eBay inventory — before
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I made the decision to go full steam with decluttering my eBay items and donated around 75% of everything. This gave me the opportunity to organize what was left and make room for things that’ll sell better. Most of what I donated was stuff I got for free or paid very little for. Mind you, it was all very organized, but there was just too much stale inventory.
I made sure to list out each donation, so I’ll be able to get the full tax credit come next April. And yes, it was very cathartic.
Organizing the eBay stuff motivated me to give attention the rest of this spare bedroom, as it had become filled with artwork from my late in-law’s estate. I was paranoid that something would get stepped on or cat damaged, so everything is now either properly displayed, (so much pottery!) or safely in the dry area of our basement. I was also worried about not being able to keep this room appropriately clean, as I’d seen a moth in there a few days ago and wanted to vacuum my wool rug before it became an all-you-can-eat buffet. So many of my in law’s valuable items were destroyed by moths and rodents. If you can’t be an inspiration, at least be a cautionary tale!
eBay inventory — after!
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I sold another Wii guitar through eBay, (this time for $40) although sadly not as local pickup this time. Kind of a pain to package, but the time would’ve passed anyway so I might as well be productive with it. I had both these guitars listed for over a year and then they sold in the same week, which was odd but welcome.
I also sold a wooden accordion style wine rack for $15 through Facebook Marketplace.
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On top of everything else, our 2005 minivan is now having problems, something to do with the ignition and how the car recognizes the key. This happened when my husband had the car crammed full of the last of his parent’s belongings and was finally on his way home from the Oregon coast and stopped at a rest stop to use the bathroom. I got a 9 P.M. phone call and drove his father’s car down to him and together we waited until 2 A.M. for the tow truck before driving home. Our insurance paid to have the car towed to the house and then towed to the mechanic this morning and we’ll pay to get this issue fixed.
Why are we spending money on a 19-year-old car? Because it’s an otherwise great car and neither of us are interested in buying a new or even a used a car, especially when used cars are selling at such high prices. Maintain what we already own instead of using this isolated issue as an excuse to buy new.
Update: $960 repair!
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• I slapped a piece of duct tape onto a torn reusable grocery bag that my son handed down to us. I had a moment of being tempted to toss it, but am glad that I didn’t.
• I listed three picture frames on Facebook Marketplace that my son no longer wanted. These were ones that I rescued from a neighbor’s garbage can earlier in the year. There were six frames originally and I sold the other three in February or so.
• I created an ugly but functional Franken-box to ship the Wii guitar using supplies I already had on hand. I protected it with second hand bubble wrap that my husband brought home from work.
• I continue to eat the chicken soup that I made over the weekend, although my husband and I did share a well deserved plate of fish and chips at a local pub last night.
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No Lear Jets, bought or chartered.
Katy Wolk-Stanley
“Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without.”
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I’m still in the midst of swirling chaos, so I’m going to scrape the bottom of the barrel for this Monday’s Five Frugal Things blog post. Okay, let’s see what I can come up with.
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Last Tuesday found me stashing my perishable groceries in my mother’s refrigerator across town, as well as abandoning a pot of chicken soup that I’d started in the Instant Pot. I finally got my groceries back and finished the soup on Sunday. I even made a loaf of artisan bread to accompany the soup!
It’s easy to lose track of frugality goals when life goes off the rails, but this soup will be an easy heat-and-eat option to have in the fridge. I try to keep a couple of zero effort meals on hand, which are usually homemade, but can also be from Trader Joe’s. Think frozen gyoza or such. It’s a favor to my future self.
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I sold a “just for parts” Wii Rock Band guitar through eBay that I probably listed in 2021 or so. (I didn’t notice that it was broken until I got it home.) I have a whole shelf of stale eBay inventory and often wonder if I should admit defeat and donate it all back to Goodwill, but then I make a random sale like this and change my mind. I’ve gotten much much pickier about what I buy for reselling, which means that the stuff I currently pick up ends up selling pretty quickly. The old stuff? Not so much!
The money to buy these items is already spent and it costs nothing to keep everything listed on eBay, so I might as well just keep it up for sale. Right?*
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My husband finally (FINALLY!) got his late parents’ house on the market, which was an enormous endeavor and we thought would never happen. He and his brothers did almost all the work themselves, (Home Depot did install the new carpet) and hopefully we’ll find a buyer in the near future. He and I sunk thousands of dollars into this project, which’ll come back after this supposed sale.
We still need to go through their belongings, which are split between their storage space and our basement. (Even though most of their stuff went go the landfill or Goodwill.) It’s a soul crushing burden, please don’t do this to your loved ones. Also — have a lawyer put together a will!
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• The Wii guitar sold to someone local, which means I didn’t have to fuss with packaging it up. Woo hoo!
• My husband bought a Costco take-and-bake pizza to eat while he was at his parents’ house at the coast. Unfortunately their oven didn’t work, so my husband brought it back home to Portland and we had it with a salad for dinner last night. No food waste!
• I went to a neighborhood real estate open house on Saturday, which was inspirational, relaxing and downright enjoyable. What does it say about me when my favorite houses are devoid of personal belongings?
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I’m pretty sure that I didn’t buy a Lear Jet. Last week was a kind of blur though, so you never know.
Katy Wolk-Stanley
“Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without.”
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* I kind of think it would be cathartic to have a blank slate with my eBay inventory.
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Today’s blog post is going to be the shortest ever, as I pretty much have nothing frugal to share. This week has been the perfect (imperfect?) storm of implosion as nothing has gone well and frugality was the last thing on my mind. Family members with health crises, helping my son move on a day when the skies let loose a torrent of rain and then my daughter had a sudden and emergent rental issue. My husband is out of town trying desperately to finish everything on his parents’ house to ready it to go on the market and everything damned thing has been expensive.
That is all. Hopefully things will be better in a couple of weeks.
I did buy all of the above groceries for $25.05, so that’s something. Right? Sigh . . .
Katy Wolk-Stanley
“Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without.”
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P.S. Anyone else stress buy dairy products?
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I sold them in under 24 hours for sixty bucks!
Then I sold that curb picked Patrick Nagel framed print for another $65.
S’up sexy?
Tomorrow someone is supposedly coming by to buy that curb picked drafting table for another $40. I’m not worried that I’m counting my chickens before they hatch, as I have a couple of backup buyers.
Edit: Sold for $40!
I just now listed this classic and sturdy office chair for a budget friendly twenty dollars, which should help it to sell in a timely manner.
Of course I gave it a bit of a scrub before taking my photos!
Look at this chair and ottoman set that I curb picked back in June. It was a bit grubby, but I took a soapy towel to the fabric and it cleaned up perfectly. The pair then sold within hours of listing for $75.
Better, yes?
You’ll notice that all these items have one thing in common — all they needed was a quick scrub, a “glow up” if you will. I’m not looking to scrape paint and upcycle finicky old furniture. I’m just looking to clean and list on Facebook Marketplace as quickly as possible. Also note that I’m not lugging home enormous unwieldy hunks of furniture that require a buyer to rent a truck.
Another thing that I do to keep the reselling as simple as possible is to set the furniture out on my covered front porch for buyers to pick up at their convenience. I direct buyers to put cash in my locked mailbox or I’ll send them a link to my Venmo, which keeps me from being tied down to the house. I’ve sold hundreds of items through the years and have yet to be burned.
Keeping it simple. Simple like a fox.
Katy Wolk-Stanley
“Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without.”
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I walked a mile to pick up a Hydroflask water bottle and hiking headlamp from someone in my Buy Nothing group, even though it was hot and kind of humid and I was sorely tempted to drive. I dropped them off at the house and then walked another mile or so to pick up the books I’d ordered from Powell’s Books for my niece’s birthday. (Which I also got for free, as I used gift cards from selling books!) Picking up the books in person saved me the cost of shipping, plus it became a zero waste packaging transaction.
Buying from Powell’s Books allows me to support a local business while keeping to my 18-year (and counting) buy-nothing-new goal.
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I discovered a small amount of frozen sliced red peppers and a partial bag of frozen blueberries when I cleaned out my freezer last week. I used the peppers in a stir fry and the blueberries in a smoothie. I hadn’t realized I had these items, so I’m pretty happy to have rediscovered them.
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I stopped by my daughter’s apartment and ended up curb picking a slightly grubby, (but otherwise perfect) office chair from one of her neighbors. I then came across a pair of Article brand “Svelti” chairs that normally sell for $69 apiece. I’ll sell all three chairs, although the desk chair’ll need a half hour or so of elbow grease.
EDIT: I sold the chairs for $30 apiece in under 24 hours!
My favorite items to sell are things I got for free as I can charge less and make a quicker sale. Plus having zero dollars tied up at the get go makes it easier to be patient when finding a buyer.
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• I found a penny on the ground outside Powell’s Books.
• I grabbed a “free box” glazed flowerpot while out walking home from picking up the Buy Nothing stuff.
• My son didn’t end up wanting the curb picked drafting table, so I listed it on Facebook Marketplace.
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I didn’t curb pick any Lear Jets.
Katy Wolk-Stanley
“Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without.”
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I sold my $7.99 thrifted kitchen cart for $75 through Facebook Marketplace. I’m still waiting on a buyer for my framed Nagel print, but patience is key.
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I curb picked a drafting table near my daughter’s apartment. I’ll hold onto it for a bit as my son likely needs a smaller desk, but will definitely put it up on Marketplace if he ends up passing on it. It doesn’t show in the photo, but the table top does tilt down.
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I ordered two used copies of books my niece wants for her birthday from Powell’s Books. I called them up and was able to pay using gift cards, and they’ll send the books to their location in my neighborhood. Needless to say, the gift cards are from selling books I got for free in the first place.
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• My step mother loaded me down with ripe cherry tomatoes from her garden. Thanks, Lindy!
• My husband and I started watching the new season of Only Murders in The Building through my friend’s Hulu account. Thanks, Lisa!
• My husband stopped off at Costco on his way home from hockey practice and picked up a $5 rotisserie chicken, olive oil and bananas. Zero impulse purchases.
• I also curb picked a fancy dish drain system and listed it on Marketplace.
• I cleaned and reorganized my refrigerator freezer and only threw out/composted some ancient bread crusts and a laughably iced over bag of strawberries. I’m now more aware of what’s on hand, which’ll help to minimize food waste.
• I bought a cantaloupe at Trader Joe’s and timed the cutting of it perfectly. My personal method is to buy the biggest one, (as Trader Joe’s prices per item, rather than by weight.) I then just wait a few days until the smell is nice and strong. This may seem like a “duh” moment to you, but I’ve only recently figured this out. It’s so disappointing and a waste of money to cut into an unripe cantaloupe.
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I didn’t curb pick any Lear Jets.
Katy Wolk-Stanley
“Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without.”
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My friend Lise texted this morning, alerting me to a “Free pile 2 doors from me,” which got me off my tuchus and over to her house. (Only a block away, but still giving myself credit for my speediness!) She sent this photo:
I recognized the framed pink print as a Patrick Nagel, infamous for his Duran Duran covers and prolific stylized prints from the 1980s and 1990s. I’d sold a couple of his pieces in the past and wanted to get a closer look to see if my suspicions were correct. Nagel’s artwork was commercially successful to the point of saturation, so this wasn’t my “Portland Woman Finds Lost Renoir in a Free Pile” moment, but still worth bringing home to resell.
Not to put too fine a point on it, but the price was right.
I also browsed through the rest of the pile, which ran the gamut from “Haunted Oval Portrait”
To sexist vintage magazines:
I did bring home two other items. This vintage wide-mouth “GEM” canning jar, which I’ll add to canning supplies.
Plus this antique-ish Japanese porcelain bowl. So sweet with its fluted edge and hand painted designs. No chips, no cracks and just a bit of wear on the gilding. It had been holding a handful of rocks, which I tipped into a rusty pan. I suspect it’s post WWII, manufactured to sell to an American serviceman. I think I’ll keep it.
Here’s the Kanji on the back.
I stopped in to chat with Lise before heading home and then passed a contractor who was helping himself to a box of drywall screws, assorted nuts and bolts and two full sheets of plywood. I love how so many Portlanders set unwanted things out on their curb instead of dumping things into the landfill. These weren’t things I’d have use for, but this guy did.
I took just a few minutes to wipe down the grimy print and reglue the framer’s label onto the back. I quickly listed it on Facebook Marketplace for $75 and suspect that I’ll get it. She’s not my taste, but I know that someone else will snap her up.
Thanks, Lise!
Katy Wolk-Stanley
“Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without.”
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I made a double recipe of kale pesto for the freezer as we finally used up the last batch. I normally buy a single head of kale, but noticed that Trader Joe’s had bags of washed and chopped kale for a buck-ninety-nine; and who am I to turn down convenience? I hadn’t planned on doubling the recipe, but the first batch turned out super garlicky, (so much so that the taste of my own mouth woke me out of an otherwise deep sleep!) Luckily it was just a matter of scooping the garlic-tastic pesto back into the food processor and adding in a second batch without even a single clove of garlic.
Fortunately I had enough scavenged Bonne Maman jars, which work perfectly for pesto. Thank you, neighbors who put the occasional jar into your recycling!
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Like many American library systems, Multnomah County offers a limited number of free “Cultural passes” to local museums and such. They can be an amazing money saver, but you have to be crafty to actually score them.
It turns out, I’m one hell of a crafty lady.
I know that they release them once a month, so I made sure to stay up late on Saturday so I could log into the My Discovery Pass website at the moment the clock struck midnight on September 1st. I wasn’t sure if my plan would yield results, but it actually worked a dream! Not only were there passes to Rose City Comic Con, but also tickets to the OMSI, (Oregon Museum of Science and Industry) The Oregon Jewish Museum and Center for Holocaust Education, The Japanese Gardens, but also The Portland Art Museum, which is what I was hoping to find.
I was able to score a pair of tickets to the Portland Art Museum, which would normally cost $25 apiece! The tickets are for a specific date in November, but that’s okay as I like having things to look forward to. I also got a pair of tickets to see Connie Chung speak as part of the Literary Arts Festival, which I’ll attend with my friend Lise whose mother worked in television news. The venue is a beautiful historic theater and it’ll be fun to get dressed up and hit downtown with a friend. Again, these tickets normally start at $25 apiece.
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I went for an evening walk and came across a hefty fuchsia plant that someone had just dug out of their yard. Mercifully it was just a couple blocks from the house, as the plant was rather unwieldy. It’ll be the perfect addition to my shady backyard and it fits quite nicely into my non-existent gardening budget.
Good thing I’m both muscular* and difficult to embarrass.
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• I added a handful of leftover parmesan cheese packets to the pesto. These were leftover from the takeout pizzas a couple weeks ago.
• I’ve been super tired this week and you and I already know that there’s nothing more frugal than going nowhere and doing nothing.
• My friend Lise and I went to IKEA and indulged in free cups of coffee. I did splurge on a $1.15 veggie hotdog, but I guess I was feeling flush that day.
• My adult son got invited to join his friend’s family vacation to Montana and is currently enjoying time at a gorgeous lake cabin. Lucky guy.
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I didn’t garbage pick any Lear Jets.
Katy Wolk-Stanley
“Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without.”
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* Not even slightly.
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My husband and I borrowed our next-door neighbor’s power washer and used it to clean both the rug from my daughter’s old bedroom, (I accidentally shut the cat in there a couple weeks ago!) and to scrub the seats and rugs from my late in-laws’ Ford Fusion. Portland is looking at a string of 90+ degree days, so it’s the perfect time to get things sopping wet.
Our across the street neighbor hired a car detailer for his vehicle earlier in the week and we were deeply impressed with what an amazing job the guy did! However the cost was $450. Instead my husband watched a couple of car detailing YouTube videos, (so satisfying!) and got to work. It was an unpleasant task, but the seats are now almost new looking and hopefully the car should smell much better and we can get it sold.
My daughter’s rug was curb picked to begin with, but that doesn’t mean I should to give up on it. It’s far from a natural fiber and will essentially never break down in a landfill, so preserving its functionality as long as possible is important to me.
The rug now looks better than ever and all it took was some elbow grease.
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I cooked up a batch of black bean smash tacos for dinner last night. I took pictures to put together for a later step-by-step blog post, but until then here’s a photo of the finished product:
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My sister left behind a pile of stuff to mail off to her daughter, so I texted her asking if there’s any books she’d like or needs for college. (I’m currently flush with Powell’s Bookstore credit from selling books that I got for free.) My niece just turned 20 and I can use this credit towards her birthday present. I’ll wait to mail off the box-o-random-stuff until she gets back to me.
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• I gave the deck a light power wash, mostly putting my energy into removing the schmutz that lives in between the boards. Again, so satisfying!
• I stopped by Dollar Tree to pick up rice, ginger snaps, ketchup, mustard and pickles.
• I swung by Safeway for my husband’s work lunch items. They had an e-coupon for $10-off-$50, so I added a case of on-sale canned cat food to hit that mark.
• I gave away something through my Buy Nothing group.
• My husband and I watched the The Holdovers through my sister’s Prime Video account.
• I made sure to gas up the minivan at the one gas station that’s consistently 60-80¢/gallon less than its competitors.
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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 recently asked members of my Non-Consumer Advocate Facebook group “How are people affording groceries these days?” which solicited a lot of information. The group is chock full of creative thinkers and people’s answers confirmed this theory. I’m including a few here as there might be some “hack” that you hadn’t considered.
PLEASE add your own hacks in comments section below as there’s nothing better than top notch collective problem solving. Food prices are a definite problem right now and it’s going to take some ingenuity to pull through without depleting our bank accounts.
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There are a lot of ways we save on food. I look for meat priced at $2.99/lb or lower. We usually do ground turkey, ground beef, chicken breasts or thighs, and pork. Tonight we did crispy baked chicken thighs (99 cents per pound) with roasted potatoes and honey glazed carrots. The dinner cost less than $10, I brought some to my neighbor, and we have a lot left over. Potatoes and carrots are usually priced low. We almost never buy packaged foods (chips, cookies, cereal). I made homemade granola this week. We bought a huge box of microwave popcorn from Costco and that’s what we have if we want a crunchy snack. We don’t buy drinks. I make 1-2 gallons of iced tea per week (using 2-4 regular tea bags per gallon). I get a lot of tea from Buy Nothing, but I also buy boxes of 100 bags for the best price I can find. Today’s tea is 2 black and 2 lemon teabags. Yummy and refreshing. I got the app Too Good To Go. We use that for treats, like a dozen Krispy Kreme donuts for $7 instead of around $20. We don’t feel like we’re deprived. There are so many good things to cook at home for way less than a restaurant.
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We’ve stopped eating meat of any kind. We’re saving a lot of money, our cholesterol has dropped, and we’ve lost weight. Win win win!
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That picture there is an invitation to make a gallon of yogurt in the instapot, at least it is in our house. So much cheaper than buying yogurt itself. Other ideas, our garden gets bigger every year. That helps with the budget too.
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Ground turkey or chicken is expensive. Chicken runs $2.99 and up per lb. We bought a 3-lb rotisserie chicken last week for $5 and made at least 10 portions of it. Broth, and gravy made with broth, and creamed chicken breast in gravy served over potatoes and carrots.
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Dry legumes. They’re so much cheaper than canned. Using only the veggies that are cheap. Using up everything in the fridge and pantry. Bigger garden.
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Yeah, I’m always looking for ways to eat frugally, too. So I shop sales & store brands, I know 101 ways to eat beans n rice and all kinds of salads. I focus on healthy dense high-fiber meals. Organic is expensive so I buy only organic salad greens, fruit, & vegs. I eat mostly fish and meat as a side in small portions. I waste nothing. And food co-ops are a good idea. Frances M Lappe’ “Diet for a Small Planet” & Adelle Davis, “Let’s Eat Right to Keep Fit…”, got me started. Eatting low on the food-chain.
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We adapt. <– I love this comment!
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I stopped making a full meal list until I go to the Amish Discount, to see what they have and then I buy meat on sale or discount. Last month I bought 4 (15-lb) bags for $3.99. I also shop Aldi and local butcher shop when they have bundles.
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Partly due to cost and partly due to special diets that make eating out difficult, we’ve almost completely stopped going to restaurants (pre-pandemic and an additional dietary change, it was the 3 of us in a restaurant probably 3x a month and my husband sometimes bought lunch in the cafeteria at work which used to be reasonably priced, but has gone up quite a bit). The restaurant budget has gone to groceries and other expenses.
I shop at a store with rummage bins that frequently include food in damaged but safe packaging or are close to the best by date. It also frequently has gluten-free foods (I’m gluten-free). Today’s food items were a jug of gluten-free soy sauce 4 times the volume of my usual brand at lower price than one bottle and a favorite brand of jelly beans at 60% off regular per pound price (junk food, but something we enjoy). Last week it was buckwheat flour (gluten free) at about 65% off regular retail and which I will turn into gluten-free waffles.
One location of a local grocery store chain 1 to a few times a week posts a really great deal on their Facebook page. Frequently they are close to date, but we have freezer space. My last deal was frozen tilapia at $2.50 per pound instead of their usual $4.50 per pound and due to one of the dietary needs in our family we eat fish frequently, including tonight.
Making my own convenience foods/planning leftovers: I cook a big batch of something we enjoy that will freeze well and freeze in single portions or family meal size portions. This weekend it was boneless skinless chicken breast on sale for 70 cents per pound less than what’s usually the best deal I can find and ground turkey turned into burgers and loose crumbles (all 3 are enjoyed in hubby’s sack lunch or by son when he comes home after a late shift–he texts when he leaves work and it’s ready when he gets here), previously it was a batch of flavored rice, and before that it was lentil soup. I got 4 matching silicone trays with lids that each hold 4 portions and the tray is marked at both 4 and 8 oz.–these were $1.50 per tray at the rummage bin store, but silicone muffin pans, which one might already have, may work for others.
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I’ve had a garden since the 80’s. When we lived in an upstairs duplex I had a garden at my parents place. Been gardening here since 1988. One of the first things we planted were fruit trees and I am busy dealing with a glut of plums and lots of apples. Making jams, and will try my hand at apple pectin and maybe cider and cider vinegar. My usuals are canned apple pie filling, frozen apple pies and canned tomato sauce. Been picking blackberries and freezing them for my husband who usually buys frozen berries to eat on his morning cereal. Freezing grated zucchini and also baking muffins, breads to freeze. Been freezing beans and peas and expecting a bumper crop of yellow beans later so will be canning those. I harvested my dry beans they are drying on a tray in the sun room to be sealed into jars later. Front porch is covered in onions and garlic curing as well as some early pumpkins. When I bake I always use skim milk powder in place of milk. We buy what ever is on clearance or in bulk and don’t eat a lot of meat. We’ve raised the occasional beef, pork or poultry in the past but with only two of us now, it’s too much. My husband watches the sales and stocks up. If we go out for a meal we use coupons or go on days when there are discounts. We have two freezers and a cold room to store food. We also make our own wine.
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Salvage stores for all the interesting parts of a meal. Around here, ours are run by people who don’t seem to have a taste for international foods, so we can get some really fun stuff super cheap, because they just want it to move off the shelf. Yogurt that is getting close to dates is a dollar for a quart. Everybody has a garden, so we eat a whole lot of zucchini, cucumbers, and tomatoes in the summer. We buy beef and pork by the half or quarter, directly from the farmer. We do have an Aldi, which is a huge blessing, and every couple months I make a run to the big city to get whatever is on special at Trader Joe’s. The biggest thing, is that I no longer have teenagers in the house! So if I buy it or cook for them, it is a gift, rather than a regular monthly expenditure of hundreds of dollars.
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I’ve been challenging myself on the grocery front since the beginning of June. It’s been “interesting.” I ended up shopping by myself on Fridays at Kroger. I could spend as much time as I wanted with my calculator, hit the loss leaders, and clearance items, AND save at least $1/gallon of gas by taking advantage of the 4x gas rewards. I’ve slowly been switching my shopping strategy to fresh stuff and stocking up weekly rather than buying everything as we need. With the kids back to school, I’m focusing on making food for them to take to school instead of buying. It’s a bit of a challenge with my 16 year old son who is weight lifting and requires lots of protein.
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Been a lot healthier buying and cooking local produce in season from scratch with basics and have joined an online foraging group – I amazed what fresh food there is around for free and how it does not contain all the additives and chemicals, let alone plastic that the food in supermarkets has.
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We cook in bulk and eat the leftovers all week. Saved a ton of money. Currently eating green pepper casserole this week.
Katy Wolk-Stanley
“Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without.”
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