Five Frugal Things -- What I Bought & Didn't Buy at The Goodwill Bins
1) I took a couple hours out of my day to scour my local Goodwill Outlet bins for vases that sell for $153,600. Sadly that did not happen, but I did pick up this $3 Ikea ÖRFJÄLL chair, even though the seat was pretty dirty. I own an upholstery shampooer and love me a good "before and after!"
New versions sell for $80, so I should be able to sell it for $30 or so. It was originally priced at $5, so I know it had been on the floor for awhile.
2) I also grabbed this pair of plastic "Essentials" Birkenstocks in my size, even though they were spattered with paint. I figured I could clean them up and even if that plan was a bust, they weigh practically nothing and that's a bargain from a pay-by-the-pound thrift store!
My first step was to throw them through the wash, which actually removed most of the paint.
Step two was to spend ten minutes or so with my Barkeeper's Friend and an old toothbrush.
Actually, there were only two steps. Ten minutes of hands on time to make them look almost new. I'd estimate I spent 50¢ on them, which is far superior to their original $50 price tag!
3) I chose this drapey T-shirt for myself as I never have enough tops. Unfortunately it smells like it was sprayed with Goodwill's signature stanky disinfectant, even after I put it through the wash. I'll leave it out on my clothesline for a couple days and see if it diminishes.
4) I also bought a Brooks Brothers Turkish towel, whose thick fluffiness stood out from the crowd. You can buy a single one of their towels on sale for $43.99, so it definitely came home with me. I rifled around that bin to see if there was another one, but sadly was unsuccessful.
I might keep it for house guests, but I'll probably end up listing it on eBay.
5) What didn't I buy?
This dollhouse sized cremation urn. What? Why?!
And this doll head, even though it was so adorable, not at all nightmare inducing.
Such a sweetie!
Now your turn, what frugal things have you been up to?
Mini cremation urns are widely available. They are super useful if you have cremains that multiple people want a portion of and/or you have a keep some/scatter some situation.
It was a single piece, the lid didn't come off.
Preparing to do battle with Dish network. The two year price guarantee we've had three times before is expiring, and a price guarantee, even at a slightly higher rate, is not available? Even though it is for new subscribers?
So I gave up and will try again tomorrow, and specifically ask for "loyalty" or "retention", to get a different agent.
I don't respond well to aggressive sales, either, and I wish they would believe my first "no."
Heidi Louise,
I don't have Dish or any other payment-mandating TV source. But I've noticed that in our community, Dish dropped one local TV station, and now it is dropping a 2nd one. (Both stations have publicized this over the air.) Apparently Dish is ripping off both consumers AND the local broadcasters. I wish you luck in your battle.
The associate aggressively offered me a free antenna to keep forever, with professional installation, to take the place of the local channels we currently pay a small fee for. I wonder if FCC regulations about local channels have changed, or if local channels are charging more, and it is more beneficial to Dish to get rid of them.
I think I'm getting nightmares looking at that doll head! And I'm not even asleep!
1. It's car (re-)registration time, and in my state, you have to put on a special window sticker to show your car is "legal," ie, you paid your yearly fee. So I had to take the old sticker off so I could replace it with this year's. When I removed the sticker, there was a lot of "sticky" still on the inner windshield. I grabbed an aerosol can of Windex* to clean it off with -- but found the sprayer thing was gone. Luckily, I had just run out of spray antiperspirant, so I grabbed the empty can of that from the trash can, and took off the little white sprayer. Put it on the Windex and VOILA! It worked perfectly. (*The aerosol Windex is something I normally don't buy, but last Christmas I needed something extra strong to do the breakfront cabinet's delicate glass. It worked a lot better than the blue liquid store-brand Windex-style window cleaner I usually use. But how we lost the sprayer thing, I don't know.) Now my windshield is clean, the sticker is stuck, and I don't have to worry about getting an expired registration ticket. Plus, having used the antiperspirant spray nozzle thingy, I'm sure my windshield's underarms won't be sweaty either, LOL.
2. Returned a too-tight blouse to Walmart and got a prompt and cheerful refund. (I bought a blouse one size too LARGE, but the way it fit was a size too small. Go figure.)
3. Went to the GW Boutique down the street from Wallyworld and used my 20% coupon to buy a blouse. It's much, much prettier than the one in #2 item today. Bonus: It matched the pants I was wearing so well that you'd think they were made for each other. (The pants were one of the 14 pair I'd gotten at another thrift store's bag sale for $10 for all. But I didn't have a blouse that went with this color.)
4. Cleaned out the fridge and ate leftovers.
5. Decided not to go to lunch with my out-of-town visiting Trump-loving pal, who (as usual) invited herself over. She uses my house as her own personal Bucky's when she travels through our region. I am beyond weary of her conservative Ditto-head lectures telling me how Trump is every bit as wonderful as Jesus. (I'm not being sacrilegious, she honestly "thinks" that. Except that she doesn't really think at all! ) Also, it can be dangerous: she refused to wear a mask during Covid, and brought over a similarly-unmasked traveling companion, and 3 months later, I heard the latter had died of Covid. No surprise there. So I conveniently got a "migraine" and called her and cancelled. (Well, she IS a headache, so that part wasn't a total lie.) Saved the cost of a restaurant meal, and my blood pressure didn't rise.
1. I had a date with Bar Keepers Friend, too. Cleaned up all of our pots and pans and got a bonus free arm workout.
2. Received two metal raised garden beds from sister-in-law. They were so large we couldn't use them, so I gave them away on Buy Nothing to a very happy recipient.
3. Made sun tea from tea bags received from the estate of my friend's mom.
4. Donated to a request on Buy Nothing for personal care items for a local family that had a house fire. Tucked some cash in there as well. Buy Nothing has been very good to me, so I like to keep the scales in balance.
5. Neighbor came over with a beautiful bouquet of flowers, and we chatted for two hours out on the deck on a beautiful day. Another neighbor came over to visit on a different day, and we chatted for three hours - same deck and same beautiful weather. She brought delicious grapes and CDs of healing music, and I served sun tea and quick bread that I had on hand.
This sounds like a dream. You're lucky!!!
I really am!
Great job on the Birkenstocks! I have several pair made of that same material and keep them clean with Dawn Powerwash and a Scrub Daddy.
The best thing I know for getting rid of the thrift store smell is Lysol laundry sanitizer. A soak overnight in white vinegar sometimes works for me.
Thanks for the tip. I don't have Lysol, but I do have vinegar.
Last year I had a water leak from the unit upstairs. I had remodeled my kitchen a year previously. Anyway, the kitchen had extensive water damage. Also damaged was an Ikea barstool that I had bought new (in their return merchandise section). I took the seat off hoping to get a new one made. Still waiting. I went to Restore & got an identical barstool for 20$. (I did list the one that got ruined on my insurance list of personal items.) I'm still keeping the one that needs a seat. Then I will have an extra should someone else wish to sit at the island. If you are patient, you can eventually find what you need second hand. I have another barstool that does not match my kitchen. It will go to Restore as a donation.
When we had my brother cremated, we had the funeral home place his ashes in half-dozen oak tubes for his buddies to take for disbursement at their favorite spots. But eeew in the bins. It would be a great conversation starter piece in Barbies dream house.
I found a 64 oz Stanley growler for $2. I plan to use it for tea for road trips.
Went to one Fab moving sale. Bought only things for storage or organizing my own shtuff.
One exception, I bought 2 dozen cloth napkins. They were Linen Williams Sonoma all for $2.
she had a dappled willow in her yard and she allowed me to cut a slip from the back of the bush...that was probably my favorite sale of the day.
BGF, swoon on the cloth napkins. What an incredible price!
"It would be a great conversation starter piece in Barbies dream house." Thanks, BGF, for the best laugh I've had all week!
I can never unsee that doll head, yikes!
1) I made a phone call I was putting off all week to an insurance company, but it was worth it because we are now saving $90 a month.
2) Filled out two quick forms for a class action suit (sigh, another data leak). These should net us $5 to $30 at some future date. I always take the cash option, because we already have free identity monitoring services through the two credit unions we belong to and through one of our credit card companies.
3) Set up for future savings — I made an inventory of my wardrobe (for all three seasons: summer, rain, and winter) along with an inventory of things we would like/need and put it on my phone. “Hippie Christmas” is going to start when college gets out in two weeks, so I wanted to be prepared for curb shopping.
4) Buy nothing groups have been fairly slow in our area over the last few months, and the Buy Nothing app went dead after the weird update a month or so ago. An acquaintance mentioned that Craigslist is making a come back because people are leaving Suckerberg’s platform. I checked it out and WOW, it IS making a comeback! I am picking up some free cucumber starts today (my 2 yr old seeds didn’t germinate), and I am dropping off some rhubarb to someone else.
5) We made our own Friday night entertainment — DIY charcuterie-ish dinner and a dart tournament with the 21-yr-old and his girlfriend. They supplied a couple of bottles of $3 buck chuck for the four of us. This has become a tradition, and I love it!
Love the chair, shoes and top!
1. I made a chicken taco with leftovers and a spinach casserole with spinach that needed to be used up.
2. I walked an hour early this morning.
3. I took my lunch to my ex husband’s office today and worked from there using his Internet. I brought him as payment an apple and a diet ginger ale and that made him happy.
4. I borrowed a library book.
5. I used no air. It is hot and muggy with all the rain.
1. I picked up 3 tomato plants that a friend grew from seeds I gave her last year that she didn't need. I always start everything from seed but it didn't happen this year. I really don't want to pay a fortune on plants so I am trying to get as many free ones as I can. I let friends know I would take and extras. I planted the five plants I have and weeded 2 more garden beds. I layed down cardboard that I get from a friend to help prevent weeds
2. I thinned my lettuce. I let a plant go to seed every year so I rarely have to plant it. I picked a bunch of plants that were out of the garden box. I washed a bunch for us and sent the rest to work with hubby.
3. Celebrated my birthday with Hubby, my son, youngest daughter, son in law and best friend. Hubby got us takeout. My daughter brought a cake. We played Left, Center, Right. Everybody had worked during the day and I didn't want to eat out. I kept the gift bags and tissue paper to reuse.
4. Took leftovers for lunch.
5. Didn't want to cook so we all did our own thing. I had some frozen soup and Hubby made and ham and grilled cheese sandwich. It was gourmet but we are both fed.
Really impressed with how the shoes cleaned up!
Another day at my sister's senior living place. Today my friend and I worked very hard trying to organize my sister. She has way too many clothes and doesn't want to part with any of them, despite having very little room . Finally convinced her to let me try to sell two large bags of them. Tomorrow we are going to try to find places for the ones she feels she must keep. We are exhausted. She has always been a messy spendthrift but in her old age she is much worse.
We went out to a local pancake house for lunch, but ate snacks from the cooler for dinner.
We were planning on heading home tomorrow, but have decided that after working this hard, we will finish the job.
I am grateful that I can do laundry for free tomorrow.
Beth W.,
Could you get some of those bags where you fill them up and then put a vacuum cleaner hose in there and they all shrink flat? Maybe you could persuade your sister to let you do that with her winter outfits, and thus free up space for the warm weather stuff.
My family is doing an extreme low buy month. Since the move last August we have had a ton of extra expenses and although we have been renovating on the cheap it’s a LOT. I set a goal to shave a chunk off of all of our bills.
So tonight instead of our usually takeout or restaurant treat night, I bought a rotisserie chicken and we ate it with rice and coleslaw. Coat less than $20 when a restaurant meal would have been at least $50-60! Plus we have leftovers which will feed us at least one more time.
I’m trying to find ways to reduce our expenses so I don’t have to work as much as I am. I am ready to start cutting back!!
I don't have a regular paid job, I always say I prefer to live on less money than to work more. We live very frugally to make this happen in a high COL area but I suspect we're still happier than many.
I do work quite hard to grow an abundant garden and keep up the house and sew and thrift and re-sell, so I do work. Just not a traditional job.
1) Got a $79.99 refund on my credit card for an offer that didn't properly work. Took three calls, but got sorted.
2) Leftovers for dinner (our standard fare, really).
3) Picked up a few items on BN for resale (from a woman who has cleared that, as she is clearing her mother's house & has already offered to the rest of BN. Resell is her round two, so she can get rid of big volumes of items.) They are all electronic accessories in sealed packages, and I haven't done much research, but everything looks like it will sell if listed on eBay.
4) DH drove our electric car to work, to save on gas.
5) Using Hyatt points to have an overnight getaway today!
Here's a user's note on Bar Keeper's Friend: I prefer the powder to the liquid version (which always seems to gunk up in the bottom of the bottle), but the powder does go rock-like after a while. However, I took inspiration from someone's recommendation of putting an apple slice in with rock-like brown sugar, and taped an apple slice to the holes on the top of a can of BKF. A day later, voila: usable BKF!
Genius!
Called and canceled a credit card we weren’t using and save the annual fee. Any credit card we do use we pay it off at the end of the month.
Following an account on Instagram that tells what you should be doing to keep your house in order. So I decided to clean my bathroom fan not an easy task that what a dirty dusty mess that I got it done. Sounds better already and pulling through more air.
Made my own iced coffee and protein, coffee at home for myself and my daughter.
Save $.60 a gallon on my gas. Gas was 469 a gallon and it was $53 to fill up my car with the 60 cents off.
Used insurance card benefits to buy groceries
Cooking almost all me is at home and keeping them healthy
Attended a memorial Day parade memorial Day parade and enjoyed visiting with my neighbors as we watched. Free, frugal fun.