Five Frugal Things -- Marketplace & Chocolate Peanut Butter Ice Cream
1) I was energized by how quickly my art nouveau lamp sold, so I took three of my eBay listings and converted them over to Facebook Marketplace. The immediacy in which they got interest was deeply satisfying!
- The Sasha doll that I thrifted for $4 in January. Sold it for $100, cash in hand in under two hours. <-- Oregon Food Bank sale.
- The Portland Gear baseball cap from the Goodwill bins in January. Sold within a couple hours for $20. <-- Another Oregon Food Bank sale!
- The vintage pink telephone I bought at the bins just last week. Someone's coming by for it in the morning, although I don't like to count my chickens before they hatch. It'll be a $50 sale. (Not a food bank sale.) Update -- sold!
Unrelated, but I worked hard for this phone, as it was almost hopelessly tangled with another telephone.
I'm now over $700 in profit from that single $100 Goodwill gift card, so I might actually hit that thousand dollar goal after all!
Buoyed by success, I scrolled through my eBay listings and transferred seven more items to Marketplace. The photos are already taken and the descriptions are prewritten, so it couldn't have been easier. Will they sell there? I don't know, but there's no harm in trying.
I normally sell small items on eBay and the bulky stuff on Marketplace, but I may need to rethink this model. Cast a wider net and all that.
2) I stopped into my credit union and transferred some money from one savings account into another, as I got a flyer in the mail advertising their 4% interest rate. (I could've done this through their app, but the interest rate on our main savings account was difficult to verify.) The other account started at 5.05%, but they'd lowered it over time. Sadly, the era of 5+% savings accounts are behind us.
3) We had our daughter over for dinner and although we served steak, (husband's choice) we were able to find a Safeway digital coupon to significantly lower the price. Also used a digital coupon to score a tub of Tillamook ice cream for just $3.49.
Their chocolate peanut butter is the best!
4) I scanned the receipt into the Fetch app for 900 points!
For a point of reference, this is what my scanned receipts normally look like. Winco, Goodwill, Goodwill, Goodwill, Franz Bakery outlet!
5) My husband has decided to let his hair grown longer, which has resulted in a lot fewer store bought haircuts. He almost always wears a baseball cap, so it doesn't really matter either way. It's now curly at the ends, which is new and super cute!
Before you ask, he doesn't like my home haircuts.
Now your turn, what frugal things have you been up to?
Congrats on all those Marketplace sales.
1. I ordered some items from iHerb. They are somehow affiliated with Vitacost. I received 30% off my first order and I also received 15% cash back from Rakuten and an additional $5.
2. I ran an errand with a friend and then she offered me leftover fried rice for lunch at her house.
3. A friend had surgery and I brought her lunch. It was nice outside so we sat outside and chatted. Friendships are important.
4. I bought some elastic for DH. His kicking around pants are too large in the waist so he wants to try a hack he saw online. I guess I gave away my bits of elastic when people were making fabric masks in the early days of the pandemic. It's worth spending a few dollars on elastic to avoid the need to replace pants.
5. A neighbor put out excess tomato, zucchini, and cucumber plants with a Free sign. I grabbed both a zucchini and a cucumber pot. Someone told me the other day that they add egg shells and coffee grounds to their plants to nourish them so I am experimenting with egg shells and tea (from tea bags) since we don't drink coffee.
I save all my used tea (both loose leaf and teabags) for my garden - I mix it with my seaweed mulch, mix it directly into the soil or put it into the home made soil mix for growing from seeds.
I also use leftover liquid tea for watering my house plants, especially orchids and they seem to like it
Bravo on making so much money for the food banks.
1. Found 5 cotton panties and 1 pair of cotton sleep shorts at Kohls for about $11 total.
It is great to replenish my very sad looking old stuff.
2. Soaked black beans overnight and cooked in the Instant Pot. Half the beans went
for bean /chicken burritos using my homemade part spelt tortilla shells.
3. We packed a picnic for Mother’s Day and remarked on how we needed a picnic
table cloth. At a thrift store I found a beautiful old linen/cotton one with no stains or
tears for just $2.99. Trouble is it is so pretty that I am not sure I will want to put it on
the often less than clean park picnic tables.
4. It is raining here today in the Seattle area so I am trying to talk myself into going to
my weekly protest group participation. Aside from feeling strongly about the things
going on in this country it also feels like a sort of social bonding time.
5. I contributed a tiny framed painting to The Little Free Art Gallery. I found a woman
who is going to show me how to crochet granny squares:)
1. Just finished darning two socks with holes in the toes and sewing up an underarm hole in a shirt. Now just need to replace the metal button pin on a pair of denim jeans and my mending will be done.
2. Yesterday’s shopping trip to Kroger was a good one. It was early in the day and the clearance sections had a bunch of good items: bananas that looked as good as full price ones, Bob’s Red Mill steel cut oats for $2.99 (usually 5.99), and the best was my husband’s fave cereal. It’s normally 5.99 but was marked at 2.99, and then I had a 5x coupon that surprisingly applied (I’ve been told before that coupons don’t work on clearance but sometimes they still do) so I got each box for 1.79. I got 5 boxes and we are stocked up for a while and still left some for others. Mother’s Day flowers were on clearance so I got a hydrangea in a nice plastic pot for $6.30 and it’s brightening up the area beside my front door.
3. It’s Hospital Week and yesterday my employee husband was able to get a free loaded tea. It’s not something he drinks normally but hadn’t slept well the night before so gave him a good boost for the day. Also as a vegan in a small Southern town it’s not often he gets to partake of any food freebies from work so he enjoyed that.
4. To celebrate the 3 moms in the family, including my sister, we took the family out for Mexican food on Mother’s Day. The restaurant gave a free slice of cheesecake to each mom but my mom doesn’t like cheesecake. I didn’t want her left out so stopped by Kroger after dinner and picked up a piece of chocolate cake for her. I had forgotten that I had clipped a digital coupon for free piece of cake so it was a nice surprise when it turned out to be free!
5. We paid off our auto loan early but we are redirecting that monthly amount into an investment savings account instead of letting it go back into our regular budget and contribute to lifestyle creep.
Very interesting, the greater interest on Facebook Marketplace.
1. I went to the shoulder doctor today. I had to drive, but I took note of gas prices along the way. I didn't see any stations topping the $5 mark, as they were recently. I'm almost ready to buy gas -- the needle hasn't quite reached the 1/4 mark yet.
2. The doctor gave me another PT order, but I don't have to go back to see him unless there is no improvement. That's good, because there is a $25 copay for each specialist visit. At this time, it's coming out of my flexible spending debit card, but I'm running down the total coming to me.
3. I took a walk to the dry cleaners to pick up my silk top. It's a fairly short walk, just right for getting slowly back into the routine. On the way I found a pencil, a clean poop bag, and -- at a LFL -- an Alexander McCall Smith book that I haven't read.
4. A friend gave me a container of mango preserves. Unfortunately, I didn't like the taste. Today I froze it into cubes, which I plan to use in stir fry, where I assume some teriyaki sauce and soy sauce will disguise the funny taste.
5. Had a great phone conversation with BFF, wonderful free entertainment!
Nice find in the LFL with Alexander McCall Smith book! He is by far my favorite cozy mystery author. The Number One Ladies Detective Agency and the Isabelle Dalhousie series are the two I enjoy most. I read a couple of his stand alone novels which were good too.
I have a lot more success with fb marketplace sales than I do on ebay. I don't know if ebay is oversaturated? I sold 2 items on fb marketplace this morning, 3 yesterday, and I have one lined up to come this evening.
1. Brought home the outer cabbage leaves that are trimmed off at the community garden. Once washed and chopped, it was almost 1lb. I'll saute them as they are not young tender leaves that would be tasty raw.
2. Removed worn and frayed binding from a hooded baby towel. Replaced binding with free fabric. The towel is bamboo fiber and very thick and soft. The frayed binding made it look like it belonged in the rag bag. Once the binding was off, the towel looked like new. I may sell it, or save it a few years in case another grandchild comes along. I'm good at not over-saving, so I'm happy with that plan.
3. Received 2 pairs mens pj pants from a friend. Like new and dh's size.
4. Gave away 5 things on BN, and all were promptly picked up.
5. Received 8 lavender plants from a friend. Will plant a couple. Not sure what to do with the rest...
I’m experiencing financial anxiety after hearing this am on ABC that consumers are paying $262/mo more for necessities than they did a year ago.
1. Received a $25 Wal-Mart gift card for taking a survey. Immediately used it to buy groceries and used balance of Humana OTC allowance for baby aspirin for hubby and I
2. Phone restaurant we had Mother's Day brunch at to share our experience which was less than stellar. Invited back for a complimentary meal
3. Sent email review of a product I purchased. Didn’t work for me and they are issuing a full refund
Wow, I'm impressed with your self advocacy -- well done!
Nice work on the food bank donation!
1. DH and I packed a picnic lunch, stopped at the library to borrow their state park pass and headed for Mount Wachusett, a mountain within our state park system. DH is training for accomplishing more sections of the Appalachian Trail so he climbed to the top by himself. I walked up the auto road to the first overlook, feasted my eyes then turned around, walked back and hunkered down at a picnic table to read my library book while waiting for DH. Later, we ate our sandwiches. A lovely day in the Massachusetts forest.
2. I got a nasty grease stain out of DH's shirt using Dawn dish soap.
3. I did my volunteer job at the library, helping set up for the annual Friends of the Library book sale and then did my once-a-month job of shelving books patrons return. I get so many benefits from my wonderful library, I like to give back when I can.
4. DH and I had tea on the deck while watching birds with my stepfather's old binoculars, bird book in hand. We take a half hour or so every day to have tea and talk. Talk is cheap and so is home brewed tea! Ha!
5. I carefully wrote out a shopping list for a Market Basket run tomorrow. I've been going to this inexpensive store for so many years I know where everything is so I make the list accordingly. This way I can hopefully be in and out quickly and it will be easier to stick to the list.
Add on to #3...I returned the state park pass and picked up a book I had on hold while at the library. Less gas money spent seems so important these days.