Month: October 2025

Swap Out

On By thefunkyfrugalistaIn OrganizingLeave a comment

Today I swapped out my warm weather clothes for the colder ones. I hadn’t meant to do this task so early in the season, but Hannah needed a brown turtleneck which I thought I had (I donated it last season it turns out) and the weather has started cooling off quite a bit. It’s a chore I am not fond of doing because I share a very small closet with Donny. If you ever see a video of small NYC apartment closets you get the idea.

I decided to pare down my wardrobe quite a bit. I tried every single item on to make sure it fit well and I still liked it. I ended up with a trash bag full to donate. I’m always nosy about how people fit everything into a small space and what all goes into that said space. So here is my take on it.

These are my sweaters. I pared them down quite a bit.

I love jeans. I added some brown cords and my olive velvet pants. I think these will definitely get me through the winter months.

I love this denim jacket. I’m keeping my down coat in the storage bag until it gets a lot colder. There’s no need for it to take up precious space.

These are my cardigans and skirts. I love cardigans because they are the perfect layering item for our weird weather.

Purses and backpacks get hung on hooks I have installed around the closet.

These hang behind the clothes.

Keeping everything organized by color helps me find items quicker.

It took 3 hours, but I feel like I got a lot accomplished. I was sick of trying on clothes by the end but I really think that it helped me get rid of so much. I’m so happy that this is DONE.

Mr. Whiskers was not happy about having to move as I was backing up tonight. He has a wound on his hip that he has been coming to me so I can spray it with antimicrobial spray. I have tried to bring him into the house, but he will have nothing to do with that. He does love back scratches and head rubs though.

New Things To Try

On By thefunkyfrugalistaIn Longview, txLeave a comment

Donny only has one day off this week because one of the salespeople asked for this weekend off so his Friday is gone. That meant that we had to get the grocery shopping done today. We headed to Ross first because our kitten, Baby Ruth, was taking up residence in the laundry basket.

Monkey, our oldest cat, will stay outside when it’s warm and come inside when it’s cold. She is a grumpy old lady who doesn’t really like other cats. We went to get a bed so that we could see if either Baby Ruth or Monkey would use it.

Monkey was still outside so Donny piled up some of Baby Ruth’s toys to see if we could lure her into the new bed. She cautiously used her arm to retrieve the toys and did not step one foot into the new bed. She did however go right back into the laundry basket. Hopefully Monkey will take to it.

After Ross we went to Aldi. I have been getting my bread at either Super 1 or Walmart, but today we found some gluten free bread at Aldi and the slices are bigger than my palm which is an improvement. Donny made some burgers tonight and I used the bread as my bun and it was actually good. Or maybe it’s just because I haven’t had a burger with a bun/bread in a long time.

As we were checking out Donny grabbed a drink out of the case by the checkout. It was a Poppi. I had never tried one so I asked him if I could have a sip of his when he opened it to see if I liked it. He just grabbed me one out of the case because he does not like to share drinks. I’m glad he did because it was so good! I know I’m behind on the Poppi trend, but dang, it hit the spot.

Donny told me that they had them at Drug Emporium. I said, Say Less, let’s go. I was hoping they would have the orange cream flavor that I liked and they did.

I looked at some of the other flavors but I’m not sure I’d like them as much as I do this one.

I also grabbed 2 more jars of my peppers that Aldi only has once a year. I eat them for snacks and am always sad when I can’t get them anymore. Call me a pepper hoarder, I don’t even care.

Anniversary + Shopping With the Kids

On By thefunkyfrugalistaIn thriftingLeave a comment

Yesterday was our 20th anniversary. We had been planning on going to Judd’s Downtown. I woke up with a killer headache which was the precursor to the virus Donny had. I knew on Monday that I wasn’t feeling well and by Tuesday morning it had hit me full force. I ended up staying in bed most of the day with the occasional dragging myself to the kitchen to take aspirin and get drinks.

This morning I woke up still feeling a little rough, but by the time I went to pick up the kids I was feeling better. We decided to hit Hope’s Closet to see if Hannah could find some pieces she needs for her Halloween costume. While they were looking around getting what they needed I found two cute sweaters.

This one is more brown than it came out in the picture. It’s thick, boxy and so comfortable. It’s going to be perfect when it stays colder.

This cardigan will be perfect for the mornings and evenings now. It’s still hot in the afternoon hours. I need to go through my winter clothes that are still boxed up. I have decided to pare my winter wardrobe down and get rid of the black and most of the grey that I have. I just don’t like wearing black. I think, on me, it’s too harsh. I’m not a fan of grey anything. I just think it’s a sad color and prefer the golds, oranges and greens.

I actually picked myself up a couple of items at Walmart. I needed some smaller claw clip since my hair isn’t ultra long anymore. I always prefer this brand because they stay put without slipping. I also found the ideal nail polish color. I love this brand because it dries so fast and I only paint my toenails because I use my hands too much for polish to stay on.

Now we just need to find the rest of Hannah’s costume, get the fire pit cleaned up and we’ll be semi ready for Halloween.

A Little Break

On By thefunkyfrugalistaIn Estate SalesLeave a comment

I took a little break from this space. There wasn’t really a reason, I just decided to spend a little more time offline and in the real world. So here are some of the snippets I would have written about in my average daily life.

Donny has a tradition at work where when it is someone’s birthday he gets them a pie from the Butcher Shop. I couldn’t leave without a little sweet treat and I found the creme brulee delicious.

And because neither of us felt like cooking that night we picked up Rotolo’s because I love their cauliflower crust pizza.

I had seen this awesome estate sale so I talked Donny into going with me on Wednesday before he had to be at work. I didn’t realize how far away it was and by the time we got there, there must have been at least 100 people. It was a big house with a huge workshop in the back all full of things. We did a quick run through but even if I had wanted something the line to checkout was so long he would have been late.

We ended up going back on Thursday and I found some fun things and some useful things.

Our staple gun was starting to peter out so we found this one. I keep my hammer in the house. That is until Donny needs it and then he leaves it outside. Now we have this one to keep outside. We needed some numbers for our mailbox and this set was only 2 bucks. Sold.

A few candles, some vintage trivets and Halloween tablecloths for the win.

I found this wind chime hanging outside of the workshop with no price. The man working that part of the sale let me have it for $3. I also found a bag of vintage Halloween decorations. Hannah has decided that she is having a Halloween party here with a few of her friends.

I had been needing a new silver necklace and we found the shorter one and the thicker long one at another estate sale. It was also the hwy 80 sale and I found this mother of pearl pendant that I just couldn’t pass up.

I have gotten back into reading. I finished The Pilot’s Wife. It was good.

I pulled one from this shelf and it’s good so far. I feel like sometimes James Patterson can be hit or miss.

The kids finished their 8 week class so we celebrated by having dinner at Don Benito’s. The sky was gorgeous

I’ve had my Fitbit watch for almost 8 years. I was charging it and left it on the windowsill. When I remembered about it the sun had overheated it and it was giving me a high temperature signal. I ran and put it into the fridge to cool it off. I love my watch. Donny keeps asking me if I want the newer version but I love the one I have. I’m happy to say that it did cool off and works just fine.

Hannah and I found the perfect butt tomato.

It has finally started to cool off in the mornings and evenings here. Because we live in Texas, it’s so hard to gauge when to do the clothes swap between warm and cool weather. I guess I did part 1 where I just removed all of the very summery clothes. I’m not quite ready to bring in the Fall/winter items yet. I picked up the 3 sweaters from Hope’s Closet so if it gets really cold I can wear them.

There is a female cat that we have been seeing for about a year. She looks just like Queso. She has finally let me pet her. I’ve named her Chips.

I still miss Queso so much. He was definitely a one of a kind cat.

Day #100 – Getting Spooky

On By thefunkyfrugalistaIn 100 DaysLeave a comment

I woke up with a mission. I was going to get all of the Halloween decorations put up and get all of the totes back to the shed. Monday mornings around here are a bit nuts. Getting everyone where they are supposed to be and doing to on time takes some planning. Monday is also my day to do a reset on the house from the weekend. I see all of the cleaning checklists on Pinterest and I have saved my share of them, but the easiest thing for me to do is walk each room and write down what needs to be done. That way if I get off course, which I almost did today by seeing the little jugs that I want to propagate my plants in and almost stopped what I was doing to do just that. I stopped myself and reminded myself that I had tasks to get done.

The only thing I didn’t get marked off was the hanging plant and that’s only because I’m not sure where I want to hang it yet.

I got the elephants hung up. I despise the antenna we have to hang there to get the local channels. We rarely even watch TV, but when we want to it’s a necessity. We do watch streaming movies and such.

I absolutely love the list hanger. It’s already come in handy because I had to make a Walmart run today.

After I got the house cleaned I started on the Halloween bins. I haven’t been in the most Halloweeny spirit. Maybe because it’s been 91 degrees and that makes it seem like summer instead of Fall. But I persevered.

This almost took me out. Donny is my untangler. Unfortunately he was at work. I finally got it straightened out though.

We love our little Halloween village.

Hannah was supposed to help me with the graveyard, but she had to finish her still life drawing, so I was on my own.

Very cheesy, very us. LOL

I just added a few touches to the patio.

Did anyone see the gorgeous moon tonight?

Tomorrow is National Night Out. There are some parties, but I don’t know if we are going to any. It’s also suppose to be the Harvest Moon. Maybe that will get me more into the Halloween spirit.

Day #99 – It’s the VERY Small Things That Make You Happy

On By thefunkyfrugalistaIn 100 DaysLeave a comment

Tomorrow is the push to get the Halloween decor out. I did get the lawn mowed today and that’s about it, but two small things happened that made me really happy.

!. We had lost one of the lids to our tea jugs. (they are actually glass bottles that originally had lemonade in them) Well, when Jackson and I went to Super 1 he saw these cappuccino milks and I realized that they are the same brand and have the same lids that we need. Our other was starting to crack.

2. If you have read about the skunks I feed, then you know about Slinky. He is disabled and has a very hard time walking so he slithers. He takes forever to eat, but its not afraid of me at all. I hadn’t seen him in over a week. He is an early eater and normally shows up right as it gets dark. I was worried about him. I even saw a post on one of our city sites that someone had found a dead skunk on their deck. Not me zooming in on the picture and then googling where these people lived to see if it was Slinky. Well last night I heard a familiar chewing. Yes, I can tell his chewing from the others.

I was so happy to see him that I ran inside and got him some steak to celebrate. He was one happy skunk.

It’s always the little things that make me happy.

Day #98 – Dollar Tree Lady

On By thefunkyfrugalistaIn 100 DaysLeave a comment

Yesterday Donny and I pulled the Halloween crates out of the shed. I was looking through the bins and realized that I only had 2 tombstones because the third one had blown away last year. We decided to go to Dollar Tree to see if they had any. I didn’t want to spend a lot of money because we just do it for fun and if it looks a little janky that’s okay with us.

When we walked in we headed over to the Halloween area. There was a woman redoing the area and we asked if they had any tombstones. She said that she didn’t think so. We looked around, didn’t see any, but did find a few things to add to the outside decor.

When we went to check out we got in her lane and she turned the light off indicating that she was closed. We went to the next register, that was empty and some person stepped in front of us with a cart full. The original lady motioned us over and said she’d check us out. We put all of our items on the belt and she proceeds to tell me that she is glad she never buys any of this stuff because it’s a waste of money and it’s a pagan holiday that she would NEVER celebrate.

I told her that I’m a Christian and that my church even celebrates Halloween. She tsked at me and by that time Donny had joined the conversation. He told her that we weren’t wanting to worship demons but just wanting to check out. She continued her diatribe about what a pagan holiday it was. Then she said to me, I love your necklace.

I told her oh, it’s St. Michael. She then says, Oh, the archangel. I said, yes and he protects me from demons on Halloween. We gathered our bags and Donny wished her a happy Halloween.

I get that some people don’t like or celebrate Halloween. It has always been one of my favorite holidays. I just can’t imagine working in a retail environment and telling a customer that they are pagan when they have no idea what my beliefs are. Dollar Tree do better with your employees.

Anyway, this is what us pagans purchased.

And these cute solar lights.

I was putting up the Brita filters and decided to see what they would actually cost instead of the six dollars and change (25% off the price) we paid at the estate sale.

They are $67 dollars at Walmart!!!! Donny is the one that always buys the filter so I had no idea. No wonder he jumped on them.

Day #96 & #97

On By thefunkyfrugalistaIn 100 DaysLeave a comment

Yesterday I was sick. I don’t know if it is the stomach virus that is going around or if it’s just my gut issues that I’m always plagued with, but I just felt awful. I was able to get a few non-physical things done.

My thin necklaces were always getting tangled up so I took 2 hook things from our antique tool box, that we use as a coffee table, and put them on the wall .

My silver cuffs were looking a little tarnished so I got out the ole jewelry cleaner.

I didn’t realize how bad they were until I cleaned them.

I had told Hannah that I would go look at the art exhibit in their art building so I had to actually get dressed. One thing that I absolutely love about my hair, now that I’ve gotten it cut in the style that it is, is that I just wash it and go to sleep with it wet and I don’t have to do anything to it the next day.

I can’t believe that I kept it so long for so long. Never again.

The art exhibit was amazing. The art was done by a professor at Stephen F. Austin University. I’ts where the kids want to finish up their bachelor degrees.

These were our two favorites.

I just love the courtyard right outside. I told Hannah and her friend that they needed to hang out there once the weather cools off a bit. They both said it was way too hot to do that now.

Just doing that little bit had made me so nauseous. I took one of my RX nausea pills and hit the bed. It helped that the last season of Alice In Borderland had finally been released. That was such a good series. I know I’ll be rewatching the whole thing again in the near future.

I woke up still not feeling great, but Donny had found some estate sales he thought would be fun. I figured that getting out of the house might help me feel better. The first one we didn’t buy anything. Nothing at the second one either. The third one was just such a cool house way out in the country. We found a brand new box of brita water filters that were $8. Everything was 25% off so they came out to be like 6 something.

Got these cool elephants that i’m going to hang up in the house.

As we were checking out I saw this wind chime hanging on the wall. I just love the way bamboo wind chimes sound.

On our way back home Donny saw a garage sale at on of our favorite houses. We had been to an estate sale here last year. The house never sold, but it’s the one that is partially underground with a big pond. I posted about it when we went. They were cash only and I only found one thing that I just had to have. I fished out enough change to buy it.

I’m going to hang it up and use it for my grocery lists. It’s so stinking cute.

And now I’m fading again so I’m going to take a shower and more than likely go to bed. Tomorrow I just know I’ll feel better. Positive thinking, right?