cheap:

  • 28¢ boxes of macaroni and cheese from Winco.
  • Never turning down anything that was free.
  • Bombarding my kids with mountains of cheap stuffed animals and plastic mayhem.

Since joining The Compact, (buy nothing new) in 2007 my priorities have changed:

  • Inexpensive, but real food.
  • Donating load after load of excessive belongings to Goodwill, so that I could appreciate (and find) my household goods.
  • Helping my kids to understand that having too much stuff takes the pleasure away from having any stuff.
  • Sometimes paying extra to support the kind of businesses that make a community strong. (Small bookstores, never Amazon.)

And we are all so much happier.

Katy Wolk-Stanley

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

{ 13 comments }

Life, Overwhelming

by Katy on September 8, 2010 · 24 comments

Try as I might to live my life otherwise, my life can get overwhelming. Balancing parenthood, daughterhood, my job as a labor and delivery nurse, writing a daily blog and my own personal needs can get close to impossible. And as much as I think I’m on top of the details of my life, there’s always something to knock me off my high horse of competence.

School started yesterday for Portland students, but don’t think for a minute that just because my kids are now in 7th and 9th grade that parenting them is any easier than when they were in diapers. I want them to go off to school on time, well rested, fed and with all the various required paraphernalia.

Instead, both kids left at the very last minute, only one got a proper amount of sleep, both drank tea, but only one ate breakfast, (a stick of overly packaged string cheese after he decided that he didn’t really wanted Raisin Bran) and I now see that my 9th grader’s textbooks and the 7th grader’s pencils and spider (it’s for science) are sitting on the dining room table.

I just want to cry.

However, they both were dressed, teeth brushed, on time, caffeinated, (don’t judge) loved and with a packed school lunch.

I have to work tomorrow and Friday, and am feeling very overhwhelmed.

Here’s what I’m going to do.

  • Shower, (Aquatic think tank.)
  • Write a need to do/ want to do list.
  • Plug into a good audio book while I clean house. Seriously, my bathroom is F.U.N.K.Y.
  • Plan for tomorrow to be better.

Because there’s nothing I can do about the past, I can only change the future. And make sure there’s something in my day that’s just for me. Because otherwise, I might just have to take to bed.

Oy vey.

Katy Wolk-Stanley

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

{ 24 comments }

What’s Your Wasteful Confession?

by Katy on September 7, 2010 · 26 comments

In honor of No Waste Week, I am going to take the opportunity to confess my frugal transgressions to The Non-Consumer Advocate community. And no, I don’t need to back more than a month to find an example. This occurrence happened in August. I could start making my excuses now, but perhaps I should start from the very beginning.

My 12-year-old son is a slave to fashion. I had thought that I would be spared the inconvenience of parenting kids who care about this kind of fluff since I only have boys. But sadly, this is not the case. He is particular about everything from his sneakers (Vans) to his jeans, (Levi’s skinny jeans.) Luckily, these brands are popular enough that they’re easy to find from local thrift stores.

Having said that, finding used sneakers in my son’s size is always a challenge. Add to that that I only buy used shoes that look new, and shoes are usually treated as precious objects at our house.

Usually.

You may recall that my family hosted a Japanese exchange student in early August, which meant I drove her around town so she could exercise her shopping muscles. We were all walking down N.W. 23rd Avenue, taking pictures and having fun when my younger son stepped into the largest and smelliest pile of dog poop imaginable to man.

Crap. Literally.

We walked back to the car, as there was a pair of Crocs in our swim bag, but the thought of leaving this poop smeared shoe in a hot car was more than I could bear. Our plans were not going to bring us home until late evening, so that shoe would be thoroughly cooked by the time the day ended.

So I put his shoes into a paper bag and threw them into a garbage can. Later, I realized that I could have put the bagged up shoes under the car. But that epiphany was too little, too late.

I cringe when I recall this afternoon, but I just couldn’t subject this sweet little Japanese girl to hot car poop fumes.

Do you have any wasteful confessions to share with The Non-Consumer Advocate community? Please confess your stories in the comments section below.

Katy Wolk-Stanley

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

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