Five Frugal Things -- Free Packaging Materials
- I walked over to a local business that frequently offers free packaging, and came home with two huge sacks of flexible thin styrofoam bags. I'm pretty sure these tall thin bags originally cradled guitars, but they're great for mailing out fragile eBay sales.
This made of think about how I used to joke about "I'm here to make money, not spend it!" when referring to my decades long hospital RN job. I guess that sentiment extends to selling on eBay as well.
Not that I've made any sales that need to be lovingly cradled, but if you build it they will come . . .
- The store also had a "FREE" box, which included this high quality canvas tote bag, which obviously followed me home. It was a wee bit grubby, so it's currently luxuriating in a soapy spa treatment. The sturdy handles are nice and long, which make them the ideal length to hang over the shoulder. Even though this is objectively the best handle length, it seems to be in the minority. Make it make sense!
This is a good opportunity to gather up and wash all our reusable bags and make some hard choices of who gets to stay. I'll then offer up the rest in my Buy Nothing group. - I picked up a 99¢/month black Friday subscription to the Frndly app, as it includes the Hallmark channel, as I thought it might be relaxing to watch some cheesy Christmas movies.
I haven't actually been in the mood for cheese, but my friend's wife produces the reality TV show Finding Mr. Christmas, so I thought I'd give it a watch in the name of support. (The competition awards a single leading role in a Hallmark Christmas movie.) I was pleasantly surprised to find how inclusive it was, complete with multiple LGBT contestants, as well as the host, Mean Girl's Jonathan Bennett!
People -- the very first episode made me cry! Who have I become? - I was thinking about how a Kühl sweater I have up on eBay hadn't sold or even received any watchers. This is weird as it's a desirable brand, so I checked my eBay active account and didn't find it there, so I pulled it from the closet and will re-photograph it to get it relisted.
I know I must have other stale inventory items that dropped off the site. Supposedly this doesn't happen, but every eBay seller knows that it does. Plus listing new items causes the eBay algorithm to place your other listings higher up for buyers. Again, make it make sense. - I sit here wearing thrifted sweater and jeans, slippers, underwear and bra from eBay and a pair of darned socks. I'm sitting on a Buy Nothing couch and able to see the Apple refurbished laptop screen through my Dollar Tree reading glasses.
In my paid off house.
Now your turn, what frugal things have you been up to?
I match your #5. It gives me a great deal of peace. It doesn't look flashy or fancy, but it's comfortable and sustainable.
1. I'm busy knitting a Christmas scarf, with yarn from Buy Nothing. I aim to finish it and leave it at the "Take a coat" station at our central branch library which is as much of a home as many of our city's homeless have. I hope it makes someone feel cared for.
2. Sold a set of 10 pairs of my grandson's socks (all clean and in good condition) via FB marketplace. Of all the nice things I have listed, this one sold quickly. Just shows people are needing the basics right now.
3. Attended a Solstice get together at a friend's house. I love the area we live in where it is quite acceptable to put on the invitation "bring your slippers." There were crafts and potluck snacks and it was a lovely time.
4. I've made a list of projects I want to work on between Christmas and New Year. This is often a really quiet time and I want to make the most of it.
1. Husband and I met my mom and took our kids to see Santa at Evergreen's Bear Hotel. It was a free event and they enjoyed the cocoa and cookie station, along with a stuffed animal from Santa and Mrs. Claus.
2. We treated my mom to lunch at Wendy's, I know fancy, and combined their app points, coupons, and other discounts. We rarely eat out so it was a fun treat for us all. For 5 people we spent around $24 and were all stuffed.
3. We drove over to Jacksonville and found free parking, bundled up, and walked up and down the main street looking at the shop displays, decorations and lights. There was a Victorian Christmas group dressed up and passing out free hot spiced apple cider. My husband grabbed two, one for him to sip and one to help keep my hands warm until he finished the first cup.
4. Rather than use a freezing outdoor public bathroom, we went to the library while we were on our Christmas walk and used theirs. They had two service dogs in the children's section and we arrived right on time for story time! While we warmed up the kids played and grabbed some coloring sheets to take home.
5. Lunch today is leftovers of homemade pizza and mac and cheese. My children didn't finish their plates so I salvaged what I could and had a very filling lunch.
Today is my impromptu meal prepping and baking day since we are out of bread and muffins, and the freezer needs a few lazy meals for the next week or two so I can focus on Christmas baking and prep.
USPS is making a change in how postmark dates are applied. This is notable for mailings for which it is important to have a correctly dated postmark to meet a deadline, (such as for taxes).
Effective 12/25/25, dated postmarks will be applied when the item goes through the automatic processing system, which is not necessarily the date when the item was dropped off. I translate that as though I might mail something locally, it won't be postmarked until it reaches the regional processing facility, which is in another city; I might not be paraphrasing quite right.
The postmark is proof the item was in the post office's hands on such-and-such a date. The item might have arrived earlier than the postmark, but was not yet marked.
Workarounds are available, such as asking for manual/local cancelling at a "retail counter".