Thrifty Thursday: Yard Sale Finds

For something new this week, instead of reporting on things I found at the used stores, I got some yard sale finds to report.

First up is actually something we really needed and ran into really quickly compared to when we needed it.  My husband's desk chair broke really bad and he was sitting on basically a stool to work.  We managed to find the above desk chair for 10.00, which definitely beat the 100.00 a new desk chair would have cost us.  So far it is working just fine and giving my husband the back support he needs while working.

Next up is a repeat from last post, which is an 8 1/2 inch cast iron skillet that my husband found at a yard sale for 5.00.  My husband removed the rust that was on it and it now sports a few new coats of cure on it to hopefully get it on its way to being a good skillet for many years to come.

Last up is something that I've been needing to replace.  I have a rectangular wire mesh strainer I got with a cutting board from Costco many, many years ago and it is just getting too old, bent up and worn out that it needs to be slowly retired.  On top of that, Alvah is going through about 1 lb of pasta a day of late, so I need all the strainers I can get.  I found the above wire mesh strainer for 1.00 at a yard sale.  Definitely worth the 1.00.  It is really well built and I've been using it regularly ever since.  I use my Tupperware strainers a lot, but they are a bit awkward to fit in the dishwasher.  This thing fits in like a bowl, which makes it really nice to get in with a load of dishes.

And there you go folks.  Some of the things we've been finding at yard sales this summer.  The last like three years we haven't found much of anything, so it is a nice change of pace to find things we could use or need this summer.

Hope your bargain hunting is going well.

Enjoy!

Thrifty Thursday: Thrift Store and Yard Sale Finds

As I stated in my last post, last week we ended up driving all over the place to help distract Alvah from his tooth recovery.  One of the things we ended up doing while driving all over creation was we started to hit yard sales.  I've noticed a DEFINITE uptick in yard sales this year.  I equate this to the state of the economy and people deciding to not donate their used goods, but instead hold onto them to do a yard sale in the hopes they can make some money, any money, to help alleviate the financial strains we are all dealing with.  Honestly, if Alvah does better this summer (so far, tentatively, I can say he's doing better than he was for sure) and is okay mood-wise, I might very well start hauling stuff out of storage to do a yard sale as well to see if I can make some money to help us.  I know I have baby items still in storage (and those days have definitely passed) and we have old furniture and things that could get hauled out and sold.  We'll see how it goes, though, as with the guardianship hearing coming up and everything...our plate is pretty darned full so far this summer.

I did manage to find a few things at yard sales, which were actually on my list of things I wanted to get, which was cool, so I thought I'd share a few of those here.

First are some DVD's I found that are not shown here as they are in my son's room in his stack of DVD's that he pulls from to watch during the day in his room.  I was able to find "Mater's Tall Tales" and Disney's "Cars" for 1.00 a piece in near new condition for 1.00 a piece.  These are on the list of DVD's my son regularly watches and is very hard on (translation:  Tends to destroy), so this saved me a bunch of money from having to order them online.

Next up, I found a blu-ray player at a yard sale, with remote, for 10.00 (the top Panasonic machine in the picture).  I never really had a desire to get a blu-ray player, but I've found now that I'm going back to physical media more and more (tired of getting things I purchased pulled because of "expired rights" but not getting any type of a refund when it happens...I'm looking at you Amazon), that some things are just plain cheaper on blu-ray or are ONLY available on blu-ray, so I decided to add one to our household.  I just kept putting it off because blu-ray players still aren't cheap (about 100.00 for a cheap one) and I didn't see the margin in the budget to pay for one. The VCR/DVD combo burner under the blu-ray player needs work in the picture above (VCR part just eats tapes now...need my husband to rip it apart and figure out what is going on with that), so that worked out doubly so, because now I have a working DVD player/Blu-Ray player to use while my husband tries to figure out how to fix the other machine.  

Next up was actually an oversight on my part.  The clear plastic Tupperware on top there is what I bought at a yard sale (the bottom cake carrier, by the way, I use as a cake dome and it comes in really handy).  I THOUGHT it was a small cake keeper and would work perfect to store cheesecake, when I make one, in the fridge, instead of trying to make plastic wrap not wreck the surface of the cheesecake.  It's actually a pie keeper, so the bottom plate is tapered, so it might not work for the cheesecake so well, but it will still come in handy for cold custard pies (like pumpkin pie) to keep them safe in the fridge, so I know I will still use it (just not as much as I'd hoped when I found it).  I paid 2.00 for that one.

And that's about it for finds so far this summer.  Not a bad haul by any stretch.  I'm hoping to find a few more things I've been looking for, but this is a decent start to the summer.

Hope your treasure hunting is going well out there :).

Enjoy!

Thrifty Thursday: Thrift Store Finds

Thrifty Thursday!  Here's a topic we haven't had in quite a while around here.

Before I get down to what I have bought at the used stores lately, can I just go on a rant about the price of used items at thrift stores anymore?  I mean, holy cow, are they expensive!   A used pair of pants should not cost 10 to 12 dollars!?!  Seriously, and this is sad, I was able to get my daughter a new skirt (on sale) for less than a used one costs at the used stores right now.  I know that resellers (do not get me started on that topic as they are wrecking the entire POINT of used stores) are driving prices up, but dang man!

Anyway, it has been a LONG time since I have found anything at the used stores that I was willing to spend my money on.  Part of it is the prices, but there is also the fact that people are holding onto their items more, so there is less inventory.  And the last reason I haven't bought much is that I'm really working on streamlining my home to function at the highest efficiency possible to just keep my sanity trucking along in tact.  At this stage in my life, I need that.  So, my rule of thumb is I will buy something if I need it (which I always have a short list going) and/or I have a space to put it in my home.  Period.  I'm just not into buying something because it is cool and then I'll find some place to put it later when I get home.  Nope, that ain't how my home is functioning for me anymore.  I just find that clutter gives me anxiety and I don't need more of that in my life, so I'm avoiding adding to it.

So, what have I actually run into at the used stores lately that was worth buying?  Some baking dishes!

I've been searching for a particular size of Pyrex dishes for a long time.  I have a few small like 4.5 x 7 dishes that I use all the time for, of all things, defrosting meat.  They are the perfect size to put meat into to defrost in my small fridge spaces and, if needed, fit in the microwave beautifully.  And the ones I have have either a nice lip on them to use for handles or they have handles.  But they were a bit small for longer pieces of meat like pork steaks and I'd end up with water (or worse, meat juice) that I'd have to clean up after defrosting the meat in them.  

And lo, and behold, I was able to find, not one, but TWO longer baking dishes that would fit my needs within a few weeks of each other.  One is an Anchor Hocking Brand and the other, with the nice handles on it, is an old PYREX (all caps, baby!) baking dish.  They are, if I'd have to guess, like 5 x 8 in size...an odd size now a days to get, but they fit right in the space where the other dishes sat in my cupboard and I can stack the other dishes right on top of them.  I've already used them several times now and am loving having more variety in my sizes of meat defrosting containers :).

They were three and four dollars respectfully, which I had me kind of undecided on getting them, but I am glad I finally decided to get them both as they come in handy (and if I ever make jello dishes they'd be the perfect size for that, I think).

Next up is a pyrex (lower case, so newer and not as good) lasagna pan.  I actually bought this to roast chickens in so I can fit vegetables in with the chicken when I roast it.  A regular 9x13 pan is just a bit too shallow to fit any vegetables in with the chicken and expect it to bake well.  I bought a small metal roasting pan, but it is way too deep on the sides so anything you want to bake in it takes twice as long to bake as it should as it reflects the heat too much.  So that one is going away and this one is sitting in it's place in my cabinet.

I put a quart jar of marinara sauce in the pan so you can see how deep the pan is.  I'd measure it, but honestly with my life at the moment, finding a ruler to measure is just going to take a bit too long.  So, enjoy the jar for scale.  I like how deep the pan is.  It is also just a teeny bit smaller width and length-wise then my older 9x13 pans, so it stacks in them alright.  I have my pans stacked in a kind of weird upper shelf in my lower cabinets in my kitchen, so I have to be careful getting it in and out of the cupboard, but it DOES fit, which is all that matters to me.

The pan cost me seven dollars, which made me consider leaving it at first, but my husband convinced me to buy it as I'd been looking for something like it for a long time.  Hopefully it comes in handy.

And there you go folks.  My finds at our local used stores the last bit.  I hope your thrift shopping has gone better than mine the last few years.

Enjoy!

Thrifty Thursday: Thrift Store Finds

It has been kind of a rough week around here.  Winter refuses to leave, although thank goodness it is getting warmer in the afternoons so the ridiculous amounts of snow we have are finally starting to melt.  Our 10 foot snow drift that was burying our back door is now down to about 4 feet, so I call that progress!  We are finally supposed to start staying above freezing at night here within the next few days, so if that holds for a week or so, I'm just going for it and I'm going to go buy some plants to put out on the deck.  I figure worse comes to worse, I'll go and buy some heavy plastic and build myself some mini greenhouses around my tomatoes and things to help them grow this summer.  I am really jiving for fresh produce fresh from the garden after how long this winter has felt.

I do have plans to get a frugal accomplishments post out this week, although it is probably going to be really late and hit on Saturday while my son is at Special Olympics with my husband, so I have the opportunity to think.  In the meantime, though, I thought I'd actually share some small finds I actually got on E-bay the last week.

Anyone who has been around for a bit knows that I love Tupperware, especially vintage Tupperware.  Unfortunately for me, others have caught on to how great the stuff is and it has been REALLY hard to find it at the used stores for the last year or so, which is par for the course with me.  It seems every time I get into collecting something it eventually becomes trendy and then I can't find it anymore.  I love Tupperware because it is darned near indestructible and super functional (well, okay, some pieces might not be, but I've really gotten into things that I buy have to be functional anymore or I feel like I'm wasting money, so Tupperware pieces I get I use...actually usually quite a bit).  I can safely say as an endorsement for the products that my Tupperware containers survived the seven point earthquake without even popping open.  They hit the floor and bounced.  The ONLY container that actually came open and spilled its contents was my container that was full of popcorn and that was because the microwave flew off of my sideboard and landed on it.  But, it survived and is still used today.  I can't say that about my Pyrex and Corelle pieces I had collected at the time.

This last week, I found out that Tupperware (the company) is more than likely going out of business.  They have hired professionals to try and turn the business around, but it is not looking good.  This made me so sad when I heard about it, as the company has been around since the 40s.  It also made me realize that the second hand market prices, if this happened, were doing nothing but going up, so if I wanted to fill the few gaps I had in pieces that I wanted, I had better figure it out now.

So, I went on E-bay to see what I could find for a couple more countertop containers as I needed some for flours and things I'm now using regularly (like I wanted to get one for unbleached all purpose flour since that is used all the time in my sourdough starter and things).  And, for the first time EVER I found a really great deal on not one, but two blue counter containers.  The blue color seems to be really rare and every time I saw listings for it on E-bay they were always way more money than I wanted, or could, spend on something like that.  This time, though, I found two containers that were 14.00 for BOTH containers and the shipping was cheap!  I am so thrilled with these as I've been wanting this color in my collection for years, and I mean years and they are now filled with flours and are being used every day pretty much, so I call it a definite win :).

The other small thing I managed to get was a lid for this brown container.  My mother-in-law gave me the container as part of a trade a long time ago, but while taking the lid off one day it split and broke on me (turns out, looking into the lid I needed to replace on it, that it was a replacement lid that broke on it to begin with...wonder what happened to the original lid as I'm sure my mother-in-law got it at a used store years ago).  I put the container aside and looked for a replacement lid ever since, but never could find one.  I just happened to be looking on E-bay and found an original container with the lid where the person was nice enough to list the lid part number in the listing, which was a first for me to find.  I went and searched for the lid part number, and while I couldn't find a clear or brown lid to go with the container (as it would have originally had on it), I DID find a golden yellow lid that would fit it and I called it good enough.  It was only 4.00 with free shipping (I know, expensive for a lid, but trust me that isn't bad for Tupperware), so I ordered it and can now finally use my brown container again (it is already full of flour as well and is on my counter top being used *laugh*).

I was even able to use credit card rewards to help pay for the items, which got my costs even lower :).

So, yeah, not screaming deals this week, but things I did need for my kitchen to protect important things from bugs and mice, so I'm definitely not complaining.  And the fact that the blue containers happened to be a color I had been looking for was a major bonus for me :).

Oh in a side note ,thank you to those who have chimed in on the hood paint and making sure it was high temperature rated.  My husband has thought about tractor paint and "other alternatives" but hasn't settled on one yet, but we will definitely make sure the paint is rated for high temperatures.  Thank you for the advice!

Also, I can't remember who asked this question (sorry) but someone asked if I had ever found a recipe for Red Robin seasoning that worked well enough for Alvah.  No, no I haven't.  I looked at the ingredients and the seasoning has malt extract powder, so I'm thinking that adds a depth of flavor I just plain can't replicate.  I'm going to keep trying, though.

Enjoy!

Thrifty Thursday: Thrift Store Finds

For the last bit, I really haven't found much at the used stores.  My husband has had much better luck finding tools and things while me, who really is just looking for certain things in the kitchen and all, hasn't found a whole lot.  I did, however, find these at Value Village last week and was really thrilled to find them, so I thought I'd share.

I was thrilled when I saw the cornflower blue pattern on the casserole dishes and quickly snagged them as I'm still trying to rebuild a collection of the dishes since the earthquake years ago.  After carrying them for a few minutes, I was kind of surprised at their heft and that they more resembled stone ware types of items instead of the Corelle/Corningware I was used to feeling with that pattern on them.  I flipped them over, wondering if I had actually picked up some weird knock off Corelle and was really surprised when I saw that the casserole dishes were in fact special edition casserole dishes to celebrate the 100 year anniversary of the brand.  So, double score!  Especially since, surprisingly, I didn't pay much for them (1.99 for the small one and 3.99 for the large one), a rare thing for Value Village.  

I've actually already used the smaller casserole to make potatoes au gratin, and I loved the pretty presentation it made.  Hopefully these hold up.  Not being made of traditional Corelle material, I do worry that they are going to chip and die on me, but we'll see how it goes.

How about you?  Found anything good at the used stores of late?

Thrifty Thurs....errr....Friday!

So, today I thought I'd quickly share a few (well, one) thing I've found at the used stores of late that was a cool find and also a few awesome things my family gave me for Christmas that they found at the used stores.

1.  First up is a chicken shaped egg holder.  It is dated on the back with a date of 1994 and was dated by hand, which surprised me when I saw it as I assumed it was something new from like Target or something.  I bought this just because unlike my other egg holder I had taking up room in my kitchen, this one I can put up against the back of the counter standing upright and just place my rolling pin in front of it, which saves me from having a clunkier ceramic egg holder taking up space when I am not baking.  I seldom use a dozen eggs at one time for anything (I can think of two recipes that I seldom make that require that many eggs), but it is just so convenient to have the egg holder out of the way when I don't need it while baking :).  It only cost me 2.00, so it was, to me, totally worth it.

2.  Next up is the coolest cookbook I've probably ever been gifted, honestly.  My husband snagged this for me for Christmas from one of our local used stores.  I LOVE this book!  It has a ton of cool recipes in it that I'm looking forward to trying in my menu plan rotation and is laid out very well and is written in language that is easy to understand.  I believe it dates from the 40's if I remember correctly (don't have it in front of me at the moment and I'm too lazy to get up and get it *laugh*).  The best part of this book, other than the loads of awesome recipes in it?  Is the fact that this was someone's favorite recipe book and was a treasured possession (which shows in the degrading binding, which makes me handle it very carefully when I read it over and over again), and it shows.  The book is jammed full of hand written recipes written by the person and their family members and friends over the years, which are treasures in themselves.  There is even a good portion of a PET milk cookbook/pamphlet, which has been great to page through for future use.

3.  Another thing my husband got me for Christmas was a cool vintage cheese dome.  It is really neat.  You could probably fit a cupcake under it if you didn't want to use it as a cheese tray *laugh*.  When I can finally afford to buy fancy cheese again, I'm looking forward to trying it out with some brie or something, but for the time being it just has a place of honor in my kitchen for decoration more than anything :).

4.  My daughter managed to find a candle holder and a fall scented candle for me for Christmas from the used stores (She proudly stated the candle set her back .20 for a new candle and was quite thrilled at the deal she snagged.  She's definitely my kid *laugh*).  I was touched as I'm not used to getting candles as gifts and I'm normally too cheap to really buy them for myself, so it was a neat gift to get.  I found a nice place to put it on display and enjoy seeing it every time I walk by.

I don't know the cost of everything but the egg holder and the candle, obviously, but for the amount of enjoyment I've been getting out of them, I find them priceless :).

And there you go folks.  My thrifty haul from the last few months.  I hope used store shopping (or yard sale finds, for those in warmer climates) are going well for you!  Enjoy!

Thrifty Thursday: Thrift Store Finds

First, I sincerely want to apologize for the ginormous banner ad at the top of the blog annoying everyone who sees it.  Google made me make some changes to the blog code (advertising permissions and such) or my ad revenue would be cut off and now, no matter what I do to the code, what gadget I turn off, no matter what invisible entity I swear at, I can not get said banner to disappear (did manage to get rid of the various pop up ads that were taking over the screen when you pulled up the blog, though...I hope).  I will continue to work on it, but if it is still there when you are trying to read the blog...sorry...I'm trying.  I keep thinking of starting up like a Patreon page and doing some video tutorials on things like darning and such to hopefully help some folks, and things like this REALLY motivate me to try and figure out how to make that stuff work.

Anyway, here is a post I haven't done in a long while.  I actually have gotten a bit of a list of things I need to look for at the used stores, so we ended up hitting one of our local ones last week to see if we could find some of the things we need.  And, for the first time in a while, I actually found some stuff that I needed.

A pic of what we bought is up top, but I'll break it down one by one.  One of the main items on my list is trying to find some decent long sleeved shirts and sweaters in women's small to medium as those are definitely my sizes now.  All of my old sweaters and shirts are either really stretched out looking now (shirts) or are really just shot (sweaters).  So, I have some hoodies and one sweater that I am wearing now that winter is kicking off early here (much to my dismay we are set to have our first snowfall in the Valley tomorrow...too soon darned it!  Eagle River had their first snow fall earlier in the week, which was even worse).  When the weather started getting colder, I knew I had to start to look for winter clothing as the stores were going to sell out of stuff quickly.  Glad I did as I found a REALLY nice L.L. Bean, 100% cotton sweater (nice and heavy) for 4.00!  I love it.  Kind of nervous of the off white color (I have a tendency to stain things), but hopefully it'll last me a good long time and hey, at least it'll keep me warm!

The next thing I managed to find was a few tablecloths.  Unfortunately, they didn't have the size of the tablecloths listed on the tag and the original measurement tags were missing from said tablecloths, so I had to eyeball them to see if maybe they would fit the kitchen table.  Out of the three I got, one fit the kitchen table (the other two were a bit too narrow, but I'll use them for other things) which I'm showing here.  I really need some new table cloths as mine are getting really stained to the point I can't get the grease stains and things out of them (the son is hard on things), so it was good to add a new one into the tablecloth stock.  It is thin, but it gets the job done and will bead up liquids when spilled if you move quickly to clean it up.  Better than nothing for sure.

I also found a "king size" reversible comforter that isn't microfiber.  (the sweater and stuff is sitting on it in the above pic.  One side is grey stipes and the other side is blue stripes) I really don't like microfiber as it seems to just make you sweat, so I was happy to find a comforter that would fit my bed for 10.00 that wasn't microfiber.  It really is more queen sized than king sized, but that's okay because it does still fit my bed, so I'm definitely okay with it.  You can tell it is cotton with how well it wrinkles, though *laugh*.

Also, you'll look at the picture and think that my bed is exceptionally short due to the thing cutting off the picture on the left side, maybe?  That's actually another comforter I have folded up across the bottom half of the bed as I'm really trying to avoid turning on the electric heat in my bedroom until we have no choice in the matter (the kids have already had to turn their heaters on with how cold their rooms are getting at night).

So, there you go folks.  Not the most exciting "oooooo! Neat stuff!" type of haul I've ever had, but definitely some welcome finds to help make living a little bit cheaper.

How about you?  Found anything good at the used stores/thrift stores/charity shops of late?

Thrifty Thursday: Thrift Store Finds

Well, here's a post that has been MIA for quite a while.  We haven't had the money to go shopping at the used stores, so we've been avoiding them, and yard sales for the last little bit.

But, Tuesday, my daughter for her braces off (yay!!!) and better yet they did the X-rays to make sure her bite and everything was good and they said that her X-rays looked good, including that they couldn't see any cavities in her teeth (course we won't know 100% until next week at the kid's dental appointments).  Since she was so good during her appointment, we figured we could spare a few dollars to go the used store and see if we could get her a reward.

And I did find her a stuffed princess doll for 1.00 (better yet I found out by my daughter dressing her up that she fits into 18" doll clothes, so that might make Christmas even easier yet :) but then I went and looked around wondering if I'd find anything cheap that was on my yard sale and thrift store list.

I seriously hit pay dirt!  I've been looking for a new rice cooker as the bowl on my old one is just plain shot (non-stick coating is gone, aluminum is starting to pit, etc) and once I found that I couldn't get a replacement bowl for my old one, I figured I'd have to get a new one.  Unfortunately, the cheapest I was able to find was one for 15.00 or over on clearance and I didn't have the money when I'd see them.  So I was looking at having to pay 30.00 to 50.00 for a new one.

And then I found the one above.  A brand new rice cooker.  I looked inside.  It's never been used, still has the original cord securing thingies in place and even has the original rice paddle to serve the rice.  It's a lot bigger than my old one (8 cups vs. 4) and the best part?  A 6.00 price tag!!!

So, yay!  Bargain shopping went well for me this week :).  How about you?  Found anything cool at the used stores/yard sales lately?

Thrifty Thursday: Thrift Store Finds

Well, this was a good week on the thrift store finds front.

I stopped by the thrift store today more on a whim than anything else as I keep hoping to run into a nice cabinet or a cheap, but nice, bookcase to use for some of my books.  Came up empty handed there, but I did find some cool stuff!

2 pinwheels for .25 each. 

These will be going into the Easter basket for the kiddos.

A reusable waterproof bed pad for 5.00 new in the box. 

I have desperately needed a second bed pad for my son since he tore the second one he has (which makes washing his bedding that much more challenging every day), so I was thrilled to find it.  It will definitely come in handy.

I found some pink lacy material for .25 that I figure I'll use to dress up doll dresses or something come Christmastime.

1 My Little Pony "Pop".  It's a toy that you build yourself and design the hair and everything. I  thought my daughter would definitely like this for Christmas as she kept wanting me to buy one for her last year (and what they wanted for them new was ridiculous).  I got this one brand new in the box for 1.75.

1 Harry Potter Clue Game for 4.50.

The game has all it's pieces that I could see, had the direction sheet and had pretty much the entire pad where you check off suspects and clues.  I had priced this thing on Amazon for my daughter for Christmas and it was at least 21.00.  So, one cheap Christmas gift down :).

1 bag of quilt batting for 1.00.

1 speed control for a sewing machine for 5.00. 

My husband has been looking for one of these, so I grabbed it.  If it turns out to be something he can't use, I'm going to see if my mother-in-law needs it as she has said in the past that she needed a sewing machine pedal for another machine she has.

1 box of snap fasteners for .25. 

This was a "duh" type of mistake as I forgot that my step mom had sent me tons of snap fasteners in her pinata boxes to me, but they'll get used, so not that big of a deal.

 And I found this for .50 (forgot to take a picture of it with the other items).  This seems like a really awesome cookbook and it has TONS of different recipes for pretty much everything beef including oxtails and lots of different types of stews and things.  I'm looking forward to reading this in more detail later.

And really, how can you not love that obviously 70's cover?  Vintage cookbooks are awesome :).

So, there you are, my finds for today.  Find anything cool lately?

Thrifty Thursday: Thrift Store Finds

This week I am sharing with you one of the coolest finds I've found at the thrift stores to date!  And that's saying something.

What you see above, my friends, is a game changer, or can be, when it comes to energy consumption with cooking.  What you are peering at is a thermal cooker!

I've been quasi obsessed with thermal cooking since I read about the hay box cooking of WWII in my British rationing cookbooks.

The concept is simple and goes back to...well probably about the time men walked upright and discovered fire really.  You take an object that retains heat, like a slab of rock, heat it up to really hot, put it in a thermally insulated environment (like in a pit or something), put your food on top and then put more insulation on top and let the heat do it's thermal voodoo.  This is just more modern and on a smaller scale than, say, a luau pit.

You heat the slab of stone with this model (the big disc there), put it in the bottom of the cooker (which is, essentially a GIANT thermos) after heating the rock on a burner for a half an hour.  You heat your food at the same time in the inner pot to brown your meat and such.  Once you put the rock into the cooker, put your inner pan on top of the heated rock, slap on the lid and walk away.  The rock and cooker will continue to cook your food for up to eight hours and will heat it for even longer.  So you can put this baby on the counter in the morning with a little prep work and just walk away and have dinner done at suppertime.  Kind of like a crock pot, but no electric involved for most of the day.

I've been wanting one of these to take on our camper for a LONG time as you can heat the rock on a campfire or you can heat it on your camper stove, but preserve a bunch of propane by heating the rock and forgetting about it.

I'm also looking forward to trying it out at home just because really as I have seen some cool recipes in my rationing cookbooks that call for hay boxes and stuff and I'm intrigued to say the least :).

These cookers normally retail for 70.00 to 80.00 on the low end of the cost spectrum and those are pretty small cookers.  This one is actually pretty big and is from, it looks like to me, the 70's.  But it's BRAND SPANKING NEW in condition.  It still had all the paperwork in it, the original cardboard insert is on the bottom of the cooker to stop the stone from scratching up the bottom of the cooker and everything.  Retail back then for this thing?  89.95 by the little insert card that came with the cooker.

Final price I paid?  25.00.

I never expected to ever run into one of these at the thrift stores.  I'd had one in my Amazon cart for at least two years to buy eventually, but 70.00 on the cheap was just out of my price range.  25.00?  I could swing that.

So, yeah, it was an awesome day on the thrift store shopping front this week.  How did you do?

Thrifty Thursday: Thrift Store Finds

Officially my 1.25 pocket change I had left from my birthday money is gone, as is .50 I was able to dig out of the depths of my purse, but when I went to the thrift store this week I was thrilled with what I got for that 1.75.

I was looking online and saw that one of my favorite thrift stores was having a sale for .25 kid's clothing if it had a purple tag on it.  One of the reasons I love this particular thrift store is when they have sales like this they always put the certain tag color on racks by themselves, so it makes perusing the offerings so much easier.

So, I went in with the hopes that I might find my daughter some nightgowns (as the one slip she's using as a nightgown is going through constant repairs every time I wash it...it's just slowly separating and pilling no matter if I wash the thing by hand even) and maybe a robe (since she's been asking for a robe for about a year now).  I was AMAZED when I found not one robe, but TWO on the .25 rack, both complete with belts (a problem with used robes it seems)! 

One is even a Hello Kitty robe, so it will go perfect with her spa bath set for her birthday (the dark pink one has Hello Kitty on the back).  I'm going to wrap the Hello Kitty robe and mark it from her brother for her birthday and I'll give her the pink robe as part of her dad's and my gifts to her. 

I went looking around the rest of the used store, since I was there, honestly hoping to find some nightgowns hiding (no luck there) and found a cool Corelle bowl for 1.25.  I've been looking for some of the smaller bowl sizes (odd I know as usually people get rid of those first) as I like to have them for steaming puddings and for serving side dishes in, so I grabbed it right away.

And don't worry about the nightgown thing.  I figured out a way around that (more on that tomorrow).

So, all totaled I spent 1.75 at the used store, got two birthday gifts for my daughter and had a really good day that day. 

How about you?  Find anything cool at the used/thrift stores lately?

Thrifty Thursday: Thrift Store Finds

This is a week where money being tight like it was I figured there was no way I'd be spending extra money on anything.  But, hey I was wrong.  Sure, I didn't have much money to spend, but I didn't NEED much money to get things I needed this week.  Win, win as far as I'm concerned!

We stopped in at our favorite thrift store last week, mainly to get out of the house, and I ended up talking to one of the gals who worked there as I was perusing the sale racks.  She told me about a 4 for 1.00 sale that was going to be kicking off and that I should come back.  And you better believe I did!

My wardrobe suffers from wear and tear.  My son flings food on me on a semi-regular basis, I get Vaseline on me as I'm trying to rub Vaseline into children's eczema, etc,  so I knew when I started running into more and more stains that weren't coming out and more than a few of my shirts that are, geez, 10 to 12 years old are really starting to show some holes, that I would need to replace them soon.  I found myself borrowing my husband's t-shirts more and more to sleep in because my wardrobe was getting so slim in pickings, so when I found out about .25 clothing I went in when the kids were in school and really combed the racks.

I also found three polo shirts that my husband can use for work shirts while I was there, two of which still had tags on them.  All of the clothing I picked up above cost me 5.00, including a blue tag (that was the tag for the .25 sale) percale sheet with daisies on it.  It was so pretty I had to get it, but it's a top sheet so I'm not quite sure what I'll do with it (the tag said fitted when I grabbed it).  I'm thinking a tablecloth, but we'll see :).

While my  husband and I were at the used store we went looking around to see what we could find that was on our "want" list or on our "need" lists.  I'd had frames on my "need" list for the kid's school pictures but hadn't had any luck before the holidays, so I was happy to find two frames I could use for their pictures for .50 each.  They were even black already, so I won't need to paint them.  Bonus!  I found a Veggie Tales Christmas tape and Christmas things were 75% off, so I was able to get it for .10.  I then got an egg cutter for .50, a Dumbo tape for .50 (this is going in with my daughter's birthday gifts next month) and my husband found a Tupperware condiment tray!!!  I'd found a couple at Value Village over the last couple of years, but they were always at least 10.00 and I couldn't justify spending that on one, but this one was 1.50 and totally within my budget!

I also managed to find a gallon sized vintage storage jar in with the Christmas things.  I was thrilled to find it at 75% off as I'd admired it before but at full price (6.00 and some change) I just couldn't bring myself to buy it.  But for 1.00 and some change?  Yeah, I would definitely take that :).  The jar was missing any rubber seal it might have once had, but that was okay by me because I looked at it and immediately figured that I could condense my three smaller button jars into that one jar.  And I was right!  And seriously, once you turn the jar around during the non-Christmas season?  No one would know that it was a Christmas jar.

So, there you are folks.  My cool finds for this week.  Not bad for under 10.00.  How about you?  Find anything cool this week?

Thrifty Thursday: Some Christmas Gifts For Free

This is kind of a special Thrifty Thursday post for me as my husband got me some Christmas gifts.  For free :).

My husband has taken up some side work to help out a relative (and us) and as part of the job they are redoing a house that someone got on auction.  So, one of the goals of redoing said house is to clean it out of the things the previous owners left behind.

And my husband found me some vintage Corelle and some Pyrex pie dishes.

He gave the dishes to me early as I had to clean them up a bit (stuck on old food, etc), but they cleaned up just fine.  I'm super happy as I use my Corelle ALL the time and this gives me a few more pieces to put into circulation (thus allowing me to not have to worry about buying more plastic throw away containers too).

You can't beat a price tag of "free" when being thrifty :).

A Thrifty Thanksgiving: Making a Classy Thanksgiving Table on the Cheap

First, I'd like to wish a "Happy Thanksgiving" to all of you in the U.S.

I thought that this would be a good holiday to not only thank the Good Lord for the blessings in my life, namely my children, husband and the fact that I was lucky enough to be born into a country where food and water are readily available for me to eat and drink, but this would be a good time to share a kind of special "Thrifty Thursday" with you all.

Namely, I wanted to share how you can swing a holiday on the cheap, with a little thinking in advance, and no one would ever know that it was "cheap" for you to swing.

Above is the shot of our Thanksgiving table this year.  With the exception of the food, table runner and pot holders (which I made all of those...well not the base ingredients, but you get the idea *laugh*) and the centerpiece (which I'll get to in a second), everything else on the table was purchased used from thrift stores and yard sales.

The french white plates I found at the used store a while back for .50 a plate.  I bought four to use for "fancy holiday" place settings as you can't go wrong with white.  The Corelle casseroles that I'm using as serving dishes I got at a yard sale for .50 each (complete with lids) or I already had in my collection of casserole dishes for years.  The Corelle platter my turkey is being served on my husband and I ran into at a used store a few months ago for 5.00...I kind of didn't want to spend the money but I've been looking for a Corelle serving platter for a LONG time, so I was thrilled to have it so I could get rid of the huge, clunky, and impossible to store serving platter I had previously.

The bowl the rolls are being served in?  Thrift store find for 1.00.  The tablecloth 2.00 at a thrift store.  You get the general idea.

Now, I did not buy all of these things at once, far from it. The tablecloth alone I've had for at least six years. It's taken me a while to accumulate enough to have a holiday table that pretty much matched (the Tupperware gravy boat I will not part with for the sake of matching unless I find a Blue Cornflower patterned one, sorry to say.  That thing keeps gravy warm for hours).  I use all of these things from day to day as well, with the exception of the plates.  Changing one thing at a holiday table, believe it or not, can really help to make a holiday special.  So, my advice would be if you are looking for a way to spiffy up your holiday?  Buy white plates and just go from there to decorate because you can use white for every single holiday I can think of and just change up the other decorations around it.

My centerpiece was built in a basket tray I bought at a used store for .50 a long time ago and I use for everything from harvesting stuff from the garden, hauling treats for hot cocoa or something on to using for a centerpiece like this.  I've gotten to a stage in my life that if I have something in my kitchen I want it to be able to perform multiple tasks if possible.  I have a small kitchen to begin with and then adding in my utilitarian nature...well I like multi-taskers.

The gourds were a great find that I ran into at the regular grocery store yesterday as I ran in to get the bare minimum of groceries for next week.  They had big bags of gourds marked down to 1.00 a bag (probably due to the holidays being pretty much over), so I bought them.  My original plan had been to harvest different fake flowers from different fall themed arrangements I have around the house, but this was quick, easy, and my kids loved playing with the gourds all day, so it was worth it, I think.

And that's another bit of advice I can lend.  When shopping with the holidays in mind, shop a year ahead if possible.  Sounds odd I know, but things like tablecloths, dish towels and decorating things go on clearance after the holiday has passed and it is a wonderful time to pick things up for the next year cheap.  Just be sure you label them and box them where you can find them the next year so you don't forget what you have.  And yes, I do in fact shop the sales at the used stores right before the holiday hits (a lot of thrift stores, at least around here, will have buy one get one sales or 50 to 70% off sales to help liquidate holiday themed donations).

I, honestly, don't keep a lot for any holidays other than Christmas (since we use a fake tree and such) and Halloween.  Halloween and fall tend to get kind of lumped together, so when Halloween is over the fall decorations roll over into Thanksgiving decorations.  I tend to use pine cones (like the one seen in the arrangement above) for fall and winter arrangements, so they do a lot of duty around here in the way of decorating.  I harvest a lot of pine cones from my own yard, even, to help fill space in some areas.

I normally try to buy a live wreath on Black Friday weekend for 5.00 or so, but this year I think I'm just going to harvest some pine from trees in my yard and see what I can make instead as I don't have the money to waste on something like that right now.

But I mainly wanted to do this post to just post up some encouragement.  Just because you are broke doesn't mean your holiday table has to be boring even if you are reusing a lot of things you use from day to day.

Enjoy your holiday everyone and I hope you all found things to be thankful for today!

Thrifty Thursday (Thrift Store Finds)

Well, this was a week of some good finds on the thrift store front!

I had to drop off some stuff at the thrift store earlier in the week so I stopped in really fast to see if there was anything to see.  And I hit some pay dirt!

First up is what is seen above.  It's a chocolate mold (limited edition yada yada) and came with a block of white Baker's Chocolate in it (which is safe with my son's peanut allergy!).  The entire box was still sealed tight and the expiration date wasn't until like last month, so I knew the chocolate would still be fine (old chocolate tends to be fine anyway, but I didn't want off colored chocolate for the molds).

The little chocolate "garnish" is going to be used as chocolate candies to send it with my daughter for her Halloween party at school (no fuss, no muss).  Since she's got 27 kids in her class, trying to come up with a treat that would go far enough but not tax my budget was vexing me.  1.00 and I'm set for Halloween party treats (and I'll reuse the mold for other Halloween things later with some other chocolate too!).

Next up are a couple of panel projects I found for 18" doll clothes.  I'm hoping to use one to lure my daughter into wanting to learn to sew a bit more, but the other one I MIGHT have plans for, but we shall see :).  These were 2.50 a piece.  Not the cheapest things in the world, but both panels make multiple outfits and might get my daughter sewing more, so I think they are worth it.

And now, I present to you my "Holy Grail" find for the day!  I have a somewhat short list of Tupperware items I'm looking for now to make my "base collection" complete.  A matching salt and pepper shaker set, preferably vintage, was definitely on that list.  And I found a set!!!  For 1.00!!!  For BOTH of them!!!  And they match my brown 70's era Tupperware!  Life is awesome! Ahem...I think about two states over heard my squeel of excitement when I found those *laugh*.

Next up is actually an item that I debated getting at all.  Yes, they are Tupperware.  Tupperware shot glasses to be precise.  And they are old Tupperware (probably 50's era).  And they were .25 a piece.  But, I didn't really NEED shot glasses...I'm not exactly a heavy drinker (I'm more of a glass of eggnog come the holidays or an occasional glass of wine with dinner type) and I couldn't see myself using the cups for much and I abhor spending money on something I know I'm not going to use.  But my daughter of all people fell in love with them and wanted me to get them so she could use them as reusable water cups in the bathroom at night.  Mind you, she already has a child's size Tupperware cup in the bathroom for the occasional late night water run, but she really wanted these.  So, I bought them *laugh*.  I do like how they are so small they fit on the like 3/4" lip around the bathroom vanity, so they are off the actual counter.

And next up are a couple of molds I bought at the used store as well for molding jello (I don't really know if you could use these for molds for steaming puddings or not, but I would hate to mar the finish on these as they are actually really shiny right now).  My daughter was getting tired of eating jello in the shape of a fish (I can't fathom that *laugh*), so I'm figuring these will fit the bill.  And it will be easier to do layered effects in these for sure.  One is a 2 1/2 cup mold and the other is a three and a half cup mold.  They were 1.50 a piece.  Since we're eating Jello for dessert even more than we used to (braces are fun), these will definitely come in handy.

And last up are, of all things, fondue forks.  I was hoping to find some for Halloween since I want to make a brie cheese fondue type of dish, but I didn't want to pay out a lot for fondue forks, so I was trying to think of ways around it.  And the same day I stumbled on these.  Fifty cents for a package of World Market fondue forks.  Works for me!

So, there you are folks.  My finds for the week.  How did you do?

Thrifty Thursday: Thrift Store Finds

Yesterday I decided after being so sick for the last week and then having so much going on around here on top of it, I needed to get out of the house.  So, I went to the thrift store and found some awesome finds!

1.  The biggest find of the day, for sure, was a spare pair of frames (seen up top).  I looked down at the jewelry display and was surprised to have a pair of glasses that looked nearly identical to the pair I've been wearing forever (no, seriously, I've had the same frames since my freshmen year of college!) staring up at me.  I have been desperately wanting to go in and get a new pair of lenses put in my glasses as after six and some odd years my lenses are pretty scratched on my current pair, but my spare pair of glasses is currently held together by surgical tape and I wasn't relishing having to wear them while my good pair was in the shop getting new lenses put in, or worse, having to buy a new pair of glasses.

The frames, after discount (they were on sale 25% off), were 2.25 and are high quality (I did try them on and no, the prescription is no where near mine...it was worth a shot though).  I'm very very happy with them :).  Now I just need to save up a little money, go in and get an eye exam and get new lenses put into the new pair of glasses.  Then I can finally replace my old lenses in these glasses AND have a good pair of back of glasses in case I need them.  Life is good!

2.  Next up is a vintage solid brass with chrome plating Italian made corkscrew.  Really nice high quality corkscrew for .50 with a built in bottle opener as well.  Always nice to have around.

3.  A really nice 100% cotton duvet of which I have no idea how old it is.  It was 3.00 and honestly around here we can always use more blankets (finding room to store them is hard, but my son goes through a LOT of bedding on a regular basis, so it's good to be prepared).  I bought it, got it home and realized there was a rough patch on it where the cotton yarn had shredded a bit on one corner (someone had a cat as I had a lot of snags to fix), so I just took some 100% cotton terry material I had with a tight nap to it and made a patch on either side of the duvet, sewed through both patches to "sandwich" in the rough patch and voila!  A really nice blanket for 3.00 that is heavy enough my son will love to roll himself up in.  And with the cotton terry on there if I need to bleach said blanket it won't be a big deal.

4.  I also found a 100% white cotton tablecloth. I have no idea how old it is, but I love the "vintage linen" type of feel to it.  And for 2.00 it was definitely worth getting just to have an extra white tablecloth anyway :).

I also found some various things for my daughter for Christmas.  Some "fancy" hair clips and a leotard for ballet in her size with the tags still on it on sale for 1.50.  Still on the hunt for a tutu in her size (I don't have materials to make one, so I'm KIND of hoping I'll stumble into one cheap so I don't have to worry about it), but feeling good about what I've found so far.

All said and done I got out of the store for under 20.00 and felt great about my finds for the day.

Have you found anything neat lately?

And EDIT:  Apparently my daughter actually has a tutu.  I completely forgot she had one *laugh*.  My sister-in-law had bought her one that was way too big years ago and I'd put it in her dresser drawer with other "too big for you" clothes in it figuring we'd pull it out at a later date.  She found it in her dresser about, oh, ten minutes after I posted this and came dancing out in it and some other clothing that made quite an ensemble.  But, yeah, she actually has a tutu.  That saves me time and money, so woohoo for that :).

Thrifty Thursday: Thrift Store Finds

So, I was so excited last weekend when we went to one of our local thrift stores that was having a fall celebration/party.  We thought we'd get the daughter a cookie and me some free hot apple cider, but when we went in and looked around we walked out with some stuff instead *laugh*.

One of the things we walked out with is a rocking recliner for our living room for my son.  He loved it so much when we were there that we just couldn't walk out without it.  It needs to have it's bottom brace thingy repaired (my husband's camp, not mine), but overall it was in great shape.  For 12.00 it was worth it, definitely.  My son is impatiently waiting for my husband to fix it (unfortunately for him he had to work last weekend and had a birthday party to go to for my daughter so he didn't get to it) and then I can replace the really cheaply made 10.00 olive green recliner we have in our living room with the nice neutral colored one (yay!).

My find of the day, however, was the above book.  I FINALLY found a jello cookbook!

I know, I'm insane.  Live my life for a little bit and you'll figure out why.

Seriously, I had been told by various older people (70 years young) I knew that Jello was one of the staples in their cupboards because it could be used for pretty much everything.  One woman called it the super glue of the kitchen.

Now, I wouldn't go as far as that, but I WAS impressed with all of the different things you can actually do with Jello.  In the book there are recipes for sherbet, fruity glazes, various molded salads (of course), cakes and more.  And hey, if I ever want to incur the wrath of my family, and not to mention my taste buds, there are TONS of savory salads with floating olives and things molded into them.

This book makes me want to go out and buy every flavor of Jello imaginable and experiment, but instead I'll leave you with a hearty "Fish mold!!!!" and be done with it (I really need to work on my un-molding skills).

Thrifty Thursday: Thrift Store Finds

This was a good week on the Thrift Store front.  Well, kinda *laugh*.

Some of what is seen above is actually from a local antique shop that is going out of business.  They were proclaiming 50% off everything and intrigued, since we'd never been there before, my husband took us on an adventure to find the place.  We found it and went inside and were amazed by all the stuff.

I was able to get a box of canning lids (with the lids still inside), an old frozen food box and a vintage baking powder tin (I collect old spice tins) for like 3.50.  It was fun and I was able to pay with cash I had in my pocket, which kept me careful on how much I spent.

We also went to a local used store and I found a soap dish, which I'd been needing for the kid's bathroom.  And then I made the mistake of turning said soap dish over and saw "ironware" and other markings, went and looked up the soap dish online and found that it is an ironware dish made in the 1800's, specifically transferware.  The 1.00 I paid for it was definitely worth it as it is in perfect condition (honestly I got it because it was solid, clean and I thought it was pretty).  I knew ironware was pretty tough, so I was all for just using said soap dish, but my husband put his foot down and after arguing with me the abuse that soap dishes take on a day to day basis, the soap dish finally ended up in my china cabinet.  So, I still need a soap dish for my kid's bathroom *laugh*.

I was also able to find cloth napkins for .25 a piece, so I got some patriotic themed napkins (blue with white stars) and some grey blue ones, four of each.  So now I have a couple of new cloth napkins in the rotation.  Always welcome.

At another used store I was able to find a new Oxo grips can opener for 3.00.  I love the one I have but the handles keep popping off, so I was happy to find another one.  We also found an old style can opener/key for 1.00 (those come in handy!).  The vintage biscuit/cookie cutter was .50 (I love the old style cookie cutters and biscuit cutters, they just work so well!)  and the potato masher (bakelite handle and everything!) was 2.00.  I have been looking for an old style potato masher as my "new fangled" Oxo potato masher just doesn't work great in my opinion and I KNOW the old style ones work because that's what I grew up with.  And the rubber spatula was another kitchen item I've been needing as mine are just getting really worn and it was .50.

Really, it was a week to run into things I needed and some I didn't, but it was still a lot of fun exploring and finding cool things.

Find any cool things on your travels lately?

Thrifty Thursday: Thrift Store Finds

Well, this week was a good one on the used store/thrift store front.

My husband didn't understand my squeal of excitement when I found the above item.  I held it aloft like it was the most treasured possession in the universe and said, "I FINALLY found one!!!  A fish mold!!!  And it's only two dollars!"

My husband looked at me like I had something a bit off in my head and said, "Uh huh.  I always thought those were sort of ugly."

He didn't understand my excitement at finding the above item, although at least he understood when I explained to him the main reason I have wanted one of these forever is because I have some vintage molded salad (or other recipes) that call to "pour into fish mold", which never had how many cups the recipe made, or anything but THOSE words, so I have been searching for one of these suckers so I could try out some of my vintage recipes that called for said mold.

And really, how many people remember these from kitchens in their youth?  These things were still a regular decor item hanging in many kitchens when I was a child and I know these suckers were hanging in kitchens as far back as the 40's.  So, really, the fish mold is a bit of culinary history you can hang in your kitchen.

And if you husband thinks it's kind of weird that you think it is so cool and thinks they are kind of ugly, you can do what I did which was to impersonate the 80's astronaut character from the Lego movie and continually show your husband the fish mold as you are walking around the thrift store and saying in a highly excited voice, "Fish mold!!!"

Hey, if you can't be a quasi-embarrassment to your spouse once in a while what is 14 years plus of marriage worth?  *Laugh*.

And yes, I did indeed hang the fish mold in my kitchen.  Oddly it looks pretty good hanging on the wall, although it goes against my normal tastes.

Now my husband did get to be excited by one thing this week.  He was able to get the above item.  It's a sand blasting cabinet.  My husband has been wanting one of these for a loonnnnnggg time to sand blast things like tool boxes (my husband is a vintage tool collector) and such, so he was thrilled to get it for 30.00.  It even came with the sand blaster in it still and had blasting material (sand) in it.  So, it was definitely worth the money.

The rest of what I scored at the used stores this week is above.  I was able to score a couple panel projects to sew for Christmas gifts a little later on for 2.00 a piece, a bunch of bias tape and twill tape for .10 to .30 a piece and some gloves for me for 3.00 (that were in brand new condition!).  I also went to Wally World, one of our local thrift stores, to try and find some Tupperware as, surprisingly, I have used up all of my Tupperware containers housing different things in my pantry of late.  I found a pitcher there and a neat vintage plastic tray (which I'm going to use as my "landing pad" on the above trunk for kids drinks once Christmas time gets here).  We then went to Value Village and I spent more than I wanted to getting some Tupperware pieces (they were like 4.00 a piece...ouch), but at least they had a couple of them.  And I was able to find this...

A solid marble checkerboard (this thing is HEAVY!) for 5.00!  I am using this as the "landing pad" for drinks on my living room coffee table now (seen above).  I love it too as now we have a checkerboard to play on whenever we just want to pull checkers out. 

When I picked it up I didn't have checkers.  I figured I'd keep my eye out for a cheap game of checkers to finish up the set.

And loe and behold we went to the last thrift store of the day and I found a checkerboard set for 1.00!  And all the checkers were in it!  That is what you call an awesome set of circumstances :). 

The last thing my husband found and gave me as a gift, so I'm not sure how thrifty it was, but I love it all the same.  He was at a local antique store and texted me asking if I'd like a vintage Corelle bowl for a decently cheap price that had graduated markings for volume on the inside.  I was more than intrigued and the price was right so I told him to pick it up.  As he was checking out the lady there said they had a handle for the bowl???  So he told her to grab it and he'd buy that too.

It turns out that this is a detachable handled Corelle line that came out.  I also found out that the piece was rare in it's markings compared to some other lines with the same cornflower blue pattern on it, so I decided it was going into my china cabinet so I would be less likely to chip it.  Oddly, I never thought I'd ever collect the cornflower blue pattern, but I now own four things with the pattern on it, so I guess I'm collecting that now *laugh*.  I always liked blue on white, so I'm okay with it.

So there you are folks.  My thrifty adventures this week.  How did you do?