Wrapping Paper and Lampshades

Im participating in Southern Hospitality's. http://southernhospitalityblog.com

I did not go thrifting this weekend... (See blog below).

BUT...

My mom gave me these really great brown suede lampshades. Im going to paint my bedside lamps white and and put these shades on them.

I found the wrapping paper in Walgreens on clearance for 1.00. I loved the print so much Im going to paint some frames (I found at the dump) white and and frame pieces of it for cheap artwork.

Redo pictures to come soon!

Good Deals At The Mall?

We had a fabulous time in Rye this weekend celebrating hubby's 30th birthday. The weather was great, the cabin was cozy, the company was wonderful, and the food delicious! I did manage to find some great deals this weekend....

Ron and I had some spare time so we swung over to the Fox Run Mall before everyone showed up to the cabin.

I am not a person who likes to have a bunch of open credit cards but I opened a victoria secret card a long time ago and have just left it open.

LET ME TELL YOU THIS IS THE CARD TO HAVE

I rarely use it but monthly they send me coupons for free underwear and during my birthday month they gave me 2 ten dollars off ten dollars or more coupons

THAT THEY LET ME COMBINE.

I bought two short sleeve angel tees and a pair of underwear for a total of $10 and if you know anything about Victoria Secret you know that you usually can't even buy one pair of underwear for $10.0

So if there is a place you regularly shop I highly recommend looking into their credit card, some stores definitely have better rewards than others.

Here is the shirt I bought in cardinal and coal (originally priced $20.00 a piece... ridiculous for a plain t-shirt!)

All I Ever Learned About Thrifting I Learned From My Mom

So I was born into thrifting. My mom was a thrifter, my grandmother was a thrifter it's just in my blood. I've been so busy planning hubby's 30th birthday that I haven't been able to go thrifting. So here are some thrifty finds from my mom today:


She got all of this at the Salvation Army for $3.49, the books were on sale by one get two free. Great finds mom!

Go Mom!


*On a side note i'll be away this weekend at the beach for hubby's big 3-0 so there will be no thrifting this weekend!

Thrifty Treasures Party

So Im participating in the thrifty treasures party today at Southern Hospitality http://southernhospitalityblog.com/! I found some great stuff on Saturday at a couple of different yard sales and the dump! Please scroll to Saturday's blog to see all my finds!!!

Sunday Savings

Ron and I went out and did some food shopping this morning. I had some great manufacturer's coupons and had printed out coupons from Shaws.com (These coupons are great because they are usually on the Shaws brand items or items that are on sale that week) soo.... Ron and I got $80.00 worth of Groceries for $51.55. Not bad at all considering that some of the 24 items we purchased were 3 lbs. of %80 hamburger, 20 rolls of cottonelle toilet paper, 2 bags of fresh express salad, and 2 boxes of ziploc freezer bags. Items we dont normally get.

Our next stop we did even better though....

Walgreens is one of my favorite drugstores to shop at. We got all of this for a total of $3.40
The fruit loops were on sale for $2.00 a box and we had a $2.00 off 2 boxes coupon.

• The organic shampoo is free after mail in rebate (7.99)
  

The Hair smoother was free in store (walgreens gave us a $6.00 register rewards coupon that we redeemed right there)

• The dried cranberries were $1.00.
• The Arizona Ice Tea was on sale for .40

I Just Love Deals!

Thrifty Filled Saturday

What a beautiful Day In New Hampshire

A fun morning of thrifting I had!

First Stop:

The little White Church in Eaton was having a huge yard sale here are my finds:

• Sex and The City DVDs Season #1.50
• The Big Ticket DVD .50
• 2 wooden candlestick holders .25
• 2 mini urns .50
• 2 xmas CDs 1.00
• Candle 1.00
• Decorating book 1.00
• 2 plastic Tubs 2.00
• Winnie The Pooh DVD .50
• Wire basket .50
  Total: $7.75

Im going to paint the candlesticks black and put them on my table for halloween (i'll show you the pics later!)

The tubs will hold all of our catfood and kitty litter

The wire basket im going to put in my pantry on the shelf

The Winnie The Pooh DVD we'll keep for when our nieces come over

The urns will hold some mini topiaries (i'll show you the pics later!)

Second Stop:

Thrift Store at the white church in conway. It was dollar a bag sale day and boy was I excited. I didn't get too much because it is super hard to fill a bag when hubby is calling you from the car to hurry up!

• I got two pairs of super cute sandals (one Steve Madden!)
  A Pair of Shorts
• Purple Shirt
• Embroidered Pants
• Green Capri Pants
• Brand New White Sweater From JC Penny
• Not shown a cute grey skirt that I gave to Aly
• And the sweet church lady threw in a dip they were selling apple caramel yummm

Total $1.00 (that's around .11 per item!)

Third Stop

(and my favorite!) THE DUMP

• Basketball hoop with ball still in the packaging (Im going to bring it to school for my kids)
• People Best of 2008 (I have an obsession with gossip magazines)
• 25 Years of People Magazine (Again an obession)
• Portraits of Presidents (Great book for kids at school)
• 2 Magazines from Hannafords (Hubby and I are strictly Shaws shoppers so these magazines were good to look through for dinner ideas)
• My favorite a hook still in the packaging that im going to attach to the back of our bedroom door for my bathrobe.

Total: FREE

Grand Total For The Day $8.75

What do you get a little girl that could open her own Toys R Us?

Ron and I are blessed to have two beautiful nieces who are (1 1/2 and 3). As you all know im starting my Christmas shopping SUPER early, but seriously what do you get two girls that have everything????

Ron and I love them to pieces but are sick of buying them toys and clothes they already have. So I came up with a fabulous idea! Our 3 year old niece started preschool this fall, so im putting together for her a preschool survival kit! Everytime im out thrifting I find her inexpensive pieces to fill her basket. Here is what I have so far:

Cute brand new hat and mitten set for those chilly recesses .50

Princess DVD to unwind after a busy day free

Two princess crowns to wear and share when she feels like a princess .25

Hair elastics to tame the crazy hair .75

Foam Letters to learn her alphabet .50

Magnetic Letters .50

Tights (hopefully to accompany a cute outfit) 1.00

Brand New Scooby Doo Mouth Wash Free

Scriptograph .50

Not pictured: a wooden puzzle hand made 1.00, baske to put it all in free

Total: $5.00

I definitely know she wont have most of this stuff, and alot of this stuff is useful. I know My sister in law will love it (and never know it came from thrifting :) )

Local Papers Have Hidden Thrifty Finds

So sorry I haven't posted in a while, my masters courses and beginning of the year school stuff is overwhelming! Thanks for being patient.

I am a huge fan of reading our free local paper. It comes out daily and always has good deals in it. I have found many deals over the years in this paper, it may not have the best quality news but it has wonderful local bargains!



Our most recent deal for example: Hubby and I both have birthdays in the month of September, this is very fun except for the fact we have to register and inspect two vehicles!



Macdonald Motors Inc. had a coupon that ran only two days last week that advertised inspections for $10.00 during the month of Sept. I am usually against getting any car maintenance done at a car dealership due to the fact they sometimes can jack up the prices, but I thought what the heck if my car has something seriously wrong and doesn't pass im only out $10 bucks.



The people at Macdonald Motors were wonderful, I asked them to call if anything was wrong at all with the car. My car passed with flying colors (the car only needed windshield wipers and the service guy called for approval before putting them on!)



Total for the inspection AND windshield wipers.......... $20.86

And that my friends is why I suggest you read your local paper daily, weekly, whenever it comes out. Deals are anywhere!

Side note: Ron and I have a free weekend coming up so I'll be out thrifting this weekend, stay posted for new finds and potentially even some transformations!

I love free (or super cheap) dining!

So Restaurant.com is one of my favorite places to go for gift certificates to restuarants in our area. Hubby and I love to go out to eat, but on a teacher's and juvenile probation officer's budget we can't afford to go out as much as we'd like. Right now if you go to restaurant.com type in your zip code you can find $25.00 gift certificates for $10.00. BUT WAIT another great deal! type in the code: NINETY and pay $1.00 yep that's right $1.00 for a $25.00 gift certificate! Just make sure you read the fine print You may have a minimum food purchase (We usually have to pay $35.00 so you really only paid the $10.00 extra and the $1.00 fee you bought it for sooo in the end it cost you $11.00 for $36.00 in food. Still a great deal in my book

Yum Yum

I Love Free Stuff!

Who doesn't love free stuff! I frequent this website called frugal focus (http://www.frugalfocus.com/) These people come together and blog about all the great deals that are going on around the web, supermarkets, drugstores etc. They have everything from coupons to free items. Mine and hubby's favorite are the free dinners we've gotten from here! The pictures below are my recent free finds.

Im not a huge energy drink person but i've always wanted to try Venom! This is a free coupon off Frugal Focus.

I am obsessed with FiberOne bars. These freebies are from walmart.com (through frugal focus)Love that it comes with coupons!

Southern Hospitality Thrifty Finds

I forgot to add I am participating in http://southernhospitalityblog.com/ it is a lot of fun to see what others got this weekend!

Why Does Everyone Hate The Dump?

I've always wondered why all my friends hate the dump! I myself have found some great things there. Our dump has a little dump store that people drop off items to that may be of good use to others. I usually pop in to see whats going on in there. Some people sit outside of it for hours waiting for great finds. That is a bit extreme to me.

So this blog is dedicated to why you should shop at the dump.

1. It is always free

2. People throw away great stuff

3. Contrary to popular belief it is not Dirty and Diseased nothing a little soap, bleach, and cleaning products cannot cure. (I've never caught any diseases from the dump store or wood pile, i am not suggesting however that if you do choose to jump in with the trash you may come out smelly, dirty, and maybe full of some germs.

My favorite day to visit the dump in the summer is Tuesdays (our dump is closed Mondays)

• People drop off unsold yard sale items after the weekend
  
  
• It is not crowded
  
  

Reason # 1 You Should Shop At The Dump (Please see picture)

• The white shirt is eyelet and in great shape I bleached it and fits me great!


• Multiple yards of brand new material (with tags on it from Jo-Ann Fabrics)


• Brand new tubes of playdogh (The dough was still in tube shape when I opened it)


• Road Atlas (Maybe we'll never get lost again)


• Brand New Stuff T-Rex from Barnes and Noble


• Flip Flops - my size that looked like they had never been worn


• Yellow metal tray im going to spray paint white


• Cute felt container for xmas


• Cute little coffee mug from pfaltzgraff
  

Total Price $0

Reason # 2

Found these at the dump store a week later

Yep that's right, glasses that had never been used with Tiffany & Co. stickers on each of them. Im not sure if they're really Tiffany & Co. But the stickers looked authentic and they were super cute glasses. I sold them on ebay for $35.00

Reason # 3

If you aren't convinced by now the dump is a wonderful place to go. Here is the third one. I found this bamboo chair in wonderful condition. (Yes I did climb half way up the wood pile to retrieve it but it was in great condition.) If I had had a truck I would have taken the beautiful vanity I found too but it wouldn't fit in my car. I spray painted the chair and found these cushions at a thrift store. Total price for chair $8.00. It looks so great in my spare bedroom

Before After

So are you convienced that the dump is really not that bad of a place??

Clothes Clothes Clothes

This is my first post ever so hang in there with me as I learn!

So I went to alot of yardsales this weekend. My mom showed up at 8am on Saturday and we hit the town. There were some goodies too!

One yard sale we went to a lady was selling wonderful clothes that were just my size! All of these items were 1.00 each! The black and white dress was a little too big but great for a coverup or the summer time, the brown and white polka dot dress was brand new with tags on it and the pink floral skirt is from dressbarn!

These brooms were brand new and in a Free Box ( I love free boxes!) Im going to decorate them and hang them for Halloween!

This wire rack was also brand new for .50 I couldn't pass it up. Hubby screwed it into the door under the sink.

I had alot more purchases but didn't have enough time to take pictures of them:

.50 an automatic cat food feeder (We have a 15lb cat who insists on eating all the time!)

1.00 for brand new Oscar De LaRenta Pants

.50 for a prevention magazine

.50 for brand new white fuzzy slippers

Free Rug (Thanks mom, she bought the full sized rug and the seller threw in the throw rug for free, I dont think its ever been used it is like a straw material, with cloth edges.

Overall we did great!

Thanks for reading!

Ashley