{a few thrifty thursday finds}

Today's post is kind of a conglomerate of thrifty goodness. 

First, an arrangement on my kitchen island made up of discounted flowers from Kroger.  ($1.25 for each bunch...2 bunches=$2.50)  I love creamy white ironstone dishes.  This is a faux ironstone pitcher, but it looks pretty with the flowers.

Next, you have a cute wrought iron piece that I purchased at a yard sale several years ago with it's twin.  I bought them both for $3.  Since we've been in this house (for about 3 years) they've been living on my screened porch.  They're perfect out there.

Lastly, I'd like to tell you about some deals I scored just yesterday.  I went to the Salvation Army to shop on 1/2 price clothing day and was surprised with a sign on the door that said, "All shoes $1."  Wow.  I walked away with 6 pairs of shoes for my kids for only $6.  That is so awesome.  Here are a few...

The brown leather shoes on the left are LL Bean...

I also got Zach a pair of Bass nubuck shoes for church, a pair of rain/snow boots, and dress shoes for Taylor.

What deals have you scored this week?

{let there be light on thrifty thursday}

I love a good light fixture as much as the next gal, but I'm not going to pay full retail for it.  There is a can't-be-missed flea market around these parts and I've found some seriously smokin' deals there.

Today I wanted to highlight some of the ceiling light fixtures I have in my home.  The people who had this house built chose some hideous fixtures from the 80's even though the house was built in 1998.  I'm not even going to go into the non-options this house has.  Well...just that there was no garbage disposal and no water hookup for the fridge.  1998, y'all.  Let me just say we have a garbage disposal now...yes ma'am.  And...I'm pretty lucky 'cause my dad is an electrician and he only lives about 3 miles away.  So for me, there is no cost for the installations of these babies.

First...over the kitchen table...

(Don't ask me what that black stuff is on the shade to the left...I didn't notice it until I uploaded the picture here.)

I think this is a way cute light fixture and it looks great in my kitchen, if I do say so myself.  And do you know what I paid for it?

Wait for it...

$1.

Yep.  You read that correctly.  I said $1.  It was from my favorite booth at the flea market's dollar table.

And how about this one?  It is in my 'formal' living room.

This little beaut has cute leaves and stuff above the globe on it.  And here she is all lit up, showing off for y'all.

I got her at the $1 table too.

Don't hate me, y'all.

{introducing thrifty thursday}

I am a lover of thrifty finds and love to share my finds with my friends.  That includes you, oh friends that live inside my computer!  So I'm going to start sharing my thrifty finds with you on Thursdays.  Sound good?  Alrighty then, let's get to it...

Yesterday was Wednesday, and around these parts that means half price clothing at the Salvation Army.  My cute little hubby was in need of some shirts & sweaters that didn't drown him (he's been dropping pounds like crazy) so off I went.

Keep in mind that I only paid half of the ticketed price.

All in GREAT condition.  A GAP sweater in bone ($2.50), an Old Navy long sleeved polo shirt in a cute stripe ($2.50), and a Tommy Hilfiger button down in a navy & white check ($2.00).  Not bad, huh?  I know!

I also found this darling skirt for my daughter for next Spring & Summer...only $1.50.

To finish up the clothing circuit, I got myself a wardrobe basic, long length Old Navy T-shirt in salmon...great for layering.  Only $.50.

And here are my most fabulous finds for the day:

(remember...you can click on the pictures to enlarge them if you so desire)

Three large red, glittery, beady, beautiful cone tree things.  Perfect for the upcoming holiday season.  They look like they are brand new.  The smallest one was $3, the middle $4, and the largest $5.  That means I only spent $12 for this large piece altogether.  I put the paper towel holder in that 2nd pic so you could see the large scale of these babies.  Way cool, huh?  Love 'em.  I might dress the large one up with a ribbon bow when they come out for good after Thanksgiving.  What do you think?

Have you found any thrifty deals lately?  I'd love to hear about them in the comments!

Frugal Curtain Rod

So you wanna hang up some curtains and you really want one of those big chunky wood curtain rods, huh? Well, grab a few dollars and head to your closest home improvement store. You'll just need some plastic PVC. You can buy it as skinny or as chunky as you want it. I wanted it chunky.

Most of my guests cannot believe that this curtain rod is made from plasitc PVC pipe. The triple window is kind of large and I wanted the curtains to hang much wider than the window opening. I would be spending a pretty penny to buy a wood rod that size and the style I wanted. I spray painted the white PVC pipe a dark brown color. I used 4 wood brackets to support it due to the length. I am still trying to figure out how to do finials on the ends, since the pipe is hollow. Any ideas?

For more Frugal Friday ideas, head to Biblical Womanhood!

Frugal Friday - Make a Money Plan

I'm a little late in the game, in that I am just now reading Dave Ramsey's book, The Total Money Makeover. It seems like several blogs that I follow already sing ol' Dave's praises. Better late than never, huh?

Today I made a plan to see when we could realistically get through some of Dave's baby steps. It will be a tough road, continuing to live frugally plus putting all extras onto debt (student loan). I know we can do it and it will be so worth it when we are able to be debt free.

It all starts with a plan. If you don't have one, I encourage you to make one, write it down (along with your financial goals) and then do it! I have a few pearls of wisdom that have really struck me from Dave's book and I hope to share them with you soon. For now, know that you have to tell your money what to do if you want it to work for you. (An idea from Dave's book, but not a direct quote).

Happy budgeting!
If you want to find more frugal tips, visit Biblical Womanhood here.

Chick-Fil-A Grand Opening - First 100!

So there were some crazy people in my town last week who camped in the Chick-Fil-A parking lot for 24 hours so they could win free Chick-Fil-A for a year. Seriously, who would do something as strange as that?

ME!

Oh my! It was really a blast. First of all, the grand opening was scheduled for Thursday at 6:00am. I got there at about 8:15am on Wednesday morning. My sister, Laura decided to come with me, but she didn't really understand what she was agreeing to. When she realized we would be sleeping there and that we couldn't leave the premises, she had to call and cancel plans with a friend to shop for a HS graduation dress.



So, it was really cool that they fed us breakfast, lunch, and dinner on Wednesday. But the coolest part about that, I think, is that we got to WALK through the DRIVE THRU for our food. They lined us up according to our number (I was 75 out of 100) and shuffled us through the line.

The weather had been seriously scorching for days (over 100, not including heat index!), but we got lucky that Wednesday was not as hot. I think it only got to about 90 degrees. It still felt warm, though. I called my dad to see if he could hunt down a canopy to borrow. He suprised us about an hour later with a brand new canopy he had purchased. I'm sure he'll get many uses out of it, but I couldn't believe that he bought it so we could use it. What a sweetheart!


You may be wondering what the heck we would do to occupy our time while waiting for the day to progress. We had wonderful company. My sister Laura and my friend Becca were with me. We met some great people. Dick, who is 85 years old and camped next to us (this was his 9th Chick-Fil-A grand opening, I kid you not) had wonderful stories and experiences to share with us.

We also sat around chatting, rested on an air mattress under our shady canopy,
& watched and participated in fun and silly games put on by the Chick-Fil-A crew. This one is a frozen T-shirt contest. They froze a wet T-shirt into a ball, and the first one to get it on their body won. And they couldn't bang it on the ground. Ha. It was funny to watch.

Laura even participated in a kind of musical chairs scavenger hunt.

We enjoyed many visitors to our humble homestead in the parking lot that day as well. Our friends and families couldn't resist checking it out...

Taylor and Zach participated in some of the line dances and other fun. They did the Cha-Cha slide, Hokey Pokey, and Freeze Dance.

In the evening, they had an MC, showed a movie, and served ice cream sundaes. I guess we hit the sack about 11:30pm. Wake up call from the mike was at 5am, bright and early! We cleaned up our temporary "home", then proceeded to line up according to our numbers for a final check. I got to meet the cow...notice the not-enough-sleep look on my face.




When we finally got to get our grand prize, we walked single-file into the building amidst a cheerful band of Chick-Fil-A employees loudly, very loudly, banging on their metal pans (with metal spoons, mind you). Did I mention that it was loud, and 6:00 in the morning? My sister snapped a pic of me approaching the magic table with the goods. Oh yeah...and before we went inside, they gave us all t-shirts and paper hats to wear.
That same wonderful sister, who claims to be a photographer captured this wonderful photo of me accepting my prize. Don't quit your day job, Laura! Just kidding sweetie...it was crazy in there, fast moving, and did I mention, REALLY LOUD?

And to top it off, Thursday was my kids' last day of school. They got out early, at 12:30pm. Guess where we went for lunch? You guessed it...I spent my first coupon for a free meal that very day. Here are my kids enjoying the grand opening. They had been dying to play in the new kids play area...it is pretty cool.

So what do you think? Am I nuts, or just frugal and fun? YOU DECIDE! :)

Flea Market Finds!

I promised you pictures of my flea market finds from last Saturday. The most wonderful flea market happens once a year in the nearby city of Richmond and it is the pinnacle of awesomeness. Well, I loaded up the van that day, let me tell ya!

The chair in the top picture now proudly sits in my living room with it's twin. I purchased the set for only $20!!!! Seriously....can you believe it? They are structurally in great shape, and the color is perfect for that room.

The rug in the above photo was a steal at only $15. It has a little damage, but is so charming and goes perfect in my back hallway. I have tole painted trays hanging on the wall in there, so they are really perfect together.

This mini table is going to be perfect next to Mike's recliner. It needed a little sturdying up and it needs to be shorter, but it is the perfect small size to fit there and kindly hold his beverage. And I'll also paint it. But for $2!!!!???? It really was perfect!

This trio of Willilamsburg sketches in their black and white beauty will go in my bedroom. I am doing a soft grayish blue on the walls and black and white toile on the bed. Believe it or not, I only paid $3 for the trio. Maaaavelous. I will paint the frame and gold matte black, though.

I got tons of cute clothes for my kids and my husband. A pair of cute designer leather shoes for me ($1), and some more finds for the house. I'll do another installment with those and I'll also show you what all the new pretties look like in their homes all fixed up. Thanks for looking!

Great Week @ CVS!

I'm sorry to those of you who don't have a CVS nearby, but I have to share my sweet deals from today! I seriously got all of this stuff for less than $3.50 out of pocket. I had a CVS gift card from a prescription so I actually only paid about $.80 out of pocket for real. I went in with a dollar bill and came out with change and all of this stuff! We will use each and every item and our wallet will thank us! If you do have CVS nearby and you want to learn how to score like me, check out this website at moneysavingmom. Crystal has a great tutorial to help you get it all figured out!

Meal planning using sales - Frugal Friday

For a long time when planning my menu, I would scour my cookbooks, pick out some recipes, then make a shopping list with the ingredients I needed.

Now, I buy meat when it is a great price. I try not to pay over $1.99 a pound for any type of meat. I stock up when it is at a monumental low price. I also do that with other food and things.

I now have a good little stockpile. I pick my recipes based on what I already have. Sometimes I search the internet when I know I have some ingredients that would make something great together, but not sure of a recipe on how to do it. I have found some great meals that way. I really enjoy the challenge of doing my meal planning that way and love how it feels to know that it didn't cost much to make. I have also began to make more from scratch, when needed. It's usually not as tough as I previously thought.

I know this is not a new idea, but it is something that I have recently begun to do and it is really working well for me. Thought I would share! Check out Biblical Womanhood here for other great frugal ideas.

A Clearance Phone Tree...What?

A friend called me yesterday and alerted me to a large clearance section in the linens area of Target. Well, if you know me, you know I love a great deal. Although FREE is my favorite price, 75% is not too shabby! So my mom & I took off this morning to see what was left.

My tip is to have a great deal phone tree. If someone in your group of deal-loving friends (this works best when they are local) finds a great clearance section somewhere....call each other...the ones you know will rush over as soon as they can. There are several of us in this "phone tree" and we all share the love. Make up? No ma'am. Not this morning. I didn't want to miss the DEALS!

Here are some of the cute things I got. Cute pillows - $3.74 (3), Faux silk roman shades - $7.24, Cloth napkins $.48 each (6), Beautiful red throw - $4.98, Pretty striped pillow - $4.98, Lovely brocade placemats (being used under my lamps in the living room) - $.74 (2).

Of course I had to add my enthusiastic shopping companions! - Notice the new red plaid tweed pillows and red throw!

For more fun frugal ideas, check out Frugal Fridays.