Tag: thrifting

Refillery + A Little Thriftin’

On By thefunkyfrugalistaIn Longview, txLeave a comment

Longview has a new store near downtown. It’s called Good Steward Refillery. I have been hoping that this type of store would open in our town. Donny and I drove over to see what it was all about. I also wanted to speak to the owner about the company she rents from. She rents from the same company that Jensings does. I heard that the company bought all of the old buildings around both Jensings and the Refillery. I left my name and number so that I could speak to them because this is exactly where I want to open a little shop.

Okay, back to business. I love the idea of bringing your own bottles in a filling them up. They actually had bottles that customers had brought in for others to use. I wanted to try the shampoo and conditioner but I wanted it in one of their pump bottles.

I chose the Milk and Honey. I chose my bottles. Weighed them to get the tare and then myself and one of the workers helped me fill them up. They have body wash, hand soap, laundry products. They also carry teas, holistic body care, just a whole range of different products.

I put a sticker on the shampoo because it’s almost impossible to tell which one is which. I used them last night and my hair feels amazing and smells amazing, like creamy honey. I can’t wait to try more of their products.

I haven’t really been thrifting much lately, but I did pick up a few things here and there over the last few weeks.

I loved this mug. I’m slowly getting rid of the mugs I don’t really like and replacing them with ones I do like. I thought this one was perfect.

On that same trip I found this elephant tea light holder. I love elephants and this little guy fit right in.

I had just been using jute rope to tie our curtains up. There wasn’t anything wrong with that but I found tassel tie backs for a dollar and they match the curtains exactly.

My favorite find was this lantern.

Right now I just have it on our kitchen table with a color changing light inside.

I have been snipping the overgrown basil plant and putting the cuttings in water. They small good and are actually propagating.

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I didn’t get this lantern at a thrift store, but I just love a lantern. I hung one in our bedroom and this one in the living room.

I need to bring it down a couple of inches but for right now it’s fine.

If anyone was wondering if Mr. Whiskers is still around, he is. Yesterday was two egg day, the last one being at almost 11 pm. He was here bright and early just talking a little rest.

He was laying much cuter but every time I get my camera out, no matter which cat it is, they sense it and automatically move. He is letting me hold him now so that’s a plus.

Happy 4th!

On By thefunkyfrugalistaIn The Enchanted NomadLeave a comment

Gotta say I’m a little nervous about how this evenings event is going to go. We had the option to set up yesterday or wait until today. Hannah and I decided that we would go ahead and set up early so if we needed anything extra we wouldn’t be rushing around the day of.

I didn’t want to spend a lot of money so I made the jewelry holders myself.

For the stand up block I had been looking for a bulletin board at the thrift store but could not find one. I did find this though.

I just painted it dark purple, put it in a stand and used colored thumb tacks to hold everything one.

The ring holder in the tray is just floral foam covered in fabric with stained dowels. The burlap covered cuff and ring holder is a styrofoam display that was empty at Dollar Tree and they just let me have it. Everything else I just pilfered from our house.

The wooden box is actually a plant stand that I just turned on its side. The treasure box sits on top of the plant stand at home. We did pick up the linen tablecloth from Treasures Thrift for $3.

When we got to the convention center there were a few vendors setting up. The t-shirt bar had a woman putting together this awesome multi level clothes rack. Here’s Hannah and I trying to jam together our Walmart racks. Hey, whatever works. We did run out of hangars so we’ll finish that this afternoon since we need to be there early.

All in all I think it turned out pretty good for coming in blind and never having done this before.

I decided to sell some of my wrapped sea glass necklaces and made a few more today. I’m interested to see how they go. I’ll keep ya posted. Wish us luck. Happy Independence Day!

A Little Procrastination For The Win

On By thefunkyfrugalistaIn thriftingLeave a comment

Because the weather is calling for rain on Thursday, yesterday was the only window I had to get the yard mowed. I couldn’t think of anything I would rather not be doing. Luckily Hannah was awake so I talked her in to driving into Kilgore with me when I dropped Jackson off. Thrift store visits were promised.

We arrived in Kilgore at 9:50. The thrift stores didn’t open until 10 so we had a few minutes to go visit the Shakespeare Garden that I had noticed was in bloom. If I were a student here and had time between classes, this is where you would find me sitting on a bench reading.

I would love to have a space like this at home.

There are twinkle lights around the fence and solar lights throughout the paths that I would love to see lit up at night. I bet it’s just magical. They have added a free little library.

I picked up a book by one of my favorite authors.

It came with a bookmark that is just so cute.

It was finally time to hit the stores. The rule of thumb is that if you find something you want to buy you must try it on. Then you need to ask yourself if you really love and will you wear it. Hannah had several things at both stores but after trying everything on she only came away with 2 items. I don’t know about anyone else, but I love to see what treasures people find. Here’s mine. (I never show what Hannah or Jackson buy unless I specifically ask them and in this case I didn’t)

The only non clothing items we bought. The food container is to replace the one that Donny accidentally dropped at work and it hit just right and shattered. The frame is made of metal and Hannah really wanted it for her room. We just need to cut our a cardboard backing for the glass.

I had in mind what I was looking for. I needed to some summer shirts to fill in my wardrobe.

A good off white sleeveless basic.

Do I like shopping at Target? No. Do I love their Universal Thread V-neck tees. Yes. They just fit so well. I have several that I’ve found at this particular thrift store.

A good basic brown tank. Do I have 2 more brown ones, yes, but they are all in different fabrics. I love brown. It’s my wardrobes black. I don’t like wearing black. It looks very harsh on me. I really think it just stems back to owning an embalming service and having to wear black all the time.

This is my favorite shirt out of the bunch. I normally do not like stripes, but I think because this shirt has vertical ones I like it better. It’s loose and airy so it will be perfect for Summer.

Red tags were 50% off so these were only 4 bucks. I love light colored jeans in the summer. These are cropped and slightly distressed so they are going to be a good addition.

Last, but not least, I found this great belt that I wear slouchy around my hips.

But Stacy, you just bought a brown belt. Yes, I did, but this one is a completely different brown color, has silver embellishments and I can wear it different ways.

I bought 6 items so when I got home I went through my closet and chose 6 shirts that I haven’t worn in forever and I just didn’t love the way they fit. They will be getting donated.

And because I am documenting my outfits of the day, this is what I wore.

Ugh, I need to clean Jackson’s mirror. Because it was 65 degrees I chose my wide legged cropped jeans, a linen shirt and by Born clogs. It’s a simple outfit, but Donny said, “oh you look fancy”. What he really meant was that I didn’t look like a hobo. I’m trying here.

After mowing the lawn (I did change into my holey tank, running shorts and Crocs for that) I was exhausted. It may have been cloudy, but the weather turned up and it was almost 90 with super high humidity. I haven’t really cooked an honest to goodness meal since I was sick. I’ve been working into getting back into the kitchen and actually enjoying making meals. Night before last I roasted a chicken with carrots and onions and made mashed potatoes. Not a grand meal but it was good. It’s hard to get motivated when the kids are seldom home during dinnertime.

Last night I baked some french bread and made crawfish etoufee. It was so good and I’m really sad that we only had enough leftovers for Donny’s lunch today.

Donny stepped in the night before to carve the chicken because that is not my forte.

French bread is one of the easiest breads to make and it’s perfect for dipping in the etoufee.

I don’t use one recipe. I just kind of combine several. Etoufee is also so easy to make. I believe that the secret is in the roux. It was delicious and I’m bummed that we all ate most of it last night so there weren’t any leftovers.

Now I’m going to go see if I can figure out what is happening to one of my cucumber plants. It’s turning yellow. I didn’t see any bugs but I think I need to take a closer look. If anyone has any suggestions please let me know.

Downtown Market Day

On By thefunkyfrugalistaIn Longview, txLeave a comment

Saturday was ETX Market Day. Hannah and I didn’t have anything going on so we decided to see what it was all about. The weather was perfect, breezy and cool. The market was crowded but not too crowded.

There were so many interesting booths selling everything from jerky to terrariums.

We each bought a necklace. Mine was a sun and moon with an obsidian stone.

I finally talked Hannah into letting me take a picture.

After we had walked through all of the tents we decided to just walk around downtown. We love our downtown area. There are so many cool new shops. We finally have a zero waste store.

One of our favorite places to take a little break.

There is a vintage store that we have always wanted to go to but it’s never been open when we’ve been downtown. Today it was.

The woman who owns it has been there for 36 years. She’s only open 4 hours a day which explains why we have never been able to shop there. She has some absolutely beautiful pieces, but here’s the weird thing, 98% of the items don’t have prices. She just told us that if we find something we like she’ll let us know how much it is. I would also like to note that the BIG difference between a thrift store and a vintage store is $$$$$. We did find several things that we liked. Hannah ended up with 2 chain belts and a hand crocheted shawl that is really pretty. I found a peasant skirt and a belt. I still like thrift stores better, but it was fun shopping here. I guess you pay for the experience.

I do love both pieces though.

Speaking of vintage, I wanted to wear a bracelet with my stones one. I had completely forgotten about my raw brass cuff. I got it on a Spanish class field trip to San Antonio when I was a junior in high school. I really like the way it works with the bracelet. I love shopping in my jewelry drawers. Saves a lot of money.

Finding A Unicorn

On By thefunkyfrugalistaIn thriftingLeave a comment

I had some time to kill in Kilgore on Thursday. I love Hope’s Closet. It is one of my very favorite thrift stores. We have two of them in Longview, but they just aren’t as good as the one in Kilgore. I wasn’t planning on actually buying anything I just needed to fill some time and this was a fun place to do that. I had walked around the store with nothing really catching my eye. There were some ladies looking through some carts that were just sitting in the middle of the store. I happened to glance in one of the carts and that’s when I saw them. Now, I have been looking for these particular glasses for a very long time. I NEVER see them in the thrift stores and when I find them online they are way too expensive for me to justify buying them because we have some very nice hand blown glasses but they do not go with our vintage dishes.

The first one I picked up didn’t have a price sticker. I just knew they would be pricey because these vintage glasses are hot right now. Imagine my surprise when the next one I picked up had the 69 cent sticker. Y’all, I got all 7 for under 4 dollars!!! Like what????? Finding something that I have been wanting for so long and at that price was unbelievable.

They were made for each other.

These are our other glasses that I still love and still use.

A dear friend who has since passes away gave me a set of them. I love the bubbles and the imperfections in them.

Oh and I took this picture of what looks like a portal that was on my closet door. It was the sun reflecting off the inside of my lamp. Looks cool though.

Day #55 – Kitchen: Ambient Lighting, Helpful Hints, New Curtains

On By thefunkyfrugalistaIn 100 DaysLeave a comment

Yesterday I thrifted the new lamp for the kitchen. I also went back that same day and picked up this owl light. It used to be a wax melt warmer in it’s heyday, but since the bowl part didn’t make it to the thrift store, it’s now just a cute little owl light.

It’s made a huge difference in our night time kitchen.

Since I had moved the elephant lamp to the top of the cabinets, I put the little lamp I got yesterday in its place.

I was getting tired of the battenburg lace curtains on the dining nook’s window. You can see a part of them above. I remember that I had seen some lace ones at the thrift store while I was shopping yesterday. I grabbed Jackson and we went to see if they were still there. They were, but I knew I’d have to cut them off to get the right length. I cannot cut a straight line to save my life. Low and behold, right next to them was a lace tablecloth. I knew I could make this work better. I just folded it in half and draped it over the jute rope I had been using for the curtain rod. Curtain rope?

So much better because more light gets in. I would have never put anything curtain-wise if we hadn’t put the chicken coop right in front of the window. I’m using “we” loosely here.

I do think the creamier color is just better suited more than the stark white.

Since we have such little space I needed to ways to help with some of the issues I was having. I hated the recycling just sitting on the table until someone decided to take it out to the bin.

I just put a washtub on a plant stand and now we just carry the whole tub to the bin.

I use a new kitchen linen everyday. It would either pile up by the sink or pile up on the washer until I did the next load. It would drive me crazy.

Just nail a basket to the wall and problem solved.

I’m pretty sure I have the Chicken Fried Rice recipe in one of the other blogs. I made it again tonight because It is just that good. Gavin, Hannah’s boyfriend, had dinner with us. I doubled the recipe and we have leftovers to eat on tomorrow. I’m already thinking about it.

Now I’m going to go finish cleaning the kitchen and then finish reading my book. It’s so good and I now I want to read all her other books.

Day #54 – Fall Prep + Thrift Haul

On By thefunkyfrugalistaIn 100 DaysLeave a comment

Because the heat index was supposed to hit 105 today I decided to get an early start on prepping for our fall garden. Technically, this is Donny’s garden. Mine is at the end of the front flower beds, but I guess we are now sharing the big enclosed one. It was a mess! We had neglected it once we realized that our huge tomato plants were only going to give us the two tomatoes we had already picked.

I just knew I was going to find a snake, I didn’t though. It took a lot of elbow grease and sweat but I finally got it cleaned out.

I did keep two of the most promising looking tomato plants. They have some blooms on them but if they don’t look like they will be growing any tomatoes, they’re out.

I had a HUGE weed pile and luckily was able to fit it all in one of those big yard waste paper bags.

After a much needed shower we had a unexpected, yet wonderful, rain shower. It cooled things off considerably. I decided I needed to get out of the house so I drove around the corner to Big, our favorite thrift store. I actually took my time today because the kids were busy doing something or other and wanted to stay home.

I have no idea why this is so blurry, but it’s a gray tank top type shirt. It’s the kind I just love to wear on hot days.

Another wonderful blurry pic, but it’s a lacy tank top that will go perfect with this gauzy peasant skirt I have.

They were just putting this out and I grabbed it because it will be perfect for fall and winter. It’s by Steve Madden, in excellent condition and I just love it. Especially because it was only 4 bucks.

Cute little candle holder.

I needed a small lamp because I love the ambient lighting I’ve been seeing in kitchens lately. Of course it was too big to go on top of my cabinets so I just switched places with a smaller one I already had that did fit.

I finally found a butter bell! I have been wanting one for a while now but I just didn’t want to pay full price. The color didn’t come out right, it’s actually mustard yellow which fits perfectly in our kitchen. It was on $2

I love background instrumental music. I found this flute album for 50 cents and it’s beautiful music. (I already tried it out) The kids get restless when I’m looking at book so today I got to peruse the bookshelves to my heart’s desire. I found some good ones, I think. I have already started reading Big Woods. When I was ready the synopsis I saw that it’s set in Longview. I’m 42 pages in and don’t want to stop reading it. I googled the author and she wrote Hunting Wives. I haven’t watched the series on Netflix yet. The funniest part is that it’s about Longview. I found it in a Longview thrift store, but it’s from Eastlake Public Library in Eastlake Ohio. So bizarre.

Now I’m going to clean up the kitchen and get back to reading.

Day #49 – College + Thrift

On By thefunkyfrugalistaIn 100 DaysLeave a comment

Today was “orientation” for incoming freshman. It was basically following signs to make sure everyone had their ducks in a row and could start their classes later this month. Jackson really didn’t have to be there (we didn’t know this) because he had completed everything. Hannah was in the system but we could never pull her up. They took car of that and we just need one more thing for her to get completed. Such a weight taken off. They are both excited about starting and everyone at registration were so nice.

Kilgore is such a good junior college. I’m glad they are both going.

We were all having so much fun we decided to go thrifting. Both the kids love to do this. Actual retail stores overwhelm us all, plus we love the thrill of the hunt. We first went to Big (gifts of grace).

I found these two wonderful smelling, never used candles and this table runner. The candles were $2 and the runner was $3. I always like to know what people pay for things. I’m nosy like that.

Next we went to Goodwill. They are right by each other and right around the corner from our house.

I found this cute shirt that I’m sure I’ll be wearing quite a bit. It was only $4.99

Jackson was finished shopping for the day so we dropped him at the house and Hannah and I went to relish (born again thrift). We have nicknames for the different shops. This one has always smelled like relish to us. They must have changed the Scentsy scent because this time it smelled like caramel.

I found this taped up case with some cool charms and beads. I needed some beads for a project and this was only $2.

I’m always needing this sized frame. The two of them were 50 cents each. I loved this vera Bradley pattern and needed a new wallet. It’s in excellent condition and was only $3.

We found this cute backpack for Hannah. It was only $10 and it”s in like new condition. She did get a few more things at the other shops, but I really only post what I get because they like to keep their stuff private. I just need to wipe this down before I give it back to her.

All in all it was a good day. It even rained and stayed cool-ish. I will take any break from the heat in August.

Retail Fatigue

On By thefunkyfrugalistaIn thriftingLeave a comment

I do not like shopping. I find this ironic because I worked in retail for so many years. For many years I worked as a retail manager/buyer for a large company. I knew how much the actual cost of an item was and how much we actually sold it for. It would blow your mind to know what the actual margins are. I honestly could not wait to get out of that job. When we would get large orders, the off gassing of the dyes in the clothing would give me sinus issues and headaches. One time we got a shipment of specialty shirts and they smelled so bad, like dead fish. I called the company and they told us to just spray them with febreze and let them air out. Like what??? They sold after about a month of airing out, but I can’t help but think of what awful chemicals were uses to make these garments.

This past week I had to go out shopping for Donny’s father’s day gifts. We don’t really do anything big for each other on these days, but I did want to get him something. I knew he needed tshirts because his were looking a bit scruffy so I headed to TJMaxx. When I walked in it was SO crowded and the place was a mess. I turned around and walked out. Burlington is in the same strip mall so I walked down there to see if I could find anything. It was surprisingly clean and I did find a Tshirt and some snacks. That was enough for one day. I was exhausted just from going into 2 stores. Jackson and I did finish his gift buying in Walmart which wasn’t too bad.

He ended up with 2 tshirts, a ceramic coffee mug and some snacks.

Now here’s the funny part. I can go to thrift stores and estate sales all day long. Doesn’t matter if they are crowded or a little messy. I’m 100% up for it. I’d say that 95% of my clothes are thrifted. I just feel better knowing that I’m recycling and these garments aren’t ending up in some land fill. Jackson and I are working on a little project and needed some 4X6 frames. I headed to the big thrift store around the corner and picked up two for 3 dollars total.

I never look through the clothes at this one, but I had a little extra time and decided to see what they had. I found these super cute Kancan boyfriend jeans for 4 bucks.

I’m still looking for some denim shorts. I saw some cut off shorts at Walmart for $24.98. People, please!!!!! Buy thrifted jeans and cut them off yourself. That’s over 20 dollars you’ve saved.

I also found this cute vintage vest that I can wear over a tank top. I will always and forever buy my tshirts and thrift stores and estate sales. This one says “for everything there is a season” and It’s in excellent condition.

If you want to pay full price, that’s your choice. I saw a quote that really spoke to me. It said, take a look at everything in your house. That was once money.

Fun Finds

On By thefunkyfrugalistaIn thriftingLeave a comment

Donny called me this morning and asked if I could run by a thrift store and find some Christmas CDs because they needed them at work. Why yes, of course I can.

Jackson wanted to come with me and here’s a few things we found.

I like to collect art. I always feel bad when I see a art project that I know someone has worked hard on and then somehow it ends up at a thrift store. I found this small painting that, I think, looks like sailboats. Bonus that it’s yellow, my favorite color.

We found this guy. Is it a frog? Is it a monster? Who knows? It’s weird and funny and is now my spoon rest.

A house hippo is supposed to bring good luck to your home. I finally found one that I really liked.

And I found all the Christmas CDs, the only real thing I went for, plus a Willie Nelson, Bonnie Raitt and Melissa Ethridge for me. Fifty cents a piece isn’t bad.

We also saw another balloon.

I have now officially finished all the Christmas decorations. I remembered I had picked up some Christmas albums at an estate sale several months ago.

Jamming to Perry Como puts me in the Christmas spirit. There’s nothing better than old Christmas music, especially playing on my 70’s stereo.