Five Frugal Things -- Another Oregon Food Bank Donation!
1. I donated $137.82 to the Oregon Food Bank for February's $100 Goodwill Gift Card Challenge. That amount is bolstered by $50, as I chose to keep a Pottery Barn linen duvet cover that I thrifted in January. It's much higher quality than the crappy Ikea version in our daughter's childhood bedroom and it didn't seem like people were lining up to buy it. So I bought something from my own inventory.
Total donations -- $267.
I also threw a couple extra dollars onto the donation to cover their credit card fees.
Here's everything that sold in February, after eBay's fees:
- Peugeot salt mill -- $24.65
- Tiffany Box -- $36.56
- Pixies concert tee shirt -- $16.10
- Toddler Vans sneakers -- $10.51
- Pottery Barn duvet cover -- $50
I need to get back to the Goodwill bins for fresh inventory, as I still have a $29.36 gift card balance. Cross your fingers for a Faberge egg!
2. My husband fixed our dryer, which had been making horrific screeching sounds. It took $40 in parts and the same amount of time as my light fixture repair. The diagnosis and repair were guided by YouTube and the supplies were purchased from Reliable Parts, which has a Portland location. This was a deliberate decision to avoid that Schmeff Schmezos guy.
I checked and the absolute cheapest dryer you can currently buy from Costco is $499.99.
I want you to notice that we don't have an adorable laundry room. There's zero need to do laundry inside a Pinterest fever dream. We have an unfinished basement and a "dream laundry room" is straight up "keeping up with the Joneses" and didn't exist until maybe fifteen-twenty years ago.
3. I sold a $20 giraffe "lovey" on eBay, which was enjoyable as it couldn't have been easier to package up. Note that it had been listed since 2021, so it wasn't exactly a get rich quickly scheme. However, it's still money in my pocket/credit union and everything I sell on eBay is a lesson on what to pick up or not pick up in the future, which makes me a better seller.
4. My husband and I stopped by Costco and treated ourselves to $1.50 hotdogs with extra onions. (I am the cheapest of cheap dates!) We then grabbed a few essentials and gassed up the minivan at $3.66/gallon.
I know that gas prices are likely to skyrocket due to the war against Iran and figured we might as well fill the tank.
For those who always point out that homemade granola is both cheap and easy to make, it's for my husband's work lunches. I rarely eat granola and don't enjoy making it. He's a grown man and happy to be responsible for his own work lunches.
5. Last night's dinner was a variety of different veggies, plus a handful of rotisserie chicken over lettuce. It was an apology to my stomach for the hotdog and certainly a frugal meal.
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."
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Well done on the food bank donation!
1) Ate leftovers for dinner. This is a common plan for us, as we typically cook 2-3x/week (Fri-Sun) and have leftovers during the week. This started when we had young kids with sports practice & dinner was challenging, but just works well now. We actually cooked Sa-Mo this week, as I used the crockpot to pull together a work day dinner on Monday.
2) Made sure I went to my workout class, after I registered. Always a frugal win, and it felt great & was a workout I needed for stress relief.
3) Made protein pancakes with overly ripe bananas, to avoid waste and/or tossing them into the black hole of my freezer. In reality, we are good about using up freezer food, but bananas are harder.
4) Used up some strawberry jam my mom brought when she visited on February. Had it on the protein pancakes.
5) Helping DS20 work on a "moving out" budget, which will be very helpful for him. I wish they taught kids more of this in school, rather than say, cursive. Budgeting is so important, and if you don't have a good baseline or someone to show you, it feels overwhelming & it's easy to stick your head in the sand and then fall behind.
I am with you on the granola. For some reason, my homemade granola never turns out, at least not to my satisfaction. I buy mine at Aldi.
I checked out the nearest bins (again) and they are just too far away to justify the drive. Our Goodwill stores which are nearby are getting more expensive. I used to get great stuff at garage sales, but haven't had much luck there in the last few years. However, I am determined to do a better job of seeking them out when the weather permits.
So, the frugal things I HAVE been up to --
I just made blueberry pancakes from scratch. I'm going to make little waffles from the leftover batter and freeze them.
I am thawing some salsa I got for free and will make nacho dip later. I already have the tortilla chips for dipping, which were about one-third the price at Aldi, compared to those I bought at Kroger's Food4Less several weeks ago.
I picked up peppermint tea bags and an apple at the little free pantry. I sliced and ate the apple yesterday with peanut butter and honey.
After having several servings from a rotisserie chicken bought at Sam's, I stripped off the remaining meat and froze it, then made broth from the carcass.
I am keeping up a regular schedule of walking, mostly inside, because it's still too cold for outdoor walking. The indoor walking does have the advantage of taking me to a library branch, and I have a stack of books to read that I am excited to get through.
I just started using Duolingo to brush up on French. I'm not sure how long it will be free; they keep hawking their paid version. So far I'm enjoying the mind stimulation. I doubt that I will actually use French in the near future, but it's fun to imagine I will.
I did get the retroactive referral from my doctor for the dermatology appointment I had. Now I wait and see whether insurance will cover it.
Any increase in gas prices is simply due to corporate greed. Almost all of the gas used in the US comes from western Texas, with a bit from South America. It's not going to be like lines at the gas stations in the 1970's thankfully.
That is a wonderful donation to the food bank. This has been a fun challenge to watch.
Yesterday I did alterations on several thrifted shirts that had been super cheap but needed things like the sleeves shortened for summer and buttons replaced. Used several items from my stash of buttons removed from worn-out clothes and sewing thread inherited from my mom 15 years ago. Also took up the back waistband of some thrifted jeans by running elastic through it.
Trimmed my hair to stretch the interval to another haircut. Turned a big package of yellow-sticker chicken drumsticks into oven barbecue. Used up the bits and bobs of frozen berries and the last of a stick of butter making a big pan of berry baked oatmeal for breakfasts.
Great job on the donation. It's been to fun to read about this challenge.
1. I'm thawing some mirepoix and a tiny container of onions leftover from a Costco hotdog. I'll be making more minestrone soup. I'll share as always with my mom. This is many healthy, inexpensive meals for me. I feel like I eat out a lot so anything cooked at home is a win.
2. I sold and shipped a couple of Ebay items. I ordered a post office pick up.
3. I have a years worth of Menard's rebate receipts ready to mail.
4. I had dinner at a local restaurant that offers 30% off to their rewards members on Monday's.
5. I washed a cotton rug that was spot clean only in the washing machine and dried it on a laundry rack. It came out very clean but a little misshapen. It's good enough. I prefer the clean version.
FFT, "Call and Response" Edition. (I'm calling it this since some of my FTs are in sync with Katy's. And kudos to Katy on her continuing eBay successes and food bank donations.)
(1) Re: Katy's hope for a Faberge egg, I'm reminded of a discussion I overheard long ago in my Salvation Army superstore: One customer was telling others that someone she knew had found the, not a, Mona Lisa at a garage sale. Hey, we can always get lucky. 😀
(2) Re: Katy's non-Pinterest-worthy laundry room: I've got one of those in my basement, along with spider webs galore. (I'm fond of spiders, actually. Just call me Morticia Addams.) And my 25-year-old Maytag dryer, which I use only for sheets, is starting to screech a bit, though that usually subsides as the cycle gets going. If it gets worse, I'll call in my friend Mr. Fix-It, since Mr. NCA is a continent away.
(3) I too gassed up ahead of the inevitable surge in gas prices, thanks to Voldemort's not-so-excellent adventure in the Middle East. As of Monday, we still had $2.99/gal. gas here in Central NY, but that won't last.
(4) I finally managed to finish a bag of Reduced for Quick Sale salad greens from Price Chopper without having to compost more than 10% or so of it. This is a first.
(5) And CF joined me yesterday afternoon for some "spelunking" (as we're calling the hunt for documents and valuables) and a general walk-through at NDN1's house. I'll have much, much more to say about all this in future comments. But one find I'll mention now was a thoroughly dusty but otherwise in good shape American Girl doll ("Josefina") in one bedroom, and an extensive set of accessories for her in two drawers in another bedroom. Neither of us sells on eBay, but CF says she knows people who do.
The bins are a great source for duvet covers, but they are heavy, so I’ve left some nice ones behind. I wish our bins had a different way of pricing things. I’ve heard of locations where linens have a flat price per item because of the weight. Otherwise, too many blankets and duvet covers go to the landfill.
Thanks for the tip about the parts store! I somehow didn’t know about it!
1. I made stock from a rotisserie chicken and this will be the base for tonight’s soup.
2. Dutch oven bread is going into the oven this morning.
3. I have a surplus of milk that’s expiring soon, so I’ll make some flan with it.
4. I went for a long walk yesterday and found one redeemable can. It isn’t much, but every can counts!
5. Last night was pizza night. At home! I make a decent pizza, and it doesn’t cost $30.