With a Roll of Thunder

The forecast predicted rain later in the afternoon and early evening so Babs, Johanna, Sophie the Schnauser and I started our day at 0'dark thirty (6:15am) in the car and on our way with list in hand and high spirits. Flashlights in hand (and in my case, on head) we headed across town to the first sale with a 6:30 start time.

Priced at $4...I didn't even negotiate!

There I found this Brinkman's head lamp. That was the only item I bought there. My sister Vickie (aka Nightshade: you may remember from early posts my sisters and I refer to each other with our "flower names") had admired my headlamp. I promised I would keep an eye out for one for her. I like this one better than mine so I will give her my original and keep this one for my ownself. The reason I prefer this one is because there is a swivel mechanism so you can adjust the angle of the lamp. A feature most helpful when one is looking down at wares at 0'dark thirty! So Vickie, aka, Nightshade, I will send my headlamp to you this week.

25 cent board book for Beau.  I love the touch and feel books for little ones.

Moving on to the next sale down the street, we were grateful for the lightening sky. These folks had a lot of stuff, furniture, clothes, toys; let's just call it a plethora(I just like saying that word) of goods. As I looked at the table of toys, the seller called out "all toys are 25 cents". She had my attention!

75 cent for the lot. Love it!

So I nabbed these wooden puzzles for my friend and fellow grandma Suzan's "grandma stash". She had asked me to find some toys for when her year old grandaughter comes to visit. Here is the start of her collection.

50 cents for the two. Yes!

For my great nephew Beau, I picked up this truck and stacking ring set. I apologize for the drunken look of the little fellow in the driver's seat! When you press on the seat, it makes a sound of the dumper unloading. Fun! Trucks and stacking toys are on Lindsey's wish list for Beau so these fit the bill.

I am sure this would have been more than 25 cents in the gift shop.

"Thrifty Christy", you may ask, "why did you buy a Niagra Falls mug"! The answer: for my daughter Ellie who recently traveled to New York. She was in the Buffolo area and had only a couple of hours free to visit the Falls on the American side. So....I figured she didn't have time to stop in the gift shop or even thought do so. Now Ellie will have a nice mug to remember a landmark she saw. You just never know what you'll find a sale! And buyers, you never know what will sell!

Isn't she pretty?! Now both of my daughters have been to Niagra Falls.

Now I will just have to learn how to photoshop the mug in her right hand!

And then came a roll of thunder, raindrops spitting from the sky. Oh no!! We hastily paid our money and ran to the car. The sprinkle became a steady rain. We forged on hoping the other sales would be at homes with garages and some were but the rain came as a surprise to sellers. Their garages were full of other stuff so the piles of hastily dragged in goods were damp and unappealing to me and my companions. We called it a day after a couple more stops, the rain steadily pouring. Breakfast was early and the hot coffee was most welcome since with the precipitation came a drop in temperature. Another reason to shop with friends at the yard sales...we had enjoyed a lively conversation at breakfast. Disappointment of a short shopping excursion but a delightful end of the morning.

So ends another Saturdaymorns blog post, dear readers. I have already checked next weekend's forcast and it promises to be clear of precipitation. Fingers crossed there will be more sales and plenty of merchandise. Hope your bargain hunting was better than mine this weekend!

Thrifty Christy

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Four to Go

Oh Fall, how I love thee. Crisp mornings, hot coffee, abundant yard sale listings are only a few favorite things I enjoy this time of year. Yes, dear readers, Fall has definitely invigorated sellers to take advantage of the beautiful weather to sort through their things...and make money!! Yay! Babs and Johanna were ready to ride and Carolyn M. was motivated to not only join us but said she would drive as well, giving Johanna a break from her usual role (I have a Civic, not the roomiest of vehicles for 4 people, a Schnauser named Sophie and booty from the sales!) as driver. Carolyn has a small SUV as does Johanna so they are prized as drivers! I kept my position as navigator and decision maker though I ALWAYS ask for opinions.

As a teaser I am showing you the trunk shot of Carolyn's car after we finished yesterday morning. Now you can see why a roomy trunk is essential at times.

There is a shell lamp that goes with the shade in compartment under all of this.

So, detailed list in hand, fresh from my printer, we sailed forth and arrived at the first 6am sale. Flashlights in hand we found deals immediately. I zoomed in to the baby/kid area with Brenna and Linsey's lists in my head. There I found for 10cents several trial packs of baby lotions and diaper cream, a couple of unopened, new in box colic/gas drops, board books for Beau, and toys for Nate.

Yes, my grandson is occasionally gassy

Board books except for one on bottom left that's a bath book. 50 cents each.

Another fave is the froggy at the bottom. Ribbets when knocked!

I love the truck especially because it is so interactive. There are squeaky wheels, pockets on the side and on the bottom...a book! How fun is that? I think Nate will have an interest in this for a long while. And the toy at the top of the photo has a suction cup bottom so it will stick to any smooth surface: high chair tray, bumpo tray, floor, etc. It can also be removed from the suction cup so he can hold it too. And of course the old school wooden toys are wonderful; easy to clean, easy to play with and will last a long time. All are bright, colorful and will keep the young child entertained, and perhaps even more intelligent than he already is (!)

Carolyn found a Columbia brand pullover for her husband. At $3 it was a good deal; excellent condition and very gently used. Quinn likes Columbia brand and he likes his pullovers large. Check, check! It looks a lot larger than it is, but it is a size L. Personally, I think that color is going to look good on him.

Of course the only other 6am sale was across town and none at 6:30. There were a couple of church sales on this side of town starting at 7 so we had to decided to stop and have breakfast to kill time before the 7am's started and ditch the other 6am or suck it up and drive. "Suck it up and drive" was the decision made and off we went. There was enough to keep us busy at that one, thank goodness it wasn't a drive by so after that we finished up in Winterville and started to make our way back to Greenville and the rest of the sales.

Yes, they had everything, even the kitchen sink.

Here I found clothes for Nate. He is growing and needs 3 months outfits and white socks. And yes, at 25 cents each for socks and $1 for clothes, I found a few for him. I think he is set for a while. There are actually more white socks I didn't capture on film; at least 5 more pair. The other socks came from Goodwill this week for 39 cents each. They were so cute, I couldn't resist. And the pair of pink ones: they're for Julie, due in early spring

Favorite? The reindeer on the upper right

Winter wear size 3months

Patsy Aiken brand...12 month size hoping it will fit Nate in the spring

At the same church sale I could not pass by this winter vest for Hugh. $1!

I also picked up the toys below. The Legos were $2. My sister Cee has requested more interactive toys for her house and visiting nephews and the wooden mulit-...whatever this is called, toy is for Beau. He is crawling around and Lindsey asked for this type of toy. Here it is!

We went to lots more sales and 2 more church sales and only one drive by. Pretty awesome return of the yard sale season! I will go through the rest of my finds and then everyone else's.

You may remember I like reed diffusers since I am now allergic to scented candles except if they are soy. I found these for $1 each.

Already using my favorite scent, the lavendar. Wonderful!

These books are large. The one on the right is a board book and the left one is cloth. For Grandma's stash. I am ready for the holidays.

What sealed the deal on the right one is when you open the last page, the mistletoe lights up and Santa says "Merry Christmas" and ho ho ho's. Tried to capture the lights on camera but didn't happen.

Last weekend when I was at my brother's I noticed Hugh didn't have any coloring items, so when I saw a ziplock bag with these in it for 75 cents, I picked it up. That should keep him supplied for a while.

All he needs now is paper.

I know, I know, my shade addiction "problem" is still active. $1 and I had no resistance. I could not refrain. It is about 18 inches high and not a mark on it. I just know the perfect lamp will jump out at me soon and it will find a match.

The last white shade I will buy. Moving on to patterns and colors. Help me!

At a church sale in Greenville I found this teacher's resource puzzle for Cee's stash. It has 4 different puzzles with foam pieces. It is nice and large, the drawings are about 12x12. 
I think it will be fun for Hugh and a challenge too.

And last purchase for me is this insect repellant. I picked it up for my daughter Ellie's deck. Hard to enjoy the outdoors when you are getting bitten.

50 cents...it's a deal!

Now for Johanna's finds. 
This time she had a request for children's clothes from a friend of hers who is helping out a needy family. It was their lucky day! The total for the clothes on the left of the picture came to $12.50. Under that pile are 2 reusable bags filled with more clothes. Some as you can see are new, 3 piece sets. Well done Johanna.

The box of material came to $3, the bolt of Tinkerbell material was $2, the Elvis record, $1, the fleece blanket set to the right was $1. I love the huge Lion's Brand Yarn bag she bought for 50 cents. Funny thing is, in August when I went yard sailing alone, I bought a bag exactly like that filled with new skeins of yarn for $3 and gave it to her craft group. when I saw her with it I thought it was the same bag. Not so.

Johanna paid $2 for the Dooney and Bourke bag. Nice.

She doesn't know if it is authentic but took a chance at the price.

Her craft group will enjoy making these book kits. Each was 50 cents each.

And here is Carolyn's booty.

The chair was $5 and will go around her kitchen table. That is one heavy chair.
 I am positive it is solid oak under that black paint.

The carrier is for her kitty, Beau, not to be confused with my great nephew! Kitty Beau will use this when traveling to the beach.

The large straw bag was $2, the round, red canvas holiday light storage bag with 5 reels of lights was $2, and the nylon animal carrier was $10. It was marked $12 but she bought it for $10.

I had to get a better picture of the shell lamp Carolyn found for $3 including the shade (yes, there is some shade envy but I am ok). Carolyn has a beach house in Atlantic Beach and there is a room painted blue we think calls for this lamp. She and Quinn are not sure about the shade but I think against the blue walls, the white lamp will pop and the burlap shade will be just right. If not, I have volunteered to take the shade off their hands and find another more colorful one. Aren't I wonderful?

These two items Carolyn found at the last church sale. The box is made of wood and is about 2 ft by 1 1/2 ft. approximately. I think it will look great with mums on her doorstep. The cross has a votive candle holder in the middle. She couldn't pass them up for 50 cents each! We do love church yard sale prices! They are the best.

So ended our morning and another Saturday morn complete. Everyone went through their items and graciously allowed me to photograph their finds for the blog before driving home. I am a happy gal having my friends along for the hunt and oohing and awhing over each other's items. Social creature that I am.

Goodwill find of the week:

A winter bunting for Nate and those stroller walks when it gets cold outside. I debated buying this, wondering if it was too "girlie" for the little fellow. But hey, the Pooh characters were embroidered in brown thread (though his father said too girlie when you have "embroidered" in the description!). But Nate's mom said Yes! Perfect and we snapped a picture of him trying it on. He is a bit small right now, note his foot sticking out of the opening where the seat belt comes through, but he will keep growing and it is only going to get colder. Made of that wonderful plush fur, it feels so soft! Looks as though he likes it!

Isn't he cute!

And that, readers is that. Hope you have a great week, find some bargains of your own and remember, leave a comment if you feel inspired about something I wrote or purchased. Love the feedback!

Thrifty Christy

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How Early is Too Early?

Greetings everyone. I had a wonderful morning today and so excited and happy to share with you all. First the sad news. My fellow yard sale adventure enthusiasts, Babs and Johanna have been missing in action for the past 7 months while Babs' brother, Tim, Johanna's uncle, has been battling pancreatic cancer. They are his sole relatives in Greenville and have been with him every step of the way. This week Tim passed away with these loving women beside him; at peace and pain free at last. What a blessing and a loss at the same time. 

The good news is they were ready to jump back in the stream of life so you can imagine how surprised and delighted I was to get a call from Johanna on Friday asking if I was "going yard sailing" and yes, Babs and Johanna were ready to come along!! Talk about being happy! I have very much missed these two on my Saturday adventures and jumped in Johanna's car today with a joyful heart. 

Now, how early did I "jump into Johanna's car"? That's what brings me to the title of this post. Some of you who are friends with me on Facebook know what I posted Friday night concerning the time of a certain yard sale listed on Craigslist this week. 5 am. Yes, you read that correctly: 5am! I have seen a handful of sales in the past few years starting at 5:30am but never 5am. What would possess someone to start that early?!! 

So when Johanna called I had to discuss the 5am sale. We decided to leave at 5:30, drive to Babs' home, pick her up and arrive at that sale around 6am. And so we did exactly that.

But before I talk about the sales today I have to share the picture my niece Kelley sent me this week. She found the toy below by the side of the road, brought it home, and now Hugh has a cool new outside toy! Free!! He helped wash and clean it and now is having a blast. I am so proud of this thrifty family and loved the text message with attached photo. Instant gratification is really nice sometimes!

Hugh is thoroughly cleaning this fun ramp

Ok, so now back to the sales. It is still rather dark at 6am and I was wearing my headlight and grateful for it. We went to at least 4 sales by 7am and the car was starting to fill. I bought all the items above for $4.50. The Loft sunglasses I discovered later were badly scratched, something hard to detect when it is dark outside(!!) but I will keep the case. The Yankee candle scents will keep my car smelling nice and the Mary Kay body wash and body scrubs smell pretty good too. The bath product behind the sunglasses is also a body wash and I gave that to Kelley. I can be generous when it costs only 25cents. I hope she likes it.

Kelley asked me to be on the lookout for some 4t clothes for Hugh for the springtime so when I saw the shorts and shirts for 50cts each, I went through that box thoroughly. The baby sunglasses were 50 cent too. They are for almost 9 month old Beau.

I grabbed all of these pregnancy books for 10 cents each and will take to the local Pregnancy Center. They give them away. The lidded candle smelled like citronella and I bought that for Ellie, my daughter for those nights on her deck. 50 cents for that.

Love 10 cent books.

I spotted these Sperry Topsider shoes for Hugh, size 7. Excellent condition. The trucks were on my great nephew Beau's list so I took them all to the checkout person at the sale. I was ready to spend $5 of Kelley's money on the shoes alone. Imagine how surprised I was when the guy asked for $2 for the shoes and trucks! I could not wait to show Kelley those shoes! How cute are they?!! The picture really does not do them justice. And Beau is going to have fun with these trucks...the yellow dump truck looks mighty similiar to the real one his daddy has.

I paid $1 for the milk glass hobnail candle sticks, 50 cents for the baby/child's sunglasses and 50 cents for the 3 matchbox cars (for Hugh). I love the cool red and blue one.

And here is the little fellow sporting the new sunglasses and shoes. They all fit! Yay! Kelley sent this Sunday morning...she knows how much I like affirmation.

Too cool for school!

I bought these rugs for my friend Lisa, who has a beach house and is in need of throw rugs. They certainly are beach themed and after a quick wash, should be really nice. They are approximately 2 x 3's. Well made, I hope they last a while. Seller was asking $2 each, I bought them for $3 total. You're welcome, Lisa. Oh, and I apologize for the shadows at the top of the picture from my porch swing.

Yes, Sophie was along for the ride too. How could I forget mentioning her! The monkey was Johanna's find and Sophie has a new chew toy friend. Not the best photo of Sophie, she is much happier looking than this but she might have thought I might be planning to steal Monkey. 

I felt compelled to take a picture of the shoe display at one of the earlier sales. And yes, I didn't get them all in the frame. There were more in boxes on the left. None in my size.

If you are into cow related objects/ items then you would have been delighted with this bovine collection. I was not tempted at all but felt the need to share what you missed today! Moooove on over!

Normally I am not a mug buyer but I did pick these two up at Goodwill this week. I noticed my mugs are not very attractive. So for 29 each, I made an impulse purchase. They are a good size, a nice weight and make me smile. Bargain.

Ok, so this is starting to look like an "all things Hugh" post. But this was on Kelley's list. Well, at least, " a Halloween costume" was on the list. I found this at a consignment shop in Greenville, Once Upon A Child, for $4.50. How sweet a lamb's costume is this? It is just a top. He can wear black pants underneath. There is even a tail on the back. I will make sure Kelley takes a picture with Hugh in it next month.

I did take time to snap a few shots of Johanna and Babs' haul. Johanna buys items for her arts and crafts group. Below are 3 1 gallon ziplock bags filled with thread. Good quality.

Johanna also bought the new, unopened game Cirkis for $1 (Christma gift!), the Coach bag ($5), Herbal Essence pack (50cents) and those silver gift boxes (50 cents each)

The storage box below is filled with gift bags and ribbon. Johanna paid $3 for the whole thing, including the storage bin!

Another $3 treasure purchased by Johanna is this brand new Wilton cookie baking sheet. Original sticker has $19.95 price on it. The weight of this really tells you it is a quality piece. Nice find Johanna....slightly jealous here!

Babs found a few treasures as well. 2 Vera Bradley bags that are quite large, I would describe them as overnight bags. Excellent condition. There was something else she bought too, a couple of small items, I can't remember and didn't get a photo. Her total came to $5. Not too shabby, Babs!

You may be wondering why I have included a Chicken Dance Elmo to the post. Lindsey has sent me a new list for Beau and Dancing Elmo was in there. So when I went to Once Upon a Child, there was Elmo. For $4.50. All she needs is 3 AA batteries and Beau will be laughing hysterically for hours. How this will affect Lindsey's sanity is the real question! He is cute for about one time and then the need to boot kick is overwhelming. Looking forward to hearing how long Elmo stays in the family. But I could very well be wrong. His happy song may become endearing and a new family favorite. Time will tell.

That's it for this week's post. I hope to be continuing a new season of hitting the sales and not have a long lapse again. Please feel free to leave comments...I love comments!! Take care and hope you too found some bargains too.

Thrifty Christy

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