Secondhand Treasures -Thrift Store Hauls - Advice

This is an accumulation of thrift store hauls over a period of time. Most thrifts stores have senior and military discount days. Take advantage of the discounts on those days if you qualify. It saves 15% in most cases. 

$8 tabletop adjustable desk. Retails for $250

Number One Husband surprised me the other day when he returned home from an appointment. He had stopped by the thrift store and found another Sun Oven. We now have three and the ability to cook a large meal like Thanksgiving dinner or we can batch cook freezer meals completely off grid. The Sun Oven retails for $499. He picked it up for $49. 

He also found a set of Pyrex food prep bowls brand new in the box for $5.99. I'm pretty sure that they should have been $15.99 because their prices have increased so much over the last few years. I was so grateful for these bowls. My large stoneware bowls that I love are so heavy that they are hard for me to handle due to the herniated disks in my neck affecting my thumbs.  It is very painful. I can't even use a manual can opener. I will have to pick up an electric can opener the next time we are in town. 

When thrifting we have one rule and that is to not buy anything that we can't use or resale. If an item is not useful, we just don't buy it. It is a waste of money and clutters up our home. It is a nice feeling to walk out of a store realizing that we didn't need or want anything. Contentment comes in many forms.  

We keep mental notes on the items that we are looking for. It is exciting to find something that we have been hoping to find without having to pay retail. Watch for stains, chips, broken or missing parts. They can render an item worthless. 

We always check the value of an item before purchasing, especially resale items and we take the cost of shipping into consideration. Shipping can take a huge chunk of the profit leaving us with little or nothing at all for our efforts. We also check to see if there is a market for every item we buy. Just because we like it doesn't mean that there is a market for it. Ask me how I know? Sometimes thrift stores can be more expensive than retail. Know your prices. Do your research. 

I bought this pretty lace as a gift for my friend who uses lace in her crafts.

This is a large spoon rest. I was using two different ones so I 
wouldn't contaminate my spoon for tea. This one takes up less 
space on my counter and it only needs one spot instead of two. 

Okay, I didn't need this, but I wanted a glass tea mug. This one
is perfect for me. I love tea and honey. I found it while searching
for replacement mugs for my dishware. 

This is also something that we needed to complete a set of 
Chicago Cutlery that we already have. It was .79 cents.

If you are off grid than you know that a low wattage anything really 
helps especially if it uses a heating element. I have been looking for a
 replacement blow dryer for a long time. As far as I can tell it
has not been used.

This is an oldie but a goodie. The motor on older models
just last forever. This one obviously wasn't used much. It
is in perfect condition and for $6.99 compared to $150 it
is a bargain. 

I bought this pastry cloth and rolling pin cover for .90. I got it for
half off the sticker price.

We bought this for our aches and pains.

I have been looking for these two books for a couple of years.
I found them both at the same time. 

My house shoes(boots) finally bit the dust. I wanted the same kind, but I didn't want to spend the $30 bucks, so I compromised when I found these brand-new ones for $4. They are so warm and comfy.

I have been buying up colored pencils for my Inductive Bible Study.
While they are not too expensive at the store, I'm still saving $1a pack
or more. I think I am good now. I needed the glue to add additional
ribbons to my Bibles. 

I have been looking for a certain style of fleece for Number One Husband
for years. They started making them again and I finally found
a brand-new Columbia for $5. 

We have purchased two Instant Pots, a Luxe Mini and an Ultra 6-quart with
no signs of use. The cost for both was less than $30. If I 
would have paid retail both of them would have cost me over
   $300 before taxes which would be an additional 30+ dollars.   

It really pays to avoid paying retail as much as possible. There are things that I would not purchase unless they still had tags on them. Safety and hygiene are important to me. I will wait for a sale if I can when I am forced to pay retail prices. Plan ahead and have fun...

Happy hunting,

Mrs. Smith

Blog Silence and Random Pix...

I am so sorry for the blog silence lately. We both have new schedules that we are getting used to. I hope to be back up and blogging in the next few days. Thank you for your patience. I have some random pictures that I want to share with you all. 

Someone failed to lock the gate properly!

Kettle Pizza

Smoked maple syrup chicken and sides

Study corner

Another study corner

Snow sunsets

New goose down pillows

Thrift store finds

A friend made me this beautiful decoupaged vase

and this decoupaged can. She is really talented.

Bone broth cooking in the Instant Pot.

Lentil crackers

Scuba fins for the pool

Here I am drying tea bags for the same friend for her crafts.

I just liked the look of the ginger in my spoon rest.

This was a cooking day

Laundry day. It was too cold and windy to dry my clothes 
outside on the line.

My kitchen table is not just used for eating. It's a workstation, food prep area,
study area, game table and a sorting a place.

Bone broth before it's strained.

This is my new adjustable tabletop desk. I can stand or sit when I need to. This was a great purchase from the thrift store. This desk new is $250 bucks! It looks brand new. It is nice and sturdy and big. This really helps my neck and back. 

Mrs. Smith

The Bean Economy

I don't know about you, but the aspects of my home economics have drastically changed. I've coined a new term for the economic times we are all currently living in, I call it "The Bean Economy". 

This is by no means a dis on beans. I love beans, but in the past, beans have been considered a staple for the poor or underprivileged in our country and around the world. Now, they are considered to be a health food, and the price now reflects this trend. 

Let's not dismiss the super-inflation that we are also seeing on all grocery prices across the board. I was appalled the other day at the price of a head of garlic at Wal-Mart. It was .74 cents. It seems insignificant, doesn't it?  Let me put this into perspective. A pound of ground beef used to be .86 cents a when we first got married. It is now $6 - $7 a pound. It took 30+ years to increase 100%. It took just a few years for it to increase by 500%. 

Budget beans are now on average $1-$2 a pound while organic or specialty beans are now $2-$5 a pound. When did kidney beans become special? 

We had an appointment in the city recently. We always try to buy gas and groceries at Sam's on our trips into the city and stop by Walmart next door if we need to. There are no taxes on food in the city. Gas was $1.78 a gallon. That's a really good price compared to other prices in the area. However, groceries were another story. 

The fish sticks are not pictured here. They are already in the freezer. 
I picked them out as my treat. I know it's a weird thing to pick out as
a treat, but I'm not too much of a sugar girl.

OS100%2X96 Item 980124690 Cranberry Juice   $8.28   PECANHALVES Item 74869   $13.68 COSMICCRISP Item 980242818   $5.62 FISHSTICKS Item 980212125   $13.86 21WG Item 304238 Dave's Killer Bread   $10.62 MMGRANOLA Item 980122937   $6.56 ORGGINROOT Item 980381688 Ginger Root   $5.97 GARLIC2LB Item 385293   $5.98 ROMAINE Item 377608   $3.85 COLESLAW Item 153952   $1.98 WHOLECARROT Item 663060   $2.86 SILKALMMLK Item 980104432   $7.88 PLANTHRPNT Item 990442643 Peanuts   $4.91 ELPEANUTS Item 980181082   $5.98 MMBKPEP Item 990304322 Black Pepper   $8.98 Prices and availability of items in your club may vary and are subject to change without notice. Total Subtotal (15 items) $107.01 Paid in club $107.01

By the time we finished shopping at Sam's we were ready to head back into the mountains. I decided not to go to another store to pick up the other items on my list. Sam's was really busy for some reason, and we are avoiding crowds due to the awful flu that is going around and we just don't care for crowds. The other items on my list were not super important, so I may or may not pick them up at a later date. 

Now, as you can see in the picture that this is not a lot of food. In fact, if you add up the total calories it would not feed the two of us for very long and we would definitely smell like garlic afterwards. This small but expensive grocery haul was thought out carefully to make our meals healthier and tastier. It certainly could not stand on its own for very long as far as meals go. 

Let's talk about the bread. Over $10 for two loaves! This is a lot cheaper than the same bread at the regular grocery store. This is our favorite storebought bread. I haven't been able to make bread lately of neck and back pain that have interrupted my normal activities. I have been suffering with pain and other symptoms for quite some time now that has taken forever to get diagnosed, so I am not doing anything to make it worse. It's terrible and I'm terrible about not recognizing my limits, so I have just stop and take it easy for a while. 

$1.98 for coleslaw mix! Now that's a good deal and convenient under my current circumstances. I started making egg roll bowls and the vegetable prep is just too much for me at the moment. As I mentioned before, I picked out fish sticks not only because I like them, but they are also convenient. I chose roasted peanuts for flavoring rice bowls. 

Number One Husband picked out granola and honey roasted peanuts for snacks. I'm not making homemade granola either. Poor guy has to eat granola from a bag. The rest of the items are pretty much self-explanatory.  

This new "Bean Economy" that we have been living with for the last few years is continuing to get worse every day for most people. People have burned through their savings, maxed out their credit cards and there are no more Covid checks coming, there is no more help coming for parents with children, no more help for businesses and let's not forget seniors who are the most vulnerable with limited means and expensive prescriptions. 

Everyone else is having to deal with the consequences of living beyond their means and with the addition of super-inflation and inflated living expenses they may lose everything. Also, credit card debt is higher than it has ever been in history. People owe more than ever for their vehicles and houses. Most are upside down in debt. They owe more than the value of their cars and houses. 

Only the wealthy continue to prosper on the backs of the lower and middle classes, but there is nothing left to squeeze out of us. Now job losses, reductions in hours and bankruptcies have begun.  This is not just a US problem it's a global problem.  

So welcome to the Bean Economy and hold on tight!

Mrs. Smith 

Sabbath, Sunsets and Snow - Just a Few Pictures

 

Shabbat Shalom,

Mrs. Smith