Five Frugal Things -- Random Plastic Animals
1) I lowered prices on a few of my eBay items and quickly sold a bag of random plastic animals for $35, (down from $50) from when I paid $11.98 for two bags of toy animals in January. I've made four sales so far from these animals, which adds up to $84, minus eBay fees.
Click HERE to see the eBay listing.
I have just one listing left from this lot.
Then I added "List eBay" to my to-do list and put together four new listings:
- The DeForest Kelley poetry book, listed for $75.
- The actual photo album it was in, listed for $15.
- A Star Trek: Undiscovered Country publicity photo, listed for $25.
- The alpaca sweater that I picked up at the bins last week, listed for $30.
2) I tested two AA batteries from a dead remote control and learned that only one of them was actually depleted! I realized that my routine of recycling spent batteries without ensuring they're actually dead needs to change.
You'd think that I'd have run out of money saving hacks at this point in my frugal career, but such is not the case. Test all batteries before giving up on them!
3) Tomorrow is our our weekly family dinner night for my lil' nuclear family, but we'll cook at home as we overindulged with restaurant meals while my sister was in town. I'm thinking something simple like burgers, even though we'll need to cook them indoors.
Spoiler -- Portland is rainy!
4) My husband and I completed our taxes, even though we hate doing them ourselves. We used a discounted Costco Turbotax version, even though they're an evil fucking company. I guess I forgot to remind my husband to not buy Turbotax this year!
5) I saw a quote on Threads from someone saying to "Never save stuff just because someone else saved it" and it sank into my soul. This specific thread was from people who've inherited hoarder homes, with all the inherent guilt and trauma that comes with the burden of loved ones' excess things.
I'm super deliberate about not having an excess of stuff that will burden my kids when I shuffle off this mortal coil. I've let them know that my stuff is just . . . stuff and it doesn't need to be cherished. Seriously, it's just stuff!
Ugh . . . stuff.
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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Good morning, I'm sorting through my stuff so my kids also won't have to deal with my stuff.
1. I cleaned out a kitchen desk drawer. I tested all the pencils and markers and threw out all the ones that don't work. I hate adding to the landfill but garbage is garbage whether it's in a drawer or in the dumpster.
2. My desk drawer clean out turned into a sewing box clean out. I had to put all the safety pins away that I found and ended up sorting through and organizing the bazillion buttons and mess of thread.
3. I made a meal out of dirt and buttons ( I've never heard this description before and love it). I had a weird summer sausage maple ham leftover from a Swiss Colony gift box. I cut it in to chunks along with a potato, sweet potato, onion and yellow bell pepper and roasted it all in the oven with olive oil, salt and pepper. I know you're supposed to eat the sausage cold but It was really good. This was two meals for me.
4. My friend and I dodged the rain and got a walk in. She was car-less so I picked her up and we went to a forest trail owned by MSU. We both enjoyed the change of pace and free exercise. I did not enjoy all the free ticks I had to pick off my dog.
5. Frugal fail - I bought the wrong dog food for my dog. I purchased the large breed formula rather than the regular and I'm kicking myself since dog food is so expensive. I'm thankful I had used a 40% off coupon but it still hurts. I'm planning to incorporate a small amount into each meal for her and my grandpup.
You can always donate the wrong dog food to BN or your local animal shelter
It is time to haul out the totes of summer clothes and store away winter things. I don't care for job at all,it leaves me indecisive as to how many in between items to hold over and it seems I always keep out too many.
I've been working on the sheep fence and tweaking the sheep budget. We still need to set 2 complete corners but I will reuse the line posts. The trees have been trimmed to keep limbs off the new fence. Brush is mostly cleared away. We adjusted the gate and it no longer drags 🙂
Turned out weaned calves to grass yesterday. Always fun to see them zip around! New calf arrived yesterday.
Tomorrow is fence repair in advance of turning out a group of cows to grass. Big Bopper (bull) decided to crash onto the neighbors and visit his cows. We repaired (sort of, he really made a mess) the fence and walked him back home. Bopper is now in time out in the bull pen and I am hand feeding him. He eats a lot!!! He really is a kitten but at 1700# he must behave! When the cows go to grass (asap) he will go with them and hopefully stay with them.
Potatoes, spinach, onions, carrots, and cole crops are planted.
The pond we had cleaned out last year is nearly full. We should have plenty of stock water. We will add fish in the future.
I rode fence at the home farm and took note of a future repair, evaluated when I believe it will be ready to graze, and made mental notes where I should be applying compost and working on soil health. This is our third year here, so we still have legacy issues to address.
I did not blaspheme. I pay my taxes, all of them!!!
I hear you about the clothing switch out! I'm glad one wool sweater missed the washing and packing train- the weather suddenly went cool and I'm glad to have one light weight wool sweater hold out!
I took a lovely walk with my friend this morning - free exercise and therapy session all in one!
My husband replaced our front steps. They were concrete and were on the house when we bought it over 20 years ago. Years of salt application had finally taken their toll, and they just broke in half! He did a great job, even though, as he says, he's not a carpenter. I shudder to think what a contractor would have charged us, although I fully accept that they deserve whatever they charge, but I'm thankful he could do the work himself!
We had a simple dinner last night from the freezer and the cupboard.
We went to CVS last night to pick up his medicine and happened upon some great clearance sales - Carmex chapstick for 59 cents, cleaners for $1.35-2.00, some canned teas for 65 cents. The teas were gross (even my son won't drink them, but he's going to take them to work to see if anyone else will), but I got over 2000 points on Fetch for buying them.
So true about the excess stuff! I am very cognizant that I need to pare down before my kids are stuck dealing with it.
I made another sale on eBay -- actually the first thing I listed when I started up again. It is an earthenware bowl, so I have super-stuffed the box with newspaper to avoid breakage. I hope the buyer enjoys reading the Chicago Tribune!
I also made a purchase on eBay. I need risers for the front of my refrigerator. I have a slanty floor. I've been making do with a board, but it is not the best. I looked on Amazon, but found risers on eBay for half the price.
As a conscientious eBay seller, I should go to the post office today, especially since I also have to return library books and get quarters from the bank. And I have a volleyball game to attend. But it's raining, and the forecast is predicting storms, even the possibility of tornadoes. So I don't know. We'll see if any of that happens.
I found a scarf the other day, which I have washed and put in the Goodwill box. I also found a dime. And a screw for my toolbox!
In addition to doing my free Duolingo every day (French), I have started writing a haiku every day. It's a very enjoyable mental exercise. I'm sure it's bad poetry, but that's not the point.
Chicken wings, mashed potatoes, and green beans for lunch today, and chicken noodle soup for dinner. The rest of the chicken meat is in the freezer, and so another rotisserie chicken from Sam's has been laid to rest.
I love the idea of writing a haiku daily!
I love haiku!
My dad has hoarder tendencies which my mother has primarily confined to the garage, though his study comes a close second. He said when they both pass to just hire a dumpster and load it up. Recently I challenged him that if that was what was to be done then perhaps he could do it himself. He says he will this summer. We shall see. I also try to keep my stuff to a minimum, having emptied several houses of people who have passed on. This weekend I made a zip pouch out of a small six patch doll quilt that I had made when I was 4 years old. The quilt had always lived in a box and I wanted to enjoy seeing it but I did not want to just hang it on a wall. The lodge that pouch is super cute and is now residing in the overnight bag that I use for my monthly trips to my grandchildren. I made the overnight bag too, out of a ground sheet from my dad's army days, in the late 1960s. We don't camp so what else does one do with a new looking ground sheet? The bag will last longer than I do!
After years of my MIL saying how valuable all her treasures were (beanie babies, colonial looking figurines, old clothes you name it) and asking me to not let her boys (guys in their 50s) throw everything away, I started saying if it's to be sold, then sell it now. Turns out they hoardes increasingly the last few years and everything was truly garbage. It took us three huge industrial dumpsters (not the kind behind a store with a plastic lid) and months to clear out decades of stuff while wearing masks and gloves because of the amount of mice droppings and mold. It was horrid. Truly a relationship tester. Days turned into weeks and months driving there, working until we dropped, driving home and walking straight to the shower. We argued and had quick tempers some days because we were frustrated, froze in February working in our layers inside and then sweltered in the summer heat. I packed a cooler every day with our water and lunch and fruit for snacks. I wanted to treat myself on the way home with something but we worked hard to keep on track.
The full irony was NO ONE wanted anything - the cousins, grandkids, siblings etc. We donated all we could - the library got thousands of books in many runs for their sale, but hundreds and hundreds were moldy and sun damaged stacked in a room. Sad to see so much stuff bought that was just a waste - not even really enjoyed. Just... There.
We are trying hard to balance thriftiness with minimal amount of stuff and I struggle with the just in case mentality at times. We have a small home, no basement or attic, and I'm even finding it hard to sell things i thought would bring in some money on eBay. Does no one want my great pier 1 dishes? Mikasa? Hahaha... They're a dime a dozen at estate sales. Whole Christmas sets, good quality brands, sold for $25. Reminds me the value is in our use of these things.
Good luck to those who are going through this. My DH says my parents did it right - culled things early on. But it's easier to toss/donate/clear out someone else's items than your own!
I'm so sorry your in-laws couldn't understand the weight of their own stuff!
My parents were pretty good, though in helping my Dad have a final yard sale, I finally figured out how to help him process. He would say, "That would be worth something to someone" or "Somebody would pay good money for that", and I just said, "That person isn't here."
Anon today, I feel your pain, and I know Katy does too (after her experience with her in-laws). As regular readers know, the other close friend (CF) of my 87-year-old next-door neighbor (NDN1) and I are dealing with a similar situation, now that CF and I have finally gotten NDN1 into assisted living. All I can say is that the deeper we dig, the worse it gets. Another neighbor asked me cheerily this morning, "Well, how's the cleanout going?" I told him, "Check back this time next year," and I wasn't kidding. 🙁
My energy has been flagging with the return of rainy weather. Still, we must push on!
1) Our youngest turned 21 (!) yesterday. He has few wants, but the spouse did 3-D print and hand paint a Grace and Rocky figure from "Project Hail Mary." The Grace file was a (free) official movie promo, and the Rocky file was a free fan-made version. She already had the printer, resin, and paints, and she is a professional artist, so it was a nice but free gift.
2) He had requested a birthday dinner so he could order booze (not too thrilling, he's been drinking age across the border in BC for two years, and he was drinking age at 18 in Ireland). He picked a local 50's style burger restaurant, which has a lovely $13 combo deal. He added on a boozy milkshake, but it was still a pretty frugal for a four-person family dinner at a sit-down restaurant in a tourist district.
3) Not our frugal, but WOW! Our neighbor/landlord/friend gave our son a very, very, very nice telescope for his birthday (it's taller than me). Both the son and the neighbor are diehard astronomy fans (neighbor used to teach telescope building and son is majoring in astro-biology). It's a hand-me-down telescope, so neighbor didn't spend money, and it is so much nicer and more powerful than the son's old scope. Neighbor said it was collecting dust in his basement since he had upgraded to a bigger one a few years back. What an amazing gift!
4) I took a few cuttings from the Scouler's willows on our property, for a friend. They are wanting to add a few to their landscaping, but the native plant nursery is sold out. This saves them the money, as well.
5) The same neighbor that gave the telescope also brought over 10 bags of potting soil. He had them leftover from a landscaping project from a few years back, and he knew I had just picked up the four raised beds from Buy Nothing, so figured I could use them before they went moldy. Yay! Now I don't have to track down cost-effective soil! (yes, I will be baking him unlimited batches of brownies in the near future!)
We just did our taxes Sunday too and we’re determined to not use TurboTax, aside from being a terrible company, their software made a huge mistake on our 2021 taxes and we received a notice this year that we owed a bunch of money from then. I looked into it and apparently it happened to a lot of people and TurboTax will take no responsibility.
So we tried FreeTaxUSA, it was way cheaper and very easy to use. It seems to have all gone well, but I can report back if some issues arises later.
Did you owe or receive a refund? I tried using FreeTaxUSA but it wanted me to open an online account to receive my refund. Then, I read some things on reddit saying people had not yet received their refund, and it scared me. So I went with TurboTax (but would love to find a better company).
We owed on federal but are getting a refund from state, so I can see how long it takes to receive. We had to make an account to do taxes on it though, but I don’t think there was a separate account to receive the refund?
1. Updated contingent beneficiaries on a few of our financial accounts. Last updated in December before we traveled to Arizona. Good thing my husband and I didn't both die on that trip because I had made several errors that would have resulted in some people receiving much more - and some people receiving much less - than we intended.
2. Figured out ways to use up a large jar of peanut butter powder that I received from Buy Nothing last year. So far, I've made peanut butter (not a fan), peanut sauce, and mixed it in oatmeal and baked goods.
3. Friend gave me some dog jerky after her pup died. Cut it up into small pieces to use as treats for our dog.
4. Brought home leftover coffee from an event in my trusty canteen. Diluted it with water and whole milk and enjoyed it for several days.
5. Treated my sister to lunch for her birthday and gave her a bouquet of flowers (only $8 at Trader Joe's). Used a mason jar as a vase which she'll return to me.
Can the dog have some of the peanut butter powder sprinkled onto food? Or otherwise well mixed?
(Excuse me-- I don't know canine diets).
Hi Katy,
Just a watchout on the batteries (ignore if you already know): combining old and new batteries can cause problems. The new batteries will drain more quickly and could cause a fire.
K.
Ooh . . . good to know. Thanks!
So much stuff in the world! When we cleaned out my in-laws house after they passed we found a stack of boxes that had been packed up decades before as relatives passed, and then moved along to 3 different houses without ever being opened again. Not heirlooms, just random stuff that had no value, sentimental or otherwise.
I'm going my best to declutter our own things and have told my kids repeatedly that they do not have to keep any of this!
Fortunately we have moved my own mother several times in the past 8 years, and each time she's decluttered more. The last move we were able to fit what she kept into a 5x10 mini storage while she waited for her new apartment to be ready. She gave away 3/4 of her stuff, and she said she feels so free now.
I am constantly working towards minimalism. My mom and sister are both hoarders. True hoarders, not the kind where you laugh and say, "oh, wow you have too much stuff." It's a mental illness for them both. It makes me so sad. They keep things that are clearly trash, like shoes with broken straps, broken dishes....and they keep getting more stuff. Their house is packed. My sister drives around picking up free stuff off FB. Stuff she has no use for. I have talked to them about it, and my sister is in denial, my mom has been trying to make an effort to stop buying and getting free stuff, but just can't. Both refuse to get professional help. Maybe this post should have been on the check on friend post. It's hard when the people you love struggle.
1. I made a salad before heading to Pilates and ate that for dinner afterwards.
2. I finished a pot of lentil soup. I've begun adding quinoa when I cook it since I don't love it on it's own but it adds thickness and also some protein and fiber to the soup.
3. We have several ripe bananas so I snacked on oatmeal with a banana. Adding pumpkin spice made it a little fancier.
4. The weather has become quite warm. I switched my winter and summer clothes. I hung my summer shirts hangers backwards so I'll know at the end of the summer what I didn't wear and won't miss if I part with them.
5. I filled out paperwork to claim my share of an uncle's life insurance policy. I sent the forms electronically so no stamp nor envelope were required. I will receive about $800. Not heiress territory but welcome in this time of rising prices and also very thoughtful.