THRIFTY TREASURES---?

Went on a road trip this week and somehow the car just kept stopping at thrift stores. Must be that pesky GPS....it has a mind of its own.

Charlotte is in a different Goodwill district than Raleigh and they do things different. The first difference is that there are rest rooms in the stores. I'm sure that all the moms with little kids appreciate that. My kids are all grown up but I remember what a pain it was to go to Goodwill and then have to leave to go to the bathroom.

Charlotte also has a Goodwill outlet where everything is $1.59 a pound and they have Value Village.

I have never seen grown ups act like they did at the Goodwill outlet. Every few minutes they bring out a new bin of things to grab. And I do mean grab. These bins are about four feet wide and10-12 feet long and piled high with all sorts of stuff. The bins are put in an area marked by a blue line on the floor. Toes must stay behind the blue line until the employee "releases" the bin. (Probably to save his life, because those women looked mean.) The staff tries to divide the clothes and household items but when everyone is grabbing anything and everything you can't tell what is going on. My daughter, Smarta**, said, "reminds me of feeding the chickens" and she is right on the money. Hey folks, act like civilized adults!!!

Value Village is a great place. They mark things down to sell and they have "grab bags" filled with all sorts of small stuff. Looks like they throw all the little stuff in a big tub and then just fill bags at random with things. The two Value Villages we visited were clean with wide aisles and lots of things to pick through. And....they mark stuff down. There are usually two color tags that are 50% and 75% off. Their grab bags are from 80 cents to $1.80 and filled to the brim. And did I mention, unlike the Goodwill in our area, Value Village marks stuff down.

Here are a few things I found

These toys were less than a dollar each.

This was a bag of Fisher Price Little People, a calf, a Weebles Wocking Horse and a Fisher Price Poodle. Love the poodle hair.

I think these are part of a playschool set. I need to research. The two horses are Beyer. Love the carrots and wheel barrow. Look at those cute little mice.

This was my favorite find of the week. A cassette carousel holder from the 70's. In perfect condition and every speck of dirt from the 70's until now is still covering the holder.

Three Ralph Marlin ties and silk and leather suspenders or braces. Somehow I don't see wearing a tie shaped like a fish.......but I guess there is a proper time for it.

And this set of Young Folks Library stories. I have nine and Myths and Legends are missing, to make a complete set of 10. Even if I don't find the missing volume the graphics are fantastic, from the early 50's. The price was right.

A Wilton Barbie Doll cake pan, never used not in box. A Chinese tea cup with lid. A beautiful deep orange, burnt sienna. And a hotsling, size three.

And finally, my only jewelry purchase. One is real, one is not.  The turquoise is fake and the gold leaf and pearl are real. I am a sucker for turquoise and I knew it wasn't real. I didn't find any markings on the gold leaf, but he pearl is real.

Hope everyone had good thrifting karma this weekend.

I am linking to Apron Thrift Girl's Monday Thrift Share.

A CHALLENGE TEST

I have the next few days free, as in no hours at work, lots of stuff to do and stressed to my eyeballs and beyond.

Daughter and I are headed to Charlotte tomorrow. She wants to go to IKEA and I am along for the ride. How can I not purchase anything at IKEA? It's such a cool place. I have the absolute best drying rack ever that I purchased at IKEA last year. It will hold a whole load of undies, including socks with room to spare and folds up so nice and neat. I use it in the winter when I can't put things on the line and we are at the bottom of the undies stack.

I will try to be good and not purchase anything that I can't live without. I mean, how can you go to IKEA and not purchase something?

If you ever get the chance to go to yuppie central, I mean IKEA, it will amaze you. Most of the things I just enjoy looking at, but they have some neat stuff.

And what is with all caps IKEA? Even the sign at the exit to IKEA, IKEA is all in caps. And of course IKEA is on IKEA Blvd.

My mantra is Made in the USA, Made in the USA...(Do you hear the Boss?)

****UPDATE****

Just returned from our little treck to IKEA.  Had great time and tried not to spend much money. That wasn't hard since I don't have much to spend.

First, I promised my daughter, Smarta**, that I would set the record straight. Yes, dear I know that IKEA is an anagram. For what I don't know. And yes, dear daughter, the road sign is not all in caps. Ikea Blvd. I was wrong, you were right. There, I have eaten my crow.


I ended up only purchasing three things:  dinnerware for the little Princess for Christmas, paper cupcake liners and NEW clothes pins.  I'm such an exciting person.....NOT.

 Where was all of this wonderfulness made? I really fell off the wagon this time. The children's dinner ware is made in Vietnam, the clothes pins are made in India and the cup cake liners are made in Japan.

If you need me I'll be sitting in the corner with my head down. I hurt it when I fell off the wagon.

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY

No, it's not my anniversary. It is my parents, or it would have been their 77th anniversary today.

I don't know how they did it. I guess they were from the era where you made things work and just lived with it. I never saw my parents fight, but they did have a few serious discussions with strong voices. Mom was the strong one and Dad was the quiet one, at least most of the time. Sometimes they reversed their roles, and somehow they knew just when it would work.

Dad has been gone since 1986 and Mom has been gone since 2005. I miss them every day. Mom called Dad Doodle sometimes and I never heard Dad call Mom anything but by her given name. I know they are back together, forever.

I just hope I can make things work like they did. And yes SweetiePie and I very rarely fight, but we do have lots of those serious discussions with strong voices.

ON THE LINE

Not long ago a facebook friend asked who dried their laundry on an old fashioned clothes line.
Me...Me...Me

Not only is it a good way to save money, it makes your laundry smell wonderful.Your clothes don't shrink, for real. Less wear and tear than being tumbled in the dryer. Of course if you leave your darks out too long they will fade. And some spots will bleach out in the sun if you soak them in lemon juice.

About three years ago we installed a clothes line on our deck using tall fence posts and bolting them to the deck posts. I love going out and hanging clothes up because it is so convenient. If I had to take them down to the yard it would be 21 steps to the ground. Laundry is heavy. I am old. At least my body is.

I have eight lines that are 16' long. More than enough for 5 loads of clothes for two people.My daughter and I share the lines. She hangs hers up from the left and I hang mine up from the right. She has left hand clothes pins and I have right hand clothes pins.

What....you didn't think I was going to show you my undies did ya?

IT'S A BEAUTIFUL DAY IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD.....OOPS

Don't you just love to get up early in the morning while the house is quiet and still? Before all of the noise overwhelms you and you have to get busy with life? Ahhh...  a nice quiet morning.

Wait...what is that in the hall?  A dark blob of something.  A cat toy? A stray sock? Cardboard from the scratching box?

No.....it's a regurgitated hairball. What a lovely way to start the day.

We have one cat. My daughter, who is "visiting" for a while, has three cats. One cat stays in her rooms and the other two come and go all over the house. I don't know who left me the lovely hairball, but I cleaned it off the carpet.

I reached for my handy, dandy all purpose cleaner. Homemade of course.

Recycled bottle of course

It's not the first time I have had to use the APC for a hairball, or worse.If you have cats with long hair, like a Norwegian Forest Cat, you know what a dangler is and it has to be cleaned up.

That got me to thinking that the all purpose cleaner might be a recipe to share. I mix up a bottle at the time and usually use an empty spray bottle from something else. This was a really old spray bottle from some cleaner. The older the bottle, the better the sprayer, for some strange reason.


All Purpose Cleaner
1 tsp borax
2 Tbs vinegar or lemon juice
1/2 tsp washing soda
1/2 tsp liquid soap
2 cups very hot water

I mix everything with the hot water in a glass mixing cup, let cool and pour into the spray bottle. Will keep longer than it takes to use it all up. You could mix and store in an old vinegar jug, but it is honestly so simple to make I just make it as I need it. If you want a extra strong cleaner you can double the borax, vinegar and washing soda. I don't double the liquid soap because of the rinsing issue. Write the recipe on the spray bottle and you don't have to look up the recipe.

I use vinegar because it has a neutralizing effect on cat accidents.
I also use Dawn liquid soap because of the anti-bacterial  and grease cutting abilities.
Much cheaper than what was originally in my bottle, and probably some of the same ingredients, minus the unpronounceable chemical names.

Go....clean something. And if you run out of things to clean I can give you my address.

THE HAPPY DANCE

I love it when SweetiePie has a great idea. Like when he needs "new" pants or shorts and suggests that we stop at the thrift store. Be still my heart.

This Goodwill is famous for not having much in the way of housewares, my area, and great pants for him. However, this time I found something too.

I love the Swiss Chalet pattern. I remember it from when I was growing up. A grocery store where we shopped had it as a "premium" and then you could buy the serving pieces. The only thing that survived was the serving bowl without the lid. Looks like a mixing bowl and is a beautiful aqua. Ever since I have been trying to find a set for me. I now have the serving bowl, with lid, one plate and now two of these platters. I once found almost a complete set in a thrift on vacation. Each piece was 29cents!!! I could not figure out how I would get the set home since I was in Reno at the time and on my way back to San Francisco and then had to fly home. Curses, foiled again.
I have never found another set, just a piece here and there that I scooped up.

I also love the little Shawnee Laughing Elephant Cream Pitcher. I think I may have to keep it because I know two little Princess that would love it for their tea parties.

I'm linking to Apron Thrift Girl for her Monday Thrift Share

REFUND...INTEREST...LOTTERY... and CHALLENGE

Yeah... we got our tax refund in the mail. State tax refunds can not be direct deposited so you have to stand by the mail box and wait.
Yeah... we got interest on our refund...77cents.

What am I going to do with all of that interest?
I can buy 1/5 a gallon of gas.
Just a smidgen over 1/5 gallon of milk. I can't buy a pint or quart because a pint is over a dollar and a quart is over $2.
A candy bar from the dollar store. 69cents plus tax. Wow I'll have change left over. Maybe if they give me my change all in pennies I will get a wheat penny and it will be worth 50cents and I will get ahead. Fat chance.
One green pepper OR one lemon from the grocery store.
About 1/3 an ice cream bar from an ice cream truck in your neighborhood...good luck with that.
38 1/2 % of a $2 lottery ticket or 77% of a $1 lottery ticket.

I also won the lottery...I use the term WON loosely.
I won $2 on a $2 ticket.

The challenge issued on June 1st is going well. I have been able to avoid buying anything that is not American made. All of the food that I have purchased has been grown in the USA, all of the clothing I have purchased has been purchased either at a yard sale or Goodwill. Now you may scoff and say that the clothing in Goodwill is made everywhere. True, but when it is resold the money stays in the local community. So since it is my challenge, and I made the rules, I am counting that as buying local. So there...

The only thing I have been unable to purchase locally grown or produced is gas for my vehicle. The only way that I could do that is if I rode a horse to work. But I would have to purchase a horse first, locally of course. Our local homeowners associaion will allow us to keep 2 1/2 horses on our property. Never mind that most of the property is only suitable for a billy goat.

  Hey....there's an idea...