Five Frugal Things -- Robes for All!
1. I threw my name in the hat for a fuzzy white Pottery Barn robe in my local Buy Nothing group and was chosen to receive it. (It helped that no one else responded!) I host a fair number of house guests and like to have the rooms set with comfortable amenities. I already have a robe for one of the bedrooms, but thought it would nice to have one for the second spare bedroom.
My sister and nephew will be coming to Portland for spring break and now they'll both have a robe while visiting "Aunt Katy." Keep in mind that our only bathroom is down a flight of stairs and across the house, so robes come in very handy.
2. I sold the vintage Wagner Ware pan in under 24 hours on eBay. I packaged it up in a free USPS Priority Mail "flat rate" box, but used PirateShip.com to buy the discounted postage, as eBay no longer makes it easy to select the flat rate option. I then uploaded the tracking number into eBay so the buyer can watch her pan's journey. Convoluted, but it worked, as their large size box was the perfect configuration.
This isn't part of the $100 Goodwill Gift Card Challenge, as it was heavy and would've eaten up too much of the gift card.
3. I dropped off and picked up library holds while on my way to the post office. I'd reserved a copy of George Orwell's Down and Out in Paris and London, which seems like something up my alley. Officially I only read books by women, but I'll make the occasional exception.
It might prompt me to reread Barbara Ehrenreich's Nicked and Dimed, on Not Getting by in America.
4. I cut fresh rosemary for our singular bathroom, which is a year round practice to provide a pleasant scent to an unpleasant room. I have an ever growing rosemary shrub in the garden, which I grew from a cutting.
5. I didn't sue the Internal Revenue Service for ten billion dollars.
Katy Wolk-Stanley
"Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without."
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Nice sale on the Magnalite pan. I love finding those to sell. They always go quickly but not that quick. That's great!!
I don't have much in the way of frugal to add. My kids and I have just returned from a tour of Italy. This was not frugal but my frugality is one reason I can do this.
1. I emptied my refrigerator before I left by way of meals and gave my mom my extra produce that I couldn't finish.
2. I did not turn down my heat before I left because it's already pretty low. Since we were having record low temperatures, I wanted to make sure I had no frozen pipes. I opened all my vanity and sink cupboard doors to make sure any heat in the house could get to the pipes in case we lost power. I'm home and everything is in one piece.
3. I used my travel credit card while on vacation. It has no foreign transaction fees. I was credited the transaction fees from my debit card that I used to withdraw cash. I turned in my customs form at the airport to receive the tax back on a purchase. It has already been credited to my card.
4. I need to buy groceries but the jet lag is killing me. I had everything I needed for some minestrone soup. I had some frozen onion and celery in the freezer. Carrots in the refrigerator were still good. I made enough for many leftovers and will share with my mom. Hopefully today I will have more energy for a trip to the store.
5. I tried to ignore the news at home while I was gone but heard about the Alex Pretti shooting. I am heartbroken. I will be calling my Congressman.
What an amazing turnaround on that pan! You are an eBay wizard!
I had thought I would get my car washed today, but it's snowing and not quite warm enough. Besides that, I don't feel very well, so sticking around home is the thing to do.
I defrosted my fridge yesterday. Every so often the freezer develops ice walls and water pools in the fridge. Then I know it's time. There's something off with the drainage. I've had a repairman "fix" it -- didn't happen, and it was expensive. I Googled the problem, and that's how I found out that defrosting solves the problem, at least until the drainage tube freezes up again. I think it lasted about six months this last time. Anyway, it's free, and it gives me the opportunity to clean and organize, which feels good.
I had some salsa that needed to be used, so I combined it with cheese, and I poured the resulting sauce over toasted French bread rounds for a tasty lunch.
I am thawing some vegetable barley soup for today's main meal.
I got an email from the company with which I had my Medicare Advantage plan last year. It said it was getting ready to mail one of my prescriptions. I assume the message was sent in error and I won't actually get the meds. We'll see. I'm not opting for mail order prescriptions from my new company. My past experience has been that refills come too frequently. And anyway, I'm always at the drugstore -- it's no bother to get my prescriptions filled in person.
I am still putting off grocery shopping. I haven't yet run out of anything I need. That is usually my impetus.
I used PayPal to send cash to my ouf-of-work son for his birthday. Just wish I could do more.
Congratulations on your Wagner Ware sale. I know it was a labor of love and once again you proved that you have a good eye for a bargain.
Loud cheers, Katy, on the free bathrobe and the quick sale of the Wagner Ware pan (I'm glad that all that elbow grease paid off).
And I too keep spare bathrobes on hand--in my case, for my two most frequent houseguests, JASNA BFF and Grad School BFF. Anything I can do to help my goombahs travel with carry-on luggage only is good.
Finally, as usual, I'm envious that you can grow rosemary outdoors in Portland. I have three rosemarys in pots that are reasonably happy in my dining room's south-facing bay window--but rosemary isn't winter-hardy in Central NY. And almost all herbs would rather live outdoors, in my 45 years of gardening experience
1. Frugal fail: I took some hardback books to the book and video game store on the mall. I'd discovered this store around Xmas, and the clerk said yes, they bought books. I took them a large sack full of some very nice items, including some nice, like-new thick hardcovers from Dan Brown and John Grisham, and a couple of soft cover sci fi and fantasy titles geared for teens/college age. The latter came from a little free library. The young lady behind the counter was very nice; I know she isn't the one setting the prices. She scanned all the IBSN numbers and entered a few things on her computer and offered me a whopping 42 cents for my entire collection. How much store credit could I get if I just traded these? 68 cents. Oh, wow, I really could come into some money! NOT. So I thanked her and took my books home. So much for that! I can donate the books to Goodwill and get a 20% off coupon that would be worth more, and the local Mom and Pop used book store would give me better credit. Or I could sell 'em in a garage sale for a dollar. Mind you, I figured it'd probably be less than 10 bucks, but under a dollar is ridiculous! What a rip off!
2. Mailed a Valentine's card I got after Feb. 14 some years ago to our little church friend who is in boarding school. It was a big, fancy glittery one (featured a unicorn on front) from Aldi; I think I paid maybe 50 cents for the post-holiday deal. Coincidentally, the girl's mother came through my cash register lane a few hours later and told me her daughter loved getting the previous cards I'd sent.
3. Used my cash register receipt coupon to get a lunch at Long John Silver's. It's the one where you take their survey and write down the code; you buy a large drink and they'll throw in 1 piece of fish and French fries for free.
4. My friend and cleaning lady's car broke down so I picked her up and brought her over here. Afterwards, she needed to get some groceries so I took her to the little H-E-B grocery store she prefers. I needed to get Snuggles his favorite dog biscuits; our H-E-B had sold out. There was an in-store coupon: if buy get 3 boxes of doggie treats, they'll give you $3 off your entire basket. So I put the doggie treats in M's shopping cart, gave her the money and coupon, and she shaved $3 off her purchase. I also got a 2 liter bottle of Dr Pepper on sale for $1.66; where I work, the price is $2.28
5. M. makes money on the side making snacks and selling them to the neighborhood kids when they get off the school bus. I've collected some plastic forks and "sporks" (spoon/forks) from fast food places, the ones that are sealed in a little plastic bag, over many weeks. I gave these to her yesterday, along with a metal cookie tin, the kind that the Danish butter cookies are sold in. She said she can use them.