What A Steal!

  In the last post I announced Chris and I got a house....I have bought so much stuff for it, it's insane. I just bought a comforter for $35...brand new...when I got home I looked it up on the internet and it retails for $179! Check it out! I am stoked! 
  I have most of my things moved and some of Chris' things are there but we still have a long way to go before we are in. I am hoping we will be in by next week. I really can't unpack anything until we get some of our larger furniture there like my AH-MA-ZING couch. I am letting Chris and his buddy handle that because the door way is smaller there and it is going to be a tight fit.
  When I have more time I will post more info and some pictures of our house. Til then....XOXOX

...And So The Student Has Become The Teacher....

Chris totally out thrifted me this weekend! He got a box of 12 glasses for only $0.50! WHAT?! Well....actually there were 11...but still....I have never ever found that great of a deal! And it couldn't come at a better time because we got a house! Chris also scored our house for  $400/mo, no lease, no deposit. We will be moving in to our new abode in January! We are so excited, it was a once in a lifetime opportunity and we could not say no. I have been buying things little at a time and today we went to my building to see what was in there and I had way more than I thought...I had forgotten about a lot of that stuff and most of it will match the color scheme in our new house! :) I have a list made but I need to go to mom's house to go thru some of her stuff and my maw-maw said I could go out to her trailer to get some stuff...hopefully I wont need much after that! :) Oh how I love thrifting! Today Chris and I scored an Ethan Allen wardrobe for $80! Right now it is on layaway(I love the idea of a thrift store layaway its awesome) only because we need to figure out what to do with it until we can move it into our new home. This thing is MASSIVE, it's taller than Chris. We did some other thrifting  but came up empty handed. Keep checking my blog out I will have photos coming up to show "My Thrifty Home" my home being decorated on a budget! :)

With The Bad Comes The Good

I just got back to "Small Town Friendly" today from visiting my relatives in Concord. I wish I could say it was for pleasure but alas it was three days filled with stress, sleepless nights, and in my case allergies. My aunt has lung cancer and Friday morning she had surgery to remove her left lung. When she first went under they were just gonna open her up to look at her lymph nodes if they were good they were going to remove her left collapsed lung. Through some miracle her lymph nodes look good and so they went in to remove her lung. We knew it would be a few hours before we would know anything my cousin, mom, mawmaw and I went down the road to Goodwill just get out of the hospital,  we had been there since 6 am(I had been up since 4 am).I ended up getting a purple Merona skirt, an Old Navy green stripe tube top(super comfy), place mats, Gap jeans,a Fang 3/4 sleeve shirt, a pair of Mossimo blue ballet flats and a pair of Good Year sole boat shoes. When were leaving we got the call to come back to the hospital about 2 hours early. We made it back in time to hear the awesome news that Dr. Christie believes he got it all and she wont have to have chemo or radiation but he has to wait for the  biopsy to come back to be sure. BUT he got it all! He removed the lung with no problems! We all were crying with tears of joy. Aunt Tammy has been truly blessed. That night after we left the hospital and got back to the house I was still hyped up and wanted to get out of the house so knowing there were two more Goodwills less than five miles from her house I was all up for going thrifting. The second goodwill Mama found me some old cookie cutters, I got Chris a Carolina zip up hoodless hoodie (lol) and I got a Maurice's brown hooded sweater and an Old Navy pink stripe tee. We couldn't find the other Goodwill because my cell died (navigation) but we found a Salvation Army. There I got a Jessica Simpson tan faux alligator purse and a cream/tan Nine West purse. The next day we stopped at a yard sale and I picked up three old graters for $3! I'm thinking to myself..."SCOOOORE!". While driving home I asked mama and mawmaw if they wanted to stop at Goodwill in Shelby (my fav....not like they had a choice I was driving..hehe). Well there I picked up a giraffe that EVERY ONE is trying to steal, some art work, a Gap khaki skirt, a pair of Xhilaration heels (to die for), and a pair of leopard print flats. I found some pretty amazing deals and ended up spending like $100. So with the bad(Her cancer) comes the good (possible cancer free) and some good deals(my finds!). 

Part of my haul! :)

NOTE: I will be posting some of her craft items she had made, it would be great if we can sell them all to help them be able to  pay bills.

My Thrifty Wedding?

About a year and half ago I bought a cute tea length white dress at Goodwill for $4 I had intended to use as a wedding dress.  But looking at different wedding blogs and passing by a local bridal shop I kinda want a glitzy  gown that would probably cost me at least a $1000. *Sigh* Decisions decisions....with my sweet little dress I can  wear lots of jewelry and funky shoes but with the gown I will have to keep the jewelry at a minimum and you probably wont be able to see my shoes.  This reminds me of Sex And The City movie where Carrie wants to wear a suit to get married to Mr. Big but does a photo shoot with Vogue and ends up with a BEAUTIFUL wedding dress from Vivienne Westwood  "And just like that......Vivienne Westwood kicked my sweet little suit's ass." What really attracted me to the dress is it also reminds me of a photo of Marilyn Monroe that I would love to have replicated in a bridal portrait. Oh well I am taking my dress to Concord to show my mom, grandma and aunts to get their opinions. If you have any thoughts please let me know! :)

I want to replicate this photo for my bridals :)

AWWWE it's not my size...

...but that doesn't matter because I am in love with this dress!  I went to my favorite consignment store today *Time After Time*  and got this awesome dress! Its not in my size its actually two sizes too big. I am going to have mama take up the sides and take up the length so I can wear this with tights and boots. :)

 

 

 

ignore the pants :)

NOTE: In the pic I tried on the dress...it appears to fit correctly but its all illusion loves. I have the tie back tied as tight as it would go!

Thifting to donating

I love to thrift but I love to donate as well. At the moment I am paying for a storage building to store a bunch of stuff I don't need. I have a vacation day coming up so I asked Chris to take off the same day so we can tackle this mess together. At the moment I know I have an old wardrobe (I love and not getting rid of), a love seat, my favorite chair, a few side tables, a dresser (the bestie's) and other miscellaneous items. I know this probably will take more than one day but I would feel better if I get started on it. I will be donating to Hospice, I love the Hospice Resell shop and the proceeds go to a great organization! I love to know my junk(and treasures) will help others! Maybe one of these days I will pull a Marissa, check her out here, and re-create a garment. Stay tuned in to see what comes of this!

Free photography

Chris and I are officially engaged! :)  The bestie and I had already made plans for me to take pictures of her family today but we took some extras. If you have a decent camera (I have a Canon PowerShot A480 I got for a steal $55!) and imagination you can take some pretty decent photographs, I am all for supporting local photographers but sometimes you just don't have the money. So I got a few photographs of the girls but they had very shot attention spans so I handed my camera over to the bestie to snap a few of me and Chris and with a little help of picnik.com and Corel we had our family photographs done for FREE...if that isn't thrifty I don't know what is! :)

Besties <3

My sister joined in on the fun :)

I love him.

Decorating On A Budget

When I moved out on my own, I had no furniture like most young adults. Just like most young adults I was living paycheck to paycheck but I needed furniture. Over the years I have gotten hand-me-downs and bought different items on clearance or at a thrift store.

This is my bedroom at the bestie's place(I live with her but stay with Chris a lot). Here is a break down of what I spent in this room:

Bedding: Goodwill $20(target brand...NEW)
Mattress: Mama and The Captain FREE
Headboard: Goodwill $10(came with a footboard but Chris is too tall)
Bedside Table: Mama FREE(its pier 1!scooooore!)
Lamp Base: Goodwill $0.99  (it needed to be cleaned up)
Lamp Shade: Goodwill $2.99 (target...NEW)
Bookshelf: Wal*Mart $25(not on sale but cheap)
Books: Goodwill Softbacks $0.99ea  Hardbacks $1.30ish ea(probably about $50 in books in the case-Ive read most of them)
Picture Frames: Mighty Dollar $1 ea
Jewelry Box:Goodwill $5(i think)
Dresser:Wal*Mart $70(clearance)
Zebra Rug: Wal*Mart $30( full price but I HAD to have it)


So there you have it...a room done on a budget! :)

Thrifting Is A Sport.....

....at least it is in my mind. When I go shopping I dress comfy, usually in jeans and flip flops(no matter what season) and I make a day of it. I hit up all of my favorite places here in the county(Shop Local, Buy Local!) and then I go to Shelby to Goodwill. I buy most things from thrift stores including clothing, books, cds, furniture etc...

Over the past few year I have figured out a few simple rules to look through lots of clothes in a short amount of time.
1.) Look for colors and patterns I like
2.) Do I like this material?
3.) Is this my size?
4.) Are there any stains/holes?

When looking at shoes look for the following:
1.) Do they fit?
2.) Will I wear these?
3.)Are they in good shape?

I always have a mental list of things I would like to find  but its not necessary that I buy these things RIGHT NOW.

My list at the moment  includes the following:

1.) An old fashion coat rack

2.) Catch Me If You Can-dvd

3.) Round kitchen table

4.) Brooches!(for my bouquet)

5.) Old silverware(I have a craft project in mind)

And then I come across fabulous items I didn't even know I was looking for, those are some of my favorite finds(like my couch)!

If you aren't a thrift shopper I hope my tips come in handy...I encourage everyone to try it at least once and keep an open mind.

Happy Hunting!

Accesories baby...its ALL about accessories!

I love accessories....my favorite find from this weekend was a "bracelet". Its not so much as a bracelet but a napkin ring and it wasn't really me "finding" it....Chris actually saw it and held it up. But my bracelet is awesome...it reminds me of my spoon ring that I have had for 3 years. I love silverware jewelery and would really LOVE to have some more! But my bracelet is monogrammed...its marked with a "B" for baby and me ;). Actually Chris' last name begins with a "B" so how perfect?! When Chris bought my bracelet...I had no clue what it really was....it had some markings so I looked up today and yep its flatware... bestie found this amusing.... oh well at least AF thought it was fantastic that I had re-purposed my silverware. :)

Another fabulous find came from the local Salvation Army for only $0.99! I love my "new" Owls Hat! Go Forest City OWLS! :) In the picture below I am also wearing a Tiffany's inspired toggle heart necklace I scored at Yokefellow for $6.  I probably paid WAAAYY too much but I like anyways. 

Last but not least are my SHOES. I love shoes. What women doesn't?! I found three fabulous pairs this weekend! I got a pair of Nikes for $8...they may have been worn once! A new pair of dress shoes for work for $3 and finally a pair of Converse All Stars...I have been wanting a pair of "chucks" forever and just never could come to spend $40 on a pair. Good thing too because I found these bad boys for $2!

My Favorite Find

One of my FAVORITE Goodwill finds is one of the more expensive items I have thrifted but it is one we use every day. IT"S MY COUCH! I love my couch..its fabulous and only $25!  When Chris and I found this couch we definitely was not looking for a couch...we were in Shelby goofing off and at 8:30pm (goodwill closes at 9) I decide I wanted to look around in Goodwill before we came back to "small town friendly". When I saw it...I believe it was love at first sight...we talked about our options and decided not to by the couch priced at $50. We came back home..and I was still talking/thinking about this cream couch. The next morning Chris and I were talking to his grandma about our Saturday night out and the conversation came back to the couch. We again talked out our options and we decided to go back to Shelby in the truck...just in case. We got back to Goodwill and there it was! OMG it was marked down to $24.99....YOINK! That tag was mine....I took my ticket to the register to pay.  Chris and I had it loaded and we took our new couch home! We get so much use out of this couch...its actually where I am sitting typing this blog :) when you take the back pillows off its the size of a twin bed! Have I mentioned that I love this couch?!

Project Brooch Bouquet

WE"RE GETTING MARRIED!!!! Not right now...heck we aren't even officially engaged(yet...he has the ring but wont give it to me LOL)....but he has given me the full go ahead to start planning our wedding. Ok so you might be thinking I am crazy, you're probably right but he loves me anyways. I've been thinking about what I wanted, while browsing random wedding websites I saw this AMAZING bouquet but there is NO WAY I can and will pay $500 for a bouquet made of brooches. Being pretty crafty I thought to myself..."Self you can do this! You just need to go visit thrift stores!" It started off slow, I found a gold feather by Sarah Coventry for $1 at Goodwill(Shelby-my favorite). Then the ball started rolling. This past weekend I found 14 at different thrift stores and the 221 Flea Market. With the new additions it has brought my total up to 32.....38 more to go! I really want the enamel colorful flowers but they are extremely hard to find hopefully I will find more.  As I make progress I will update along with how I am making it! :)