It’s a nightstand-heavy week around here. 😉
1. I sold Zoe’s Ethan Allen nightstand
“But you just painted that!”, you might be thinking.
And you’re right. I bought and painted it last fall for her, though I didn’t post about it here until May.
Here are all the before and after photos of it.
And here’s a YouTube video so you can see a time-lapse of me sanding and painting.
Lisey rearranged her room to fit a desk, so she didn’t need her original nightstand anymore.
And since that nightstand has a shelf tall enough to hold books, Zoe adopted Lisey’s old nightstand.
(Which is a freecycle find I painted way back in the day)
Interestingly enough, this was Zoe’s nightstand originally. So, it’s kind of come full-circle.
I listed the Ethan Allen nightstand for $50 and got tons of bites. A mom picked it up the next day for her daughter, who was delighted with it. Yay!
To recap, I bought the nightstand for $25.
Then I sold the pull for $12 on eBay and the nightstand on Facebook for $50.
Considering that I spent probably three hours sanding and painting it, that is not a good return in terms of an hourly wage.
But in terms of actual dollars, I made a $35+ profit on a nightstand that served us for a year. And the nightstand is making another teenage girl very happy, so that’s worth something too.
2. I boiled my towels & washcloths
Some of them were starting to smell like armpits (!) so I did a few batches of boiled kitchen linens.
Here are more details about how to boil washcloths.
This method works great, and it doesn’t even require any questionable cleaning agents.
I do always feel a little funny cooking up a pot of washcloths, though!
Nice and steamy and ready for a trip through the washer.
This obviously isn’t a fun thing to do when the weather is hot (who wants more humid heat in their kitchen??), but now that it’s fall, it works out fine.
On a related note, here are eight ways to keep kitchen linens sanitary.
3. I caught a price error at Target
I’d purposely bought two deodorants because of a Buy One, Get One 50% off sale.
But both rang up at full price.
Happily, I’d used self-checkout, so I noticed the error as I rang up my purchases and was able to get it corrected before I left the store.
4. I sauteed some mushy apples
These looked like they would be crunchy and crisp.
But they were…not.
Luckily, if you cook a mushy apple, the mushiness becomes irrelevant.
5. I…
- ate leftover mashed potatoes for breakfast, topped with a fried egg (10/10, would recommend)
- made muffins from a brown banana
- used my Target debit card to pay for my purchase (5% off is 5% off!)
- sold two more items on eBay
Tina Ray
Tuesday 6th of October 2020
We bought a box of 25 Tulip bulbs for $5.00 at Aldi for our cottage. I looked up the price for a box of 25 Tulip bulbs at Home Depot and they were $17.48. Yay Aldi!
We found a new Anchor 9 X 13 casserole dish (never been used) with the carrying case for $8.00 at a second hand store. I looked up a new one and they are $51.00 and change. Score!
I grew a Cherry tomato plant this year and I have been using them like crazy to make two new wonderful savory eats.
Beatrice
Tuesday 6th of October 2020
Hej! I was wondering if you use the peel of the bananas to make your muffins? I have seen several recipe on that but I havn't been brave enough to try it yet.
Kristen
Tuesday 6th of October 2020
I have never done that! I just compost my banana peels.
Julia
Monday 5th of October 2020
We finally had some big things to share on FFT! 1. We refinanced our house! Lower fixed rate, 10 yr mortgage. We are only spending $80 more a month and will save $50,0000 by the end of the 10 year period. We plan to pay it off sooner. 2. We were able to find cheaper flood insurance for our rental property and got back $1,200 from the old insurance company. 3. Since our big summer trip got cancelled we used that money to buy a used travel trailer. We found the exact model we wanted on Facebook Market and since we had the $ already set aside for the trip we had the cash to buy it. We also found a very private campground 20 minutes from our house to park it. It’s right beside a creek for fishing and only has 2 other families staying there since it’s no longer really open to the public. 4. We needed welding done on our car but the body shop wanted about $3,000 to do the work. We found a great backyard welder who was experienced with our model and could fix it. He quoted us $1200. Still an ouch but better than the other quote! When we picked up the car he would only take $900. When does THAT ever happen? Our other car also needed work. Lots of dashboard lights on signaling problems. We thought it would be something super expensive but it was some simple belt issues. We also had problems with the hatch back latch breaking. I did research and discovered that it was breaking because it was plastic. I was able to get a metal latch unit so now it shouldn’t break again. Fingers crossed. 5. Was able to get the things for the RV (kitchen stuff, storage boxes, linens, extra lighting...) by shopping our house, Free from friends, Facebook Market and thrift stores. I love our cute little Nest. We have spent a lot of time there since we bought it. I can do most of my work anywhere and we are so close I go home everyday to feed the Tilley Zoo Crew so no need to hire a critter sitter!
Linda@PerilinCreations.com
Sunday 4th of October 2020
1. I used several coupons to purchase sale items at CVS to save $26. 2. I found 2 fall tops at Catos on the clearance rack. This saved me $12. 3. I used my BAM loyalty card to receive a discount of 6.00. 4. I began making Christmas gifts this week. I’ve finished 3 gifts which has cost approximately $7.00 in total.
Nancy
Saturday 3rd of October 2020
Ha! I remember my mom boiling washcloths on the stove back in the day .... 1950, 60's etc.! I still do it today too.