Five Frugal Things -- Another Sale for The Oregon Food Bank!
1) I forgot that I also picked up a stainless steel measuring cup during my recent bin foray. Specifically an exact replacement for my one whose handle broke off at least five years ago.
This supports my theory that anything that's ever been manufactured will eventually show up at Goodwill for me. This isn't kismet, it's an example of the overmanufacture of consumer goods.
But how satisfying is it to finally have a proper full set again?
2) My next door neighbor listed a jar of organic dill pickles on Buy Nothing and I quickly raised my virtual hand for dibs. I checked and they sell for $7.99/jar, which makes this a fancier pickle situation than I'd normally experience.
They even came with free delivery!
3) I defrosted a pound of ground beef that I got for free with a New Seasons coupon. It was from a "spend-$10 get a pound of ground beef" coupon. I normally don't shop there, (What am I, a Rockefeller?!) but it was my husband's birthday and he goes ape shit* for their signature banana cake.
New Seasons regularly mails out "spend $10, get whatever" coupons, which I usually just hand over to my next door neighbors who do all their shopping there.
I also pulled some hamburger buns from the freezer, ($1 Franz Bakery outlet) and will top some hamburgers with leftover Boursin Grocery Outlet cheese from our recent beach vacation. I think we paid $1.99 for it.
Which I now realize was an excellent deal!
4) I picked up my library holds, which included this new release from "S.D. Coverly," which is a pseudonym for writing partners Dana Schwatrz and Dan Frey. Dana is married to a friend's son and I'm excited to dive into what is described as a "thrilling and sexy dark romance!"
5) I sold the Rothy's that I thrifted from the Goodwill bins in February. I thought they'd sell for more, but $35 is still a decent turnaround for a lightweight bin item. This sale put me over $200 in profit for the Goodwill Gift Card Challenge for the month of May!
I still have a bit under $5 on my challenge gift card, but am saving it for high value low cost purchases to hopefully bump my profit over the thousand dollar mark.
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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*The opportunity for primate humor was too good to pass up!
Congratulations Katy, on the $200+ for the food bank in the month of May. I applaud your efforts and admire your dedication to making life less hard for those who are struggling. Especially since the orange resident in the WH has openly proclaimed he doesn't care about Americans and the hard times they're facing.
Thank you! And yes . . . 110%!
I absolutely agree. A wonderful effort Katy.
1. Gifted my mother a selection of plants and a plant stand, all free to me. A rather inexpensive 80th birthday present. We also took her kayaking at the county park and to the county beach. These cost us gas only. She kept saying it was her best birthday.
2. Sold a FB marketplace item that I'd had listed for quite a while. So glad to have the space and money, and not have the item.
3. Gave my garden supplemental water from the water barrel.
4. Cooked a meal and made salads with leftovers in mind, I have 2 houseguests. Salads were coleslaw (carrots and cabbage are cheap), green salad and kale salad both from my garden. It was an inexpensive, lovely, and much appreciated meal
5. Received 14 hard boiled eggs (sealed in their packets from Costco) from buy nothing. This will be a weeks worth of sandwich filling for my husband's packet lunches. I'm always astonished there isn't more of a rush to receive food items, I was the only person who responded that I would like them. They are sealed after all. Plus it's a person I know. A weeks worth of free sandwich filling is nothing to be picky about these days!
Our washing machine crapped out, booooo! Thankfully, DH can fix it, but $300 later is an ouch moment. I will have to visit the laundry mat to get by until the parts arrive.
Declined a dinner invite with friends because we are mighty tired and spent our fun money on the silly washer.
Cooked up a mess of neckbones and cabbage. Frugal to the core. My folks stopped by and we fed them supper. They brought us a heap of collards.
Shipped out an Ebay sale with reused materials. Made a little on the shipping as well.
Gocery run to All Dis. The cheapo store was closed, my heart broke just a little, lol. I'll stop in another time.
Making the rounds for Decoration Day, as my Granny called it. We kept back random jars and washed them to use as vases for fresh flowers. Ended up buying fresh flowers for the graves. We need to plant a few things that will be ready for next year. We visited 3 local cemeteries today and will finish up the rest tomorrow. We will pack a picnic lunch to economize.
It was Decoration Day today where my grandma is buried and I left flowers with my cousin earlier in the week. She sent me pics of the graves and they looked nice. Also, I LOVE neck bones and cabbage!
We call it Decoration Day, too. My sweet father welded flower holders out of scrap metal to place flowers on family graves. We're all frugal to the core so I know the recipients are smiling from wherever they are 🙂
Nice to have free pickle delivery! And a full set of measuring cups!
I set out driving this morning in a light rain. I was going to get gas but then it occurred to me that if I waited till Tuesday morning the price might go down. I am deliberately not setting out on my road trip until after Memorial Day is over.
I went to PetSmart and bought a feeding block for my fish. I paid with the gift card I got from the BCBS settlement, so I'm considering it free. I found two receipts in the parking lot.
I also returned a library book via the outdoor bin. Now I have nothing checked out to worry about on my trip.
I set aside outfits to pack today. I'm taking four. I tried a new selection method -- alternating tops and bottoms that each coordinate with the one previous. Should give me lots of changes. I will be using packing cubes again to individually pack whole outfits, including underwear and socks. Thank goodness I don't have to pack anything dressy.
A friend gave me a sealed in-date package of Hebrew National all-beef hot dogs, which I know to be very good! I'm excited! Probably won't have any until I get back, because I'm still working on the corn pone pie. Some of that will end up going into the freezer -- somehow -- which is really packed.
1. Free ground beef sounds like a very good dream considering the price of it now! I made a bbq baked bean sandwich with onions, mayo, ketchup, and mustard. I was reading through the 25 meals made during depression on fb,
and it mentioned a pinto bean sandwich so I decided to do a baked bbq pinto bean sandwich! It was all right.
2. No air on and windows are up with the fan on bc I refuse to turn the air on until June 1st.
3 I had leftover milk about to go bad bc my fridge is slowly dying. So I made homemade vanilla pudding and figure I will happily eat it before the fridge goes completely kaput!
4. I FaceTimed grandchildren who live across the country. I remember how much it used to cost to call across the country in the 70’s.
5. I took a nap. I trimmed my eyebrows in the sun because I refuse to give the power company any more money than I have to. Along those lines I beat my rugs outside with a broom like my grandma used to do. I am reading a book I bought for 50 cents from the local library to help them out. It is a fluffy beach book and is haven’t read anything except legal briefs in years it seems. It rained so ai don’t have to water my roses nor my salad greens and onions that are growing in the front yard.
Ahh, a trip down memory lane for me. My Dad was a child of the depression and used to take baked bean sandwiches to work when I was a kid. I never got a taste for them and clearly remember my reaction at lunch on day in middle school when I opened my lunch and found out I had his sandwich! My Dad was a gentle and lovely man - I still miss him a lot all these many years later.
When my mom was a kid during the Depression she told me that my grandmother always had a big pot of navy bean soup, with a ham hock thrown in, on the stove.
Frequently unemployed men would come to the door and ask if they could do a task (like knife sharpening) for something to eat. She always let them do something (even if it didn’t need to be done) and gave them bread with a bowl of her soup.
Last Friday I went into a public restroom and saw a woman plucking unwanted facial hair. I said--wow, the light is really good in here. She offered me the tweezers, and we had a good laugh.
Before I retired, I would bring my tweezers to work because the bathroom lighting was so much better than at home.
Congratulations Katy. I'm excited to see what else you sell for your challenge. What a great way to come up with a donation.
1. I'm re-homing the drawing of my FIL's hometown to one of my daughter's. I recently trash picked the perfect size frame for it. I think he'd be happy to have it displayed by one of his grandchildren.
2. I'm using a dried up container of spackle to fill some larger holes in my plaster. It's still soft enough to roll it and stuff it in the hole. Once it dries I will fill the holes the rest of the way with some fresher spackle. It works great.
3. I bought a shark vacuum on half price day at an estate sale.
Hooray for the continued success of the food bank challenge!
I spent a couple of hours this morning altering a cute brand new J. Jill top bought for $4 at the thrift store. It's a medium, which should have fit me, but I think it was donated because it's way oversized. I shortened it by three inches, took three inches out of the width, two inches off the sleeves, and sewed up about an inch of the neck opening because it was cut too low. It's much more flattering and comfortable after the work.
It's been pouring rain, so no need to water the garden. I did buy a few Anchor Hocking glass bowls with lids from a discount store this weekend because my guys broke two small bowls I used all the time. It's also a sneaky attempt at portion control, as the new bowls are a half cup smaller but don't look it.
1.Friday night I went to the library for a free diamond painting class. It is a note pad holder. It is so cute. I returned stuff and took out more stuff. I took a cute puzzle from the free shelf and a bought a 10¢ book.
2.Saturday Hubby and I went to our friend's mom's house to set up cameras. She lives alone and needs more supervision. Our friend's sister met us there too. Hubby set everything up, inside and out, and then helped them load it to their phones. I kept her mom busy with pictures of my cruise. It was a nice visit. We were given chocolate chip cookies as a thank you.
3. We then met my friend at her father in laws house. He passed away and the house will be closing in early July. We are helping boxing every thing up and moving what my friend wants to her house. We have been told to take what ever we want. This time I took wrapping paper, ribbons, new ice trays, aluminum pans, a gardening bag with tools and various open medical supplies and medication. Hubby took a tool box with all the tools, car cleaning stuff and garden stuff. We also took a TV. We offered money for the TV but she refused. I took a few games for my sister. She had a flood in her house 2 years ago and lost most of her games. I know they will use them. I am going back tomorrow to help her more. Her niece and friends are coming with 2 of my kids to go through stuff and take what they want.
4. We went to a friend's house today. It poured all day so we were stuck inside. My friend asked me to bring donuts so I got 1 mixed dozen and 2 dozen of OOPS. OOPS are leftovers from the day before for $6. I got a dozen glazed, and a dozen chocolate. It should have been $45 but only cost $27. We played some games and had a nice meal. My friend sent me home with 6 donuts. We also brought a bottle of homemade wine.
5. Our son is staying with us while his apartment bathroom is being redone. Since Hubby and I were out he just pulled a homemade TV dinner from my chest freezer.
I have a measuring cup like that (missing the handle). I finally found a replacement at the bins, but hung onto the old one for no good reason.
I’ve spent a portion of the day organizing the freezer with the goal of eating it down. I need to make room for the vegetables I grow in my garden. I am optimistic! I have formulated a strategy.
1) Waited to buy cat food until there was a good Fetch deal. I always stock up so I'm never caught short without dry food. I found almost 30 cans of marked-down canned food to bump the total up to the rebate threshold. A lot was spent but a lot was acquired. The cashier congratulated me on the great deal I got and he didn't even know about the Fetch deal 🙂
2) Used birthday money to buy several plants on clearance from a locally owned garden shop. Now I have can have fresh herbs and fresh flowers for free.
3) Pulled homemade pizza from the freezer for dinner. Dessert was a Sonic Blast I'd eaten half of yesterday. A little bit of plastic wrap saved the last half in the freezer until I was ready for more.
4) Had dinner out with the extended family and all three of us in this household took home enough to have a second dinner of just leftovers. We were overly chuffed about having six delicious meals from the generosity of another family member who paid.
5) Got boxes of canning jars from my mom. I went through all of my not-really-canning jars and took them to the recycling bins. Now all my canning jars are brand name and made for canning = less likely that they will break in the canner and waste food and time. She's always been able to can anything in old pickle jars, etc but I'd rather be safe than sorry (and with a boiling pan of glass shards).
Post garage cleanout, I took some items around to various recycling bins, but it is a good thing I sorted through the items in the trash bags in preparation to recycle. The guy who I hired to help me clean out (his instructions being to put the would-be discards in this big cardboard box until I go through them and THEN I will put them in the garbage bags) threw away some antiques! Stuffed into the black garbage sack. Not just any antiques, some beautifully detailed dresser scarves that were hand embroidered by my great grandmother. I want to wring that idiot's neck! I had to go though every single trash bag to ensure nothing else of monetary and sentimental value was tossed, and in the process I sliced open my finger on a broken light globe. Tetanus shots are not frugal. Methinks I will be hiring someone else from now on. Meanwhile, I have to soak the dusty white dresser scarves to see if I can get the grime off them. (A dresser scarf is sort of like a doily or a placemat, the Victorians put them on the furniture where they would set items. This was for decoration and also to protect the delicate wood or marble.)
Went outside and turned on the patio lights, formerly clear Xmas tree lights. After the big rainstorm, a portion of the light string did not come on yesterday. I was very sad since I had re-donated another string of lights and I thought I'd have to replace all the ones that weren't burning. My coworker said don't despair yet, it might be that some moisture go into the wiring or something and when it dries out, it might be OK again. I guess she was right because tonight, all the little twinkle lights are once again burning like they should. We have so many lights on those long strings that I didn't need to turn on the overhead light or bring out the lanterns or candles. (Except for one citronella candle for the mosquitoes.)
Found out that the petition to CBS complaining of their getting rid of Colbert now has more than 5,000 signatures! Not that we can get Stephen back, but hopefully the bean counters at that network will find out how much they and Trump are hated.(I put the link to the petition on yesterday's post.)
Excellent job, Katy.
I used to follow Dana Schwartz on Twitter and I think she was a writer for Entertainment Weekly, and I remember her posting selfies before going out as a single girl with her awesome red lipstick. And I remember being thrilled for her getting engaged and then married and then having kids with Ian. I will have to check out this book.
On another note, drove many, many miles to the Birmingham, AL GW bins. My son loves that its in another time zone (CST) I didn't get too many things, and there was beef going on between the workers in the back and the cashier, and I only got one rotation while we were there. Worth the gas and time? Not at all but thats fine, I am still picking up great items from the dumpster at the charity thrift down the street. Its fun to take a little road trip now and then.
So impressed with your Goodwill challenge! Well done.
Let's see, what did we do:
1) Watched a few videos to get the download on best items to buy at Trader Joes & Costco for quick meals. While not cheaper than sourcing all of your own ingredients, definitely cheaper than takeout. We tried one of the dinners last night & I can report that it was a huge hit: we bought the grain/celery salad at Costco & a rotisserie chicken & added them together. The salad will make at least three dinners for the adults, & maybe a lunch? Then I'll definitely use the chicken bones to make broth. Full cost of both was ~$18, which is fantastic for a prepped meal. I did add a bit of parmesan, but otherwise left it untouched. This is also a pretty healthy option.
2) DH & DS19 changed the oil on DS19's car. It's a skill DH has taught both of the kids.
3) Similar to above, DS19 washed his car at home, which is cheaper than having it done elsewhere, although still an expense given the cost of water.
4) DH & I went for a free hike & then used our credit card cash back that you can used for a handful of restaurants near me for a date night.
5) We are planning our overnight trip we are taking next weekend, as an early birthday for DH. I booked dinner, and we will plan to hike as well, another low cost/free activity.
1. We bought a new mattress a couple of months ago. I couldn’t bring myself to throw out the old one despite its rips. Posted a free ad on FB Marketplace which listed ten creative ways the mattress could be reused. Finally got a taker. I asked him if he was going to be sleeping on it. Nope. He built an in-home climbing wall and is going to use the mattress to cushion falls. Number eleven!
2. I’ve noticed that 10 am is the sweet spot for getting marked down produce at my local grocery. On Friday I scored cherries, oranges, apples, and squash for 99 cents a pound.
3. My quilt room is haunted by small piles of leftover patches is odd sizes. I’ve used these piles as inspiration for my last three quilts and a fancy back for one of them.
4. A neighbor gave me two bins of yarn her daughter is getting rid of. Neighbor was worried about daughter’s loss of yarn money, but I laughed to see how old this yarn is. Most is much older than the fifty-year-old daughter. Also a couple of projects that had gone very wrong—a pullover sweater knit from the top whose turtle neck is way too tight for anyone’s head. I ripped that sweater out and am considering knitting myself a cardigan. Will donate the rest when I work at the free yarn dispensary on June 6th. I think the daughter was given the residua of some older knitter's career.
5. Is frugality hereditary? Have been thinking about the greenhouse my Grandpa made out of trash-picked windows. When I was little he used to take me with scouting the alleys before trash day.
I went home again this weekend (2.5 hours from work in NY, and 2.5 hours from home in MA) to visit my mother, who fell and is recuperating in a nursing home. While I was there:
1. I bought lunch at the nursing home, which costs $5, including a drink and dessert.
2. Dad took me, my sister, bil, and nephew out for dinner
3. While at home, my sister gave me 5 tomato plants that she had started (she started more than 300!!) and a dozen eggs from her chickens, and my dad gave me 2 basil plants. In turn, I'll give her mushroom powder (made from lion's mane mushrooms, which we get from our free farm-share), honey (free from farm share), and dishwashing liquid (that we have to purchase as part of one of our standard mystery shops). We also give her all of our used Oui jars, egg cartons, and now large yogurt containers, etc. (the latter of which she will use for her starts).
4. Came home in time to do our two standard mystery shops, which are for a grocery delivery, which includes meat, bread, milk, ice cream, cheese, eggs, avocados, bananas, etc. I will bring milk and bananas for co-worker, as we don't tend to eat either in our household.
5. Made chicken stock from free mystery shop chicken [bones] and veg scraps. It is the good stuff- totally gelatinized after cooling. Will add minced mushrooms to also stretch the ground beef to make tacos, and the ground beef, taco shells, and cheese were free from mystery shop, and the cabbage and cilantro were free in farm share. I did buy salsa from Aldi's, and I'll use it all week, as I'll make quesadillas for my dinners at the work apartment, so about $3 in total for 5 dinners (after I made some homemade tortillas, and a leftover naan, from mystery shop) which feels like a win.
Frugal Fail: I did end up buying fast food twice this weekend driving between work and parents' house, and again, between parents' house and home, so I need to prepare better for that, as it is not cheap and I feel queasy after eating it....
You do SO well with your mystery shops and farm shares, a few fast food meals won't make much $ difference - however I know that queasy. Have you considered Subway sandwiches? I hadn't been there for ages but my daughter needed to eat when we were a long way from home, and I taught her how to put a lot of everything into the sandwich - so you essentially get a salad stuffed into a bun. It took her several sessions to eat a 6 inch sub, it was so full. But no fried stuff to make her queasy.
I have bought Woodstock organic Bread and Butter pickles when they were 75% off at the local grocery. We really like them.
Our Grocery Outlet closed a couple months ago and we miss it. There was always a bargain to be found, especially on foods near the "expiration" date.
Congrats on your food bank sale. I'm rooting for you to get to $1,000. It's awesome what you are doing.
1. Meals have been at home. I made a big pot of pulled chicken in our Crock Pot. We ate it for a few meals, I froze some, and shared some with a neighbor. I also have been buying cantaloupes because they have been good and you get a lot of fruit for $2.00-$2.50. The seedless watermelon I've seen are so small they're not worth all the effort of cutting them. Hopefully they will be larger in the future.
2. We have had a lot of rain so we haven't had to water the trees planted last fall nor the grass seed we put down a few weeks ago.
3. Something got into my tomato plants despite having a cage (a curb picked animal cage) around them. DH had some thin wire fencing that we fastened over the top of the cage.
4. A few items that were languishing on Freecycle were picked up. I like to get things we don't need/want into new hands.
5. We have been building puzzles a friend shared.
A dupe for the boursin is my homemade boursin"
1 stick butter,softened
`8 oz block cream cheese, softened
1 tsp to 1 TBSP coarsely cracked pepper I use my handcrank pepper grinder at coarse
1 TBSP chopped chives
2-3 garlic cloves, minced
Whirl in food process or by hand. Can be easily doubled or tripled.
Fast and cheap compared to the "real thing"
Thanks for this. is a 'stick' of butter 1/2 cup?
It is!