Money Making, The Katy Wolk-Stanley Way

by Katy on October 1, 2010 · 15 comments

I like to make money. Not enough to work full time or regularly pick up the tantalizing overtime that my hospital pays, but I crave it nonetheless. (There is a direct inverse relationship between my job satisfaction and how many hours I work.) I get a thrill from selling thrift store finds on Craigslist and I’ve been carting unwanted reading material to used bookstores for longer than I care to admit. When a neighbor put a recycling bin full of old books on the curb, I drove them over to Powell’s and made a tidy profit, which is exactly what I did at the end of a garage sale when all the books were free. Sure, this all happened years ago, but I still remember how good it felt to use my ingenuity to make a few bucks when money was tighter than Nicole Kidman’s forehead.

I now enjoy teaching my kids how to make money the Katy Wolk-Stanley way. And they’re as happy as clams to water neighbor’s plants, sell old toys on Craigslist or schlep a box of books over to Powell’s. I feel that these techniques are life skills that will serve them into adulthood. Earning a regular income can take years to achieve. But if they can absorb these lessons early in life, they’ll always have the ability to provide for themselves.

Am I raising future pickers? Probably not, but to quote Mike Wolf:

“When other people see junk, we see dollar signs.”

Which I totally love.

Are you a fan of making extra money through your creative ventures? Please share your stories in the comments section below.

Katy Wolk-Stanley

“Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without”

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Greenwashing Done Right

by Katy on September 30, 2010 · 21 comments

I made a fresh batch of laundry detergent today, which meant a new box of borax was in order. And guess what? The packaging had undergone a dramatic transformation from fuddy-duddy to eco-chic.

That’s the kind of greenwashing I can stand behind. (Literally. Cause you see I’m using borax to do my laundry. Oh, you got that? Never mind . . . . )

Katy Wolk-Stanley

“Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without”

P.S. Homemade laundry detergent is:

  1. 2 parts Fels Naptha soap which is grated and then pulsed in a food processor.
  2. One part washing soda.
  3. One part Borax.

Only a small amount is needed. I use a small Oxyclean size scoop, which is slightly over a Tablespoon. The hardest part is the clean up, so I make quadruple batches.

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A Pretty Good Day

by Katy on September 29, 2010 · 10 comments

I worked the last couple of days, which usually means that my first day off is filled with chores and errands, and tomorrow is no exception. I need to grocery shop, mail out the last book giveaway, deal with some school issues, shred the enormous zucchini I brought home from work, help my mother clean one of her guest cottages and take a blowtorch to the house.

A big blowtorch.

And most importantly, I need to stop into the credit union to deposit the $70 I made over the past couple of days selling Stuff on Craigslist.

Sounds like a pretty good day.

Katy Wolk-Stanley

“Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without”

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A Love Letter To Craigslist

by Katy on September 28, 2010 · 4 comments

The following is a reprint of a previously published post. Enjoy!

Hello my darling craigslist, I think it’s time I start calling you Craig.

Cause I’ve been thinking a lot about you lately. Your silky smooth listings, your sweet smelling connection, your quick response to my touch.

Every time I worry that you might not provide for me, you come bearing gifts.

Free rocks for the backyard, a $50 dishwasher, an antique chair for the living room.

I know a relationship is doomed if it’s too one sided. That’s why I gave you a rocking chair, a bin of Duplos, piles of free fill dirt.

Oh, the dirt!

I worried you might fail me when I offered you the dirt. Yard after yard of free fill dirt. But I should never have worried, I know you’d never fail me.

That doubt now shames me. How could I have doubted our bond, our connection, our love?

Sometimes I wonder if I ask too much from you. I don’t want to be, dare I say it — needy.

Yet needy I am.

Furniture, appliances, landscaping goods.

I wonder how I ever lived without you.

My sweet, my love, my craigslist.

I am forever yours.

Katy Wolk-Stanley

“Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without.”

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20 Things You Can Do Today To Live A Greener, More Frugal Life

by Katy on September 27, 2010 · 20 comments

The following is a reprint of a previously published post. Enjoy!

trinity-college-library-dub

  1. Use your library.
  2. Eat the food you’ve bought, and eat then your leftovers.
  3. Shop from your closet instead of buying new clothes.
  4. Give gifts that you already own, like a couple of great books or an admired knick-knack.
  5. Go for a walk outside instead of on a treadmill.
  6. Cook from scratch.
  7. Send your kids into the backyard instead of taking them to a movie or arcade.
  8. Repair items instead of replacing them.
  9. Turn the thermostat down in your house and add an extra layer.
  10. Plant a vegetable garden. It’s amazing what you can grow in even a small space. (We grow all our own lettuce for the summer in a single wheelbarrow.)
  11. Make your own cleaning products, or better yet, clean with water.
  12. When a friend wants to get together, go for a walk instead of eating out.
  13. Choose a simple close-to-home vacation instead of a can-only-get-there-by-flying elaborate trip.
  14. Bring your own bags to the grocery store. Always. And then make sure they give you that three cent per-bag refund.
  15. Minimize your garbage output, then go to a less frequent pickup service.
  16. Drive less, and then contact your insurance agent to get a discount.
  17. Hang-dry your laundry.
  18. Decline invitations to those Tupperware, Party-lite, Pampered Chef etc. parties.
  19. Buy used whenever possible. Better yet, join The Compact.
  20. Refuse to use credit cards for anything that’s not an emergency.

Did I miss something? Please add your list in the comments section below.

Katy Wolk-Stanley

“Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without.”

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Rainy Day + Craigslist = The Perfect Afternoon!

by Katy on September 26, 2010 · 3 comments

Portland, Oregon is known for its rainy weather, and today is no exception. Luckily, there’s still lots to do in an indoor environment. For example:

List unwanted items on Craigslist!

Which is what I’m doing today.

So if you’re in the market for a Longaberger basket or some Hanna Andersson pajamas, you’re in luck. Me? I’m just looking for an excuse to sit at home and drink tea. And if I happen to make some money while decluttering the house, all the better.

Katy Wolk-Stanley

“Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without”

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Non-Consumer Mish-Mash

by Katy on September 25, 2010 · 7 comments

It’s time again for Non-Consumer Mish-Mash, where I write a little bit about this and a little bit about that.

Tile Style

My husband and I are still in the planning phase of the addition of a second bathroom into our five bedroom house. (I know, it’s weird.) I have been fantasizing about a second bathroom for years, and have obsessively torn photos from magazines and newspapers for inspiration. One of my favorites shows a hexagonal tile floor with a Grecian-style border. Sadly, only a tiny bit of floor is shown in the photo, so I was going to have to figure out the details on my own.

That is, until yesterday when I walked into the vestibule of Tammy Strobel’s apartment building and was hit with exactly the tile pattern that I want for my new bathroom. Which, (and this is very important) shows how the border maneuvers in the corners. I know Tammy thought I was on the weird side of nutso, but I snapped a ton of photos for reference.

It’s a good thing my husband and I are taking our sweet time with this project, or the tile would be finished by now.

Choosing a Microproject Over Routine

I have written before about how I could do house and yard work every waking moment without ever finishing the job. The dishes, laundry, cooking, organizing and gardening are on an endless loop that can make a gal go postal if she’s not careful. (And yes, I do the majority of household maintenance, as my husband works 44 hours per week and I work 16.)

So sometimes I ignore the general household duties in order to tackle a project that will actually have a lasting effect. (Dishes so do not have a lasting effect!) Just today I pulled everything out of the medicine cabinet, scrubbed it down, tossed empty vials of goo and reorganized everything.

The result is lovely, non-crowded and will be a delight to behold when I open it up every morning. And had I spent the same amount of time doing dishes, they would all be a post-dinner mess at this point anyway.

Library Geek, Thy Name is Katy

I am such a library geek that I am even Facebook friends with my favorite reference librarian. And when I saw that her status was to come in to The Belmont branch today to get your picture taken with your card I got all tingly and excited.

Why would I be so excited to have my picture taken with my library card? Because I still have my first library card from 1977, which is adorable as my signature could best be described as “chicken scratch.” And yes, I also still have my card from the eighties, which is silver and rather rock star cool.

And perhaps I did dress a little nicer than usual today, and maybe, just maybe I spent a few extra minutes on my hair. But I really want The Multnomah County library to use my photo on their website. The photo taken of me posing with my three library cards!

It would be better than when I was in The National Enquirer.

Rock star cool. Non-Consumer style.

Katy Wolk-Stanley

“Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without”

 

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When Non-Consumers and Rowdy Kittens Unite

by Katy on September 24, 2010 · 6 comments

Katy Wolk-Stanley and Tammy Strobel. I'm not sure what I'm looking at, but apparently it's off in the middle distance.

One of the unexpected perks of writing a blog is getting to meet other bloggers. True, most of the meeting up is through the interweb, but I’ve actually met up with a few in person, (I know, it’s heresy) and yesterday had the pleasure of getting together with Rowdy Kitten’s Tammy Strobel.

For those not in the know, Strobel writes a blog about simple living issues, and was featured in a NY Times article last month on how she and her husband Logan ditched their traditional belongings-centric life in California for a Portland, Oregon studio apartment filled with approximately 100 possessions. So when we were setting up our meet and greet, I wanted to see this shrine to all things minimalistic for myself.

I’m not sure what I expected, but I was pleasantly surprised. There was no echo, and the belongings seemed to fit the space. Neither Tammy nor her husband admitted to missing any of their former possessions, and both seemed content with their deliberately chosen lot.

Conversation came easily, as we have much in common despite our obvious differences, (she works from home as a freelance writer and is childless, while I work as a labor and delivery nurse and am raising unruly teenagers.) We ran out of time before we ran out of momentum, which is as it should be. I look forward to our next meet and greet, and will enjoy showing her my simplisticly complicated home.

Although I have been decluttering over the past few years, I am far from completing the task. (I may possibly have 100 possessions on my coffee table at the moment.) And the remodeling of my storage space into a bedroom/bathroom has meant our bedroom transformed  from acceptable to unacceptable. (Seriously, nothing is more serene and romantic than bins of Lincoln Logs and wooden blocks.) I am in constant need of inspiration mojo, and might have found enough in Tammy and Logan’s apartment to at least get me through the next couple of weeks.

It occurred to me afterwards that choosing an extreme minimalist lifestyle is more about what you’re not doing than what you are. You’re not spending hours a day cleaning and organizing, and you’re certainly not wasting time watching TV, washing the car or earning the money to pay for said TV and car. So much of frugality is time heavy, (hanging laundry to dry, cooking from scratch, etc.) and making that choice to live simply frees up hours of mindless activity. Yes, Strobel has no children, but I highly doubt she would chuck her lifestyle even if a rowdy baby came her way.

There’s certainly lots to think about here, and even if we are unable to make the exact same choices as someone else, there can still be inspiration for one’s own deliberate life.

Katy Wolk-Stanley

“Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without”

P.S. Thanks for the coffee and sweets, next time it’ll be my turn to treat!

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No Impact Man Book Winner and Some Fantastic Reader Comments

by Katy on September 23, 2010 · 0 comments

Thank you to everyone who entered to win a copy of Colin Beavan’s No Impact Man book. The randomly chosen winner was Nancy Adams, who will be receiving her very own used library copy in the mail mightily soon.

Here are but a small sample of the inspired comments on how you, the readers are making changes to make less of an impact in your own lives:

Jennifer: “Made reusable sandwich/snack bags for my child’s school lunches out of scrap fabric I had on hand. Now I’m getting requests to make them for friends!”

Kimberly: “Don’t say “It’s about time”, but my kids and I just set up a recycling center on the back porch. I only did it as part of homeschool since I just started that this year. Turns out, we have cut our trash in half! I never thought we even had enough that we could recycle. There would be more if our center accepted glass, too.”

Kat C: “We gave up our car almost two years ago and primarily walk or take public transit. We rent a car when we need it on the weekend. Saves a lot of money, and is good for the environment.

We also compost and recycle. I have a veggie garden which (if it stops raining) produces some veggies throughout the summer. I try not to buy coffee in paper cups and instead make coffee at home and bring a mug with me. Next on my list is to make some cloth napkins to use at home.”

Rachel: “I live in a material world and i’m a material girl! used, garage sale, thrift store, reclaimed, refurbished, refurnished, hand me down, thrown out and discarded are my favorite materials. our entire house is furnished in items of just that description…with the only exception being my hubs and i’s mattress and one family room couch (total panic impulse purchase I will never let us live down!) feels good to know that each toy bin, book shelf, tv watched and chair sat on made less of an impact for our world!”

JenniWaka: “We try to reuse packaging for everything at home. Wheat goes in old mayo jars, cardboard boxes get used to send gifts to friends and family far away, etc. We combine errands even if it means waiting a few days to pick up ingredients or toiletries. Oh, and here at work I save fax cover sheets and other waste paper to use the backs for notes.”

Kristi Stone: “I am gardening/growing our own food, supporting our local farmer’s market, bought a water filtration system (as opposed to using bottled water), hanging out my laundry and a few other things. As my husband and I learn more of what we can do, we make those changes. It’s been really exciting.” :)

Jenn L.: “Recently we became a one car household. many of my friends and family do not understand how this is possible, seeing that we live in Los Angeles, but we make it work. i take public transportation (yes it exists) to work most days and my love rides his bike everywhere. we are finding that we don’t even drive the one car we have as much anymore. it just takes a little extra planning, but it really is easier than i expected! i love reading your blog.”

LBC Teacher: “I am carpooling to work this year with a coworker, saving gas and creating less pollution. I also just today printed out the rules for my community recycling to hang in the kitchen so I can make sure everything eligible for recycling makes it into the container. I also requested to stop receiving catalogs from various vendors.”

A Marie: “My husband and I do a lot of the stuff that other folks have mentioned, but to keep it to one thing (and one thing that hasn’t been noted above), we have a “kill-a-watt”-type monitor on our electricity and consult it regularly. It’s a real help in remembering to shut off unnecessary lights, turn off the computers when we’re not using them, etc. Remember, the less electricity we all use, the less complicit we are in the destruction of my beloved Appalachians (I’m originally from Tennessee) for coal.”

Thank you to everyone who took the time to write your No Impact changes in the commenst section. Click HERE to read all of them!

Katy Wolk-Stanley

“Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without”

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Saying Goodbye to Guilt — An Update

by Katy on September 22, 2010 · 16 comments

I wrote a post last week titled “Saving Goodbye to Guilt” about how I’m methodically tackling my embarrassingly procrastinated tasks. Not only am I continuing on with this project, I’m making huge headways towards no longer having mental weights burdening my otherwise happy life.

It exhilarating, it’s empowering and yes, it’s oddly addictive.

Over the past few weeks, I have read my father’s books, Good Friday and Lincoln’s Daughter, which are the second and third novels from his Lincoln Out of Time trilogy. (Abraham Lincoln: A Novel Life is the first one.)

It’s not a casual thing to read your father’s published novels. I didn’t want to read them in fits and starts, instead wanting to give them my whole and undivided attention. . .  which meant they were starting to gather dust. And if not reading a book dedicated to you isn’t at the pinnacle of guilt induction, I don’t know what is.

I make this sound like a horrible chore, but of course it wasn’t. I read one while on vacation a few weeks ago, and the other while at home, waiting to pick my son up from school, in bed and just about anywhere else I happened to find a few free minutes. They were lovely.

The other was making me feel like crap chore that I tackled was painting the trim of the house where there was sloppy looking paint overspray. My husband painted the house a few years back, and I told him I would complete this task, as I actually like to paint. But catching a sunny day where I have nothing to do can feel as likely as picking those winning lottery numbers.

Which meant that this dialog ran through my mind every time I walked into my house:

“Wow. The paint job on this house really looks like crap, I need to paint over that overspray.”

Which is hardly the serene thought process to bring into one’s own home.

So yesterday, I pulled all the supplies out and got to work. I painted over the painty fingerprints on the second story window box, as well as the window trim, garage door and on the porch. It took around five hours, but I had my audiobook of “Julie and Julia,” to keep me company. (I do love me a rags to riches blogger story!)

And now, when I come into my house, my thoughts go a little something like this:

“Wow, the front of the house looks fan-freaking-tastic!”

Which is a better mindset.

The next task on my list is taking an in-depth inpatient OB certification exam that will give me a $2.75 per hour raise once completed. This test costs $300 to take and is only reimbursable by the hospital if I pass it, so it’s a bit of a daunting task. But I’m a good test taker and am going to finally take the plunge. I’ve bookmarked the test site, and have started to put the word out about borrowing the study materials.  The thought of failing the test and losing $300 makes me feel a little ill, but I need to not let fear guide my decision making.

I am fully aware that there will never reach a point where there I’ve completed every task in life, and to try and accomplish this would be a frustratingly impossible goal. I just want to be free from weight of procrastination.

Does this make sense? Are you tackling your procrastinated tasks? Please share your stories in the comments section below.

Katy Wolk-Stanley

“Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without”

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