The Non-Consumer Advocate

My son and I stopped into Goodwill to take photos for my Instagram account and I ended up scoring a Macbook Pro charging cord for a cool $9.99! Mind you, it wasn’t for my outdated 2009 laptop whose chargers are easy to source, but for my husband’s one which is on the newer side. And since these sell new for $79.99, I’m feeling pretty good about this purchase.

My husband and I had planned on spending a couple of days at the Oregon coast to celebrate our 25th anniversary, that is until we priced motels. Holy inflation Batman, prices have skyrocketed since we last booked a motel! Instead we planned a “daycation” and enjoyed all the beach had to offer without spending hundreds of dollars for the privilege of housing without so much as a glimpse of the beach. Because of the savings, we were able to enjoy guilt free restaurant meals. Although one was a budget friendly Mexican food cart.

I sold a political science textbook through eBay that I’d pulled from an post-garage sale free box. It took just a couple of minutes to put the listing together (books are really easy to list) and I profited a cool $20 with minimal effort. (Minus eBay fees) Of course I sent it out using second hand packaging materials.

I think this makes four textbooks that I’ve now sold from this particular free box.

I did a big grocery shopping trip at Winco, (which is the cheapest grocery store in town) I returned library books right before they were due, I picked up another ponytail elastic off the ground, today’s shorts and T-shirt are both from free piles and I texted with my best friend Jennifer who’s vacationing in Ecuador. Because yes, I’m old enough that this technology still seems miraculous, and it seems not that long ago that foreign long distance was prohibitively expensive and texting didn’t even exist.

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

I discovered that I somehow had a $10 gift card credit on my Starbucks app, and have been slowly dipping into it to treat my son to Frappuccinos. We even bring our own cups in an attempt to decrease the amount of garbage created from this rare indulgence.

I prepared a batch of kidney beans in my slow cooker for a Mexi-bowl type of dinner. It was 99° F in Portland yesterday, so I plugged it in on our front porch in an attempt to avoid heating up the kitchen. (I make sure to place the slow cooker in an area where no one will trip over it and burn themselves.) However, my mother called me up and offered to take us out to dinner, so I deferred this plan as a restaurant meal sounded immensely preferable. We’ll enjoy our Mexi-bowls tonight, and you know I’ll be plugging the rice cooker into the porch outlet as well!

Air conditioned restaurant > sad porch beans!

Thanks, mom!

I made myself some popcorn using a plain brown paper bag in the microwave, which has been my frugal hack for a number of years. However, I got greedy and reused the bag, which then CAUGHT ON FIRE IN A RATHER DRAMATIC FASHION!

So, yeah . . . I’m done with this frugal hack.

However, my son and I were perusing local Goodwills and I came across a new-in-box air popper, which now lives in my kitchen awaiting my commands. Because there’s nothing frugal about saving a few cents while having to replace a burned down house!

I gave away a radio and lent out our staple gun through our buy nothing group, I’m enjoying a thriving flowerpot of red potatoes that I planted from accidentally sprouted spuds, (especially since they’re starting to flower!) I used my Fred Meyer (Kroger) points to inexpensively fill up our gas tank, I’m sprucing up a cute midcentury thrifted end table to ready it for resale and I picked up two abandoned hair elastics to wash and use for my own ponytails.

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

I got together with a former co-worker this morning. Instead of heading out to one of the cute coffee shops in my neighborhood, I suggested that we enjoy our coffee and nibbles at my house, as my furnished front porch is perfectly breezy in the mornings. It really is the idyllic go-to spot for the early hours of the day.

Both of us are attempting to live within a strict budget, (she’s a musician as well as an RN) and in the end we agreed that my private and comfy front porch hands down beats any loud and pricey cafe. No sacrifice here!

I participated in a two-hour consumer opinion panel and received $125 as compensation. Plus they plied us with snacks and drinks, which to no surprise . . . I thoroughly enjoyed.

I went out of my routine and shopped at Winco, which is a local employee owned grocery store chain. They are famously cheap, but I’ve fallen out of the habit of shopping there as I’m walking distance from a Fred Meyer/Kroger. However, it was a good reminder that there is money to be saved when I put in the extra effort.

I stopped by the main Portland Goodwill to see if I could get customers to share their finds for my Instagram account. (Click HERE to see the post!) I was provided with $5 Goodwill gift cards for bribery payment and was finally able to convince enough participants to complete my post. (You’d be surprised how many people aren’t tempted by gift cards.) I wasn’t looking to buy anything for myself, but was unable to walk away from an adorable midcentury end table priced at just $14.99.

I didn’t buy a Lear Jet or a вульгарная позолоченная квартира в небе.

I took my son to see the Han Solo Star Wars movie at our local second run theater. (Although I prefer to go on 2-for-1 Tuesdays, it was still a bargain to pay a mere $4 apiece for our tickets.) We didn’t buy any snacks, but we did stop on the way home to pick up a 50%-off pint of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream as an evening treat. $10.50 well spent.

I continue to declutter and downsize our excess stuff. We’re neither hoarders nor minimalists, and I’ve got a bee in my bonnet to rid our home once and for all from the burden of containing too many things. Of course, there are other people who live here, so there’s only so much under my control.

My motivation is that an item of mass replaces the space where fresh air could have circulated. More things = less air to breathe.

I went to a couple different Goodwills in search of treasures to photograph, (and to bribe other shoppers into sharing their stories with me for my Instagram.) I didn’t end up buying anything for myself, although my son bought a new-in-package set of underwear and a best of Deep Purple album.

My favorite recent Goodwill find was a new-in-package toilet seat, as ours had split in an unfixable manner. It’s been 11-1/2 years since I made a decision to stop buying new consumer goods, and I’m constantly amazed with what I’m able to find used!

I finished one library book and started another, I walked most of my errands yesterday, I arranged to participate in a consumer opinion panel that will pay $125 for a two-hour commitment, I renewed my Facebook Marketplace listings, I made a phone appointment for my son and I to talk to someone at his university about reversing the charges for the summer class he accidentally signed up for, (he thought it was a fall class) and I put a book on hold through the interlibrary loan program.

I didn’t buy a Lear Jet or a вульгарная позолоченная квартира в небе.

My son and I found enough excess stuff in the house to warrant a donation trip to Goodwill. (Is there such thing as a finish line when it comes to decluttering?!) I didn’t find anything worth recluttering my home buying, but my son brought home a $12.99 turntable. He’d been keeping an eye out for a decent record player for awhile, so he knew to jump at this purchase.

Luckily Goodwill has a great return policy, so there was zero worry about wasting our money on a non-functional item.

I did not buy a set of hilarious vintage savings banks. However, I did photograph them for your viewing pleasure. You’re welcome!

I walked to the library last night as I had two overdue books. I ran this errand even though they were closed, as I simply wanted to cross this off from my to-do list.

I came home from Seattle with a fresh eye aimed towards our grubby and mildly cluttery home. (Surely I’m not the only one who comes home from vacation and views their house differently.) However, I welcome fresh inspiration, and have spent a few hours cleaning, decluttering and reordering our front porch seating area, as well as the kitchen and bathroom.

Our house isn’t perfect, but it’s slightly better and zero dollars were spent in the process.

I brought a hostess gift of fresh hydrangea blooms to my friend Lisa in Seattle instead of something from a store. My backyard is rich with hydrangeas this time of year, and there’s an added benefit that my friend can compost her gift when they lose their freshness.

I didn’t buy a Lear Jet or a вульгарная позолоченная квартира в небе.

My son and I spent one night at my father and step mother’s Mt. Hood cabin over the weekend. We don’t have the cashola for official vacations this summer, but that doesn’t mean that we can’t enjoy the free resources that are available to us. (Even though we finally have just one in college at this point, I do need to make sure that we have enough money in the bank for Fall’s tuition payment, as well as our regular expenses which currently include rent on two apartments and my husband’s medical bills.)

We’ll also be driving up to Seattle this weekend to visit with an old college buddy and enjoy a nice mini vacation. She lives in a lovely home in the Capitol Hill neighborhood, and I look forward to hanging out with her and scoping out the area.

These short trips dovetail into my work schedule, although my husband is too sadly too busy with his full-time schedule and volunteer commitments to accompany us. However, he’s taking vacation time in late August, so we’ll figure out some low/no cost vacation-y activities then.

I’ll be helping my mother clean her guest cottage this afternoon as her tenants just left and new people arrive tomorrow. I’m not doing this as often as I have in years past, as this house rents for a minimum of 30 days, and she sold the one that was commercially zoned and thus could be rented for a few days at a time.

I’m arranging to sell a small stack of Fiestaware plates that my mother had brought by for last week’s garage sale. A few sold on the day, but I didn’t want to donate them as I knew I could get decent money through a private sale. The buyer seems super enthused to come by, but I’ll count these chickens after they hatch.

I work tomorrow and Wednesday and will prepare food to bring, I took my son to see the movie Isle of Dogs at a cheap second run theater, I’m using my backyard clothesline to air dry my laundry, I nabbed a perfectly small box from the neighbor’s recycling for my eBay sales, I planted new lettuce seeds as we’d eaten through the last crop, I’m reading a library copy of This is Where You Belong: Finding Home Wherever You Are and my son and I washed our car by hand rather than take it through a car wash.

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

My son went through his room and did a major purge of his clothing. (It filled one of those blue Ikea bags!) Ideally everything should have gone into last week’s garage sale, but somehow that didn’t happen. Instead we’re going to to take it to the Buffalo Exchange consignment shop in the neighborhood, and then donate whatever’s left to Goodwill.

This bag-o-stuff has been sitting in our living room all week and was starting to annoy me, so I put it into the back of our car to simplify the selling/donating process.

Remember, people:

“Crap out of the house, money in!”

We’ve been spending too much money on food over the past month, so I took a proactive step and threw two cups of kidney beans into the crock pot for tonight’s dinner. (Hello, Dollar Tree beans!) We’ll add in tasty tidbits like chicken, salsa, avocado, sour cream, lettuce, scallions and cheese to create a Mexi-bowl buffet. Yummy, healthy and cheap!

I have zero plans for today, even though it’s 4th of July. No potluck to attend, no fireworks to light, no goofy red, white and blue desserts to create and no decorations to create/buy/discard. Ahh . . . .

I worked the last two days and drank the free so-so coffee as well as the free delicious tea, I packed my own meals using zero waste supplies and enjoyed a couple of delicious See’s chocolates from an appreciative patient, I used a random “Patient Belongings Bag” from my husband’s surgery to line the kitchen garbage can, I’ve been wearing a couple “new” pieces of clothing that I picked up from an after-garage sale free pile, (a Ralph Lauren striped hoodie and an embroidered floral long-sleeve T-shirt) I put up a couple of listings on Facebook Marketplace and I lent my rug shampooer to a friend so her daughter could freshen up a second hand couch. Making belongings available to others is an important big picture tool in minimizing unnecessary purchases.

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

Our single day garage sale was a huge success, in terms of sales as well as crap that left my house never to return. (My secret tagline for this blog is “crap out of the house, money in.”) And although I did sell two bikes for $40 and $45 apiece, most sales were between 50¢ and $2. In total I brought in $300 from stuff that had been serving no purpose other than to take up space in my house. And with the exception of five items, all unsold item got immediately loaded into my minivan and driven straight to Goodwill for donation.

Hopefully this round of decluttering will keep my home easy to manage and completely and effortlessly tidy. At all times. Because that’s a realistic goal.

I work the next two days and have already prepped the food for my work lunches. Since I work 12-1/2 hour shifts, it can get expensive pretty quickly when buying food at the hospital. You know . . . because of breakfast, lunch and dinner.

I went to a friend’s party last night and brought homemade scones with a fancy 99¢ jar of lemon curd that I’d picked up from The Grocery Outlet. Super yummy yet frugal as can be, as scones are nothing more than sweetened biscuits.

I brought in a DVD and X Box controller that I’d pulled from a university dumpster to the CD Game Exchange store in my neighborhood. They gave me $12.50 in store credit which my son used to buy himself a game that he’d been wanting.

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