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My husband’s friend gave him four last minute tickets to a Trail Blazers basketball game, which at this level start at $105 apiece. (Plus we got free parking!) Although our son was up for the spontaneous adventure, we did let one ticket go to waste as we weren’t able to scrounge up a fourth person.
We resisted the delicious pricey food options at the stadium and instead hit up a British pub afterwards. My husband and I split a huge plate of fish and chips and our son had a reuben. While my husband enjoyed an IPA, (Nasty bitter drink, blegh!) my son and I drank water. Cheaper by far than the cost of a single NBA ticket!
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I put an hour or so of research into whether the recent $488 screen replacement on my 2022 Apple Macbook was covered under our credit card’s extended warranty coverage. I looked through our statements from that month for our airline credit card as well as our credit union one, (which barely gets used) and couldn’t find a record of the transaction. It turns out my husband used his Apple Card, which ironically does not provide extended warranty coverage, even for Apple products.
How is this frugal? It’s this attention to finicky finances that keeps us financially above water and often yields the best rewards. It didn’t pay off this time, but now I know to make sure all future electronic purchases are made on the airline credit card as they actually double the manufacturer’s warranty!
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My mother treated me to a one woman play about Eleanor Roosevelt, which was fascinating. I’d never given a moment’s thought to the woman, so it was all new information to me. However, the 105 minute production was without an intermission and had church pews as seating, so my back is sore as f— today.
I guess that’s the price of infotainment.
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• I spent an hour or so prepping food this afternoon to use up some bits and bobs of random fridge food. I made veggie fried rice, red lentil soup and then peeled and rough cut carrots to ready them for roasting. I love roasted carrots, but my energy level seriously lags by dinner time.
• I submitted an invoice for some reimbursable expenses.
• I ran a loop of grocery errands, buying nothing more than what was on my list. Gluten-free soy sauce at H Mart, 39¢/lb bananas at Safeway and a pair of raspberry Hamantaschen from New Seasons.
• I needed to switch up this summer’s flight to NYC and was able to do so without paying any extra. I’d paid with airline points and was actually refunded 1000 back into my account.
• I went to Trader Joe’s with my son and saw for myself that their infamous 19¢ bananas indeed increased in price to 23¢. A sad moment for certain. I thought they were like Costco’s $1.50 hotdog deal — a loss leader and a gift to their customers. Perhaps it’s a sign time to take a break from Trader Joe’s and their union busting practices.
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I didn’t buy a Lear Jet.
Katy Wolk-Stanley
“Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without.”
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I was craving a sweet treat something awful last night, which only grew stronger as the hours passed. I scoured the cupboards and fridge for something anything to feed this desire and came up empty as stupid me never buys premade snacks or desserts.
Sure, I had a brownie mix in the cupboard, but that seemed like overkill as it’s just us empty nesters in the house these days. (9″ X 13″ pan of brownies for two people? That’s a dangerous game, friend-o!) But then I remembered depression era wacky cake, which makes a small cake requiring neither eggs nor butter. Add in that you mix the ingredients in a single 8″ X 8″ baking dish and a plan began to form.
There are many recipes online that differ a bit, but here’s what I made:
Depression Era Wacky Cake
1-1/2 cups flour
3/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/3 cup canola oil
1 tablespoon distilled white vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup of water
Mix everything together in the pan (No mixing bowls to clean!) and bake at 350° F for 30 minutes. That’s it!
I didn’t sift a damned thing, I didn’t grease the pan and I didn’t make frosting; instead I chose to serve it warm with a dusting of powdered sugar.
Absolutely hit the spot and scratched that itch for a sweet treat!
P.S. It’s accidentally vegan.
Katy Wolk-Stanley
“Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without.”
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Curb picking the Lego shelf for our attic space prompted a two day project where I went through absolutely everything in the room. I decluttered, I organized, I reconfigured where everything went and I didn’t buy a single item to support the project.
It would been so satisfying to have all our storage supplies match, but my goal is to avoid spending money on unnecessary items. Always, for both monetary and environmental reasons! Plus laziness, as who has the energy and mental space to drive across town and decide what to buy? The perfect example of “make it do.”
By the way, this room had become so overfilled, as to be dangerous to walk through. Pulling out a suitcase took both strength and fortitude.
Manga chair — circa 2012
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My husband is working to fix the Manga Chair that I made for my daughter back in 2012. The connection between the legs and the seat broke and we set it in the attic until we could “get to it.” And so it sat for at least five years. He had to get creative with the leg connections, but it’ll actually end up sturdier than when it was new.
After all, this was a thrifted Target chair, not a Stickley piece. People discuss “fast fashion,” but “fast furniture” is also an issue, as the thousands upon thousands (millions?) of low quality items being manufactured are not designed to last and are often unrepairable.
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I baked a loaf of artisan bread using the 99¢/5-lb flour that I bought in December. I was hoping that New Seasons would repeat their baking season loss leader for Easter, but so far they haven’t.
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I gave away an unearthed portable stereo system through my Buy Nothing group, that I actually got from someone in the group maybe ten years ago.
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I didn’t thrift a Lear Jet.
Katy Wolk-Stanley
“Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without.”
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My friend Lise and I took a walk around the neighborhood the other evening and hit free pile gold! (Well, I did as Lise isn’t on the prowl as much as I am.) Because what’s my love language?
Free Storage solutions!
Luckily the shelf was still there when I circled back with the minivan. The owner even help me carry it into the car and I was somehow able to schlep it into the house by myself! I knew the moment I saw this shelving unit that it would be perfect to store the kids’ Lego bins that clutter our attic storage space. We already had the bins, so there was no money out of pocket.
I mean, how perfect is this storage solution?!
And then on the drive home, the curb picking G-ds shone upon me again with this garden planter:
Very cool design with wood rounds over a sturdy plastic pot. A bit filthy, but I never shy away from a project, but the best part was on the bottom of the pot, because . . . hello!
Yeah, that’s a $60 price tag!
The cherry on top of the double hot fudge sundae is that the pot is the right size for my vintage wrought iron plant stand. A plant stand that’s murdered two ceramic flowerpots through the years as the design is top heavy. Using a light weight (and not breakable) pot is the perfect solution. I still had the propagated spider plant from the last broken pot, which slotted perfectly into its new home.
A very productive walk through the neighborhood.
Katy Wolk-Stanley
“Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without.”
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I stopped by the Goodwill near my father’s house and splurged on a like new queen size Ikea Kärrdunört duvet cover and pillow case set for just $9.99. I’d admired this pattern in the store as it’s William Morris adjacent without the William Morris price tag. For this bedding set, patience was key.
The old duvet cover in my son’s old bedroom had a fair number of snags on it and I’d passively been keeping an eye out for a replacement. We currently have three spare bedrooms, but this room is our main one as it has a full-size bed. (The other spares have a twin and a fold-out couch.) I want it to be guest ready at all times.
I know the duvet pattern looks a bit discordant against the bold stripes from my son’s middle school years, but I don’t have it in my heart to paint over them yet.
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I pulled out a saved pair of shoelaces and cut them in half to sew into the corners as Ikea doesn’t put ties inside their duvets. (Why Ikea, why?!) I hate how comforters bunch up in duvets without some form of attachment, so this is my hack. There may be a better solution, but this method works for me so I don’t overthink it.
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My husband pulled out our standing fan last night only to discover that it had fallen over, and the circular plastic piece that connects the front and back cage pieces was broken. I took a closer look this morning and decided to attempt a repair. Often plastic is not worth repairing, but I came up with the idea to brace the plastic with a cut zip tie and super glue it into place. Binder clips worked as clamps, so we now have our functional fan back in action.
While many people look for opportunities to replace their old belongings, I’m always hoping to make my stuff last forever.
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• My husband repaired and re-stained one of my father’s antique dining room chairs.
• I found a dime, a nickel and a penny while bagging my groceries at Winco.
• I found someone in my Buy Nothing group to take the old duvet. Unsurprisingly, it’s also thrifted Ikea.
• I finished reading my library copy of Kate Morton’s Homecoming, which I devoured both to and from Nebraska. 560 pages of delicious writing.
• I started listening to The Lost Wife through the library’s free Libby app.
• I cooked a small batch of pinto beans in my Instant Pot for refried beans. It’s a hard transition to cook for just the two of us, but I’m getting there. I know I can freeze extra food, but I’d prefer to just cook the actual amount my husband and I need. Food waste, be gone!
• I began propagating more fuzzy bunny plant starts, as they do fantastically in outdoor flowerpots. I like the quote “The best time to plant a tree was 30 years ago, the second best time is now.” You know, but for free plants instead of trees. I don’t mind having multiples of the same plants in my garden. Plus the idea of something being a “house plant” rather than an summer “outdoor plant” is a false premise.
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I didn’t buy a Lear Jet.
Katy Wolk-Stanley
“Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without.”
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My husband and I just got back from my aunt’s memorial service in Nebraska and are completely and utterly knackered. Okay, we actually got back yesterday, but yesterday was a blur and doesn’t count. I’m going to string some sentences together and count it as a blog post.
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I found just two single pennies over the five days of this trip. An extremely low amount, but I wasn’t exactly out and about while in Nebraska. I can’t exactly scour through my cousin’s house in the name of seeding the Found Change Challenge.
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My husband and I set our alarms every single day to take full advantage of the hotel’s breakfast buffet. Not because the food was in any way amazing, but because we’d paid for it and by gum we were going to get our money’s worth! However, I’m very good at hacking a mediocre hotel breakfast and figured out that you can top the oatmeal packs with the chopped nuts that are set out for yogurt. Filling, high fiber and actually pretty yummy. I also put any snobbery aside and ate the likely powdered scrambled eggs. Lastly, their coffee was halfway decent.
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The person sitting next to me on the Denver –> Portland flight was a premier frequent flier and got a free $10 tapas snack box, which he handed over to me. My husband and I packed food for the day, so I tucked it into my backpack. I then gave it to my son as a treat/gag gift as he loved the word “tapas” in high school and took any opportunity to say it.
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• Although we ate multiple meals at my cousin’s house we also took everyone out for brunch one day and my mother and step father out for dinner another. Not officially frugal, but worth every penny. However, Nebraska restaurants are so much cheaper than Portland!
• My husband and I walked the Holmes Lake trail loop one afternoon as it was sunny and barely even windy. We had perfect warm weather every single day of our trip and I kept joking that people should consider tropical Nebraska as a destination to escape the winter blues.
• We moved our flight up from late afternoon to morning as Denver was forecast for a dramatic snow storm. There are precisely zero direct flights from Portland to Lincoln, Nebraska.
• I gave the last of our Aldi purchased Mandarin oranges to my cousin.
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I didn’t thrift a Lear Jet.
Katy Wolk-Stanley
“Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without.”
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My husband and I traveled to Nebraska for a family member’s memorial service. Not all that frugal, but I still keep expenses under control when possible.
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I brought a library book to read on the airplane and during down times. Homecoming, by Kate Morton. I’m about a third of the way and fully invested in the story. My husband and I also snacked on low effort bags of mixed pretzels with trail mix on the plane.
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The airline left my suitcase in Denver, but issued a $50 PayPal voucher to help with my associated costs. I ended up getting my suitcase that night, but I know my rights and that the airline is liable for any costs incurred had I needed to purchase replacement items. The very nice airline employee did not know this information and only offered the voucher when I asked for one. I didn’t hit “accept” on the $50 until I got my suitcase and confirmed I wasn’t going to need to rebuy all my clothing.
Click HERE to read your rights.
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My husband and I stocked up on healthy hotel room food at Aldi, which’ll transform to flight food in a few days. We don’t have Aldi in Oregon, but it’s the darling of frugality writers, so I had to hit it up.
I see the appeal, but Winco is frankly better as they have a huge bulk section, plus it’s a standard size grocery store so you can buy everything on your list. Plus, Winco is a bit cheaper and employee owned.
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• I’m filling my water bottle from the filtered water dispenser in the hotel lobby.
• We went to see my cousin’s band play at a downtown Lincoln venue, which luckily didn’t have a cover charge. We also saved money by not ordering one of their famous revolting bowls of alcohol.
• We made sure to set an alarm to hit the breakfast buffet, even though the advent of daylight savings and the time difference made this a crack of dawn endeavor.
• Those orange sunglasses that match the Aldi branding? Pulled them from a free pile a month or so ago.
• I din’t use traveling as a rationalization to buy new stuff. My clothes are good enough, as are my travel supplies. And I don’t mean to brag, (I totally d0) but my Diane Von Furstenberg roll-aboard suitcase was pulled from a Westchester county Goodwill dumpster.
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I didn’t charter a Lear Jet.
Katy Wolk-Stanley
“Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without.”
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I have some unfrugal news to report, which is that my 2022 Macbook developed a cracked screen requiring a $448 repair. I consider this laptop to be still under the category of “brand new,” so no, I’m not cool with this development. Especially since I know I didn’t drop it or any other aggressive actions.
Moving on, please enjoy these frugal tidbits, which definitely add up to over $448 in savings!
Remember these organizing bins that I pulled from a soggy free pile?
I figured out that they’re the perfect size to store my cut-in-half kitchen sponges. Because what am I, a Rockefeller, using an entire sponge all at once?
I’ve been passively keeping an eye out for two dining room chairs for my son’s new apartment, so I didn’t think twice on thrifting this pair:
Especially since they were priced at $2.99 apiece. Sure, they were an eensy bit scuffed and wobbly, but it wasn’t anything that a Sharpie and an allen wrench couldn’t fix. They now look completely brand new and go perfectly with his $30 Ikea dining room table.
I found half this broken wooden hanger in my coat closet a month or so ago and the metal bit finally rose to the surface. This repair will definitely offset the cost of my new laptop screen!
Did I do it? Did my frugality save me the $448? Sigh . . . .
Katy Wolk-Stanley
“Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without.”
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I hosted a birthday dinner for my step father’s 74th birthday and kept the menu on the frugal side. I served marinated chicken quarters, (89¢/lb) salad, fried rice, roasted carrots and a scratch cooked pumpkin cake with cream cheese frosting.
This marinade recipe is from Frankie Celenza’s Struggle Meals YouTube channel and is in frequent rotation here at Casa Wolk-Stanley. It wouldn’t be cheap to buy all the ingredients at once, but I pretty much have everything on hand at all times. Measure with your heart and you can’t go wrong.
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I used my homemade frozen pumpkin purée for the cake, which added extra moisture and made up for the off-ness of the gluten-free flour. There were two gluten-free guests so I was strict with my ingredients, but I still cooked from scratch.
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I chatted with an author at my friend’s birthday party, and we ended up talking about one of her favorite books. (Geek Love) I happened to have an extra first edition on my bookshelf, so I sent it out to her in today’s mail.
I used Pirateship.com for discounted shipping.
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• My husband gave some unused baseball catcher’s equipment to a friend, saving him the cost of buying new.
• I’m sadly having to return to Nebraska for another family memorial service, so I pulled out the Master Travel List that I created last summer. This list should help keep the travel experience as organized as possible and avoid buying items I already have at home.
• I put up the hand crocheted “Happy Birthday” banner that my sister gave me as a Chanukah gift last year. Reusable birthday decor for the win! Click HERE to see it.
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I didn’t thrift any tiny Lear Jets.
“Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without.”
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I was somehow able to buy three bags of groceries and stay under $40. I’m dubbing this “The Winco Effect.™” (Your region may call this “The Aldi Effect.”) Either way, I spent $39.19 and here’s what I bought:
• Spinach
• Sour cream*
• Frozen tater tots, (so good crisped up in a waffle iron and then added to burritos!)
• 2 bags of frozen mixed vegetables, (perfect for fried rice!)
• 2 bags of shredded cheese*
• 1 package of Italian sausage*
• Bulk garlic powder
• 2 jumbo oranges*
• 2 boxes of regular fettuccini*, 1 box of gluten-free fettuccini
• 2 boxes of Tetley tea
• 18-pack of eggs
• 2-lb bag of carrots
• 5-lb bag of potatoes
* These items were all on sale and I realized looking through the receipt that I was overcharged for the gluten-free pasta. It was supped to be $3-something but I was charged $4.92. I’ll save the receipt and bring it to customer service on my next trip.
Mind you, not that long ago I consistently spent $10 per bag of groceries at Winco. Thank you, corporate greed! (The food corporations, not Winco, which is employee owned.)
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A friend from my Buy Nothing Group is moving to England and offered me her Joybird sofa. Initially for my son, but he bought one last month so we’re actually going to use it here at the house. Our couch was purchased as a “place holder” in 2019 after my aging cat urinarily destroyed two couches in a matter of months. (You can read that it HERE, HERE and HERE!)
I’ll forever mourn my beloved $125 vintage couch. However with sufficient time I think I can heal. On my new (to me) Joybird sofa.
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I went to a friend’s retirement/70th birthday party that was essentially a reception without the wedding. I got to hang out with old work mates I hadn’t seen since I retired five years ago. There was a cash bar, but I stuck with water and a single glass of free champagne for toasting.
Super fun as I got to catch up with friends and updated on the latest juiciest work gossip. Plus there was a DJ and a dance floor, which is my thang. I may or may not, (definitely did) have invented a new dance move during the BeeGee’s Staying Alive where I mimed giving CPR while simultaneously spinning an invisible lasso. It was a big hit on a dance floor filled with nurses. Your results may vary.
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• I walked past the expanded free pile from last week, sadly even soggier than ever! A shame considering all the ruined books and furniture, but I was still able to save a couple of hard goods. I grabbed another plastic organizing bin for myself, plus a large fruit/salad bowl and a pizza pan for my son. (Both of which he needed.) My guess is that a tenant moved out and left all this stuff behind and the landlord dumped everything in front of the house. So wasteful.
• My son gave me his knit beanie cap to sweater shave. Looks as good as new.
• I took a Lyft to my friend’s party, but my husband was able to come pick me up afterwards. (He had a hockey game in the opposite direction.) We’ve been a one car family over the past few years, which is occasionally a pain in the tuchus. However, it’s cheaper and simpler to occasionally pay a ride service than buy and insure a second car.
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I didn’t thrift any Lear Jets.
“Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without.”
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