Archive for August, 2008
August 31, 2008 at 1:34 am
· Filed under Uncategorized ·Tagged children's clothes, garage sales, garage saling, resale
Today, I stopped at a garage sale. I saw the sign at the end of my street on the way to get my car serviced (its right tail light had gone out). Low and behold, she had tons of girls’ clothes, in great condition, in 3T and 4T, and at great prices, too. So I loaded up and up…and up, since my daughter wears a 2T/3T now, and this will be for the next year.
I didn’t have much cash with me, so I went to Walgreens to buy a paper on my debit card ( a .50 paper is cheaper than a debit fee) and went back. I bought the clothes, along with a scooter which I dickered down for, a mirror and a dustbuster.
Then I went to the Saturn dealership. There I scored my usual free coffee and donut (French cruller, to be exact). I asked the woman at the desk about all of their magazines in the waiting room. She said if I come the first of each month, I can have them. Sweet!
Permalink
August 31, 2008 at 12:51 am
· Filed under Uncategorized ·Tagged frugal meals, saving money on food
Frugality, thy name is Karen. Today I made meals out of the el cheapo food I got on clearance, such as turkey sausage on the meat clearance, eggplant (a real steal at the farmer’s market) and pasta that I bought some time ago on the Meijer clearanc rack. So I put’em all together and got some great, cheap spaghetti. As you can probably tell most of my meals are created out of clearance stuff.
Permalink
August 31, 2008 at 12:48 am
· Filed under Uncategorized ·Tagged cheap remodeling, home depot, remodeling, remodeling on a budget., saving money on house repairs
Today, we had the electrician come and redo the some lights and put in bathroom exhaust fans. In our house (once a foreclosure), there was a lot of work to be done: rusted lights, lights that didn’t work, no exhaust fans in the bathrooms, etc., etc.
We had a couple of estimates and went with a company that I had gone with before (they were also the cheaper bid).
To save more money, I bought the stuff on my Home Depot credit card, using the promotion that 12 months with no interest. So all I paid for was the labor, which was $700, not bad, I think, for three men working five hours straight.
Permalink
August 25, 2008 at 1:51 pm
· Filed under Uncategorized ·Tagged file cabinets, furniture bargains, home office, inexpensive furniture, saving money on furniture, thrift store shopping, value world
Today, I really hit the jackpot. I went to Value World with my half-off coupon. I found a desk (actually a beautiful sewing table for $6.86—actually $3.43. I also bought, in perfect condition a file cabinet, regularly $8.48 now for $4.24. I’m thinking about painting in red. I saw that IKEA did a lot of office furniture in red, and I’d like to follow suit.
I also bought a few tote bags, since Kroger is offering a .05 refund on any bags you bring to bag your groceries. I also snagged a leater Liz Claiborne purse for $3.40.
Permalink
August 20, 2008 at 1:51 am
· Filed under thrift shopping ·Tagged cheap office furniture, thrift shopping, value world
Busy, bargain day.
First, I went to a jeweler’s that had a coupon for $3 watch batteries. I went with the two of the garage sale watches I had–a Fossil and a Hamilton. I also took my dad’s Pulsar that he gave to my hubby. Next to the jewelry shop is a camera repair shop. I couldn’t get my digital camera to work…guess what, I had the batteries in wrong. To make me feel better, he said that in this model it’s a bit confusing. Camera fixed
Overpriced thrift shop. WELL. That was fun. They were trying to sell “antiques” at antique prices without good antiques or the knowledge. My favorite experience: having to tell a staff member who asked me if I were interested in a $100 “antique” mirror that I wasn’t because it wasn’t an antique—because the maker’s sticker had the five digit zip code on it. http://www.yellowbot.com/grace-thrift-store-warren-mi.html
Then I went to Value World. I had a half-off coupon, and I really hit the jackpot: a desk for $3.40, a file cabinet for $4, and a Liz Claiborne leather purse for $4 were the main items. On my way out, the delivery truck blocked my car…so I walked to nearby Target and paid by bill (I put half of my dental crown deductible on it).
Permalink
August 18, 2008 at 9:58 am
· Filed under Uncategorized ·Tagged illness
I was sick over the weekend, so no posts…but on the bright side, I didn’t spend anything either!
Permalink
August 18, 2008 at 9:58 am
· Filed under Uncategorized ·Tagged dental crowns, saving on dental work
I need a crown (a dental one—not one on the top of the head!) and so today, I went for my first fitting. Previously, at my dental appointment, the dentist said that I would need a crown and he recommended a porcelain over metal. I researched it online http://www.animated-teeth.com/dental_crowns/t6_dental_crowns_types.htm, and found that a gold one would be a better choice. He agreed…and it was even a bit cheaper (I have dental insurance, but I still have to pay a portion of the work).
Permalink
August 7, 2008 at 1:01 am
· Filed under Uncategorized ·Tagged apartment therapy, Ikea, Salvation Army, saving money on furniture, Target, Thomasville
Today the Ikea catalog came with the newspaper. It was a very nice catalog, thick and full of glossy, color photos. And some things were real buys, such as .49 hand towels and sheets were $1.99. www.ikea.com Other prices were just OK and were the about same prices as the Thomasville line at Target. www.target.com
And, yes, if I lived closer than the 50 miles I know live from the store, I would certainly would go, there, although probably not to buy furniture. Although I enjoyed looking at the catalog, for me the real interest would be to use that as inspiration to find used furniture that looks like Ikea or could change to look like Ikea (painting a desk red, for example, which I saw in the catalog.)
Of course, this is generally can’t hold a candle to the prices at the Salvation Army. Today, I went there and saw a real wood twin bedset (four pieces) that was $135. If you took right then, you got 75% off, which meant you paid about $35.
That price is cheaper than anything Ikea offers, and the quality is better, too. I bought a Drexel dresser at the Salvation Army for $100, and I didn’t even have to assemble it. Ikea’s quality has been rather suspect. Maxwell Gillingham-Ryan, the interior designer who is the author of www.apartmenttherapy.com, said that many of Ikea’s products are not designed for heavy use. This is echoed in the July 3’s New York Times article by Mike Albo, in which he writes that many of the products are “cheaply made” and that these items will be thrown away in a few years.
Permalink
August 5, 2008 at 1:28 am
· Filed under thrift shopping ·Tagged boys clothes, garage sale, saving money on clothes
Let’s be honest, frugal moms, finding secondhand boys clothes can be hard. That’s why when I checked craigslist detroit, I was happy to see a garage sale near me that listed boys’ clothes size five. So I went and I bought and bought. I spent $26—for that price I bought more than 30 pieces of clothing, as well as some toys. The clothes are now washed and will be put in storage containers I bought at the Salvation Army.
Permalink
August 2, 2008 at 7:41 am
· Filed under thrift shopping ·Tagged camera repair, cheap magazine subscriptions, value world, Value world coupons
Today, I used my Value World coupon. I had been reading Elle magazine, a subscription I got for $2 at www.lowpricesubs.com and looked at the fall fashions. So I had an idea of what to expect. I decided to go with the black-and-white look.
Here was my haul. For $25.40, I bought one pair of brown Gap jeans, one pair of black pants from Gap and one pair of black pants from Old Navy. I also scored two blouses from Merona (Target brand) and one white top, along with a beautiful gold(like) necklace. I also bought three BIG bags of toys for my kids.
Near Value World (I’m a believer in clustered shopping), I stopped at a local camera repair shop, Oakland Photographic Camera Repair http://www.camerashops.us/local/mi.htm. I brought in my Samsung camera that I had bought for three dollars at the Salvation Army. I was really excited because I found it had retailed for $250. All it needed was a new battery. By the way, I found the manual online for free, so that was pretty good, too.
Permalink
Older Posts »
