Many Frugal Things -- Cheap in Seattle
My husband and I are having a fine old time in Seattle. even though the $75/day parking still stings. However, that's no reason to throw the baby out with the bathwater, so I'm still going to enjoy my cheap endeavors.
We walked over to Seattle's spectacular Central Library to explore the structure, and chatted with various librarians (docents?) to make sure we wouldn't miss any of the important bits.
One volunteer directed us to an area which is painted seven shades of red, while another was able to dig up a free bookmark for me.
As I said to my husband, "With the right attitude, anything can be a museum." You know I love a free museum! Better than the normal $25-$30 admission price of a traditional museum.
I unashamedly brought some food up to the room from the included continental breakfast. The pastries became our mid afternoon snack and the apples and yogurts served as dinner, as we'd eaten a filling late lunch. The tea bags will follow us home.
We met up with a college friend at the big Goodwill, where I scoured the store for something/anything to resell to offset the predatory parking cost. Unfortunately the vast and crowded store didn't cough up any Faberge eggs or original Picasso prints. It didn't help that I distracted by conversation, which kept me from doing a proper inventory dig.
They had this "Barista Cart," which I thought was ingenious. I love that they're providing the opportunity to learn this portable employment skill for their employees.
I didn't find $225 of resalable items, but I did buy a $3.99 bag of what I'll call "standing still figures." They definitely stood out amongst the cutesy toys and I'm always on the lookout for the different and unusual. I'd hoped they'd be worth big money, but such is not the case. I learned that these figures are from Lakeshore Learning and I might be able to get maybe twenty to thirty bucks for them.
I also bought a nice $1.99 embroidered pillowcase and my husband found three major league baseballs for $7.99.
I've floated the idea of returning to the store this afternoon to continue my search for hidden treasure, but my husband is not enthused. We'll see . . . .
Tonight is the end of the month, which means I set a reminder alarm to go onto the Multnomah County Library website to scout for cultural passes, which become available at the stroke of midnight. I want to see the David Hockney exhibit at the Portland Art Museum, so fingers crossed!
My husband and I have fun plans for today, so I'll sign off and chat with you tomorrow. Do you have any fun/cheap travel suggestions? Please share your thoughts in the comments section below.
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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That Goodwill location always has boxes of entire trading card collections for sale in their toy section. Does your husband know much about baseball cards? Unfortunately, very little about Seattle is frugal or cheap these days.
The train from Portland to Seattle is a good option if you don’t actually need a car.
I love that there was once an alarm related to croissants in the freezer. 🙂
I do not like company when I hunt at garage sales, thrift stores, and flea markets. I need to laser focus and can’t be distracted. When I am ready to move on to next, I’m not waiting on someone.
First, Katy, I wish you well on the quest to make back at least part of the exorbitant hotel parking charges. The JASNA Annual General Meeting hotel in the Baltimore Inner Harbor last October wanted $49/night for parking; fortunately for me, I had the option of leaving my rental car with my friends in NE Baltimore and having them drop me and pick me up at the hotel. Blessings on them.
Now, FFT, March into April Edition (a simulcast from over at The Frugal Girl):
(1) Things are looking up on both the deposit container return and found change fronts: I found $20.20 in containers and a whopping $4.83 in change during March. (Among other things, I found a dollar bill in the street, I got lucky on Aldi carts several times, and the secrets of many snowdrifts were revealed.)
(2) I enjoyed a good container pick this morning in a warm spring shower, which helped to loosen some personal knots I'm tied up in right now.
(3) I had excellent garden cleanup help yesterday from two high-school-age nephews of my eventual executor and his wife (their college-age sons weren't available this week, but the nephews were). Like all the junior members of this extended family I've met, these were intelligent and personable kids--and, like their cousins, they did exactly what I asked them to do and did it well. In fact, the two of them finished in 1.5 hours what would probably have taken creaky old me a week. I paid them for 2 hours each and was well satisfied.
(4) I'm shopping more at Aldi now, since there's an Aldi on my direct route to and from NDN1's assisted living facility. I snagged two packages of boneless/skinless chicken thighs and one of chicken drums for 50% off there on Sunday.
(5) And the friends who raise the beef I buy each year (1/4 steer, which I share with others at my cost) have just sent an update that they plan to stay in the beef biz through at least 2028. Huzzah! Goodness only knows what supermarket beef will cost by 2028, and even though my friends will inevitably have to raise their costs, I'll still come out way ahead on both cost and quality.
I always search "Trip advisor (city or town name) free things to do", and start from there. Sometimes we find some awesome stuff to do - zoos and museums with free entry, local parks, historic sites, etc. I also like the "cheap eats" section if I'm looking for a local restaurant.
We have a museum membership that includes free entry to science and aviation museums all over the country (and some other countries too), so I check if there's anything in an area we will be visiting. (That's how we ended up at Evergreen when we were in Oregon last summer)
Like you, I always grab some items from the continental breakfast in case we need snacks later. Sometimes when you've been out touristing all day it's nice to just relax in the room in the evening and not have to worry about finding food.
If we're staying at a hotel doesn't offer breakfast, I pack instant oatmeal packets and plastic spoons. Room usually has a coffee pot and I can use it to heat the water, and eat the oatmeal in the provided paper coffee cups, then rinse and use it to drink my coffee. Breakfast is not my favorite meal and I'd rather save my dining out budget for lunch and dinner.