The Non-Consumer Advocate

I used the $40 from selling last month’s thrifted chair to buy gasoline as it saves around 35¢ per gallon when you pay in cash. I included the ten dollar bill that I found under my car in January, as I later learned a family member had put it there for me to find. Sadly, fifty bucks still didn’t fill my gas tank.

I indeed went to the Franz Bakery Outlet on Saturday and ended up picking up eleven loaves of bread for a schweet ten bucks! (You get a free loaf when you spend $10.) I also scored another “punch” on my frequent buyer’s card. This may seem like an excessive amount of bread, but more than half of those loaves were gluten-free, which are ridiculously expensive. (Think $9.36 per loaf!) My freezer is now fully and truly stocked and I’ll share the gluten-free loaves with my daughter who’s on a tight budget.

Portland experienced two full days of lovely warm weather, which inspired me to switch off the furnace and throw open the windows. I love, love, love the period between heating and cooling the house, it’s such a gift!

• I started reading a new library book that’s neither good enough to recommend, nor bad enough to abandon. Hey, the price was right!
• My neighbor’s ornamental plum tree lost a few flowering branches, so I gave her some paper yard debris bags that we’ve had sitting unused on our back yard. I then (with permission) helped myself to enough cuttings for two flower arrangements, one of which I brought to my daughter.

I’ve spent precisely $0.00 on golfing since I took office.

I listed my recently thrifted counter-height chairs on Facebook Marketplace for $300 and am willing to be patient to find the right buyer. The exact chairs are no longer on the Restoration Hardware website, but the armless version is still available starting at $575 each, that is if you pay for a $200 membership. Otherwise they’re $770.

Click HERE to see my listing.

My husband and I went to Costco yesterday and although our grand total was unpleasantly high, I did pick up a $4.99 rotisserie chicken, eat four samples and enjoyed a $1.50 hotdog. I can’t really complain about the grand total, as we stocked up on standard single ingredient staples such as eggs, coffee beans, frozen whole berries, frozen chicken breasts and honey. The only “convenience” food we bought were the bags of granola that my husband likes. I know we can make it from scratch, but neither of us enjoy that task.

I also found a dime and a penny near the self-checkout registers.

I made more homemade sweet chili sauce, as we ran through the last batch at an impressive speed. This recipe couldn’t be easier and tastes so much richer than the bottled stuff. Plus, it’s super cheap!

I gave away an annoying, yet thriving cactus leftover from my youngest’s pandemic-era plant phase. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve painfully grazed my hand across this damned plant.

I love, love, love my Buy Nothing group!

I was too busy watching the last hour of Corey Booker’s filibuster to buy a lear Jet.

Someone in my Buy Nothing group was giving away cuttings from her fig tree, so walked to her house and picked up a trio of cut branches to propagate. I then watched a couple of random YouTube videos, which made it look pretty straightforward and I’m excited for the prospect of having my own fig tree. Even though I’m fully aware that my yard is shady and this is likely a doomed project.

Might as well try!

I pulled out my upholstery shampooer and cleaned the fabric parts of my $7.99 thrifted Restoration Hardware chairs. (I also scrubbed the stubborn spots with a toothbrush and diluted dish soap.) They’re still not perfect looking, but I think they’ll brighten up once they’re fully dry. Which here in Portland, should be by the end of summer!

Here’s the before:

Here’s the after:

I’m thisclose to the end of my No Spend March challenge and am surprised with how quickly time has passed. I spent no money on restaurant meals or pick-me-up purchases, but I did have the unexpected expense of a pair of new tires, which is unavoidable and falls under “shit happens.” Can’t exactly drive around on a flat tire!

Groceries were certainly allowed, but I tried to minimize trips and avoid impulse purchases when I did go. (Think nothing but lettuce and bananas from Trader Joe’s.) It’s entirely possible that I might buy something tomorrow, so I won’t tally up the numbers quite yet.

My Earth Abides audiobook from Libby automatically returned when I was only halfway through, which was a huge disappointment as I was really enjoying the story. But then I remembered that the reason the book was on my radar was that there’s a new TV show based on the 1949 novel, so I started a one-week free trial of MGM+ through my Roku box. I then immediately turned off  “auto-renewal” so I wouldn’t accidentally extend my free trial.

I used to think that you couldn’t cancel a free streaming trial until the last day, but it turns out that you can cancel immediately and still enjoy the full contract.

I haven’t written any million dollar checks to sway the Wisconsin Supreme Court election.

I used the discount postage website PirateShip.com to mail my father’s needlepoint artwork to New York. $14.18, which is a pretty good deal considering the box was 19″ x 19″ x 3″ and 4-1/2 pounds. I then walked the package to the UPS store.

I passed by the above free wire shelf unit on my way to the UPS store and texted my daughter to ask if she could use it in her apartment. She answered that it would work in her kitchen, so it’s now hers!

I received an annoying plastic $10-off-$50 Portland Nursery coupon in the mail, which I gave to my next door neighbor as I know she shops there for her expansive garden. I also passed a page of New Seasons Market coupons to my other next door neighbors as that’s where they do most of their grocery shopping.

I made a batch of rice that I later forgot to put into the refrigerator and it sat out all night. I’m unfortunately aware that the specific type of food poisoning that you get from rice is particularly nasty, so I scraped it into the yard debris bin and moved on. I abhor unnecessary food waste, but I’m categorizing this one as completely necessary!

I’m not rushing out to buy a brand new car in anticipation of looming tariffs. However, I am hoping that some random Portlander will impulsively buy a new car and sell their perfectly good Prius at a nice low price.

I sold my thrifted $3.59 chair for $40 through Facebook Marketplace. Mine was a cheap knockoff of the classic Eames design, but I’ve learned time and again that Portlanders love faux midcentury furniture. It took a week to sell, but it’s okay to wait for the right buyer.

The real deal:

My knockoff:

We had our daughter over for dinner last night and munched on rice and bean tostadas while watching the second season of Picard through my niece’s Paramount Plus subscription. (A perfect meal to complement my free avocado and tomatoes!) I’d stashed up a box of gluten-free Oreos a couple weeks ago, which became a nice treat for her.

My husband and I are planning on buying an used Prius for our daughter and visited a used car lot that specializes in them. It would be easy to get drawn into an impulsive purchase, so we refused the offer of a test drive as I didn’t want to bond with any specific vehicle. I compared it to “Going to the humane society to ‘just look’ at kittens.”

Plus the dealership’s prices were much higher than buying from a private seller and there’s no reason to rush the process.

Dealer price, $7,500 for a 2007 Prius:

Marketplace prices:

I went to H Mart to pick up gluten-free soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, coconut milk and spring roll wrappers. I came home with . . . gluten-free soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, coconut milk and spring roll wrappers. Avoiding impulse purchases is a huge money saver and especially difficult in store like H Mart that feature endless fun snacks, drinks and sweet treats. It helped that I had neither of my kids (nor husband) with me.

I’m not so disliked that people would refuse to meet with me.