Thrifty Finds

June 1, 2010

larsinnh thrift 3 Comments

I just wanted to share some of the thrifty purchases we made recently.  We went to drop off a bunch of items at Goodwill.  I try really hard not to bring any “things” back, but I always check the boy’s clothing for Handy Boy.  I found a nice, new-looking raincoat for him that cost $1.99!  It has a hood and nice pockets.

Handy Man also noticed that there was a neighborhood yard sale nearby.  I found a new Creative Memories album for $10, and Rob found an ice hockey table for $10:

Rob has always wanted an ice hockey table, and he said he was not passing this one up for $10.  Handy Boy loves it!  We’ve been having a lot of fun with it.

Ye Olde Changing Table

February 12, 2010

larsinnh decorating, kid stuff, thrift 1 Comment

Handy Man and I bought this changing table waaaay back in about 2000, for the impending arrival of Handy Baby.  We found it in a consignment store that sold used and antique furniture and collectibles.  We liked it for several reasons:

- it was cheap

- it was sturdy, not flimsy like the changing tables we had been looking at in department stores

- it had nice, deep drawers for storage of all that baby “stuff”

- it was a project.  Handy Man painted it white, and we bought a nice pad to put on the top of it for baby changing.

- it was cheap.  Seriously, I think we paid less than $70 for it.

The old changing table has now turned into a storage dresser in our guest room upstairs.  I loved the changing table, its so cute and charming…but we’ve decided to put the new/old book case in its place.  We no longer have a baby that needs changing, obviously; and there is another dresser in that room for storage, along with an ample closet.

I’m not sure where the changing table will travel to on its next journey…perhaps we will sell it on Craigslist?  Maybe we’ll find a friend or family member who needs it? Farewell, ye olde changing table…

Small Giveaway: Coupons from All You Magazine!

January 25, 2010

larsinnh giveaway, thrift 2 Comments

I will be getting back to my “Declutter 365 items in 365 days” series soon; and I’ll be wrapping up our “After” kitchen photos soon, too. 

Today I want to try something a little different: a small coupon giveaway.  I signed up online to get two years of “all you” magazine for WICKED cheap.  It’s your typical women’s magazine; with articles about parenting, saving money, health tips, etc. But, this magazine is JAM PACKED with loads of coupons!  I was so excited to try and find coupons in this magazine that I could use when I went grocery shopping.

Then I got the magazine…the magazine is great, mind you…but the coupons?  There are loads of them (worth $47.13 this month!), but they are for items or brands I don’t buy, and some are for items that I don’t even think they carry in our area.

So, what am I going to do?  I’m going to cut them out and mail them all away to one lucky person.  You can see the list of coupons available in this month’s February issue of All You here on their website. 

Now, you may not be able to use all of the coupons, but maybe you can trade some, or share them with family or friends who might use them.  Here’s what to do to enter into this small giveaway:

- Enter a comment for this post. You must enter your email address; only I will see your emal address, it won’t show to “the world”

- In your comment, please type one quick and easy tip that you use to save money when grocery shopping.

- Comments will be accepted until 10 pm eastern on Wednesday, January 27th.

- I will randomly choose one commenter, and will mail all of the coupons from the magazine to the winner by the end of the week.  Entries from the United States only please!

Good luck!

Decluttering and Disposing

January 11, 2010

larsinnh organizing, thrift Leave a comment

This is a pile o’ “stuff” in the basement that we are donating to a thrift store.  For the last several years, we’ve been making piles like this, and then drop the items off to donation places.

What’s all this stuff, you may wonder? Well, a little bit of it is Handy Boy’s outgrown clothes…some of it is toys that Handy Boy doesn’t play with any more…some of it is just STUFF that I’ve found and said “WHY. ARE. WE. KEEPING. THIS?!?!”

I do try to pass on things (especially Handy Boy’s stuff) to friends with children…or see if my family needs anything…but mostly, it goes buh-bye to Goodwill or a place that takes donations.  Today, Handy Man and I found a new thrift store to donate our items.  This place was somewhat new, so I also looked around at the clothing and items inside.  I found a winter coat for Handy Boy for next year, in excellent shape for…

Wait for it…

ONE dollar! 

Can you believe that?  Its harder to find things for Handy Boy in thrift stores as he gets older, but I still look for things like winter jackets.  I just HATE the thought of plunking down $60 for a coat he may only wear for one winter!

Handy Man was happy about the coat, too.  He’s getting to be a real stingy-poo in his old age, ha ha.

So, back to decluttering.  Even though we have had yard sales in the past, and about every 3-4 months we bring a load of stuff to Goodwill; we still manage to find things to declutter.  I swear, we don’t buy a whole lot of “stuff.”  Most of the suff we buy is consumable, like milk and groceries.  We hardly go to the mall and I don’t even like to buy clothes for myself.  I think it multiplies in the dark.

I will be revisiting the whole decluttering thing as the year goes on.  It was long journey towards getting this house decluttered, and as you can see, we have ongoing maintenance to keep up with.  Between 2008 and 2009, I participated in a “Declutter 365 things in 365 days” challenge, and I actually kept track of how many items we tossed and donated.  And we DID make it to 365.  I will post another “365 Challenge” soon, in case any of you want to paricipate.  Maybe I will also see if we can dig up another 365 items; who knows.

So, where did this pile come from?  The deep, dark recesses of the house, I guess.  Maybe the same place where dust bunnies come from. 

Do you have any organizing and decluttering goals for 2010? Share them here, we can all help each other.

It’s Frikkin’ Freezing in Here…

December 12, 2009

larsinnh thrift 1 Comment

Thankfully, its not really freezing inside our house…but its freezing OUTside in New England today (and yesterday!) Brrrrr….Its been around 20 degrees, but the windchill makes it feel like its around 12ish…!  Our pellet stove has been humming like crazy, and thankfully it can keep up with the cold temperatures. 

There are  few extra things you can do to help stay warm in your home, that don’t cost a lot of extra money.  Here are some things we have done:

- This may sound obvious, but make sure all your windows and doors are closed and locked tightly.   If you haven’t used a window or door in a while, you may have forgotten to close it tightly.

- If you have any windows that are especially leaky or even broken, cover them with plastic window film.   We have a small window that just suddenly broke at 3 am (!!!) for some inexplicable reason.  Handy Man was going to replace the whole thing, since it is part of a large picture window.  However, we kind of ran out of money, and it suddenly turned VERY cold, and we didn’t feel like having a huge hole in the wall.  You can get the plastic film at a hardware store, and it only takes a few minutes to put on.  Aim some warm air from a hair dryer onto the plastic, and it will shrink tightly against the window.  I never thought these worked all that well, but it seems to work well enough, I can hardly feel any cold through the plastic.

- Ceiling fans can help push warm air around; they can push warm air down from a high ceiling, or push warm air away from a heat source and into the rest of the house.  We have a ceiling fan on in the room where our pellet stove is, to help push the warm air into other areas. 

- We have new(ish), high-quality windows, but long, lined drapes can also help keep drafts from coming in.

- Depending on how your house is laid out, you may even be able to close off a unused room.   We have a family room that would be nice to use, but we don’t want to pay to heat it at the moment.  The room has two openings to the rest of the house: a small window through to the kitchen, and a door to the kitchen.  Handy Man made a window to put in the window opening, and put in a door with weather stripping around it to keep the drafts out.  (I will make a post about how he did this another time.)

- Speaking of weather stripping, do you have good weather stripping around your exterior doors? It doesn’t cost that much, and can make a HUGE difference in drafts coming in around your doors.  Weather stripping can shrink and warp over time after putting up with extreme temperature differences; you may need to take some existing stripping down and put up new stripping.

- Draft blockers put at the bottom of your door can help with cold air coming in also, and aren’t too expensive.  My brother and sister-in-law have one like this for their exterior door for their house, and it works great!  You can still open and close the door easily with it in place.

What sort of things do you do to stay warm, if you live in a cold climate?

Holiday Craft Fair

November 16, 2009

larsinnh Christmas, seasonal decorations, thrift 2 Comments

Yesterday we went to a HUGE Holiday Craft Fair. This craft fair is put on by Castleberry Fairs and Festivals, and it is awesome!  This show was at the Rockingham Park Race Track in Salem, NH.  There were TONS of people there, and tons of vendors. There was so much to look at: jewelry, woodworking, Christmas crafts, toys, clothing, candy, specialty foods…I can’t even name everything.  We went last year, but we just had to go again this year.

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Crafty Grandma and Grandpa gave Handy Boy a little money to spend at the fair, so he was thrilled!  He spent most of it on a turkey-shaped chocolate lollipop (!!!) and a ginormous chocolate chip cookie…then was bummed when he didn’t have enough leftover to buy a small, handmade wooden car.  Too bad, so sad, said Handy Man!  (Mean old Daddy.)  Handy Boy put the rest into his piggy bank when he got home. 

Craft fairs are my favorite way to buy Christmas decorations!  When we bought our first house, I went around to small craft fairs in our town and bought cute, handmade items for great prices.  I have NO business buying any Christmas decorations anymore (I have almost too much), but I couldn’t resist a couple of things.  I bought this cute little wooden snowman for my sister-in-law, shhhhh, don’t tell her…

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…and I bought this really cute snowman runner that I’m going to put on top of my bookcase when we decorate for Christmas:

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I have a “thing” for snowmen, which you will see once I show some pictures of our Christmas decorations.

This is just a long-winded way of saying that if you need to be somewhat thrifty when decorating for Holidays, don’t rule out craft fairs.  Not everything will be “cheap” (and it shouldn’t be, craftspeople spend a lot of time and energy making things…) but you can get a great selection of unique, handmade items for a good price, and you’ll be helping out local craftsmen and women.  Check the internet, and your local newspapers for upcoming events in your area.

Winter Gear for Handy Boy (on the Cheap)

November 13, 2009

larsinnh kid stuff, thrift 1 Comment

Since the weather is turning cold, I’ve been looking for some outerwear for Handy Boy for the upcoming winter. Handy Boy is 8 now, but ever since he was a baby, I’ve been shopping at consignment stores for his snowsuits. One year, I found a really nice, almost brand-new LL Bean snowsuit for him at a consignment store for about $18! Brand new snowsuits from LL Bean can cost $50 and UP! I decided that there is no way I’m paying $60ish for a snowsuit that he MIGHT wear for one winter.

Handy Man and I did some Goodwill shopping recently, and we bought the following items:

- snow pants, a hat, and some really warm gloves (the hat and gloves were brand new at Goodwill, but very inexpensive) for $19.99 total!

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- and these really nice, barely-used, LL Bean snow boots for $6! 
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Handy Boy has a nice winter jacket from last year (another Goodwill purchase for about $10!) that he will wear again this winter, but next year I’ll  need to get him a new jacket, since he is growing so much.

Here in New England, it can get pretty expensive to outfit a child (or children!) with winter gear for playing outside.  You can shop sales, especially at the end of winter, but don’t rule out shopping at Goodwill, children’s consignment stores, or even yard sales, to find these things.

More Fall Decorations

October 26, 2009

larsinnh seasonal decorations, thrift Leave a comment

Here are some more of our fall decorations.  I’ve picked these up at various places over the years.  Most of them I bought at Holiday craft fairs.  Have you ever been to a local Holiday craft fair?  Look in the newspaper or online (especially this time of year!) for local craft fairs.  You can pick up nice handmade fall and Christmas decorations at a great price.  Or, you can always shop the after-Holiday sales for huge discounts. 

Unless you are like me and SAY you are going to do that, then forget until you go to a store and see two crumpled, trampled, Halloween decorations left for 90% off and say “OH YEAH, I was supposed to do that!”

I think I’ll stick with the craft fairs.  They’re more fun!

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Handy Boy decorated this pumpkin with marker, and wrote “I’m a pumpkin!” on it.

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Fall Craftiness

October 17, 2009

larsinnh crafty stuff, seasonal decorations, thrift 1 Comment

Since the weather is turning cooler, I decided to take out my fall decorations and set them up.  However, I noticed that two of our fall wreaths were looking pretty awful!!  Two years ago, we got a lot of rain in the fall, and before Handy Man could put up the storm doors, the wreaths got POURED on and some of the decorations on them were faded and started to look “icky.” 

I didn’t take a “before” photo…but I took out my glue gun (or, I should say, Handy Man’s glue gun) and got to work.

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I took some fake fall leaves, pine cones, berries, etc. that I bought cheap at  a craft store (on sale for a WHOPPING $3), and I took off the faded pieces and glued the new pieces on.

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Aren’t they purty now?  While I call myself “Crafty Woman”, I’m definately not the type to make wreaths like this from scratch.  But I can fix them, so we don’t have to buy new ones.

Books

October 14, 2009

larsinnh books, thrift 4 Comments

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I have started to get into reading a bit more, now that Handy Boy is bigger and I can take some time to read more than a magazine article.  We do have several books that I like to read and re-read…but I also like the library for borrowing books.

I used to work in libraries, so here’s a tip:  If your local library doesn’t have the book you want, ask for them to order it for you through interlibrary loan.  This may sound obvious, but some people don’t know about interlibrary loans.  You can ask your librarian to order a book for you from another library.  It could take up to a week, but the library will call you when the book is in.  Another advantage to this is that you can usually keep the books you borrow from another library for longer than two weeks, sometimes for about a month.

Another way for me to read books on the “cheap” is to buy them at places like Goodwill, library book sales, or yard sales.  I’ve been excited to find books that I’ve been “meaning to read” for just $1 or even just 50 cents!  You just never know what you will find at Goodwill, especially in the book section. 

Or bookcase from this post has gotten filled up pretty nicely…but in the interests of keeping our book collection to a manageable amount, if I don’t like the book and/or I know I won’t read it again, I bring it back to Goodwill and donate it back.   We have a good amount of books, but not a lot of space for bookcases, so I try to keep the amount we have down to what we have space for on our shelves.

Do you collect books?  How many do you have?  Enough for one bookcase, enough to fill a small public library, or something in-between?

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