Five Frugal Things -- I Check Out the Newest Library!
1. My husband and I drove across town to check out (wink!) the newly built Multnomah County library branch in N.W. Portland. It's not very big, but the interior is beautiful and they did a lot with the available space. I know I'd spend a lot of time here if it were in my neighborhood.
I just love how much Portland values and invests in her libraries!
2. We then walked over to Escape from New York pizza for a couple of mid-afternoon slices.
3. We took a different route to walk back to the car and passed by this rare mid-winter arrangement of "FREE STUFF" that stopped me in my tracks.
What did I take?
Two gift bags. Perhaps not the most exciting free score, but I didn't have enough gift bags this past Christmas season. Now I'm a teensy bit more prepared for Xmas 2026, without having spent a dime.
3. I sold another item for my $100 Goodwill Gift Card Challenge, which brings the net total up to $110.79, which is exciting as I'm now past the hundred dollar mark and any sales from here on out are pure profit. This purse is extremely lightweight and since I bought it at the pay-by-the-pound bins, I'd estimate that I spent a dollar on it and it's now on a journey to its buyer in Spain!
For those keeping track, here's what's sold and net profits after eBay fees:
- LoveSac cushion covers -- $51.73
- "Spot The Dog" plush -- $11.67
- Oakiwear rain suit --$27.85
- LeSportsac purse -- $19.54
I currently have ten unsold items for sale on eBay, plus one the David Hockney framed poster on Facebook Marketplace. Not to mention a full $55.55 left on the gift card. The Portland Art Museum is opening a David Hockney exhibit next month, which I'm guessing will prompt interest in my vintage poster.
I'll tally up sales on February 1st and make my first donation to the Oregon Food Bank at that time. I'll then do the same on March 1st, April 1st, etc.
5. My husband and I are midway through rewatching Breaking Bad in anticipation of our trip down to Albuquerque. Using that Netflix subscription that we pay for and share with family members.
Katy Wolk-Stanley
"Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without."
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According to the doctors, as well as my body, I am approaching my sell by date. I have been referred for hospice services once before and then rejected due to some promising signs of a new medication, but the effects were temporary. So far we are managing by ourselves, but I am on oxygen 24/7 and in my wheelchair all the time. We've each had a catastrophic illness where we were expected to die, but fighting to live at 28 and 32 is a lot different than fighting at 74 and 77. And if my primary illness does not kill me, I also have only one kidney and it has cancer that the doctor says is not worth treating because my other condition will kill me first. My frugality now is concentrated on leaving the husband with as little administrative trauma and expense as possible. (I am the money handler in our family, so he has some stuff to learn.)
1. Went through all the credit cards and set them up to text my husband that a payment is due in a week. Not paying interest fees or late fees is frugal.
2. All auto charges for things like streaming devices have been cancelled. That way no surprise charges, also frugal.
3. A lot of doctor appointments are just check ins, so for those I arrange zoom appointments. Especially for the weeks when it was 40 below and colder, struggling to get around in a wheelchair was very hard. Using telemedicine saves wear and tear on the car and gas. Because of so many small and very remote villages, Alaska embraced telemedicine long before other states or Covid.
4. There are not a lot, but I do have a few magazines and newspapers on subscription, some online and others paper. I have cancelled all of those. Some are yearlong commitments, but I have managed to cancel even those by explaining that I am dying. Might as well use that fact to my advantage.
5. We began planning my funeral and the husband wanted to be sure I didn't think he was saying goodbye on the cheap. I would be buried in a compost heap if I could, but short of that, ashes in a carboard box seems like a great alternative. Later he can scatter the ashes in some favorite Alaskan spots. This is much cheaper than casket and graveyard treatments.
6. The elderly lab is staying with my husband, but the Dane is going to live with my sister on a 32-acre property in Virginia. They have several dogs already and they have a great life of running around the property, plus my sister and her husband are retired so are around all the time. Arranging this now means we can do it less expensively than when my husband gets the house sold and moves into an elder community. The Dane is too large to be allowed in those communities. And, frankly, the Dane takes a lot of time and my husband has enough going on as I get closer to dying. This is going to take a few months, and since we can't predict how long I will be around, the Dane might still be here when I am gone but at least his future is set. My sister has been here and spent a lot of time with him, and she can't wait to have him around all the time.
I have had a good life, very few regrets. My biggest sorrow is that my husband and I did not meet 10 years before we did. In October i will be 44 years, if I last that long, but I am greedy enough that I wish we'd had 54 years together. I am lucky to have this time to prepare an orderly and frugal departure. Not that frugal---a lot of things don't taste that great anymore so we are buying whatever sounds good to me, no matter the price. I will keep reading but won't be posting much more. It takes energy that I need to conserve for other things. Thanks to all of you for the years of share knowledge and entertainment.