Non-Consumer Photo Essay — Winco & Goodwill
by Katy on October 30, 2024 · 32 comments
My friend Lise and met up to go grocery shopping, as well a quick stop to the nearby Goodwill. It was the ideal activity for a rainy Oregon morning and hit the spot just perfectly. I didn’t actually need groceries as I’d just been on Sunday, but I’m always happy to be Lise’s plus one.
Especially since the Winco parking lot was handing out free money!
One thing I almost always grab when grocery shopping is spinach, as it’s versatile to either sauté or use as the base for a salad. This is my opportunity to point out, (as I’ve likely done in the past) that the small bag and the larger looking clamshell package both contain the exact same mount at ten ounces. It’s fluffed out in the hard plastic clamshell, which makes it look like more.
Would you rather spend $3.98?
Or $2.28?
Boom, I just saved you $1.70!
I also took a moment to peruse the clearance shelf for any potential bargains, where I came across a 13.5-pound bag of Chicken Soup For The Soul cat food for just $13.86. A quick look on Amazon* showed it priced at $45.59, so I grabbed a bag as I know my son is low on dry food for “Mama’s Little Meatball.”
You remember “Meatball,” right? Here she is last weekend during a visit to the house:
Our next stop was the Goodwill a couple blocks up the street, where I was briefly enamored with this homemade wood slab side table:
Unfortunately it was priced at $24.99, which was too rich for my blood, even though Wednesdays are 10%-off “senior discount day.” Goodwill considers you a “senior” at 55 years old and I’m not one to argue their premature aging!
I did buy this luggage stand, which is something I’ve been keeping an eye out for quite awhile.
I’d prefer a cool vintage stand, but I can hold onto this one until that variety enters my orbit. Priced at $7.99, (minus the 10% discount) it was an easier choice. I just think it’s much nicer for houseguests to not have to set their suitcases on the ground.
I also bought a J.Jill sweater, which somehow didn’t get photographed. It was priced at $9.99, but was the half-off color tag. Considering that this brand starts their sweaters at $80, I feel good about this purchase. Especially since I had an extra 25¢ burning a hole in my pocket.
Not too shabby of a morning.
Quick question — should I go back and grab an extra bag of this clearance price cat food?
Katy Wolk-Stanley
“Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without.”
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{ 32 comments… read them below or add one }
I enjoy hearing about your days. I’m in the midst of my week with the grandchildren. My one splurge was ice cream with my grandson. I picked up a few groceries at Aldi for them. Also put new elastic in my grandsons pajamas (they are 24 years old and belonged to my son!). I have my car loaded with things I’ll sell for them. We went to read-to-a-dog at the library. I babysat while DIL went food shopping. I brought free crafts to do and my knitting for the lulls. I’ve sold 2 items on FB marketplace while I’ve been away, my husband sets them out.
I love your busy-ness! And hooray for the repair of 24-year-old pajamas!
Yes, go back for the cat food
I often “ save’ on specials I know family members need, but have a bad habit of saying “ don’t worry about it” when payment is proffered! I need to remember list these in my budget as gifts, not savings!
Oh yeah. I won’t have my son reimburse me.
That seems to be the consensus!
1. Sold $10 item on fb marketplace
2. Bought a $5 gift item on fb marketplace
3. Packed breakfast bar, travel coffee mug and water bottle for 4 hr shift
4. Got estimate from hospital for upcoming surgery
5. Listed a couple of items
All of this adds up, good for you!
Get as much of that cat food as you can! Our cats thrived on it for a couple of years (until the friend’s store who would sell it to us at cost stopped carrying the brand).
You are very persuasive!
Make sure she’ll eat it first,they can be finicky little munchkins.
Yes, I need to do that.
Mama’s Little Meatball has grown into such a pretty cat. Love her tortie coat.
Today I went through the produce in the fridge and concocted a salad and potato-white bean-Italian sausage soup to use up things that needed to be eaten. The soup also included a big handful of the chopped green onions I regrew this summer. It is delicious and cost about 60 cents a serving.
Also mended a thrifted sweater, polished my shoes, used a bread bag as a glove while pooper-scooping the back yard, and mopped almost all the floors in the house with just a tiny squirt of Dawn detergent in each of the many buckets of water. (There’s a tremendous amount of tile in our house.)
She is truly the prettiest and softest kitty!
That soup sounds delicious, I’ll wait to finish up the butternut squash soup before I concoct another one.
Good eye on the spinach pricing! Unless I’m at the discount food store (where a huge clamshell of spinach is $2), I buy the bag since I can repurpose it to pick up dog poop. Since items at the discount store are at their final stop before being tossed, I can more easily justify buying something packaged in a non-environmentally friendly way, like the dreaded plastic clamshell. Only one high-priced store in my area sells loose spinach that I can put in my own bag. I used to prioritize the environment over price, but it was an expensive way to operate and hard to sustain.
I used to hate washing spinach, so I turn a blind eye to the spinach bag.
Thank you for posting frequently during this time of political angst – the distraction is appreciated.
I cleaned the inside of my car today while we are enjoying unseasonably warm weather. I have also been whittling away at fall chores and am close to done.
We have been working down the contents of the fridge, freezer and pantry in anticipation of being away in about a month. Lots of stuff “hiding” that is surfacing as they empty out. I am enjoying trying to use up my discoveries.
I went through my costume jewelry and cleaned a number of pieces using an electrical jewelry cleaning device I picked up at a thrift store. I have always been intrigued by them but never wanted to pay retail. But this one works really well.
I also collected a box of jewelry to gift to 3 friends I will see next month. They can sort through the items (things I no longer wear or “mistakes”). Anything they don’t want I will donate to the thrift shop I volunteer at.
I dug up a lot of daffodil and tulip bulbs last spring. I have relocated them to a new area. Not sure if they will thrive but nothing lost if they don’t.
Oh yes, I need the distraction as well. Daffodils seems unable to be killed, but that just might be my climate zone.
Not just you on the eternal daffodils. Part of their survival is that rodents don’t eat them, unlike the tulips they enjoy, or at least dig up to sample.
Mama’s Little Meatball is such a beautiful kitty! I love her markings. That’s a great deal on the cat food. I think you should go back and get more.
I’m thinking I should.
And if the meatball gets persnickety, you can always donate the unopened bag to a shelter OR give the rest of the open bag to someone who feeds ferals/has barn cats. I bought a certain type of wet food trying to determine if a cat’s issue was food allergy. Neither cat would eat it but the neighbors cats sure did.
Can I just take a moment to be very annoying? I’m a plant scientist, I studied plant biochemistry- couldn’t handle medicinal biochemistry as it involved lopping off heads of countless mice. Frozen spinach will be more nutritious!! I do buy fresh from a market gardener, and it is so delicious, but if you’re buying from a store may as well buy frozen.
But I like the fresh spinach for salads.
P.S. Yuk on the mouse heads.
The Meatball in full Tortie glory. While I love my two rescue cats, I miss a Tortie in my life. They rule and have such personality.
1. Got my flu and covid vaccinations, free of course.
2. The sales person at the flooring store sold me the wrong kind of tile for my bathroom floor. As annoyed as I was, I chose another one, which is less expensive, so I’ll save some money there.
3. Got an “emergency” supply of a medication I get by prescription. I ran out, and can’t get any until my doctor writes me a new one. Usually I have to pay for these (my insurance doesn’t seem to pay for these ones), but today’s cost me only $.64 for a week’s worth.
4. I joined homeexchange.com and put my cottage on it in hopes that some people will come and stay, and pay with “points” so that I can accumulate them to use in the future. The membership wasn’t cheap, but I’m hoping it will be well worth it. Our first “exchange” is scheduled for early December, and a couple is coming for a two nights.
5. DH has almost completed building our bathroom vanity for our addition. He has literally saved us thousands, no exaggeration, by doing this, and he is doing an amazing job.
I cast another vote for getting more of the cat food. And the Little Meatball has grown into a very big and lovely Hamburger Pattie!
I haven’t tried that kind of cat food before, like someone else said see if growing Miss Meatball likes it before getting more. I usually buy cat food in bulk at Costco, but I have a lot of cats.
1. Frugal Fail – Your pie twists inspired me earlier this week. I attempted to make pie crust rollups and had a successful test batch Tuesday. I pre measured the ingredients Tuesday night and went to make two batches yesterday for an office party today, but the dough was off. I realized after baking them I forgot to add the water….it was a fail, I tried baking them anyway but ended up throwing them away because they were just falling apart. I tried….
2. I looked in the pantry and found a bag of crackers and stopped at Publix and got a dip to accompany it. Yay!! I didn’t spend $20 plus on a party treat.
3. My car wouldn’t start the other day, so I had it towed through my insurance, but the car place said there seemed to be nothing wrong with it….I feel dubious, but they didn’t charge me for the inspection, and the tow was free.
4. I inquired about getting the dash board lights changed on my 22 year old vehicle. The mechanic shop said $1k to replace the entire board. I started to Google and Youtube came up with someone who does mods on Jeeps and he did a video showing how easy it was to remove the dash and change the lights. I ordered the lights on Amazon for $20. I’ll be testing my skills when they arrive.
5. Last night after a night class the boyfriend tempted me get take out, but I reminded him we had half a pan of shells at home. We not only went home and fed the entire family out of the fridge, but then had the failed baking attempt lol. I have decided to take it easy on grocery shopping this week and just focus on food we already have in the house. Plus there’s not too many tempting sales going on at the grocery store. I anticipate more closer toward Thanksgiving that I will want to stock up on.
Absolutely get another bag of cheapo-priced cat chow….it’ll keep and your feline needs it. Maybe buy 2 more. Save some cash and a trip to the store!
Mama’s Little Meatball looks so much like my mother’s Rascal, may both Mom and cat rest in peace, that they could be twins. (The cats, not my mom…) Maybe you have Rascal in another of her 9 lives. Please be very careful during the Halloween season, as that’s when our fur baby disappeared.
I’m so sorry that your kitty disappeared, how awful. Mama’s Little Meatball won’t be here on Halloween and “Zelda” doesn’t have wanderlust, so she’s good about not trying to escape. However, that is an excellent reminder and I will certainly keep a tight eye on her while opening the door tonight.
I love that your mother and my son shared the same type of kitty, our one is absolutely the best!
I always find the spinach in the bag goes smushy faster than the spinach in the clamshell. Any tips to avoid smushy spinach?
I wish I had a great hack, but I’m pretty good at using it up quickly. Maybe put the spinach in ice water to refresh it?