Thrifting goals

So I’m slowly going back through all my old posts. If I mention this more than once (or more than a hundred times) it’s because I’m still doing it and it takes forever! I really want my new site to be functional though and for links to work and pictures to be in the right places. One thing I am doing is updating my categories and adding tags. One category that was smoking hot for a while and has almost fallen off the map is New to Me – Thrifting Adventures. There are a couple of reasons.
When I first got his house I thought to myself, “1,100 square feet, how will I ever fill that up? Plus a basement? I’ll be thrifting for years before I even have to shove stuff under the bed!” Well my friends I even added a second story and I still managed to fill the house up nicely (and garage, ahem…). So there’s the space issue, and there’s the lovely husband who doesn’t think we need another chair that I might get to in the next three years (but probably not since I haven’t in the last three) and there’s Tuesday. The way I tend to thrift shop (early mornings at estate and garage sales, popping in and out of the car as I notice one) doesn’t work well with a toddler. I have become annoyed with myself lately at the things I am buying brand new and paying full price for. Things I used to just wait to come around while thrifting.
But tonight I sit here in my $2 Columbia fleece as cozy as can be ready to change my ways.

Observe my $20 shopping spree: a reversible ironing board for hems and cuffs I’m guessing (plan: set up for Tuesday with a play iron, and use myself when needed), tiny hand rake, a couple pairs of pants for Tuesday (when did she start growing like this?), a jersey stripped boat neck shirt (plan: cute skirt for Tuesday), the above mentioned fleece (was this ever worn?!?!), ugly horse thing (plan: let Tuesday get her $1.95 of kicks out of it and send it back to the thrift store), small tool boxes, funnel (I finally remembered we needed one of these!), nice little shovel, $1 double CD set of annoying kids music, 2 bars of Fels-Naptha (I keep reading things that say to use this stuff, I figure it will come in handy some day), Tuesday sized butter knife, little thing to learn to use chopsticks, and a Dover activity book (I always have one in my purse).
I know how quickly these things will get incorporated into our lives and I’ll forget exactly when I got them. I know this because I stumbled upon this post and realized I used four things from that thrifting trip just today! I love that, using old things, things people don’t want. So I’m making a better effort. With my mom and (almost) sister in law Kat helping wrangle Tuesday I’m planning on thrifting every Friday morning. So I’ve set up a nice little list of goals.

Some inspiration from Flickr (these are also on my newly made Flickr gallery: Things I want to find thrifting). 1. Vintage Wood Tray, 2. Vintage Children’s Sewing or Lacing Cards, 3. FP Record Player 2, 4. DSC_0014, 5. vintage doll highchair, 6. coming soon to the store – old fruit crates!
-vintage wire baskets (I’m doubtful I’ll ever have enough of these)
-wooden crates to turn into a shelf thing for Tuesday
-small trays for Tuesday’s projects
-doll highchair (I was thinking wooden, but that blue one is pretty cute!)
-interesting things for Tuesday to sort
-Lacing cards
-Fisher Price record player. They have ones with little plastic records and ones that take actual little records.
-photo holder, I’m thinking a flower frog maybe?
-cute container for my business cards, they are 4×4 so they don’t fit in a standard case
-books, books, books! I still need hardback Harry Potters 1 & 3, Tuesday loves I Spy books, and I collect a vintage children’s series about a girl named Maida (the books are Maida’s little house, Maida’s little zoo, etc.)

-And my dishes: Johnson Brothers Ironstone plates, bowls, etc. I love them. I still remember when I got them (ah yes, and the basement surprise… guess what we’re dealing with round two on that. Details after I told to the waterproofing expert tomorrow). I’ve had some luck on eBay, but shipping prices and breakage in transit never make it worth it (I admit I’m putting all these photos up in the hopes someone says, “hey I live down the street and I have a whole box of these I don’t need!”).
Of course the things I stumble upon that are not on my list are just as fun (like this fleece!). And there are more things in the back of my head if the deal is just too insane. Like the time my mom found a silver tea set for something like $20. If I could get Bj a scroll saw for that I’d be all over it (I’m obsessed with Made by Joel and have determined that toy making should be Bj’s new hobby).
So what are you hoping to find this thrifting season? What is the best thing you’ve ever found? Give us all hope with your astonishing finds!

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9 Comments

  1. It is SO easy to fill up a house nicely when you go thrifting. The finds you’ve shared here are AMAZING, love the whimsical/playful style. I’m hoping to find a couple of household essentials I’ve had my eye on, like more storage boxes, a full-length mirror.
    Good luck with you on your thrifting adventures!

  2. I need to get rid of more stuff before I start introducing more to our home!
    I’ve actually never really been thrifting before. I hit up garage sales occasionally, but never estate sales…Hmm…maybe if you ever have plans to go on a weekend I could join you 😉 I’m sure I could find plenty of stuff I need! lol
    I have so many memories of persuing junk shops/thrift stores with my sister Gina…she was always looking for certain books, records, cds ect. She had this 6th sense about knowing what she could sell on ebay for a nice profit.

  3. nice finds! i can’t wait to get back into estate sales. there aren’t many right now, so i’m waiting until summer. i also love the idea of your thrifting wish list! my aunt goes to a lot of sales + flea markets and she has some photos of things i’m after she carries in her purse. and now that i can physically see what you’re after, i can keep my eye open here in town to 🙂

  4. I wish we had better thrifting around here. Everything pretty scary. I love the photos of the the baskets and boxes. Perfection. 🙂 And speaking of ugly horse…did you see the one that is in the photos of Miri + dress at my house? It’s ridiculous. And it makes noise, even worse. I don’t know why I still have it. They gave it to her when she was in the hospital so I feel like I need to keep it for some odd reason…she doesn’t even play with it!!

  5. I finally made it over to check out your new blog. Looks great!
    I am in a decluttering phase (finally, after years of collecting!). But I do occasionally make it to thrift stores. I look for clothing mostly, occasionally some household items. We have most of what we need already. Our cloth napkins are getting threadbare, so I am looking for more of those. I’d also like some more canning jars before the summer, but those are in high demand lately, as more folks are learning how to can.
    Good luck with your thrifting!

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