Yes, I’m Cheap — Hostessing on a Budget
by Katy on March 23, 2025 · 32 comments
I’m cheap. The word “cheap” gets a bad rap, but I’m here to defend it. My college age niece is visiting, which means that my normal cheap routine is off. We’re out and about every day — visiting with family, shopping, sight seeing and engaging in activities that would normally steer towards to the pricey side. However, I have a thousand cheap hacks up my sleeve and they’ve been on full rotation this week.
-
My father was gifted a $200 Powell’s gift card and has been gradually spending it down. I asked if he’d let his granddaughter borrow it to pick out a book. It was down to $19.18 and he was happy to share.
-
I took pictures of eight different books to put on hold at the library.
-
Powell’s City of Books is located in Portland’s Pearl district, which is rich with fun stores. The two of us engaged in some window shopping afterwards to make full use of the $5.40 I’d spent for two hours of street parking. We browsed Design Within Reach, where we enjoyed iconic furniture designs and then West Elm, where we noted the furniture to be of much lower quality.
-
I needed to gas up the car and pulled out almost all my folding money, as my neighborhood station gives a 35¢/gallon discount when you pay with cash. I found two pennies on the ground, so I bought $44.02 of gasoline. I’m driving a lot more than normal this week.
-
Except for our $1.15 IKEA veggie dogs, we’ve been exclusively cooking at home. I’m a reasonably good cook, so this has been no sacrifice. She’s a vegetarian, which makes it extra cheap and we’ve enjoyed burritos, enchiladas, curry tofu veggie stir fry, frittatas, oatmeal, cheesy grits and tostadas. Plus lots of miscellaneous snacks. We make sure to not leave the house hungry and are eating reheated leftovers for lunches. It would really easy to lean into eating out, but that adds up really quickly.
-
I had a $9.99 Goodwill store credit which I used to buy a $3.59 chair, but then handed the rest over for her purchases.
-
She spent an evening with my youngest, hanging out and watching a movie at their apartment. Cheap cousin bonding time!
-
My niece announced that she’d signed up for a free week of Paramount Plus to watch Broad City without commercials, so I had her sign in through our Roku box. I then made sure she knew to cancel it the next day so it wouldn’t automatically renew. This earned her an offer for an extra free month and I’ve since introduced her to Ghosts UK.
The two of us also went for a walk on the one non-rainy day and have visited with friends and family. We’ve spent multiple evenings playing Scrabble, cracked up watching Broad City and just enjoyed each other’s company. Generosity of time and energy can be better than financial generosity. Hosting friends and family doesn’t have to be expensive, it’s possible to be both generous and cheap!
Katy Wolk-Stanley
“Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without.”
Click HERE to follow The Non-Consumer Advocate on Instagram.
Click HERE to join The Non-Consumer Advocate Facebook group.
Like this post? Then please share it with your friends!
Like this:
Like Loading...
{ 32 comments… read them below or add one }
Fabulous post, and so very important! I would argue that teens and young adults value that time and attention more than anything you could buy them (well, within reason). Getting 1:1 with a beloved aunt is just enough removed from a parent as to make it super cool. Fantastic that you’re nurturing that relationship!
Loved Ghosts UK. We play the streaming service changes too to maximize options. I don’t think you’re cheap- to me cheap is saving money at the expense of someone else. Hosting is expensive and why not maximize the results of spending where you can.
I so agree with your definition of cheap. I think I might expand it to also include saving money at the expense of your or others health, safety, future well being, etc.
I recall my time visiting you,Katy, with wonderful thrift excursions, that fabulous neighborhood drive to all of the rose gardens, which were stunning, and several home-cooked meals. I’ve had many a good time with you that were “cheap“ but so memorable and so delightful. As a lucky recipient of your Hosting, I’m here to vouch for how lovely it is to be “cheap.“
Lucky duck!
An excellent post, Katy, and I send my regards to your visiting niece and all your worthy family. Pardon me if I’m sounding too much like Mr. Collins in Pride and Prejudice here. 🙂
Meanwhile, I’m still doing what I can to help NDN2 (my next-door neighbor who just had the burst pipe that’s ruined the interior of her house) and her family members who are tag-teaming each other. NDN2 is still resisting the idea of going back to TX with the family–but her grandson who’s here just told me that the interior will need to be completely gutted, and that the minimum time estimate for this is 6-7 months. (And as the widow of a contractor, I can almost guarantee that the time will expand to close to a year.) So I will be doing what I can to play my continuing role of the Reality Principle.
You’d have to name-drop Lady Catherine De Bourgh at LEAST once if we were gonna mix you up with Mr. Collins. 😉
Kristen,
Lol! Having recently watched P&P (the version with the scrumptious young Colin Firth), I can just see in my mind Mr. Collins dropping Her Ladyship’s name right and left. 🙂
A. Marie,
Many thanks for helping NDN2. It sounds like the best thing would be for her to move in with family in TX, but its super hard for msmy of us to make such a big change. It took my mom many years to agree to the idea of living with any of her daughters (I have a strained relationship with my mom, so her moving in with us was never on the table.)
Keep on being the most excellent friend and neighbor that you are.
I hope you’ll all be amused to know that my plan for this fall’s JASNA Annual General Meeting in Baltimore is to BE Lady Catherine. Over a decade ago, I bespoke a period-correct ball gown from a talented local seamstress (now sadly RIP). But I found it a bit stiff and uncomfortable for routine cosplay, so I gave it to my JASNA Panera friend to add to her collection of Regency costumes that she rents out for country dances, plays, and other occasions. It made an appearance on the Lady Catherine in a dramatization of P&P put on at a nearby college, and I had to restrain myself from standing up and yelling, “Hey, that’s my gown!”
But I feel that the Baltimore AGM–celebrating JA’s 250th birthday, after all!–calls for a special effort. So I will be re-donning the gown and cruising around in it at the banquet and ball, rapping random people over the knuckles with my fan and exclaiming, “I am most seriously displeased!”
I would pay you to come to my house and do that same thing!
And anyone who wants a sneak preview of the gown (and of its late lamented “mantua-maker”) can go to the last photo here: https://janeaustensyr.blogspot.com/2013/09/a-jasna-syracuse-mantua-maker.html
That is a gorgeous gown, and such a nice article about the maker.
What a timely post! My bro & sis-in-law will be staying with us for a few nights next week!
I also try to cook for guests, it’s so much cheaper than restaurants! We often will purchase more expensive cuts of meats and make more variety (like dessert) for guests, but even with paying a little more at the grocery store, it’s cheaper than eating out. And there’s always the option to cook ahead, if you’re worried about spending the whole time in the kitchen.
I am sure your niece loves all your home cooked meals as 1) they are not dorm food and 2 ) she didn’t have to cook them.
I typically cook all meals from scratch when I have guests staying with me. It’s just too expensive to go out – especially with extra people.
Currently we are trying to spend as little as possible to pay off the 2nd half of the basement pipe mess (I wrote a check for the 1st half, put the 2nd half on a CC and will pay in full to avoid interest. I just needed more time to save the money). Anyway, friends of ours that we occasionally go out to dinner with are also trying to spend as little as possible…..so I invited them over to our house for dinner this week. I will make a tortellini bake as it is cheap yet feels fancy.
Oooh, Katy, you sound like the Hostess with the Most-est! So what if you didn’t spend a million bucks when your niece came to town? You all had a real good time, so much so that in reading about your adventures, I wished I could’ve been your guest. Years from now, your niece won’t care (or recall) that you didn’t spend big bucks on her, but she WILL remember getting to visit and bond with the family and unwind. One of my best visits was going to California to see a friend and the highlight of one evening there was eating spaghetti with pesto sauce while watching a PBS station pledge drive featuring a movie-length video of the Moody Blues (rock band); that occurred the evening (same day) after we’d had a day at the beach (free, we packed a picnic cooler with lunch and sodas). My friends didn’t have a large-screen TV, just a small old-style tabletop set. But it was a tremendously fun day and evening. This occurred in the early 1990s, and I still look back on it with a smile.
I was inspired by Katy’s report of her burrito bar suppers. I pulled out ingredients we had in the pantry. I made breakfast burritos w/ flour tortillas, scramble eggs, sauteed onions, cheese, and refried beans. I also made some bean burritos w/ veggie flour tortillas spread with the remainder of canned refried beans, sauteed onions, cheese, and black beans. I had some leftover Taco Bell hot sauce, so I sprinkled this on the burritos before I rolled them up. Then I made a batch of homemade salsa. Whenever I read of Katy’s meal plans it makes me hungry!
I’ve enjoyed reading about your visit with your niece this week!
Good fro you for sticking to your values/goals/budget. It is good for others to experience the good life on a dime. you are setting a wonderful example.
We recently attended a rite for two great nieces. They are two and four and have no idea what gifts they receive and from whom. We bought them a used book, brought some Highlights magazines I found in a Little Free Library, and gave funds for their 529 accounts. They will be happy in the future to have the contributions made. On the day before the rite we spent hours with them including taking them on a many walks/runs as they wanted to go on and exploring nature as much as they wanted to. I believe these experiences are important for them.
Totally agree that the gift of time and attention is priceless and that a 529 contribution is especially meaningful and practical.
May I thank you for your regular postings? You and the commentariat keep me somewhat sane these days.
Your summary of your hostessing sounds super interesting, fun and memorable. I consider a trip to an independent bookstore a wonderful addition to any vacation and I often try to buy one book (that I doubt my library would ever stock) while getting ideas /photos for books to reserve. (I currently have the maximum 15 books on hold in my Libby account).
I find being “under-scheduled” to be wonderful and restful. It gives one more time to be present and spend quality time together.
I am same about small independent bookstores when travelling, I always try to buy something to support them!
I love this!
Ahh, love this! I feel as though in these current economic times it can feel almost daunting to leave the house for fear of how much we’ll spend. Your time with you niece is great inspiration and a reminder that we can be out and enjoying our cities as long as we’re intentional.
Yes, it’s the intentionality. Leave the house without a plan of snacks, meals, activities, etc. is tantamount to throwing your money into the air on a windy day.
In agreement with other commenters that to me, cheap is when you save money at the expense of someone else. You are not doing that here. Instead, you are demonstrating to your niece how you can have fun while still being on a budget, and that visiting others & hosting doesn’t need to be filled with consumerism.
Nope, I’ll defend “cheap!’ 😉
What a wonderful visit, where hosts and guests just got to be themselves!
It’s been an excellent week!
I don’t know how to overcome my desire for splurging. Especially on gifts, my love language, but also things like taking relatives to nice (aka expensive) restaurants and having flowers delivered and things like that.
Sounds like you are both having blast : )
Thanks for being the hostess without spending the mostest!
The leastest.