What a Deal!

  I am linking up with my good friend Mrs. Taffy over at My Life on a Taffy Pull blog.  This is a way to share those great garage sale and/or thrift store treasures we find for a bargain price with others.  I find it really interesting to see what other people are buying for their families and even more exciting is how other moms are able to S-T-R-E-T-C-H those dollars to provide the necessities for their families, and of course some fun things, too.  :)

  I don't ever remember going thrift store shopping while I was growing up, but I do remember going to the occasional garage sale with both my mom and my dad.  And although we were far from well off, we did buy mostly everything new while I was growing up.  But as an adult, I have become quite a seasoned garage saler and thrift store shopper. 

  I've been shopping this way for many years, especially since becoming a mother and stay-at-home-wife/mother, and as our family has grown there has been more of a need to save money in this way.  I am a thrift store shopper partly out of necessity but mostly out of wanting to be a good steward of the finances that God has entrusted to us.  For the most part, we would have the means to go out and buy things new, but to me, why buy it new if you can find something in perfectly good working order used for less than half of the price.  Again, it's really all about being a good steward of our finances, just as I would choose to shop at a discount department store as opposed to a designer department store.  Also, I am able to afford things at garage sales that I wouldn't normally be able to afford, or rather, I wouldn't "waste" our money on otherwise.  For example, both of my boys enjoy playing hockey.  Now, we aren't die-hard hockey players by any means, we are more casual hockey players.  Therefore, all of their hockey equipment has either come from garage sales or second-hand hockey stores, including their ice-skates.  Now, if it weren't for being able to purchase these items at such a deep discount, neither of them would be able to play hockey, for the simple reason of the equipment is just plain TOO expensive for our budget.

  So, with all of that being said, and without further delay, here are my treasures I found on a garage sale/thrift store excursion a couple of weeks ago with my mom. 

  Okay, so I have to come clean, here, because during these posts, you will probably see A LOT of books that I find at a great deal.  The truth is, is that I am a "sucker" for a good book (in a good way, of course).  As a homeschooling mom, I feel that part of my job is to supply my children with good educational books, good wholesome books, and good quality literature books to read.  And as a "bookie" myself, I love to find good, inexpensive books for myself to read as well.  So in the 2 pictures above, I got all of those books at a thrift store, where they were having a sale on some of those books, which were .10 cents each, and the others were either .50 cents or $1.00 each.  All totaled I think I spent about $10.-12. on all of these books, which if you have ever bought a book at retail price, you know you could only buy maybe 1 book for that price, and the great thing is, is that after I am done with them I can re-sell them at a booksale or garage sale myself, and the words never wear out, so the next person will read the same things we read!  What a great thing!  :)



  Okay, the next 2 pictures are from garage sales.  The top picture is a bunch of books, one video, and a brand new sea adventures craft set.  I wasn't even set on buying all of this stuff in the top picture, but I set it on the table where you pay to look through it, and ask for the prices, because the books weren't priced, and the lady said you can have all of it for $2.00, and that craft set was marked $1.00 and the video was marked .50 cents, so I basically got all 6 of the other books for .50 cents, so I took it all.  One of those books is actually required reading for a curriculum we use, and one of my daughters is all about old-fashioned things, so that Pioneer cookbook should be really fun for her!  The shoes in the next picture are for Amish girl, whose feet just seem to keep growing and growing, so she is always needing new shoes, and these were both brand new (one had tags on them) at $2.00 for both pairs.  The great thing is, is that she loves them and wears them all the time!  Woo-hoo!  Score!  Not pictured, but also bought at this garage sale was a brand new bead set that was .50 cents. 

  The brand new things I often buy either for Christmas or birthday gifts.  Why not, it's the same stuff you would buy at the store for a fraction of the price?  After all, isn't it all about the thought of the gift, the fellowship, and building relationships, and not the price of the gift or the location that the gift was bought?  My kiddos know that they sometimes get gifts that are from garage sales or thrift stores, and they are perfectly fine with it, and they know that we love them no matter where their gift came from, or what the cost.

  Well, hopefully you enjoyed my post about the treasures I found a couple of weeks ago.  I already have garage sales scheduled on the calender for the end of this week, for the biggest garage sale event the kiddos and I go to all summer, so the next "What a Deal!" post should be a biggie!  :)  I can't wait!  Oh, BTW, my children are all about garage sales, too!  They absolutely love to find garage sale and thrift store deals just like their mommy!  :)

Happy shopping,

It's a Lacy Life