Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Tuesday Testimonials.....

Thrifty - To use money and other resources carefully and not wastefully:

In the current economy or lack there of, I'd like to promote a little thing called Thrift shopping.
Rummage sales, garage sales, yard sales, Goodwill stores, Salvation army......any of these places can give you a treasure trove of items for sometimes pennies. As the saying goes....One man's trash is another man's treasure.

           My new friend Amy over at A is for Ampersand writes a weekly blog post called $5 Thrifty Thursdays where she posts pictures of her weekly thrift store finds as well as of those sent to her by other Thrifties like her. Inspired by her promotion of thriftiness I decided to show off my own thrifty purchases from over the years.....
                                                       

Example #1 - Our church has a yearly lawn fete and one of the biggest draws is something called Attic Treasures (or as Hubby says Trash and Treasures.) People drop off unwanted items (bedding, books, jewelery, bags, dishes, toys, decorations, sports equipment, electronics, etc) and these wonderful volunteers organize and price every single item. My favorite section is the books. The cost starts out at $.50 for softcover and $1.00 for hardcover. One thing you need is patience and strong arms. Patience to sort through boxes and boxes looking for something that catches your eye and strong arms to carry all the items. One of the best parts of the sale, is that on the final day they sell you a paper bag for $2, and however many books you can fit in it are yours. This is a small stack of the 32 books I picked up over the course of the 3 days...
                                        
                                                            
Example #2 - How cute are these glass canisters that I also picked up at last year's sale? $.25/piece. The one with the coffee design I actually found at this year's sale for $.50. They look so cute on my counter and now I don't have extra boxes crammed in the cabinets.

                        

                        



Example #3 - Also from Trash and Treasures this year........this shelf that Hubby hung by our backdoor. Now he has a place to hang his hats, the garage door opener and to dump all of the stuff from his pockets at the end of the day (instead of on the kitchen island....thank you Hubby....luv you)
                                   


Example #4 - Clothing is another item that you can luck out on.
This shirt came from a church rummage sale a few years back. 
In this case I believe I paid $5 for a grocery bag and again whatever I could fit in it was mine.
                                  

These 3 skirts came from a consignment shop (another great place to find amazing deals.)
The gray one is a fully lined wool skirt - great for winter. I believe I paid about
$5 for it at a Goodwill.
The middle one - well how do you not love some plaid?
The blue flowered one I paid $7 for. It was from Express, still had the price tag on it (!) and trust me when I say the original price was NOT $7.

Example #5 - This next item is one of my favorite finds and it also came from the Trash and Treasures sale this year.
A Nine West Bag that was in perfect condition for
$4.
It's the perfect size to fit my mini laptop, a notebook, a book (have to have one with you always), a makeup bag, wallet, cell phone, umbrella and keys.



Are there any other Thrifties out there like us who are willing to come forward and share? Instead of bragging about how much we paid for something, let's be proud of how much we got for so little!


~Adrienne
PS........
Check out Amy's page too - she has some great ideas and she even has her own shop through Etsy called MonocledLop













6 comments:

  1. I remember one time getting a pair of Lee Easy Rider pants for work at an outlet mall a long time ago. They were having their "sidewalk sales" and had quite the assortment to choose from. By the time the "discounts" came off....$50 pants came down to $5 pants! At $5 those pants fit even better! My in-laws church has their annual "Rummage Sale" every year in May and they have a similar book sale like yours. My MIL is always coming home with tons of books and then passes them on to me. However I can never get through all of them. I'm still reading the ones she got me for Xmas! I like to read but not that fast.....anyway I will sort through them and pick out the ones I want to keep and give the rest back to her. It's like going to your own library/bookstore!

    BTW....I'm sure the guru of thriftiness will have plenty to comment on!

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  2. I looove a good deal! My friend at work and I both love NY & Company but will never buy something without a coupon (or our AAA 15% discount). We're always comparing what we got on the clearance rack and how much we got for so little. Good luck on getting through your books. :)

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  3. I love a deal, too. We have a great designer consignment store in Philly that has a 'bag sale' every year. $20 for the bag, which is plastic and stretchable ;)) and all you can fit in it. One year I got a gorgeous cashmere overcoat for my husband that was like brand new. Also got a dynamite black halter cocktail dress by Nicole Miller with a $275 price tag still on it...at a bag sale. Can't beat that!

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  4. @ Barbara - Wow! Maybe I need to do some thrift shopping in Philly! Isn't it amazing to see what the original price was of something and know that someone out there actually paid that for it??

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  5. @Adrienne......road trip to Philly to visit Barbara....shopping anyone??? Maybe have a Philly Cheesesteak sandwich on the way....

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  6. @ Jackie - They have Wegman's too! :)

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