The Non-Consumer Advocate

1. My mother and I drove a couple hours to attend my cousin’s housewarming party, and unsurprisingly we were unable to resist a spot of thrifting. I spent $1.99 to replace the exact travel mug that went missing from work a few years ago. I then bought a new looking pair of Allegria shoes which already have a number of interested buyers. (I expect to sell them through the NextDoor app by the end of the day.) My mother offered to fill my dangerously empty gas tank as a thank you for driving, which only set her back $14, as I’d earned a 70¢-per-gallon discount through Safeway. Thanks, mom! Thanks, Safeway!

2. I sold a vintage telephone through Craigslist and a set of curtains through eBay. I also worked on Friday and I re-upped all my Craigslist and Facebook Marketplace listings.

3. I’m transforming leftover pot roast broth into French onion soup, I ate leftovers for last night’s dinner, I put out a free box of drinking glasses and clothing, I watched an episode of Bargain Hunt on youtube and I’m wearing my thrifted $5 Ibex hoodie.

4. The weather has taken a turn towards chilly autumn weather, which is attempting to seep into my summer warmed body. However, I’m simply adding layers instead of turning on the furnace in our 114-year-old house. Old houses are so wonderful with their craftsman details and unique character. However, they weren’t exactly constructed to modern day standards. What is this thing you call “insulation?” Tea, layers and lap throws will take the edge off a house with a high of 63°. Right?

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

Now your turn. What frugal things have you been up to?

Katy Wolk-Stanley

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

{ 89 comments }

1. My husband recently enjoyed a rather delectable bagel with lox, garnished with thinly sliced pickled red onion. This reminded me that I’d refrigerated a jar of leftover pickle juice from some “Hot Dilly Green Beans” that my husband gifted me from the Twisted Fork Bistro. (My husband knows me well enough to know that my favorite gifts are consumable.) I thinly sliced my own red onion and left them to marinate in the chilled brine. They’ve been sitting in the fridge for a few days now, and we’re enjoying the freshly pickled onion with our home cooked meals. Frugal deliciousness!

2. I plucked a couple of midcentury style sunburst clocks from a free box and immediately listed them for sale on Facebook Marketplace. I quickly got a ton of interest on one of them and have someone coming over to buy it today. The time it took to put the ads together was less than five minutes. Free money, people! We just paid out to situate our sons in their apartments, as well as their university tuition and fees for the fall quarter. So building our pile of money back up again is a priority. Like winter, January is coming.

3. I worked yesterday, and although I did buy my lunch in the hospital cafeteria, I drank the free crappy coffee instead of spending any money. Actually, I drank four cups of crappy coffee through my 13-hour shift as I was floated to another unit whose coffee is marginally less crappy. I work again tomorrow and will make sure to pack enough food to get me through the day. After all, I’m there to make money, not spend it.

4. My husband and I took the afternoon to drive up to Mount St. Helens as the day was bright and clear and neither of us had anything pressing on our schedule. We’d been wanting to do this all summer, but work schedules, forest fires and cloudy weather kept conspiring against us. We picked up cheap bahn mi sandwiches for the trip and filled our water bottles. I made sure to grab our binoculars, as well as our downloaded Game of Thrones audiobook. The weather was perfect and although we did pay $16 to the U.S. Forest Service to explore the Johnston Ridge Observatory, it was money well spent. Although we were both increasingly hungry over the 2-hour drive home, we held out and fixed food from the refrigerator.

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

Now your turn. What frugal things have you been up to?

Katy Wolk-Stanley

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

{ 99 comments }

1. My husband and I drove to the Ikea restaurant for lunch, as I had a buy-one-get-one-free Chinook Book coupon. The two of us indulged in salmon plates for an out of pocket total of $6.99! (There’s no tipping.) We also enjoyed steaming hot cups of joe, as coffee and tea are free with an Ikea Family card. We then walked downstairs where I redeemed a coupon for a free Frakta bag. By the way, those Flürben Fnöpprüft Frakta bags are perfect for transporting bedding and other soft gear when moving kids into their dorms. Cannot stress this enough! Of course, I found a penny on the ground. We then zipped over to nearby Costco where we topped off the Prius with cheap gasoline.

2. I’m selling a pair of sunglasses that I picked up from an Ashland free pile. I also listed a thrifted vintage suitcase on Facebook Marketplace and a couple items on eBay last night. I’d changed my mind about converting a big stereo speaker into my son’s bedside table, and convinced my husband to help me haul it to the curb as it weighed an actual metric ton. It was still out there flapping its “free” sign when we went to bed, but was blissfully absent by morning.

3. I wrote up and submitted another Clark Howard article, which felt good as I found it hard to focus this summer with the kids around. Getting back to paid writing will help to pay our mortgage, the additional rent on two apartments, as well as making sure we have enough money socked away for the next tuition payments come January. Of course, I’ll also be working my shifts as a labor and delivery nurse.

4. My husband and I have plans to take in a movie tonight at a local second run theater that features 2-for-1 Tuesday night admission. When tickets are two bucks apiece I’m not so picky about what film I’ll be seeing. Car chase dum-dum movie? Whatever.

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

Now your turn. What frugal things have you been up to?

Katy Wolk-Stanley

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

{ 71 comments }

1. My family just spent three days in Ashland, Oregon getting our son’s apartment set up, and although we dined out for every meal, we kept our budget in check. For example, our son was not up for waking early enough to breakfast at the magnificent Morning Glory Cafe. But instead of ordering an extra to-go entree, my husband and I picked muffins with our meals and brought them to the motel for Sir Sleepums-McGee. We could have packed in our own food or bought groceries to bring down expenditures, but enjoying local restaurants is part of how we enjoy traveling.

2. I sold a vintage rotary phone through Facebook Marketplace, and the set of Garnet Hill curtains that I picked up at the Goodwill Outlet are enjoying a satisfying bidding war that currently have them up to $163.49! The auction doesn’t end until Wednesday, so that’s pretty exciting. Especially since I paid maybe three bucks for them.

3. My husband and I stopped at a chiropractor’s going out of business sale while in Ashland and scored a free office chair for our son. It needed a good cleaning, but that was but the work of a few minutes.

4. I set up a free 30-day trial subscription to Audible.com so we could listen to the audiobook of Game of Thrones while driving the 12 hours to my son’s school and back. I could have put it on hold through my library, but it would have taken forever to come in. I’ve programmed a reminder into my calendar to remind me to cancel before I have to pay.

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

Now your turn. What frugal things have you been up to?

Katy Wolk-Stanley

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

{ 71 comments }

1. I was finally able to assemble the very last of the supplies for my older son’s off-campus apartment. I joke that I’m doing pre-production for a HGTV show titled “The Hundred Dollar Apartment,” as that’s pretty much been my life over the past few weeks. (By the way, HGTV. I would watch the hell out of that show!) I was able to snag the perfect shower curtain, as well as butter and steak knives, and few other Goodwill Outlet items that are escaping my middle-aged brain at the moment. I’ll hit up the thrift shops in my son’s college town later on, as he still needs a coffee table, but I figured it would be easier to buy one in place rather than schlep one across the state. Let’s face it, there’s only so much that’ll fit into a minivan.

2. I noticed that one of my son’s bed pillows was completely misshapen, so I cut it open to reconfigure the batting and then sewed it shut again. I wouldn’t go so far as to say that it’s “as good as new,” but it’s certainly 90% better than it had been which is a frugal win in my library book. Click HERE for photos.

3. I sold a thrifted suitcase and a doll that I picked up in Seattle last month. My eBay/Craiglist sales have been slower than imaginable lately, so I’m hoping this is a sign that business is picking up. Especially since I’ve been trying to sell this suitcase for at least a month, and then suddenly had three (!!) people inquiring about it this morning! I did scoop up three Garnet Hill curtain panels at the Goodwill Outlet and already have them up on eBay. I’m cautiously optimistic, as a single pair of the same curtains just sold for $112 today.

4. The hotel where we always stay in our son’s college town is giving us a senior discount, (my husband is over 50) I mended a tear in an otherwise fine twin sheet, I took a big armload of scrappy old sheets to the textile recycling drop off, I received a review copy of Gretchen Rubin’s The Four Tendencies, (which I’m very excited to read!) I put a couple of items up on my local Buy Nothing group, my husband diagnosed and then fixed our wobbly Lane recliner and I traded a cup of strong Red Rose tea for the use of my mother’s extra large washing machine.

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

Now your turn. What frugal things have you been up to?

Katy Wolk-Stanley

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

{ 107 comments }

1. I popped over to the Goodwill Outlet this morning to look for more kitchen supplies for off-campus apartments. I paid just $14 for all of the above stuff, which is not too shabby. The pan in the background is Revere Ware and there’s also a spatula and slotted spoon hiding behind the bowls. I made a decision to only buy white dishes, which made it easier to narrow my search. I especially love that there is 0.0% wasteful packaging that comes when choosing to buy used. (Zero waste, bay-beee!!!!) I’m closing in on completing this project, although there are still a few miscellaneous items to be found. Click HERE to read what the mug says.

2. We were planning on buying rental insurance to cover both boys’ apartments, but learned through our insurance broker that our current home owner’s policy will cover them as long as they’re still financially dependent on us.

3. I worked the last couple of days at the hospital and brought leftovers for lunch. I drank the free crappy coffee and the free delicious tea. I enjoyed hanging out with my co-workers and assisting some cute babies to enter the world. I tried my darndest to influence patients to choose the names “Harvey” or “Irma” for their newborns, but that project was a bust.

4. I wore pay-by-the-pound thrifted solmate socks to work, I went to Safeway to buy milk  and Bon Ami scouring powder and bought . . . milk and Bon Ami scouring powder, I stopped into a women’s consignment shop that always has free plastic tubular hangers, I sold a few more items at Buffalo Exchange from the Goodwill Outlet, (my goal is to load up two $100 gift cards for the boys’ holiday gifts) and I donated a few items to Goodwill.

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

Now your turn. What frugal things have you been up to?

Katy Wolk-Stanley

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

{ 122 comments }

1. It’s been very smoky here in Portland due to multiple forest fires which are burning out of control in the Columbia gorge. I have asthma, so I’m being deliberate about taking it easy and limiting time outside of the house. Not a lot of spending opportunities inside my house!

2. I assembled a burrito bar using ingredients I had on hand including the last of a bag of potatoes that’s been cluttering up my counter for way too long. Everything was delicious and we even have leftovers, which frankly, is my favorite meal in the first place!

3. I gave my white towels a soak in my favorite Dollar Tree Oxyclean, which helps to keep them bright and stain free. I bought six towels at Costco in 2010 and have no plans to replace them in the near future. (I remember the date because we had a cute little Japanese exchange student and I became suddenly aware of how stained and scrappy our towels had become.) Yes, the bindings are a bit scraggly, but I simply snip those parts off and get on with my day. I recently came across an advertisement for a towel subscription service that will send you replacement towels every “6, 12 or 24 months.” I consider this to be the height of wastefulness especially since this company writes that “10 million tons of textile waste end up in landfills each year. We have created a circular subscription program that is both earth and people friendly to close the loop and change the way we consume.” Encouraging the American consumer to think that it’s normal to replace towels every “6, 12 or 24 months” is nothing even close to “earth friendly.” You know what I did with my scrappy old towels? They got demoted and now serve to wipe up disgusting and truly filthy items. Surprisingly often.

4. I know this is getting repetitive, but I did go to the Goodwill Outlet to source apartment supplies for my sons’ off campus apartments. (As you can see, these little of this, little of that trips are starting to pay off!) There is a gross over manufacture of consumer goods on this planet, which is why I choose to buy used whenever possible.

I paid $40 and bought:

• Five Corelle plates, which should be easy to add to since they’re always the same size.

• A measuring cup and a Pyrex measuring cup.

• A mug.

• A rubber spatula and kitchen tongs.

• A stainless steel frying pan with lid.

• Two nesting mixing bowls.

• I bought a vintage rotary phone, mug, a large antique stoneware crock, a cloth diaper cover and a small flying drone to sell. I also picked up a pair of adorable socks for myself. (The crock was HEAVY but gorgeous, so I thought I’d take a gamble on it. It was painted with a horrible landscape, which easily washed off.)

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

Now your turn. What frugal things have you been up to?

Katy Wolk-Stanley

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

{ 99 comments }