Four Frugal Things -- I Sold The Needlepoint Bench!
1. I sold my thrifted $13.50 bench for my full asking price of $100 after six days on Facebook Marketplace! Fourteen people messaged about the bench, mostly offering lower prices, but I held out until I got what I felt it was worth. This piece was one of a kind and the original artisan must've spent hundreds of hours and at least $100 on the wool embroidery floss.
The woman who came by for it was very excited to add it to her home and I'm happy to have found it for her.
2. The sun made an appearance after days of dramatic atmospheric river nonsense. The windows are open and the heat is off! I'm fully aware that this is a brief moment in time, but I'll take the fresh air and birdsong whenever it presents itself.
Tomorrow is back to normal, but at least we Portlanders can look forward to Monday -- 66 degrees and no rain?! Swoon . . . I might need to start a plan for some kind of outdoor activity.
3. I went to the Woodstock Goodwill to scout for fresh merchandise and left empty handed. However, I did find a few items that gave me pause and prompted me to look them up on Google Lens and/or eBay.
- First was this glass oversize beer bottle. It was very cool, but was priced at $19.99 and would be a nightmare to ship were I to list it on eBay. It's a groovy item for a home bar and I would've picked it up to sell locally were it priced around $5.
- Next up was this pair of Ralph Lauren plaid comforters. Priced at just $7.99 apiece, I was tempted to actually buy them for my own household with the option to resell. (Remember the "Ralph Lauren Christmas" trend from a few months ago?) I'll have three early April houseguests soon and that's still cozy blanket weather here in sunny Portland, Oregon. In the end I didn't buy them as they're not quite my style, plus I noticed a few unraveled stitches.
Ugh, now that I'm writing this I'm thinking perhaps I should've bought them after all. Blankets are actually very easy to mail. Sure they're bulky, but you can make a custom package out of a thick garbage bag or even multiple used mailers.
- Lastly, I looked up this vintage art deco pepper shaker, as it reminded me of the O'Keefe & Merritt shakers that can sell for a pretty penny. My memory was off though and this shaker wouldn't have been a profitable pickup.
4. Yesterday was day two of random ingredient burritos for dinner, which is a wonderfully frugal meal as it utilizes whatever you have on hand. For me that was sautéed peppers, rice and beans, tater tots, (crisped up in the waffle iron) cherry tomatoes and green chile salsa.
Might also be tonight's dinner!
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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My motto is that you can not have enough blankets or sheets bc I am forever needing them or my kids are needing them.
1. I walked an hour in my neighborhood in the beautiful weather we are having today.
2. Along those lines I have opened the windows in my house!
3. I cleaned my filthy house, or at least made it more presentable.
4. I ate some more of the Tightwad Gazette Lentil casserole and a serving of the corned beef/cabbage/potatoes/carrots/onions/turnips meal I made for St. Patrick’s Day. I don’t think it will last that long.
5. I took a nap because it is Saturday and I can.
1) Went to an included with my membership workout class today, so taking advantage of what I pay for.
2) Drove my electric car, to avoid needing gas
3) I cancelled my Kindle membership, so I'm reading through all of my currently checked out books before my membership ends.
4) Fed both DS's bagels from the freezer for breakfast. Glad to have someone home again who eats carbs!
5) Pulled grilled chicken out of the freezer for dinner tonight, which I'll pair with salad, and maybe edamame.
I love that bench! Glad you found a worthy buyer!
I went to Aldi this morning and bought creamer, butter, salad, cream cheese, granola, crescent rolls, and oatmeal cookies. $22. Thought I was getting the cheaper granola, but it turned out they were all the same price, despite shelf labels.
I also ran by the little free library and picked up canned pumpkin and a bottle of green veggie juice.
It started to snow this afternoon, which was a surprise -- it wasn't supposed to happen until Monday. So I walked inside at the community center and also returned a book and picked up two on hold.
A friend asked to borrow quilts, blankets and pillows for visiting company. I said yes, but I didn't hear back, so she must have made do, or got what she needed from someone else. I'm always happy to loan things to responsible people. It's how we make best use of our resources! I may hear from her yet, but it's getting late in the day.
I watched the second episode of Outlander season 8, and then cancelled my free trial. I'll just wait until it wraps up to figure out how to watch it for free. I'm going to have to be careful to avoid spoilers! Patience always pays off.
Congratulations on selling the bench for list price! It is gorgeous and the buyer got a deal.
1. I carefully used coupons to buy only things we have used up and needed to replace saving $14.32.
2. I have vegetarian chili simmering right now. This morning I made Crazy Spice Cake for snacking. Cooking in advance as we are in for a week of heat dome/heat alert weather starting tomorrow. It really is typical August/September weather but what can you do but pull out summer clothes?
3. Did some yard work in advance of the heat too.
We are also enjoying perfect weather in-between cold fronts. So I read and ate lunch on the
back porch and Snugs enjoyed his bone nearby. Perfect morning!
Snuggles has been digging in my flower bed so I sprinkled a liberal amount of red pepper flakes in and around his hole. Hope it discourages his efforts at excavating!
Went to work and who should come through my checkout lane but the neighbor who had the rotten movers come to her home. Even luckier it was a slow time, so I told her about the moving van damage. Her remodeler hired them and she promised to make him get the mover's contact info so I can recoup my expenses.She was horrified to hear what happened. She agreed I should not have to pay a dime when it was the mover's careless driver that caused the tree to topple.
This morning some guys with a pickup truck came by and loaded a lot of the oak logs on their truck. Then a gal with a wheelbarrow came and got a bit more. I'm hoping all of it will be gone by the time I go home tonight. (I'm writing this during my break,)
Although this cost me money, I’m counting it as frugal. My 5 year old is desperate for a pet kitten, she talks about it constantly and told me she uses all her wishes (birthday candles, dandelions, holding her breath in a tunnel, etc) for a kitten and her wish never comes true. We aren’t getting any pets until the kids are a bit older though. Today we were downtown and there was an event with small vendors setup in a parking lot. One of the booths was a tent (like for camping) with kittens inside and you could make a donation to the pet rescue for a chance to go in the tent and play with the kittens. My daughter was delighted, she was so happy and it was such a fun experience. I donated extra to the rescue to thank them. Also, all the kittens had already been adopted earlier in the day (but not picked up yet) so there was no temptation to adopt one.