The Non-Consumer Advocate

After a frightening eBay dry spell, my sales have once again woken from their winter slumber. (Because if no one is buying the random crap inventory I’ve piled into the corner of my spare bedroom, that demotes me from “cool af reseller” to “pathetic hoarder!”)

Last week I sold just two items for $7.50 apiece. However, yesterday and today have been much more on track as I’ve sold a $80 Dungeons and Dragons game, a $75 collection of wresting action figures, a $17 pair of Birkenstocks and a $35 set of Yakima bike rack parts. Selling one item doesn’t increase chances that another will sell, (you can see that my merchandise is wholly unrelated) but it’s still uplifting to wake up to eBay’s cha-chings.

$207 > $15

My 24-year-old daughter recently mentioned that her vision had changed, so we made an appointment for an eye exam. I chose Costco, as their vision center charges just $95 for a full exam, and they give you precisely zero guff about handing over your prescription, (including pupillary distance) to order from online retailers such as Zenni Optical.

My kids have ordered Zenni’s inexpensive glasses through the years without any issues. And since their glasses start at $6.95, it’s a huge savings potential! I even convinced my myopic sister to order a backup pair from them recently, even though she was highly skeptical, (she’s worn glasses since she was a kid, so she’s very serious about quality.) She ended up loving her Zenni glasses so much, that she demoted her Warby Parker glasses to “backup.”

I didn’t tell my daughter that she had to pick from their selection of $15 frames, yet she did.

I needed to replace the belt on my 18-year-old GE vacuum cleaner. (Go, Bessie!) The last ones I’d purchased, (a rare Amazon buy) were too tight and near to impossible to install. Not too surprisingly, they snapped apart almost immediately.

I’m trying my hardest to avoid the convenience and ease of shopping on Amazon, so I clicked on over to eBay and found an independent seller who had what I needed. Sure, I’ll have to wait until next week for delivery, but I feel content that I made the ethical choice.

I shopped at Winco and remembered to use a $20 gift card that my friend gave me as a thank you for walking her dog, I’ve begun to winnow down my pile of socks to be darned, I started reading a library copy of Kate Morton’s The Lake House, I stopped into Goodwill and picked up a $1.99 Jonathan Adler ceramic dove ornament, (his brand sells very well for me on eBay) I sewed a benign patch over an expensive winter coat’s company logo for my husband, my family finished rewatching library blu-rays of all the Harry Potter movies and my husband was given an almost new pair of skis from one friend and a pair of bindings from another and is spending the day skiing with a discount pass.

I didn’t buy a Lear Jet or a vulgar gold-plated apartment in the sky.

I sold a few things including a Scottish wool blanket from the Goodwill “bins,” a pair of Ilse Jacobsen sneakers, a Jonathan Adler mirror, a pair of free box Ugg slippers, a Calphalon skillet and a package of under-eye football stickers. (I picked up around 40 packages of these college branded packets at the Albany Goodwill for around $9.) I have a few Facebook Marketplace items that people are messaging me about, but I know from experience to not count my chickens before they hatch.

I gave away a set of twin XL flannel sheets, a honkin’ huge bag of working Christmas lights and a certain item that I can’t specify, (umm . . . it was a birthday gift) through my neighborhood’s Buy Nothing Group.

I highly recommend that you click the above link to learn if your local neighborhood has its own buy nothing group. They’re an amazing way to skirt the traditional consumer experience — just neighbors strengthening bonds by gifting wanted and needed things to one another. Sorry, Jeff Bezos.

I continue on my Extreme Frugal January™ and cooked up a pot of makeshift Tuscan white bean soup. I used a couple cans of cannelloni white beans, (50¢ apiece from the Grocery Outlet) the last of a bag of baby carrots and some leftover carmelized onions. I added kale at the very end and called it good. Which it was.

I picked up a $2.99 luxe looking box of chocolates as a thank you for my mail carrier who makes extra trips to my house to scan my eBay packages, I spent a few days walking my friend’s dog while she was out of town, I started reading The Distant Hours from the library, I picked up five loaves of normally expensive bread at the Franz Outlet for a buck apiece, I bought a six-foot long iPhone charger from Goodwill for $4.99, (the Target packaging was damaged) and my $3 peace lily is growing a new flower, which is an accomplishment as all the previous flowers had shriveled up after the plant was transplanted.

I didn’t buy a Lear Jet or a vulgar gold-plated apartment in the sky.

Although I did earn some money since publishing my last blog post, it’s still been a financially lopsided month for us. My son’s college tuition was due January 1st, which coincided with the renewal of my nursing license, an unexpected car repair, leftover physical therapy bills from my husband’s foot surgery, our semi-annual garbage bill and a few other miscellaneous bills that added up to a nasty wallop to end the decade.

January is going to be ridiculously lean, but we’ll pull through as we always do. My husband and I are both A-okay with dirt and buttons rice and beans, if it supports the big picture of a debt-free lifestyle. My birthday is coming up this weekend, and I already have a zero-spend “Birthday day of Adventures” planned out for us.

In a perverse way I’m looking forward to the challenge of spending almost nothing while earning as much as possible. Okay, January . . . bring it on!

I did sell a few things including the above silver sugar and creamer set that I sourced from a post-garage sale free box, a Steinbach wooden Christmas ornament and a free box Jerry Garcia CD. (Yes, my inventory is haphazard!)

I sold the silver set for $100, (I accepted an offer from the buyer) but since I simultaneously wrote out a check for $95 for the unglamorous expense of “garbage service,” I consider this to fall under the umbrella of “it sometimes sucks to be an adult.”

I logged onto my library’s website at 12:01 on New Year’s Day, as I knew their cultural passes would reload. I was able to reserve double admission for both the Portland Art Museum and The Japanese Gardens, that my husband and I can enjoy later in the year. The two sets of tickets will save us $74 and will be something fun to look forward to.

I encourage you to check and see if your library system offers similar cultural passes to their patrons.

I hosted a family post-Christmas gathering using food I already had on hand, I lit candles on every single night of Chanukah with candles that I thrifted from Goodwill, I began reupholstering a cute thrifted midcentury stool, I agreed to watch a friend’s dog while she’s out of town for a few days, I accepted a lunch out with my father, I watched two library movies, (and read one library book) I’ve been really successful with not letting leftovers go to waste and I somehow survived hosting a Japanese exchange student without letting our budget go to pot.

I didn’t buy a Lear Jet or a vulgar gold-plated apartment in the sky.

Christmas came and went, although Chanukah lingers on in our home. We don’t do Chanukah gifts, as I long ago gave my kids the choice to either receive gifts on one holiday or the other, but not both. They chose Christmas. However, we do still light candles, (I snap up menorah candles whenever I find them at Goodwill) we play an obligatory game of dreidel and then fry up an oily batch of latkes.

We kept Christmas pretty simple this year, with minimal gifts and few, (okay, no) complicated meals or overwrought activities. Two, (yes, two!) Harry Potter library DVDs were watched, one takeout Chinese meal was brought by my generous mother and step father and a single nap was taken by yours truly.

Gifts were all either thrifted, edible or straight up cash.

I did stop into the Goodwill Outlet “bins” on Christmas Eve, as I felt my gifts for the kids were a bit too light. I picked up a lovely winter scarf for my daughter as well as a plaid flannel shirt for my son. I roped my mother into joining me, (by the way that “rope” is the thinnest of gossamer threads, as she is a nanosecond from hitting the bins at any given moment.) I also bought a couple items for resale which I quickly listed on eBay.

I woke up yesterday to a text from my friend Lise informing me of a shared neighbor’s free pile. I walked over to “shop” and carried home a midcentury nightstand and then back for a vintage patio chair. The nightstand needed a bit of a cleaning, but I ended up selling it through Facebook Marketplace before the sun went down. (I may have underpriced it at $40, as I had four people who all wanted to buy it.) Maybe five hours elapsed between strolling over to the free pile and having that sweet cash in hand.

The vintage patio chair is one of those 1980s-era white grid stacking chairs that were all the rage when I was in high school. However, this one is the actual Italian “Emu Rio” chair, while most others were knockoffs. They sell for $80-$100 apiece online, so I listed mine for $50. No interest so far, but that’s okay. I’m patient.

I served a dinner tonight where each person ate an entirely different meal, which quite nicely helped to A) clean out the fridge, and B) avoid food waste, I dropped off books at the library and then picked out new ones, we played the dreidel game using my collection of random foreign coins instead of chocolates, we took advantage of the free McNuggets deal as the Blazers basketball team scored over 100 points, (we actually did this two days in a row as our Japanese exchange student mentioned how he missed McDonalds, specifically nuggets) my husband received a hand-me-down pair of expensive skis from a co-worker, I borrowed my neighbor’s fondue pot and she borrowed my insulated casserole carrier, (mutual moochiness for the win!) and my son watched The Mandalorian through a friend’s Disney+ account.

I sold the midcentury nightstand, a midcentury-style wall clock, a vintage camera, a pair of Nikes, a wooden Parcheesi board game, a Starbucks tumbler, a rhinestone bracelet, a pair of slippers and a vintage Putz-style ornament.

I didn’t buy a Lear Jet or a vulgar gold-plated apartment in the sky.

I sold a few things including a coffee table, a Persian rug, some oversized Fiestaware mugs, a cute tweed flat cap, a vintage rotary phone, and a “Miller Lite” holiday scarf. Not great sales, but still steady. I have a number of $100+ items up on eBay that have decent number of watchers, so I expect them to sell in the near future. Until then I’ll have to be content with a steady dribble of $25-$50 sales.

I’ve mostly been lying low lately. Portland weather doesn’t invite outdoor adventures, and I swear that it’s getting dark earlier than in years past. (Is it three o’clock? Time to turn on the porch light!) However, this has translated into many homemade meals and a minimum of spending opportunities. (I rarely if ever online shop.) Picture me on the couch with a library book and you’re 3/4 of the way there. Hunkering down at home = very frugal.

I need to make sure that we’re ready for the holiday gift giving season in a way that allows us to cover our son’s college tuition/pay the mortgage/renew my nursing license/pay our son’s rent/etc . . . . I’ll be raiding my eBay stash for a few gifts, regifting some treats and then picking up a few things from Goodwill. I still haven’t figured out anchor gifts for my 21 and 24-year-old kids, but am trying to take deep breaths and remember that this will all be over soon.

I’ve been both reading and listening to library books, (see above) I picked up a new living room rug for $40, which allowed me to sell the one in our spare bedroom one for $160, my husband continues to bring bubble wrap home from work for my packages, (I joke that bubble wrap is my “love language”) and I once again put up my garbage picked artificial Christmas tree.

I didn’t buy a Lear Jet or a vulgar gold-plated apartment in the sky.

eBay sales have been coming in at a good clip, which is welcome since December is always a huge clusterhump of gifting, winter term tuition and miscellaneous add ons like nursing license renewal, car registration and the inevitable financial nonsense.

Some items were things I’d recently picked up, while others had been languishing in my inventory for ages. It can be frustrating to have shelves of stuff that elicits the, “crap, why did I ever think this would sell?” vibe, but at least half of sales is usually stuff listed at least six months ago.

Each time I list something I’m doing a favor for “Future Katy.” Gotta play the long game.

Here’s some of what sold:

•A pair of motorycle armor pants.
•A Jonathan Adler Christmas ornament.
•A beaded medallion.
•A miscellaneous bag of vintage watches.
•A vintage tile ashtray.
•A Christmas scarf.
•A pair of literary journals.
•More Funko Pop figures.
•A set of four dining room chairs. (These sold locally.)

Hopefully this trend will continue through the month as mama needs a brand new bag more college tuition money.

I dragged my mother to a financial information seminar, as I’d received a flyer in the mail and it included a free dinner. I normally would have chucked it into the recycling bin, but I was curious how my love of free food weighed against the horror of a predatory financial seminar.

Unfortunately, the salesman, (who of course was selling whole life insurance) was a deeply offensive sexist pig. I will not repeat what he said, but it resulted in me loudly stating my opinion and then stomping out of the room.

My mother then drove our proud selves through Burgerville, so I ended up getting a free dinner after all. So . . . a frugal win?

I went with my friend Lise to do some writing at Ikea, as free coffee is our love language. We then hit up the pay-by-the-pound Goodwill Outlet, and although I didn’t buy anything newsworthy, I did pick up a number of items that should sell on eBay. One example? The aforementioned pair of motorcycle armor pants.

I stopped at the library and picked up the first season of Mr. Robot to watch with my daughter, I gave a book of New Seasons Market coupons (they’re like Whole Foods) coupons to my neighbors who shops there, I purchased nothing on Cyber Monday and am not clicking over to Amazon browsing for “deals.”

I made a decision a long time ago to avoid shopping at Amazon.com as I do not respect their CEO or their treatment of lower level employees. I know that Amazon is a life saver for many people with accessibility issues, but that’s not my current situation. They’re the polar opposite of how I want to spend my dollars. Used whenever possible, and local if not.

I didn’t buy a Lear Jet or a vulgar gold-plated apartment in the sky.

I had a busy, busy week as I hosted Thanksgiving for everyone and cooked the entire meal from scratch. (Okay, I just lied. I called my mother on Wednesday and begged asked politely if she could bring rolls.) Add in that we invited a former Japanese exchange student to spend his fall break with us, and I can’t recall a spare minute over the past week.

The exchange student was someone that we’d hosted 4-1/2 years ago, and had already experienced my greatest hits tour of Portland and the surrounding areas, (i.e., cool, but mostly free stuff) so I had to branch out. We ended up planning a freezing cold Oregon coast adventure day, which included my son, the exchange student, my daughter and her girlfriend. I treated everyone to meals and activities, (a Mexican food cart lunch, beach time, a Goodwill shopping spree, the Tillamook Cheese Factory tour, fun at the Seaside arcade and dinner at the iconic Camp 18 restaurant on the way home.) and have to say that it was a day well spent.

Yes, I spent a generous amount of money, but I’m chalking it up to experiences over stuff and support of the Portland-Sapporo Sister City Association and positive international relations.

Scrimping and saving on the unimportant stuff so that the money is available when meaningful spending opportunities arise.

I sold a few things here and there over the past week, most of which were on Black Friday. This included a pair of new-in-package Ikea curtains, a porcelain pie server, an Otter phone case and a pair of distressed drawer pulls.

My favorite thing is that the phone case and drawer pulls were sourced from free boxes, so I was able to put what others may have tossed into the hands of people looking for these specific items. Plus, I made a couple of bucks in the process.

I baked up a neighbor’s leftover uncut Halloween pumpkin for all my Thanksgiving pies. I know that a lot of people think that standard Halloween pumpkins aren’t edible, but they absolutely are!

It’s as simple as:

•Cut the pumpkin into big chunks.
•Scrape out the seeds.
•Place on a baking sheet and bake in a 350° oven until the meat is soft.
•Scoop the meat from the tough skin. (Compost the skin.)
•Puree in a food processor or mixer until smooth.

Each pumpkin will provide enough puree for 4-5 pies, and any excess can be frozen until the thought of pumpkin pie is appealing again.

Better than Libby’s.

I borrowed an out of town neighbor’s silverware to provide for our 12 Thanksgiving guests, I didn’t buy anything on Black Friday, (okay, this is another lie. I picked up bananas and coffee at Trader Joe’s) and I’m having a hard time coming up with any other “frugal things,” as it was an unapologetically pricey week.

I didn’t buy a Lear Jet or a vulgar gold-plated apartment in the sky.