My Kind of Yard Sale

My office is merging with another office across the city in June, so our photo studio has spent the last month sorting out rooms and rooms of props - keep, sell, trash.  I mentioned before about the yard sales they hold and some of the amazing deals you can get. 

Because there was so much to get rid of this time, they held several sales over the course of two weeks.  I was on vacation for the first week so I missed out on some things, but I did manage to grab some bargains when I got back.  And because the girl managing it was so tired of the whole thing by then, I paid less than I probably would have at the beginning.

First I found this crate.  It's about 18x12x12 inches. The wood is so smooth, and look how well the corners are reinforced.  Original cost - $16.99.  My price - free.  I would have paid full price for it.

Then there was this jug/vase/planter.  It is heavy clay and  a pretty good size.  There are a couple of chips around the mouth, but for me that just adds to the look. I don't know the original price but I paid 50 cents for it.

This tin with lid was also 50 cents.  Regular price $9.99.  It has a "15" painted on one side that I don't really like, but I'm pretty sure I can remove it or paint over it.

Here are my three little bargains playing nicely together. 

At least someone in this house behaves. 

So if you're keeping track that's $1.00 for all three items. 

Sounds good right?

Hold on to your hat.

At the final sale I bought this white bench for the whopping low price of two dollars. 

No one wanted it because the top doesn't open so you can't use it for storage.  I just want to use it for a bench on the back deck. There is never enough seating.  Plus I think the top could be removed and hinges added if I really wanted to turn it into storage. 

It needs some TLC but nothing too extensive.  Just some wood filler and paint. And the front panels are covered in a linen/dropcloth-type material.  Be still my heart.

Right now it's sitting in the front window upstairs and Sasha appreciates 

how much easier it is to spy on the neighbourhood.

Maybe I should be nice and sew a cushion for her.

Maybe she should stop being so nosy.



Thrifty Thursday

I snuck off to Goodwill last night after work.  I used to only go on Friday nights as it was when everything was half price, but they suddenly got rid of that around Christmas time.  I guess no one was shopping on the other days.  And now they have bizarre promotions on different days.  I can't keep track of them so I just wing it and hope for the best. Yesterday was a buy-one-get-the-second-for-1 cent deal, but I think it only applied to clothing.  I rarely have the patience to look through the clothes so that didn't help me out at all.

Here's my haul:

Check out the cute starfish.  It's real.  And very fragile.  I have a thing for starfish.  Not like my thing for turtles, but pretty close.  I got some really great pictures of orange and green ones (starfish, not turtles) while we were on a catamaran trip the last time we were in Cuba.

And Hawaii is our favourite vacation spot so anytime I find travel/history books on any of the islands I grab them.  This one has some terrific photography in it.  In fact, I think the cashier wanted to keep it - she kept flipping through the pages as she was ringing the other things up.

I grabbed a few paperbacks for vacation (9 more days!) 

I love Lee Child.  Do you read the Jack Reacher series?  I don't even want to talk about Tom Cruise playing Reacher in the new movie - makes me want to cry.  Can you imagine Jim Cavaziel (Person of Interest) in the role?  Perfect.  Okay, so maybe I'm willing to talk about it a bit. 

I almost always buy my books at used book stores.  I just can't justify paying full price for books.  Gift cards are about the only thing that will get me into a Chapters.

This tin pail is a great size.  I have a smaller one that I use for scissors, hole punches, pliers, etc., but it's quickly becoming too small. 

The pink and white fabric inside is a pair of pyjama bottoms.  I can't go to Goodwill without buying a pair.  They are my crack.

I bought this spirally metal thing and I have no idea what it's for.  I thought that it might look cool at Christmas with some garland strung through it and some little beads or lights or berries added.  Any thoughts on what it is?

This lantern was the prize of the day.  Our Goodwill doesn't have bargain basement pricing - a pair of shoes I was looking at were $50! - but this was eight dollars.  Not bad.  It's sturdy and in good shape.  And the handle isn't flimsy so I could hang it if I wanted to.

I also grabbed six matching cloth napkins.  They are very soft and very white.  I might make some more pillows with them.

All together it was a good night.

Pyjamas - 1.87
Napkins - 2.94 for six
Book - 3.49
Paperbacks - 2.49 for each
Lantern - 8.08
Pail - 99 cents
Starfish - 99 cents
Metal Swirl - 99 cents

Total - 26.82

Found any good deals lately?  What thrift stores do you frequent?  We also have a Value Village and a Salvation Army (all three stores within a block of each other) along with a H4H Restore.



Thrift Store Finds

My local Goodwill has "50% off" day every Friday. 

That's the only day I'll go there now.

Yes it's true, I'm so cheap that I won't even pay full price at Goodwill.

The last time I was there I was looking for some old books to use in a project.

It didn't matter what the book was about as long as it looked old.

And slightly intellectual wouldn't hurt. :-)

I came across these two beauties.

My aunt owns a used bookstore and I have a feeling

she’s scandalized at the thought of me cutting up old books.

Doesn't the top one look homemade?

I googled the title and it is a book that was first published in 1933.

 I'm not sure how this one ended up with this cover. 

The book is full of handwritten notes and newspaper clippings

 from Canadian papers dated 1934 and 1935. 

It leads me to believe that this is one of the original printings.

The second is a more common book. 

I was focusing on the aging though. 

I was planning on tea-staining pages for my project, but just look at these

Aren't they gorgeous?

The first is definitely not going to be changed.

I don't believe it's valuable but it's so interesting that I just have to keep it.

Buuuut, I’ve now decided to try something different

with the aforementioned project, so I’ll just have to come up with

something else for this guy.