Thrift store finds, garage sale goodies, or just good buys!

From my local FB yard sale page I got 6 notepads (3 large and 3 large sticky note), 20 paper wrapped pencils, highlighters. All brand new and wrapped in the original Vera Bradley packaging for $20. The notepad sets had a price tags of $15 each. I am going to split up the pencils and make little notepad/pencil sets for my teammates when school starts again in September. Not the cheapest deal ever, but $20 for 3 Vera Bradley gifts was pretty good I tought!

Oldest dd is getting married. Youngest dd and I went to an estate sale last Thursday, while oldest was working, in the hopes of finding stuff for the engaged one's new home. When we arrived I learned the estate sale was being run by a company so I expected some high prices. I was right and didn't find a whole lot for her. But upstairs there was a craft room and the prices were much lower. I found a large cutting mat for $4 (sells for $70 at Joanns), a smaller mat for $2 (sells for $25), and packaged together was a  rotary cutter ($33) and cutting ruler ($30) with some extra blades for total cost of $2. The furniture was priced really high (like $300 for table and chairs). And even the linens were high ($6 for a used sheet). I did manage to get a new, in package candy thermometer which was actually on my shopping list for Walmart later that day. $1

Oldest dd has stated that she wants to use cloth napkins instead of paper. I found a king sized sheet at Goodwill that I'm going to take my serger to and make a bunch. $4 for the cloth instead of going to Joanns and buying it off of the bolt for a lot more. 

I love these threads!

Certainly, it was La Redoute. The ones I got were just t shirt style with a pocket, very easy to wear with jeans.

Ann Taylor has 60% off on sale items. I bought some jeans yesterday.

Spongemom Scrappants :  I LOVE deals like that!! "20 each?" "no, $20 for all is fine..."    !!!!!

I haven't gone thrifting since last weeks' whirlwind half-price Goodwill day... I can't this weekend, either (maybe I'll be able to ONE day, since it's a three-day weekend.)  I think with me it's turning into a bit of a sickness, lol!

gar :  you were lucky to be able to find exactly what you were looking for and get a great deal on it!!  For me, it always seems like when I'm looking for something in particular, it's nowhere to be found and I just make myself frustrated.  Then later, I'll find 'it' (whatever it is) when I'm not looking for it any more. 

shescrafty :  I love finding things in the original packaging, too-- with the original price tag, you can easily calculate how much you saved, lol!!


lainey:  10 shirts sounds like Christmas!!  I should really do more of that- find a shirt style that I like, and buy it in a lot of different colors.

AnotherPea:  those are some really good deals on the sewing / crafting supplies.  I like when estate sale companies don't know the actual sale prices of what they're selling, lol!!  

**GypsyGirl**:  that wool fabric sounds like it was a steal! do you sew??  I wish I could; I see a lot of vintage clothes online that I would love to be able to make in a size that fits me (girdles and the ultra-tiny waists women used to have, you know...)

you're very welcome.
The swimsuit is holding up really well, it still looks like new. I'd definitely recommend Arena swimwear.

I found a cute navy top layered with lace over it for $4. A few other odds and ends, too.

Lisa

I've been sewing for 50 years.  I go through phases of what I make though.  The last few years I've been doing mostly quilting.  Now I find I'm getting interested in sewing clothing for myself once again.  It's been a long time since I've done that.  My taste in fabric tends to run to the more expensive, so when I can find a nice piece at a good price I usually grab it! 

You should look into learning to sew!  There are some blogs that focus on sewing the vintage/retro clothes and I am always amazed at what they come up with.
Save

On one of the FB yard sale sites for my area I found all the base cabinets I'm going to need for my kitchen remodel!!! The are solid wood and have beautiful hardware to them. Some of them even have baskets on tracks that slide in and out. The lady I got them from even threw in the cabinet for the rangehood. Total spent: $250

I stopped by one this morning on my way to work and got some cast iron pieces for my blue bottle garden. Three of them are the same and will become chandeliers and the other 2 are the same and they are small bottle trees!!! $25 for all 5 pieces

Mine's not very exciting, but good timing for me. I'd just decided color scheme for trip, there will be a chill, and realized I didn't have a light spring scarf that worked with what I'd laid out. I was going to add a basic neutral or heavier one.
Happened to stop at thrift and found perfect color, silk cotton blend, for $1. It's that raw sorta handwoven look, perfect for my trip wardrobe. With dry clean it's $3 total.

This is not a thrifting deal, and not really inexpensive, but a killer deal.

Dh travels a lot for work. He has worked in his industry for many, many years. He has a reputation for being fair, kind, and an advocate for the little guy.

We needed our front landscape reworked. I wanted it to look good so I splurged and had someone draw a plan with the intention of dh and I doing the work. The man who drew the plans also gave us an all in cost of $7000 for the whole job. Yeah right. Never going to happen.

Months have gone by and we have had no time to work on it. A few months ago Dh ran into one of the landscape contractors he has used a lot. He bought this man and the guys with him lunch that day. No mention was made of our home. This was a different man all together.

About a month ago he emailed this guy as we were pricing plants on the plan and could not source one shrub in particular. He asked if this man could order them for us and we would come pick them up.

Flash forward to this past Monday. 9:00 pm the man calls and asks dh if he was ready to order those shrubs since he needed to,order the same ones for another client. Dh said, yes, please do. He asked dh to send him the plan that was drawn and the plant list and he would give us a price for all the shrubs.

Well....after seeing the plan and the plant list this kind, generous man sent a crew to my house and did it all. Everything. All of it for less than a third of the original cost. Still not cheap, but so amazing. He told dh it was in return for the respect and help dh has always given him and his guys. He wanted to do something kind for him and had a one day lull in jobs. It kept his guys paid, and allowed him to be kind to dh.

I am so humbled by his generosity.

Dh has been gone all week. I can't wait until he gets home to see it.

TankTop-- what a nice story; that's karma in action, for sure!!

You definitely have to update after your DH comes home and sees it that it's all done!!!

I got a desk for my son's room from the Salvation Army store last week. It's probably from the 60s with a leather (or faux possibly) top. It's not all solid wood (back is some sort of composite board--MDF maybe, but thick), but the drawers had dovetail construction and the hardware had already been changed out to bin pulls, so I didn't have to do anything but bring it home. For $50 I thought it was a good deal!