thrift score! under $20 total.

 

a little filler

 ...while I scramble to get my act together and get some crafting accomplished! Here are some goodies I picked up on our summer road trip. The awesome quilt and pom-pom trimmed bedspread were gifts from Tara, the brown gingham mugs are from my sister and the rest was thrifted in either Arizona or Oklahoma...wheeeeee! 

who needs a workout?

I went to the thrift yesterday with the sister a-go-go. Not just any thrift mind you, THE thrift. Wednesdays are their half off days and their base prices are generally happy even without the added discount. When mr. a-go-go arched his eyebrows and me going thrifting, I told him I wasn't planning on getting spend-happy but that I was looking for a few specifics...jeans, printed t-shirts and of course...a suitcase or two.

I came out with a full-sized tie-quilt in all sorts of 1970s brown and blue calico glory, a large floral printed fabric suitcase, three pair of jeans (sadly only one fit), a zillion yards of a most awesome grey and floral fabric, two vintage dresses and a dozen or so tops both for wearing and cutting. The damage to my wallet was just under thirty-smackeroos. I now wish I had picked up the vintage burnt orange office chair. But still...I am more than thrilled with the quilt, fabric and suitcase. I am now also recovering from workout arms. Which is what I get by bundling the whole shebang pver one arm at a time whilst I scroll through the racks. Seriously folks, my arms are T I R E D !!!!

Who needs a workout when you can shop AND strength-train?

Pictures coming sooooon.....

i can't decide

 

 if I should use these as they were intended or stitch them all together and make them into something...another score from my epic month of thrifting.

august was an epic month of thrifting

 I hit the thrifts a lot in August. A LOT. I found things I needed, things I liked and things I NEEDED.

 So much goodness was acquired that I thought I would hold a show and tell to keep you entertained while the mister and I are off road tripping through the midwest.**

**all that up there...ALL of it cost me $5 smackeroos total courtesy of a $5 bag sale at one of the local thrifts.  check it:

*vintage petri flex camera
*2 vintage ties
*2 books
*pack o pipecleaners
*8 scarves
*2 shirts
*1 kiddo trench coat
*vintage strawberry shortcake fitted sheet
*3 pairs o trousers, none of which that fit, but one was bought solely for the fabric. the grey jeans confound me as I have them already same size, same brand but these do not fit and the denim there? oh my, I SO wanted those to fit. Ooof!

a home for my shoes

it seems i have been wearing the same glittery pair of flats all month long and i kinda have. i do have other shoes though and thanks to some perseverance, a plea to the thrift gods, a bit of spray adhesive, and a swath of a vintage sheet i now have a home for all those shoes i am not wearing.

seriously, i have been searching and searching for something, anything really, to house my wide shoe collection and a few weeks ago i lifted my eyes to the skies and said out loud, yes, out loud, upon entering the goodwill outlet...

something for my shoes please!

and there it was. a rinky-dink cheapo shelfy-dealio that was mine for the tune of $5.

i plopped it onto the backseat while the mister was looking elsewhere and it sat in our kitchen dining area for too many days...i lost count (it may have been weeks even...shhhh).

after stubbing my toe on it one too many times, i flipped it onto it's back, removed the shelves and sprayed it with adhesive.

 

i then positioned, repositioned and repositioned again a large swath of vintage sheet i had that was on top of a pile of stuff cluttering up one of the many cluttered surfaces in the casa.

i really should have measured and cut first but then this would have been done the moment i got it home if i were that kind of person. it could be smoother sure and it could be a bit less crooked but i don't care. it adds a bit of happy background to my shoes and well...there you go. a super easy DIY for when you feel the need to change something up.

everything fits so nicely save for the new pair of orangey-coral flats i splurged on at Target. and yes, $20 smackeroos is a splurge in this tiny casa. the photo could be better if the space between the foot of the bed and the wall were you know...spacious. i did entertain the idea of taking the whole thing out into the living room for a better shot but that is hardly keeping it real. the tiny casa is just that...tiny. 


**oh and please ignore my sorry collection of hoofers. i have flintstone feet and this silly notion that shoes should be comfortable so it seems i am attracted to shoes five year olds would wear if they never laid eyes on the television and something a blue-haired lady with rolled stockings might like. my boots and rollerskates are in the closet...i think.

summer thrift

 Okay so even though I got all hi-falooten' about buying less and how I've moved on from the frenzied thrift shopping of my not-so-distant youth, I still hit up a few thrifts every now and then. The town I live in has a Goodwill (the one I once worked at), a Goodwill Outlet and three other smaller thrift stores available for my perusal. My favorite to peruse is the outlet aka The Bins as its chaotic piles and bins sing to my magpie heart.

aren't all those prints pretty?

I know I can find some crafty use for these.

totally unnecessary but so nifty!

 As I have mentioned in one of my previous posts, I've curbed much of my thrifty consumption. In fact, I only head out to the thrift when there is a specific need (save for the occassional Wednesday when I do not have work and I can head thirty miles south to my favorite thriftstore for their 50% off day). The last time I went I was hoping to find a pair of jeans or two of a different denim than the pile I had accumulated here in the tiny casa. While I did indeed find some jeans. I also found a vintage Christmas tablecloth, fun old potholders, two fabric samples, one holiday wall hanging, two shabby chic pillowcases, a box of vintage paints, a rag rug, an ice bucket, a bucket of perler beads that is about 2/3 full and vintage-ish globe! All of this totaled under $20!

The ice bucket will hopefully be used to house our compostable waste. The lid fits snugly and the handle will make it easy to carry out and dump. All we need is a space for a compost pile, a garden and permission from our landlords for it all.

A George F. Cram Globe

The globe made me dash across the warehouse and inspect he other customers to make sure it didn't already have dibs on. I'm not sure how old it is but it's pre-1991 at least as it still had East Germany and West Germany on it as well as Burma and The Soviet Union, etc.

I just picked up the blue case..a set!

 I think I paid a dollar for the globe. The jeans cost more as they are sold by weight along with the pillowcases which are super duper soft. So really, it was a good trip...don't ya think?

thrifty consumption

the box, camera and balloon pump were thrift finds. i found the balloon pump when i was in high school!

I think it is safe to say that I changed my thrifting habit. Curbed it even, sort of. I used to thrift for the thrill of finding vintage but now, now I thrift for needful and useful things. Things I put on my mental list, things to craft with and things for the preschool. I also only really go to the Goodwill Outlet here in town. It is a mess of a warehouse full of piles of junky junk and crappy crap with enough jewels tossed into the mix that you keep returning, and returning...and returning until you are one of those people; one of the regulars (I don't know any of their names but we're starting to nod at each other as we eyeball the others' armload). While I do not own my own pair of gloves, nor do I understand the whole system, I'm there often enough it could be embarrassing if I wasn't a natural born thrifter.

the green vase and the shelf were thrift scores... $2.25 total

Now I dash in with the idea that I need something red to craft with or perhaps a white pillowcase for another project. Sometimes I visit with a mantra in my head hoping the thrifting gods will hear me. Once I went chanting "salad spinner, salad spinner, salad spinner" and there one was for all of a quarter! I've found shelves for the tiny casa, tins for the mister's homemade ukes, rugs to color up the kitchen floor and tablecloths that I always think I will cut up for crafting but never do. Useful things, things I have been hoping to find, good things for super cheap!

we needed something for our keys, this was $1! one coat of paint later and it makes a happy home for keys.

That doesn't mean I am a superior and savvy hardcore thrifter only buying things that have a purposeful purpose. I'm still highly attracted to colorful pyrex, kitschy coffee mugs and pretty frocks. But I have grown, I have! I pass up so many wonderfully fun vintage bits it makes my head and heart hurt a little but I have no room to showcase, only the quirkiest get swept up. I also have no head for a business as I have enough here in the tiny casa I need to photograph and list. So when I do find something extra swanky but it is not something I am going to by, I will pull it out and display it for the other regulars to see. Mostly that involves clothing with valuable labels, old and new. The other day I found a pretty Pendelton button-down with only the tiniest of a moth hole near the bottom hem...it would get buried quickly so I made a show of inspecting it and left it on the top. I have a good eye and some of them regulars know it as they swoop in on my discards. I often wonder what they think of my armloads of plastic colanders (perfect for little hands to push pipe cleaners into) coupled with a kitschy chalkware bank and short pile of 1970s potholders.

the rug was $1 and the rest totaled $3 (incl brand new micro grater)!

 Yet, even though I grin ear to ear with my scores, I often leave with a different kind of ache in my heart at all that crappy crap I root through, the stuff that is not fit to place in a real thrift store, the stuff that people consider disposable and cheap. Holiday themed plastic cups and serveware, dollar store dishes and cheapie stuffed toys make up most of the stock. It's as if people think donating all the cheap replaceable bits to a thrift store is a good thing when mostly it should be recycled or better yet, not purchased at all. It makes me rethink how I spend and while I am super attracted to the happy summer colors every season at Target, I know I could spend a better penny on something that will last many summers. It is why I save my pennies to purchase a handmade garlic keeper or giant mason jar water server instead of rushing out to have something now because for now, what I have works and will do. It might not be as pretty as I would like but it is serviceable and having something work even if it is bland is better than replacing your drinking glasses every year. The plastic goods and cheapie cheap items that clutter up our thrift stores tend to leave a lot of clutter in my mind. I'm trying to think it through, to word it well, this concern I have for our (over crowded) planet. I'm trying to rework my own patterns of consumption even as I pin away all the pretty I would love to have. So I'm trying to be thrifty in my consumption, both pennywise and environmentally sound. And while I did indeed just spend three dollars on a bucketful of crappy crap (I'm installing a water-wall at the preschool) I think if I can plan it out, and sit on it, my baby steps will only get bigger.

$1 and a coat of paint equals a happy mail/receipt center

**and ahem, I do have a follow up post for a pretty awesome thrift score that I just couldn't pass up. But in my defense, most of it IS useful...mostly.

a thrifting i will go...

I miss the days when thrift shopping meant I came home with an enormous black trash bag fuller than full of vintage dresses, slips  and sweater sets that cost me no more than $2 apiece. Still, I guess I cannot argue the value of a huge pile of goodness for under $70. Let's just chock it all up to inflation shall we?

A few days after my brother's return home from the hospital we hit up a pair of pretty fantastic thrifts (and then I checked out for a quick spin through one other). I was on the hunt for vintage linens, as always, the mister was looking for a cast iron skillet, and the brother was looking for a specific bike. It goes without saying that I needed a little bit more time than they did so I felt a wee bit rushed and thus probably spent more than I should have.

The first thrift turned up some awesome crocheted throws, a tablecloth and spiffy brand basics I have been hunting for to put towards my "new" wardrobe vision (think linen, pantaloons and petticoats). The next thrift scored me some pretty linens, pajama bottoms to turn into pantaloons, a pretty linen jacket from J. Jill and more. My final solo spin (I claimed I was heading out for a coke due to crazy asthma and sugar craving and I did pick up said coke, I did. I also nipped up to the thrift. Sniff) scored me a bag full of vintage bias tapes and trim, some funky teal shorts from Thailand and a few other things I probably tucked away for safe keeping and now will probably never find.

I do have a thing for the thrift. Blame my mother, she started it all what with us being um...poor and all that. She had such a way of turning a necessity into something fun and I will forever be grateful that she passed it on to me. The thrifting up here in happy town isn't as vintagey as I would prefer but I suppose at this point I am up to my elbows in vintage and well, the mister is over his limit, methinks. It's also probably a good thing as we are officially broker than broke (but with new wheels) and I really don't need anything other than a smaller cast iron skillet, some more closet staples and vintage queen sized linens. I really need some queen sized linens. We tried making the bed yesterday and not one of the five (FIVE) pretty floral fitted beauties cut the mustard. Drats! The good thing about that is now I can cut up those pretty linens without feeling like I am sacrificing any future pretty bed making supplies. It's time to get to crafting...until I run out of supplies and need to dash off to the thrift...just to see...

my new scissors keeper

 isn't is dandy? got it from the thrift (of course) and because it reminds me of a valentine mister and I sent out eons ago...of course i have no pics of it...drats!

today i need, need, NEED to get the darn boxes out of the living room. as in unpack them. not move them to the bedroom. i also need to get the darn boxes out of the bedroom and set up some sort of holiday loveliness. if i do not, i believe my head may explode. then there are gifts to wrap and etsy sales to package (there are still fabric packs and cups of dilly in the shop)! i'm hitting the post office tomorrow folks so order, order, order (mister mike, thank YOU, you are nutty)! toss in some possbile baking or at least focus on recipes and my to-do list wil lbe slightly shortened. i still have a diy or two to post, one is finished the other is written out but not made. eeps! happy thrusday!

note to my giveaway winner, bonita rose, i need you to contact me, otherwise i will have to select a new winner. oh no!

thrift score: containers and such

The grand total for this lot was under $4. UNDER!  I do love our Goodwill Outlet. Scores are always good and depending on who is ringing you up and the time of day, etc the score can be even better!Mister found the mallet and the smallish metal box. I discovered the rest and even found two shelves I almost purchased at a different store but decided they weren't worth the $5...soooo happy I didn't get them then.

 I've been looking for cloth bound books to turn into shelves. The Wonder book was purchased mostly for the paper cover. I have no idea what I am going to do with it but yay!

 These are the two shelves I originally put back. They are small but I think I can find oodles of fun to display on them. They will be given a coat or two of paint. I still need to do that.

This metal cabinet has a handle on top. Mister is going to wax the doors so they open better and then we're gonna hang it somewhere. What shall we store inside? not pictured is the small vanity suitcase. That too will become storage of course. How could I pass up a suitcase?

thrift score: typewriter, fire king and more, oh my!

The mister & I have begun a thing where we spend Sunday mornings poking around the Goodwill Outlet store here in town. We've found much for the tiny casa there and sometimes I swing by when I have an urge to thrift but not much cash on hand. I scored this batch o' goodness more than a week ago for the lovely low price of $6.75. the typewriter even has its own case. I lurve it all!

more evidence

against that whole working in a thrift shop dealio...

(the duck is for mr. a-go-go's apron and the book is just for kicks)

maybe working in a thrift store is not the best thing...

In case I haven't shared or you hadn't noticed but I am now an employed lobster-girl. Three jobs, I have (as Yoda would say or maybe not but I like saying it in Yoda's voice) and so my weeks are now really wonky.

I have my craft writing which is what I would LOVE to do full-time but haven't figured out how just yet, my part-time preschool gig and the thrift store. Now, the thrift store job is a mixed bag. It's hard work, exhausting really and even a tad bit boring at times. I enjoy most of my co-workers and there is that added bonus of scoping out all that thrifty goodness. But, before you get too excited and envious, note that there are rules, STRICT rules for working at this thrift and one of them is that you are not allowed to shop on a day you work. Hiding items as well, it goes without saying, is a major no-no so imagine my crafty-dorky heart when on my very first day I spied a cluster of crocheted hangers. SWOON!

And, dork that I am, I seriously pined for them and somewhat manically checked up on them throughout the day as I passed by their temporary home. I'd cringe every time another person wandered their way and thought oh-me, oh-my I do so hope I can make them mine. I mean really, I was WAY TOO OCCUPIED with their yarny-goodness. By the end of the shift, my very first shift (after which I had managed to create a display using only paperclips to anchor the goods down but that is another story) I was beyond pooped and tired and walking all crooked as I longingly passed by the hangers one last time. That night, as I crashed into sleep, I imagined how I would use those darn hangers.

The rest of the week however was nutty and full and then we had the goose for another week and so, two weeks passed before I had another shift and imagine my surprise and utter excitement to see all nine hangers STILL in their temporary home as if not one person had bothered to bother with them. Being that I would be working for the next two days, I once again anxiously imagined an invisibility bubble hovering over them so no one else would see them in all their candy-colored glory. The first free day after those shifts, I made a mad-dash for the shop and shoppity, shopped to my heart's content grabbing the hangers first before the skirt my co-worker tried to pull as she thought it was both ugly and looked like a tablecloth. Don't worry about that though, I made sure to tell her I have been known to turn ugly tablecloths INTO skirts and that I really wanted it so she left it on the rack just for me. Now I know I am thought of as the weird new girl (hee-hee).

All this while, through all this hanger angst, I seriously was thinking I physically lived in my bubble of a crafty blogging world. A bubble where those hangers would have been snatchity-snatched up if not involved in a mini bout of fisticuffs. A bubble where I would indeed be mourning the loss of such happiness. A bubble where others, not just me, would have looked at them and seen a lovely story of crafty usefulness. The humor of my imagined bubble is not lost on me as I spouted hanger poetry to those around me who looked askance at the jumble of dull yarn woven over old wooden hangers that smelled of mothballs and reminded them of their Aunt Fern and her cut crystal bowl of puffed peppermint balls. I would have loved to have had an Aunt such as that. Since I do not, I will happily give her hangers a new home...after I take far too many photos of them first...