The new year is upon us, which means it's time add up my found change for the previous year. I've been doing this Found Change Challenge since 2011, a year that filled my jar with an extra $23.77. Sadly, times have changed. (Yes, pun intended.) People carry less cash with every passing year, plus there's the...
The new year is upon us, which means it's time add up my found change for the previous year. I've been doing this Found Change Challenge since 2011, a year that filled my jar with an extra $23.77. Sadly, times have changed. (Yes, pun intended.) People carry less cash with every passing year, plus there's the...
The new year is upon us, which means it's time add up my found change for the previous year. I've been doing this Found Change Challenge since 2011, a year that filled my jar with an extra $23.77. Sadly, times have changed. (Yes, pun intended.) People carry less cash with every passing year, plus there's the...
As longtime blog readers know, I run a Found Change Challenge, which is a fancy way of saying that I save up all the found money throughout the year and then add it up on January 1st. I encourage readers to do the same, and I'm always amazed to hear how much people are able...
Long time followers of the blog know that I host a Found Change Challenge every year, which is another way of saying that I save all my found money in a jar and then count it up when the year is over. It's been as high as $56.54, due to a twenty dollar bill that...
Every year I save found change in a jar to pour into my credit union's free coin counting machine. I call it The Found Change Challenge. Some years have been as high as $56.54, (which was skewed by finding a twenty dollar bill on the ground in front of The Whitney Museum, causing me to...
I host an annual Found Change Challenge every year at The Non-Consumer Advocate, asking readers to save all their found money and then count it up when the year is over. (Or specifically, a week or so into January, but that's neither here nor there.) My 2014 total was $37.90. My 2013 total was . . . umm . . ....
Remember the Found Change Challenge? Where I collect all my found change (and bills) in a jar, and then tally it all up at the end of the year? Well it might have been January 5th, but I finally took my heavy jar over to the credit union and dumped the entirety into their free...
We are a few weeks past the official halfway mark for 2014, so I present a better-late-than-never update on the Found Change Challenge. Without further ado, I proudly announce that despite having found only one piece of folding money, (a single dollar bill) I've found $26.115 so far this year! It was quarter by quarter, penny by penny. At...
Did you forget about The Found Change Challenge? Well I didn't. And since yesterday found me sweeping my hand under my credit union's coin counting machine, (for which I was richly rewarded with $2.05) it's time for a challenge update. My coin jar currently holds $31.48, which is not bad at all since I have...
I really enjoyed the Found Change Challenge for 2012, and have already started up a new jar for 2013. For those who are new to the blog, the Found Change Challenge was a year-long project to save up all my picked-it-up-off-the-ground money and then devote it to a single cause in the end. My goal...
It's been a little over two months since I've written about the Found Change Challenge, but that doesn't mean that my adorable vintage canning jar hasn't been filling up with the pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters that are moving me towards my 2012 goal of finding $65 on the ground. (The cost to spend one...
You may (or may not) remember that I am putting aside all found money for the entirety of 2012. And let me tell ya, it's been the easiest challenge to keep up with. I find money, I drop it in a jar and enjoy watching it accumulate. My goal had been to find $65, which...
Tomorrow starts The Non-Consumer Advocate's Zero Waste Week, but I wanted to switch my mind over a few days in advance. So I spent the last few days practicing Zero Waste and figuring how to get through the week without going insane and eating nothing but bulk purchased oatmeal and lettuce. I want to see how...
Today is Day Five of the SNAP/Food Stamp Challenge and I have reached that inevitable point where the challenge is kind of a hassle and I long for a day of getting to write about something, anything other than food! (At least this year's challenge is just for seven days, instead of 2010 and 2011...
It's time again for Non-Consumer Mish-Mash, where I write a little bit about this and a little bit about that. Fishy Cherub Girl Finds a Home For those of you who doubted that I actually bought the cherub riding a fish ashtray, here she is on my bedside table. Don't you think the marble and...
52 Weeks, 52 Letters Challenge I started this challenge last year, with full intention of mailing out my 52 letters. Alas . . . life and a susceptibility to distraction brought this down to a twenty-something letters challenge, which I'm actually okay with. I sat down to write a couple of thank you notes the...
Congratulations to Megg from Librarian Housewife, who was randomly chosen to win a copy of Barbara Ehrenreich's Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America. I was really happy when I saw that the random number generator that I use chose her, as she's a long time reader and is following along with the food...
My monthly garbage pickup was today, which meant that yesterday was clean out the fridge day. Yes, I compost and work to minimize my family's food waste, but there's always something that slips through the cracks. This month was two tubs half-eaten cottage cheese, some Trader Joe's hummus, (how did that happen? I love their...
When I started up the waste-no-food-challenge last May, I had no idea how much food waste I would be able to divert from our well fed compost pile. No longer do my leftovers languish in the back of the fridge. Gone are the days when my heads of lettuce transformed to liquid. (C'mon, admit it....
1) I pulled the car over for a promising free pile, as it had an upright vacuum cleaner. My daughter's last roommate absconded with hers which is super annoying. I'd just asked (like 30 minutes earlier!) in my Buy Nothing group for a replacement, so this was perfect timing. Kismet, bay-bee! Yes, it's grubby and...
1) My college friend Lisa was in town, so we made plans to hang out. When asked what she wanted to do, her answer was "lunch and thrifting." Suffice it to say, I was down to clown with this plan! Our first stop was the main Goodwill on S.E. 6th Avenue, where I picked up...
1) I did a big ol' grocery shop at Winco, although I was in too big of a hurry afterwards to photograph my haul. I spent $101.34 on 42 items. For those who don't have a Winco Foods in your area, it's a no frills employee-owned chain with a huge bulk food section. One example...
1) I did a big Winco grocery shop, which I do about every other week. Everything on my island here was $80.62, which isn't too bad. Especially since the $6.20 yogurts and $6.55 bulk gluten-free flour are on the higher end of things. I got one dollar cash back so I could grab a 50¢...
Today's blog post is going to be out of focus and wobbly, as the forward facing camera on my iPhone finally remembered that it got run over in Albuquerque. I stopped at both a standard Goodwill and a Goodwill Outlet in search of resellable treasure. I picked up this piano bench, which featured a hand...
1. I gathered my trusty Starbucks "splash stick" and empty Blistex containers to consolidate everything into a singular tube. (Yes, "splash stick" the official name!) This is a once a year-ish chore and quite satisfying. I know they sell makeup spatulas for five bucks or so, but this freebie works perfectly. 2. I had a...
1. My husband took the leftover cheese fondue from Christmas Eve and turned it into a sublime pan of macaroni and cheese. Mind you, I, the "Leftovers Queen" had assumed it was spent, as it had transformed into an article of congealement; but my guy figured out a way to reverse the congeality. Mixed with...
Kristen from The Frugal Girl and I stopped for a container of Tillamook ice cream at Fred Meyer, which gave me the opportunity to grab these clearance items: • A bag of six nectarines from the $1.50 clearance shelf. • Two cans of baked beans for 67¢ each. • Four boxes of Betty Crocker gluten-free...
My husband and I drove our chandeliers to the Habitat Restore and took a stroll through the store. I paid $10.45 for the above vintage lighting globe, which I promptly took to locally owned Lounge Lizard and sold for $40. Habitat gets to sell a donated item, I resell it to earn a few dollars...
I took the shopping list I'd been working on for a week and braved Winco after dark. (Mind you, sunset was only 4:46 P.M. today.) I bought a few items from the bulk bins, as well as a number of ingredients to restock my pantry. Winco is so cheap, I wish everyone had access to...
I'm finally home from New York, complete with a handful of truly filthy coins for my Found Change Challenge jar. 95¢ in total, which is not too shabby. I broke the top and side handles on my suitcase during my arduous four-and-a-half hour journey from Newark airport to The Bronx. Luckily the telescoping handle still...
Cool finds at Goodwill.
My husband and I just got back from my aunt's memorial service in Nebraska and are completely and utterly knackered. Okay, we actually got back yesterday, but yesterday was a blur and doesn't count. I'm going to string some sentences together and count it as a blog post. I found just two single pennies over...
I accompanied a friend to Target and paused by an empty bank of self-checkout registers. Me being me, (unapologetically cheap) I glanced under the registers and was rewarded with a quarter, a dime and two pennies. The 2023 Found Change Challenge finish line is right around the corner, so I'm relieved to add an extra...
I schlepped my 2021 Found Change Challenge jar to my credit union's coin counting machine to discover that I'd gathered a mere $11.91 in dropped money over the course of the year. (Even though I'd found two one-dollar bills!) This shouldn't have surprise me though, as I was serious about minimizing outings last year. Being...
I'm finally back in Portland after an immensely satisfying two-week stay in New York City. My son and I lodged with my sister, so these trips essentially boil down to the cost of airfare plus a few extras. I sold five eBay items while we away, but otherwise earned no money. Oftentimes I'll indulge in...
My sister splurged on an unlimited ride NYC Metrocard, and although I'd already bought my own $20 card, she's letting me swipe hers for the day. (I'm meeting up with a friend in the city while my sister slogs through her grad school work.) This saved me $2.75 each direction, plus any other travel that...
I texted my friend Lise to see if she was interested in walking to the library together, as I had an interlibrary loan book that was sadly non-renewable. Luckily, her schedule was open, so we met up for the easy half-mile stroll. Along the way I dropped off a few magazines at a Little Free...
My eBay sales have finally started to wake up, which is a bit of a relief as being an eBay seller without any actual sales is also known as "being a hoarder." I've sold three items in as many days, (including the clock I bought while thrifting the other day) and although I won't exactly...
I picked up a $10 Waldorf wooden play stand at Goodwill with an eye for resale, as they're more than a hundred dollars when bought new. This item was not on my radar, (I'd never heard of it before) but it was in the background of a photo I'd posted on Instagram and a couple...
I was invited for an afternoon of dining and dancing thrifting with my new friend Sarah from Portland Sampler. Not only did she prepare a lovely meal for the two of us, but she also gifted me with a loaf of her blueberry yogurt cake which was sublime beyond comprehension. The two of us then headed...
I went for a walk with my friend Lise yesterday. We dropped off plastics recycling, deposited checks at our credit union, returned library materials and then stopped into Fred Meyer, where I bought bananas and two loaves of 79¢ clearance-priced bread. I didn't use Pi Day (3/14) as an excuse to buy a $3.14 apple pie,...