Non-Consumer Photo Essay
by Katy on September 7, 2025 · 14 comments
Yesterday was the first Saturday of the month, which meant there was nothing short of a level five hurricane to keep me from hitting the Franz Bakery Outlet!
Because:
Even though all their bargain bread is priced the same, I was still judicious with my purchases. because this sleeve of English muffins:
Was not as much of a bargain as its neighbor, packaged for the restaurant trade:
In all, I bought four bread items, including this 16-pack of hamburger buns! It might be time for a batch of my black bean burgers!
People complain about Goodwill pricing, which I totally understand as I’ve certainly been baffled by their $10 Target T shirts. However, you can still locate the bargains that hide between the overpriced items. Just yesterday I found these two items in their furniture section.
This antique oak dining table, priced at $24.99:
Next to an IKEA rolling cart, priced at $19.99:
I also stopped into Fred Meyer for eggs and milk, but made sure to meander through their clearance areas. I scored tomatoes and limes, (both $1.50 per package) plus a bottle of $1.05 organic barbecue sauce. I scanned my Red Cross gift card, which is now sadly depleted. Might be time to schedule another blood letting donation.
My total out of pocket cost for all this food was $4.79, the 79¢ being how much I had to pay after the gift card.
The best part of my day which was wholly undocumented was that I ran into two separate blog readers at the Franz outlet, which was great fun. I always love meeting fellow nonconsumers! Great to meet you, Linda and Katy!
Katy Wolk-Stanley
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The first weekend of Fall was college football from
AM to PM
1. We had leftovers in between games.
2. I shipped 2 online sales
3. Took dog to friends for free nail grinding
4. Gathered a box of odds and ends for my sisters upcoming garage sale
5. Today I pulled a few weeds, trimmed roses, planted some clippings from sisters house and used coffee grounds to fertilize roses.
Thanks for the reminder to use coffee grounds for fertilizer! I’m not a big coffee drinker, but my husband has a cup every morning.
1. My teen asked for me to add two things to the shopping list. Instead I shopped our home and found an alternative for both items.
2. My bestie and I share two streaming services and split the cost. We usually swap which service we pay for each year to get the best promo deal. We just did our annual switch for one of them. The cost would have been $60 to renew and it’s $30 to switch and freshly subscribe. $15 for the year is a win for me.
3. I cleaned and pulled out the 3 tiny fall decorative items, a fall flower vase, and a fall tapestry I own. I put some pothos plant cuttings in the vase (I’d love some fresh flowers but they are $$.), hung the tapestry, and traded some photo frame prints to give the house a cozy fall vibe. $0 spent.
4. I picked up a beautiful snake plant that someone dropped for me at the local place we meet for our monthly social group. It’s huge, and gorgeous!
5. I’m using some nearly expired applesauce to make some applesauce bread. This way the house will smell like fall too. It will be great with the coffee I am still drinking from my parent’s give away haul.
Hi Christina! I’m not sure what streaming services you have, but I wanted to also recommend that Hulu has a great black Friday deal. We pay $3/month with ads.
By chance, I saw a link on another blog about free or lower cost dental care at dental schools, with a search-by-state function. Although it might not work for Melissa N, who has written about her tooth problem, here it is:
https://www.newmouth.com/resources/dental-schools/
(The website has search functions for dentists— I only looked at the part about schools).
1. I have been on my bread making grind! I found this truly delicious and simple bread recipe that my family has been loving, and it’s an easy way to keep cost down and bellies full. Here’s the recipe for those who are interested: https://www.recipetineats.com/easy-yeast-bread-recipe-no-knead/#h-how-to-make-the-world-s-easiest-homemade-bread-artisan-style
2. My family recently switched over to a powder laundry detergent from a gigantic bottle of Costco brand. I’m not sure if it actually is cheaper, but we’ve been getting it in bulk from our local zero waste store. My partner was apprehensive at first, but it works! And I feel better about reducing the plastic waste, which I think is frugal in itself.
3. I have been meaning to get together with my friend from work for awhile now, and we were originally going to go out for drinks at a local restaurant. Since budgets are tight, she’s coming to my house instead and my live in bartender (aka my partner) will be making spicy mango margaritas for us instead.
4. I switched my cat over to a local brand of cat food. It is a little more expensive, but the pet warehouse offers a “buy 10 get one free” punch card. I’m slowly working myself away from purchasing from big corporations and making intentionally healthy choices for my family. It’s a process.
5. We did a quick clean around the house for company today, using cleaning sprays we make at home and rags that I made from old t shirts in college. When I was cleaning, I was reflecting on how long I have had my vacuum cleaners and felt an appreciation for the things that I have kept in working order. When we moved to our new apartment, I almost bought a fancy vacuum, but since I only really use it for the rugs, it wasn’t worth it.
Had a wonderful surprise running into Katy at the Franz Outlet. My daughter and I then went on to Grocery Outlet. A great afternoon with my kid, and as a bonus, a Katy-sighting!
Sadly I have been too busy (or happily, I have been working) to respond lately, but I just did a few micro-frugals to share:
1. I saved the blank “This Page Intentionally Blank” last pages from my husband’s many Medicare/insurance mailings, and made a scratch pad of them, shredded the important pieces.
2. Made gazpacho this morning for today’s lunch out of several sad tomatoes that the snails or hornworms got to, and the parsley stems after I made a bowl of taboulleh for a potluck party we are attending later today. If you make a spicy tomato smoothie, aka gazpacho, it makes a delicious, cool, no-waste lunch.
3. My husband’s senior league softball team has been playing in the park right where I pick blackberries, so for two nights I have picked berries before and after the games (which I walked to), Blackberries in the freezer, and a BB crisp made last night. Free, free, free.
4. All of my sad apples are about to jump in the crock pot and become applesauce. All free or sad leftovers from a misbegotten bag from the store. No waste. The cores and peels will go into a future batch of apple cider vinegar.
5. I have been coaxing my mom into using her tablet as a Kindle. She keeps saying she needs to buy a Kindle, but I explained that the free app is the same as buying a Kindle (more or less). And she can also download Libby. She had no idea, and I have just saved her $$$.
Beautiful fall weather here in the mid-Sierras, Nor Cal.
You’ve got me more aware of the clearance produce at Kroger. I recently bought a bag of limes, gave three away, kept four, and will try and squeeze some juice out of the remaining six then to the compost they go – all for $1.50.
I went to our local bakery and got their $2 day old loaves. It’s still a good deal (not as good as yours though!) and I’m supporting a local business.
Impressive haul for less than $5!
A friend gave me a mini rose, kalanchoe and orchids that were thru blooming. Her family brings her plants or blooming flowers every week. I will re-pot and propagate for future hostess gifts.
Picked up a box of jelly jars at the community recycling center.
Harvested oregano, thyme and sage to dry in the hot water closet.
Picked a bucket of red peppers, onions, basil and oregano to chop up and freeze.
Making a big batch of fresh salsa, Insta pot pinto beans, chorizo and guacamole for tonight’s big family dinner. Sheet cake cheesecake with strawberries, blackberries, raspberries and salted caramel sauce.
Cousin dropped off a 5gallon bucket of beeswax to clean up and prepare for use.
I made your black bean burgers this week and served them with oven fried sweet potatoes. Yum! I thought of you during dinner lol
I feel that I’ll see you in the wild one of these days. I’ll probably be too shy to say something.
My husband broke his Starbucks mug. After a moment of silence, I reminded him that it wouldn’t be necessary to purchase a replacement mug since mugs often appear out of thin air. Today, I was out walking and found a nice Starbucks mug in a free pile. The mug is from their “Been there” series, and the featured city is my hometown, which is a 2,000 miles distance from here.
I’m on a mission to use up items from my freezer. One item taking up too much space was a loaf of “Seattle sourdough sandwich round sourdough bread” that I bought for $1 from the Franz wall of bargain bread. It’s not very tasty. I made bread pudding with some of it. The bread pudding wasn’t good. Frugal fail! I’ll use the rest to feed to crows… if the crows will have it.
1. Went to my son’s house yesterday for free entertainment ala board games.
2. Went to the gym this morning (free to me) and found a receipt in the parking lot to scan on Fetch.
3. Bought paint and supplies after confirming with my grandson that he will paint my bathroom. No special deal at Home Depot, but I did get a free paint can opener and stirring stick! Also got the free advice of a painting pro who was shopping there.
4. Ran my car through the cheap carwash, where the vacuum is free. Afterwards I handwiped the areas the water couldn’t reach.
5. My tire pressure light came on, so I went to Midas. They checked for leaks and nails, determined that I just needed air, which they added, and there was no charge.
6. Using up my perishables — I had strawberries for breakfast, and home fries for dinner. Made a personal size pizza for lunch with some leftover pizza dough from the freezer, and green peppers and mushrooms as toppings. Used marinara instead of pizza sauce, and it was fine.