How Are You Doing?

by Katy on March 13, 2010 · 28 comments

The Oregonian newspaper ran an article today that was titled Data Suggests Consumers are Consuming Again. This piece was partially based on sales from a local RV show that’s been experiencing more than double the sales compared to last year.

A Buyer was quoted as saying:

“So many people are out of work and the economy is so bad,” said Wilkerson, who’d just made friends with another couple buying the same model at the show. “But we had made this plan, and we’ve been working for this goal.”

And it’s not just the recreational vehicle industry that’s seeing a boost in sales:

“Bolstering the optimism, a report last week showed that the nation’s retailers had posted their strongest sales since late 2007, with nearly every major chain showing robust results.”

It seems to my non-economist mind that those with money and stability were holding off from large purchases last year, as the economic outlook was downright frightening. But things have kind of stabilized, (even if it has plateaued at a low point) and consumers who were not affected by unemployment are opening up their wallets once again.

However, unemployment does continue to be high here in Oregon, (11.8% in January, the most recent statistic I could find) so the news is not all rainbows and unicorns. The people I know who have been out of work are still out of work; and The Oregonian itself just did another round of layoffs, which included some very popular columnists who I would have considered to be immune.

No one is immune.

But do increased sales without relief for the unemployed add up to an upswing? The paradox of thrift tells us that we as consumers must spend, not save in order to support our economy. But if you’re worried about paying the mortgage, it makes no sense to spend those precious dollars.

I do feel that all of us have a responsibility to spend our money in a deliberate manner. To support the businesses that we want to survive. To vote with our wallets, even if it’s just a few dollars here and there.

Have you experienced a lessening of economic fear and a loosening of the purse strings? Please share your thoughts in the comments section below.

Katy Wolk-Stanley

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

{ 28 comments }

Don’t Cry For Me, Guacamole! (To be Sung to the Tune of “Don’t Cry For Me Argentina”)

by Katy on March 12, 2010 · 16 comments

Note the enormous onions, able to successfully obscure the lowly avocado.

I’m getting better and better about my family’s food waste, although there’s always something that slips through the cracks. Today culprit was an entire avocado, which may be a first. Not only are avocados on the somewhat spendy side, but we ♥ them here at casa Wolk-Stanley! In salads, on sandwiches or made into guacamolé, they’re never lacking in affection.

Don't cry for me, guacamole!

But my sister bought two absolutely ginormous onions when she visited last, which then hid this most fattening Omega-3 rich fruit until it shriveled into a sad little inedible nugget. *Sob*

Luckily, I do compost, so the avocado will be spared the humiliation of landfill life. Maybe I need to chop these onions and throw them into the freezer. Because there’s no way I could use even half an onion this size in a single recipe.

Like food, hate waste? Then you need to check out Jonathan Bloom’s Wasted Food site that explores the issues related to food waste. Because the waste of a single avocado is sad, but is a mere pittance compared to how much food is wasted every single day.

Is your food waste getting better? Please share your stories in the comments section below.

Katy Wolk-Stanley

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

{ 16 comments }

Secret Millionaires, Thrift Shopping and Your Brain on Costco

by Katy on March 11, 2010 · 24 comments

Modest home of "The Secret Millionaire"

I spent an hour or so the other day slogging my through the 968 e-mails that were causing my inbox to bulge at the seams. (Is there such thing as an e-mail hoarder) In doing so, I came across a few links to articles sent in by readers that I wanted to share with the Non-Consumer Advocate community.

Secret Millionaire Donates Fortune to Lake Forest College

The subtitle of this article is “Woman who lived frugally donates $7 million to Alma Mater” so you know it holds a special place in my heart. (Seriously, this is my not-so-secret fantasy.)

Grace Groner, A.K.A. the “secret millionaire” recently died at age 100, and lived a long and stripped down life.

“She got her clothes from rummage sales. She walked everywhere rather than buy a car. And her one-bedroom house in Lake Forest held little more than a few plain pieces of furniture, some mismatched dishes and a hulking TV set that appeared left over from the Johnson administration.”

Groner, a Lake Forest college alumn, bought three shares of Abbott stock in 1935 that did, ahem, very well, and seems to have always reinvested her dividends. This appears to be the sole source of her wealth of riches.

One could debate how she lived her life, but essentially she is the poster child for the simple living/ frugal tenet of live beneath your means. (Perhaps Nicolas Cage needs to take a page from her book?)

I have noticed that the “secret millionaires” that crop up in the news from time to time tend to have never married or had children. And I am going to use the excuse of my family to explain away why this story is not about me. Yeah . . . that’s the ticket.

Thrift Shift: Value Village Rebrand as a Chic-Alt Winners

NowToronto ran interesting article about how some thrift stores are shifting away from serving the low income population towards supplying hipsters who buy with an eye for resale, as well as the well to do who scout for designer bargains.

“Retail experts point to a new conscious, ideological frugality that’s made second-hand virtuous. ‘The [market] for this type of retail offering is no longer [coming] from a place of need,’ says Frances Gunn of Ryerson’s Ted Rogers School of Retail Management. ‘We’re looking at a customer who is oriented to personal style.’ “

The article also looks at Goodwill, whose philosophy differs from a traditional for-profit retail operation.

“We’re a lot more than a thrift store,” says Brian Kellow, Goodwill’s director of external relations. “We enable people with limited disposable income to participate in consumer culture,” he says, explaining that money from sales in his non-profit stores gets recycled into job creation, training and education.

The whole article makes me want to jump off the couch and participate in a little Goodwill hunting, but my clutter issues say otherwise.

How Costco Primes Us to Spend More Money

Heather Levin’s The Greenest Dollar ran an enlightening piece last July, (see? I really did need to comb through my inbox!) on how the pleasure centers of our brains and the neurotransmitter Dopamine are involved with shopping, specifically at Costco.

Levin explains how all those gleaming flat screen TV’s, diamond rings and designer handbags prime the pleasure centers in our brain the moment we enter the hallowed halls of retail Costco. And even if the high end items are not on our shopping list, we still end up satisfying this now unsatisfied need with a box of these cookies and a set of those books.

“Now, think about how you feel when you find something fabulous in the store. You get excited, right? Your breathing may quicken, your heart starts to pound, and you reach out to just touch it.

When we see something we want to buy, our brain is instantly activated. Know what it does?

Our nucleus accumbens (NAcc), which is the pleasure center of the brain, releases the hormone dopamine, which is the precursor of adrenaline. Dopamine is very, very powerful. Scientists James Olds and Peter Milner discovered that when rats are overstimulated with dopamine release, they’ll literally die of pleasure (pg. 35).

So, the stronger we want something the stronger our NAcc activation, and the more dopamine is released.”

It’s an interesting way of looking at how consumers both consciously and unconsciously are influenced by factors we’re unaware of.

But it certainly cements my policy of having Costco be the errand that my husband is in charge of. At least his only impulse purchases are hot dogs.

Thank you to everyone who shared these interesting articles with me, keep ’em coming!

Katy Wolk-Stanley

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

{ 24 comments }

“COINGIRL” says to Wag Your Swag

by Katy on March 9, 2010 · 12 comments

Like everyone else, I enjoy a little something for nothing. Whether it’s food samples from a warehouse store, or a free pile in front of a neighbor’s house, free stuff always adds a little excitement to my day.

I had been reading Angela from Frugal Living NW rave on and on about a search engine called Swag Bucks, and finally went to take a look for myself. I signed myself up to give it a trial run and see what all the fuss was about.

Here’s what I found — Swag Bucks is a Google-like search engine that randomly rewards you with points that can then be spent in the Swag Store. Points can also be earned when you online shop through their site, as well as a number of other ways. (Although I do next-to-no online shopping.)

So I started doing my online searches through Swag Bucks in January and have already earned $25 in Amazon gift cards, which I’ll use to buy the 14 piece Pyrex storage set, (as seen in my Amazon store to the right)  that I’ve been pining after. Yeah . . .  I know, I’m the life of the party. Woo-hoo!

I have looked at other online sites that offer free stuff in exchange for doing surveys (mysurvey.com) or viewing advertisements, (mypoints.com) and found that I was getting around 1¢ per minute of survey work, and remembered that I actually hate looking at advertisements. (What kind of Non-Consumer Advocate would I be if I enjoyed looking at ads anyway?!)

This graphic will show up if you "win" any swagbucks.

What I like about Swag Bucks, is that I’m earning points doing something I would be doing anyway. Is their search engine comparable to Google or Bing? No. But most of the time, I don’t need all the bells and whistles. Most of my searches are to find the phone number or address of a business. Simple stuff.

The fine folks over at Swag Bucks have given me a code for new users to sign up with, which is:

“COINGIRL”

This code will give new registered users 60 Swag Bucks, which is 30 more than usual. To give you a sense of what that’s worth, a $5 Amazon gift card costs 450 Swag Bucks, (SB) and most of the successful searches win you 10SB at a time. (Make sure to use all capitals, as it is case sensitive.)

I know this kind of reads like an advertisement, but it isn’t. I am receiving no compensation in exchange for this column.

Click here to register and take advantage of this offer.

If anyone wants to be referred by me, (you can still use the code) send me an e-mail at nonconsumer@comcast.net and I’ll send you an invite. This will expire on March 17th at midnight PST. (Full disclosure — this does benefit SwagBuck users to refer friends.)

Do you have an online site you use to get free stuff? Please share your faves in the comments section below.

Katy Wolk-Stanley

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

{ 12 comments }

A Compact Chat

by Katy on March 9, 2010 · 15 comments

Katy Wolk-Stanley

My name is Katy Wolk-Stanley and I am a diehard member of The Compact, (a worldwide buy nothing new movement) and have been since I joined up in January of 2007. I buy used gifts, I buy used school supplies, Heck, I even buy used sheets.

It may sound like a source of frustration to not be able to walk into a store and quickly grab life’s necessities, but nothing could be farther from the truth. It turns out that much of what I had been grabbing were not necessities, but stuffthat were simply wants.

Not buying new has actually freed my life up. Saving not only untold thousands of dollars, but forcing me to make conscious and deliberate decisions about my purchases and how I live my life.

I already considered myself a thrift store aficionado and my house bulged with clutter to prove it. Sure, it was cool clutter, but clutter nonetheless. Cool dishes, cool vintage linens, cool toys, I had it all. Unfortunately I was also buying all the new stuff as well. Combine the two, and something had to give.

A short wire service piece in the local paper in December of 2006 then caught my eye. A small group of San Francisco hipsters had spent the last year buying nothing new and calling themselves “The Compact.” They were shopping thrift stores, bartering and horror of all horrors — simply not buying at all!

“We’re just a rarefied middle-class San Francisco greenies having a conversation about consumption and sustainability.”

I went into The Compact telling myself I would give it a month. What if I needed something? What about family birthdays? A month seemed about right, not too intimidating. I could handle a month.

The first year flew by with very few Compact exceptions. We bought a new glass carafe for our coffee maker as well as gifts for home-stay families that my son and husband would be staying with during a class trip to Japan. Besides that, I really can’t think of much else that needed purchasing.

Not only was I saving money, but I was experiencing a increased awareness of how the buy, buy, buy mindset of society was affecting our lives, our wallets and the environment.

I started to make other changes in my life.

I looked around my house and decided to put a full effort into de-cluttering. I donated to Goodwill a whopping 19 times in 2007, sometimes completely filling the mini-van with the excessive belonging that had been invited into my home.

I slowly began making other changes in my life as well. I began hanging my family’s laundry on a clothesline, I turned my thermostat to 63 in the winter, (which nobody seemed to notice) mixed up my own laundry detergent and make a concerted effort to minimize my driving.

All these changes save my family money, but most importantly we’re decreasing our energy consumption. Because The Compact is not about saving money, it’s about sustainability.

Luckily, frugality and sustainability are often one and the same.

Will I ever stop doing The Compact?

Well . . . I’ve actually started buying some new stuff when the big picture outweighs searching out the used. For example, I no longer want to be storing my food in plastic containers. This has meant that in addition to the couple scores of Goodwill Pyrex leftover containers, I splurged on a brand-spanking-new set. But in concordance with my conscious spending mindset, I noted that Pyrex is manufactured in the U.S. using union labor, plus the packaging is 100% recyclable!

I don’t think I will ever stop being part of The Compact, as my life has greatly bettered and my bank account has mysteriously plumped.

What more could a girl ask for?

Katy Wolk-Stanley

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

{ 15 comments }

An In-Depth Look at How I Spend Very Little on Groceries

by Katy on March 8, 2010 · 16 comments

Today I motored myself towards my local Safeway for big grocery trip #2 with my $10 off $50 coupon. This deal is valid over the first week of the month, and I take advantage of it by trying to do two big shops, both at the beginning and end of the week. This way, I’m able stock up on all the pantry staples that I need. (Can I call them “pantry staples” if I have no pantry?)

In addition to the regionally specific Safeway coupon, I also used a small handful of manufacturer’s coupons for items as diverse as toothpaste, flour and pasta. Although I use some coupons, I am a far cry from a coupon queen, who feeds her family on $4 per week.

Here’s what I bought:

  • 10 pounds of flour, (whole wheat and unbleached white)*
  • 2 boxes of Multi-Grain Cheerios*
  • 1 box of Raisin Bran*
  • 1 package of fudge mint cookies
  • 1 box of Triscuits*
  • 3 boxes of pasta*
  • 2 pounds of shredded mozarella cheese
  • 1/2 gallon of whole milk
  • 2 gallon of nonfat milk
  • 1 small container of sour cream
  • 2 bags of frozen peas
  • 2 containers of lemonade concentrate
  • 1 large tub of vanilla yogurt
  • Toothpaste*
  • Dentotape dental floss
  • 1 bag of chocolate chips
  • 1 pound of bacon
  • 2-1/2 pounds of bananas
  • 2 avocados
  • 2 pounds of carrots

This is a fairly typical grocery trip for me. We already had a large amount of grapes at home, and I want to see that eaten up before buying more fruit. We also still have a fair amount of broccoli, lettuce and cauliflower, so our vegetable needs were few. There is a Fred Meyer grocery store which is walking distance from my house that tends to stock cheaper and better produce, so I buy it there, instead of stocking up on produce that ends up going bad. The Cheerios were bought as a treat, as it’s normally a rarity for us to buy sugar cereal. And the cookies? Umm . . . .

The total for this trip was $45.13, which is pretty good. I now have enough food in the house to make at least a week’s worth of meals. We’re also stocked up on Costco needs (olive oil, cat food and litter, coffee, etc.)

Some people may enjoy shopping for food, but I really kind of hate it. It’s certainly better than when my kids were little and I would almost be in tears by the end of some trips. But even now, grocery shopping is still low on my list of enjoyable experiences.

Keeping my family’s grocery shopping low not only allows us to keep our expenditures low, but is also a huge component of our debt repayment plan.

Here’s a bonus picture of my groceries before I decanted them from their reusable grocery bags. My favorite is the one crocheted out of plastic bags by my ever-talented sister Jessica.

Katy Wolk-Stanley

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

P.S. I had one extra $10 off coupon, which I gave to to grocer and asked him to pass it along to next person spending $50, which he agreed to.

{ 16 comments }

Greenwashing or Real Change?

by Katy on March 8, 2010 · 23 comments

When I see eco-friendly claims on national products, my first reaction is “Ha, what a load of Greenwashing.” And although I don’t consider myself to be 100% cynical, I am a highly suspicious character.

I was perusing the cracker aisle at my local Safeway grocery store earlier this week, when I noticed that the Triscuit box was inviting me to “Join the home farming movement.”

Huh? Are Nabisco’s Triscuits now grown instead of “baked, not fried?”

A closer look showed me that each Triscuit box included seeds for either basil or dill, as well as instructions about how to grow the seeds and other educational information.

My next thought was to look at the ingredient list, sure I would be reading a lengthy paragraph of unpronounceable chemicals and trans fats. Instead, I saw:

“Whole wheat, soybean oil, salt, monoglycerides.”

Not exactly the “lengthy paragraph” I was expecting, although the monoglycerides are a trans fat, which I’m trying to avoid.

According to their website, Nabisco is:

“Working with UrbanFarming.org to get everyone into the joy, the community, and the other bountiful rewards that are born of the Home Farming movement.”

This actually sounds good, but I just can’t wrap my mind around dry corporate Triscuits being part of the home farming movement.

The other corporate food that’s getting a eco-friendly makeover is Frito-Lay’s Sun Chips, which now come packaged in 100% compostable bags. I just watched the documentary Addicted to Plastic, so I’m on a fresh no plastics kick. This should be good news.

However, Sun Chip are made by Frito-Lay, who are also responsible for Doritos, Fritos, Cheetos and Tostitos. And if the company has truly embraced the ability to produce these compostable bags, why only do so for a single line of chips?

Marketing, that’s why. Sunchips are the snacks marketed to the healthy eating, hipster crowd, (a far cry from whoever it is that the Cheeto Cheeta is geared towards.) The Frito-Lay website even has a link for 46 steps to a healthier planet, which takes you to a listing of how the different manufacturing plants are lowering their environmental impact, although it appears to mostly be geared at the Sunchips brand.

I appreciate the compostable bags, I really do. But I would like to see all their bags be compostable, not just the Sunchips. (Which are actually my husband’s favorite chips.)

Both of these eco-friendly product changes are a step in the right direction, and not strictly a case of simple greenwashing. But most importantly, it (hopefully) tells me that corporate America is starting to get the message that consumers take this stuff seriously, and that there is money to be made selling to those of us who feel this way.

Now, about those trans fats . . . .

Do you feel that these changes are greenwashing or something more complex? Please share your thoughts in the comments section below.

Katy Wolk-Stanley

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

{ 23 comments }

A Love Letter to Pyrex

by Katy on March 7, 2010 · 10 comments

The following is a previously published post. Enjoy!

Pyrex Love

Hello there, small, clear and handsome.

I’ve been thinking about you.

I can no longer hold back the strength of my emotions, and I must declare to all the world:

I love you, Pyrex!

Our relationship started out innocently enough with a medium sized measuring cup. Seemingly nothing all that special, yet how could I have known how I would grow to love the simplicity of your design, the beauty of your form, the strength within your fragility.

Along came a set of three mixing bowl with snap-on lids. (I shiver with the memory.) The bowls so bright yet still see-through. You declared your contents to me with an honesty that prior storage had shied away from. And when two of the bowls broke, the lids fit perfectly on my vintage Pyrex bowls, for your classic form never goes out of style.

Long before the dangers of microwaving in plastic became known, you provided me with the safety and security that I craved. I knew you would never harm me, that our love was reciprocal, equal, special.

I look around my kitchen, and there you are. My pie pans, casserole dishes, measuring cups and of course, my mixing bowls. Ahh . . . the memories of young love.

Our love has deepened and evolved through the years. I know I can depend on you.

But we are at a point where where we’ve been together for a long time, and I’m looking to add some variety to our intimate relationship. Fear not, my glassy eyed lover. I’m just keeping an eye out for some Pyrex bread pans. I feel that they will further strengthen and deepen our relationship.

While others may buy bowls, pans and storage that need constant replacing, you and I will stay together for better or worse. The landfills will not be filled with the detritus from our love.

Thank you Pyrex, you have made me a happy woman indeed.

To find out more about the effects of plastic food storage, visit fakeplasticfish.com, Beth Terry’s terrific blog.

Click here to read my other Non-Consumer Advocate love letters.

Katy Wolk-Stanley

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

{ 10 comments }

A Long and Accomplished Day for the Non-Consumer Advocate

by Katy on March 6, 2010 · 11 comments

I am a big fan of free time. It’s not unusual for me to spend a couple hours after the kids leave for school to drink my tea, read the paper and goof around on the computer work on the blog. I then throw in a load of laundry, tidy up the breakfast dishes, take a shower and then slowly enter the land of the awake.

Today was different.

I had agreed to help a friend ream through her basement today, so I knew I didn’t have the luxury of multiple cups of tea and my normal leisurely pace. And you know the phrase, “Need something done, ask a busy person?” Well today, that was me.

  • Woke up at 7:00 A.M. to wake son #1 and come downstairs to start tea and make school lunches, (I usually do this the night before, but had slacked off) and start the tea, which we all drink.
  • Drove my 14-year-old to school for early morning Japanese tutoring.
  • Wake son #2, and get him ready for the school bus.
  • Eat breakfast, quickly check e-mail and head out the door. Make sure to bring camera to document the process, as well as a Vancouver library book I checked out in November to take to the house of the librarian who had arranged for a talk I gave. (I thank the big librarian in the sky for online renewals, I really do!) Turn the car back around as I realize that I forgot to pack an inhaler, and I’m thinking today is going to trigger all sorts of asthma symptoms.
  • Drop off library book.
  • Stop to pick up a dozen donuts.
  • Arrive at my friend’s house at 10:00 A.M.
  • Work all day with a fun team of friends on a rather un-fun task of basement decluttering.
  • Rush back home at 4:20 P.M. to meet up with my kids.
  • Drink a cup of tea, throw a load of laundry in the wash, short chat with a neighbor, and then start making dinner.
  • Completely rearrange everything on my mantel to show off the antique chalkware bookends I gleaned from my friend’s basement.
  • Serve dinner and then clean up from dinner. (Which takes an unbelievably lengthy amount of time.)
  • Sew polar fleece onto a hoodie for my son in the pattern of a panda bear, while watching the documentary Addicted to Plastic with my son.
  • Write my blog post for the day.

It is now 12:52 A.M. and I am beat, beat, beat. My feet ache, my back hurts and my breathing has that penny whistle sound that makes me wonder where I left my trusty inhaler.

Simple living? Not always. But I do feel like I actually got something accomplished today. I’m just happy that I can sleep in tomorrow and nobody is expecting me to make any basement appearances.

Katy Wolk-Stanley

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

{ 11 comments }

When Dress-Ups go to the Land of Craig

by Katy on March 5, 2010 · 15 comments

I went through a phase a few years back when I sold an enormous amount of extraneous household stuff on Craigslist. From furniture to outgrown toys, it all got listed. Nothing was particularly valuable, but it certainly added up. I would estimate that I made a thousand dollars or so by the time I finished. Not bad for a small investment of time. And the combination of getting rid of stuff with making money is hard not to love.

Fast forward a few years, and the clutter has reinvaded our home. (Okay, it never really went away.) My husband and I have been starting to list things on Craigslist again. A horrific local crime has taken some of the innocent joy away from online classifieds, so I’m a little more defensive about how I operate. I only arrange for buyers to come when my husband is home, and I absolutely trust my instincts if something seems hinky.

I currently have our old washing machine and a Longaberger basket listed, and I’ve been eyeing my son’s outgrown snowboarding gear. And I’ve got a whole chest filled with large pieces of polar fleece fabric that I know some crafty fanatic would be more than happy to take over on.

The one thing I’ve held onto for sentimental reason, (as opposed to simple intertia) is a great big stash of boy dress-ups. My sons spent immeasurable hours pulling out animal costumes, super hero uniforms and the bits and pieces that would transform their days from dull to adventuresome.

Sadly, they’re 11 and 14-years-old now, and their dress-up days are behind them. And the bag that holds all this stuff keeps getting scattered around our storage room. I think I’m ready sort through and launder this wonderful collection and get it listed on Craigslist for the next wee generation to enjoy.

Although I’m sure I will hold onto a few key pieces. After all, I will be grandmother some day.

And all this money from craigslist will be going towards our savings plan.

Have you discovered the joy of selling unwanted items? Please share your storeies in the comments section below.

Katy Wolk-Stanley

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

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