Thrift Style

On September 24, 2023 By thefunkyfrugalistaIn Home StuffLeave a comment

Most of my home is thrifted. I love estate sales and thrift stores. I like that I have things in my home that no one else has. I fill my walls with things I love. I am running out of room, but that doesn’t stop me.

Some of the more recent things I’ve purchased I was able to hang up today. I think my favorite is the antique frame with the hand drawn daisies. I found it in the garage of the last estate sale we went to. The woman was an artist and had some amazing pieces, but this little picture was just sitting in the dusty garage. When I saw it, I knew I had to have it because it was just too pretty to be sitting by itself away from all the other paintings and drawings. I guess whoever set the sale up deemed it not special enough because they only priced it at a dollar. Thank you L. Richards, I will appreciate your drawing of one of my favorite flowers.

It has found a home next to my vintage clown head. Another thing is, I love clowns. No hate please. LOL

I also painted the frames that hold our antique sheet music that we found In Gladewater at an antique store that was going out of business. I had originally painted the frames grey, but all of our frames are either black or wood, so I decided that black was just more cohesive and it made everything come together.

I guess you could call me a maximalist.

The vintage Mexican pottery also found a new home on our shelving unit.

I repainted the little terra cotta moon I picked up recently because for some reason it just seemed flat and you couldn’t really see face. I used my go to favorite go to paint , Tuscan Sun. I very rarely use word signs , but I just really loved this one. The cross in the middle is from the same estate sale.

Now it’s late, well for me. We’re going to get cozy and watch the final episode of Shelter.

If you are wondering what that cylinder thing is, it’s my bongo.

Also, one last thing. Donny got the frame up for the greenhouse, but it was so dang windy yesterday the cover is going to have to wait a few days.

Yes, those are kiddie pools. They make good, cheap planters and we have used them for years.

Saturday

On September 17, 2023 By thefunkyfrugalistaIn Home StuffLeave a comment

I miss Louisiana. To be more precise, I miss southern Louisiana. I would go back, you wouldn’t have to ask me twice. I loved it; the parades, the swaps with hauntingly beautiful cypress trees dripping spanish moss. We loved all the parades that no matter what holiday was being celebrated all felt like Mardi Gras. It was mystical, magical. This is why I made a small homage on a small wall in our hallway.

The fleur de lis holds souvenirs from parades and trips to New Orleans. I found this awesome book that had drawings of NOLA that I turned into pictures.

Couldn’t forget the king cake baby.

I found this cool picture at a thrift store when I was putting this wall together.

Today was also clean the house day. I have a “uniform” that I always seem to wear when it’s cleaning day.

It’s my Saturday look.

Nothing beats a clean house, especially a clean kitchen. I feel like I spend most of my time there.

We live in a small home that comes complete with a small kitchen. We make it work. Also, I think our stove qualifies as vintage, but it keeps perfect temperature.

It wasn’t all work and no play. If you haven’t watched Harlan Coben’s Shelter on Prime, you should. The last episode comes out this Friday, so then I’ll have to find something else to watch.

Estate sale + new babies

On September 15, 2023 By thefunkyfrugalistaIn Estate Sales, Home Stuff, thriftingLeave a comment

I love that Donny is off on Thursdays because our day dates generally consist of finding estate sales. If you like to also go to estate sales, I highly recommend checking out estatesales.net to find some in your area. Anyway, I saw that there was a multi family estate sale starting at 10 am on Thursday and to make it even sweeter, I saw that they had my VERY favorite game from when I was a very little girl. My parents hated me playing it because there were so many pieces and it was played in the dark, So most of the time it sat in the top of the hall closet. I knew I wouldn’t be able to afford it because I had checked online so many times to try to find one and they were hella expensive. I really just wanted to SEE it. We got there at 9:45 and they had already been letting people in. The first thing I saw when we walked in was this older gentleman at the checkout with the game. Of course I asked him if i could just see and explained how nostalgic it was for me. He is a vintage game collector and actually invited us over to his house to play it. I was honestly just happy that he loved it too (he had been outbid on it on two occasions online) and wasn’t a reseller. I really should have gotten his address but it seemed a little weird even for me.

Only the best game ever! Well, from my 5 year old memory anyway.

There were some really cool things. A wool rug that was threadbare in one spot that I really liked. It was only $5, but Donny asked the practical question of “where are you going to put that old thing?”. He was right. I am slightly a rug hoarder and honestly didn’t have a place for it.

Donny had a great idea so we bought something in this picture.

Next we headed to one of our favorite places.

Where we put to use the baby corral we bought

We’ve now added 4 baby chicks to our flock. Well the grown hens and homicidal rooster don’t know about them yet because they will be in our living room for 9 weeks until they are old enough to join them.

Today I ran by my favorite thrift store and found some cute halloween bits.

The soaps are brand new. The cat is sugared vanilla and the ghost is pumpkin eggnog. They were $2 each. The pumpkin tea light holders were $1 each and although the cross isn’t Halloween, it has a heavy silver edge and it was also a dollar so i couldn’t pass it up.

I also got my haircut because Desiree had an opening and she’s the only one that touches mine and Hannah’s hair. Nothing major just the ends trimmed and they layers shaped up but it still feels good when you get a fresh cut.

Birthday + chairs

On September 9, 2023 By thefunkyfrugalistaIn Home StuffLeave a comment

Thursday was Donny’s birthday. We normally don’t do cake. Instead we do a cheesecake or pie. In this case we did both. I also made some ribs, beans, potatoes and cole slaw. It was a good night.

if you have an instant pot you need to make these ribs. My daughter works at Texas Roadhouse and said these are better.

i used baby back ribs. Make a rub with 1 tsp each of salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, chili powder and brown sugar. Rub this all over the ribs. Add 1 1/2 cup of water and 1/2 cup of apple cider vinegar to the IP. Put in the trivet and place the ribs in the pot in a circle meat side out. Manual cook for 30 mins with a natural release of 15. Slather on your favorite BBQ sauce and put in a 400 degree oven until the sauce is caramelized (about 10 mins). That’s it. The meat is so tender and falls off the bone.

it’s been so hot here and, for some reason, I thought it would be a good idea to refinish two dining chairs outside in the heat. Well, I finished one and vowed to wait until it cools down a bit to do the other one.

they are very well made sturdy chairs and at 5 bucks each I couldn’t pass them up. I wanted to recover them, but the kids liked the green. It took forever to get all of the white paint stripped off.

i also refinished the top of our antique table. It looks so much better.

i still have a chest of drawers to paint, the remaining chair and 2 bookshelves. Now that the weather is, hopefully, cooling off a little I’ll be able to get it done.

Speedy Delivery

On May 29, 2020 By thefunkyfrugalistaIn Home Stuff, product reviews2 Comments

I’m not someone who regularly orders products online. I’m always a little leary of it not really being the same as what’s advertised. With that being said, I took a chance and was pleasantly surprised.

The first item was a flea collar from chewy.com.

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We have tried SO many different flea prevention products and the Seresto collar was the winner. It last for 8 months and doesn’t cause skin irritations on my dog. We used to get ours at the local pet store, but they are expensive. I googled it and chewy had it for 30 dollars cheaper! I jumped on that deal. That’s a good chunk of change.

My mom had given me a purse that she’d had since the 50’s/60’s. It’s a leather mock crock handbag. I love vintage purses, but the handle was so small it just wasn’t practical. I’ve had it for so many years and it just sat in my closet. I was going to donate it when I had a great idea.

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You can see in this picture how small the handle is.

I found a leather purse strap on ebay. I could pick the color, length I wanted and the metal finish. I chose the 24″ length, brown color with antique brass finish.

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It matches almost perfectly. I’m SO glad I didn’t donate it.

Also, if you have a Big Lots near you, next time you’re there check out this soap.

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I use it to wash my face. It’s a castille soap with aloe Vera. It takes off all my makeup and leaves my face clean and soft. Most importantly it doesn’t dry it out. At big lots it costs just a little over a dollar. It’s a little more expensive online, but not by much. Totally worth the money.

Now I’m going to go get things ready for the kids backyard campout we’re having this evening. We worked on the yard yesterday and just have a little tweaking to do today.

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Happy Friday! ❤

Crazy Weekend

On May 25, 2020 By thefunkyfrugalistaIn Home life, Home Stuff, WeekendLeave a comment

This has been a crazy weekend. Friday started off pretty normal. We ended the day by walking to the park and letting the kids hangout.

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IMG_20200521_195102 Saturday morning my dog woke me up at 4:30 to go outside and when I was letting him in, my son’s cat Monkey, ran outside. I couldn’t catch her. She still hadn’t come back when we woke up. He was devastated. I asked all the neighbors and put her picture up on the Next Door app. Nothing.

We had disconnected our horrible, terrible satellite internet service we had at the other house. Our 2 year contract was finally over. We received the boxes to send the modem back and lo and behold, we had to have a part off of the actually dish that was on the roof of the other house. Donny called them to explain our situation, but they said if we didn’t have it they would charge us $200!

So guess what we had to go buy.

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The house had already been rented again, but luckily they hadn’t moved in yet. We just kind of snuck in and took the part off.

On the way home we found this little guy just standing, head out, in the middle of a busy street. I got out, stopped a car before they ran him over and brought him home with us.

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Still no Monkey and the weather is getting bad. After the rain storm, guess who comes wandering up?

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She’s been following my son around like a puppy and is now napping in my laundry basket. We are all so relieved because right after she showed up the most evil looking clouds started rolling in. The wind picked up. Then the rain started and it began to hail. I thought it was going to break our windows. Donny and I were scheduled to work Waitr in 45 minutes. It finally quit hailing, but it was pouring. The only thing that saved me, because we had 14 deliveries and I looked like a drowned rat, were Belly Flops.

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They are the irregular Jelly Belly jellybeans. It’s VERY important to have snacks when you’re delivering food or you will be starving from all the delicious smells.

I do not like working in the rain, but it’s so busy when there is bad weather. I guess this week is going to be very busy.

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I hope your Memorial Day is sunny and warm. I’m watching the rain pour down out our window and I don’t think it’s stopping any time soon.

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One Tiny Bathroom + A Family of Four

On May 21, 2020May 21, 2020 By thefunkyfrugalistaIn Downsizing, Home life, Home StuffLeave a comment

I know some of our friends thought we were crazy when we told them we were downsizing from a 2000 sq ft home to one that was 1008 sq ft. To make it even crazier, there was only one bathroom.

I don’t know about you, but I’m always interested just how people can downsize from 2 bathrooms with a total of 16 drawers and 3 big cabinets between them to this.

IMG_20200521_095853 With a little creative storage and a lot of purging, we have managed to make it work.

We are fortunate that there are 3 cabinets behind the door.

The top one holds our first aid kit and medicines, toilet paper and beach towels.

IMG_20200521_095947 The shoebox holds the extra that doesn’t fit in the storage tote. I’m sure I could use a fancier box, but the whole point of downsizing was to save money and spending on something that hides in a closet really doesn’t make sense to me.

The middle cabinet holds our day to day items. My son and husband have the top shelf and my daughter and I use the bottom. The lazy Susan helps me find products quicker. I had it in our last bathroom so it isn’t a new purchase.

IMG_20200521_100547 I still feel like there are too many products, so we are using up what we have and will only be replacing what we really love.

The bottom one is where we keep our laundry basket and extra bath mat.

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We still had more items that I needed to find a place for. I had used this idea at our home in Baton Rouge and it seemed like a no brainer to use here.

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Clear shoe bags make it so easy to see what you are looking for. After we’re here for about two months, I’ll go through it and if we haven’t used a product I’ll toss it.

In our sink area we have a mirrored medicine cabinet. It houses our deodorant, toothpaste, toothbrushes and the kids face treatments.

IMG_20200521_100049 I’m still trying to come up with a better solution for our toothbrushes, but for now this is it.

I found this countertop cloth holder 2 years ago at Tuesday Morning. I added the towel hook on the cabinet.

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The under sink cabinet holds our towels and cleaning products.

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I still needed a place to store hair equipment, extra toilet paper and items you’d normally have on a countertop.

I just used some sturdy baskets I already owned and just nailed them to the wall.

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Our bathtub has built in shelves, a huge plus and I bought the suction hooks at dollar tree.

So there you have it. It is possible to only have one bathroom and not lose your mind. Strangely enough, it hasn’t been all that difficult. Everything has a place and the space is easy to keep clean.

If you ever decide that downsizing is for you, don’t overlook a property just because of it only having one bathroom. We almost did and we would have missed out on a very special place. ❤

Hidden Gem

On May 20, 2020May 20, 2020 By thefunkyfrugalistaIn Home life, Home StuffLeave a comment

Moving to a smaller home has so many more pros than cons. Donny and I went on a walk yesterday and realized that this neighborhood is SO much more walker friendly.

IMG_20200519_085158 the streets in our new neighborhood are so much wider. Longview has no sidewalks, like none, anywhere. So wide streets are important.

Just a little ways from our house we turned onto a dead end street and this is what we found.

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IMG_20200519_090528 A great little neighborhood park. But it’s not just a park. It leads onto the hiking trail with a nifty little bridge.

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Longview is full of trails. I used to have to drive when I wanted to go trail walking. Now I just walk down the street. There’s nothing better than the scent of all the trees and foliage. It’s so shady it makes it about 10 degrees cooler. Huge plus since it’s already hot and humid here.

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I guess Donny wasn’t ready for the picture. I look like I wasn’t even ready to leave the house.

I did realize something really awesome when we got back home. I can now clean my house, like REALLY clean it, in an hour. To me there is no better feeling than a clean, calm space. Am I right?

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Even had time to make a lasagna. I used a spring form pan and was a little nervous it would fall apart.

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It came right out! No leftovers, so I’m pleased.

While I was cooking, a childhood friend sent me a very old photo. I was either in the 5th or 6th grade. When I showed it to my kids they thought I was a boy, except when they realized I had on a bikini. I’m the one on the far left, but it’s pretty obvious.

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I can’t believe how fast time flies by. That’s why it’s so important to squeeze all of the good you can out of each and every day. 🌞

Better Homes & Gardens Wax Melt Reviews

On March 1, 2019 By thefunkyfrugalistaIn Home Stuff, Smell GoodsLeave a comment

Today has been such an awesome day. I had lunch with my little man at his school. Hannah has a Mardi Gras dance tonight so I ran by Walmart to see if I could find something for her to wear. Not living in Louisiana anymore has put a damper on finding Mardi Gras attire. Like I can’t find a mardi gras t-shirt anywhere. But I did find my most favorite wax melt scent.

I have a slight problem with my love of wax melts. I try to be a minimalist in most areas of my life, but I struggle with anything that smells good.

I love diffusing oil and burning candles, but lately my new love is wax melts.

I realize that some people have much more than this, but to me, this is A LOT. Not to mention the 5 new packs I added today. I almost get giddy when I see the new summer fragrances. Now to my VERY favorite new summer scent.

Coconut Cabana Linen is just amazing. I can barely smell coconut in it. To me it smells gingery, lemony and just clean. My Walmart has been out of it for weeks and for some reason you can’t order it online. Today I hit the jackpot and it had been restocked. The smell just makes me happy. In fact, I have it going right now. Ahhhhhhhhh!

Here are some more of the new summer scents that I also purchased a few weeks ago.

My friend Jen’s favorite is White Tahitian Woods. I am NOT a floral person, but this one smells really good. It has a slight floral smell, but not overwhelming. It’s the only floral one that I own.

Pure White Woods is more of a clean woodsy scent. It has a more masculine fragrance. I love melting this one. It just smells good.

Clear Blue Oasis smells like the beach, which I love. I would definitely purchase this one again. Anything beachy is good by me.

Caribbean Sea Breeze is good. It’s a little too sweet smelling for me to use all the time. I’ll probably just use it as a one day different scent fill in.

Beach Please is my favorite out of the beachy scents I purchased. It’s like the baby bear of scents. Not too sweet, not too strong, just right. I love it. It’s a very relaxing fragrance. When I melt it my whole house smells like a wonderful beach day. The best kind of day.

Mojave Sunset Sands is my least favorite. For some reason it smells grapey to me. I don’t hate it, I just don’t love it.

I found two scents that were on clearance that I really am happy that I purchased.

Apple Crisp Tea was considered a Fall fragrance and I have no idea why. I’m not going to argue the point because I got them for 50 cents each. It smells like fresh apples with a hint of tea. I will melt these all year long. Seriously, if you like apple scents check out the clearance section and give it a sniff. It’s good.

My two favorites out of the ones I’ve purchased in the past couple of weeks are these. I’ve already mentioned the Coconut Cabana Linen, but I found this random pack of Frankincense & Patchouli just sitting by the candles. Oh my gosh, this is amazing too. I found that I can still order this online so I will be doing that in the next couple of days. It’s a calming happy scent and it lasts.

I know a lot of people really love scentsy. I get that, but I just cannot pay that kind of price for wax melts or warmers. These are all 2 dollars. That’s it. If you can find a scent you like on clearance they range from a buck to 50 cents. I am all about a bargain and that’s what these are. Plus they fill your whole home with smell good.

I have 3 warmers in my home. Two are electric and were less than 7 dollars at Walmart.

Both of these completely fill my home with fragrance. I also use one I picked up at Dollar Tree. It’s the kind that you use a tea light in and I like it because I can just put it where I want it and don’t have to worry about a plug.

I haven’t noticed a difference in the scent output between the electric ones and the tea light one. I was pretty impressed with the different styles and colors that Dollar Tree carries. Plus just look at how cute this one is. I have a lot of turquoise in my home so this blends in perfectly.

If you find yourself in Walmart at the wax melts you should stop and give them some sniffs. You might find your signature scent that you just absolutely love. If you do, my advice is to pick up some extra. These little beauties sell out fast. I learned that the hard way.

Happy smells,

Stacy

From Bad to Good

On January 24, 2019 By thefunkyfrugalistaIn CBD Oil, Home Stuff, product reviewsLeave a comment

Today did not start out all that great. Donny was out of town for work so I slept horribly. I just cannot sleep well when he’s not home. It’s very rare for us to be apart, so when he has to go out of town it throws everything off balance. We’ve been married 13 years, so I’m thankful that I still feel the same was about him as I did when we first got married.

I had a dentist appointment at 9:00 a.m. to finally get my permanent crown on. About a month ago I woke up at 4 in the morning with something in my mouth. It was part of my tooth!!!! I grind my teeth horribly and have since I was a kid. I have a habit of spitting my night guard out in the middle of the night. I chose not to have numbing shots and although it was uncomfortable my mouth and face wasn’t numb all day. Anyway, it didn’t take all that long and I figured as long as I was right by CBD Express I would run in and grab our CBD oil.

For about 3 months we’ve been using Hemplucid 1000 mg. I like it better than the other brand we used previously. It’s a little stronger so it only takes 1/4 of a dropper to get the dose we need. When I was in the store talking to the owner, Mr. Scott, I realized that my daughter’s face had cleared up almost completely. She is 12 and hitting adolescence. She had started getting acne and since she has been on the oil it has all but completely cleared up. Just another amazing side effect of taking the oil. On a side note, my sciatica is still gone!

I had a few errands to run after that. I have a very favorite cleaning product. The only place I have seen it in the bigger bottles is at Family Dollar. I look everywhere I go and stumbled upon it by accident at this store.

This is the best scent ever!!! Not only does it clean most everything it will make your house smell amazing! I don’t like flowery smelling anything. This is just a very clean smell. I also pick up these cleaning cloths when I pick up my cleaner. There are 3 of them per pack and are only $1.50. They are thick, but not too thick, and clean really well. The cleaner is also less than $3.00. That’s a win for me.

When I got home I finished up a little laundry and as I was putting Jack’s things away, this is what almost gave me a heart attack.

My cat Tommy popped his head out as I was bending down to put some socks in the drawer.

The best parts of my day are as follows. Donny surprised me and got home earlier than I expected so we got to cook dinner together. I love when this gets to happen because it is usually few and far between. We get a chance to spend some time together and he got to fill me in on how everything went on his trip.

I made Garlic Butter Steak and Potato Skillet. I used my newly restored cast iron skillet and am proud to say I’m not intimidated by cast iron anymore. It was really good and super easy to make. I got the recipe off pinterest. Donny made some skillet corn to go with it. Oh my yum!

After dinner Hannah and I had a 30 minute living room dance party with some heavy hitting 90’s tunes. It was a serious workout that left us sweaty and laughing. I recommend having a dance party whenever you get the chance because, no kidding, I will be sore tomorrow for sure.

Now I’m going to go enjoy my husband being home. I hope everyone is having a great evening,