Thrift finds

So on our two day adventure we found so much that I've had to split it into two posts. Today I am remembering the fun.

We found a vintage 1957 Betty Crocker cook book and it has most of the recipes that I've been using for many years. It's wasn't in top notch condition, but neither are the old copies I've been using. We found a book on how to be happy. Can't wait to see what it says. There was a Care Bear good luck glass, a Flintstones Barney glass, a new in package serrated vegetable cutter and a package of baby yarn so I can knit more socks. I took a chance on the yellow plastic picnic utensils. I have my plastic utensils in recycled drink mix containers. I got tired of them being all over the place.

I found myself tossing the containers back and forth to access other items on the shelf or knocking them over because they were in the way and when I needed to take along some utensils  they were dusty and needed washing or were just all over the place. Well, this fun little find worked. I have a container for spoons, forks, knives and napkins. Just pick it up and go or keep it in the car. True recycling.

We found five vintage Strawberry Shortcake place mats that need binding and a good soaking. 

There was a wonderful white basket and a great selection of linens.

Along with linens were a couple of blouses to wear to work. Thrift economics at it's finest.

My daughter found this complete set of paperback books. There are eight and it is the Anne of Green Gables series.

She also has a thing lately for vintage spice racks. We found three different styles and sizes on this past trip. I know when she has her own home she will probably spray paint some to match her decor and put her herb oils on. She will have an awesome collection because there are probably eight or more that we have packed or have hanging. All in all it was a wonderful weekend and along with all our thrift finds we made lots of memories with friends and family and found some treasures for our future. 

Thrift finds

Only one trip out this week. My daughter went on her lunch hour and found three items. One to add to the store and the others she gave to me.

The vintage brown plastic basket will be listed on the store, but the vintage cork hot pads she gave to me to add to my "canning jar" life. They are plastic coated on the front but the label on the back said that they are good for temperatures up to 500 degrees. I was not trusting that, but on Memorial day I used them and sure enough they worked. I just love them because they are so bright and everything in our rented kitchen is brown. 

Thrift Finds

Life has been a bit busy growing the store and sewing and doing those things that we want to do. At this point there is never enough time to do what we "want" to do, but we did get out for a donation run because we are always purging and then took a quick jog through the thrift store. 

We found a vintage daisy floral sheet, a Vera scarf, a Vera napkin with the lady bug insignia, a hand embroidered linen for a future sewing project and for $1.99 we got six sets of double pointed knitting needles. Best bargain ever!

We got one canning jar, but the price was right, a bundle of mini embroidery hoops, a pair of Tiki vases, a doily, a white bowl that is not vintage or anything. It was used by florists and it fit in with a few other white pieces my daughter has collected and the final item was a vintage Pyrex baking loaf pan. Not bad for the few minutes we hunted.

Visit her at poetcharms.etsy.com

There is a sale going on at my daughter's on line store. Pleases feel free to stop by and check it out. There are many vintage items, fabric and hand made items. Hope you feel like looking. Thank you for stopping by and reading my blog. I wish everyone a wonderful week.

Thrift Finds and Freebie Economics

We haven't been intentionally thrifting lately. It's been unplanned stops and the purchases are very strictly monitored. We've been busy using what we find or reselling what we find and looking for items my daughter can add to her collections.

This plate is part of collection of cute little girls and sayings. They are orange and yellow and we hang them in our vintage bathroom. We always get Pyrex covers when we see them and lately natural health has been interesting learning and reading.

She found this white divided Pyrex dish and blue refrigerator dish that she's added to her collection. 

We've been trying to eat more vegetarian meals and this lovely book has quite a few recipes we are going to try and the "American Family Cookbook" is a Culinary Arts Institute recipe book and it's been added to the collection. The Knifty Knitter was an awesome find and a complete set and the price was to good to leave it behind. It has been resold in the last week. 

We will always grab canning jars. This one was $.29 so home it came. We found NIP vintage pink double sheets, a vintage yellow floral sheet and a lovely vintage geometric print scarf. Good pickings to us.

The only free item this week is this sample of Friskies cat food along with a $1 off coupon. I won it on an on-line spin to win game. This is all of the thrifting part of our lives this week. This blog is our diary and reminds us what we are doing., and how much we are growing and moving on a forward path. It's our tool to show others how you can live a frugal life and a bountiful life without large debts. Thank you for stopping by and I hope it's been a little inspiration for you.

Townhouse Homestead Tuesday

January is over and WOW what a whirlwind of growth and busy. A few days into February and it we're still going. 

Early in the month I found two cloves of garlic that decided to start growing. I was surprised because this is from what I harvested in 2014. I took a minute and then quickly put them into pots to see where they would go. Well here's the progress. They are 13 inches tall today and still going. 

I continued to learn new bread recipes and doing more with the dough. We are eating less bread so I'm baking bread every two weeks and finding myself using the old bread for croutons and bread crumbs. I store them vacuum sealed in jars and haven't lost any yet. So far croutons have stayed fresh for a month and some are still going longer.

I found a Rival Crock-Pot at the thrift store for 50% off, final cost to us was $4.49. Brought it home, cleaned it up and made a batch of Buffalo pulled chicken. It works great and is smaller than the one I had and takes up less room on the counter.

This was an attempt at Buffalo pulled chicken Stromboli. It was good, but I wanted better. I used a pizza dough for it and I thought it was a bit to hard.

This is the second attempt and I was happier with this one. I used a french bread dough that I let rise for a bit and baked at a lower temperature for a few minutes longer than a loaf of bread. I was excited that this fed six people. 

The canning continues. I added quite a few pints of chicken broth. I have an amount of jars that I'd like to have on hand that I'm working on. I also added more beef broth and as the year progresses I hope to add more. The picture on the right is all chicken. My daughter purchased a ten pound bag of chicken leg quarters for the grand price of $6.90 last week. At $.69 a pound I had to make it work. I boiled  them and took the meat off the bone. Total nine cups of meat. I filled three pint jars of chicken and seven pints of chicken broth. I made three cups of Buffalo pulled chicken. From it I made the Stromboli and put up one pint. I think I got more than most people would get from chicken legs and I figured it out with the future soups and meals to be about $.29 a serving. This does not include any breads, pot pie crusts, noodles, rice or vegetables that would be added, but that would probably increase the price to about $.43 a serving. I am pleased.

Finally the sock. This is as far as I'm going with my practice sock. I'm pretty sure I know how to weave the toe. It's a misfit I know, but I needed to do it large enough to visually see how it worked and I used large size needles and didn't change them as the directions said and I'm sure I can try now with smaller needles. I got the two sets I needed in the smaller sizes on sale with a Christmas gift card this week and will be figuring out my gauge and starting with more scrap yarn until I get it to where I need it to be. One goal met for 2015.
Thank you for stopping by and have a wonderful week. I'll see you all again soon.

Thrift finds and "freebie economics"

This past weekend after a pleasant visit to the library and finding a few good knitting books to check out my daughter stopped at a thrift store we hadn't visited in a while. Something told her to take a few minutes and go look around. She struck gold with the blue tags making merchandise 50% off. She filled the cart with as many canning products as she could find. There were 33 various sized jars, four boxes of rims and lids, and five boxes of just lids. The pink tags were not 50% off but still a good price. I know some are old stock with all the BPA stuff in them, but I've been canning with these for about 40 years so any damage is probably already done if any. I will continue to take my chances at this point.

As you can see it was quite a find. There were more jars but those were left behind. At full price we'll let some one else find them. She also found a vintage new in package donut cutter. Now I know there are two already in the stash here some where, but it's hers and it's new and what can I say? That was all she purchased thrifting this week and as you can see by my prior post I have already filled 17 of those jars and it wasn't like there weren't any other fabulous items she could have purchased, but she chose to leave them behind. As she said they were wants not needs.

Moving on to our freebie economics she also cashed out her Walmart rewards money. This is an app that gives you money on an e-gift card if the price is lower at another store than it is at Walmart. She accumulated $26.53 and she purchased two cases of pint size jars and two packages of lids. All free just for a little bit of time on her fancy phone. LOL I give her a hard time because I live without a phone but I believe it was worth the time. 

The other freebie this week was a box of 42 boxes. Yes boxes. They are card or stationery boxes that some one at work gifted my daughter. They are 4x6x2 inches in size with a lovely clear cover. Can you see the small canning jars of home made jam and home made biscotti packaged in them for gifts all wrapped with beautiful ribbon? Anything for that matter would look lovely in them. Even some home sewn, knit or crochet gifts. Every little bit helps and we just keep on going and sharing. Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful week.

Thrift finds, freebie economics, trying something new and the simple things.

On a recent adventure to do errands my daughter and a dear friend and I stopped at a thrift store. One we hadn't visited for quite a while. We have cut back on our trips to hunt because we've set a new goal for moving in a year and have been thinking and learning about what we would like to have as far as living quarters. This stop however was quite a great one and we got to pick and choose a few good things.

The best find was a large green Pyrex Cinderella bowl. This is a keeper and the price was $2.99. We found a bright floral table cloth and a double yellow daisy sheet and some vintage blue Christmas ornaments.

We found some other odds and ends that are always on our list. Canning jars at 49 cents, another small Pyrex Cinderella bowl, a terra cotta plant saucer, a basket for a gift basket and a pattern for a men's tie. The most exciting find for my daughter was a new with tags Holly Hobby doll. We left behind a lot of Pyrex that was not in good condition and some with bad chips but it was wonderful to find and be able to choose what was good. 

On our adventure to try something new the girls made honey oatmeal soap. I stayed out of the way for this one, but it seemed to be a simple procedure and look at the results. It's curing and will be ready for use soon.

Now getting to the freebie economics for the week. It wouldn't be a good week without candy and this week was a free York peppermint. I accumulated $34 in Staples rewards and cards over the past month and had my daughter take me to pick out a few items. We had no idea what we'd get. Our printer died and we didn't need ink so until we can get a new one I couldn't let this money go to waste. I purchased a 20 roll package of Scott bathroom tissue, two large containers of coffee and a three roll package of tape. In the end the total was $3.23. I had to split the order in two because I couldn't use them altogether on one order and that was fine. I think I did well. Then on the way into the thrift store I found a wrinkled up dollar bill on the ground and felt even better. Since I have little to no income at this time my daughter covers the overages for me and the dollar went straight to her piggy bank.

The most exciting thing for me this week was the blossom on this Christmas cactus. Three years ago my sister-in-law gave me a cutting. She was sure it was from her white cactus plant. I loved and watered and tended to this plant with such care and was rewarded with the proof that it sure is white. When I was working at The Home Depot a few years back I had seen one and didn't get off work in time to make it mine and had wanted one. The universe gives gifts in such special ways. This plant is named Junior. You see I have a larger pink Christmas cactus plant she also gave me as a cutting many years ago and on one of it's bad years I salvaged a cutting from it and got it to come back to all it's glory. In my small room on a very small table I have three plants. There is Senior, the larger pink cactus that made a miraculous come back, Junior the white cactus and "the third" which is the salvaged cutting from Senior. My happiness is in the simple things.

Thank you for stopping by and have a wonderful week everyone.

Thrift finds.

It's been a while since I've posted any of our thrift finds. So much fun doing other things and just plain doing less thrift picking.

Lately we have been getting a few items that we find for ourselves. Here are two Kokeshi dolls my daughter will add to her collection, a yellow bath towel, Tupperware Popsicle molds along with a vintage sheet and some tart pans. 

We're finding fewer and fewer pieces of good Pyrex, but this one came home with us along with a miniature Tupperware juicer, egg separator and grater. This is a stacking set that has a small cup and cover. Still more Tupperware measuring cups, a hand held grater along with a flower shaped cookie cutter for those lovely lemon lavender short bread cookies.

Here's a collection of some of the Vera scarfs we've found on recent adventures. It's a nice variety of colors and shapes.

The vintage ice cube trays are wonderful. They don't make them like they used too. The muffin tin will be added to my collection of mini tins, the hooks are to improve storage in a closet and the wonderful vintage plastic letter/mail organizer has found a place on the wall near the door to take care of business. I just love vintage organizers.

Last but not least are some fun Christmas napkins and fabric, yes that is a suction cup handle for the shower. As I'm maturing these little safety items are helping. We found some quilting magazines that we enjoy looking at, story books and greeting cards. There's so much stuff out there to rummage through and we do have a great time doing it. We usually find something, but it's not until I take the pictures and post to my blog that I realize the wonderful finds we acquire. 

Thanks for stopping by and have a great weekend. I'm off to check out my bread that is rising and maybe do a little weekend house work. 

Townhouse Homestead Tuesday

Things move along quickly when you're having fun. Did I say that? I always feel busy, but some how it's not all fun. Plenty is though and I'm enjoying my labor.

This past week my daughter baked lemon lavender shortbread cookies. They were beyond awesome. We've harvested a new crop of lavender to dry and use and there's plenty more to come. 

Do you recognize it? The new to us green Cinderella Pyrex bowl found thrifting earlier. I put it to use making up my corn bread mix for the up coming chili season. It's all stored in Ball jars along with the extra corn meal. Some is in the pantry for instant use. 

Since the holiday was celebrated quietly and there was just two of us and we didn't need a lot, we only had one dessert of  red, white and blue cookies after the turkey burgers, corn on the cob and roasted rosemary potatoes. 

The container gardening is going well. I am getting a good harvest of herbs and the sweet potatoes are getting larger every day. 

The peppermint is getting ready for me to dry the leaves for my winter supply of tea. I have peppermint simple syrup blending for my ice tea. 

I always love the freebies and have decided to share them this week. I'm always trying to save on my groceries and use some coupons, but a few programs allow you to get cash back on items other than a lot of processed foods. This includes fruit and vegetables which you never see coupons for. This past week Savingstar.com had free Morton salt. All you do is request the item and when you purchase the item with any of your registered grocery or drugstore cards they credit your account with the full purchase price or the coupon offer price. To save more you can use regular manufacturers coupons at the store to purchase the item if one is available. It takes a few minutes, but it's worth it when that cash becomes available. I got one box of salt and the other was a surprise from a friend who likes my baking. It's already saved in the canning jars I found thrifting earlier and I recycled the salt container tops to put on my canning jars for future use. This idea I found on Pinterest.com.

Savingstar had a free offer for a Hershey chocolate bar and it has been put aside for that dreaded, overwhelming desire for chocolate. Yes, I can resist until then.

It's been a busy week here at the townhouse. I've had sewing for income to keep me busy and cleaning, photographing and editing pictures of items to list on the store and the regular life that keeps us hopping. I was blessed last week with a day long visit with my grandsons and this week I will get to spend time with my granddaughter. They grow so fast and I cherish every minute with them. Thank you for stopping by and I wish everyone a wonderful week. 

New thrift finds and oh those freebies.

We stopped by a local Savers and Amvets and found a few items plus the townhouse complex had a garage sale. Kind of a flop because out of 200 units maybe a dozen participated. The universe on the other hand thought it would be good to us and send many freebies our way. Counting our blessings.

The only item I found at the garage sale was the Coleman camping lamp. Great price and after new batteries it works wonderful. I'm putting that with my camping gear. At the thrifts I found a 10 inch pot for more peppermint that I am propagating. I would love to dry the leaves and have enough for tea, extract, sugar and syrup. I think I may get plenty off the original plant. I found two wire bail pint size canning jars at 49 cents each, another bread pan for 99 cents and a plastic bag of emergency candles that had a hand held fan with it. That's the blue item between the jars. Unfortunately it was broken and went in the recycle bin, but not before I salvaged the strap for future use. 

Other finds included a green Wilhold sewing box, a NIP yellow daisy queen size sheet, a large green Cinderella Pyrex bowl, a red Pyrex casserole bowl, some small embroidery hoops for small craft projects, straw trivets and a lovely pair of cast iron floral star candle holders. These will probably be spray painted.

Linen finds included a pair of orange poppy curtain panels, a purple and pink floral bed cover and the bright pink is a home made house robe that has lots of yardage to it. Yes the imagination is working.

The freebies from the universe this week were exciting. Different, but we will put it to use or sell it.

First up:

Top left: Many dollars worth of watercolor paper.

Top right: Many more dollars worth of watercolor paper.

Bottom left: A metal cutter, two dollar store mesh strainers and two wooden apples.

Bottom right: Large fold of cotton batting, 25 new wooden blocks, a variety of sponge and paint brushes and a wooden card box.

Next up:

To the left a free clamp on lamp and bubble wrap and to the right more bubble wrap. We have discovered that appliances purchased for the townhouse complex are shipped and sometimes are wrapped in bubble wrap. We picked the recycle bin for it and we put the word out that we'd reuse packing material and it's starting to roll in. Needless to say there was quite a variety in the freebies and quite a lot so when I say we are counting our blessings, believe me. It's been an awesome week here. 

Happy Fourth of July to everyone. Thank you for stopping by.

Findings from a rummage sale.

We hooked up last weekend with my sister-in-law for an early morning breakfast and a church rummage sale. It was the last day and the deal was fill a bag for $4. Just plastic grocery bags but we filled four of them with some keeper items and store inventory items. After the rummage sale we headed down the road to a brand new Good Will store.

We found a lot of small vintage nick knacks along with a heart shaped baking pan, green Pyrex bowl (found at a new to the city Good Will), a wall hanging basket, a summer hot pink straw purse and what would a summer day be without a joke and riddle book. A very vintage joke and riddle book.

The crochet items I just saw and put in the bag. It wasn't until I got home and looked over our treasures that I realized they were hand crochet collars. Orange seemed to be the theme of this rummage. We found a vintage orange napkin holder, an orange cast iron frying pan, an address file full of address cards and alphabet cards and my favorite was a set of vintage playing cards with a blueberry print.

Those bunnies are just so cute. They are Josef Originals. The coffee cup tree and mugs we found at the Good Will store along with the set of J.R. Tolkien books and the "NEW" coffee bean grinder that I got to grind my dried herbs from the garden. The aqua dish has two small chips, but my daughter loved it and is keeping it. 

Getting back to orange, and yes we got this in a bag, was this practically new fondue pot and lazy susan. We've seen parts from these before but never a complete set. It's for sale here: https://www.etsy.com/listing/192527722/on-sale-retro-bright-orange-lazy-susan?

We found a Liz Claiborne skirt and some lace curtain valences. These will be up cycled into something new. There were clothes galore and after poking through we found a Super Mario t-shirt and an owl shirt that will become pillows. My daughter said the orange coffee cup just fit well in her hand so she added it to her kitchen and we found a set of seven vintage jelly jars. I'm so tempted to use them for all the wonderful jams and jellies I've been making. 

This is what the treasure hunters found this past week. Thank you for stopping by and have a wonderful weekend.

linking to: We Call It Junkin