Five Frugal Things — Amazing Outdoor Furniture!
by Katy on September 30, 2025 · 32 comments
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I picked up a “What Do You Meme? The Office” game for $2.50 at Goodwill, as both me and my youngest’s partner are big fans of The Office. I love board games and am always looking for people who’ll play with me. It helped that the game was the 50%-off color tag.
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I came across this amazing pair of $30 heavy duty wrought iron chairs, which I didn’t actually buy as I hadn’t driven my bigger car. This’ll haunt me forever, as they were top tier quality and incredibly comfortable. Please respect my privacy during this difficult time.
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This table was likely from the same donation, as it was heavy cast iron and gorgeous. Priced at $7.99, it would have easily fit into my car, but I have zero need for an outdoor coffee table. Very cool though.
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My husband came home from the hospital with the standard “Patient Belongings” bag, which works perfectly as a kitchen bin liner. Sure, it cost $30,000, but nothing’s too fine for my schmancy kitchen!
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I continue to live in peaceful quirky Portland, Oregon which has no need for military intervention.
Now your turn, what frugal things have you been up to?
Katy Wolk-Stanley
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{ 32 comments… read them below or add one }
YES to your #5!
I saw a cute meme that the only questionable thing about Portland is the way “Couch St” is pronounced. IYKYK! I only just learned of the “correct” pronunciation when I was visiting my sister in Portland a couple of weeks ago.
I live in Brisbane Australia, we would say cowch! How is it pronounced?
It’s pronounced “Cooch” as the street is named after someone.
Pretty sweet bin liner, there! 😉
1. I continue to bike to school, pack my breakfast and resist the siren lure of the vending machines. (not too hard–thanks to food allergies there’s not a lot in there I can eat anyway, but sometimes, I confess, the Dr Pepper looks mighty refreshing after a long ride…)
2. I had three discounted onions that were looking a little forlorn, so I sliced them up and caramelized them for pizza toppings.
3. The same discount grocery cart from Kroger’s that gave me the onions also gave me a nice bunch of over-ripe bananas to freeze for smoothies.
4. Hanging laundry to dry; as long as it feels like summer, we’ll use that sun! On the bright side, this unnaturally warm late September has meant we haven’t needed the furnace yet. On the down side, we’re still using the AC sometimes. Boo.
5. Using up impulse-bought grits and quinoa (not at the same time) for breakfasts.
1. No buying this week for me, I’m helping with my grandchildren. I brought my food with me which means it’s frugal, safe for me (serious food allergies) and doesn’t add to their food costs (son is in grad school, money is tight).
2. I am paying for an Airbnb, which is an investment in my physical and mental health. That’s a place where prudent spending has value for me.
3. Taken note that I have a reward to use at Soma since I bought bras when they had an awesome sale.
4. Sold 2 items on FB marketplace yesterday, dh put them out.
Love the $30,000.00 trash bin liner.
Hope your husband is improving everyday.
The cushions are worth $60 ea.!
Won’t rub salt into the wound.
Installed my security mailbox this morning. Actually caught a guy on our road stealing mail, so frustrating.
I love your humor!
I made $85 in just a tad over two weeks by selling five household items from my decluttering spree. Two of the items were my husband’s but he let me keep the money because, heck, I did the work!
That trash bag ought to be blinged out with real diamonds at that price!
Hope your husband is recovering well.
I’m downtown today, and… where is the hellscape???
I’m looking for the hellscape in Chicago as well — oh, there it is — masked men in camouflage and toting long guns — hell, indeed.
There were Blackhawk helicopters buzzing overheard at bedtime one night, and it felt like domestic terrorism, but the terrorists were from the government!
Our cities are now “training grounds” for our own military. Good grief.
Sometimes, the Blackhawk helicopters are from JBLM doing training missions. They often fly in our valley not too far from us. We can easily make them out.
I saw soldiers in Union Station in DC yesterday. Surreal.
1. Went through my closet with the change of season. Found a blouse in the very back. I’d bought it on a final clearance closeout sale when a dept. store closed years ago. I think it was 90% off bc it was the last day before closing. The blouse is cute but I never wear it. But I had places to go and things to do today, so I put it on. Just like a brand new blouse….which, in reality, it is. Paired it with the same color slacks.
2. Attended a church Bible study. The teacher has the church buy the workbooks for us, so everything is free.
3. Then I went to a free lunch at my favorite Mexican food restaurant. Had to sit through a (boring) presentation on preneed burial planning, but hey, they paid for the burrito and enchilada and rice and beans. They set me up with a one-on-one session with their “pre-need advisor” at their funeral home business. (Where I’m sure they plan to recover the cost of the lunch and get lots more $$$$ from me as well.) (Oh gosh, darn, gee, I’ll forget to attend. )
4. Saturday was a going-away party for a teenager in our church who is heading to boarding school. I filled a fabric-covered stationary box with scented soaps, hand and body lotion, and other little trinkets and toiletries she may enjoy. Occasions like this are when having a gift closet comes in handy: I didn’t have to run out to a store to find her a present.
5. Called all my state’s U.S. Senators and the congressman and howled about them raising Medicare and Medicaid rates. (Actually I was polite about it, but I let them know my feelings.) They are supposed to vote to shut down/not shut down the government (don’t panic — you still get your Social Security payment), and this is part of the bill. NPR had a story about it this morning, you can access it online. But the gist of it was that Trump’s lapdogs don’t care that good public servants lose their jobs, that elderly/disabled people get kicked out of nursing homes, or that people can’t afford mandatory insurance (or Medicare) coverage; instead, the Republicans just want to ensure the pitiful little billionaires don’t have to pay their fair share. Grrr!
Next nationwide No Kings peaceful protests are October 18.
I signed up for our local protest.
I want to make a Halloween sign that says there’s nothing as frightening as Trump in the White House. (And the way he looks, it’ll be easy to put a horrific illustration of him on it.)
I’ll be at our No Kings protest as well.
September ended with a few online sales, resale shop sakes and 3 class action settlements for the month.
I resisted biding on any items at the dog show. I did buy a 50/50 raffle ticket for $5.
I got my free vaccines at CVS which gave me a $10
off $20 coupon good thru December. I’ll save it for skin care products I’ll eventually need.
Scored lots of samples of dog food and multiple great. I’ll give dog food to son for his dogs. I’ll keep the treats for mine
1. Finally in the mind place to think nostalgically but not sadly about my previous professional wardrobe. Packed up several bags of stuff to donate, including a few extra things that might work for Halloween costumes. I will label the bags Women’s XL=2XL, sizes which are rarer in resale stores, so hopefully it will hint to the staff to go through the bags promptly rather than instantly sending them to other charities.
2. Used a clearance box of graham cracker crumbs to make a crust for Magic Lemon Pie, the only recipe I still make from 7th grade Home Ec. Of course, back then, a can of sweetened condensed milk was really 16 ounces, not the current 14.
3. We have already dried more basil than we need from our surprisingly prolific plants, so I cut the remainder and took it to the food pantry drop-off spot.
4. On a whim, I bought a tiny kit to grow my own herbs on super clearance at Dollar store. Instructions say the seeds are slow germinating, 4 weeks; maybe sprouts by Halloween.
5. Sister loves Halloween. Instead of a card, I sent her the Halloween quiz from the back of the AARP magazine.
No, Portland does not need military assistance.
1. I found a pair of men’s shorts on the sidewalk while out walking the other day. I have washed them and put them in my Goodwill bag.
2. I went to Michael’s this morning to use my $5 reward coupon. I bought a flat plastic lidded box, which I will use for kitchen storage — cheesecloth, string, labels and felt pens. All that stuff was sitting out, now neatly packed away.
3. After Michael’s I went to Goodwill, where I bought a Christmas tin, a decorative candle for the bathroom, and a replacement pot for my Bunn coffeemaker. Thought I’d better grab it in case I ever break the current pot.
4. Yesterday I made mac and cheese with a Kraft kit and cream of chicken soup — and some extra cheese that needed to be used up. It turned out really tasty and made quite a lot. The kit and the soup came from the little free pantry. I had another serving today and will have one more tomorrow before it is relegated to the freezer. Three days is about my limit.
5. Found two receipts from a local grocery when I went to gym and scanned them into Fetch along with my Goodwill receipt, and even my 0.00 Michael’s receipt.
Katy, on an earlier Goodwill trip I bought a deck of “The Office” trivia cards. It will be a stocking stuffer for my son, who is also a big fan.
Well, another crazy week of driving kids to and from school. The middle school had early dismissal yesterday due to a water main break. It only affected the middle school…primary, intermediate, and high school had a full school day. Water main break fixed…all good to go this morning. I take 1 semi-verbal student to the middle school. As I was leaving, the borough water people were standing looking at water bubbling up from underground in front of the middle school. They dismissed early again today and are doing virtual learning tomorrow so the water people can have more time to fix it right. I will have one less student tomorrow and will only mildly affect my next paycheck. Grateful this is only a “hiccup.”
1) His & hers meals this week. DH wanted beef and noodles (used venison tenderloin we had in the freezer). I made myself some creamed dried beef on toast. Enough of both left for lunch tomorrow. Tomorrow after work, I’m going to make “breakfast for supper” to use up a bunch of eggs before they pass their prime and whip up a German Apple Pancake (sometimes referred to as a “Dutch Baby.”) That will give us each dinner tomorrow night and 2 meals besides.
2) I got my partial pension check and a reimbursement check today. Paid what I owed on our car loan, and took some cash out to pay for our car repair next week. I get paid from my job on Friday. Currently, I’m $60 short on what I need for my half of the car repair, but my paycheck will cover that. Then, I have to sit down Friday and pay all the bills due before my next paycheck in 2 weeks. Thank goodness October is a 3-pay month.
3) DH’s birthday is Thursday. I gave him the option of going to Pizza Hut or Applebee’s for his birthday dinner. Why those 2? With the Upside app, I can get 26% back with my bank card at Applebee’s or 25% back at Pizza Hut. Those are the only 2 participating restaurants in our area and the max cash back on either is $10. Hey, I get to save $10 and I will make him a card on the computer, so FREE! Besides, taking him out for a meal won’t add clutter like a gift would.
4) Our anniversary is later in the month. We are going to an apple harvest festival at a local apple orchard to celebrate that on the Saturday before. We went last year and were introduced to a variety of apple the orchard brought to our area from Michigan. They are called “Snow Sweet,” and they are our new favorite eating apple. We will be stocking up on those while they are in season.
5) Still trying to sell my 1st place afghan. So far, no luck. I have no idea what I’m going to do with it or where I will store it. If I don’t sell it by spring, I may donate it to Relay for Life to be raffled off. I don’t know what else to do, and, if I’m going to end up “giving my hard work away,” it may as well be for a good cause.
Melissa N.,
As soon as folks start shopping for Christmas, and/or as soon as they experience cold weather, that prized afghan will sell in a great big hurry.
Hopefully you won’t have to pay anything since someone hit him. It should go through their insurance.
1. Got a check from our dental insurance to cover some of Hubby’s work that was recently done.
2. Used a gift card to grab dinner tonight. We each got a kids taco meal. More then enough food for both of us. Have almost enough to do it another night. I will enjoy my chocolate milk tomorrow with my breakfast.
3. I had a delicious piece of cake at work today.
4. I scanned in a bunch of receipts from the last week into Fetch and Receipt Hog. I had nothing for Ibotta. I downloaded all the digital coupons to Stop & Shop and ShopRite. My kids use my phone number so I always do all the coupons. They might buy something I wouldn’t.
5. Hubby and I have been enjoying watching Only Murders in the Building on Hulu. It’s our son’s free account. Happy for Selena Gomez that she found someone that makes her happy.
the coffee table base is derived from a treadle sewing machine.
Thanks for pointing that out. I went back to look at it again – pretty cool!
Mary in MD, I thought the same thing about the coffee table base. Glad to know I’m not crazy.
Those chairs are great! Somebody will get a bargain.
1. Mended the dog’s favorite toy. Fluffy Puppy’s are is ready for more vigorous play.
2. Mended a top.
3. Made blueberry muffins using not very well cleaned up commercial frozen blueberries. Took the time to pick the stems off and clean them up generally.
4. Made a pot of chili which has provided 3 meals. Tonight it is going over baked potatoes.
5. Investment for the future. Married 44 years and we didn’t know we needed to order a certified marriage license for claims after the eventual death of one of us. Finally found the state had it after the county said they didn’t and probably never received the filing. At least we are prepared now after spending money on notaries.
1) a friend who is moving (and selling their house) has been sorting through decades of stuff. She had me try on some high end clothing before she consigns it and I found a few things to take. She also gave me a beautiful bouquet of flowers she had purchased for the marketing photos because she is going out of town for several days.
2) i scored several items for 70% off at the thrift store I volunteer at (during the 50% off sale and combined with my volunteer 20% off discount).
3) am donating excess dishes (dinner /salad plates) to the thrift store.
4) eating the last of the garden tomatoes with pesto from Costco – delicious
5) bought pumpkins / gourds for fall decor from a local family farm – much more reasonably priced than most stores and supporting a local business
6) making good use of my wonderful library. When i was there yesterday I saw someone “borrowing” a corn hole game set. This oast year the library has added several “items” to check out.
Love the trash can liner!
1. Made chili quessadillas to use some leftover chili.
2. My husband combined a work trip with raking our son to Taekwondo. This save me having to drive him and saved gas.
3. We sorted our camping supplies and have some things to sell or donate.
4. Went on a walk/run and picked up 2 dimes.
5. Cut one of my husband’s old shirts into rags for cleaning.
I, too, use all kinds of random bags for kitchen trash bin. We buy NO trash bags every.