The Thrifting Madness

We have five thrift stores near our house. I was raised in a very thrifty family, so without fail every time my mom or sisters come to visit, we hit at least one. Our favorite lately has been the Goodwill Outlet. If you've never been to one before, let me tell you about it. It's like a warehouse, and there are just lines of these big bins filled with everything. And you have to sift through to see what's in them. And every so often they roll them all away and new bins come out and they yell "NO TOUCHING. NO TOUCHING." And most of the stuff in the bins is 0% interesting to me. But the thrill of hunt. That's what gets me. And as you hunt, you start to find a little gem here. A little treasure there. And next thing you know, you have an armload of fantastic stuff. But wait, there's more. You pay by the pound. Which makes for some pretty amazing deals. We had never been to a store like this before. It's so crazy. And now we can't stop won't stop.

The Baby was already paid for.

Here's a sampling from our last trip where we spent a mere $25:

• A dolly cart (the exact one is at Lowe's for $25. BOOM.). 
• A stripey purse for momma. Perfect for summer. 
• The medium size Batman Cave (we might have a batman cave problem - we already have the big one and the small one). It retails for $45. 
• Some big faux leather thing (maybe a pool table cover?) that I'm hoping will work to upholster a new headboard and save us $15-30/yard on fabric. 
• And a sweater for making mittens. 

Another day we found a big set of Thomas the Train Megablocks with tracks. This is the beauty of the weight system - those blocks weigh almost nothing. 

One weekend we hit several stores looking for wedding decorations and I found a few goodies at the regular stores, too. Like this canister set. Apart from the outlet, I tend to prefer Salvation Army over Goodwill because the prices are better (and I've heard they give a substantially higher margin back to the community), but when I spotted these at Goodwill I snatched them up anyway. They were $3-6 each, but they were exactly what I wanted for utensils in the kitchen.

I totally don't dig the blue lettering. But guess what? I turned them around. I'd been searching high and low for affordable off-white crocks. Done. The big one with the lid... I didn't have a specific spot in mind for. But it seemed wrong to leave it. I'm sure I'll think of something.

At another store I found a $1 wooden pepper mill to replace our plastic one, some $0.25 animal stamps for the boys, and a few homeschool books.

In spite of the thrifting and sweet deals, I'm doing my best to remember that the more stuff I bring in the house, the more stuff I have to clean up. The clean-up factor tends to keep me grounded.  So I'm trying to stick to things we need, things I would be buying anyway, or things that fill a good, specific space in our lives (apart from the big crock. I'm working on it, okay?) The batman cave also fits into that last category. Who can pass up a batman cave for these guys?? I'M ONLY HUMAN.

I'd love to see what you are finding at thrift stores and yard sales this year. But seriously, guys. I would LOVE to see. And congratulate you on your thriftiness. Share you finds on your blog or instagram and drop a link in the comments or tag me! Happy bargain hunting!