The Non-Consumer Advocate

1. I sold a number of things through eBay and Facebook Marketplace.

   • I thrifted a goofy “Bun in The Oven” maternity costume for $5 and sold it on eBay for $40. But not before wearing it around for a bit. Not sorry at all, it was delightfully comfortable!
   • I thrifted a kid’s Trek bicycle for $15 and sold it locally for $50.
   • I thrifted an antique typewriter for $20 and sold it for $75.
   • I thrifted a licensed Wizard of Oz Scarecrow costume for $4 and sold it locally for $30.
   • I thrifted a Pottery Barn pumpkin costume for $3 and sold it on eBay for $35.
   • I thrifted a set of Eddie Bauer flannel sheets for $7.50 and sold them on eBay for $35.

2. I took the two $1.99 glazed flowerpots that I picked up from a Tacoma, Washington estate sale and potted them with peace lilies. I knew I wanted to plant them with something for indoors the house as we’re only a month or so out from frost, but I also didn’t want to spend any money. I have a peace lilly on top of the piano that’s grown quite large and this was the perfect opportunity to transplant some of it. I grew up with a greenhouse plus a lot of houseplants, so I wasn’t worried about damaging the lilly, and confidently took a knife to separate out the roots. I now have two “new” peace lilies and all I paid was $3.98 for the pots.

   

3. My husband and I stopped into Costco to pick up a rotisserie chicken and gas up the car. This guy is a diehard coffee drinker and has very much not enjoyed whenever I’ve attempted to reign in our coffee expenses. Although, he does point out that he always brings his own coffee to work instead of driving through Starbucks.

   Anyway . . . we were headed to the register when I noticed that the 2-1/2 pound bags of Starbucks beans were on sale (“instant rebate”) for just $14.99, limit six per customer. So we bought six. After all, $6/lb is a screaming good deal for high end coffee.

   I’m relieved to be at a point in my life where I can shell out an unexpected $89.94 and still pay my bills. I’ve certainly lived through times when I wouldn’t have been able to take advantage of this sale price, and would’ve ended up paying more in the long run due to not having funds to cover the cost. The issues of poverty and food insecurity are part of the daily news cycle more than ever and my heart goes out to those in the midst of their struggle.

4. I glued my aged dish scrubber back together, I listened to the audiobook of Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John through the free Libby app, I baked a batch of pumpkin spice muffins using the last of last year’s pumpkin puree, (which was baked from a neighbor’s uncut jack-o-lantern) I shared a plate of muffins with those neighbors, I hung multiple loads of laundry on my backyard clothesline, I grocery shopped at Winco with my friend Lise, which ticked off both “socialize” and “grocery shop” from my to-do list, my backyard hydrangeas are still blooming, so I’m assembling bouquets for friends and neighbors, (I planted them 24 years ago from starts my father propagated in his greenhouse) and I washed my Prius in the driveway instead of paying for a carwash.

5. I didn’t buy a Lear Jet.

Katy Wolk-Stanley    

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

{ 72 comments }

1. My husband and I used our local Buy Nothing Group to give away two outdoor chair cushions, a guitar shaped cake pan, a cardigan sweater and a full-on drum set that my husband had great plans for, but had unsurprisingly collected an impressive amount of basement dust.

   We then scored a full-size bed frame that a neighbor offered through the group. I’d been passively keeping an eye out for a new bed frame as our son’s had followed him when he moved out. (Also a Buy Nothing find!) We’d unceremoniously dumped a futon onto the floor as a stop gas measure, but that’s simply not an acceptable option for aging house guests. Luckily the new bed frame is the style that doesn’t require a box spring, so it’ll support the futon without issue. For the very low price of $0.00.

2. I somehow erected a mental barrier to putting up new eBay listings. I’d built it up in my mind as difficult, even though I’ve been selling on eBay since 2005! Every day I’d write “List five items on eBay” on my to-do list and then accomplish everything except that task. I finally wised up and wrote “List one item on eBay” which narrowed it down enough so I could get over myself.

   So I listed a single item on eBay. Something both easy to photograph and simple to describe. And then two days later I assembled all the things I needed to list and got to work. There’s a term in the reselling community called a “death pile,” which is essentially all the stuff you’ve bought, but never list My death pile wasn’t actually all that impressive, but the guilt clouded my brain. Things are starting to sell again, which is both a relief and the perfect motivator to continue listing.

3. My husband had a two day work class in Tacoma, Washington last week, which  we forced somehow blossomed into the perfect getaway. The hotel reservation was for Thursday and Friday, so we left Thursday morning and checked into our room and immediately drove up to Seattle where we enjoyed a somewhat crappy meal, (we’d eaten at this restaurant a number of years ago, but apparently they’ve taken a nose dive.) and then took the ferry to Bremerton and back.

   The round-trip ferry tickets were just $9.25 apiece for the two hour trip, which was both the perfect length and price. Add in that our waiter had slipped me extra bags of oyster crackers and I even came prepared with snacks!

   The rest of our trip was equally satisfying, as we were able to meet up with multiple Antioch College friends, (Hi, Lisa, Ed and Ben!)  as well as hit up multiple thrift stores, (Hi, Tacoma and Seattle Goodwills, American Cancer Society Discovery Shop and that one estate sale!) I do value getting out of my routine, or as I shared with my friend Lisa,” It’s just nice to look at something that’s not my living room walls!”

4. My husband fixed a broken side rail on our daughter’s bed, I was twice able to eat enough at the hotel breakfast buffet to skip lunch, I fed my friend’s cat while she was out of town and she gifted me with tea and honey from her travels, I brought home three impressively sturdy takeout containers from one of our meals in Seattle, I scored a few things from a Seattle free pile, (the above Daenerys Targaryen wig, a cute pair of earrings and some Yakima rack component pieces) I returned two tubes of expensive sunscreen that took two weeks in transit, I went through my closet and identified a dozen or so pieces of never-wear-em clothing and donated them to Goodwill, I helped my mother shampoo a filthy rug and in return she fed my family some delicious barbecue takeout as a thank you, I took my sister’s excellent advice and listened to Death at Wentwater Court through the free Libby app  and I took a Griswold Dutch oven that wasn’t selling on Facebook Marketplace for $125 and listed it on eBay, where it sold overnight for $150!

5. I didn’t buy a Lear Jet, and my ego-driven rocket ship didn’t explode after liftoff.

Katy Wolk-Stanley    

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

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1. I drove to my trusty Everyday Deals grocery liquidator and scored big time. The store is a bit like a thrift store, as the inventory is pretty random, although it always seems to have cheap salad mixes. I brought home:

   • Two bagged salad kits for $1.29 apiece.
   • Two Persian cucumbers for 50¢ apiece.
   • A huuuuge bag of spinach for $2. Like seriously huge, think pillow case sized! So big that split it with my friend Lise, who luckily doesn’t blink at my extreme frugality.
   • An entire flat of strawberries for $6. <– my favorite deal!

2. A neighbor set out a couple of rickety old kitchen cabinets from a remodel, and I drove past them for almost a week before noticing that the vintage chrome drawer pulls were the same as the ones in my kitchen. I gave it another day or two before walking over with a screwdriver and removed each and every one of them. (Six, I removed six.) I promptly replaced my broken drawer pull and then stashed the other five as back ups.

3. My son continues to borrow my Prius for his Monday through Friday work commute. We make this work as my husband can mostly ride his bike and it’s not the worst thing in the world for me to be occasionally housebound. Used car prices are through the roof right now and this arrangement should allow him to save enough money for a late model car instead of a total junker.

4. I exchanged a completed Franz Bakery outlet punch card for five free loaves of bread, I 100% didn’t feel like cooking dinner last night, but buckled up and made a batch of The Prudent Homemaker’s rosemary white bean soup, (which also used up some accidentally overcooked navy beans!) I returned to my secret spot and picked another 4-1/2 pounds of wild blackberries, I filled my little free library with new books that my mother sourced from her Buy Nothing Group, I ordered a free Domino’s pizza using points from previous purchases, which then prompted an offer for another free pizza as the delivery apparently took too long, my next door neighbor offered to let me put plastic bubble mailers in her Ridwell recycling box and I scored a free hose nozzle that somebody put out for free.

5. I didn’t buy a Lear Jet, and instead borrowed one from Kylie Jenner.

Katy Wolk-Stanley    

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

{ 126 comments }

1. My husband and I used credit card/airline points to book a single night at the Hotel Elliott in Astoria, Oregon for our 29th anniversary.

   I’m always trying to find that thin line between spending, without being too painfully tight with money. If it were up to my husband, we’d eat each and every meal in a brewpub and order $17 bacon cheeseburgers and wash them down with $10 pints of beer. If it were up to me, we’d bring rice and beans from home and splurge on a single food cart meal. Instead we ate at Fort George brewpub, where I convinced my husband to split an order of fish and chips, as the servings looked enormous. (They were, and it was plenty of food.) He enjoyed an IPA while I sipped my refreshing glass of water. This truly is us in a nutshell.

   The hotel had a free breakfast buffet that was actually quite good, definitely a step (or two) above your typical Best Western version. Plus there was also free coffee and fruit available throughout the day. We availed ourselves.

   Although the trip was just a night away from home, we left relaxed and happy.

2. We got a notice in the mail that our mortgage broker’s office had been burglarized, specifically the drawer that held our records. I took this as an opportunity to freeze our credit with all three major credit bureaus, using this guide from Clark Howard. lt took maybe twenty minutes for the two of us, and I’m happy to know that it’s now extremely unlikely that anyone can open accounts in our name.

3. I picked enough free wild blackberries to make six jars of jam and even fill a bag for the freezer. It took about an hour and I only got mildly scratched up, which I consider to be a win. This location is in the very far back of a store’s parking lot and just a 15 minute drive from the house. I plan on going back again, but am waiting until the Portland temperatures aren’t in the high nineties.

   I do love me some free food!

4. I mended a blouse that had split along a seam, my daughter brought home a variety of free cheese and eggs from work, my husband’s friend took all the wood from our tree pruning to use as firewood, I picked up two organic salad kits for 50¢ apiece from the grocery liquidator, my husband and I spent the day at a family member’s mountain cabin, I’ve been preparing mostly vegetarian meals as the price of meat is simply too much, I listened to The Henna Artist through the library’s free Libby app and I thrifted a cute used pair of cotton socks for just 49¢.

5. I didn’t buy a Lear Jet, and instead borrowed one from Taylor Swift.

Katy Wolk-Stanley    

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

{ 64 comments }

1. I’ve continued to inexpensively cook from scratch even though I’m sick to death of the endless routine of it all. Black bean chili, vegetarian tacos, stir fry, pasta dishes, soups, burritos, breakfast for dinner, sandwiches, rinse and repeat ad infinitum.

   Update: I wrote the previous paragraph last week when I’d been exclusively cooking from scratch. However, I apparently snapped and have since dined out for brunch three times. Once with an out of town friend, once with my husband and lastly with a local friend who invited me at the last minute to a restaurant in the neighborhood.

   I guess it all comes down to balance. Cook inexpensively at home so you can later enjoy the occasional meal out with friends. I regret nothing.

2. My foot keeps me mostly at home, which does save money but is far from socially engaging. I did get a proper diagnosis with an MRI, (it’s NOT plantar fasciitis!) so hopefully should start to see some improvement over the next few months.

   The best way I have to describe the pain is that I feel like I’m constantly stepping on a Lego, but that Lego is inside my foot. My foot Lego.

3. We finally hired an arborist for our imposing backyard maple tree who not only replied to emails, but efficiently completed the job! This is in direct opposition to the guy we hired to come “the first week of March,” and then ghosted us. You may remember that Portland experienced a freak snowstorm the first week of April, which brought down three major branches.

   I’m aware that hiring an arborist has been a dull subject over the past year, (sorry!) but it’s damned expensive and the bids were all over the place. We ended up paying $1440, which was a full two thousand dollars less than the highest bid!

   I know that the standard advice is to never pick the lowest bid when hiring contractors, but this guy did amazing work and I’m 110% happy with the work. He knew we were trying keep the budget in check, so his bid specified leaving all firewood size logs in the backyard. No worries though, as my husband’s friend was happy to snap them up.

4. I scored six boxes of clearance priced fettuccini for 25¢ apiece from Fred Meyer, I used the free Libby app to listen to The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah, my husband borrowed his brother’s truck to schlep rotten boards from a disassembled treehouse to the recycling facility, my son and I prepared every single one of his decidedly unwelcome Hello Fresh meal kits, a friend brought me unopened Tabasco and pasta sauce she wasn’t going to use, my friend Lise and I brought our laptops to IKEA to work and fuel ourselves with their free coffee, the motor for our clothes dryer pooped out, so my husband watched a couple YouTube videos and ordered a $70 replacement motor, and then we rehung a backyard clothesline that had been snapped to pieces from the April snowstorm/falling branches fiasco.

5. I didn’t buy a Lear Jet, and instead borrowed one from Taylor Swift.

Katy Wolk-Stanley    

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

{ 92 comments }

1. I still haven’t been thrifting lately as my foot becomes intensely painful if I walk any more than necessary, so my eBay sales are essentially just stale inventory. However . . . that’s still a couple items per week.

   • A stuffed anime rabbit that I bought for $2.99 and sold for $50.

   • A Portland Timbers soccer scarf that my son didn’t want anymore. $30.

   • A Calphalon skillet that I bought for $4.99 and sold locally for $30.

2. I paid my next door neighbor the semi-annual cost of $103 for our shared garbage service. (Although we’re billed monthly, we both agree that it’s easier to for me to pay in December and July.) This plan was my idea at least 14 years ago and we both currently save $206 per year.

   In all the years that I’ve been scouring the internet for unique money saving hacks, I’ve never seen anyone else suggest this as a cost cutting measure.

3. My neighbor across the street gifted us a loaf of warm sourdough bread and I sent her home with two bowls of freshly made potato cheddar soup, my daughter works for a high end grocery store and brought home a dozen eggs, three packets of $11 bacon and a box of macarons that she’d gotten for free, I listened to an audiobook of Bloomsbury Girls using the free Libby app, my friend asked if I wanted to tag along to Trader Joe’s with her and I bought just two bunches of 19¢ bananas and a 12-pack of toilet paper, (I consider this to be a yuuuge frugal win as Trader Joe’s is 90% impulse items) I used the Too Good To Go app to buy a bag of end-of-day pastries from a nearby coffee shop for just $2.99 and I followed a surprisingly delicious stir-fry veggie pasta recipe from Ardent Michelle that used up items in my fridge that were on the verge of being wasted. So long carrots, spinach, garlic scapes and bulk sausage.

4. I wish I could live a life of nothing but 19¢ bananas, but there’s no escaping the inevitability of unexpected financial hits. Please enjoy mine:

   • My elderly 2010 Macbook finally got to where it couldn’t handle updates and was glitching left, right and center. I replaced it with a certified refurbished MacBook Air for $850. Oof.
   • I took my Prius to Costco for a free tire rotation, and ended up having to purchase a new tire for $86. (It did have some warranty left, which is how I paid this lesser amount.) Then I had to drive to an entirely different Costco south of Portland for the specific tire. It ate up half my day plus $86 of our precious credit union account. Crud.
   • My husband took our minivan to Les Schwab (a local tire chain) to get the tires rotated on the minivan and we ended up having to buy two new tires! Bye-bye, $300! Damnit.
   • I finally found an arborist to prune our enormous backyard tree. The last guy had scheduled us for “the first week of March” and then ghosted us. At this point I’ve gotten four different bids, which have ranged from $1300 to $3500. This tree probably would have fared better from our freak April snow storm had it just been pruned, and this pisses me off. This guy is $1400, which we can technically afford, but still . . .
   • This one isn’t my frugal fail, but I’m putting it here anyway. My son signed up to get a “free” Hello Fresh box and somehow received (and got charged for) six boxes. He realized his error and talked to customer service, but they refused to help him even though he’d only received two kits at that point. He ended up making all the meals at our house, (as he shares a small kitchen with three roommates) and we used it as an opportunity for him to learn certain cooking techniques. He also learned a lesson about “free” meal kits.

5. I didn’t buy a Lear Jet, as aviation fuel no longer fits in our budget.

Katy Wolk-Stanley    

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

{ 98 comments }

My husband and I have been hit with a series of unexpected expenses over the past few months, (related to his mother’s passing, car maintenance, storm damage to our backyard tree and helping our son out after he was laid off.) and although we’ve had the money to cover everything, our savings definitely took a hit. Keep in mind that our youngest just graduated from college last year, so we hadn’t been able to prioritize savings until recently. This means that we’re tightening our belts more than ever, which you might think wasn’t even possible. Turns out it was!

1. Last night I took four iffy apples and baked up a delicious apple crisp, which included juice from squishy lemon.

   I then incorporated the rest of the lemon juice in a Greek-style orzo chicken soup. I’d boiled up the last of a Costco rotisserie chicken a couple weeks ago and froze both the broth and the scraps of meat. I seasoned the soup with a scoop of Costco “Better Than Bullion,” bulk purchased dill, paprika, pepper and seasoned salt from Dollar Tree. This soup also included sautéed onion, carrot and celery that I’d frozen as ugly little clumps after recently buying a large bag of pre-chopped celery for 33¢. This was such a time saver and I’ll likely repeat this hack in the future. By the way, the soup was superb!

   Click HERE to see the ugly celery/onion/carrot mix.

2. My husband and I are long term lending our 2007 Prius to our son who just landed a decently paying tech job that’s unfortunately outside of Portland. He’d been saving to buy a reliable used car, but his plan got derailed when he was laid off in late May. (Right after moving out!) Luckily my husband’s job is only a couple miles from home, so he can commute by bike most of the time. This leaves me at home with our 2005 minivan for errands, although I’ve been making a concerted effort to drive as little as possible lately.

   None of us want car payments, so we’ll just make do as long as possible. Used cars are suddenly insanely expensive, so anything we can do to hold off on buying at peak pricing is just smart money. This is making me extra thankful that our daughter can walk to work!

3. My husband and I aren’t planning any plane travel this summer, so instead we’ll just enjoy the Pacific Northwest. I do plan on burning up some airline miles to cover the cost of one night at a schmancy Columbia Gorge hotel, plus my husband has a two day class in Tacoma, Washington that I’ll tag along for in September. (The cost of his hotel room will be covered.) I’ll then drive the 45 minutes up to Seattle to visit with old college friends and enjoy getting away from home for a few days.

   Add in that one of my best friends is coming to Portland later this month for a wedding and is coincidentally staying in my neighborhood! I usually see her when I visit New York, so it’ll kind of be like traveling. I do plan on driving her and her husband around to do some sightseeing, which counts as a staycation in my book.

   It can be hard to see friends traveling to exotic corners of the world, but it’s also perfectly acceptable to explore your own corner of the world.

4. I power washed my kitchen garbage can, recycling bins and an outdoor rug as part of borrowing my neighbor’s power washer, I shared some extra fruit smoothie with a neighbor, I grabbed six bottles of 48¢ shampoo and conditioner and two bottles of 10¢ chili powder from the Winco clearance shelf, I cobbled together a hodge-podge decent meal when my husband was on the verge of ordering Thai takeout, my husband and I watched the movie Pride through my sister’s Prime Video account, (this movie was fantastic, I highly recommend it!) my friend Lise gave me a small jar of yeast which I returned filled with everything but the bagel seasoning from a huge container I bought at Costco, and I watched an amazing YouTube Frontline PBS documentary titled Two American Families about two different Milwaukie, Wisconsin families and their struggles with poverty.

5. I didn’t buy a Lear Jet, as aviation fuel no longer fits in our budget.

Katy Wolk-Stanley    

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

{ 100 comments }

1. I still haven’t been thrifting, but I did sell a few things, including:

   • A groovy midcentury plate that I bought for $1.99 and sold for $38.
   • A handmade Christmas tree skirt that I bought for $2.50 and sold for $20.
   • A high quality Wizard of Oz guard costume that I bought for $7.99 and sold for $40.
   • An Atomic Ranch magazine that I bought for 25¢ and sold for $10.
   • A Jadeite mug that I bought for maybe $2.99 and sold for $25.
   • A pair of Hoka sneakers that I bought for $4.99 and sold for $30.

2. I treated our brick back patio to a thorough beauty treatment, which is always a fair bit of work. (And for this reason I only do it every couple of years!) This job involves power washing both the bricks and stone retaining wall, as well as sweeping clean new sand in between the bricks. Luckily my next door neighbors are always happy to lend me their power washer, plus I was able to source free sand by posting a request through my local Buy Nothing Group.

   Not only is our backyard now ready for hosting friends and family, but doing this maintenance work protects the value of our home and property.

   Click HERE for more backyard pictures!

3. I stopped by the Everyday Deals grocery liquidator store on S.E. 82nd Avenue and struck produce gold! Seriously. I bought:

   • An entire flat of strawberries for $3, which I immediately cut up and froze on baking sheets.
   • Two melons for 50¢ apiece, one of which I gave to my friend Lise.
   • 3/$1 bundles of garlic scapes.
   • 5/$1 heads of garlic, one of which also went to Lise.
   • Two 50¢ containers of grapes.
   • A huge $2 container of organic baby spinach.
   • Two containers of fresh wild mushroom pasta for $1.25 apiece, which I served to myself and son one night and then to my mother and myself on another night. Of course I topped them with homemade marinara sauce. I looked this brand up and they’re normally $6.50 apiece.

   My plan had been to stop at the regular grocery store afterwards, but I didn’t want to risk leaving this vulnerably ripe produce in the back of a hot car. Food is so freaking expensive right now, and I knew this heavenly manna needed to be processed in a timely manner!

   Food is never a bargain if it goes to waste.

4. I watered the next door neighbor’s plants while they were out of town, (and also gifted them a box of fancy cookies as a thank you for lending us their power washer) I scrubbed down all our outdoor furniture as I’d rather clean and repair my belongings instead of replacing, I power washed our concrete front steps and the sidewalk in front of our house, my other next door neighbors gave us some bagels their daughter didn’t like, I listened to an audiobook through the free Libby app, my son and I watched a library DVD of Witness, (which prompted me to deep dive into multiple YouTube videos about modern day Amish families) we also watched a library DVD of Brassed Off, I picked up toothpaste, shampoo, conditioner and ginger snaps from Dollar Tree and I contentedly exist despite my salt-and-dishwater hair.

5. I didn’t buy a Lear Jet, as aviation fuel no longer fits in our budget.

Katy Wolk-Stanley    

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

{ 75 comments }

$13.85 of discounted food!

1. My Facebook Marketplace and eBay sales have been slow lately, but I know that it’s directly related to me being a homebody.

   However, sales have been trickling in:

   • A vintage Cathrineholm enamel bowl that I bought for $2 and sold for $65.
   • A wool sweater that I bought for $8 and sold for $55.
   • A Wii gaming system that I bought for $20 and sold for $99.
   • A Michael Graves desk organizer that I bought for $4.99 and sold for $35.
   • A Yakima bike rack that I bought for $10 and sold locally for $50.
   • A vintage Coleman cooler that I bought for $10 and sold locally for $90.
   • A DVD/VCR combo that I bought for $10 and sold locally for $75.
   • A Rock Band gaming drum set that I bought for $20 and sold locally for $120.
   • An American Girl doll that I bought for $5 and sold locally for $40, although I did sell her sweater separately on eBay for $25.

2. Food prices are no joke right now and though I’m lucky enough to be more knowledgable than many people when it comes to budget shopping, it still takes effort.

   Here’s what I’m doing:

   • I’m doing the majority of my family’s grocery shopping at Winco Foods, which is a Pacific Northwest staple for low cost food. They have an impressive bulk food section and tend to be located in working class neighborhoods. (At least here in Portland.) They also take off 6¢ per reusable bag, which I appreciate.

   • I stop at the Everyday Deals grocery liquidator every couple weeks. Their inventory is random, but they always have a large variety of organic salad greens for under a buck, as well as cheap fruit and veggies; cheese, crackers and high end yogurts. Plus, this location is delightfully next door to a Goodwill thrift store.

   • I stop by the Franz Bakery bargain store to stock up on bagels and sandwich bread and always have them stamp my frequent buyer card.

   • I buy a few specifics from Trader Joe’s, like their 19¢ bananas and their amazing hummus. (Plus their 100% recycled content toilet paper is less than half the price of Seventh Generation!) Their prices seem to be more stable than corporate chains like Safeway and Kroger.

   • I downloaded the Too Good To Go app to see if I could score cheap food while supporting their “Save Food, Save The Planet” goal. This app connects food vendors with consumers to buy up the extra food that would otherwise go to waste at the end of the day.

   Unfortunately, there aren’t many participating restaurants in Portland, but I did score two muffins and two loaves of artisan bread that would normally have been $10 apiece for $4.99 total. You get zero control over what you’re buying, so its usefulness is limited. I’ll probably use it again, but just as something fun.

   • I’m pretty much cooking 100% from scratch, even though I don’t particularly enjoy cooking. All I can say is thank you to whoever invented free library audiobooks for welcome distraction. I know that many people love this task, but I find it to fall under the umbrella of household drudgery.

3. My mother sold the last of her short term rental houses and gifted the towels to us. Our towels had slowly (but very surely) devolved into terrycloth mayhem. I think I last bought new towels in 2004, so they were a welcome addition to our home. I then bagged up the scrappy but clean towels and donated them to the Humane Society.

   I’m very fancy now.

4. I scored a vintage Copco Dutch oven from my Buy Nothing Group, I listened to a library audiobook of This Time Tomorrow by Emma Straub, (SO SO GOOD!) I mended a sweater for my son, I lent our car to our next door neighbor, I transferred most of my bulk spices into hoarded Bonne Maman jam jars, I stocked up on Tillamook butter when it hit $1.48-per-pound, I checked out a library DVD of Serenity as I had rewatched Firefly through my sister’s Prime Video, I’ve watched various “Feed a Family of Four For Just $40!” style YouTube videos and have even tried out a few recipes, (like Frugal Fit Mom’s potato cheese soup.) and I scored a perfectly good Timbuk2 backpack from a free pile.

5. I didn’t buy a Lear Jet, as aviation fuel no longer fits in our budget.

Katy Wolk-Stanley    

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

{ 95 comments }