Five Frugal Things -- Division Street Food
1. My Husband and I spent an afternoon walking down Portland's S.E. Division Street in the name of enjoying a series of small treats. For those outside the area, Division Street has become a central area for small restaurants and dessert spots. Especially for desserts!
First up was this taco plate from Taqueria Bravos Tacos. Okay, perhaps not a "small treat," but I got outvoted and the two of us shared everything. It was every bit as delicious as it looked. I think we paid $14.95 before tip.
Next up was this slice of banana chocolate cream pie from Lauretta Jean's, which was also a top tier choice. Again, we shared it which helped to dull the $10 cost for the slice plus my husband's coffee.
This dessert spot consistently has a line down the block, but is actually worth the wait. However, this is only the second time that I've indulged, as I'm a bit of a cheapskate and "we have dessert at home!"
Our last stop was Blue Star Donuts, where we shared this blueberry bourbon basil donut that I think was around $6. Yes, you read that right! Luckily it was delicious, with a fresh cake base and a flavorful icing top. Will I return? Unlikely, as my brain simply cannot compute a single donut being a dollar more than an entire Costco rotisserie chicken!
Total cost of our afternoon was $30.95 before tipping, which actually isn't that bad considering that it also included a lovely walk on a sunny January afternoon.
2. I donated $133.60 to The Oregon Food Bank, which was the amount I profited in January from selling thrifted Goodwill items for the $100 Goodwill Gift Card Challenge. I still have a $50.15 balance on the card and will get myself to the Goodwill Outlet bins this week for some fresh inventory. Hopefully high value inventory!
3. I made a nice big batch of okonomiyaki for last night's dinner. This savory egg and cabbage pancake is a traditional Japanese dish and worked perfectly to make good use of the 99¢ eggs that I picked up last week.
Yummy, cheap, healthy and easy!
4. My husband switched out our normal light switch to a dimmer for our downstairs bedroom. I recently decluttered and rearranged this room to serve as a den/TV room, but hated the brightness of the ceiling lights. Now we can watch TV in the evenings without the force of a thousand suns beaming down upon us.
The cost of the dimmer switch was $17 and the labor was free. I'm sure we could've sourced a cheaper one, but chose instead to support the locally owned neighborhood hardware store.
5. I ran a couple loads of laundry through our wash for our daughter, which helps her save her hard earned dollars. I love helping our kids save money!
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."
Click HERE to follow The Non-Consumer Advocate on Instagram.
Click HERE to join The Non-Consumer Advocate Facebook group.
That food looks amazing!!!
1. It is very cold for here so I have not left the house except to take the garbage out for tomorrow’s pickup. Not driving anywhere equals frugal. I did not leave yesterday either.
2. I took a nap because it is the weekend and it is COLD.
3. I made coleslaw, potato salad, turnip greens mixed with mustard greens, bbq chicken legs, yesterday to eat this weekend.
4. I plan to exercise inside my house.
5. I am contemplating what I want to do when I grow up…. lol. I am getting my clothes ready for work tomorrow.
Kudos on your first food bank donation. It's wonderful.
1. I grabbed a $4.98 rotisserie chicken at Sam's Club yesterday.
2. I loaned our ice chopper and coal shovel to a neighbor. Her house faces north and she's had a hard time getting rid of the snow (more like ice) in the street in front of her driveway. If it warms up I'll help her. I did help a neighbor down the street clear the end of her driveway. She offered to loan us their roof shovel but we have a steep roof.
3. I listed more items on Freecycle. There's no need to keep items you don't use.
4. I downloaded the free NYT Crossplay app. It's basically like Scrabble. I have played with DD and will soon play a niece.
5. I stopped at Aldi for cheap avocados, apples, oranges, and Greek yogurt.
My husband is on a solo trip to Portland right now and I texted him your tacos and pies suggestion 🙂
Nice date walk. I’m with you on the donut. Too expensive for me.
You’re a good Mom helping your kids like that.
I’m in central VA with “snowcrete” covering everything. Husband has fallen 3 times. No church in 2 weeks because not able to get parking lot cleared. Thank goodness we never lost electricity. The weather you described sounds marvelous. The positive of being stuck in the house is I’m not spending any money. I hit the GW bins too. I call it the scroungy place. It’s in a bad part of town so have to be careful and look around me. I took my cousin a while back and she was petrified so I won’t be bringing her back.
Sent in an order to ThriftBooks and have $16 credit when I want to use it.
$1.05 off each gallon of gas using Kroger points.
Husband had shoulder surgery which is awful but at least it’s covered by Workers’ Comp since it was due to an injury at work. He will receive 2/3 of his pay while he’s off so won’t have to use as much sick time.
Husband had a CT unrelated to WC injury. He went ahead and paid the full amount of what we owed so we could get the 25% discount.
We are stuck at home from the Southern ice storm, currently on day nine. County roads are solid ice and temps have been down to single digits at night so there has been no thaw. We have kept electricity the whole time (as compared to many in the Nashville area and Northern MS who are still without) and are exceptionally grateful for that. We are eating out of the pantry and freezer, and I haven’t amused myself by doing any online shopping.
Very cold here, so I have stayed home and cooked from what we have on hand. Last night we had a choice of leftover chili or tuna mac and cheese with green peas (a classic broke college days recipe that I love). Today I made two pan pizzas topped with pepperoni, black pepper salami, Italian sausage, peppers and onions. All toppings came from the freezer. Made chocolate muffins for dessert.
Been in need of some fuss-free exercises and printed out the vintage booklet of exercises by the Royal Canadian Air Force.
I’ve never heard of okonomiyaki. I’ll have to try it out!
I had a similar day yesterday, but I went to check out the new library and explored the area around it. I’m surprised that the library is so tiny! Otherwise, it’s a nice space. When you posted about it, someone asked if the thing hanging in the rafters is a snake. I took a good look and can report that it’s abstract twisted metal painted blue and green. More of a seaweed vibe for me.
After I checked out the library, I strolled around the neighborhood. Since it was a sunny day, people must have been doing some spring cleaning, because there were several free piles. I came home with a nice storage container, 14 redeemable cans, 12,000 steps, and some chocolate covered almonds from Trader Joe’s.
I’m SHOCKED that you spent that much on a donut, but I’m a weird person who doesn’t like donuts. I’ll splash out on a different extravagant treat one of these days.
Maybe I’ll look at Division on our next nice day!
I love helping our kids save money too. Much of it is done by finding free things that they need in the wealthier area where we live and schlepping it down to them when I go visit the grandkids.
1. My youngest brought over clothes to donate. I took them to consignment store first and got $11. While I waited for them to look through the clothes I went to the grocery store next door and got redemption fee for a bag of bottles.
2. Worked on our taxes and walked to local ice cream place afterwards as a reward. I had a gift card so that was free.
3. Picked up a picture frame in a free box on our way back from ice cream. That's one of the perks of walking. Frame is already listed on FB marketplace
4. Picked up a lawnmower a friend of ours is giving to our oldest child. Saving money for the kids!
5. Keeping up my daily listing on eBay and my daily Duolingo Spanish practice (free version even though I despise the ads).
Felt a bit better today, after a period of being unwell. Made a new soup recipe with red onions and tomatoes, and donated some to my vegan neighbor. We received soup from the community warm lunch yesterday, and it reminded my how nice it is to receive small food gifts. I did check if she wanted it first!
Whilst I was in the kitchen I also made some pink pickled onions and stewed some frozen berries with some blueberries which weren't as nice as I had hoped. I like frozen berries in the winter as an economical choice. I cooked off two random burgers after shaping them into little balls, to use up in a cheeseburger themed salad later. I did have to go and lie down after, but that's ok 🙂
Finally getting around to sorting out the last bits from our big trip. Feels good to get stuff stored away properly so they are kept in the best shape for next time.
I think we've got the hang of the wood burner now, and are only burning small amounts of wood. It's very different to our old one, and has taken a bit of getting used to.
One of the free tv channels recently announced that they have the contract for a lot of top level rugby, in the UK. I am hoping this means we can cancel the expensive sports package we have.
The treats look wonderful! And it looks like you have such nice weather.
1. My collegiate grandson ordered some homemade cookies from me yesterday. (A Christmas promise). I baked a big batch from ingredients I had on hand and got them sent out the same day. There's nothing frugal about this except that I didn't have to shop, and I used mailing materials I already had. I made enough so I could take a bunch to his younger brother today. All in all, a tiring but satisfying experience.
2. I am keeping up with daily walking by going to the community center. I don't find stuff, I don't get errands done, but it is warm and safe, and I am doing a favor for my future self.
3. I visited the center's branch library and checked out two more books. I am reading a lot this winter.
4. The little free pantry had a bag full of loaves of bakery bread yesterday. The loaves were hard as a rock, but I took a chance on one, and yes! It was frozen, not stale. After the loaf thawed I sliced it and put it in the freezer for toast. (It's delicious!)
5. I was very tempted today to get lunch at a drive-through, but I talked myself down. I went home and had pork stir-fry from the freezer. I also talked myself out of going to Goodwill, mostly because I remembered that it was the weekend and it would be packed.