I just got back from running a bunch of errands in town, and I’m feeling very good about my thrift store shopping excursion. I had a whole carload of stuff to drop off, which I’ve been doing quite a lot lately. This was the first time I had gone inside the store in about six weeks, and there hasn’t been anything we needed and I didn’t want to be tempted to buy more clutter. But our son is quickly outgrowing his shoes, so I needed to find some new ones. I got a 20% off coupon for donating stuff, and I headed into the store with my coupon in hand. I went straight to the kids’ shoes, bypassing clothing, housewares, toys… all the stuff that I usually browse (and buy!) I ended up spending six dollars to buy three pairs of shoes for our son. Including a pair of Keen shoes for two bucks, in perfect condition (I looked them up when I got home and they retail for $65). I also got a pair of Stride Rites and another pair that is in good shape but a less quality brand – I figure that pair will be perfect for playing in the mud in the backyard. Between the shoes I got today and a pair of Nike sandals that I got for a dollar at another thrift store a while ago, he should be set for most of the rest of the year.
As soon as I had the shoes, I checked out and left the store – no random thrifting for entertainment these days, as I’m trying so hard to reduce the amount of stuff we have in our house. I know that if I had wandered around the store I’d have found more stuff that I liked, but since I don’t need anything, there was no point in doing that. My new clutter-elimination mindset is serving me well!
I wanted to share a picture of yesterday’s garden harvest, which made up a good bit of our dinner last night:
The colander is full of spinach, which became a great salad. The spring onions also went in the salad. The swiss chard and the radishes (greens and all) went into a green smoothie that included some other produce from the store. It’s great to be harvesting stuff from our garden, and it will just keep getting better as the summer goes on and more things are ready to pick. Zucchini should be next, and I’m sure we’ll have to work to keep up with them, as I have nine zucchini plants…
Hope you’re all having a great weekend!
Jane says
I’ve been more purposeful about my thrifting too. For the same reasons. That shoe find was a steal! So glad people don’t just chuck good stuff like that. Thrifting is so awesome.
Kristia@FamilyBalanceSheet says
My kids (4 & 2) needed shoes recently also. I have been finding some great shoes for the kids at yard sales recently and they have all been in new condition. But toddler keen’s, that is a great find.
wow, with 9 zucchini plants you are going to be swimming in zucchini soon :)
Tom says
This doesn’t directly relate to this post but I wanted to mention it anyway. After reading about how you buy wind power from your energy company I searched around a found that my energy company offers a similar program (for which I have now signed up for). Your Canadian readers may be interested in knowing about Bullfrog Power. I’m glad I learned about these types of programs through your blog. Keep up the great work.
FrugalBabe says
Tom – Glad to help! The government subsidizes the wind energy we buy from our power company, which helps a lot. They break it all down on our bill and by the time they subtract the subsidies, it usually costs us less than $25/month extra to buy 100% of our electricity from the wind farms. We really like knowing that the money is being used to support the development of the wind energy program, which will end up benefiting everyone in the long run.
Victoria says
That’s a good example and a good path to be on. Drop off a carload and don’t buy a carload more!
Amy says
I outfitted all 3 of my boys from birth to age 9 or so with clothing, shoes, and outerwear from thrift stores and yard sales. When your children are young (especially infants and toddlers) there is next to nothing you can’t find from these sources, but as they get older it gets much harder to find stuff as the clothes get more worn out (especially in the case of boys), and they just don’t outgrow them as quickly. Now I have friends with older boys who give us hand-me-downs when they have them, but I also buy clothing on clearance when I can find it and use worn out sweats and t-shirts for pajamas so I don’t have to buy that on top of everything else, LOL. The great thing about boys is that they could care less what they wear in most cases, and wrinkles and stains don’t matter much when they’re home and tearing around the yard anyway. Life is short and the most important thing I’ve learned over the years is not to sweat the small stuff:).
Courtney Carver says
It has become clear to me that clutter attracts clutter, so I applaud your efforts for shopping only for what you need! I used to go to the store for two things and come out with 10X that. I bought things that I thought I deserved, or to reward myself and now I’ve finally figured out that “stuff” is not the reward I am looking for!
David @The Frugality Game says
Yum!
Life is always better when the garden starts producing.
Trudy G. says
Nine Zucchin plants!?! Wow… You are going to be SWAMPED with zucchini. I only grow two and still have to find people to give it away to. Remember that it does freeze well and can be used for soups, stews, bread in the winter time.
FrugalBabe says
Yep, nine plants is a whole lot :) I didn’t know if they would all survive, as I planted them outdoors very early in the spring with a cold frame over them. All of them survived, and all have small zucchini on them. We eat a lot of veggies though, and I like to add zucchini to our green smoothies every day. I also use them in place of noodles on hot days, so we’ll be having lots of zucchini “spaghetti” this summer. I’ll probably use 3 or 4 a day throughout the summer, and freeze the rest. This year is a bit of an experiment in terms of how much of each thing to grow, and what plants do well. We’ll fine tune it a bit more next year.
Jen says
I really like your blog and I’m interested in eating more raw items. Some of the blogs I follow use very expensive ingredients when cooking. I was curious if you can post some of your favorite recipes, books, and links and besides buying in bulk, how to spend less on those types of items. Since you are frugal, I’m hoping they won’t be too pricey to make. I’d really be interested!
Thanks:)
FrugalBabe says
Hi Jen,
Here are a few posts I’ve written about food in the past, maybe they will help.
http://frugalbabe.com/2010/01/26/stretching-our-food/
http://frugalbabe.com/2009/08/24/homemade-tortillas/
http://frugalbabe.com/2009/07/21/eating-our-dandelions/
http://frugalbabe.com/2008/10/20/what-i-eat/
We actually spend quite a bit on food. More than the average family, from all the reports I’ve seen about what people spend on food. But we spend much less than average on things like cars, clothes, toys, etc. so it all works out fine. I feel very strongly that we are what we eat, and I’m a stickler about feeding my family high quality, organic food, mostly made from scratch. We eat about 50% raw (in the form of lots and lots of green smoothies, salads, homemade dressings, and a few raw desserts). The rest of what we eat is mostly made by me, incorporates whole grains, lots of dried beans and lentils, and plenty of oats (we have them for breakfast every day, and they are very inexpensive since we buy 50 pound bags)