The Non-Consumer Advocate

My youngest son came home for the weekend so we could celebrate his twentieth birthday as a family. (Can I get some kind of medal for ushering both my kids through their teen years?!) As always, we structured a Birthday Day of Adventures to put the emphasis on experiences instead of stuff.

Our main activity for the day was a Portland Timbers soccer game. My husband scored free tickets through his employer, which meant he could sell our regular Timber’s Army general seating tickets. We then popped by Pip’s Donuts for a free dozen mini-donuts and topped off our culinary indulgences at a nearby food cart pod where we each could indulge in our own personal favorite. (A gyro for my son, a bacon cheeseburger for my husband and a Korean Bibim box for me!)

The amount we received from selling our Timbers tickets more than paid for our meals, bringing the cost of our day to an even zero dollars!

Afterwards my son asked if we could stop by Music Millennium, but I said “no” as our budget didn’t allow for much extra. (Living on a limited budget means your kids get used to hearing the word “no.”) However, I remembered that I had a Goodwill gift card in my wallet, so I told my son we could stop by the main location to browse their music. Luckily, the CD selection at Goodwill is enormous, and my son chose five different artists, (Black Sabbath, Nirvana, Ray Charles, Bob Dylan and one that eludes my memory) and my gift card covered the $9.95!

I finally sold a Waldorf play stand that I’d picked up at the Eugene Goodwill last month. I was starting to think it would never sell, but in the end I made a $30 profit. I have a policy to only buy things for resale that I’m happy to keep, but somehow broke my own rule in this case. The damned thing took up a lot of space, and was a constant reminder to not treat my living room as a furniture showroom. I was more than happy to see it drive off, and it was a good reminder to follow my own advice.

I drove my son back to college yesterday, and we enjoyed $1.50 Costco hotdogs after gassing up the Prius.

I stopped at the big Eugene Goodwill after dropping my son at his apartment. I browsed the store and found a few items to bring home:

– A 99¢ bakelite handled knife sharpener to keep.

– A groovy $2.99 vintage wastebasket which will replace the ugly plastic tub we’ve always used for kitchen recyclables.

– A $9.99 American Girl doll, which was grubby and had impressively tangled hair. (All grubbiness was reversed using a single alcohol prep pad.) I’ll try The Frugal Girl’s doll hair trick to ready it for resale.

– A 99¢ vintage Cape Cod souvenir tray for my step father who collects them.
– Two new-in-package ($2.99 and $4.99) windshield wipers that were miraculously the correct size for our minivan.

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

I was going to get together with some former co-workers, but sadly those plans fell through. Instead of letting the day go to waste, I spent a couple of hours puttering around the house and then texted my friend Lise asking if she had any errands to run. Luckily we both needed to go to the credit union, so we ended up taking an hour long walk together. For free. Being on a tight budget doesn’t bar you from enjoying a social life.

My husband and I celebrated his birthday by spending our money on experiences instead of stuff. Lunch at a restaurant he’d been wanting to try, then a walk through a beautiful Portland neighborhood and topped off with kielbasa and beers in a nearby bar. Neither of us need any more stuff, and dedicating the day to making memories instead of buying things fit the bill perfectly.

The drain in our bathtub had been sluggish, so I taped off the overflow valve and then plunged the drain until the blockage was dislodged. This may sound like a small frugal victory, but being able to maintain our house without hiring outside help has saved us countless thousands of dollars over the past 21 years.

I sold an American Girl doll and a pair of Danskos through Facebook Marketplace, (both thrifted from Goodwill) my husband scored free Timbers soccer tickets through his employer and I took apart my vacuum cleaner and scrubbed all the grubby stuff out of the paper filter instead of replacing it.

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

My husband and I went out after dinner for coffees and a shared dessert. The restaurant was almost empty, so we scored the best table in the house, plus were able to shift ourselves onto couches next to a roaring fireplace once our sticky dessert was devoured. (Kind of reminded me of years gone by when we’d buy cheap Mets baseball tickets and gradually move down towards the field as the game progressed.) The total cost was less than $20 (including tip) for an indulgent splurge, which kept us on budget while still feeling like a treat.

I finished my library copy of Cait Flanders’ The Year of Less, and started reading a new library book.

I’m starting to plan for next week when we’ll be celebrating both my son and my husband’s birthdays. I switched over to experiential gifts a number of years ago, so I won’t be puchasing any things for either of them.  Instead we’ll do a Birthday Day of Adventures which’ll be fun for the all participants. (Unlike physical gifts which are only enjoyed by the recipient.) As always, I’ll keep a tight eye on the budget, but there will be indulgences mixed into the day. I have a few specific plans already, but won’t share them in case certain people happen to read the blog. Not one among us needs more stuff, and since studies have shown that experiences make us happier than material things, this family tradition is a keeper.

I sold a small item on eBay that had otherwise been collecting dust, the lettuce that I planted using free seeds are starting to sprout, my father took me out to lunch, I bought a couple of items at Goodwill to resell and I work the next couple of days at the hospital, including one day where I’ll enjoy free food due to it being “Nurse’s Week.”

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

My eBay sales have finally started to wake up, which is a bit of a relief as being an eBay seller without any actual sales is also known as “being a hoarder.” I’ve sold three items in as many days, (including the clock I bought while thrifting the other day) and although I won’t exactly be funding a summer in the Hamptons with the profits, I do appreciate how $20 here and $30 there does add up. I worked yesterday and will work tomorrow, as these small financial influxes don’t begin to touch what we need in order to pay our mortgage plus the cost of two college rentals. I also found a quarter on the ground, which I’ll add to my Found Change Challenge.

I brought my lunch to work yesterday and drank the free so-so coffee. I then drove my 11-year-old car home and settled in for an evening of watching Till Debt Do Us Part on Amazon Prime while cooking up some chicken thighs.

My mother lets us use her Amazon Prime account, which is appreciated since A) I rarely order anything online and B) I enjoy their programming options. And before you assemble the villagers and an array of ethically sourced pitchforks, I encourage you to read this article titled “You Don’t Have to Feel Guilty About Sharing Your TV Log-In.”  The article states that “Amazon allows you to share Prime membership benefits, including streaming video, with another person who doesn’t have to share your address.”

I do love me some Gail Vaz-Oxlade and back seasons of Till Debt Do Us Part. Especially when it’s free!

I used the start of a new month to dust off my budget. I’d somehow slipped away from tracking every purchase and expenditure over the past couple of months, and it feels good to be back on track again. I get twitchy uncomfortable when I’m not 100% sure of our finances, but it’s really hard to start mid month.

For those who may wonder, I use Dave Ramsey’s Every Dollar, as it’s free and very straightforward. I know others have been happy with Mint.com and You Need A Budget, but this is what works for me. I feel that the specific program you use isn’t what’s important, it’s the actual act of tracking your spending and earnings that makes the difference. Even if it’s just a pad and pencil.

I’m picking up a copy of of Cait Flanders’ The Year of Less at the library this afternoon. Described as “A self-help memoir that documents my life for the first twelve months of my two-year shopping ban,” I feel obliged to give this book a read. Even though I’m 11-1/2 long years into my own shopping ban.

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

I was tempted to treat my husband to a nice albeit frugal restaurant meal as he just finished his first work week after being home on a seven week medical leave. Instead, I bought the ingredients for a nice meal that also served to provide leftovers for multiple meals. Since he never knew about the potential evening out, it wasn’t anything that he even missed. However, he was very pleased with the extra special meal. (No beans!)

I sold a silver spoon on eBay that I’d picked up from the Goodwill Outlet, I found a quarter, a nickel and two pennies on the ground, I bought a cute vintage casserole holder (with bakelite handles!) for a quarter from a church rummage sale, I’m firmly keeping the furnace off despite the passing of Portland’s brief heat spell and I’ve begun vague plans to visit my friend Lisa in Seattle this summer. (Free place to stay + spending time with friends = ideal vacation!)

I planted some Burpee lettuce seeds that I’d picked up from Fred Meyer, having taken advantage of last week’s Kroger Friday Freebie offer. I borrowed the soil from an empty planter and used a flowerpot that I’d garbage picked last summer. And the best part is that there are enough seeds for multiple harvests throughout the summer.

My husband and I needed to get out of the house, so we hit up a couple of Vancouver, Washington Goodwills and then drove along the Columbia Gorge to Hood River, Oregon. (We drove on the Washington side, which we’d never done before.) I did buy a $2.99 wall clock and a 99¢ vintage cutting board, but I’ll sell the clock to come out in the black. Although we ate in a look-at-the-fancy-view brewpub for dinner, I ordered minimally to keep our bill under control. ($15 hamburgers make my blood boil!) We stopped into Ikea on our way back to take advantage of their free lattés and called the day a success.

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

I spent yesterday showering my mother with experience gifts, as I’d promised her a “Day of Adventures” (please hear this as a booming, yet echo-y voice, with pauses between the words) as her Christmas present. (Okay, perhaps “showering” is too strong a word, but let a cheap gal have her fantasies.) I’m still on budget lockdown, but I’d just sold a $7.99 bag of Brio train tracks for $35 in less than 24 hours, so I was feeling flush with cash.

Here’s what we did:

– We enjoyed homemade soup at my house. (free)

– We spent an hour or so browsing the Goodwill Outlet over by the Portland airport. I treated her to four new looking Pier One seat cushions for her rental cottage, three books, a cribbage set, a thimble and maybe something else. I maybe spent $15? It’s hard to tell since I was also buying things for myself, and it’s not like the items were individually priced.

– We gobbled salmon plates at Ikea, where I learned that our location had finally installed a schmancy latté machine, which is a freaking game changer as their coffee is free with an Ikea Family card! I may start doing all my writing at Ikea, as well as any socializing and maybe even work them into my morning/late afternoon/early evening routine! ($11)

– Our last adventure of the day was to see the movie The Greatest Showman at my favorite second run movie theater. Very fun movie, although I had to almost physically tamp down any critical thinking skills to accept the plot, casting and hairstyles. ($7)

– Total cost for the day was $33. Not too shabby.

I lent our push mower to someone in my Buy Nothing Group. I also noticed that the Moss vs. Grass battle had finally been won by Team Moss. This is actually okay by me, as green is green.

I got my hair trimmed at the free place that does the continuing education for Supercuts. Although I did tip $5, it was still a way more frugal purchase than anywhere else. I normally succumb to a hair cut every year-and-a-half or so as I’m too cheap for words I hate the expense, so it’s nice to get a subtle trim instead of letting it get so intensely straggly.

I stopped my mother from buying board games and stuffed animals for her rental cottage as I knew I could rummage up some extras for her. I gave her two stuffed animals, (a bear and an alligator) as well as three board games. (Clue, Battleship and Scrabble) I also located an extra set of playing cards to go with her new cribbage board.

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

My husband and I have gotten ourselves in the habit of cooking up a huge amount of kidney beans in the crock pot which we then use as the base for multiple different meals. (Mostly it’s beans and rice with various added goodies such a scallions, avocado, chicken, tomatoes and salsa.) It’s filling, tasty and pretty much the cheapest damned meal known to mankind womynkind.

I finally sold a couple of items from my pathetic eBay account. (Some Cuisinart parts and a glass light fitting) Although neither sale was brag worthy, I live by the mantra that “every little thing counts.” I also sold a Thule bike rack piece, a cute metal bike basket and some classic art lithographs that I’d picked up at the pay by pound Goodwill Outlet awhile back. None of these sales will singly fund the purchase of a gold plated toilet, but together they put $82 into my emergency fund which had recently been serving no purpose other than to gather dust.

My husband and I went to see the movie The Shape of Water, which set us back a whopping $2 apiece as we chose our local theater’s 2-for-1 night. The movie was visually stunning and enjoyably bizarre. Plus, we now have something to joke about the rest of our lives! The popcorn smelled amazing, so I popped up a batch as soon as we came home.

I took my own lunch to work, I signed up for another month of work shifts, (making sure to leave a week open to attend a certain person’s June college graduation!) I sorted through my linen cupboard and got rid of a pile of old towels and sheets which I then dispersed through my Buy Nothing group, I turned off my furnace, I dropped off a bag of ill fitting shirts at Goodwill and I picked up a free packet of lettuce seeds, gum and potato chips through Kroger’s Friday Freebie program.

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

My husband and I drove four hours to bring our son back to school on Sunday. Instead of using it as an excuse to enjoy a nice restaurant meal together, we took one for the team and chowed down on $1.50 Costco hotdogs as we were already stopping for cheap gasoline along the way. We also packed our own coffee instead of caffeinating up at Starbucks which had somehow become a routine. The way I calculate it, we saved at least $40. We enjoy supporting local restaurants and treating our son to nice meals, but we’re on budget lockdown and we can’t bury our heads in the sand. For those who may question the nutritional value of a hotdog, I’m counting sauerkraut as a vegetable.

I sold a Heywood Wakefield “tall lamp table” that I’d picked up at the Goodwill Outlet. My plan had been to refurbish it myself, (the finish was in terrible condition) but my motivation was exactly what you’d expect when the opportunity for outdoor projects relies on sunny weather and I happen to live in Portland, Oregon. Within hours I had two interested buyers, and it had sold by evening.

I attended a 4-1/2 unit meeting at the hospital even though the thought of the hour long commute for such a short event drives me crazy. I poured myself a free cup of coffee from the labor and delivery unit and reminded myself that the extra hours would be a welcome addition to my next paycheck. These meetings are mandatory, but I have a tendency to put them off, so I’m patting myself on the back that I got my tuchus into the very first one.

I walked to the grocery store and found a quarter, two nickels and three pennies, I prepared an enormous batch of cabbage patch stew, (and even cooked the kidney beans from scratch) I’m using the same menstrual cup that I bought in 2008, my husband in actively shopping for a new cell phone provider as we’re currently paying too much, (it looks like we’ll go with Xfinity Wireless) I enjoyed hanging out with my friend Dezsea this morning which involved the cost of a single tea bag, I’m getting together with my friend Lise this afternoon which will occur at the Goodwill Outlet and I’m hosting my friend Carol tomorrow, which’ll set me back the price of a bowl of cabbage patch stew. Yup, I’m a cheap date!

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