The Non-Consumer Advocate

1. 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!

2. 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!

3. 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.

4. • 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.

5. I didn’t buy a Lear Jet.

Katy Wolk-Stanley

1. 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

2. 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 often unrepairable.

3. 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.

4. 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.

5. I didn’t thrift a Lear Jet.

Katy Wolk-Stanley

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.

1. 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.

2. 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.

3. 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.

4. • 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.

5. I didn’t thrift a Lear Jet.

Katy Wolk-Stanley

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.

1. 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.

2. 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.

3. 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.

   Employee owned > Billionaire owned.

4. • 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.

5. I didn’t charter a Lear Jet.

Katy Wolk-Stanley