Four Frugal Things -- eBay Sales & 10¢ Cans!
1) The bakelite handles that we thrifted yesterday sold almost immediately. (Perhaps we underpriced them?) This was my kid's project, so they were the one to photograph, list and answer buyer questions. They also packaged everything up and will make sure they go out in tomorrow's mail.
As a reminder, we had to buy (and then donate) an entire $29.99 dresser to get the handles!
We had an interesting interaction with a Goodwill employee while picking up the dresser. (Which happens at the drive-through donation area for large pieces of furniture) The woman wanted to make sure that we knew the handles were Bakelite, she then let me know that she'd been off work the day the dresser went onto the floor and that she would have priced it higher "around $100."
"Oh well, I guess that's why people come to Goodwill, to find a bargain."
I could tell that she felt that I got one over on her, but I checked the price tag this morning and see that the dresser had been out on the selling floor for a full two days by the time it caught my eye. Goodwill could've repriced the dresser at any time, so I feel no obligation to feel bad.
The hope of scoring underpriced items is why most of us even go to Goodwill.
2) My sister and I went for an evening walk through the neighborhood and came across a few "free boxes."
We rummaged through the above box, but didn't grab anything. The framed print had a bit of rust on the top corner, but you could easily have Sharpied or painted over it to make it invisible. Nobody ever looks at the top of a frame anyway.
My sister did take a vintage pot lid from this box. There were also three or four red hats in this box, which unsurprisingly didn't come home with us.
I did take this cat toy home for the next time Mama's Little Meatball and Myr kitten come to visit their grandparents. They seemed in need of enrichment last time they stayed with us and that kitten energy is no joke!
Such cuties!
3) I also brought home two 10¢ deposit cans and a penny, so yes . . . I recently came into some money!
Please enjoy my artistic background for this discarded beer can. Ten cents, bay-bee!
4) My sister spends her downtime knitting socks that I'm guessing are soon to transform into a hostess gift. Watch this space.
Now your turn, what frugal things have you been up to?
Katy Wolk-Stanley
"Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without."
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The Goodwill comment does seem strange. Why bring it up when someone has already paid? It's not like a customer (you) swapped out sales tags, and it had been on the floor before & no one noticed the handles. Also, to your point, that's why people shop at thrift stores - to find bargains. Otherwise, you could just buy everything online & create more junk.
1) I have been on an organizing tear & the work is continuing today. More items recycled, a few heading to the Goodwill, most given out on BN, and a handful of items going on eBay.
2) Met a friend for a free hike in her neighborhood.
3) Deboned 2 rotisserie chickens from Costco. Took what I needed for meals this week, & froze the rest. Future meal will appreciate the easy meal prep.
4) Cleaning & organizing my closet (lots to give away on BN) & a $5 casino chip fell out of my purse I used last in Las Vegas. So, I too recently came into some money. 😉 I will bring it back next time I'm there.
5)DS20 agreed to go through all of his/DS19's Magic the Gathering cards. He will be in charge of finding the ones worth selling, taking them to the local shop & they will split the proceeds 60/40. Majority of the cards are DS20's anyway, or so he says. They have both agreed to the deal & I will be getting back space on a built in, three shelf drawer area & moving things out of our house that no one uses. The boys will get extra money to save or spend. Always a win when you are young.
My husband had a surprise hospital stay this week, after some projectile vomiting which messes up an essential medication. I was pleased to find that I can still mix and administer an injection under very trying circumstances, and sluice vomit without feeling like I need to add to the pile!!
It was a great excuse to get rid of a bath mat that was very much past its best, too.
No financial pain, as we are in Scotland. Very happy to discover that the nearest hospital of just 4 wards, is extremely cute and a bastion of proper, old fashioned nursing which almost made me want to reregister myself..... almost 😉 .
The ward kick the visitors out for meal times, which allowed me a quick trip to the nearby large charity shop (rare to find a bigger one here). Finally found the medium size mixing bowl I have been looking for for weeks of charity shop visits. Also picked up a couple of books to keep him entertained.
The day of discharge, I popped into Lidl on the way in. We don't have one in our local town. I was so excited to find they had some of their veg boxes at the tills (registers). Only £2 for a box full of veg and fruit. All completely edible, much of it perfect. It was such a lovely, uplifting surprise and really felt like a treat. It did strike me that I can enjoy so much that is low priced! There was too much veg for the two of us, so was able to gift some to a neighbour, who shares my values and was delighted. 2 people thrilled and fed for 2 quid LOL.
Spent some time outside with the weeds today, good to feel the sun after all that hospital air.
My colleague's husband collapsed whilst on a tour of the Vatican. He was whisked off to an Italian hospital. His B/P was very low & he needed a blood transfusion. He spent several days in Intensive Observation. His bill was $750 (US). He was able to return home to the US w/ his wife to see his usual dr. This hospital stay would have cost tens of thousands in the US. He got a bargain although not one he likely wanted.
1) Congrats on your good eye and the quick sale of the Bakelite handles. An easy thing to buy online, and to ship.
2) I am an empty-nester household and I posted 10 cookie cutters, from my kids’ days, in my local Buy Nothing group. I added two homemade doilies in the lot. It went quickly.
3) My young adult son moved and offered us his free-to-him loveseat recliner he had rescued from his big box store employer. They were going to throw it out! Perfectly good! My husband and I replaced our uncomfortable, partly-broken futon in our living room with the loveseat recliner. It isn’t our main seating accommodations, that’s in our family room, but I will be the one to use it and it’s perfect for me. Free is for me!
1) Congrats on your good eye and quick sale of the Bakelite handles. An easy item to buy online and to ship.
2) I am an empty nester and I posted 10 cookie cutters, from my kids’ days, on my Buy Nothing group. I added two homemade doilies in the lot. It went quickly.
3) My young adult son moved and offered us his loveseat recliner that he got for free from his big box store employer. They were going to throw it out! Perfect condition! My husband and I replaced our uncomfortable, partially-broken futon in our living room with the loveseat recliner. It is not our main seating accommodations, that’s in our family room but it’s perfect for us. I will be the one using it mostly and it fits me. Free is for me!
Katy, I'm sorry for my duplicate comment. There were tech issues of some kind while I was writing. Mary
Really like the handles!
We got four State Farm Auto dividend checks in the mail, in four identical envelopes that looked like junk mail addressed to my husband. I had seen a news release that they have $5 billion dollar payout in progress, something they've not done before that I recall. The four were from four payments, (two cars, half-years, in 2025), and totaled about 1/10 of the premiums we paid.
I bought some clearance butter cookies with sprinkles and the container had a large amount of crumbs in the bottom. I sprinkled them on some fresh raspberries and made an excellent dessert!
Statements have started coming in from my medical adventures over the last several months. Medicare and Part B plan are being very good to me.
The screen on my new laptop is not working right, so I temporarily switched back to my old one. We will see when the Death of Windows 11 Updates strikes.
Good week to all!
Not so frugal adventure to the hospital for over night IVs. I had met a friend who was in from another state for lunch 90 minutes way. Guess I got food poisoning.
The upside of this adventure was I snagged a bag of clothing and decor
Haha. You don’t want an “I <3 Jesus” hat? Shocking.
I thought there were 10 Bakelite pulls? I even went back and looked at the photo, and I think I see ten?
The two on the bottom appear to be different than the Bakelite ones, different color and a different shape as well
But, then there would be eight?
Absolutely NOTHING frugal here except MAYBE the stuff from the clearance aisle at Walmart which I didn't need but bought anyhow. Prescription was $5.00 for a 90 day supply of my glimepiride which is semi-frugal. Made myself buy panty liners as I have developed some urinary issues. Enough candy for 10 people but there's only one person and one spoilt cat here ROFLMBO. Bottled water. Safeway was earlier, breakfast sandwiches ice cream bars and other stuff.
I was planning to drive about an hour and a half to meet a friend for lunch today. But I had a terrible night, with stomach issues and aching legs, and I barely slept at all. I had no business getting into a car. So I called it off this morning. I continued to feel pretty bad most of the day but I seem to be getting better now.
I finished the Abigail Adams book and the Anne Frank limited series. Felt too crummy to accomplish anything else.
I sold a Barbie doll on eBay, which I had bought just for the dress, which I intended to put on a more popular Monster High doll. But it didn't fit her well, so I decided to just sell this Barbie with the dress and hope to get my money back. I actually did make a little profit, so that was good. I'll mail it tomorrow. (I donated the Monster High doll in all her naked glory. She was free, anyway.)
Well, it looks like I lost my post, so I'll do a quickie.
Sick today and last night. Had to cancel my lunch with my buddy, and I'm still struggling to feel better. But saved the cost of lunch and gas!
Sold a Barbie doll I didn't really expect to sell. I'll box her up tomorrow and get her in the mail. I didn't make much, but something's better than nothing.
Sorry about the repeats. There may be yet another! My posts didn't seem to stick!
Picked up an oval antique picture of someone I do not know, the picture frame once had curved glass. I put aside the photo, took a blank wreath frame, cut some hydrangeas, curly willow and lavender. Hung the wreath in the frame with a piece of braided jute. I put my new free wood rocking chair on the porch. Its seat is flat, so I made a denim cover for a free box chair pad.
Put my sleigh bells mounted on leather on the front door so I can hear if mom goes for a walk. The pup usually goes with her and she has a collar that I can talk to her (or give commands when she helps wrangle the animals).
Made Smitten Kitchens double chocolate banana loaf. It's cooling, but smells so good.
Picked up a random drawer for free, picked up a bag of casters at the free estate sale, put them on the drawer and now have full, easy access to a shelf in the wood shop.
1. Ate leftover food in the store's break room. Saturday, It was the last of a days-old birthday cake no one else wanted (or maybe they were just too lazy to wash the cake plate); today, I got a slice of pepperoni pizza. Not my favorite but the price was right:
always happy to get a free snack or meal.
2. If anyone thinks "crime doesn't pay," they haven't been watching over the air TV lately. Most of the programs are of the true crime genre: reruns of Dateline and 48 Hours plus dozens upon dozens of other real-life homicide investigations. If it's not real life crime, it's police dramas. I'm getting weary of all that, plus my TV hasn't picked up some weaker OTA stations I like since we insulated the west window, and my new antenna isn't doing a good job. So I am looking into what it'll take to get streaming services. I watched a paid program/commercial for Tablo and I wonder if anyone here has had any experience with it. The goal is to not have any monthly bills, as I prefer free entertainment. So what would you recommend?
3. Used my tabletop pizza oven and baked a frozen GF pizza that was much tastier than the break room one.
4. Brewed sun tea. One thing that our 105 degree weather is good for!
5. Did not start another trade war with Canada. And certainly did not insist that they named an aircraft carrier for me instead of a bonafide World War II Naval hero.
I also love break room freebies!
I'd recommend checking your local library. Mine has hoopla and Kanopy, which both offer free entertainment: books, shows, movies, documentaries, music. Maybe a friend will go halfsies with on a streaming service - several of our friends do this!
Have you tried Kanopy through your library?
You get 15 tickets a month but a few tickets gets you series like Father Brown for something like 5 days.
PBS costs me $60.00 a year but I get the entire amount as a charitable donation ( in Canada). Their Passport app has so many shows to watch.
You tube has many shows. It also has videos on so many interesting topics.
It does have advertising but seems easy to skip over.
Tubi is another free app for watching shows.
You might need to relocate your current antenna or look into a Mohu antenna. We pick up a number of channels with it and *if* we could rotate it, we'd pick up (most of the same) channels from the neighboring state (which would be mostly duplicate truth be told).
You'll have to find someone to schelf onto your roof however.
Selena, T and Amanda,
Thanks for the suggestions. I will look into all of them!
I already have an antenna tower at my house, put up and left behind by the prior owners. So I will go talk to the guy at the outdoor antenna store and see what he says. Might need to wait until the weather cools, as no one would want to work outside in this heat. My outdoor thermometer is reading 106 right now, at 3:45 p.m.
Back in the 70s, when I was a teen, my dad had tired of his ham radio hobby. So he put a color TV antenna and rotater on the antenna tower at our old home. We could turn the thing north and watch all the VHF stations in Dallas. That was an incredible thing!
Anyway, thanks for the suggestions!
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1. The Raspberry bushes in the yard are bursting with the fall crop.
2. I baked a Swedish Almond Cake and gave it to a friend for her birthday.
3. I gave up on a library book I couldn't get into. I'm happy I didn't spend any money on it.
4. We received a letter notifying us the state primary is coming up and asking us if we are willing to work that day at the town hall. Yes we are.
5. Unexpected and costly house and yard issues: 1. Our front stairs detached from the front porch. DH checked it out and saw we need a whole new staircase (three steps). He can't build those so a carpenter must be called. 2. A huge limb, really more like half the tree, fell into the yard but the top of the limb is caught up in the branches of other trees surrounding it. If it were to fall on anybody, it could be deadly. A tree company must be called to remove it. 3. A shutter blew off a second story window and our house is starting to look like Ma and Pa Kettle live here. To rectify it, a repair person must be called since I no longer allow DH to get up that high on a ladder.
All the more reason to continue living the frugal lifestyle.
No one goes to Goodwill for a reasonable price! We go for the bargains! I think that lady was snowing you.
I cancelled my lunch out today. The drive would have been more than an hour, and I was feeling very much under the weather, resulting in little sleep. I wouldn't have been safe on the road. So, a disappointment, but money saved.
I continued to feel poorly for most of the day, but I think I'm now getting better.
I made an unexpected sale on eBay -- a Barbie doll that was just a shot in the dark, since it wasn't vintage and it wasn't new. I didn't sell it for a lot, just pleased I sold it at all. I'll box it up and take it to the post office tomorrow.
1. I received a Mylky plant milk machine from someone who bought it and then didn’t use it. $300 machine for free, no strings attached. It makes 1.3 litres of almond milk in 60 seconds for less than half the cost of a single carton from the store. Absolute bargain. The chooks eat the leftover almond pulp with delight.
2. I’m recovering from the end of a massive project by spending a lot of time in bed, recovering and pottering around. Not buying myself presents or having celebratory meals. On Saturday I went to the library. Exciting stuff.
3. Reading said library books.
4. Harvesting broccoli and spinach from the garden. Homegrown broccoli is truly delicious. I just wish I’d grown more. Next year.
5. Picked up a free hydroponic herb growing thingy off the Buy Nothing group. I’ve eyed them off in the shop before but didn’t want to buy one in case it was a dud. Now I can try it for freeeeeee. Bit like the Mylky, which is actually excellent, by the way. Would I have spent $300 on it? Probably not. But I will use it now I have it, because a) I drink almond milk daily, b) it’s super easy to use and clean and c) it works out cheaper, more sustainable, with fewer additives. Win-win.
wow! Cool deal on the dresser handles!
1. I've been cutting and drying oregano from the garden.
2. I packed lunches.
3. bought multiple clearance items at Walmart
4. Buy ground turkey instead of ground beef.
5.Foind a penny.
Photos and more details here:https://practicalwalk.com/2026/08/23/frugal-five-oregano-ground-turkey/
Am I the only one who thinks those Bakelite handles are ugly? Beauty really is in the eye of the beholder!
1. DD and soon to be DSIL stayed overnight and suggested brunch out, but I made pancakes instead, which we had with our own raspberries, some blueberries and a couple of peaches that were perfectly ripe.
2. I had given DD my wedding rings a couple of years ago, as I separated from her Dad when she was small, and he has since passed away. She and her SO of 7 years have decided to get married, and she repurposed the rings into one with a beautiful sapphire, that she designed herself. She said she "hoped I didn't mind that she had used the rings". I said absolutely not, I love that! The rest of the ring she had made into a pendant.
3. Sent DD home with a cucumber, blackberries we picked this morning, some tea bags that I was having trouble getting through, some muffins I made, and 1/2 a jar of artichoke hearts that I have been also having trouble getting through.
4. We're planning a trip to Germany next May for a wedding. My cousin has kindly offered a week's dog sitting at my house, and the rest of the time we are away DD and DSIL will stay. I will pay my cousin something as we are quite far from her home, but saves us the headache of trying to find someone we trust to look after our girls.
5. DD and I are going to a concert in November in Vancouver. We live on Vancouver Island so have to stay over. I have found a 2 bedroom suite on homeexchange.com and we will stay 3 nights in the big city for free. I never go to Vancouver, so this should be quite fun. Thanks Katy for your ideas about what to do there.