- I just finished reading the World War II historical novel The Nightingale, which was one of those library books that sucks you in and spits you out an emotional wreck. I was ugly crying by the end of the book to the point that I succumbed to a splitting headache. (Totally worth it though.) We only need to look to Syria to see that war atrocities are far from historic events.
- My son needed a haircut, so we caught the bus downtown for a 3 P.M. appointment. (We both enjoy free bus passes.) Unfortunately, the bus took quite awhile to come and was then slow going. We ended up being six minutes late, which meant that the stylist had already started on another customer. She didn’t have another slot until 4:30. No problem though, as my son and I are perfectly capable of entertaining ourselves with downtown Portland’s free offerings. I jokingly suggested the Oregon Historical Society or the library, (he would rather eat slugs) so we ended up browsing the Nike store, the Apple store and the high end Pioneer Place mall. Of course we bought nothing, although I did pull up The Non-Consumer Advocate on one of the fancy new iPhones, as well as my Today Show segment on one of the enormous desktop computers. The rampant consumerism made me do it!!!!
- I had some leftover chicken noodle soup in the refrigerator that needed to get eaten up, so I went ahead and baked up two loaves of my one-hour bread. Ain’t nobody complaining about another night of leftovers when it’s accompanied by fresh baked bread! (I would estimate that the bread took maybe 75¢ of ingredients.)
- I listed a rolling art bin on OfferUp.com as an experiment. A friend was recently telling me that she likes it better than Craigslist for ease of listing and how quickly things sell. I bought the art storage travel unit at the Goodwill in Medford, Oregon for $9.99 and have it listed for $45. (Sells new for $90 – $150.) I’ve had almost zero interest on Craigslist, (one potential buyer didn’t like that I had a cat) so it’s the perfect item for a test sale.
- I didn’t buy a Lear Jet.
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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{ 48 comments… read them below or add one }
1. Bought black Dockers and a matching lightweight sweater for work at Thrift store for $2!
2. Washed them up with my liquid detergent- ditched the expensive pods.
3. Husband diced up potatoes and onions to go with our home grown beef steaks for dinner tonight.
4. Got just enough groceries to qualify for the $50 gas card. With $50 grocery purchase you can get $50 gas card for $40.
5. Hung rugs out to dry. Not usually able to do this, but Florida is having an unusual low humidity day.
PS. Why do they care if you have a cat?
Some people are seriously allergic to animal hair/fur so if they buy anything used it must come from a pet free home.
Yes, I was honest about having two cats.
Uhm, I could understand this if it was an upholstered piece and possibly if it had been in your home for an extended period. Since neither of those points are true, my feeling is that she was being overly picky and hence, not the right home for your lovely art bin. The person who will give it the love it deserves will come along soon enough…
Why judge a perfect stranger for something like that? We have no idea of her or the state of her health. People with health conditions generally know what they need to do to take care of themselves, and it’s very unkind to treat them as though they’re just picky or difficult or irritating when really their concerns are both valid and none of our business.
I’ll admit I had the same thought. Cat hair easily latches onto anything with fabric. And if you get a particularly unruly kitty who is prone to marking territory…. then the fabric is really hard to get clean.
But with something like bins… if you had the bin outside, and the person inspected… I’d figure it’s fine. Even a brief wipe with a clorox wipe would do the trick I’d think.
So I guess I don’t get how I’m discriminating against elderly or folks with health issues 🙁
Good for you for putting on your segment! I caught it on the NCA FB page, it was very cool.
1. I wanted some juice just now, in this heat, but had none in the house. Thought about running down to the corner, but instead threw a pear, a peach, two popsicles, and some bee pollen into the blender. Fruit is healthier than juice, anyway!
2. I’m doing laundry today, and still using a plastic laundry basket my parents had when I was 3. I keep considering getting a new one, because this one has some duct tape patches. But the Joneses will never notice my laundry basket.
3. This is wasteful to some, but not to us: We went to a nice restaurant last night, but instead of ordering a full meal, ordered from the happy hour menu. It is a three dollar sign restaurant, but their happy hour “pizzeta” costs only $7. We were able to have a nice meal for a moderate price.
4. Walked home from tutoring again, saving on the $1.75 train fare.
5. Listening to some records gifted to me by my father from his amazing record collection. Today was Buddy Holly.
1. I drove to Acme today to start a round of errands/appointments for the day (grocery shopping for large items and dog training) but got to Acme and realized I had a flat tire. I sighed and walked back home (about 1 mile – city livin’) and grabbed my bike – biked back up to the car with a car tire pump and then drove it to the Pep Boys. I then biked home – saving on roadside assistance and a bus ride!
2. I did end up biking to the grocery store and ended up just getting the things I need – let’s see if I can live off of my pantry and $27 for the rest of the month! currently have a large crockpot of mexican chicken and another of overnight oats brewin’
3. I accidentally got our family plan dangerously close to hitting our 10GB data plan thanks to some apps I had downloaded to earn giftcards. 🙁 I ended up turning my mobile data off for the last 11 days of the billing cycle and only ran wifi and kept a crochet project in my purse for anytime I would usually star mindlessly into my phone. It was such a great experiment I have continued this hobby! But am still running swagbucks and perktv on wifi only 😉
4. I sold another book on Amazon today – I get to use envelopes from work that otherwise would have been thrown out and just black out the address. This plus sending things media mail in a prompt fashion keeps my seller rating high. Too bad I’m running out of books to sell!
5. Since they shaved my pup a little too close last month I can forgo a groomer and just give him a bath myself this month. That saves up to $80!
1. I cleaning my small little house top to bottom, even gave the kitchen garbage can a good scrub. Now it’s sparkling! I’d absolutely love to get a cleaner, as I’m working full time, plus studying part time, but then I have to force myself to admit I can clean the whole house in about a 1 – 1.5hours
2. I did four loads of washing and line dried all of them (I don’t even own a dryer).
3. I was tempted to go out for lunch on Sunday, but instead made a trip to the grocery store to pick up some nice salami, free range eggs and olive bread.
4. On Saturday I went to the bulk food store to pick up oats, black peppercorns, quinoa, almonds. Slightly more expensive than the grocery store, but package free and zero waste.
5. I went out for dumplings and drinks with friends from university, but I’m not drinking alcohol at the moment, so didn’t buy a bottle of wine for dinner or any drinks at the bar afterwards.
I must have logged in to do my daily poll on Swagbucks shortly after you. Today’s question was ‘Have you been on tv.?’ If so, you were supposed to write your answer in the comments. In my brief look, I saw someone named nonconsumer had posted Today Show. I am thinking, that has to be Katy. Then the pictures popped up, so I confirmed it. I felt like I had a celebrity sighting.
🙂
1. Someone was interested two days ago in the bed frame I listed on CL, but then made a very low offer, which I declined. I know people want cheap items, but I find it irritating when they offer half (or less) of asking price. I turned her down, and glad I did, as I sold it today for the asking price, which was more than fair.
2. Made a batch of pumpkin muffins for a snack this afternoon, to go along with coffee.
3. Posted a few more random items on ebay, including a tool I found in the garage and had to google to identify it. Would be great for it to go to a household that could use it, as we obviously don’t.
4. Spent part of the day reading my library book in a chair out in the lawn, and letting the dogs enjoy the sunshine.
5. Was the first to comment on steel shelving on a local FB board. My coworker wanted some for his basement, and I know he will be super excited to get them for $10 each, instead of buying them at Lowe’s.
Bettypants, I have avoided the lowball bid by listing in my Craigs List ads the words “Price is Firm.” I don’t do that for everything because some items I am movable on. But I’m not really a bargainer, and my prices are low to begin with so I let people know before they contact me that I am serious about the listed price. It has always worked.
Thank you for the suggestion! I think that many buyers want to feel like they “got a good deal” so they want to get some type of reduction on the posted price, and I really don’t mind budging a bit. I’m just so annoyed when someone offers extremely low when I know my price is low/fair and the item has been recently listed. I know I shouldn’t let them get to me. 🙂
I hear you, Bettypants. The snark in me would consider emailing her back, thank her for her interest and then let her know you got full price.
Ha ha, exactly what I wanted to do! After the guy paid me, I thought “In your face, lowballer. I was right.”
1. I had friends over for dinner this weekend. Instead of planning a fancy meal requiring a shopping trip for special ingredients, I cooked up a meal from what I had on hand: vegetarian chili, brown rice, green salad, and homemade cupcakes for dessert. We had a great time and everything tasted great.
2. Had an overnight work trip last week, so I had a day of free (reimbursed) meals. Also, the reimbursement for mileage I drove will go right into my bank account.
3. Batched some errands as usual: farmer’s market, bank, check office mail since I’d been out of town.
4. Various free entertainment this weekend: having friends over, walking the dogs, watching some Netflix, reading a borrowed book, exercising at home.
5. I dropped off a bag of clothes at Goodwill that I decluttered from my wardrobe, and I *didn’t* go in and accumulate any more clothes. I was tempted though!
1. Went for a nice long walk with my husband. Okay, we went out for breakfast (where I discovered that my pancakes are way better than theirs!) but then we got free exercise.
2. Didn’t eat out for lunch. Instead I finished up a jar of sweet potato-leek soup that I had defrosted last week, accompanied by a chicken salad sandwich. My husband ate his Friday bag lunch, which he didn’t eat Friday because his company bought everyone pizza.
3. I cleared my mending/alterations pile. Two pairs of yoga pants shortened to fit this petite-sized human, one pair flannel PJ’s with a gap in the seam repaired, one top repaired, and two straps repaired on a maxidress and on a camisole. I decided not to try altering a t-shirt that I’d bought thinking I might take it in; just too much trouble. It’s in the donations bag now.
4. Two new thrift store items had a former owner who obviously liked perfume. Like, All The Perfume. Like, My Allergies Rage, Rage Against the Dying of the Mucous Membranes levels of perfume. Those two items are soaking in a baking soda bath in the bathtub. I really hope it does the trick, because one of the items is a very pretty, very feminine top that I really love.
5. I reorganized one small bin of my regrettably large sewing/crafting stash. More to come soon, I think.
Try vinegar if the baking soda doesn’t work! It does a great job neutralizing smells!
Ha! When my towels get really stinky, I use both in at least warm water. The vinegar makes the baking soda foam, which is fun to watch, and the towels always come out sans stink.
Thanks to you both! I’ll try that next if the baking soda doesn’t do the trick.
1. My husband’s boss called this morning and offered us his season tickets and parking pass for today’s Ravens game. $200 value for free.
2. On the back of the ticket is a coupon for $3 off $30 purchase at Giant Food. The people next to us threw their tickets on the ground under their seats when they left so when the game was over I picked them up. I now have 4 $3/30 coupons that don’t expire until sometime in January.
3. Stopped at Aldi’s on the way home and saw that they had marked the packages of boneless, skinless chicken with $4 off stickers. Picked 2 of the smaller packages for a total of 9 lbs. for about $12.
4. Curb shopped a wooden stool on my way into work on Friday. Drove past and saw it out of the corner of my eye. Turned around to look closer and then had to turn around again to pull up next to it. It’s a narrow road with no shoulder but I put my blinkers on, jumped out, ignored any drivers having to go around and threw it in the back seat of my car. Trying to decide if it will get a coat of paint and I’ll sell it on FB or if I’ll use it to put my pumpkin on and then I’ll sell it.
5. Did 2 loads of laundry before the game so I could take advantage of weekend low rates for electricity. We are grandfathered in to a Time of Use program that our electric company eliminated several years ago. You pay a different rate depending on the time of day and the time of the year. We are now on winter rates and I try to do laundry and run the dishwasher during the low rate periods.
Damn I shouldn’t have bought that Lear jet.
I know, right? I kind of felt that was a cop-out on her part, or there’s a story she’s not elaborating about.
1. When my mom passed away, I received a lot of craft items, including a bunch of pearls, jewels, and beads (all plastic) that I can’t use in my jewelry business. They’re sparkly cute, though, so we stopped at Michael’s Saturday and I bought 3 1/2 dozen pairs of inexpensive clip earring findings and spent this afternoon making cute earrings for the local foster care agency’s annual Princess Party.
2. Entertained myself this weekend with a book on CD.
3. Wanted to buy my granddaughter and her sister grown-up coloring books for Xmas, but the ones in town were too expensive. Glad I waited, since I found some at Michael’s for half the price!
4. Collected my last pledge for the CROP Hunger Walk I participate in every year in honor of my late daughter. Instead of asking for donations face to face, which takes too much time and can end up embarrassing people who have to say no, I set up an online donation page, with a goal of $860 (20 X 43, the age she would have been this yr). I publicized it on my FB page, as well as a couple of group pages I belong to that allow that, and I ended up raising $1,042.94!! So excited! (The 94 cents is from one of her USNA 94 classmates; they like to donate to it with $94. This time, one donated $94.94. LOL)
5. Took my husband out to lunch yesterday to Panera’s, where I used up two partial gift cards. Total cost, less than $5!
Betty, I look out my office window and see the USNA stadium!
What a wonderful way to honor your daughter!
1. DH fixed our leaky toilet yesterday, thanks to an instructional video on YouTube.
2. I made homemade soup, homemade bread, and some use-it-up muffins, so we were set for fine eating at home this weekend. The use-it-up muffins are a basic oatmeal muffin, to which was added a chopped apple and banana that needed to be used up, some natural peanut butter that was too runny to make good sandwiches, and some raisins just because I like them. 🙂
3. Used a $5 off coupon to Ace Hardware for some paint for the ongoing work on our house.
4. Trimmed my own hair.
5. Tinkered around and finally got the app for borrowing e-books from our local library working on my Nook e-reader. Atul Gawande’s book “Being Mortal” made for fine and free reading this weekend.
Oooh! Do you have a recipe for use-it up muffins? Sounds like something I need to add to my rotation! 🙂
I have recommended that book Being Mortal to so many people. There is a lot of useful information in the book. But it is not a happy read given the subject matter.
I feel exactly the same way about the Nightengale. It was so good, wasn’t it? I normally don’t buy books at all, but I may buy it for my sister for Christmas, as she’s probably going to still be stuck in the Mayo Clinic Hospital with her kiddo.
I worked today so took a frozen pizza and baked it in the oven on my unit. (We have a small kitchen on our psych unit). Shared with my tech so neither of us spent any money on lunch!
I also took leftovers yesterday for lunch, so again, no going to the cafeteria for me!
Apparently, it’s good for my budget to work! Drank the coffee from the unit, water from the tap.
Had some apples here at home that were going to be bad sooner than later, so took them to work with me today. My adolescent patients used them to make apple dumplings, which we shared with staff and the other patients.
Plan to do laundry tomorrow and hang out to dry. Getting home after 8 pm is not conducive to hanging laundry 🙂
Thanks for the link about OfferUp. I’m going to put one of my baby quilts up and see if I get a buyer. Craigslist has recently had some creepy respondents that seem to want only to converse back and forth and never buy.
And your bread….will try as soon as out temps get low enough to turn on the oven during the day. Expecting almost 100 degrees this afternoon!
YES! It was 100 degrees yesterday! I’m in Southern California and NOT used to/prepared for this. I spent most of my time sitting directly in front of my fan. 🙂
My husband let my 11 year old cut is own hair. (Definitely not worth the savings) I’m not sure if I’ve heard the end of the comments from people yet asking what happened. My daughter attempted to fix it up so he now looks half decent. Ive been discovering new uses for old trampoline springs. I needed to hang up some water and feed bowls for the chickens and they were perfect. They are also good for hanging pot plants.
Oh, my. Men have bad ideas.
1. My husband made a Brunswick stew at a festival this weekend. It is a lot of work and we usually just about break even on the expense, but it’s a family tradition, so it’s worth it to us. But then this weekend by some combination of higher sales and lower ingredient costs we actually came away with $175!
2. We usually decamp to our weekend home on Friday and Saturday night, but this weekend because of the festival and the Monday holiday we ended up staying Sunday night too. We rent our primary home when we’re gone, so we were able to rent the extra night as well.
3. Our furnace wouldn’t turn on last weekend, so we had it serviced last week. There were evidently a bunch of maintance-y things wrong with it. The tab came to $325, which my dad, from whom I get my frugality, thought it was highway robbery. I thought it was reasonable especially considering it hasn’t been serviced in twelve years. When we bought it they recommended annual service for $60. I am congratulating myself on not getting the service now as $325 is much cheaper than $720. And that’s assuming the service fee never went up.
4. I’ve got a frugal day of purchases planned as our youngest’s daycare is closed so I can’t work anyway. I’ve got a $10 off a $10 purchase coupon at a local department store. I’ll get socks for the boys. I’ve got $10 in Old Navy bucks, which I plan to use toward a fall jacket. I’ve got several jackets that are out of style, don’t quite fit, and were purchased at Goodwill. I am looking forward to trading about five of them for one I really love. I’m also working on the kids’ Halloween costumes. I bought sweatsuits as the base, and I’m going through my fabrics and notions today to see how little I can buy to finish them off.
5. We continue to cloth diaper, cook from scratch, buy used as much as we can, limit our energy use, entertain ourselves and friends on the cheap, travel through home exchange, buy few accessories for ourselves and our home, and avoid all Lear jet related purchases.
* Planning the Christmas vacation transportation (in-laws are 6 hours away and hubby leaves with the kids and our only car before me since I can’t get this time off work), accordingly to what is cheaper. So far, a bus ticket (100$) is winning (versus a rental car at 240$). Also losing a day of work if I have to take the bus (70$). 170$ is still cheaper than 240$. Why is transportation so expensive?!!
* Received many (10) Masson jars of salsa/ketchups, etc. Yay for free food!
* Only spent 3.50$ on food since Friday night (a date square), since we are visiting the in-laws and they are feeding us. Going back home tonight.
* Taking outside walks as exercise
* Going gluten-free at home, along with hubby. Will continue cooking frugally and (mostly) pass on pre-maid gluten-free stuff ($$$). This stuff is expensive.
Have a great frugal day!
Hope the Gluten Free plan goes well for you! I’ve tried it a few times and I lost a lot of weight but didn’t necessarily feel better. So I always just went right back to the pumpkin bread. Womp womp womp!
Frugal fail once again, grrrrr!!!: Being stuck 4 hours away from home because of a broken alternator belt (car), having to pay for hotel room and losing a day of work (unpaid) + whatever the cost for the repairs tommorow morning (everything is closed today, statutory holiday, hence being stuck here). Joy….
1. I went to visit my mom. We mostly ate in, cooking enough for planned leftovers (some of which were frozen for future meals).
2. On my return flight I did not buy anything. I drank water on the planes and ate fruit and snacks that I had packed.
3. My mom only uses the internet occasionally. Her neighbor lets her borrow her wifi signal. I am going to send her a gift card to thank her.
4. I am using greeting cards that I had to send Get Well wishes to a friend in rehab and my sister that had surgery.
5. I found $.85 while walking early in the morning yesterday, near a college campus hangout area.
1. I am going to a conference tomorrow and have not bought a single new item of clothing/etc. HOWEVER my headphones broke last night (from the dollar store) and I don’t think I can make it through the plane without music/podcasts so I’ll probably make a quick stop for a pair of headphones. 🙁
2. I cleaned a pair of dusty garage sale suede boots with painters tape in less than 5 minutes! Huzzah!
3. I cooked up a spaghetti squash in the microwave Saturday afternoon because it was TOO HOT in Southern California to turn the oven on (100 degrees, people!). I was NOT fond of the texture/flavor but I still mixed it up with spaghetti sauce and only have one more serving to go. 🙂
4. I’m taking a shuttle to the airport (60 miles or so) instead of dealing with the hassle of driving to LAX, parking my car and all of that. Reducing emissions and traffic on the 101. Huzzah! Plus, I plan to bring a throw-away container of leftovers to eat real quick before I go through security.
5. I realized that I planned to make my boyfriend a crocheted afghan for Christmas this year and the holidays are BARELY 2 months away. Finances are tight but I looked through my yarn stash and I have what I need to make this (with red instead of blue) without buying anything! I’ve packed yarn, a crochet hook and nail clippers for the trip and look forward to crocheting outside in a new area. Free entertainment! 🙂 http://www.all-about-quilts.com/joannes-designs-week26.html
Frugal fail once again, grrrrr!!!: Being stuck 4 hours away from home because of a broken alternator belt (car), having to pay for hotel room and losing a day of work (unpaid) + whatever the cost for the repairs tommorow morning (everything is closed today, statutory holiday, hence being stuck here). Joy….
Cleaned out my closet and dropped items at Goodwill.
Got a free coffee using the 7-11 app (free all week with the app).
Picked up library books for later enjoyment.
Ate leftovers for lunch.
Spent some time this morning getting organized with upcoming events. Knowing what to expect in the future saves time, money and anxiety.
1) Free dinner tonight courtesy of the Jacobson House Native Art Center, where I’m a Board member, and Indigenous People’s Day on Campus. We have a Native artist speaking, so it will be fun to attend.
2) I finished The Red Garden audio book and picked up two more to listen to this week at the Library.
3) My daughter had a paperback sitting on her table, The Yada Yada Prayer Group, that she didn’t sell in her garage sale. I decided to read it and glad I did, it’s really funny.
4) Hubby and I are staying free this Saturday at the Marriott Downtown, due to the reward program on my Visa card. I bought concert tickets for his birthday and the concert venue is next door to the hotel. Score!
5) I had the grandkids over the weekend. They are easily entertained. An afternoon at the park and a night at grandmas getting spoiled. Lots of free hugs and kisses for grandma – you can’t be entertainment like that!
1. Some (pretty awesome) fabric scraps, really good quality too.
2. Semi-free weekend away (not counting gasoline and a couple of meals out, we have a prius so it is not that bad)
3. Reused ‘disposable’ coffee cups for a whole week
4. A friend used my ebates referral link and made me $20. Yipee!
5. Home cooked lunches and home made coffee – as always saved me a small fortune
Used the one hour bread recipe today. Absolutely. Amazing. I planned to have two loaves for Shabat, one for this week and one for next…then my husband decided he’d better sample one loaf. I’ll be making this again next week.
So easy and fast, right?