The Non-Consumer Advocate

1. My youngest’s friend just moved to Portland, so I’m helping them source a couple items they need for their new apartment. I asked for a few items just yesterday, (a cast iron skillet, baking sheet and wall shelves) through my Buy Nothing group and have already picked up a pair of cute wall shelves that should hold plants, books and maybe even a knickknack or two. I also encouraged them to join their own Buy Nothing group.

2. My neighbor brought over a full gallon-size ziploc bag of freshly caught salmon as a thank you for taking care of her garden. She and her family are heading out for another vacation and I’ll happily water her plants again. She has discovered that my favors can be purchased with fresh food and I couldn’t be happier.

3. I’m getting another set of houseguests in a couple of weeks, which’ll be fun. Portland is an amazing city to show off and I’m always happy to give friends a free place to stay while they save their hard earned dollars.

4. I curb picked up an Ikea fabric storage cube that’ll come in handy in some way or another. I’m thinking maybe to corral miscellaneous items in the back of my car, but I’ll give it a couple days of thought to come up with the right answer. In the meantime I’ll give it a good scrub and let it dry in the sunshine.

5. No one ever stole any of my 16-year-old massage therapists. 

Katy Wolk-Stanley

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1. I washed our bedding and hung it to dry on the backyard line, even thought it was shady and late in the day.

   

2. It was just me for dinner, so I heated up some homemade refried beans and topped it with whatever I had on hand. I then scooped it up with Juantonio’s tortilla chips, (if you know, you know!) and called it good. Absolutely delicious and decidedly frugal!

   

3. I started listening to Jennifer Weiner’s The Griffin Sisters’ Greatest Hits through the library’s free Libby app. Weiner is one of my favorite authors and I had to wait a couple months for this popular  audiobook.

   

4. I walked our plastics recycling over to New Seasons Market without buying anything.

   

5. However, I did nab this accordian file from a free pile along the way. A perfect find, as I assembled one for my daughter’s important paperwork last year and have been meaning to put one together for my other kiddo. This specific brand sells for just under $25, which makes this an extra enjoyable find. Free organizational supplies? You know that’s my love language!

Katy Wolk-Stanley

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1. I started reading a library copy of Dolly Alderton’s Good Material. I’m not sure if this book is for me, but I’ll give a hundred pages or so.

2. I made an appointment to donate platelets next month through the American Red Cross. They’ve been hounding me to participate in more blood letting come back since I donated back in early July, and finally offered enough incentives to break me down. Those incentives? A $30 Amazon gift card, plus a $15 gift card to the corporate retailer of my choice. I’ll use these vouchers to pick up more canning supplies, as my “buy nothing new” edict does not apply to canning lids.

3. I used a “Spend $5 get a free case of Polar Seltzer” coupon from New Seasons. I bought a half-price pint of vanilla ice cream to accompany last night’s mixed-fruit crumble, as well as a small container of yogurt. (New Seasons has a different ice cream for 50%-off each week throughout the summer.) I’m totally happy to drink tap water or home brewed tea, but it’s nice to have flavored seltzers to offer guests who stop by the house. I have a duplicate coupon and will make sure to use it before it expires.

4. I got another bag of figs from my step-mother’s tree. Thanks, Lindy!

5. I cooked a large batch of white beans earlier in the week, as my plan was to put together a pot of baked beans. Unfortunately I cooked the beans to a level of mushiness that wouldn’t work for the recipe. I finally took the beans and used them for a batch of white bean rosemary soup. I then added four slices of chopped bacon and a bunch of arugula. Turned out amazing and I avoided wasting the overcooked beans.

Katy Wolk-Stanley

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1. I took my $20 Safeway voucher to the store, (Thanks, American Red Cross!) and grabbed a few items that added up to $19.55. I bought supplies to make blackberry jam, as well as on-sale milk and bananas. When the clerk asked if I wanted a 10¢ bag, I said “no” because . . .

   

2. There was a bin filled with perfectly good free bags not ten feet away. (I’d forgotten my reusable bags.) I grabbed four bags to bring home, as they were the nice sturdy variety and work perfectly as kitchen can liners. One bag even had a receipt still in it, which I scanned into the Fetch app.

   I feel precisely 0.0% guilty for taking bags from their recycle bin.

   

3. I recently saw a news piece about “shrinkflation” vs. “sneakflation” and wanted to check it out for myself. I think we’re all aware of the “shrinkflation” phenomenom, where food manufacturers redesign their packaging to contain less product, yet appear the same. (Think shallow boxes of cereal or peanut butter jars with concave bottoms.) It’s been a few years since a “half-gallon” of ice cream became 1-1/2 quarts, so we’re all a bit numb to it at this point.

   However, manufacturers have taken it one step further with “sneakflation” where not just size, but also quality is being dropped in order to preserve corporate profits. One example they used was Breyers brand ice cream, which is now made with cheaper ingredients to the point where it no longer meets the legal requirement to be called “ice cream!” I guess another reason to stick with Tillamook ice cream, you know . . . when it’s on sale.

   

4. I made a nice big mixed fruit crisp using foraged blackberries, figs from my step-mother’s tree and a forgotten apple. No recipe needed.

   

5. I picked up crackers and another pair of helium balloons from Dollar Tree, as my eave pigeons have ramped up their defication campaign since the last balloons lost their floatiness. This odd anti-pigeons solution works perfectly, as long as I replace the balloons every few weeks. My car and front steps thank me for my efforts.

Katy Wolk-Stanley

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1. I went ahead and foraged more blackberries. Free sunglasses courtesy of the Red Cross, free hat courtesy of a neighborhood “Free Stuff” box.

   
   I can see why your eye is drawn to the Supreme hat, (which I later sold on eBay for $65!) but it’s actually the olive green baseball cap hiding behind it. I like that it doesn’t advertise a sportsball team or even a university. Just a few simple embroidered leaves and the price was right.

   

2. I stopped at Dollar Tree, as I keep hearing that they’re about to raise their prices. I was officially there for another pair of mylar baloons to scare off the pigeons that enjoy A) Hanging out under my eaves, and B) Pooping absolutely everywhere. They were out of helium, but I did stock up on shampoo, conditioner, bar soap and ginger snaps.

   

3. I took the last of some not-so-fresh-feeling tangerines from my sister’s visit and juiced them for a batch of tangerine tofu. (Like “orange chicken,” but with tangerine juice and tofu!) I essentially made up the recipe, but it included the tangerine juice, lemon juice, soy sauce, garlic powder, powdered ginger, sesame oil, brown sugar, red pepper flakes and lastly a cornstarch slurry to thicken the sauce.

   Yum!

   

   Random ingredients coming together to create a delicious, yet frugal meal. Anything I can do to stay out of a grocery store is a “win” in my book!

   

4. I’d reached the point where I couldn’t get any more goo out of my lotion bottle, so I cut it in half. Now I can access every last bit of product to get my money’s worth!

5. I haven’t been participating in an official “No Buy July” challenge, but I’m pretty sure than apart from a few thrifted items, I’ve only puchased comsumables this month. Although that’s pretty much every month for me.

Katy Wolk-Stanley

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1. The random $1.50 veggie bag that I picked up at Fred Meyer had four, count ’em four sprigs of wilted parsley in it. I’m no quitter, so I snipped their ends and stuck them in water.

   You remember, this bag:

   

   Anyway, this is that same parsley, maybe two hours later! Now, how to best use this perky parsley?

   

   

2. The bag also included three green bell peppers and two orange ones. I sliced and froze them, so I’ll be able to pull out however much I need at a time. By the way a single orange bell pepper normally costs $1.49 at Fred Meyer, so that clearance price bag really was a huge bargain!

   I didn’t even photograph the zucchini, pair of carrots and the dozen or so organic jalapeño peppers that also came in the bag!

   

3. I cut some hydrangeas for my mother, who’d been wanting some for her house. But first I set them on the newel post by the front door, which was confusing for “Mama’s Little Meatball,” who considers this to be her own spot.

   

4. I started reading a library copy of Fiona Davis’ The Spectacular. She’s one of my favorite authors and although I’m just one chapter in, I know I’ll zip through the rest of the book up within a day or two.

5. I didn’t fire anyone from the Consumer Product Safety Commission.

Katy Wolk-Stanley

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1. I stopped at Fred Meyer this morning for butter and eggs before their sale ended. ($2.99/lb butter & 18-egg cartons for $3.49!) I still had my $25 Fetch gift card and wanted to see how far I could stretch it. My first stop was the produce clearance shelf, where I grabbed one variety pack and one broccoli bag for $1.50 apiece. I’d initally been annoyed when Fred Meyer upper their clearance produce from from $1 to $1.50, but the bags are actually much bigger now.

   

2. Here’s everything I bought, for just 45¢ out of pocket! I won’t need to buy butter until 2026! Thankfully it freezes well. Also . . . Hello, Dolly!

   

3. The egg purchase put us over the line with our egg inventory, so I made a quick batch of Deviled eggs, eight of which I’ll bring over to my daughter tomorrow. And yes, I am fancy with my reusable piping bag!

   

4. My husband and I took a day trip over to Hood River Oregon, which is considered the windsurfing/kiteboarding capital of America. (So windy, note my ponytails!) It’s only an hour-and-a-half from Portland, which makes it the perfect lil’ day trip. I love watching all the people on the Columbia river, especially when the wind is whipping and the sun is out! There must have been at least a hundred kitesurfers out today — the very height of entertainment for sedentary me. Here’s just one small area of the river, not even a busy area:

   

   Here’s a spot where some of the athletes were drying out their equipment. Note, this is not even the main area!

   
   I love a day trip that gets me out of town, yet delivers me back home to sleep in my own cozy bed. Frugal, yet scratches that mini-vacation itch.

5. None of my handmade birthday cards have ever caused anyone to sue me for 10 billion dollars.

Katy Wolk-Stanley

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My husband and I bought our house in 1996 when every teeny purchase was a painful decision, which is how I concretely remember that our shower curtain rod was from that era. Unfortunately, time has taken its toll on poor ol’ Rusty Rod. Mind you, it was still functional, so it only truly bothered me a couple times a year when I remembered to look up. I considered painting over the rust, but knew it would only be a temporary fix, as the rolling metal curtain rings would wear away any paint.

Hardly a highlight in my 111-year-old home.

Here’s a bigger picture. The shower curtain was thrifted for maybe $3.99 and the shower curtain rings were 25¢ from a long forgotten garage sale.

So when someone in my Buy Nothing group offered a “new” shower curtain rod, I enthusiastically raised my hand for digital dibs.

Better, right?

So. Much. Better! I hadn’t realized how much the old rod annoyed me until it was no longer in my sight line.

I joke about having a second blog called “The Inoffensive Decorator” where I highlight household decor projects that replace something ugly with something neutral. Behold the inoffensive shower curtain rod!

I love that this project put someone’s unwanted item back into use, and that my acquisition of said item didn’t prompt the manufacture of something new.

Katy Wolk-Stanley

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