Yard sale and other frugal doings

We are gearing up for a HUGE yard sale at my mom's house in a little over a week.  The best part, for me?  So far I have very little in the sale!  But I have been getting rid of things, which means most of it has gone to Goodwill or other charity organizations.  Which means I don't have to deal with as many feelings of "Oh maybe I should keep that..." or feeling sad that something is going away.  

I do have a few other items to take over, things that my husband thinks are worth selling and not just giving away, plus items too big to be donated:  electric lawnmower, patio furniture set, and some electronic items.  If these items don't sale at the yard sale, I will put them on Craigslist.  

I do have a couple things I am waffling over:  sets of dishes that belonged to my grandmothers.  My mom saved a set for each of her three girls.  My sisters don't want them though, and are settled enough to take them if they wanted, so they have been stored at my house for quite some time.  I'm ready to get them out of here, but it is tough because of who they belonged to.  

Funny thing though---I have no memories of my grandmothers using these dishes! These must be ones that were put up in china cabinets, bought and stored away, or used before I was born.  I have other items that belonged to my grandmothers and and actually have memories attached to them.  OK....I think I might have actually talked myself into getting rid of the dishes just now!

In other frugal items:

-I returned an air filter that Mr. GV picked up at Lowe's.  It was the wrong size, and since I had to go to WalMart anyway, I just got a credit on my card and bought it for half the price.

-I've been doing some surveys for General Mills for a while now, and just cashed in for a $75 Amazon gift certificate.  

-I also cashed in enough MyPoints for $50 from Amazon.

-I'm trying to remember to use Ibotta and the other grocery apps when I am going to buy something anyway.  Some times it just seems like too much effort to scan in the receipt.  lol

-I've been saving a decent amount at the grocery store with coupons and sales lately...27% and 30% recently with some free product coupons and clearance items.

-We are now taking out cash once every two weeks for grocery items and eating out.  It's been a good way for us to see how much we spend on those items.

-Today I am going to the bank to put in our income tax refund, a check from my mom for something I bought for her online, check from a friend for something I picked up out of town, reimbursement from my mil for her cell phone service, and from my bil for his portion of flowers for a funeral.  Everything except the IRS check (obviously) all came out of our checking originally, and we are just being paid back.  However, since we've already spent it and managed to get by without that money for the last few weeks, I'm going ahead and putting it in savings. All of this is going into our short-term savings, and I am thrilled that our car savings is steadily moving up.  I am determined to pay cash for the next one just as we did for the last one, and every bit we save up is less in stock we will have to cash out.  

Gone gone gone!

I am constantly amazed how much stuff is in this house.  It never seems to end.  I am grateful for what we do have, of course, and don't want anything to happen to the items we cherish.  But sometimes it is just overwhelming.  

I know a lot of other people can relate.  Some people like to be surrounded by things, and others like a minimalistic look.  I like to think I aspire to be somewhere in between.  I don't have curtains in my house.  We have blinds and shutters, and that's all we need.  Curtains catch dust and pet hair, and that would just be one more thing to clean.  I do have things hanging on the walls, but not lots.  My mother-in-law has, in the past, threatened to buy something to put above my couch.  I happen to like my big, blank wall.  Ha!  

These things left my house last week!  Well, a few of them are still here but they are just bagged up and waiting for me to go to electronic recycling, the library, and the humane society.

 My mom is having a moving sale most likely in the next month or so.  It all depends on when she sells her house.  Meanwhile, my sister and I have been taking lots of things over and storing them in the shop until the sale happens.

Blankets, pillows, couch cover, rug.

A few things for the "free" box--bookmarks, stickers, mug, scoops.  

Items from the bathroom closet.

Sheets, kitchen items, blow dryer, and way too many makeup bags.

These are all my nephew's items, so my sister will be pricing them.

Swim shoes, tea strainers, cookie press.

Things one of my sisters is taking, including a comforter set and bed desk.  

Dead electronics to be recycled.

Items from myself and my sister to take to the humane society.  

Items my other sister is taking.

A few items for the Friends of the Library bookstore.  

So glad these are all going to be out of my house and that there are others that can use them!

Eco Things and Frugal Stuff

We use plastic in this house.  We are not perfect.  But we do what we can to make a difference.  Part of that is sending items to Terracycle for upcycling.  Recently I had two shipments to send:  personal care and energy bar wrappers.  I've stopped buying energy bars for the most part, but Mr. GV still uses Clif Shots when he is biking.  

My visible "eco/frugal" to-do list one day:  return library books, drop off magazines at Friends of Library, mail two books for Paperback Swap, and the two boxes for Terracycle.  

I frequently need green chiles and jalapeños for dishes I make for Mr. GV.  Of course it's always cheaper to buy the bigger cans, so I have leftovers.  No problem!  Just use an ice cube tray to freeze and make servings for later.  

Yard sales!  I went to a city-wide sale a couple of weekends ago and boy was that fun.  Especially if you are just starting out in your own home or if you are having a baby, you could make out like a bandit.  

I came home with:

2 small baskets (used to organize the top of my laundry closet)

4 fun math/story books for J

2 DVDs for J

Lego book, Highlights magazine, Mad Libs 

Brainquest cards (2nd grade)

Audio book on CD

2 rubber stamps (used for our homemade wrapping paper)

Waterproof toiletry bag 

2 drinking glasses

2 shirts for me

3 short-sleeved shirts for J

4 long-sleeved shirts for J this fall

For everything you see in the picture below, I paid just over $10.  Such a bargain.  The drinking glasses, baskets, and shirts for myself were all things I had on my list of wants.  And I am always on the lookout for clothes for J, as he grows so fast (about 3 inches since school started in August.)  

I also went to Goodwill that same weekend.  I was in serious need of shirts.  I was down to just a few decent T-shirts that didn't have mysterious holes, or stains, or collars that are stretched out.  And I really didn't have any other shirts that weren't dressy.  So I was thrilled to come home that day with 7 shirts for a total of $21!  The DVds were $2.25 each.  The Star Wars animated DVDs are for my nephew to watch and the other one is one that I plan to eventually resell.  I should make at least $10 off of it according to the used prices on Amazon.  

Do you have any frugal or eco actions you would like to share?  I would love to hear about them!  

Eco Things and Frugal Stuff

I've had some fun going to a yard sale lately and some thrift stores.  

At a yard sale I got:  a cute black overnight bag with a cherry print, purse, strainer (which I have been needing since the mesh in mine tore away from the rim), saucepan with lid (for my sister) and 2 water guns.  You can guess who those are for.  Altogether I believe I paid $6 or $7 for the whole lot.  The stack of towels you see in the back were from my mom, who bought twice as many of them in a box at an auction for a cheap price.  She gave me these to take to the Humane Society.  They all look either brand new or gently used.  

At a thrift store I found all of the items in the picture below for $4!  One book was a duplicate so I donated it to the Friends of the Library bookstore to sell.  

I had a bag of Megablocks to donate to the Lego League at the library as well.  

A while back I took another trunk full of things to the Goodwill donation truck.  I wondered if they would take the folding chair, and they certainly did!  I've been trying to sell that thing for $1 at a yard sale forever, and nobody was interested even though it's in good shape.  

I had a few Christmas items to get rid of as well.  

And this old book that came from my grandmother's house.  I remember looking at it as a child.

Apparently I really did put my stamp on it!  At least it was only on the flyleaf.  The rest of the pages are in good shape, although terribly out of date.  

I found this lid, a Cuppow, pushed back into a drawer and forgotten.  It came in one of those monthly sample boxes---Vegan Cuts or Conscious Box, I forget which one.  I'm enjoying the heck out of it though!  It's great for my glass of water that sets on my nightstand.  No worries about water gushing out if I knock it over.  

I've been trying to catch up on some mending.  I'm not great at sewing but I just want to mend the holes so that the items are usable.  I also don't have a sewing machine, so it's all done by hand.  So far I've mended a pillowcase (from back in the days when Milo liked to carry the pillows all over the house) and 2 sheets.  

Our car just went over to 100,000 miles!  We have a 2008 Prius and we love it.  I hope it lasts for another 100,000 miles.  

We go through a lot of brown rice in this house, so I finally broke down and bought a big 25 pound bag of it from Amazon.  I parceled it out and bring out a bag from the freezer each time we need one. It doesn't freeze together so can go directly into the rice cooker.  Yes I'm still using plastic bags to store it but unlike the ones at the store, these can be reused over and over.  And I love that this big bag is completely made of paper.  There's no plastic lining, and no plastic in the tear strip--just some cotton string.  

And of course, I am line drying some of our clothes.  The last few days have been rainy but we should have some more sunshine coming up.  

I love this section at my grocery store.  Sometimes I can find organic fruits and vegetables here, and when I do of course I snap them up.  But if it's something I can't find organic normally, I might as well buy the slightly older conventional items if I'm going to be using them right away or if I can freeze them for later.  It helps save on food waste and it helps save money, so win/win!  

Got anything eco or frugal going on at your home?  Please share!  

Sorting for the sale and cake!

There was a big sorting job that needed to happen before my mom's yard sale.  The bookshelf in the den needed sorting.  Most of the books and magazines you see here belonged to my dad, and most of those were put in the sale.  The tchotchkes mostly belong to my mom. 

Needs a little work.  My dad was a HUGE reader, and kept all his books.  And magazines. 

J the helper.

....which turned into J the lounger soon after.  ;) 

Quite a while later, I had it mostly organized. 

Expecting an "after" photo?  I'm afraid I don't have that yet.  Perhaps this weekend when I'm at my mom's house.  It does look much better. 

J and his mommy baked a cake before she left to go with Nana to an appointment.  Which meant J and I got to frost it. 

Strawberry frosting!!  It was good, but oh so sweet.  J enjoyed licking the spoon afterward.

All in all, it was a productive day and we got to eat cake to finish off the day!

Finished product!

Pressing Leaves and Yard Sale Prep

J likes to collect leaves sometimes.  I thought it would be fun to press a few and put them in wax paper.  He was rather ambivalent about the whole thing, so maybe he's not old enough for this activity yet. 

Magnolia leaf from my yard

He got to touch the iron, with supervision of course.

We worked out in my dad's shop, sorting through 40 years of tools and other items.  It was a huge, HUGE job.  We could have used a few more weeks to get ready for the yard sale, but just kept on working as long as we could. 

A fun toy, all outgrown.

My dad stored his books and old clothes up in the attic of his shop.  It was a lot of trouble to get them down, made even tougher by the fact that my dad loved his books so much and we knew they were almost all going in the sale. 

My dad was not a hoarder, but he did have a *lot* of stuff.  He had a use for most of what he kept, and he was good at fixing things that to most other people would be considered beyond repair.  He had a rough childhood, and served in Vietnam.  He wasn't much of one to talk about his feelings, although as I grew older and so did he, occasionally he would open up and I would get a glimpse of how tough his life had been and how it had shaped him as a man and as a father. 

Mr. GV up in the rafters, lowering things down from the attic space of my dad's shop.