The Non-Consumer Advocate

I sold the KLM ceramic Amsterdam houses for $50 a couple hours after listing them on eBay. This may sound like a win, but it’s actually a sign that I underpriced them. Oh well, still not too shabby considering that I paid $4.58 for the pair of them.

Of course I packaged them in a random used box, complete with scavenged bubble wrap.

My father gave me a tour of the tool kit he received as a Jewish confirmation gift 75 years ago. I remember using these tools as a kid and my father continues to use them on a regular basis. (It’s quite ingenious, sort of like a precursor to the Leatherman.) Although the leather case is sadly now fragile, the tools themselves are still in excellent condition.

Imagine if all consumer goods were of this same quality.

I’ve done essentially no Christmas shopping, although I do have some idea of what I want to get for the people on my gift list. We’ve winnowed down who we exchange gifts with through the years, which helps. Mostly I give consumables, which gets around my “buy nothing new” edict, plus I like that my gifts won’t clutter up people’s homes.

I did ask for one specific item on my Buy Nothing group and will be picking that up on Monday for my son. It rhymes with schmortar and schmestle and I think he’ll really enjoy having one to grind up his own spices.

I’ve had two nights in a row of lumpia for dinner, thanks to my friend Rosalie. Mmm . . .

I didn’t buy a vulgar gold plated apartment in the sky.

I stopped by Fred Meyer (Kroger) customer service and was refunded $1.55 by presenting a coupon that could’ve been used with something my husband bought yesterday. I was there for powdered dishwasher detergent anyway, so it wasn’t an extra trip.

My friend Rosalie treated me to breakfast after having fed her at my house during our last get together. However I wanted to make sure she got the most for her money, so I looked over the restaurant’s online menu the night before and figured out that that it would be cheaper to order a few things à la carte than to order a pre-set plate of food.  Cheesy grits, poached eggs and a biscuit added up to $12, as opposed to $14 for a “two eggs breakfast” that included things I didn’t want.

My friend Lise and I teamed up to do our grocery shop, although we did sneak in a bit of 55+ senior discount day thrifting. Lise bought herself a brand new looking Saks Fifth Avenue merino wool sweater for $9 and I grabbed a $1.50 organizer bin and two $2.69 Royal Dutch Airlines KLM Delft ceramic houses to sell — which were still filled with gin! So yeah, I bought booze at Goodwill.

I then brought home four bags of groceries for just $65, because Winco is amazing that way.

Winco and Goodwill, not a bad afternoon.

• Rosalie gifted me with a batch of her homemade lumpia and a container of pancit noodles.
• I gathered up all my library books and pulled out the overdue ones. I’m normally responsible about returning books on time, but life has been really busy and upside down lately. Luckily Portland no longer charges late fees, but that doesn’t mean I should take advantage of their lax policies. I then stopped by the library to return books and even picked up a couple new “Lucky Day” books.
• Powdered-effing-dishwasher-detergent! Just say “no” to gimmicky and expensive pods, which easily cost ten times what I spend on the powdered stuff. I buy a $5.99 box that’ll last for ages. I simply decant the powder into a container and then scoop out a tablespoon’s worth for each load. Works great! Save your money for something more interesting.
• The restaurant, library and Fred Meyer were all in the same neighborhood, so I saved gas by batching these errands.

I didn’t buy a vulgar gold plated apartment in the sky.

I sold the Supreme brand knit beanie on eBay* for $65 that I scavenged from a “Free Stuff” box a few weeks back. I actually turned down a $40 offer on the cap a couple days ago and was second guessing if I’d been stupid to turn down what is essentially free money. No, I wasn’t. $65 is better than $40.

I tidied up and rearranged our downstairs spare bedroom, which serves as a catchall space and inevitably dissolves into chaos. I identified a couple of items to donate to Goodwill, as well as a few things to give away through my Buy Nothing group.

• I donated four curb picked baseball bats and a backpack.

• I gave away a box of broken vintage Fiestaware that I’d been holding onto for some imaginary mosaic project. (Since nursing school!) Decades have passed without action, so the broken dishes can now go to someone who actually does mosaic work and I couldn’t be happier!

I pulled a partially eaten Costco rotisserie chicken from the freezer and plopped it in the Instant Pot along with a couple of frozen onion ends, bay leaves, garlic salt, pepper and water. I’ll freeze some of the chicken for future recipes and make a big pot of chicken soup with the rest.

• I gave away the once filthy, now clean knit cap that I found under the bleachers last week. It turned out to be child-sized and will be put back into circulation instead of added to a landfill. The gloves I found that day have been added to our winter stash, as I actually needed a pair of cozy gloves.
• My husband and I were out and about and debating where to grab a nice bite to eat. We settled on a Mexican restaurant, where we ordered a $10 takeout burrito and had them cut it in half. Plenty of food and kind of freeing to just munch our lunch in the car.

I didn’t buy a vulgar gold plated apartment in the sky!

Our passenger side headlight went out, so my handy-dandy husband bought replacement bulbs and installed them himself. I’m not sure how much money we saved, but I can be happy without the hard data.

I was going stir crazy at home, so I invented an errand to donate a couple items to Goodwill. I didn’t go into the store and instead called my mother to see if she was up for a spontaneous visit. I returned home to find my son in the kitchen, working on his weekly meal prep.

Oregon in December is intensely dreary and it’s easy to succumb to seasonal affective disorder. Maybe I should consider taking vitamin D to stay above water.

I started listening to A Novel Love Story, by Ashley Poston through the library’s free Libby app. I allow my sister use my Libby account, (Portland’s library lets you check out so many more books than NYC’s does!) and she’d enjoyed the book, so she left it in the account instead of returning it.

• I broke the wood and wicker basket that I’ve been using for paper recycling. Luckily it took nothing more than a squirt of wood glue and a couple of clamps to bring it back to life.
• My son needed to pick up a couple specific items at H Mart and dragged my sorry tuchus along. I bought 33¢/bunch scallions and six sale priced mini-cans of coconut milk for just 48¢ apiece. This was perfect as I rarely need the entire can of coconut milk.
• I drove through McDonald’s and got a 50¢ double cheeseburger through their app.
• I used a hair dryer to soften the glue that held the metal piece onto the back of my son’s old cell phone case. We then glued it onto his new case so he can avoid buying a new cell phone mount kit.
• I invited my next door neighbor over for a chat and a catch up. These dates are hilariously cheap as we just bring our own tea to one another’s houses.

I didn’t buy a vulgar gold plated apartment in the sky!

My husband and I went to his soccer field to empty out the storage locker for the winter. The locker was right next to the bleachers, which were littered underneath with soggy garbage and whatnot. However . . . there’s also decent abandoned items, so I grabbed a few things to bring home and clean up. Here’s what came home with me:

• One knit cap.
• One pair of black fleece gloves.
• One new looking insulated water bottle.
• Four returnable cans.

I’ll clean up the hat and gloves for donation, keep the water bottle and cash in the cans for 40¢.

I took the free apples from my neighbor and turned them into five jars of applesauce. I’d normally not bother making applesauce unless it was a larger amount, (so much cleanup!) but I wanted to make sure the fruit didn’t go to waste. I chose to refrigerate the applesauce instead of doing a water bath as we’ll eat it long before it could go bad.

I also took an uncut Halloween pumpkin from my neighbor and baked it up for puree. It’s now frozen and I’m ready for another year of yummy treats.

My son lucked out on a free hand-me-down iPhone 11 to replace his infirmed iPhone 7 that no longer shot video or received texts in a timely manner. He did pay $60 to get it unlocked and ready to switch from AT&T to Verizon, but it was still a great bargain. His first instinct was to buy a new phone, but I convinced him to give this a try. He’s now happy to have spent $60 instead of $799!

I used the To Good To Go app to score a box of schmancy Blue Star donuts for $6.99 instead of $21. A rare treat on a cold and rainy afternoon.

I didn’t buy a vulgar gold plated apartment in the sky!

My sister needed a last minute duffel bag for her trip back to New York, so I placed a request for one in my Buy Nothing group. We had a response almost immediately and the bag in hand in under an hour!

The duffel bag gifter also gave me four 10%-off Safeway coupons that she wasn’t going to use. I use these coupons to stock up on canned cat food. Exciting, but true.

My husband took advantage of a Cyber Monday deal to book two nights at a fancy resort, for just $90 out of pocket using airline miles. The suite overlooks the river and even has an in-room fireplace. This’ll be my birthday present and I gotta say that he nailed it!

• I listed the thrifted Sferra towels and a thrifted, but brand new “lovey” on eBay.*
• I found four pennies outside Goodwill and a quarter inside a coffee shop. So yes, I recently came into some money.
• I ran an errand for my son to activate an iPhone 11 he got for free and the owner of the shop replaced my cracked screen protector for free.

I didn’t buy a vulgar gold plated apartment in the sky!

I keep my house on the cooler side, which not everyone is used to. (My sister, I’m talking about my sister.) I’m happy to keep the house at a comfortable temperature during the day when we’re home, but I need the house to be cold at night, otherwise I roast. The duvet in my son’s old bedroom isn’t particularly thick, so I began looking for a new/used duvet insert to make sure she’d be comfortable. Then I remembered that we had a couple extra fleece blankets that used to belong to the kids, so I folded them at the foot of the bed. Were they pretty and did they match the bedding? Nope and nope! But did they keep my sister all toasty warm in the night? Yep!

“Make it do” for the win!

I made a batch of inexpensive white bean rosemary soup with sausage in the crockpot to ensure a proper meal for the last day of my sister’s visit. I’d already chopped and frozen the leftover chicken-basil sausage from last week’s pre-Thanksgiving “bangers and mash” night, (The perfect day-before-Thanksgiving meal as I’ve already made the mashed potatoes!) I also threw together a loaf of no-knead artisan bread to round out the meal.

I thought I’d made enough for leftovers but we were apparently extra hungry, plus my son packed a container for his work lunch. No leftovers = zero food waste!

• The soup was extra easy to make due to having pre-chopped and frozen a ton of onions.
• My sisters and I ordered a “men’s large” Uniqlo puffer jacket for our father off eBay, which turned out to be a oddly small “women’s large” size. (Was it maybe a child’s size large?!) I immediately initiated a return and put it out in the next day’s mail. It’s easy to let this stuff go, but it only took a few minutes to manage the return and arrange for our mail carrier to pick up the package.
• I drove my sister to the airport at 4:30 this morning. She’s lucky to not have to brave NYC public transportation to get to her flight on time!

I didn’t buy a vulgar gold plated apartment in the sky!