Four Frugal Things -- Dirt & Buttons & Propagated Fuchsias
1) I sold the floral Birkenstocks that I thrifted from the bins the other day. I'd listed them for $25 but accepted a $20 offer, which adds another $17.04 to my monthly Oregon Food Bank donation.
I spent $6.36 from my $100 Goodwill giftcard to buy three items that day, so I estimate that I spent $2 on the sandals. I also bought the dry bag and an alpaca cardigan sweater that's currently undergoing a stain treatment regimen.
Click HERE to see how I listed the Birks.
Of course they're packaged up in secondhand shipping supplies, which is always very satisfying.
2) I didn't end up going to Fred Meyer's "Fuchsia Saturday" event, as A) It was raining really hard, B) I was exhausted from getting up at 4:00 A.M. to take my sister and her family to the airport; and C) Straight up laziness. However, I still have a fair amount of potting soil leftover from last year and Portland's mild weather meant that all of my annuals wintered over.
I'm attempting to propagate some fuchsias on the kitchen windowsill. So . . . I guess I'll file it under "frugality" as I didn't have to buy any plants starts to get "free" potting soil.
3) I made a Dirt and Buttons meal last night, utilizing a zucchini, chopped cabbage, a forgotten half bag of pasta and a scoop of chicken bouillon. It wasn't something I'd serve to my fanciest guests, but it did the trick of nourishing us and using up food that was at risk of going to waste.
There's even a bit leftover that I'm going to go heat up right now.
4) I didn't go anywhere yesterday other than a pair of walkable errands, although I may have undone any positive karma from not driving by putting six loads of laundry through the dryer.
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.
This blog post includes an eBay referral link.
The greeting card I mentioned earlier sold for $100!!! Although, the buyer did point out that I had listed it as unsigned, and it did, indeed, have a signature on it. A very small one, which myself, my hubby, and my son all overlooked. He was still willing to pay the full price, but I did not feel good about that, so I refunded him $25. But I’m feeling pretty darn great about selling a free greeting card for $75!
I went to a mother-daughter sorority tea with the daughter of a friend of mine. She attends college in my town, and we have taken her under our wing. Her mother was not able to come up for it, as she will already be here for the next 3 weekends for other things, so she asked if I could attend as her “second mom.” I was honored.
I’m working on the last two dozen of paper roses that I have promised. I’m a little tired of them, but they have helped my savings quite a bit!
My hubby had a very good week with goodies coming into the dump - he has picked up a toy kitchen, two riding toys, a busy board, and a Radio Flyer riding horse. My granddaughter loves the Little Tyke riding horse and will grow into the other items.
Very honorable and generous refund.
Thank you.
Do you mind sharing what type of greeting card it was? I love to hear about great flips in ephemera! What a kind gesture to refund a portion. I'm a paper lover, snail mail writer and card sender. With my mom and brother having passed, I write to my sister a few times a week since my MIL left sheets and sheets of stamps. Some cards I have five stamps on it to add up to 78 cents.
1. We had some very strong thunder storms last night; poor Snuggles was scared out of his puppydog mind. (Even though he was inside the house the whole time.)These were the heavy rains that my mom called "gulley washers". Sure enough, all the live oak leaves littering the street gutter were washed away. So I don't have to beg the city for street sweeper service nor do I have to hire the yardman to bag it all up. Health and back problems prohibit me from stooping and bending to rake and can the leaves and pollen tassels. Happy to have the problem solved. Oh, and I didn't have to buy more leaf bags.
2. Wore a brand new blouse -- from a new store, not secondhand -- to work today. It was a yellow tunic with matching lace and a necklace that was included with it. I'd gotten it at Belks last January during the after Xmas sale. Originally $63, it was left over from the previous spring and on final clearance. My price was just under 10 bucks. After I got it, it's been in the closet for 3 months. Totally worth the wait, as I got a lot of compliments today. So that's 3 outfits in 3 days that have gotten others' approval. The other 2 were in the back of my closet for years before being reintroduced.
3. Took home 3/4 of a cheese pizza from Sunday lunch in the break room. Free.
4. Some of the "Late July" brand chips are getting shrinkflated, going from 10 ounces down to 7-point-something ounces per bag. I bought a couple of the larger bags for $2.99, the same price they are charging for the smaller size. I'll enjoy it while I can but likely won't buy the shrinkflsted product.
5. Did not travel to Turkey to interfere in that nation's election. (Although I am giggling over the fact that the candidate Trump and Vance promoted has lost. )
It's always so nice to hear a compliment on an older clothing item or something we didn't break the bank on. The new shirt sounds pretty. I love how the necklace on it didn't cost you any extra.
When you mentioned dirt it reminded me DH discovered two 40 pound bags each half full of potting soil while spring cleaning the shed.
2. He also found a partial bag of dehydrated cow manure hiding out behind shed stuff. I'll throw it on my perrinials including the rhubarb and raspberry bushes.
3. I had three delicious little triangles of cheesecake at my friend's indy bookstore thanks to her keeping track of regulars' birthdays. This was to honor three of us with April birthdays who were all in attendance that day.
4. We were driving by Aldi's today anyway so I returned a container of cottage cheese I bought last week that had already been opened or had the plastic film pulled back while processing by accident. In any case, the very pleasant cashier refunded my $2.85.
5. If I lived in Hungary I would've voted against Orban even if his competition was Mickey Mouse. Either way, I'm glad he's out. One less dictator on our planet.
1. Met a friend at a coffee shop at the mall. Brought my water bottle and didn't buy anything. Tagged along to Williams-Sonoma afterward where she bought some specialty baking items. Gorgeous store, high prices.
2. Met a friend for a walk around a nearby lake - they are plentiful in Minnesota!
3. Took advantage of a Target offer for $5 off a $20 purchase. Spent it on groceries.
4. Finished the remainder of a $100 gift card at a local restaurant on a lunch date with my husband.
5. Spent $300 on a gas stove repair (one of the burners wasn't igniting correctly). On the hook for the total amount since we're just past the one-year warranty. Ugh.
It stopped raining by noon so I hung two loads of laundry on the line. No detergent can replicate or beat the smell of sun-dried crisp cotton sheets. One of the fitted sheets has a large patch I sewed. There is always a fitted sheet in my rotation that has a patch! (lol) The patch was from my mom's last fabric clean out. The sheets were gifts, part of my minimalist wish list.
Did a fridge and pantry clean out/reorganization. A few condiments had gone too far past their expiration dates. Ditto for a can of diced tomatoes that got shoved to the back. Food poisoning isn't frugal! I pulled everything out of the bottom pantry shelves and used a Sharpie to put the month & year on the top or front of the packaging. It was a great reminder of what I have on hand. Threw a batch of cornbread in the oven to use up some dribs and drabs, then ate two slabs for dinner.
I realized I've lived here for years and am frustrated by the weird deep shelves I call a pantry. (Note to self--when either washer or dryer dies, replace with stackable so the laundry cubby can hold shelving instead of two huge appliances!) I had some Fetch gift cards to Lowe's so put those toward some shelf-slidy drawer mechanisms that pull out. I've wanted them since I first moved in. Free DIY options just haven't worked out so I feel comfortable spending a bit to make this space work better. They are scheduled to be delivered next week after a big work project is completed--it's like a gift to the Self that's on the other side of that 🙂
Did a stock-up grocery shop at Aldi. Did NOT replace the condiments from there as they only have one too-big-for-me-to-use-up size. Realized it's not saving money to throw away 2/3 when I can get a smaller size at a different store.
I got a lunch combo at my favorite local burger drive thru as a reward for all my hard work. My favorite combo is sometimes too much, so I eat the burger hot and put the fries and special sauce in the fridge for later. I'm about to fire up the air fryer to have a yummy snack!
Speaking of air fryers, I learned you can hard boil eggs in them. Mine even has a button for eggs. Made a yummy egg salad on homemade bread for dinner.