Five Frugal Things -- Robes for All!
1. I threw my name in the hat for a fuzzy white Pottery Barn robe in my local Buy Nothing group and was chosen to receive it. (It helped that no one else responded!) I host a fair number of house guests and like to have the rooms set with comfortable amenities. I already have a robe for one of the bedrooms, but thought it would nice to have one for the second spare bedroom.
My sister and nephew will be coming to Portland for spring break and now they'll both have a robe while visiting "Aunt Katy." Keep in mind that our only bathroom is down a flight of stairs and across the house, so robes come in very handy.
2. I sold the vintage Wagner Ware pan in under 24 hours on eBay. I packaged it up in a free USPS Priority Mail "flat rate" box, but used PirateShip.com to buy the discounted postage, as eBay no longer makes it easy to select the flat rate option. I then uploaded the tracking number into eBay so the buyer can watch her pan's journey. Convoluted, but it worked, as their large size box was the perfect configuration.
This isn't part of the $100 Goodwill Gift Card Challenge, as it was heavy and would've eaten up too much of the gift card.
3. I dropped off and picked up library holds while on my way to the post office. I'd reserved a copy of George Orwell's Down and Out in Paris and London, which seems like something up my alley. Officially I only read books by women, but I'll make the occasional exception.
It might prompt me to reread Barbara Ehrenreich's Nicked and Dimed, on Not Getting by in America.
4. I cut fresh rosemary for our singular bathroom, which is a year round practice to provide a pleasant scent to an unpleasant room. I have an ever growing rosemary shrub in the garden, which I grew from a cutting.
5. I didn't sue the Internal Revenue Service for ten billion dollars.
Katy Wolk-Stanley
"Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without."
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Nice sale on the Magnalite pan. I love finding those to sell. They always go quickly but not that quick. That's great!!
I don't have much in the way of frugal to add. My kids and I have just returned from a tour of Italy. This was not frugal but my frugality is one reason I can do this.
1. I emptied my refrigerator before I left by way of meals and gave my mom my extra produce that I couldn't finish.
2. I did not turn down my heat before I left because it's already pretty low. Since we were having record low temperatures, I wanted to make sure I had no frozen pipes. I opened all my vanity and sink cupboard doors to make sure any heat in the house could get to the pipes in case we lost power. I'm home and everything is in one piece.
3. I used my travel credit card while on vacation. It has no foreign transaction fees. I was credited the transaction fees from my debit card that I used to withdraw cash. I turned in my customs form at the airport to receive the tax back on a purchase. It has already been credited to my card.
4. I need to buy groceries but the jet lag is killing me. I had everything I needed for some minestrone soup. I had some frozen onion and celery in the freezer. Carrots in the refrigerator were still good. I made enough for many leftovers and will share with my mom. Hopefully today I will have more energy for a trip to the store.
5. I tried to ignore the news at home while I was gone but heard about the Alex Pretti shooting. I am heartbroken. I will be calling my Congressman.
What an amazing turnaround on that pan! You are an eBay wizard!
I had thought I would get my car washed today, but it's snowing and not quite warm enough. Besides that, I don't feel very well, so sticking around home is the thing to do.
I defrosted my fridge yesterday. Every so often the freezer develops ice walls and water pools in the fridge. Then I know it's time. There's something off with the drainage. I've had a repairman "fix" it -- didn't happen, and it was expensive. I Googled the problem, and that's how I found out that defrosting solves the problem, at least until the drainage tube freezes up again. I think it lasted about six months this last time. Anyway, it's free, and it gives me the opportunity to clean and organize, which feels good.
I had some salsa that needed to be used, so I combined it with cheese, and I poured the resulting sauce over toasted French bread rounds for a tasty lunch.
I am thawing some vegetable barley soup for today's main meal.
I got an email from the company with which I had my Medicare Advantage plan last year. It said it was getting ready to mail one of my prescriptions. I assume the message was sent in error and I won't actually get the meds. We'll see. I'm not opting for mail order prescriptions from my new company. My past experience has been that refills come too frequently. And anyway, I'm always at the drugstore -- it's no bother to get my prescriptions filled in person.
I am still putting off grocery shopping. I haven't yet run out of anything I need. That is usually my impetus.
I used PayPal to send cash to my ouf-of-work son for his birthday. Just wish I could do more.
I hope he finds work soon. These are challenging times. I know when we were unemployed, even small gifts of money were really appreciated and it was a tangible way to see that people cared. I have a son (with wife and kids) in grad school and they have no income. I feel a bit of the strain myself.
Thank you! It is health insurance that really has me worried. COBRA will cost $2400 a month. This country has gone insane.
This is over seven years ago now; I just mention that we presumed COBRA would be less expensive. It was not. The Affordable Care Act/Obamacare was much cheaper for our family.
Also, the ACA website referred our adult son, (still at home), to a state program that was much much cheaper.
As always, his situation and state options will vary.
Congratulations on your Wagner Ware sale. I know it was a labor of love and once again you proved that you have a good eye for a bargain.
Loud cheers, Katy, on the free bathrobe and the quick sale of the Wagner Ware pan (I'm glad that all that elbow grease paid off).
And I too keep spare bathrobes on hand--in my case, for my two most frequent houseguests, JASNA BFF and Grad School BFF. Anything I can do to help my goombahs travel with carry-on luggage only is good.
Finally, as usual, I'm envious that you can grow rosemary outdoors in Portland. I have three rosemarys in pots that are reasonably happy in my dining room's south-facing bay window--but rosemary isn't winter-hardy in Central NY. And almost all herbs would rather live outdoors, in my 45 years of gardening experience
1. Frugal fail: I took some hardback books to the book and video game store on the mall. I'd discovered this store around Xmas, and the clerk said yes, they bought books. I took them a large sack full of some very nice items, including some nice, like-new thick hardcovers from Dan Brown and John Grisham, and a couple of soft cover sci fi and fantasy titles geared for teens/college age. The latter came from a little free library. The young lady behind the counter was very nice; I know she isn't the one setting the prices. She scanned all the IBSN numbers and entered a few things on her computer and offered me a whopping 42 cents for my entire collection. How much store credit could I get if I just traded these? 68 cents. Oh, wow, I really could come into some money! NOT. So I thanked her and took my books home. So much for that! I can donate the books to Goodwill and get a 20% off coupon that would be worth more, and the local Mom and Pop used book store would give me better credit. Or I could sell 'em in a garage sale for a dollar. Mind you, I figured it'd probably be less than 10 bucks, but under a dollar is ridiculous! What a rip off!
2. Mailed a Valentine's card I got after Feb. 14 some years ago to our little church friend who is in boarding school. It was a big, fancy glittery one (featured a unicorn on front) from Aldi; I think I paid maybe 50 cents for the post-holiday deal. Coincidentally, the girl's mother came through my cash register lane a few hours later and told me her daughter loved getting the previous cards I'd sent.
3. Used my cash register receipt coupon to get a lunch at Long John Silver's. It's the one where you take their survey and write down the code; you buy a large drink and they'll throw in 1 piece of fish and French fries for free.
4. My friend and cleaning lady's car broke down so I picked her up and brought her over here. Afterwards, she needed to get some groceries so I took her to the little H-E-B grocery store she prefers. I needed to get Snuggles his favorite dog biscuits; our H-E-B had sold out. There was an in-store coupon: if buy get 3 boxes of doggie treats, they'll give you $3 off your entire basket. So I put the doggie treats in M's shopping cart, gave her the money and coupon, and she shaved $3 off her purchase. I also got a 2 liter bottle of Dr Pepper on sale for $1.66; where I work, the price is $2.28
5. M. makes money on the side making snacks and selling them to the neighborhood kids when they get off the school bus. I've collected some plastic forks and "sporks" (spoon/forks) from fast food places, the ones that are sealed in a little plastic bag, over many weeks. I gave these to her yesterday, along with a metal cookie tin, the kind that the Danish butter cookies are sold in. She said she can use them.
Your book trade in offer was why I stopped trying to sell any of my books at Half Price Books in our area... The last few offers for what I thought were pretty good book stacks was under $0.75 total. Better for me to put in a little free library and keep it stocked. Our Goodwill doesn't do any coupons AND their book prices are astronomical. I'm forever going, "look at this! The sticker price from a store was $4.99 and Goodwill is trying to get $5.95 for it!
Great sale! I get pan envy 😉
1. My husband had an interview yesterday! It was a video call so he didn't have to use any gas.
2. I gave him a haircut prior to the interview with a trimmer and scissors that have more than paid for themselves over the years.
3. The interview happened to line up with a playgroup at our pediatrician's office almost perfectly so we went to give him some quiet.
4. We drove since it was FREEZING and I had 5-6 small boxes of baby/toddler clothes to donate as they help local families with free clothing, we also donated an ice cream maker and rock salt since they like to do fun get togethers in the summer and I can't justify the cabinet space it takes. Luckily the whole trip was maybe 2 miles total so gas was negligible. I also remembered to bring the whole wheat English muffins and dropped them off at the food pantry that was on the way.
5. While at play group, my kiddos were treated to pancakes and fruit. We took home some applesauce pouches and crackers and juice. They made a painted handprint craft and brought home coloring sheets, and a sheep puppet since the group was learning the "Old MacDonald" nursery rhyme.
That's so cool that your pediatrician does all this outreach!
It's through their office, it's a community health center, but it's completely open to the public so anyone with kiddos 0-5 years can go by for play or for more help. I love it. It feels great to have that extra support in the community.
Down and Out in Paris and London is one of my favorite books.
For anyone who doesn't care about reading a physical book, all of his essays, books etc are available for free via orwell.ru.
Even though it isn't new now, I still remember some of the issues Barbara Ehrenreich raises in "Nickel and Dimed"-- how to buy snacks cheaply when you are used to just buying something quickly and don't do the math in your head or plan ahead; how to treat yourself (such as smoking cigarettes); how getting money saved up just doesn't seem worth it; how bosses control workers; how housing for hourly laborers is restricted; etc. She went "undercover" as a minimum wage worker, though she allowed herself two things that would have been luxuries on her salaries, (health insurance and her car).
And it was clear this was a real investigation when she wrote about the worst place to be assigned at Walmart: Clearing up the hanging racks of bras in lingerie.
Meanwhile, I saw an author and series I hadn't heard of before for Black History Month and Black Women Writers: Barbara Neely's award-winning "Blanche White" series. Blanche is an African-American mother, domestic worker, and amateur detective. I will see what my library has.
Nice sale on the Wagner Ware!
1. I made a banana bread out of 3 overripe bananas so they wouldn't go to waste...plus I love banana bread.
2. We're eating the last of the chicken soup for supper tonight, made from my 6 pound chicken. So far we've had 7 meals from it and tonight will make it 9. Oh yeah, and the cat got a heaping plate of chicken skin and other not so desirable parts of it.
3. DH and I walked for exercise around the neighborhood today. Tomorrow up to 4 inches of snow is expected and on Sunday frigid temps are back on the tail of the snow event so I won't be venturing out after today until it warms up a bit.
4. I recently watched a movie on YouTube about a 12 ywar old boy, Donn Fendler, who was lost on Mt. Katahdin in Maine in the late 1930s. He used his wits plus advice his father had given him and skills he learned in Boy Scouts and survived 9 days and 8 nights in the woods. When I heard it was in book form I put it on hold at the library and am presently reading it. It reads somewhat like a YA book but is still amazing.
5. I cut DH's hair. Easy peasy as he likes a buzz cut.
High school senior cleaned driveway and sidewalks after yet another snow dump. I paid him in cash and hot chocolate. Frugal because my husband and I have heart conditions, and we aren’t allowed to shovel plus falling on the ice is never frugal
Made salmon patties for lunch with can of salmon languishing in my pantry. The patties are high in protein and omega-3 fatty acids.
Listened to Mel Robbins podcast with Dr. Amy Sha about what women should be eating for optimal health. Free nutritional advice.
Made fancy coffee at home.
Filled up car with gas using 50 cents off per gallon.
Lost my comment, ughrrr. Nice sale on the Magnalite! Well done you!!!
Found a pair of Maui Jim sunglasses on the county road during my walk, one lense is scratched, will box up and send off for free repair. Also picked up 6 beer cans.
Caterer friend shared a great meat sale, ribs! Now I know what Sunday's gathering will be...bbq/smoked ribs, Baked beans, street corn, coleslaw, baguette rolls and veggies w/ dips. Vanilla and chocolate Texas sheet cakes with "go sports" written in the frosting.
Dinner for 24 for less than $2/person.
Saving shallow boxes for our Master Gardeners sale in May.
Chickens are happy and I delivered eggs to 2 neighbors. The rescued chickens are setting on as well. They are happily staying in the neighbor's small greenhouse.
Hi! Lindsey!
I found Nickel and Dimed a worthy topic but an utterly depressing read. I am very grateful my parents scrimped to pay for my college education and that I have worked hard to have a good job to in turn support my family and pay for my child’s college tuition.
Lovely to receive the robe! And congrats on the eBay sale!
1. I sold a Gudrun Sjogen tablecloth on ebay. I paid $6 at the thrift store and sold it for $55 a day later. I have one more to list. The thrift store had 4 of them, all the same and I bought them all. I'll keep at least one for a tablecloth, I'll probably make a cushion cover with part of the second, and sell the other 2.
2. Apparently lawnmowers attract all of the unreliable buyers on fb marketplace. I had two no-shows for it yesterday. Someone says they're coming today...
3. I made Meyer lemon marmalade from free lemons from a friend. I offered to teach her how to make it and she wanted to. So that's scheduled for Monday. She's bringing more lemons with her and also offered us oranges, which I gratefully accepted.
4. I made bone broth, soaked pinto beans to cook in IP (I know I don't have to, but I like them better this way), baked chocolate cookies for dh and GF gingerbread for myself.
5. I brought in pluot branch clippings and put them in water. They are just about to bud and are so spring-like! Joy from trash!
Gudrun Sjoden. I have a hard time with the spelling!
You might consider balancing George out with Anna Funder’s excellent biography of his wife Eileen ‘Wifedom’
Was coming here to say just this ! George was a genius but a very flawed man, and it is clear that his first wife Eileen contributed significantly to Animal Farm and 1984 at least in part. Wifedom is a great book.
This is a travel version for us:
1) DS19 drove us to the airport & dropped us off for our flight
2) DH & I slept through the dinner service on the flight (it was a red eye), but we did have breakfast before landing. We had a layover in Christchurch, and split a sandwich for lunch.
3) Room got upgraded to a one bedroom apartment, which meant we got a kitchen + washer/dryer. Ran a quick load to wash our travel items. Room also came with breakfast, which was delicious this morning.
4) Walked to town to pick up a few things we need for our hiking trip.
5) While we were in town, bought nibbles & a bottle of wine for lunch. Significantly cheaper than eating out, even without the alcohol.
Living vicariously through you! I can't want to travel this year! We usually do a European trip and a US trip. Last year was Scotland and Colorado.... haven't picked this year's yet. I hope your trip is fabulous!!
1. I feel nickled and dimed today! I paid my IRS taxes this week ugh. Obviously I need to increase my withholding. It is frugal, I suppose, that I paid it in full.
2. Work closed down early bc of sewage issue. So, I did laundry, and did some grocery shopping. I bought a couple of cans of garbanzo beans and pinto beans for 89 cents a can. I have lots of dried beans but sometimes you need a quick meal. I bought two jars of salsa for $1.90 a piece, Queso Blanco for the same price, creamy peanut butter for $2.25, and pickles for $2.40 at Dollar General. I bought mayo for $3.29 at Vowell’s 30 fluid Oz, tuna for 89 cents a can, and yesterday at Piggly Wiggly I bought chicken legs for 99 cent a lb., sour dough bread for $1.87, Piggly Wiggly hot sauce for 12 fluid Oz for $1.69, 8 lbs potatoes $3.79 and a dozen eggs for $1.18. I love the Piggly Wiggly brand on most things so try to buy that if possible.
3. I walked in the neighborhood for thirty minutes bc it is mid 60’s and sunny again!!!!
4. I cooked field peas with mustard greens and made dried pinto beans with cooked carrots. I think I have mentioned I can no longer eat raw carrots but can eat cooked. I made myself a pinto bean taco for supper. I also ate a tuna fish sandwich for lunch.
5. I started cleaning my house.
I read Down and Out in Paris and London and enjoyed it!
1) I have the opposite problem of many, my family eats such a copious amount of bananas, we never get any overripe ones. I love banana bread so I try to intentionally buy too many (I usually buy two bunches at a time once or twice a week) in the hopes that some will get mushy but usually they get eaten before then. I finally think I have 3 that will be ripe enough for banana bread and I bought a fresh bunch today to keep the family away from them!
2) Reading one book borrowed from a friend, We’ll Prescribe You a Cat, a very cozy and relaxing easy read and listening to a library audiobook, Magpie Murders, which is an engaging mystery. Nice to have a break from my heavier reads, even if I do enjoy them.
3) I managed to make some beans N greens when I got home from work last night, using some rainbow chard that was about to go bad and some cooked pinto beans I’d defrosted. I haven’t had much time to batch cook lately so my freezer supply of meals was getting low, glad I was able to restock it a little.
4) I have many bottles of wine at my house because I host our book club and usually most people bring a bottle to every meeting but our group doesn’t get through them all so they just keep accumulating. I don’t drink at all now so I’ve been trying to figure out what to do with them, the kids school is having a fundraising event for adults and was looking for donations of wine for a wine ring toss game, perfect! I get to clear out some items I don’t want and help the school raise money.
5) We never go out to dinner for Valentine’s Day, even before we had kids, so saving ourselves that cost and hassle per usual this year! I do usually try to cook something special, this year I found discounted heart shaped pasta at grocery outlet.
If you like Nickeled and Dimed, I strongly recommend The White Bonus
Five Families and the Cash Value of Racism in America
ByTracie McMillan. I just read it last week!
Have had way many no spend days, haven't been able to leave my property for 3 weeks because of the snow. I am so over it. I cleared the parking area so I could get out of garage and then last night more snow! The county plow trucks plowed in the end of my lane which I discovered this morning as I was trying to leave for a planned grocery shop. It took me 15 minutes to get unstuck in my own drive and ended up backing up the full length of my lane and parked it back into the garage.
DD picked up the essentials and brought them to me after a family member came after work and knocked down the drifts.
After I simmered down I took stock and decided to try to make the best of it.
1. Made yogurt with milk delivered last week.
2. brought in frozen bananas for smoothies, slim pickings on fresh fruit around here but I have canned fruit that I can use.
3. Made a kick-ass tuna noodle casserole for supper and have at least 5 more servings. Used 1/2 cup of leftover cream gravy in it and it was awesome.
4. making small amount of beef stew tomorrow with the last small piece of a very tough piece of "steak". It will be mostly veggies as meat doesn't excite me
5. paid gas bill early to get the discount used cash back cc to get a few more dollars and I always pay it in full...I don't pay interest.
* bonus..... didn't decide to tear down a National Landmark because I had a tantrum.
Is your rosemary in an old case of a clock? I have two clocks in those cases. I also wondered how are you keeping your rosemary alive? I had a beautiful bush but it recently bit the dust
I had mine in a pot and it started thriving when I planted it directly in the ground.
I loved Nickled and Dimed! I’ll have to read the second one!
1. I dropped some items off at our little free pantry. I traded my items for salted unshelled peanuts and dried mango, both Trader Joe’s!
2. Went to Bath and Bodyworks. I had earned a free item and also a free Birthday item (with any purchase). Spent $6 for three items!
3. Packed a snack box for our train trip to NY tomorrow. My number 1 was added as well as fancy cheese, crackers, grapes, Hershey Kisses (after Christmas clearance), and celery. Hubby and I and one of my friends are going just for an overnight trip.
4. Dehydrated a large bag of cilantro trimmings from the organic grocery store where my friend works. Some I’ll use for cooking some will go to guinea pigs and of course I saved a bunch to use fresh. Both the guinea pigs and the bearded dragon love fresh cilantro. She also gave me some lettuce that needed used up.
5. It’s going to be super cold here, wind chill -25. We NEVER have temps this low. I’m layering lots of clothes for our trip. We will leave the faucets dripping when we leave so the pipes don’t freeze. Stay warm everyone!
Hi Katy—have been really enjoying reading your blog during quick breaks, especially when I’m trying to keep from doomscrolling! And finding frugal ideas of course.
May I ask if you’d consider doing a post on your experience on how to be an occasional seller on eBay? I am one of the federal workers who lost their jobs last year (USAID). I don’t want to be some sort of power seller on eBay, but I would like to occasionally sell items that that reasonably have value, as every little bit helps these days. But I find eBay — but mostly the prospect of figuring out shopping — pretty intimidating as I’m not close to a post office.
Anyway, thanks again for a little shot of nice distraction from bleak news!
I wrote this blog post about reselling in 2013:
https://thenonconsumeradvocate.com/reselling-for-profit-through-etsy-ebay-craigslist-lessons-from-the-non-consumer-advocate/
It might be a bit outdated.
I am very sorry you lost your job, Claire.
And I am beyond delighted that the former-DOGE-in-charge is being called in to court to make a deposition about actions taken re: USAID. I hope this is the first of many such investigations.
Down and Out is one of my favorite Orwell’s! Also, his novel Keep the Aspidastra (spelling?) Flying is both snarky and poignant.
Here's a new author for your list. I went to a presentation by her today and LMAO. She's written 58 books, mostly about strong, often obscure, women. Her latest is called "Daughters of Daring" about Hollywood Cowgirl Stuntwomen. The program was 1.5 hours long and she was a total hoot. If she writes the way she speaks, you're in for a lovely rabbit hole.
https://chrisenss.com/
I LOVE George Orwell's book -- it is very honest and unflinching. (Unlike "Nickel and Dimed -- she gets very busy at times excusing herself for decisions made. If you've ever been a waitress -- and yes, I have -- you know what I mean. Working for a department store... Walmart, right?... same thing. I've also done that.)
Orwell not only talks about what it was like to work as a "plongeur" in Paris -- but make the rounds of bum-dom in England. Fascinating.
Catching up on your posts in my ever-increasing efforts to do things other than doomscroll (like getting back into my genealogy research and reading as many hours in the day as possible). Just wanted to say that Nickel and Dimed is a really good book.