Thrifty Thursday (Thrift Store AND Yard Sale Finds)

This week, I've got to be honest with you has been depressing for me.  Money has got me carrying around a paper bag as not to hyperventilate (exaggerating, but not by much), I'm worried about insurance renewal delays with my daughter (don't want to get holding THAT bag if something should go wrong with the renewal paperwork) and when it comes to just general life stuff...this week has just been...ugh.

But, looking at the bright side of things, I couldn't believe the things I scored over the weekend that were on my yard sale and thrift store list.  I even found a couple of the, "there is no way in Heck I'm ever going to find these, but..." list (and yes, that's actually how I have it written down *laugh*).

Above is the culmination of three yard sales we hit on Saturday (with the exception of the nutmeg grater...that was a thrift store find for .50).  Everything above cost me less than 10.00 total and made me very happy.

What did I get?  At the first yard sale I got...

A wooden planter (not shown).  

I plan to use it for planting some flowers or perhaps some of the herbs I got to plant as my daughter really wants to help me with gardening this year (yay!), so I figure giving her the planter to plant "her" plants, will help to cultivate some responsibility for her.

1 deep dish Pyrex pie dish

I've been looking for one of these for a while to have for home made apple pie and stuff.  I love my regular sized pie dishes, don't get me wrong, but it's hard to beat a pie dish that can also double as a round cake pan as well (which is great since my non-stick cake pans are pretty much gone the way of Elvis at this point and I desperately need new ones).

1 Tupperware pouring storage container

A lot of people use these things for lemonade and stuff.  I love them for storing pasta in the pantry as the wide mouth on the storage container helps the pasta pour out a LOT better.

1 Splatter Screen

Brand spanky new.  The gal running the yard sale said it was too awkward to store so it had never been used.  This was one of those things on the "never going to find it" list.  I've needed a new one of these for YEARS but was always too cheap to shell out for a new one, so this was a welcome find.

1 Silver Plated serving spoon

This was kind of an impulse, but it was so pretty and would be perfect for serving jello (the slots help the jello not just STICK to the spoon and makes it easier to serve).

1 really nice quality whisk (which isn't seen because I forgot it and had put it away).  

I am in kind of desperate need of new whisks too as I use them all the time and kind of *ahem* abuse them a bit (mixing muffin batter and stuff with a small whisk seems to somehow beat them up a bit...oops).  So, that was a cool find!

Total spent:  5.00

The second yard sale we hit that I got stuff at had a bunch of crafting supplies out and such.  I was able to get...

Knitting needles from size 1 to 5

I have knitting needles from like size seven up and have been meaning to fill in the gaps in my collection so I could do more things like knitting socks and such, but just didn't want to shell out the masses of money to get that done.  These were .10 per pair, so it was SO worth waiting!  These have been on my yard sale list for years, so it was cool to find them all in one day!

The rest, since it's in the sun is KIND of hard to see, but I was able to get a bunch of embroidery floss (.05 per skein), some quilt binding (always good to have), some leaf buttons and a bag of little baskets (not sure what I am going to do with those, but it was .05 and mini things always make good toy ideas later).

My husband also got me a set of novelty measuring spoons with things like "dash", "smidgen", etc on them for .50 out of his own pocket money.  Not shown because my son stole them before I could get the picture *laugh*.

Total spent:  They called it an even 2.00.

At the third yard sale I was able to get a free toy for my daughter (I always look in the "free" boxes!) and the above seen can of evaporated milk (no joke, it was in the free box).  It only expired this month, but should be good for a while anyway (it's canned, so I'm not too worried here).

I was also able to score the above two yellow Tupperware containers at that garage sale for 1.00 a piece.  I put my flour and sugar in them and put them on my counter to "change up" the kitchen a bit and to brighten things up (I have a small kitchen so every little bit helps).  They look really cute.

So total spent for all above:  9.00

Sunday we went out again just to get my son out of the house (he goes kind of bonkers if kept inside too much over  the weekend and LOVES car rides) and hit a bunch of yard sales.  We didn't find much, but what we did find was pretty cool!

I got a food mill at one yard sale for 3.00!!!  I seriously never thought in a million years I'd find one of these in working order and for such a cheap price at a yard sale.  This was definitely in the "no way in Heck am I ever going to find this" category.  This is going to make canning go a LOT smoother!  So, I was thrilled to say the least!

1 vintage aluminum ladle.  My husband convinced me to get it since it was .05.  I cleaned it up and put it in with my vintage kitchen stuff.

We got a BUNCH of VHS tapes for 100% free!  One yard sale we hit the woman was just trying to get rid of the VHS tapes and so all of them were free.  My son LOVES VHS tapes right now as a way to show preferences and ask for different things (important for his development), so I grabbed some.  My daughter is loving the Blue's Clues VHS we didn't have and the Bob the Builder tapes.  My son is much preferring the "Return of the King" VHS.  It's kind of cute, actually.

So, total spent for the entire weekend:  12.05

So, there you have it folks.  A good week on the getting things used front, which is good since I'm not going to be able to afford to hit the used stores and stuff here in the next little bit due to money strangulation issues, so at least I was able to get some good stuff in the meantime :).