Yardsale Tip - make sure street name is spelled right in the ad

Aye yi yi. If your street's name is Cox Road, you should always double check to make sure the classified ad person knows how to spell it correctly. (House # was blackened out by me). This ad appeared in our local rag last week - I couldn't go to it since I was busy with my own sale.

Happy Memorial Day

Had a pretty relaxing Memorial Day weekend. I took the above pic last summer while out on a boat. I wanted to post a different one but I can't find it easily - it's somewhere temporarily lost on a disk amongst my clutter.

School here is getting out the week after next (has a year gone by already???) So that means I better get my thrift store shopping fix in in the next week. My son doesn't like to go thrift store shopping so I take a break during the summer. (But sometimes I manage to sneak in a quick look every once in a while). I am happy that last week I found some end-of-school-year teacher gifts. I was starting to stress on what to give (1 teacher, 3 assistants, 1 speech therapist and 1 occupational therapist). My son had the same teachers as last year and I didn't want to give a duplicate gift (last year gave little gift bag of small items: B&BW hand sanitizer, pen set and something else I forgot). At Staples (on the clearance table) they had these cute turquoise photo boxes with notecards inside for $3 each. So I got six ($18) but then, of course I used three of my $3 Staples coupons and saved $9. So the total came to $9 plus tax. Here's a pic of one:



My husband is going to Los Angeles within the next few weeks. For a job interview. OMG is all I can say. I can't imagine trying to move all my junk. He thinks a new job may make him happy. Unless the job involves getting paid a ton of money to play golf all morning and watch movies in the afternoon, I don't think a job is going to make him happy. So....needless to say, I don't want to move to California. It's just not having to move my junk, I would seriously miss the two awesome thrifts that I live near.

Did a highway yardsale yesterday (made $150)

On my website I say in general to stay away from holding a yardsale on 3 day holiday weekends. I did it anyway. My friend asked me to do a "highway yardsale" with her yesterday and I agreed. For some weird reason (that I don't know the answer to), the highway near us has these weird short dead-end roads that don't go anywhere. So during the summer, many people just set up their yardsale right along the highway without any problems from the police or zoning. I made $150 with just miscellaneous junk and ebay duds. I did stop at a few yardsales before I met my friend and just bought some books for Jacob and a few VHS for .50 each.

I did a web radio interview today with EZHelp.org Most radio shows I've done in the past are live (or pre-taped) and run just once. This one will be preserved forever in a mpeg file online on their site. Oh gawd. I know I sounded like a total doofus (as if that's something new). While it was being done, I booted DH and Jacob out for the morning so I could have peace and quiet. I sent them to Best Buy to buy the $349 laptop that was on sale today. So now when I travel, I won't have to go cold turkey without internet. Yea!!!!

Several months ago I was interviewed for a book on garage sales and it was published this past week. The title is Garage Sale America by Bruce Littlefield. He is sending me a free copy (you know I love free) and I'm on page 46! OMG - I will have to buy a copy to give to my mom for Christmas. But I probably won't be able to keep my mouth shut until then and will have to give it to her before then.


I made some slight changes to my website the other day and figured out how to add YouTube videos. I added a few funny yardsale related YouTube videos to the Humor page

Nasal Douche .50 (I think it can double as a crack pipe)

I had to yardsale with Jacob on Saturday since my husband played golf. We hit a school yardsale (mostly newer items) and then a church yardsale. Best thing about the church yardsale was that all books were .10 each. I bought a box full of hardcover Nora Robert books (for ebay) and also three Taste of Home annual cookbooks.

At a regular yardsale I bought the above vintage nasal douche for .50 (although it has .25 penciled on the box.) It will fit in nicely in my bathroom where I have my vintage shaving brush collection displayed and have a White Beaver's Cough Cream glass canister on a shelf.

Went shopping at the .35 clothing thrift store

Today I bought the above vintage wool letterman cardigan sweater for a whopping .35! Certain day of the week, Vintage Value sells clothes for only .35. I also found a few shirts for myself today. And I bought myself two pairs of shoes, one is a pair of Converse All Star slip on sneakers (.75) and the other is by a brand called Simple. I thought it was neat that it says "future" and "past" with arrows on the bottom.

How much would your Average Joe pay for all this?

Today I bought these ten compact fluorescent light bulbs at Giant (grocery store) - where the normal price is $4.99 each, then you add in the 3 blue cloth re-useable grocery bags that sell for .99 each....so that would be $52.87. But you wouldn't expect ME to pay that of course! I paid nothing. Let me explain. A few weeks ago the store had the lightbulbs on sale for $1 each, but they were sold out. They also had a promotion that if you bought 10 lightbulbs, then you would get 3 reusable grocery bags for free. Since they were out, I got a raincheck for the lightbulb promotion with the free bags. I knew in the Sunday coupon insert there was a $1 off a GE compact fluorecent lightbulb. So I went to ebay and bought 10 of the $1 coupons for $2.25 (including shipping). So I guess I did pay something...$2.25

Wonder bread prices make me wonder. Newsflash - I went to the mall today!

My life significantly changed for the better in the past year when my picky eatter son began eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. That was a big accomplishment because up until then, he had never eaten a slice of bread - let alone bread with peanut butter and jelly on it. It makes it so nice to be able to make him a sandwich for lunch. Anyhow because he is a such a picky eatter, I buy the Wonderbread for Kids which supposedly has extra fiber and vitamins in it. The usual price at the grocery store is $2.69 a loaf. Once in a while it will go on sale for $2 a loaf. Walmart sells it for $2.02 a loaf everyday (but Walmart is a 20 minute drive). Today I took my husband's truck to the dealership to have some work done on it (dealership is an hour's drive away.) Afterwards, I also went to the mall and wandered around. Only bought one $9.99 thing at Kohl's and used a 15% off coupon. (I also shopped at Dollar Tree - love the Dollar Tree - and Tuesday Morning).

I also stopped at a Wonder Bread "thrift" store near the dealership and they had the same Wonderbread for Kids that the grocery store sells for $2.69 per loaf but instead at the thrift store it was only $2.57 for TWO loaves. And the bread is fresh. Knowing this, it makes me never want to buy it again at $2.69. I just wish the bread thrift was closer.

Bargain junk from yesterday = college fund

Yesterday I went to take recycleables to the recycling center and right on top of the bin was this empty clean water jug. I've been looking for one for a while now so I grabbed it. It's going to be a Christmas gift to my brother, but first I will write "Jacob's College Fund - Jug #1" on it. I'm doing it partly as a joke. What I really would like to do is find a nice 55 gallon drum to give him instead of the small 5 gallon jug. My sister has 3 girls (2 which have graduated from HS), and my brother has given both older girls a jug of cash at graduation. So, with Jacob being in First Grade, this will give him plenty of time to fill it.

Note to Self: May 1, 2008 - go to St. Mary's College

and look for some beefcake eye candy. It's a free frugal nude event. Here's a link to remind myself: St. Mary's College naked bike ride

Met former Maryland Senator Bernie Fowler on Saturday

On Saturday the Calvert Marine Museum had a free festival with lots of activities etc (there was a Chesapeake Bay dog retriever demonstration where they would throw stuff in the water and the dogs would retrieve it). I knew Jacob would love it (and he did). Afterwards my husband and Jacob left me there to go to McDonald's while I waited for a live auction to start. While I was waiting, I met former Maryland Senator Bernie Fowler (pictured above). He is very active in promoting the need to clean the Patuxent River and Chesapeake Bay.

Happy Birthday to me!

Today's my birthday but I feel like I received my BD present earlier in the week. Some loser neighbors I had got evicted. So they are now gone and its such a relief.

I saved $2 by not entering the Lobster Zone today

I had lunch today with my husband at a local restaurant. Hadn't been to this particular restaurant in a while and was a little bit weirded out when I saw this Lobster Zone game tank thing. You put in $2 and use the "claw" to try to grab a lobster and put it down the chute. Then they cook it and you eat it. I know people eat lobster all the time but I thought making a game out of it was kinda strange.

More Staples bargains

I went to Staples the other day and went a little overboard on stickies. I couldn't help myself, they were on clearance for only .50 a package. I used one $3 coupon so my total came to $0. If you've read my blog before about Staples, then you know I buy used inkjet cartridges on ebay for about $.75 each and then I recycle them at Staples in exchange for a $3 coupon. So actually all these stickies "cost" me around $.75 since I had to buy the empty inkjet cartridge to begin with. And of course I used my Staples Rewards card so I should earn a few cents back in a cash back bonus.

Gotta check your grocery receipts

I was at the grocery store today and bought some broccoli crowns ($1.29/lb on sale) but the cashier charged me for regular broccoli which cost more. I brought it to the cashier's attention and she just nodded. When I look at the receipt, of course I was overcharged and had to go to customer service for my $1.15 back. So it pays to check your grocery receipt for overcharges.

Tis the Season for gift receiving

Today starts my three weeks of gift receiving. Anniversary, birthday and Mother's Day.

Went to a bunch of yardsales on Saturday. I need to be more careful in what I buy. Last week when shopping at VV during a .35 clothing day, I bought a cool looking retro inspired men's shirt with martini glasses embroidered on it. I get it home and notice a hole right in the front. Ooops. So then I thought "Well, I'll just cut the buttons off and throw the shirt in the textile recycling bin". I look again, and see someone had already cut the buttons off! (VV does not weed thru the junk - they put it all on hangers). I always cut the buttons off old clothes (that aren't suitable for donating) and save them. As if I really need a bunch of buttons. But it's a habit I can't stop.

Yardsales on Saturday were ok. At one community sale a seller had a bunch of boxes of monogrammed stationery from Tiffany's. The monogrammed letters were some unpopular letters like Y and Q. As I was standing by her table, she held up a box of Q stationery and said to her friend "If you go by the name Queen, these would come in handy". How did she know???? (I wasn't even wearing my crown). And no, I didn't buy it.

Happy Belated Earth Day - we celebrated by buying a gas powered hedge trimmer

Earth Day was this past Sunday - we went to a nearby town for their Earth Day festival. They had closed off the streets. When I took the above pic, my back (almost) was to Vintage Value. It just about killed me to walk past it and not go in. My husband would have had a shit fit.

Afterwards we ate lunch at a Mexican restaurant and then went to Lowes and bought a gas-powered hedge trimmer. Happy Earth Day. Here's a money saving tip for saving money at Lowes - get 10% off your purchase at Lowes (the coupon is good to save up to $500) Lowes 10% off coupon link I found this coupon by actually buying a Lowes coupon on eBay - many people sell the coupons on ebay, even though the fine print on the coupon says that coupons cannot be transferred. Well after getting the coupon from the ebay seller, I did some research and found the special Lowes website. Anyhow it takes a day or longer for the coupon to arrive (by email). So give yourself some leeway before your planned Lowes shopping trip to give you time to get the coupon.

Recap of my trip to upstate NY

I never really mentioned what I did over spring break (visited my mom at my childhood home - neither of which is pictured above). My son and I were there for a week. We went to Chuck E. Cheese (twice), did indoor glow-in-the-dark mini golfing, went to a children's museum and also a science museum. Saw part of a planetarium show - we had to leave when the stars starting spinning - Jacob didn't like the spinning part.

Also drove around some of my old stomping grounds. Had to do a driveby at the old bachelorette pad, which I think has turned into a crackhouse. And also did a touristy thing and did a driveby of an Extreme Makeover House (the show will air May 20 - give or take a few days). Both houses are pictured above. I'm sure you can guess which is which.








And a trip to upstate isn't complete without some special foods. Had to buy Paska bread for Easter and that involved going to a little kinda rundown city for an old time real bakery. Another food item I love to have is a fish fry. Here is the place I went for fish frys on Good Friday. Not that I'm very religious and am afraid to eat meat on a Friday or anything, I just like them since they taste so good. Look at all the people waiting in line to order - even though I'm not considered a "local" anymore, even I know to call in the order and go to the pick-up counter rather than waiting in a Disney World type line that wraps around and around and out the door.



As I was going to the science museum (and driving by my former apt) I drove by Union College which has this cool looking building.



I took Jacob to an indoor bouncy/slide place which also had a bunch of video games. Well anyways, I saw this one for toddlers plastered with all kinds of Danger signs on it and thought it was funny.

Bought a brain and a book today

I paid $1 for the jello brain mold and .50 for a book. Pretty slim pickins at the thrift today. Supposed to be a nice weekend, so there should be lots of yardsales this weekend. Then what happens is after the yardsales many people donate the leftovers to the local thrift. Many times I'm shopping on a Wednesday and I see stuff that I passed by the previous Saturday at a yardsale.

Motorcycle fixed. Glasses bought.

My husband got the motorcycle fixed. Get this, it was a measly $3 part that broke and made it impossible to change gears. Back when he bought the motorcycle, he found a website that sells the tech manuals that you download for about $10. The nearest BMW motorcycle repair place is probably over an hour away, so having that manual saved us the hassle (and money) of getting it fixed there.

The above pic is of a couple of glasses I bought to give to my Mother-in-law. Last year when she visited us, she told me she was looking for those kinds of glasses - vintage glasses with a rubbery texture and with a swirl design. I looked them up on ebay, so I knew what I was looking for when I scoured the thrifts. Well it took almost a year, but I finally found them (a set of 5 for $3). Yes I know I could have bought them on ebay for her, but I love a good challenge. And also by not buying them on ebay and lining the pockets of some ebay seller, my $3 is going to help local animals (bought the glasses at a non-profit animal welfare thrift).

Went to the dentist on Monday

I had a 10:10am appointment on Monday to get two fillings replaced. (Personally, I think whenever a dentist can't find any new cavities or other problems to address, they go with the standard "these fillings are looking old, they need to be replaced"). You know you are addicted to thrifting when you schedule your dental appointments to coincide with the nearby thrift store - Vintage Value - for their .35 clothing days.

Anyhow as I was enjoying the 80's music, during a break in the drilling I mumbled to the hygenist "Is this Sirius?" and she said yes. And she said she enjoyed the continuous music, but misses hearing the local news.

Little did we know. God Bless the Hokies.