Tray Find

The other day I went fabric shopping at the local thrift store and I happened to find an adorable vintage tray for 99 cents! The thrift store I went to used to have a large vintage section, but now they take the vintage items and sell them on line and locally to antique stores. But, once in a while they miss some vintage items, and that's when I score! I'm pretty sure this tray is from the 50's or 60's based on the colors and design. I love trays, and am happy to add this one, for 99 cents, to my collection!

It matches my red shakers too!

Free Goods & Being Resourceful

A friend of ours came over the other day to hang out and we gave her a tour of Ron's beautiful garden. Ron was showing her the compost pile, the raised beds he had just made out of free redwood, the arbor he made out of stunning free willow branches, and the awesome free play set one of his co-workers gave us. Noticing a trend here? She then said, "Wow, you guys are really resourceful!" It got me to thinking since that thought had never crossed my mind honestly! Then I began to realize that we actually are way resourceful. Ron is the king of free; he's thrifty, and if it can be found for free he will find it! He's taught me a lot about being frugal and pinching pennies in the almost fourteen years we've been married.

Here are some examples of his frugalness, (that's not a word, but I like it!) The other day he saw some willow branches on the side of the road. He picked them up and brought them home, with a plan to make some sort of structure for the garden. Within a few days he had a design for an arbor which he made in a few hours. He is also making a cute gate which will be below the arbor, and a fence will eventually go on either side. He made a mini raised bed out of the scraps and it turned out so cute! Last week he found some free old growth redwood on Craig's list - perfect for raised beds! He plans to grow a veggie garden in the spring - can't wait! A few months back co-worker was very generous and gave us his kids' old play set! The kids love it and play on it every day. Another co-worker gave us her bunny, Charcoal, who makes great poop for the compost pile. My free find was an adorable 9 patch wool quilt, found on the side of the road in Arcata with a free sign above it. It just needs a new backing, a bit of mending and some tlc and it will make the perfect winter warm quilt!

One of Ron's co-workers, Russel, has a home made apple press. He invited Ron to come over and press apples last weekend. They pressed a total of almost 60 gallons which was a record!! In exchange for the work we get fresh organic apple juice, yummy!!! We hope to eventually have our own apple trees so we can do this ourselves, and have juice, apple sauce and fresh apples for apple pie. Another plan of ours is to buy chickens in the spring so we can have fresh eggs. We want to trade eggs for other goods as well. I used to make my own Keefer but my batch got old and I couldn't find any more live culture to grow it from. I plan to get more though and get that going again! With the economy being tight there are so many ways you can save money, plus have organic healthy food to eat. Please feel free to share any ideas with me as well!

The eclectic arbor Ron made from free willow branches.

Mini raised bed made from free willow branches.

Raised bed made from free recycled old growth redwood. The posts sticking up are for chicken wire to keep the critters out.

Another raised bed made from free recycled redwood.

Charcoal the free bunny.

Free Costco play set.

Free wool quilt.

Russel's home made apple press.

Ron and Russel hard at work pressing apples.

Apples ready for the pressing!

Thrift Finds!

Thrift scores: 2 shirts for Justin, 1 pair of pants for Justin, 1 shirt for Sarah, 1 vintage pillow case & 1 fire and light butterfly. Cost: $10!

One of the things I've been so excited about since we've moved to this house is the thrift store that's only about a 2 minute walk from our house - I think I've died and gone to heaven. I get excited when I see thrift stores, seriously! My grandma used to take me thrift store shopping when I was a kid. She was the thriftiest woman I've ever known. She was waaay ahead of her time when it came to recycling as well. She recycled everything! She hardly ever bought clothes new. Her mentality was, "Why do that when you can get them so much cheaper?" Back then you could buy antique dishes for 50 cents a pop. Wish I had collected more at that time! She and grandpa lived on a farm and had cows and chickens so they had organic fresh eggs and milk all the time, (and beef too.) Anyway, yesterday Justin and I made a trip to the thrift store and I am so thrilled at the treasures I got! That's what I love so much about thrifting. It's like a treasure hunt and you never know what you will find. All kids clothes are 1.99, and at 40% off I made out like a bandit! These prices are even cheaper than a local consignment store. The clothes were in great condition too. I also found this really cute vintage pillow case and a Fire and Light butterfly for Sarah's room for only $3.50! Fire and Light is locally made recycled glass and isn't cheap new. I love the fact that when I buy used I'm recycling and helping take care of the planet, plus it's easier on my wallet - I can't lose!

Thrift Finds

I absolutely love to go thrift store shopping! I haven't been for a while, so in the spirit of fun and economizing, Justin and I went on a thrift store adventure the other day. I found the cutest hand embroidered vintage tea towel, (also known as the modern day kitchen towel), and an adorable vintage hand made butterfly hankie which I plan to use on a little girl dress in some way or another. Justin found this vintage metal ambulance which had been very well loved. He wouldn't leave the store without it, so what's a mother to do! My stuff was $5 and Justin's ambulance was $15, which was a bit of a splurge, but he plays with it non stop so it was worth it.