Black Friday at Value Village 11/27/15

Today is Black Friday. Most people went to conventional store to snag deals. Value Village was doing 75% off pants/bottoms till 1PM. I needed sweat pants/lounge pants, so off I went.

These are 100% Linen pants that were $1.50 each. The same pants sell at Nordstrom for $59.oo.

I tried these on and never wanted to take then off. They are by Arden B. These are a challenge to find online. It appears that Wet Seal used to carry them but don’t any longer. You can buy similar one on Thread Up for around $17. I’m not a member, so they wouldn’t let me do a good search. I did find these for $17.50. I paid $2.00.

Victoria Secret Pink Sweat Pants for $1.50. These start at around $42.00 on V.S. Pink website.

Starting at the left is a pair of cropped Aerie sweatpants I bought for $2.00 It is not the season for cropped pants, so online searches are a challenge but I found these on the website for $20.97.

Next is the pink Calvin Klein cropped sweat pants I bought for $1.00. On the C.K. website, they have a pair of cropped sweatpants for $49.00.  Bay does have a pair that is closer to what I bought for $18.95.

The final thing I bought was cropped Aeropostale sweatpants for $1.50. These are very close for $10 on the website.

I spent $12.05 today and bought 7 pairs of pants. This should last me awhile. Did you do any shopping today for Black Friday? What deals did you find?

A Change for Blog

I started this blog 3 years ago hoping to build something of value. That has not quite happened yet. That is ok. I am raising babies, homeschooling growing children, and loving my husband.

I do not have time to do the sewing I want (you know, 2 toddlers). I am trying to get rid of stuff, so thrifting has taken a back burner, unless we need something.

I want to continue blogging and this life style, of using everything to it’s fullest, is very dear to my heart. I plan on posting as I do things pertaining to this life style. There will be a change though.

I have decided to stop blogging about food on this site. It feels inappropriate. I follow a very specific diet that has helped me reverse my depression, clear cystic acne and stop essential tremors. I believe it to be a wise move to start another blog that is solely dedicated to that endeavor and how I make it work.

My new blog is called Vegan for my Wallet. Please hop over and take a look at what I have done so far. Leave me comment and tell me what you would like to see. I appreciate your support and look forward to see you over there. I do have a Facebook page and Instagram account for this new blog as well. Please stop by and give me a follow.

Thrift store finds 10/17/15

Today was 50% off everything at St. Vincent de Paul’s and we need winter jackets. So off I went, with all 3 kids.The trip was a partial success. This is what I came across.

Little girl middle weight Columbia jacket $4.00 I found an equivalent on eBay for $19.99 and the listing doesn’t look nearly as nice. I can’t seem to find the equivalent on Columbia’s website right now. It is a little more than a rain coat but less than a winter jacket.

Sessions boys ski/snowboard jacket $5.00

This was an interesting find to research because this company was bought out and then disbanded. There was not a lot out there. Nothing like it came up on eBay but I found a listing on Amazon for the exact same thing, just a different color for $64.95. 

In Defense of Food by Michael Pollen $.85 Amazon has it for a penny.

5 Minute Princess Stories $.40 Again, it is a penny.

The Hardy Boys #12 $.40 Here is the Amazon listing. 

Columbia Boots youth size 6 $4.50 The similar shoes run from $55 to $60 on Columbia’s website. Finding the same thing on eBay was a challenge. What I found ranged from $8.99 – $16.50 plus there would be shipping.

Pokemon shirt $.50 My son is obsessed with Pokemon lately, so I caved when he said he wanted the shirt. It is pretty big so I think it will be awhile till he can wear it. I was surprised to find an eBay listing for $19.

MiniStar baby boots $1.00 I didn’t find anything on Amazon or Target. I found several listing on ebay from $8.81 and up.

Bottle cap belt $1.50 Here is an eBay listing. There was no tag, so I can’t get specific.

Heritage tank top medium $.50 I did a quick search and didn’t come up with anything.

Cute elephant purse $2.50 I found this while searching ranging from $10 to $17.

I think it was a pretty good day. Kids got stuff they needed plus a few fun things. Have you found anything lately?

Thrift Store Finds 10/12/15

  
I have been avoiding the thrift store because I really want to get rid of stuff. That seems to be a theme in the blogging world right now. I feel like I’m drowning in “stuff” and whenever I take a load to the thrift store, someone gives me more.

I have NEEDED jeans. I had 3 pairs and one was too big and another was starting to get worn out. Can you say “saggy butt?” It was time to bite the bullet and get some new one.

Yesterday was 99 cent day at Value Village, plus Super Saver card holder got 50% off clothes. Sounds like a great day to Jean shop!

I got 4 pairs.

1 pair of Lucky Brand bootcut Jeans. I paid $6.50. They sell on the lucky brand website for $59.40. I did see them as low as $21.68 but I have never bought from this website, so I would be hesitant to purchase them.

1 pair of Abercrombie and Fitch bootcut Jeans. Again, I paid $6.50. These sell for $78 on their website. I found these for $34.95 plus $5.95 shipping.

1 pair of Natural Reflections jeans for $5.00. I had never heard of these but I found them at Bass Pro for $45.99. People are, also, selling them on eBay for about $9.99.

1 pair of Buffalo Jeans David Bitton for $1.99. This seems to be the closest to what I bought on their website, selling for $118.00. They are listed as low as $5 on eBay but you would still have to pay shipping. This is the find of the day.

  

  
My son, also, found an Avengers comic for $.99. The price on the cover was $3.99

I found a friend 2 pairs of maternity pants for $.99 each. Motherhood.com sell pants as low as $9.99. This is still 10 times what I paid. My daughter got a pair of butterfly wings to wear for $.99. I’m not sure what these are worth but to a 3 year old girl, they are priceless.

The jeans, alone, cost $301.39 full retail. That is HUGE! I would say that this was a good day!

Pizza Night on the cheap!

I am really fascinated with finding the cost of every meal because I think people are just wrong with how much it cost to eat real food. Tonight me did tortilla pizzas. Its a pretty simple thing. Tortillas on a cookie sheet with all your fixing, baked in the oven at 350 for about 8 minutes (my oven runs cold, so you might not need so long).

Now lets look at how much this cost (again, I will round some numbers up).

1 pack of 10 tortillas I got at the bread outlet for $1.10

1 bottle of organic pizza sauce that I paid $1.00 for and I used less then a third of the bottle. I will say the cost for this meal is 34 cents.

1 bell pepper I bought in the discount produce section for 33 cents

1/2 an onion  for 19 cents

Six of the pizzas had cheese. I bought the cheese on sale for $3.99 for 2 pounds, that makes the cost for this recipe about 50 cents.

The ones with cheese also had smoked sausage. I got the package for $1.00 and used a third of it, making it 34 cents for this recipe.

Three had no cheese and I used hummus. I bought a 2 pound container for 4.99. I used 1/4 of a cup for all 3 pizzas. That is a cost of 33 cents.

I used Field Roast Sausage on those. A package of 12 cost $12.00. I used only 1, costing $1.00 for this meal.

The total for this meal for my family of 5 is $4.13. That is actually a lot better than I thought. It is interesting to see how cheap you can make a healthy meal. What is your best and healthiest “budget” meal?

Thrift store finds 6/1/15

I’m not going to do a break down today because none of the finds were “remarkable” by themselves. My youngest needed jammies and I’m trying to collect classics for homeschool reading. Today I bought 30 items for $23. That is 77 cents a piece. I’m happy.

Easy Veggie Alphabet Soup

One argument for eating healthy is that it is too expensive. For example, you can buy a box of mac and cheese for under a dollar, than with butter and milk it cost closer to $2.

I can do better and have done better. This meal is an example of that. I am new to writing recipes but am very familiar with the math, so if a miss something in writing it out please let me know. I am going to round up the prices to give you a “worst case scenario” for this recipe.

1 quart of broth – free (I make my own with veggies scarps)

1 can of diced tomatoes (59 cents at Fred Meyer or 78 cents at Costco for the organic)

1/2 an onion (onions are 39 cents a pound at Costco, so if an onion is a pound the cost for this recipe is about 20 cents)

2 minced cloves of garlic (I head of garlic is 33 cents a piece at Fred Meyer, if there is a dozen in a head The cost for this recipe is about 6 cents)

1/2 a bag or 1 cup of frozen veggies (These were 79 cents a bag at Fred Meyer the other day, for this recipe is 40 cents)

1 can or 2 cups cooked of beans (I used black beans today, which is 83 cents a pound but this could be made cheaper with a cheaper bean, i.e. lentils are 53 cents a pound. For this recipe, I paid about 40 cents.)

1/3 cup of alphabet pasta (I got mine in the Hispanic section at the grocery store for 33 cents a 7 ounce bag. The cost for this recipe is about 11 cents. This could be made even cheaper using rice. Rice is only 19 cents a pound, which would make the cost for this recipe would be 6 cents.)

For the last few ingredients I am going to roughly estimate 50 cents. These are harder to calculate.

1 tbls olive oil

1 tbls cumin

healthy pinch of salt and pepper.

Warm oil in a pot and sweat onions and garlic. Add Add everything except pasta and bring to a boil. Add pasta, bring to a boil and turn down to a simmer and cover. Simmer for about 15 min or until pasta is tender. Now your ready to eat.

The total cost for this is $2.45. My kids think it is ok and my hubby had seconds. Plus, I have leftovers. When was the last time you had left overs with mac and cheese. If you use lentils, rice and the cheaper tomatoes your cost is $2.02. Eating right on a mac and chees budget!

Thrift store finds 4/13/15

Took a quick trip to Value Village this morning to grab a few things. It is 99 cent day plus 50% off jeans for club members. I didn’t find any jeans but found some books and tops.

I checked these on Amazon. The only ones worth anything were The Handbook of Homeopathy, worth $3.73 and I paid $3.99 (ugh) and Healing with Homeopathy, worth $18.04, I paid $2.99 (redeemed). The other 2 were only on sale for a penny on Amazon.

I am getting ready for warmer weather. These were 99 cents. Zappos sell the equivalent of both of these. The Adidas on the left sells for $22 and the Nike on the right sells for $25.
Today, I spent around $20 for everything (there were a couple odds and ends not pictured here) but saved $60.
I wasn’t feeling too good about today because I spent so much (yes, I think  $20 is a lot) but written out, it looks pretty good. 😀

Update: The odds and ends were 3 kids books and 5 articles of clothing for me. That’s 14 items for 20 bucks.

Scrappy Mop Pad

What do you do with leftover, weird, skinny, scraps from a dish towel project? You make this.

Tried it dry. It was ok. It was fantastic sprayed with cleaner.

This project was a challenge but not because it was difficult. As I got going on it, my sewing machine jammed. I had to ask the handsome husband to fix it. Then, the first one I made didn’t work. I did pockets and not straps. They didn’t leave enough room to get the pad on. I like this final one. It is worth a try, if you have the scraps and time.

Scrappy Dish Cloth

We have two dish cloths. That is not, nearly, enough for a family of 5. They are always icky but I don’t want to buy anymore. I have tons of scrap fabric and lots of towels that are fraying. So here we go.

I tried it in the kitchen and it works great. I cut a 9 inch square out of the material and sewed them together like a pillow, then top stitched it. The whole project was under a half an hour and saves me money. I will probably be making a few more.