Four Frugal Things -- More Stuff From The Storage Unit
1) I cashed in my reward points on the Fetch rewards app to buy a $25 Ikea gift card. I don't accrue points very quickly as A) I rarely buy the corporate food that earns the big points, and B) I don't push my referral code, as the whole pyramid-scheminess of their business model isn't my thang.
However, I'll accept the occasional free gift card in exchange for a peek into my buying patterns. It's not like I don't already publish that information on the world wide web!
2) I accepted a $16 offer on a pair of cute lightweight Boden shorts that I picked up at the Goodwill bins a few weeks ago. This was a $100 Goodwill Gift Card Challenge sale, which'll add an extra $12.68 to my July 1st Oregon Food Bank donation.
My sales have definitely slowed down as I haven't listed much lately, but I still receive the occasional "ka-ching" on my phone.
Click HERE to see the listing.
3) My husband and I spent a couple more hours at his late parents' storage unit and then hightailed it across town to get to the Habitat ReStore before they closed at 2 P.M. We hadn't realized that they close early on Tuesdays and arrived at 1:53 P.M., which made for a stressful drive. They were super nice about it though.
Once again we filled the back of the minivan with unwanted items, although this week was functional items such as kitchenware, tools and remodeling supplies. (Last week was all about taking multiple loads to the dump!) We did keep a couple items, such as the above lemon squeezer and a specifically sized milk crate that my friend Lise uses for hauling ceramic coffee mugs to volunteer events. (Like me, she hates garbage from single use items.) She asked me to keep an eye out for one maybe four years ago!
I think we'll finally clear out the rest of the storage unit next week, which is now down to mostly broken antique furniture and shelving units. We notified the storage manager that we'll be out by the end of the month. Goodbye, $137 monthly expense!
4) We were exhausted by the end of the day, but kept to our weekly "Family Dinner Night" even though our daughter is out of town. It was still important to have our youngest and their partner to the house and I assembled a frugal, yet tasty tostada buffet featuring scratch cooked pinto beans and rice, plus assorted toppings.
Avocados were either rock hard or wildly expensive, so I picked up a container of clearance priced guacamole at Fred Meyer. Dessert was a $2.99 container of Dreyer's ice cream, plus a box of cones.
We ended up playing a thrifted "What Do You Meme" card game after dinner, which was pretty fun. (I think it was the half-off color tag and that I paid $2.50 for it.) Perfect evening.
Now your turn, what frugal things have you been up to?
I had trigger finger surgery 10 days ago or a little longer. Because I work in a very dirty environment (and was given absolutely no time off to heal) l now have an infected incision plus a crapload of pain. The #1 not frugal in this is that my insurance only covered part of the cost of the of the surgery. The #2 not frugal was a visit to urgent care on Monday which included antibiotics. The #3 not frugal was needing to buy several bags of ice as my countertop ice maker was NOT keeping up with the demand (am supposed to ice and elevate). The #4 not frugal was missing 4 hours of work yesterday because between the infection, pain, and a severely malfunctioning computer (at work) I finally just said screw this and went home (I do get sick pay so at least will get paid for the 4 hours I missed). Then today I accidentally left the ice bag at home and tried to improvise with the plastic bags we use for mail that gets damaged in processing--hardy har har even with 4 bags layered it leaked like a sieve and melted too fast to do anything. So now I'm at home getting ready to go to bed (I work nights) and am still frustrated!!
I don’t have a Goodwill bins near me 🙁 so I have to rely on my overpriced GW store branches for the occasional treasure. But I did score a few days ago. I found a Nordic Ware quarter sheet pan for $1.99. Now this was an unusually low price for my GW but I know it was because of some baked-on gunk. I was certain I could scrub it off and get it clean, and Nordic Ware is my favorite for sheet pans. So I paid and applied the baking soda/vinegar/good old elbow grease method. It took some time but it worked. I scrubbed off 95%, the last being a bit of stubborn spots in the corners. The cheapest I can find this for is $10 new, most much more. For me this is a win.
Trying to find a ripe avocado is like trying to find a unicorn
I’m disappointed in my online sales. I’ve dropped prices so I’m hopeful sales will pick up
Used another Amazon gift card I got thru participating in a clinical study to purchase items for the house