The Non-Consumer Advocate

I was out and about running errands today and came across this post-garage sale “ALL FREE” pile. (It’s hard to read the sign, but I assure you that everything here was free!) I pulled the car over without a moment’s hesitation.

What did I grab?

Seven IKEA Sortera bins. Normally $14.99 apiece. Our basement is in great need of a round of organization, so these bins will be put to great use. They were in perfect condition, but I still hosed them out and set them in the sun.

I also took this new looking Honeywell ceramic heater. I’m a fan of heating the room you’re in instead of the entire house, so this’ll come in handy come winter time. It looks like it originally sold for seventy-some dollars.

This North Face rolling suitcase with backpack straps. I can’t find a similar one online, but will research it further. One of the wheels is a bit busted, but I like a repair project. Otherwise, it was in excellent condition. The price was definitely right, especially since similar suitcases sell new for $350!

I later returned to find nothing other than the twin bed frame. This was a bummer as I’d decided to take this green wooden shelf if it was still available. I realized it would slot perfectly in my youngest’s childhood bedroom. Oh well . . . you can’t take everything without crossing a line into hoarding.

How did I do? A win for what I brought home or a loss for everything I left behind?

Katy Wolk-Stanley

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My husband and I visited the Oregon coast yesterday. Not an expensive vacation where we’d have to fly and pay for accomodation, just a simple two hour drive from 100° Portland to seventy-some degree beach breezes. We enjoyed slightly overpriced fish and chips overlooking a bay and then shared a burrito before heading home.

We saw orange starfish.

Purple starfish.

An unfortunate starfish.

And a flock of maybe 80 pelicans. Okay, this was amazingly cool, as we’ve been to this sepcific beach maybe twenty times through the years and this was a first. Sure, we’ve seen pelicans here and there in the past, but such a large number at once was new. It’s hard to give a sense of how big they are in a photo, but compare their size to the also-not-tiny seagull!

We also stopped into the Tillamook Goodwill, where I picked up what looks to be a complete Yakima bike rack for $7.99. I’ll clean it up today and either list it on Facebook Marketplace or bring it to the used bike rack store.

A perfect getaway for a couple of lucky Oregonians.

Katy Wolk-Stanley

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1. I treated my husband to a lunch date at IKEA. I chose a pair of $1.30 veggie dogs and he enjoyed a half-price $5 meatball and mashed potato plate. (Half price entrées on Thursdays!) Of course, we both partook of the free coffee. To say that I’m a “cheap date” is actually an understatement.

   

2. I stashed a deck of cards in my purse and we played a few hands of gin rummy while sipping our coffee. I suggested that we go find a faux living room setup to hang out in while playing cards, but I was outvoted.

   

3. We then headed over to the nearby Costco, where we gassed up the car and bought a round of staples for the kitchen. Needless to say, samples were enjoyed.

   

4. My husband grabbed his tools and we drove over to our daughter’s apartment as her roommate’s bed seemed to have broken. Luckily it turned that the slats had just fallen off the frame, so no repairs were necessary. The easiest and cheapest repair is no repair.

   

5. I enjoyed that the main character in my book balked at the idea that “You always have to throw out the first pancake.” Finally, a character that I can identify with! 😉

Katy Wolk-Stanley

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1. I came across this free pile outside an apartment complex in my neighborhood and had to do some browsing. See the baseball cap on top?

   

   It’s an embroidered guy in a towel* standing in a puddle of liquid. Because, you know . . . fashion. I’m ashamed proud to admit that I brought it home in case anyone ever invites me to a white elephant party.

   

2. The box also contained two pairs of Bombas socks, which normally sell for $18 apiece. I brought them home to launder because they looked essentially new and I hate throwaway culture. Also, I think they might be Cookie Monster socks?

3. I walked to Fred Meyer to pick up a half gallon of milk and bought nothing more than the milk. I did scope out the clearance shelves, but there were no amazing bargains. I paid using my $30 Red Cross gift card from when I donated platelets. They also sent me an additional $15 card that I tucked into my wallet.

   For those keeping track, I received $45 in gift cards for donating platelets, although I declined the backpack and T-shirt.

4. I sold a coffee creamer for $12 on eBay. This is another example of an item I’ve had up for sale for too long, which is why I have a hard time letting go of stale inventory. It doesn’t take up that much space, but there’s still an impatient part of me that’s tempted to do a clean sweep.

5. My husband and I started watching the so-so TV show Butterfly through my sister’s Prime video account and started feeling peckish when the main character and his daughter shop for snacks in a Korean grocery store. I didn’t have any Korean snacks on hand, but I always have Winco bulk purchased popcorn kernels. I paused the show and popped us some nice buttery bowls of popcorn and got back to our show. Spent maybe 20¢?

Katy Wolk-Stanley

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1. I had a couple free hours in the middle of the day, so I drove over to my secret spot and picked some more blackberries. Not as much as usual, but enough to make it worth the effort. I cannot get enough of filling my freezer with this delicious fruit!

   

   Screenshot

2. I finally “sold” the frame to the above broken curb picked chair, after having actually sold the back piece for $35 on eBay. I hated to see the rest of the chair go into a landfill and figured that there might be someone out there who needed the last frame bit. I was right and now have one less thing in my house!

   

3. Yesterday was National Thrift Store day, so I stopped at Goodwill after picking berries. I came across nothing worth owning or picking up to resell, so I walked out empty handed. Zero dollars spent will always be a bargain!

   

4. I started reading a library copy of Back After This, by Linda Holmes. Like many of my holds, I don’t remember who recommended it, but it seems good so far.

5. My house guests went the Adidas employee store and brought back a pass for us. I try not to buy anything new, so I’ll offer it up on my local Buy Nothing group.

Katy Wolk-Stanley

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1. My hairbrush performed an act of mitosis and split into two pieces.* Kind of a bummer, but I’m always happy to work on a repair project, especially when it’s easy and requires nothing more than a tube of glue. I’d explain how I executed this grueling and formidable task, but I think you can probably figure it out.
   Ta da!

   

   

2. I walked into Fred Meyer while on my way to the library and scored a bag of eleven perfectly good tomatoes for just $1.50. Produce clearance shelf has been on fire lately!

   

3. My neighbor is about to move and keeps putting random items out on her parking strip. The other day it was flowerpots and today it was food from her pantry. I grabbed two cans of soup, (split pea and bean with bacon) and left the rest for others. I never buy canned soup, but it’ll be nice to have some backups for my own pantry.

   

4. I have a houseguest at the moment, who came to Portland by way of Seattle. My hostess gift? A lovely box of candy, plus all the teabags from their Seattle hotel room! He knows that I’m about as cheap as can be and would appreciate the gesture. Guess what? He was right!

   

5. I also bought a couple of these Pokémon mini Hershey bars as they were on clearance for 50¢ apiece. However, I looked them up on eBay when I got home and saw that they’re selling for good money and that I maybe need to get my tuchus back to Fred Meyer to catch them all! You know it’s my destiny.

   Remember when I sold all those 10¢ bags of Bailey’s chocolate chips on eBay during the pandemic?

* I’m aware that mitosis would be my hairbrush splitting into two identical parts, but for this blog post let’s pretend otherwise.

Katy Wolk-Stanley

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1. My husband and I recently bought a new-to-us car, which means that our 2005 minivan sits idle more than normal. Specifically throughout a four day heatwave that apparently conjured the ghosts of all stinks past. This prompted me to take an hour or so to wipe out and sweep all inside surfaces and finish it up with a mesh bag of coffee beans over a vent. I’m not sure if this’ll eradicated the stench, but the car is certainly cleaner and who doesn’t love the smell of coffee?

2. You may notice that I attached the coffee bag using one of the Command Strips that I thrifted last month. (Sixteen for $3.99.) I finally found a use for one of them!

   

3. Of course the “Check Engine Light” reared her ugly head in my clean car, so I stopped at O’Reilly’s Auto Parts to have them plug in their free sensor. While there I noticed that they have a free loaner tool program, which is good to know for the future. What was wrong with my twenty-year-old car? This and that, but nothing dire and still quite drivable.

4. I donated a small bag of random items to Goodwill and got a form for my taxes, making sure to fill it in as soon as I got home. There’s a 0% chance that I’ll remember this information when I sit down to do my taxes next year, so this is a favor to future Katy.

   

5. My sister and her family are in the middle of a long awaited trip to the United Kingdom, which I’m so happy about. (Our family lived in London for a number of years throughout our childhood.) I’m also happy to enjoy her cranberry orange marmalade on a freshly baked scone.

Katy Wolk-Stanley

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