One Frugal Thing — Selling to Powell’s Books
by Katy on September 29, 2025 · 21 comments
I finally brought a crate of books I’ve been schlepping in the back of my car since June into Powell’s Books. Mind you, these are all free books I grabbed after a neighborhood garage sale day. The Powell’s in my neighborhood only buys books on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, plus parking is a challenge on this specific street, which is how this task took so long to complete.
They only took a half dozen or so books, which was fine as I got them all for free! I ended up with a bit more than $20 in store credit, which’ll be fun to spend at some point.
One thing I made sure to document was their info on what books they actually want:
As well as authors:
I put the remainder of the books in my little free library for my neighbors to enjoy and I can put my “Crap, I need to deal with that!” energy towards better things.
Now your turn, what frugal things have you been up to?
Katy Wolk-Stanley
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{ 21 comments… read them below or add one }
Cleaning the house myself. I am 77 and there are 5 of us in our house. My adult kids with Down syndrome help a lot but no one deep cleans like a mom. Cooking meals from scratch even when I don’t want to. Thrifted Halloween costume for daughter, pumpkin shirt and home team soccer shirt. Reading books from free library, library and Libby. Donated 2 hydrangeas to plant swap at farmers market. Brought home 2 house plant cuttings to root in water and then pot up.
1. I roasted the cherry tomatoes that our house sitter left. Neither my partner nor I like cherry/grape tomatoes raw, but are fine with oven-roasted.
2. I just ordered 10 pounds of coffee. While excessive, it means that I can get it for $6.56 per pound, it is a type that my partner and I both like, and I was able to pay for it with a gift certificate that I had received for fun “work” (being a trendspotter). This should keep us in coffee through the end of the year (we make 1 French press pot per day).
3. Partner brought home another bouquet of flowers (this time dahlias) from work, as someone didn’t pick up their CSA share. LOVE fresh flowers in the house, but I’ll only pay if we are having a dinner party, so this feels fancy! Partner was also given 6 bottles of Sabadi Aranciata Madre (high end Sicilian orange drink mixer), which retails at $16 per bottle. It is at its “best by” date, which is why they were pulled from the shelf, but SCORE!
4. I downloaded a new game from Fetch to get the bonus “play” points. I always download a new game, as the earlier one, the easier it is to reach the milestones. I was able to earn 4000 points for about 15 minutes of playing. This is really the only way that I can earn big points on Fetch as we rarely buy name brands (and I had no luck finding an extra receipt at the store yesterday!)
5. Partner’s brother screwed up (big time), and so his lovely girlfriend broke up with him. We are bummed. The frugal result is that it means 2 fewer gifts at the holidays (she has a son for whom we would have also gotten a gift).
(Also belated: I hope your husband is on the mend!)
I made a chicken pot pie from scratch for dinner with my MIL and middle daughter. I took the leftovers for dinner the next night with my mom and sister. It was delicious and very frugal.
I’m happy to hear that your husband is feeling a little better today.
Glad you were able to get it done. I have cans in my car that I need to do. Sometimes I’m in a rush, sometimes there is a line and sometimes the machines are full. I do love when I get them done.
1. Hubby and I went to a free yard sale at a local church yesterday morning. They asked for toiletries for their Outreach program. I went through my stockpile of things I get on sale and clearance. I put together a nice bag of stuff. I hope it helps some people. At the free sale I got 2 puzzles, 2 books, 3 leaf plates, a DVD, a CD, a small basket, a picture frame, and a bunch of loose colored pencils. They also had tons of bananas and Krispy Kreme glazed donuts. We each took a bunch of bananas. Some are slightly spotted and will be fine. Some are still green. I ate one on the way home. We passed on the donuts. I made muffins with some of the bananas last night and Hubby took some of them to work with him
2. We stopped at 2 yard sales. I bought a DVD and 2 WII games. They were supposed to be 50¢ each but they gave them to me for $1 total. The second one I got 2 small Christmas pillows for $1 total. Hubby and I stopped and went for a walk in a local park. We saw people riding horses and lots of dogs and children. It is a beautiful day out.
3. Hubby made a double batch of chili last night. Still trying to use up everything in my garden. Saturday I made 2 zucchini pies, 1 regular and 1 dairy free for Hubby. I need to fry up some more eggplant too and make more pickles. These are good problems to have. I have been sharing with family and friends.
4. I have a day off today. I am cleaning out the office. It is way overdo. I have bags labeled with each of our adult children’s names on them. I have put yearbooks and photo albums in them so far. When I see them I will give them their bags. I have enough of my own stuff so they need to take theirs. If my son wants the stuff I will put it into a Rubbermaid bin in the basement for him. He lives in a small apartment. The other 2 have their own homes so it is all going.
5. I did a load of laundry yesterday 1st thing in the morning and hung it out while we were gone. I waited to turn the dishwasher on after 7pm because that is when our electric rates drop. Today I have the windows open. Water from washing garden beds was poured onto my fruit trees. The dog’s bowl gets dumped and washed every morning. I use the water in house plants. She always gets the water dirty.
I hope your husband is recovering.
Nice that your used book store is so specific about what they want. Ours is not. We have been trying to get a few boxes over to them every couple of weeks this summer. Many, many books in our house! We sometimes get cash, mostly store credit which I usually share with a few homeschooling friends. We do not need more books!
Did a big shop this week so stocked up for at least two weeks. It is finally a bit cooler, so I have soups on the menu.
Gave a few bigger office items to our niece, good to share and good to have those things out of the house.
Staying home and enjoying the cooler weather on our deck. No shopping happening there.
I used to see people at thrift stores, scanning books into an app that let them know the value. What do you know about that? I assume that goodwill has some sort of automated process to find the “good” books and send them to e-commerce, since I don’t see people doing it as much anymore.
Good for you for clearing out the crap. I need to do that! There are too many books at my house.
I had good luck with such book, CD, DVD services a few years ago, (though I never did hand scanning, just entered bar codes at home), but one company closed, and another changed its name or merged with another. I was very disappointed when I tried it a month ago. They would make an offer, then drop it when I logged on, something in their search algorhythm just didn’t seem right. As they offer free shipping with at least a $7.50 total, yet several of the books were only going to make 23 cents, I gave up and donated them.
Heidi Louise, and Li,
I briefly used an app called BookScoutr (or a similar name, it was quite awhile ago) to scan book barcodes. I agree, GW must already scan the books they put out, because any book I scanned had little to no resale value. I wasnt a book reseller, but was curious to find out if that would be a good side gig for me (I decided nope).
What? No Jane Austen on Powell’s author list? I’m shocked.
And I hope that Mr. NCA is continuing to heal after his accident. Best wishes to you all.
1. Our Jewel grocery store gives something away for free every Saturday. Usually it’s something I’m not interested in. But this Saturday they gave away a liter bottle of cold brew coffee. Now that I like! Got one. Also picked up a couple of receipts.
2. I found a dime in the alley.
3. The little free pantry had day-old bread. I took a pack of hot dog buns.
4. I found two clean plastic bags to reuse as wastebasket liners.
5. While at Jewel, I inquired about an online “clipped” coupon I didn’t get credit for last week. They gave me the 50¢ in cash, which immediately went into my laundry cup.
Free piles are rare around here, so it’s worth saying that I did encounter one the other day. Unfortunately, it was all toys, and my grandchildren are all too old for that. I did pick up a set of dream catchers from one of the little free libraries, but I decided my grandchildren wouldn’t really care about that, either, so I returned them to another LFL. I saw later that they were gone, so I’m glad I gave them up.
Developed a bad cold and am getting through it in frugal ways:
1. In desperation at the beginning, I took some long-expired OTC medication; it seemed to help. Once I got different meds, I put the old ones in a box for bringing to disposal site.
2. Used a test kit on hand to confirm that I didn’t have COVID.
3. Other things on hand were lemon drops (gift), herbal tea (marked down to $1/box of 20 bags), honey (gift), handkerchiefs (used those up before getting out the Kleenex box that I have for guests; then realized it would be more economical to use toilet paper), and sipping broth (received from Buy Nothing).
4. Took a long, hot, not-frugal shower and used my mesh bag containing soap slivers to exfoliate my face and body.
5. Applied nice-smelling lotion that I received from Buy Nothing.
6. Changed into a fresh pair of jammies that I’ve had for 15 years.
7. Replaced my toothbrush with a free one that I had received from my dentist.
8. Read four library books (Of Time and Turtles; The Next Conversation; The Anthropocene Reviewed; and Chief Rondo).
A blessing your husband is on the mend. I wondered if one of his colleagues picked him up in the ambulance. Healthcare is a small world. The hospital employees may have known him too since he likely dropped off patients in the ER. Hoping they took extra good care of him as a fellow 1st responder.
My frugal doings:
1. Got x-rays & dental cleaning with no out of pocket.
2. Got some free eggplant on Nextdoor neighbor. I think I will make a lasagna using the eggplant instead of meat.
3. I curb picked a puzzle for the cats. You put treats in it & they have to open the little chambers to get the food. One cat can solve the puzzle, one cannot.
4. I’m doing more decluttering & filling boxes for the pet charity. I have a box of plastic hangers for my friend. The rest go for donations.
5. I have a large heavy light fixture & a used mailbox to go to restore. I know the feeling of having a junky car full of donations. It feels good to get the donations to their destination.
I didn’t know they had puzzle toys for cats. I’d love to see mine try one…
The cat puzzle toy I have has 3 different ways to “hide” the treats. My cat figured them all out in nothing flat. She loves her treats!
Another awesome Portland treasure… Powell’s.
I keep a box of books to share at the LFL I pass by when visiting towns.
In a visit with a neighbor, found out he was selling a small rototiller same brand and size that I need. Gave me the good neighbor deal. Sweet!
Enjoying a rainy day with a nice cup of tea, cat curled beside me.
Keeping Mr. NCA in my thoughts. You as well.
1. Woke up sick today. Slept most of the day so no money spent.
2 was able to cobble together meals so no take out!
3. I mentioned in a previous post that Lupine pet harnesses and leashes have a lifetime warranty if they get chewed. You just upload a picture of the chewed item, pay $3 shipping (used to be free) and they send you new one. Well my new dog leash came today! (The one I uploaded I found in a free pile) $3 for a $25 leash yes please!
4. Got burger on sale, but the limit of 4 packs. Got some other meat on sale. Located all the coffee I stocked up on a while ago. I’m the only one who drinks it it lasts a long time.
5. With store coupons, BOGO, clearance, and bonus sales I got $180 worth of food for $70. Crazy. I was so very happy when the total popped up.
Katy, while I appreciate your continuing to post —
You’ve got way more important things to take care of right now. We can wait. Give us a post once a week while your husband recovers.
And my best wishes for his quick healing!
We stopped into Grocery Outlet. They had 2# bags of Cascadian Farms granola for $.27/bag. They were a few days past their Best By date but DH doesn’t care. He has been on a bit of a granola binge lately. I also bought an 18 count box of Lara bars for $5.99. We like to keep our snack prices low and also like to have at least some nutritional value to them. I bought a bag of chips made with white beans. They are not the best but I will work my way through them, they do contain some protein and fiber.
1) Had chicken & dumplings (made in the crockpot a week or so ago, and frozen) for a quick lunch while I worked.
2) Chased United & dutifully filled out my forms to receive credits & the European compensation for my cancelled flight.
3) Promptly submitted my travel expenses, so I can get reimbursed by work.
4) Returned a few things I bought & didn’t need. Bundled all of them into one errand.
5) Pulled taco meat out of the freezer, and turned that into a quick dinner.
Yay for credit for books! I really want to read the new Ian McEwan book that just came out, but I guess I will wait til it gets to the library.
1. Found an ice pack for 39 cents at CVS (summer clearance, last one). Daughter needed one for lunch. Daughter promptly lost the screw-on top, rendering it useless…
2. Made gravy last night with tomatoes and herbs from the garden, for tonight’s dinner.
3. Bugged Wawa via email to give me points for a receipt when I forgot to bring my rewards card — they complied! Used points towards fast dinner for daughter after practice last night.
4. Made parslied potatoes Saturday night as part of dinner. Made too many and had them for dinner Sunday and Monday night too, by themselves, with sour cream. Kind of “taking one for the team” but they were pretty good.