THE SURPRISE IN MY FRIDGE

I never thought I'd be one of those bloggers who writes about their breakfast, but there is a thrifting angle to it.

Opened the fridge this morning to pack my lunch, and found a surprise my husband left for me:
Fresh strawberries to dip in sour cream and brown sugar. Mmmm! What a wonderful start to the week. I go to work very early and usually eat something mid-morning, so I packed his surprise into a basket and took it with me.
Those strawberries were so, so good. And all day, whenever I thought of my surprise when I opened the fridge, I got a little glow. We’ve been married a long time—nearly 37 years—and he can still amaze me.

The thrifting angle? The dishes, of course. I picked up six of the little white ramekins a year or two ago, I think for a dollar. Wasn’t sure if they’d prove useful, but hardly a day goes by that we don’t use them for something. The oblong platter was one of the Winfield Pottery pieces I picked up last summer. (Sara G, you’ll recognize the pattern!) Even the notepaper was a Saturday morning find, bought because my husband tells a story about his dad as a boy that takes place by a windmill in west Texas.
I hope everyone had as pleasant a start to your week as I did. And take it from me, if you want to make your sweetie happy, a surprise in the fridge is a great start!

A NEW THRIFTING YEAR: LET THE GARAGING BEGIN!

Ahh, the first trip of 2009 in search of yard sales. Beautiful warm, sunny day, though windy. (Sorry, not trying to rub it in for those of you in colder climes!) And if the very first sale of the year is an omen of what is to come, I'm going to have to get more serious about my goal to be more circumspect in what I buy this year. Here’s what it looked like—part of it!

That’s just the stuff that was on the patio; there was also the yard and driveway. Lots of stuff was in multiples and much appeared unused. I asked the young woman running the sale if they had a party business or something. She said no, her mother had just loved to throw parties, there were twelve children in the family so there was always an excuse to celebrate something. And when her mom found something that she liked, she’d buy lots of them to share with the family. “Mom passed away a couple of years ago,” she told me, “and there’s so much stuff in there that when we come to visit Dad, we can barely fit in the house!” I tried to help her out by buying perhaps more than I should have, but dang, the prices were right! For instance, I got these four enameled steel tubs, some of which were never used, for a quarter apiece.


My first thought was to plant stuff in them (it always is) but I did so well buying pots last year that I don’t really need them. But they’ll be great for my children’s librarians; can’t you see them piled with puppets or reading prizes?

Later in the morning I thought I'd topped the family with twelve kids. I stopped at a sale where I recognized the dog (and the people looked vaguely familiar too). The parents are moving to Florida soon and some of the offspring are moving into their house. The daughter I was talking to said something about being the youngest of 26. What! You’re the youngest of 26? No, no, the youngest AT 26. Whew!

At one stop I had to park a bit further away because there was a moving van in front of the house having the sale. Two young men were unloading furniture, which was being set up to sell. The gray haired gent (who was probably about my age!) in charge was trying to glue an old rocker back together that had come partially unstuck. He had trouble getting the pieces to slide together so I helped hold things and we chatted. He said his son and daughter in law are moving in with him for about six months because they unexpectedly sold their house. I couldn’t help wondering how you sell a house unexpectedly; seems like something you’d pretty much have to be aware of ahead of time. But he went on to say that they’d had their house on the market for months and had given up on ever selling it, when suddenly someone made an offer. So he’s taking them and his two year old granddaughter in while they look for another house. He was very excited about having the granddaughter around; I bet they’ll have a good time together.

Another sale was pretty sparse by the time I reached it, but I picked up a small leather-covered box, about six inches long, and when I opened it saw that it's the inner box for a Rolex watch.

Beautifully made. The young man selling said fifty cents, and I said sure. Then he said that it had belonged to his good friend who died recently, and he started telling me all about this guy. You may have read about him in the paper. His name was Nick Scandone, and he won a gold medal for sailing in the Paralympics in Beijing last year. He had ALS, and his sailing partner was a woman who is a paraplegic. He also was named the U.S. Sailing/Rolex Yachtsman of the Year in 2005, which I suppose is where my box came from. A couple of other people at the sale were neighbors and they all talked about what a great guy Nick was. His friend having the sale said that Nick had persevered and won his gold medal, and at the end he had gotten himself out of the hospital so that he could die in peace at home.

I spent a total of $7.50 this Saturday, mostly at that first sale. Along with the tubs, I came home with:

Some items for our baseball-themed Summer Reading Program
A red mesh colander
Some silly socks that yes, I will be wearing. Probably not to work though. After all, they go so well with the colander!
Two unopened packages of these spiffy rose lights. Can't you see them strewn through some plants in my garden? I may have to give a summer party this year to show them off! Hmmm, I saw replacement bulbs at the 99 Cent Store, maybe I should get some colored bulbs for them…


This coat rack was admittedly an impulse buy. Two of the lower hooks are broken but I'm hoping my husband has some in his hardware stash. But don’t you think it's cute?


Here’s another impulsive purchase, but hey, it was a buck, and again, awfully cute.

I'm thinking of taking down the hand-towel bar in my periwinkle blue bathroom and putting this up in its place. Towel & hairdryer from the two hangers, something decorative above. I'll keep you posted.

ALL of that (plus a green glass plate, maybe Depression glass, that I couldn’t get a good picture of) came from the first sale, for a total of $5. And my hands were so full when I went to pay that the woman asked if I'd like a box. Sure, I said, and she emptied out this 18 gallon tub and gave it to me! I told her I was thrilled to have it, and she said they have dozens. I think she was thrilled to have me take it!

The other $2.50 went for the Rolex box, and this Liz Claiborne sweater, which is destined for felting. I think it has a felted-bag feel to it. We’ll see what happens.
Also, got this cute bowl. I would so much rather eat from china that amuses me!
And lastly, from the youngest of/at 26, this kinetic frog thingie.


At the very last sale of the morning, one of the ladies was holding a baseball glove and laughing when I walked up. “Poor Amy,” she said, “she was the youngest kid and by the time she got this glove it had everyone else’s name crossed out.” Let me take a picture for my blog, I said, so she scrambled through several gloves to find that one.
Then she said, “Oh look, this was mine. What in the world was I thinking of when I wrote this on my ball glove?”

WEARABLE ART—FOR FIFTY CENTS!

Over the weekend I finally tackled a project I've been thinking about for some time. Inspired by a couple of projects shown in past issues of Altered Couture magazine, and encouraged by the acquisition of materials so inexpensive that it literally didn’t matter what I did to them, I've created what I think is a pretty amazing transformation.

From this:

To this!

And all for about fifty cents. Told you I was the queen!

The shoes came from a free box at a semi-annoying sale last year. The ad promised lots of fabric and craft supplies and even though it was off my usual path I decided to take a look. Unfortunately, while there was a lot of stuff on the driveway, it was overpriced and there was nothing of interest to me. Which was at least partially explained when I heard the seller bragging that she had let someone come a couple of days early and buy all her best stuff. Okay, I admit it was hers to sell, but doesn’t she realize there are rules? And that one of them is people who come early are cheating? (Yes, I'm joking. Pretty much.)

So I headed back to my car and noticed a box o’ free stuff nearby. And there was this pair of shoes in quite good condition that to the naked eye looked about my size. Okay, I can hear some of you going ewwww, used shoes! You don’t know where those have been! Trust me, you have no idea how many feet have been inside a pair of new shoes at the store either. And I know something about leather shoes that not everyone is aware of.

You can wash them! Yup, right there in your washing machine. I threw ‘em in with a couple of old towels and used the gentle cycle, then let them dry in the sun, and voila—clean shoes. Which, when I tried them on, fit perfectly. I could have polished them at this point but I just knew there would be something better to do with them.

Sometime later I scored two new packages of origami paper for fifty cents, planning to give them away.

One pack was indeed given. But then I was looking at that magazine and saw what they'd done with shoes, and thought of that colorful paper. And have been thinking of it for months. I have no idea what kept me from diving in, because once I got started it was a blast.

You need a lot of specialized equipment for this kind of project:

Yup. Scissors and glue. The magazine article said she’d used bookbinder’s glue. I looked that up, and basically it's white glue. Elmer’s. I cut the paper into roughly two inch squares,
spread the glue very thinly on the back with a folded out paper clip, and I was off. It was really fun playing with colors and patterns and shapes. I took my time, going off to do something else when I got bored. As I was working I remembered that my husband had picked up a little bottle of gold paint, like you use on a model, so I painted the heels with that. And rather than put the shoelaces back I used a couple of short pieces of black elastic. All told, the ingredients couldn’t have cost more than fifty cents.

So today the shoes had their maiden voyage; I wore them to work. There are a couple of spots I need to reglue, but I've got plenty more Elmer’s! And people’s reactions were fun, especially the lady at the restaurant where I had lunch who came up beside me and breathed, “Where did you get those SHOES?!”

ANNOUNCING THE TEDDY BEAR GIVEAWAY WINNER…AND A TEASER FOR TOMORROW!

I can certainly see why people use the random-number method of selecting a winner for their giveaways…this was hard! Little Bear and I enjoyed all the wishes you made on her (or his!) behalf. But—and I didn’t know this before—this bear has a definite literary bent and is well up on the bears of children’s literature. So the winner of this Little Bear is (drum roll) Aloha Jan, who wrote, "I have 3 wishes: to travel like Paddington, have adventures like Pooh, & find love in the arms of a child like Corduroy."

Pretty good wishes for anyone, bear or not! So, Aloha Jan, I'll be getting your bear to you ASAP. And I told Bear you’re a Hawaii lover, so he (or she) is expecting to go along on your next trip!

The rest of you wishers mustn’t despair. I have four more miniature bears I'll be giving away in the next few weeks, so stay tuned. And heaven only knows what I might pick up at a yard sale to give away!

Now, about that teaser…I did something rather fun over the weekend with a couple of yard sale finds—one from a free box, the other packaged in plastic; a bit of Elmer’s glue; and two short pieces of elastic. It's colorful and functional. Stay tuned tomorrow and see what it is—bet you can't guess, but I'd love it if you tried! (Okay, the whole truth is, I left my camera at work, and it has the pictures I need still on it.)

Meanwhile, let me close with my favorite line from another children’s book about a bear. Corduroy was not the only bear that Don Freeman wrote about. Some of you may remember Beady Bear, published way back in 1954, which ends with this wonderful sentence:
“Down the hill to home they went, hand in paw and paw in hand.”

WOO HOO, I WON A COOL GIVEAWAY!

Just got a message telling me I won Llyn M's fabbo 200th Post Giveaway! I'm so excited, isn't that the perfect way to begin the New Year? I'm always on the lookout for omens, and I really like this one!

I love Llyn's motto: ""Someday I shall burst my bud of calm and blossom into hysteria." Thanks, Llyn, you have SO made my day!

10,000 Visitors--and a Miniature Bear Giveaway!

The Queen of Fifty Cents reached a milestone yesterday--our 10,000th visitor stopped by! When I started this adventure back at the end of March I had no idea if anyone would ever read it. Receiving your comments and visiting your blogs has been so much fun, and I love knowing there is a world-wide community of folks who appreciate the quirky wonder of second-hand shopping. My statistics program includes a world map showing where you have visited from, and I've been amazed at how far my words have reached--and how near. Thank you all.

I've been planning to do a series of giveaways in the new year, and this seems like the perfect place to start. The prize? This 3.5" teddy (dated 1986) made by Geri's Bears.

Yes, of course I found it at a yard sale!

What do you have to do to win? As you know, this blog is all about stories, and that's what I want from you! See the tiny gold wishbone charm on Bear's chest?


Leave a comment saying what you think this bear is wishing for. Bear and I will confer and choose our favorite. Deadline: this Sunday, January 4, 1 pm PST. We can't wait to see what wishes you come up with!

YARD SALE STATISTICS

I've been having some fun looking back over the year’s thrifty purchases. Yes, I keep records, which may strike some as obsessive, but I like knowing how I've spent my money. Thanks to spreadsheets it takes very little time. When I get home from garaging on Saturday morning I spend a few minutes entering data—what I bought, how much I paid and how much it would have cost if I'd bought it in a store. I include a category, like clothing or door prizes for work, and any notes about the item. Later I may go back and add information, such as an item being donated to the thrift store if I decide not to keep it. By the end of the year I have a complete picture of my Saturday activities.

I started doing this about four years ago when I started reselling on eBay. I knew I'd need to keep records for tax purposes. You know, I've seen discussions on other people’s blogs questioning the morality of reselling, that somehow it's wrong to make a profit on something bought at a yard sale or thrift store. I don’t see it that way. I figure other people have the same opportunity to sell stuff as I do. There’s nothing so difficult about selling online that an average person with a computer and a digital camera can’t learn to do it. Yes, I make a profit on what I resell, but I also spend my time and resources finding stock, taking the pictures, writing the ads, and paying for the auctions. Besides, isn’t the basic advice for making money to buy low and sell high? That’s not just for the stock market!

Anyway, if you’re curious, here’s how a dedicated garager spent her money this year.

APPAREL
I bought 29 pieces of clothing, two for my husband and the rest for me. Eight ended up being donated. Total expenditure: $17.35. Included were 5 sweaters, 4 shirts, 2 skirts, 3 slacks, and a bathing suit. Best deals:
• Land’s End cashmere sweater for my husband—a $130 value for 25 cents
• My Pendleton wool bathrobe—you can buy one like it on their website for $198 plus tax and shipping. I paid a buck
• A beautiful Jones New York silk skirt that would be about $110 at Macy’s. Another one dollar deal.

The only clothing we’ve bought in stores this year were shoes and a new billfold for my husband when his was stolen. I haven’t bought myself anything in a store since August of 2007, and that was undies and shoes, which I admit are hard to find on driveways.

It was a good year for accessories too. I bought 29 items for $20.45, including 2 hats, a watch, 2 vintage purses, 9 pairs of earrings, 7 pins, 3 scarves and a new billfold. One of the scarves is a silk Ralph Lauren thing that retails for about $80.


CRAFTING
I hadn't done anything crafty for a long time, and I threw myself into it this year. It's been fun, I've learned some stuff, but I may be over the fever now. I bought 54 items for $24.60, but ended up donating 18. So I had a year’s worth of fun for 25 bucks and made the Goodwill store happy too. Included in the stash:
• Many, many buttons—huge bag, plus carded buttons @ two other sales
• 5 pieces of yardage, including entire roll of Schumacher drapery fabric and 7 yards of vintage paisley
• 22 clothing items for fabric
• 11 sweaters for felting
• Supplies, including tiny ceramic clothes pins, inkjet transfer paper, box of imported threads, jewelry findings, & picture matting cutter
Best deals: Schumacher fabric, approx. 20 yards for $2
Red cashmere sweater vest, $0.50; made at least 6 roses for gifts
The felted sweaters have been the most fun. I've used them to make shoes and slippers, flowers, and fingerless gloves. And yesterday I created this patchwork cover for an old wool-stuffed bed pillow we were going to throw away. I think it looks wonderful in the huge basket I paid a dollar for a couple of years ago, and I'm hoping it will become a favorite sleeping spot for Noll Baxter and Mrs. Wilberforce.


DECORATIVE ITEMS
Had no idea I'd picked up so many—51 items for $42.42! But I liked what I got, because I only ended up donating four. Included were:
• 4 figurines, 2 vintage
• 6 picture frames
• 8 vintage linens
• 3 toys
• 6 vases
• 7 items for my work office
• 1 vintage quilt
My favorites? The Sunflower quilt, big foot chicken & Thurber dog. They make me smile, every time I look at them.



ENTERTAINMENT
We subscribe to Netflix, and occasionally go out to a movie (the ones that need to be seen on a big screen, which turned out to be 5 this year). And we splurged on season passes to Disneyland. But I pick up a lot of entertainment on Saturday mornings—124 items for $59.50. This bought me 18 books, 13 CDs, 44 movies—many of them DVDs—and about 70 magazines. No wonder I’m letting subscriptions lapse! We did donate 18 items, but that was mostly books and movies after we read or watched them.

GIFTS
Gift giving is not something I'm especially good at—but neither are a lot of other people, judging by the number of items I see on driveways that were originally received as gifts. I picked up 16 items for $10.48 that I gave to friends and family. Best deal: embroidered raw silk robe for my friend Heather, who happened to be staying with us that weekend. Most fun: pink flamingo skirt for making Christmas gift bags. Reusable!


HOUSEHOLD ITEMS
Good lord, I brought home 101 items! Only spent $58 though, which got me
• Food, including tea, oat bran, and fresh picked fruit & avocados
• 3 pieces of furniture—2 antique benches & glass/rattan patio table
• 25 bars of soap, and 5 other bathroom items
• 19 kitchen items—red tea kettle, candy thermometer, new vacuvin, stainless steel cookie press and more
• 15 dishes—plates, bowls, glasses, teacups, tea pots…
• 13 office items, including photo paper, vintage stapler, fiskars scissors
• 6 x 8’ wool rug
Ended up donating 6 things.
Best deals: the rug, which goes with the $2 roll of fabric
Brand new sweater shaver—works great
Free kumquats—we made a whole bunch of kumquat marmalade!

WORK
I lashed out $42 for 62 door prizes, but hey, my children’s librarians are worth every penny! ;o)

YARD
Here’s the category with the highest average per item: 28 items for $66.60. But most of that was spent on one deal—an electric lawn mower, hedge trimmer, and 150’ extension cord for $45. We spent about ten more bucks for a new blade, and now have the exact mower we were about to buy for over $200. I also brought home 4 yard art items and 12 pots, many large and expensive. Well, not expensive for me, but for the person who bought them in a store.


Last category: ITEMS FOR RESALE
I was amazed to see I'd picked up 49 items, spending $52.75. I only sold 19, ended up donating 15, and am holding 15 more for future sale. As I've mentioned, sales were really off this year, which was discouraging, but even so I’ve made a 462% profit on the original investment, and if you can show me anything on the stock market doing that well I'd like to buy some! Best return on investment: $15.29 for a 25 cent sweater. Okay, the dollars aren’t big, but that’s over 6000% (I think I'm doing the math right…). And the best part is, the person that bought the sweater got an amazing deal too—a new item that would have been at least $80 in a store. Hooray, we all win!

So that’s my year o’ garaging. Hope yours was as much fun—and as lucrative!—and that we’ll meet up out on the thrifting trail in the new year. I'll be the one in the green convertible!