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My husband and I used a free library “Discovery Pass” to go to the Japanese American Museum of Oregon, which was small but mighty. Much of the museum focused on the experience of Oregonians who were interned in concentration camps during WWII, including attorney Minoru Yasui who fought the legality of the early curfews and later internment of Japanese American citizens.
Our kids both attended a Japanese language immersion program from kindergarten through 12th grade, so we’re pretty knowledgable about the treatment of our Japanese Americans citizens during WWII, but the details from the museum filled in some knowledge gaps.
I was especially moved by the above quote, which seems more relevant than ever.
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We then drove up to Pittock Mansion to enjoy the view and eat a lil’ snacky picnic. Of course it rained, but that didn’t stop us, as we’re true Oregonians and ready for any and all precipitation events.
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We then stopped at Trader Joe’s to grab work lunch supplies and toilet paper. (Their t.p. is made from 100% recycled paper, yet not too expensive.) I noted their fully stocked display of pastel mini totes that are making people lose their minds with consumer lust, yet didn’t see a single tote in anyone’s cart. Kind of proud that Portlanders have the critical thinking skills to steer clear of this viral trend.
The overmanufacture of consumer goods is not going anywhere when shoppers flock to buy unnecessary and shoddily made items just because they’ve gone “viral.”
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• My husband and I started watching the third season of White Lotus through my parents’ HBO account. No spoilers, please!
• I picked up four canning jars from someone in my Buy Nothing group.
• I renewed my Restoration Hardware chairs listing on Facebook Marketplace. No inquiries yet, but I’m patient. -
I didn’t manipulate the financial markets to enrich my cronies.
Five Frugal Things — Portland Edition
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{ 43 comments… read them below or add one }
You may remember the Pringles chips from here!
https://thenonconsumeradvocate.com/lets-go-winco-shopping/
I’m surprised you just don’t buy them in a “tennis ball” can and package in reusable containers.
Thank you for #1. I’ve been thinking about that stain on our history a lot lately.(And #5, too! Very considerate!)
It’s like we don’t learn from our own history.
And thus are doomed to repeat it.
A figurative and literal of whitewashing our history is under way. We all need to do our part to keep historical facts front and present.
Frugally yours…
1. I lined my pathway with free bricks that I got off of next-door; I used the rest of the bricks to make a little platform/pad for my metal trash cans (for birdseed) so they wouldn’t be sitting in the mud.
2. I got free river rocks from FB marketplace for my landscaping.
3. Ate up leftovers and brought along snacks for our weekend trip. We will be eating out a couple of times, but not without intention.
4. I had a hankering for cinnamon raisin bread after not buying a $5 loaf at Grocery Outlet. I made a big loaf…It is so good. I put half in the freezer and we’ve been eating the other half.
5. I cut some of my flowers from my yard as a gift for my sister, who is hosting us tonight. She is cooking for us.
Yum, I love cinnamon raisin bread! My garden is a collection of things I got for free as well, it’s very satisfying!
We have a friend that escaped China as a kid. His mom and aunt were both shot. Him and his siblings lived in a camp for almost 2 years while his mom and aunt healed. His dad was put in a prison in China. The stories he tells are insane. I tell him he needs to write a book.
1. I had nothing that really called to me for dinner last night so I made pizza bagels. Nice and easy and no take out. We both were full after.
2. I brushed the dog, checked her teeth and ears.
3. I made candy bark with leftover chocolate and broken pretzels from my daughter’s shower. I added almonds, cashews and marshmallows. The marshmallows were slightly stale(from the summer) so I threw them in boiling water for a few seconds. The bark came out so good. I gave some to my neighbors. I had extra chocolate so I pulled out little flower molds that I have and used the rest of the chocolate. I will put them out on Easter.
4. Did my budget and bills. I was under budget for the shower.
5. I made hard boiled eggs and iced tea with teabags from last year’s college move out. I cleaned the shower drain. I wrote 5 Easter cards out. They come free in the mail. I put stickers over the organization that sent them to me. They are going to my parents, 2 of my sisters, my oldest daughter and my Aunt. I’m not going to see them on Easter so they get a card. I will also call them. Anyone I see for Easter doesn’t need a card.
Katy, thank you for the Minoru Yasui quote, sending sincere kudos. I hope you don’t get arrested and shipped out for sharing this. A captain is as good as their teammates. We wouldn’t be here today if “American citizens” and citizens around the world had called out and stood up for what’s right. Telling your government “they are wrong” takes a different level of integrity, courage, and love. This blew my mind and melted my heart https://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/mahmoud-khalil-jewish-students-columbia/2025/04/02/id/1205431/
What goes around will come around.
Katy, thank you for sharing that quote. I was just thinking of the Japanese internment camps this morning, bewildered and upset that we’re repeating our terrible history, and wondering how history books and courses will portray our psychologically unfit president, his incompetent administration and all of their despicable actions. It’s utterly astounding to me how any of this makes America even remotely great. Every day I say “what the actual f–k” at least once, mostly to myself but not always.
1. Bought a bunch of bananas at Aldi. It worked out to 20 cents each, beating even Trader Joe’s price.
2. Our remodeling contractor brought us bakery items on their (hopefully) next to last day here.
3. Rummaged through contractor’s onsite trash bin and rescued a board for making two storage shelves, metal for recycling, and a few things for Habitat ReStore.
4. Spray painted a register vent and an outlet cover rather than buy new replacements, using paint from our county’s Reuse Room.
5. Sanded, primed and painted our dog’s elevated food bowl stand using metal paint from – yup – the Reuse Room.
I’m a huge fan of spray paint. Good on you!
There’s an anonymous local artist who puts up signs on the heavily traveled main road into the city. Today’s sign was “America was made great by immigrants.” It made me smile hugely! We should never forget that most of our ancestors were not born in this country.
For the frugal stuff, I got my hair cut with a senior discount, bought shower cleaner refill bottles at the grocery store next door for half the price Amazon was charging, ordered enough spices for a year from Penzey’s (these were speciality blends that no store here has), bought some yarn not available locally on eBay with free shipping, and bought tomato sauce, trail mix, raisins and lavender Epsom salts for the bath at Ollie’s Outlet. Rounded up my total at Ollie’s to give money to the food bank.
Ruby, I’m glad to hear of your anonymous local artist. Too often, what I read online about your current and my original city gets me down. (Not to mention the fact that my #2 sister’s now ex-husband’s niece and nephew are your current county DA and county mayor, respectively. Details on request, if you want to ask Katy to give you my contact info.)
Oof, I know exactly who you are talking about. The city, thanks to the university, runs blue, but the county is deep red and frankly a bit scary.
My ancestors mostly came from Sweden during a famine, England I the very early days of immigration to this country and Scot Irish immigration and yet to be figured out times. Unless you are Native American we are all the descendants of immigrants. I am so appalled by the reluctance to return from El Salvador the poor legal resident immigrant who was abducted and sent to the torture prison there despite rulings forbidding exactly that.
And to me, any of us selected for jury duty don’t have to listen to the judge’s instructions nor the rule of law. Heck, if the defendant’s attorney asked for more time/delay of the trial and was refused, I guess I find the defendant not guilty. If one defendant can get away with it, so can they all.
Katy, that sign touched my heart. It pains me to know what is going on in our country. I live in the middle of tomato farming country and am anxious to see what happens this year with workers. They no longer pick by hand but still have migrants running the planters and pickers. I am wondering if we will see $10.00 ketchup??? I am planning on making my own as it is my condiment of choice.
1. Washing windows and doing deep cleaning, Cleaning and inventorying food supplies….planning storage for what we hope to produce and process.
2. sharing eggs and building good will with others, will be receiving things in return.
3. family members in-laws bought a pallet from a quick stop supplier…..candy and chips and “junk food” for the masses. They hit me right with butterfinger candy bars! I love them but will not buy them as I can really plow thru them.
4.have started yard work, I would love to hire it done but just cannot justify the extra expense. I will do what I can and when I can. It will get done but slower than if I hired it out and it was completed in a day.
5.alsolutely nothing is going to waste in my house. I sometimes eat weird combos but it fills me up and that is the whole purpose.
bread crumbs sparked up with some garlic and lemon zest are a beautiful thing on mac and cheese.
* haven’t done any insider trading or helping my cronies do the same.
FFT, Back to the Future Edition:
(1) Kudos to Katy and Mr. NCA on their frugal outing to the Japanese American Museum. Along with them, let’s all try to learn from the darker episodes in US history before Trump and Co. expunge these from the records–which they are already in the process of doing.
(2) My Mac Mini has just arrived, and I expect to spend large portions of the next week tearing my hair out as I attempt to make the transition. But this had to be done, for multiple reasons. (When my NDN’s other close friend heard how old my ancient iMac is, she almost busted a gusset laughing. And I damned well wasn’t going to wait around until Trump’s insane tariffs on China tripled the price on the new one.)
(3) I will be attending Dr. Bestest Neighbor’s Passover Seder tomorrow night. And I expect we’ll all be having some extra resonance with the line “Slaves were we unto Pharaoh in Egypt…”
(4) Dr. BN’s daughter (who is coming in tomorrow for the Seder) has a husband who (a) has a serious disability and (b) collects lead soldiers. I’ve just bundled up the few soldiers in DH’s collection of lead figures (DH was more into lead farm animals and equipment than soldiers) and will hand these off to Dr. BN’s daughter over the weekend.
(5) And I’m not nearly as much of a menace to civilization as the madman who’s currently grossly misusing the Presidency.
(4)
Ugh, put my 5 on the last post. 😀
I’ve been reading 5FT here for many years and still learn new things all the time. I also love the “extra” achievements (usually #5). They make me laugh and help me feel a bit of hope. <3
The past couple of weeks I’ve been hit with unexpected large expenses, just as my investments and social security sit in immediate danger. I haven’t had credit card debt for years but now I do. I’m dusting off some off my old moves to dig out as fast as possible: I got lazy when times were good, time was (is) short, and yolo… As a frugal person, it’s amazing to realize how much more you can do to snowflake those payments.
Every one of these is boring and small. I have faith.
1. This week I finally implemented a raft of changes I should have thought of a long time ago: Running the dishwasher on the quick cycle (next: figure out how to skip the dry cycle. This machine doesn’t want me to do that.) Washing laundry on short cycle with cold water. And reducing my speed on the highway from average 70 to 65 for better mileage.
2. I went to the college library and picked up four books I had reserved (one through interlibrary loan).
3. Stopped by my old office (emeritus means you never have to surrender your keys) to check mail and picked up a book from the free table that I will list on Ebay for $40. Prices for academic books are out of sight. The demand is also very small but I am patient. While I was there I snagged a coffee mug* from the overflow of forgotten mugs, and scarfed down some free snacks from the enticing baskets set out next to the mail boxes.
4. I deposited a small rebate check from my insurance and immediately made an equal payment to the credit card.
5. 80% savings on sundries at CVS. Between credits, store coupons, and sales I spent $3 on a $16 tab. (Hey, it’s a drugstore. I don’t feel like saying what I bought.) Got the cheap gas. Bought a tshirt at the thrift store for 1.75. Picked up 2 books from a free library—one to pass on to my sister in law who will like it. (I already own it on kindle but she won’t read an ebook.)
*I know, who needs an extra coffee mug? I reduced my inventory to four mugs a few months ago, knowing it’s always easy to get a mug. One of the four chipped, and this is its replacement.
The Minoru Yasui statement is so important to keep in mind. When I was in high school, a teacher told us that we judge a society not by how it treats the wealthiest and most highly placed, but by how it treats the most vulnerable. By that standard, I would say we are currently flailing.
1. Rather than get a new phone, I took my unreliable iPhone 6 to a shop and had a new battery installed. Total cost was $68 and it now works like new phone.
2. Finished reading the latest book I borrowed from the library: This Is Happiness by Niall Williams. I’m not sure it’s for everyone, but I really enjoyed it.
3. Renewed my driver’s license before it expired. This is something that is easy to forget (for me anyway) as you only have to renew every 6 or 8 years. Late renewals have an extra fee tacked on, so I avoided that. The DMV was very crowded with people needing an enhanced DL before travel starting in May.
4. Walking for exercise. Sometimes I have to push myself to go out in the rain, but so far, I’ve done it and only missed a couple days in the past month.
5. My husband and I are watching movies and shows on Hoopla and Kanopy. So far, we’ve not felt the need to subscribe to any streaming services. I hope the library can keep providing these types of services and so many others despite the current political environment.
Yes, walking in inclement weather is a challenge. I sat in my car at the park yesterday. Finally, headed out to take a lap around. Wasn’t nearly as bad as I thought! Goal is 3 times a week!!
@Marilyn please do *not* use your phone for online banking/financials, including checking account balances. The latest iOS it can handle is a number of iOS updates behind. I would not read/send email either and would be careful browsing the internet (read: no online ordering on it). The security risk is too great.
Good advice. I’m probably fairly safe because I only use the phone for conversations, some texting and getting driving directions once in a while. I don’t feel I’m a person who needs a new phone.
My aunt (by marriage, but always in my heart) had Japanese-American parents, and a grandmother who was from Japan that were taken to a concentration camp in Oklahoma during WWII. They lost everything, including their home and business. I was a kid when we would go to visit them, but my mom recalls being horrified when they mentioned this happening to them – without rancor, I might add. This is something we never learn about in history class at school. They were lovely people who lived as hoarders for the majority of their adult lives, not surprisingly, given the trauma they had lived through.
My FFT:
1) Frugal/not frugal…..ordered my mom fancy-pants local ice cream (Graeter’s) to be shipped to her for her 91st birthday, but used a promo code to save $7.
2) Bought our dog’s flea/tick/heartworm med from Chewy.com, and used a 30% off code (our first Chewy pharmacy order).
3) Trashpicked two wooden crates and a huge amount of vintage and non-vintage canning jars, some with zinc caps. I’m hoping to make peach jam this summer, as well as other home canned goods, with the canning-usable jars, others will be used for dry good storage and flower vases. The wooden crates were grabbed for a friend who asked fir some on Buy Nothing to use as part of her wedding/reception decor.
4) Bought son his preferred Adidas socks….15% off a 4-pack, then an additional 30% off (special sale), free shipping because I belong to the free “Adidas club” rewards program, and I got 1.5% cash back via Rakuten. Son is a devoted Adidas clothing fan, and I have to say, the socks hold up well.
5. I did not attempt to prevent many married women from voting by requiring this part of the population to present a passport when attempting to vote.
Great quote!
I was at Pittock yesterday, before it started raining.
If there’s any silver lining in the trade war with China, it’s the possibility that we won’t have as much shoddily made bullshit to buy. I’m such an optimist!
I made the trek to IKEA today to buy kitchen parts. (I have an IKEA kitchen.) I stuck to my list, but did take the time to scrutinize everything, especially the as-is section.
We have a family birthday this weekend, so I have a cake in the oven. I suggested that someone else take responsibility for the cake. The response was cricket noises. I guess getting me to bake the cake is everyone else’s frugal plan!
1) Dh and I went to City BBQ for dinner tonight. I took one look at what I ordered and knew I would hate it (I hate mayo and this was loaded with it, but it was not mentioned on the menu). I told my dh that I was going to go order something else and a worker on break heard me and insisted that they make me a new sandwich for free – even though it was my fault for not asking exactly what was on it. Dh now has a free lunch for tomorrow. We also both drank iced water
2) I watched a video on what items are most likely to have a price increase with the new tariffs. I then used an Amazon GC that dh got from work to place an order of batteries, toothpaste and deodorant
3) While dinner was cooking last night I made up a batch of muffins for our breakfasts to cook at the same time.
4) The garlic I planted last fall in coming up nicely in my garden. Now if it would just stop raining so I can plant my peas I would be very happy. Garden produce is the best!
5) Packed a lunch every day this week and made homemade mochas 3 times
Ugh! I hate mayo too, and I recently ordered a pulled pork sandwich that had so much mayonnaise. Who puts mayonnaise on pulled pork? Gross! I spent quite a bit of time painstakingly scraping the goop off my sandwich. Yuck.
I really hate it when restaurants call it aioli, when it’s really just mayonnaise.
Jennifer,
We love City BBQ, though I admit haven’t been there in years. I would have felt the same way, if my sandwich came swimming in mayo (shudder). I can manage a light smear of mayo on, say, a BLT, but that’s about it. Kudos to that employee for insisting they make a new sandwich for you.
1. My alteration of a top I was about to donate worked so now I just have to haul out the sewing machine to make it more sturdy.
2. We are planning dinners with leftover bits and bobs in mind first.
3. My favorite opposite coast cousin and her husband will be stopping by as they start their vacation. We will offer them drinks and snacks while we visit at home and then take them out for tacos and beer. Inexpensive dinner relatively but fun.
4. I have been reluctant to drive the freeways after moving but did today to return an on line order and try on dresses for a niece’s upcoming “summer formal” wedding in Palm Springs. I actually found a dress I would wear again and ordered it my usual size. Fingers crossed. We are saving on housing costs by sharing a home exchange with sons and DILs.
5. Same old frugal habits but this week it was doing yard work that was emphasized.
Am having an “everything seems so hard” week.
1. Ordered a dress because my going to a funeral dress fell apart. We don’t have a Kohl’s or woman’s store in this entire town, so I did it online. What arrived was hideous—a terrible material that found and accentuated every saggy part on my body and the roses that were supposed to look so peaceful on a black background looked like slashes of red on black. In this dress I looked like a dinged up, graffitied trash can with a head. It took the assistance of a credit card company, but I got my money back.
2. Again with the credit card fighting: A woman who came to work for me in her 20s hit 50 this month and just earned her doctorate, despite breast cancer and becoming a single mother of two along the way when her husband walked out saying “Life has become all about your cancer. When do I get some attention?” I am not usually this extravagant but I ordered her a $125 bouquet, through FTD; she lives in the Midwest, so I could not make or deliver the flowers myself. She thanked me but it was when I asked for a picture of to be sure she got the right flowers, that she confessed that they had arrived dead. She sent pics and I have been fighting to get my money back or a new bouquet. Took the credit card to force action after FTD had ignored my complaint.
3. The iron transfusions I have been getting for months are not working so now I am going to get blood transfusions. The insurance company balked at paying for them but a barrage of letters appears to have done the trick and I get the first blood on Monday. Thank you to all blood doners doing anonymous good for people they will never meet.
4. Our lab mix has a tumor. It is unsightly but doesn’t seem to hurt him. The vet says we could remove it but the boy is old and it would be hard on him. I started blubbering over how my life is currently a country song—my defective heart is slowing down, my husband has cancer and the poor abused rescue is dragging around an ugly tumor. He is such a good boy, loving despite what he endured before; it just seems unfair, even though fairness has zero to do with it. As we were leaving, the vet handed me a huge bag of treats, saying she was looking for something tasty to give me as a sort of expression of sadness for the bad news, like cookies or a cupcake, but all she had were cat or canine treats. I laughed so hard, I immediately felt better. Free treats, could not complain. (She has been with us since we first brought in his starved, shivering little carcass, so is pretty invested in him, too).
5. It hit 40 yesterday so I took my flat of leek seedlings out for some real sun. I forgot about them and woke to more than three inches of new snow covering them. Luckily I had saved and not discarded the leftover seeds, so reseeded the flat for no extra cost.
I want this week to be over. But even more, I want women to realize what is happening, that they can be deprived of their right to vote if they changed with names when they married and don’t have something like a $130 passport to prove who they are, that the men in congress refused to support them in their fight to be able to cast votes long distance if they are busy back home having a baby or tending a newborn, that men with histories of mistreating women are now being given high offices without other men in Congress giving a shit.
It seems like the War on Women has escalated once again. It makes me furious, esp. when I read about the jerk who left his cancer-ridden wife bc he wasn’t getting enough attention. Egads! I think Congress’s latest action should make ladies think twice before they give up their maiden names upon marriage; IMO, it also hinders one in one’s career — no one knows who Mary (Married Name) is, they are used to hearing about Mary (Maiden Name). The League of Women Voters is out there slugging away for us on the voting rights thing, and anyone who wants to join in should go to their website. Let’s hope a whole bunch of forward-thinking women (and men) decide to run for office and fight the good fight.
Anon, agreed.
Anon,
I know what you mean – I’m appalled at the loser who left his wife going through cancer treatment. A similar thing happened to a friend of mine, who fought a rare form of ovarian/fallopian tube cancer for 11 years…..her hubby left after year #1. Had they forgotten “for better or worse”?
Lindsey, everything seems hard because it is. I’m sad and sorry for everything you’re going through.
A Real ID should work and if not, I will change my name back. Luxury of having the money to do so is something many will not have.
Face it – they don’t want women to vote. You won’t see me being a door mat.
But how will overstayed her visa, had an anchor baby vote?
Lindsey, I’m so sorry that it’s all so hard right now. Love to you all, especially poor Houndini.
And, of course, you’re right that “fairness has zero to do with it.” One of DH’s and my mantras used to be, and for me still is, “So who said life was fair?”
Lindsey,
Ugh, I’m sorry things are so hard right now. Things are hard all the way around, and you’re right, it has nothing to do with fairness.
A similar thing happened to me with delivered flowers, though I forget what company sent them. My mom sent us flowers for my mother in law’s visitation and funeral, and they arrived banged up and mostly wilted. I was reluctant to tell my mom, but did share photos when she asked, and she pursued getting a refund. Sigh. The real bouquet was NOTHING like the bouquet on their web site.
1. Not frugal for me but my church recently came into a large quantity of food and the minister is looking to give some of it away. Some will go to the food pantry we help support. My friend’s daughter is disabled as is her spouse. They have three teenagers to feed plus themselves. I’ll take as much as the minister wants to give me for this struggling family.
2. I have jury duty next Tuesday. If I get picked, I may be there all day. I plan on packing my purse with a few snacks just in case. I’ve never been picked before so I have no idea what to expect.
3. Still reading The Cult of Trump, lended to me by a friend. It’s a bit depressing but no more than present life in the USA. Anybody else feel like the worry about where our country’s going is always simmering below the surface?
4. Making iced tea with the secondhand iced tea maker I bought at my church’s thrift shop for a few bucks (can’t remember exactly how much but I know I wouldn’t pay a lot for it). I agree with Katy…the glut of used goods around is astounding.
5. I did not lie and tell the American public the measles virus is diminishing in our country when in fact it is on the rise in 24 states.
Christine, short answer is yes to your question in #3. Hence my new-to-me daily swearing habit. Long answer: We are drowning in this administration’s purposeful onslaught of executive orders, chaos, gaslighting, manipulation, discrimination, lawlessness, lying, denying, bullying and dismantling of guardrails and protections in order to build an authoritarian regime. I’m sure I left some things out. It’s devastating.
I loved the cultural places I saw in Portland. I was at a park close to the rose gardens and saw the wall with the Jewish names of people killed and the area that paid homeage to what would have gotten left behind when the people were loaded into the cars. It is set up so you don’t realize what is around and then there it is. Very startling and very touching.
1. From my Buy Nothing Group this week I got two matching Easter baskets with grass. My son and his girlfriend are coming home from college for Easter so I’m making them baskets. I have his basket and his sister’s from when they were little but these two baskets match and they can take them back to college if they want (or not!). I also got a Marc Jacob’s Daisy Dreams perfume that is practically new and online is selling for $137! I knew I liked the scent because I had the sample size earlier!
2. My hair is long, thick and curly. It is often dry and frizzy. I saw a TikTok with a woman with similar hair but hers looked so shiny and not frizzy. She had a video of her hair routine. I looked up the products and was about to buy them and then decided to try the products I currently have in a different way. She does a pre-wash treatment of putting oil onto her roots and massaging that in and then a mask onto the rest of the hair and letting it sit for a while, then shampooing and conditioning like normal and using a curl crème at the end. I have some oils and masks and curl crème but have never tried the pre-wash treatment so I think I’ll first try it with what I have to see if that makes a difference.
3. This week I’m doing a free 5 day Pilates challenge on YouTube just to get myself back in the habit of consistent activity. I also asked Claude (AI app) to give me a 14 week strength training plan for a 53 year old woman who wants to change her body composition. It gave me a really good one that I will start next week when I’m done with this Pilates challenge.
4. My husband is traveling most weeks for work and the kids are in college so it’s just me eating during the week. I have been eating combinations of whatever we have in the house. Sometimes it tastes good and sometimes it fills the purpose of nourishing me with protein. Last night I really wanted some takeout since I’ve been spending basically no money on food – just eating whatever we have. We did it a budget way by me having a $5 meal from Taco Bell and my husband having a sub. Afterward I was SO full and uncomfortable and bloated feeling that it was a good reminder that eating an appropriate portion size and with nutrition rather than fun as the main goal, is better for both my wallet and my health.
5. Spending each day noticing at least one tiny thing that is joyful and doesn’t cost a thing. Today was the songbirds in my backyard! I love hearing the birds.