Tag: Goodwill

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Junkin' and Thriftin'

Three Crazy Thrifters

Our local Goodwill store is our go-to place for thrifting and junking these days. 

 Sometimes we crash their store–my mother, my two sisters, my niece, my daughter, and me.  This trip it was just baby sister, daughter, and me.

But I’m afraid they may have mixed feelings about us being there.

Left to right:  My silly daughter Natalie, my beautiful sister Brenda, and me!
World’s smallest cheese grater.  Who could resist?  Everybody but me, apparently.
The Three Thrifters
Such craziness.
I wonder if John knows his platter is here at the Goodwill?


We do support them financially in addition to helping them clear out inventory.
And we even contribute to their stash of goodies at times, especially after garage sales.

But we are so loud and goofy they probably cringe when they see us coming.  

I can’t imagine why.  Can you?

Happy Junkin’!

XOXO
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Junkin' and Thriftin' Memoirs

Thrifty Thursday: The very definition of the word

Lots of blogs and magazines these days talk about thriftiness and all its benefits.  Thrift stores abound, especially in big cities as people who choose shopping as recreation purge their homes of extra stuff and out-of-date decor.  But what exactly is thriftiness?  While thinking about how I was brought up by parents who each grew up in six-children homes on one income, and me in a one-income, blue-collar home with three siblings, I came up with some synonyms, scenarios, and serious definitions.  (Wow, what a sentence!)
 
To be thrifty is to:
  • Feed a husband and four children a once-a-week supper of ground beef and tortillas, allotting each child three tacos.  Sometimes my mother let my brother have four because he was the boy.
Us four children circa 1968.  I am at the top right.
  • Unpack boxes of hand-me-downs from the cousins every spring and fall.  Three girls in their family meant the clothes had already been worn three times before coming to our house to be worn three more times!  Except I was the oldest cousin so sometimes I was too big already for some of the clothing.
  • Buy Barbeque Fritos with my snack bar money, sneak them home, and hide the package under the couch to eat one by one while I watched TV.  If my siblings discovered I had Fritos, they would have eaten them all!  And no, I can’t find BBQ Fritos anymore, but Chili Cheese Fritos are very similar and still one of my favorites!
  • Stand in line in the school cafeteria every Monday morning to pay for the week’s lunches for us four children.  It was my assigned duty because I was the oldest and most trustworthy with Daddy’s check.  It was always an anxious time for me because I worried about being late to class.  But then, I worried about everything when I was little.
  • Have Mama make my prom dresses.  Hey, it was the 70’s.  It wasn’t THAT bad.
  • Have a grandma who modeled thriftiness by shopping at Goodwill and remaking dresses to fit herself.  She proudly showed them off to us when we visited.
My beautiful Grandma Nunn in the 70’s.
 
  • Eat out at Whataburger where my dad bought six hamburgers and six Cokes and had us sit outside at the picnic tables in the back.  I didn’t taste fries until I was in junior high school.  I didn’t eat in at a real restaurant until I was in high school!
I could go and on with many other definitions of thrifty, but I will save it for another day.  To paraphrase the most interesting man in the world,
“Stay thrifty, my friends!”
XOXO
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THRIFTY HUNTER THURSDAY: No more hunting!

No more hunting for wedding stuff, that is!  Ha!  Had you going, didn’t I?  Actually, hubby and I did sit in our deer blind for four hours this morning but got nothing but a sore back and lack of sleep.  Those deer just are not cooperating so far this year! But no matter.  That gives me opportunity to show you one of the results of my hunt for cheap wedding decor items.

Remember this photo from October?

I had begun spray painting a piece of an old dresser or vanity, the part that holds the mirror.  At $4.99 it was a steal at Goodwill, and I envisioned it as a vintage-looking chalkboard welcome sign for the wedding.  I think it turned out pretty well, don’t you?

More ivory spray paint, a couple of layers of chalkboard paint, and a welcome message in chalk, and it made a perfect welcome to the wedding.  I tucked it under the low-hanging branches of a pine tree and anchored the base in a small galvanized bucket.  So easy, so cheap, so vintage.

Here is another little vignette I made for the hors d’oeuvres table from an antique clock lamp, some vintage cake toppers, a framed photo, and an old book.  I also added a milk glass compote dish, a wire votive holder with crystals, and a few steampunk gears and keys.  A vintage wedding cake topper perches on the top of the lamp base, which has the time of the wedding on the clock:  3:00.  The green lamp I spray painted black.



Stay tuned for the cost reveal of our cheap DIY wedding, hopefully tomorrow!

XOXO




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AT HOME MONDAY: It figures. . .

. . .that I would come down with a cold the week before Natalie’s wedding.  What’s worse is that she has one as well.  She had hers first so I guess I caught it from her.  I would feel even more awful if I had given mine to her!  So she and I have been dragging around trying to get our work done and squeeze in a few naps as well.

Thank goodness I have most of the wedding preparations done.  There are still a few last minute things to do, of course, but at least I am not in a panic. . .yet.  Hubby took off work this week for the opening of deer season, thank goodness.  He helped me today by cutting some chicken wire and adding it to an old window frame and door.  He also mowed the wedding site and helped me decide exactly where the tent and chairs will go.  The weather is supposed to be gorgeous, and even if it is warm, the area will be shady at that time of day.

I also did some last minute spray painting and found some weathered boards to make some more signs.  I gathered a few twigs for some embellished jars as well.  Then I embellished her cake server and knife and a framed photo of the happy couple.

Tomorrow I will take her homemade cake topper to the bakery and make sure our requests are being met, and then I will do some junkin’ while in Mineola.  There is a Goodwill store and a wonderful place called Uniques and Antiques.  Melissa is supposed to have gotten some new stuff in from a trip to Austin last weekend.

Well, here are some photos of hubby’s man cave.  Yes, that is Jimmy in the doorway.  He has covered the backyard shed with old signs and made it uniquely his.  Once a sheriff’s deputy stopped to ask where the old signs came from (have you heard of Canton?) and then once a mother asked permission to take photos of her daughter in front of the shed.  Maybe some photos of the bride and groom might be in order. . .

Yes, folks, this is the country!

See the tree growing out of the barrel to the left?  Country junk abounds!
I am hopeful I will be feeling better tomorrow.  I hope Natalie feels better as well, and I hope she doesn’t give her cold to Bryan!  I will be praying that everyone is well and everything goes well.  Only five more days!

XOXO







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AT HOME MONDAY: Oh, the joy of thriftin’. . .

It’s “At Home Monday” but I did not stay home today.  Mom invited me to lunch with my aunt and cousin, so we met and had a very nice alfresco meal at a Mexican restaurant near their workplace. My aunt and cousin had to return to work, so Mom and I made the best of our trek to the city and went “thrifting” at two Goodwill stores!

Goodwill Industries recently announced their need for more donations and now their stores are RICH with goodies.  I have found more things for home and wedding and resale in the past two weeks than I have in all my thrifting years!

Today I found this treasure. . .

Oh, my, I was so excited!  I snatched it right up and plunked it down into my shopping cart!  The price was amazing, too, although I won’t reveal because it may become part of my store later.  However, for now, I will add it to my growing pile of wedding decor.  It will be cool if it works, but if it doesn’t, it is a beauty just sitting there, don’t you agree?

We had a fantastic good time today, just me and my mother.  Now that I am retired, I hope it’s the first of many happy thrifting trips to come!  Happy junkin’!

XOXO