She Saw The Potential When No One Else Did

It's nice to have thrifty and crafty savvy friends. And I am lucky that I have two that enjoy DIY as much as I do! It's neat to see what the others come up with since we each have our own style.

 

My friend Cole found this really cool lamp while we were out thrifting yesterday. She knew it was destined to be something great!

 

So she took it home and made it happen.

 {Photos courtesy of Cole}

 

There were a few chipped areas so she used a textured spray paint to help hide the blemishes. She is still on the hunt for the perfect shade but I think it's looking pretty darn spiffy so far!

 

Lamp base: $1.75

Textured spray paint in white: $5.76

Shade: already owned

 

Total investment so far = $7.51

Why Yes, We Are Models!

Happy President's Day! I spent my last federal holiday off until May (*tear*) at Goodwill... where else would I have spent it? Certainly not at work! I had plans to meet the BFF, Tiff, and our friend, Cole, for some retail therapy. And since Goodwill was having a 50% off store wide sale there really was no other place we needed to be.

Tiff arrived to the first location shortly before 9am and told me via text that there was already a line at the door. Being the good friend she is, she snapped this picture of the madness.

{Strangers impatiently waiting for the doors to open.}

 

We ended up going to two locations and looked through just about every section in both stores. Enjoy these photos of some of the gems we discovered.

{Wide Load.} 

 

{Yes! I have been searching for a new Nokia phone case since 1998.}

 

{Angel or Anger? *shrugs* Who knows?}

 

{A buggy full 'o goodies. How sweet is that lime green basket Tiff scored?}

 

{Our modeling debut of the day. And how great are these mirrors?!}

 

Check out the great deals I got today:

{Poisonous ceramic planter: $2.37}

 

{Wire candle holders: $1 each}

 

{Milk glass pieces: 50¢ each}

 

{Ed Cota framed print: $2.87}

 

{Lighting fixture- to be painted: $3.62}

 

{3 pack of canvases: 50¢  Notebook: 37¢  2 pairs of socks: 62¢ 

Pack of napkins: 37¢  Belt: 50¢}

 

{Banana Republic sweater: $2.62}

 

{Ralph Lauren button up: $2.12}

 

{Silver plated wire baskets (like the one I bought from Value Village 2 weeks ago): $1.12 each}

 

 {Selfie}

Total spent at both Goodwill locations today including rounding up the change: $22

My Punny Valentine

Two fun facts about The Foxy Thrifter:

1. I am not a big fan of Valentine's Day.

2. But I am a sucker for puns.

Don't get me wrong, I am not a total jerk when it comes to Valentine's. I just feel that romance and doing nice things for someone shouldn't be reserved for only one day a year. So in my mind there's no better way to celebrate Cupid's day than with complete and utter silliness.

 

The following gifts are for my coworkers- so if we work together, don't act surprised at how little I spent on your gift. This is a blog about my thriftiness after all!

 

I found these great cups at my local Goodwill about a month ago. They are from Target and were originally $1 each. Goodwill had them for 75¢. Not a huge savings but I thought it was reasonable enough since I wanted to use them for gifts.

{Raise your hand if you HATE this. *raises both hands*}

 

I ended up scouring Pinterest for some Valentine pun ideas and came up with a few that I liked. This is what I did. I bought popcorn, honey roasted peanuts & mints for the gifts. Odd combination but the puns made it worth it!

 

 And here come the puns! I made handwritten notes to attach to the popcorn packets: I'm gonna POP a CORNY question... Will you be my Valentine?

 

 The same went for the cups. After layering the mints and bags of peanuts inside the cup, I inserted the handwritten note: I am NUTS about you! You and I are MINT to be! <3 Heather

 

It's super easy and cost very little to make!

 

Cups: 75¢ (each)

Popcorn: $2.56 (for 6 packs)

Peanuts: $2.99

Bags for peanuts: free (left over from last year)

Peppermints: $1.79

Paper and Sharpies: free (already owned)

 

Total for 6 gifts: $11.84

Total for each gift: $1.97

 

Not too shabby if I do say so myself. Do you celebrate Valentine's with your family, friends, or coworkers? What types of gifts do you buy/make? Let me know down below in the comments!

Slim Pickin'

Meh...

That's about all I've got today. There hasn't been too much going on around the homestead the past few days. I had been keeping my distance from Goodwill for almost 2 weeks because as most of you thrifters know, it still costs money to thrift even though it's all cheap! And my wallet needed a major break from shopping. So today's mini haul really doesn't deserve to be called a haul. Maybe Slim Pickin' is more appropriate?

 

A few days ago I stopped by Wal-Mart to pick up some candles. Now, I just can't justify spending ridiculous amounts of money on something you're just going to burn away anyways, so Wal-Mart candles are A-OK in my book. Sadly, they are discontinuing my favorite scent which is Lime Cilantro. It smells soooooo good and it breaks my heart that they will no longer sell them. So it goes without saying that it was a bittersweet moment to have bought two 3 wick pillar candles for $5 each.

 

I really needed a set of candle plates to go with the candles, so obviously I went to Goodwill to find them. Lucky for me I found a pair.

{$1.50 for the set.}

 

 

 

I also found a few other items as I browsed around.

 

{Handmade pottery mug: 75¢}
 

{Necklaces: $3.75 each}

 

 

Hopefully you have had something more exciting going on your way. I'd love to hear all about it! Please, share your stories, jokes, messages, thrifty ways, etc. down below in the comments.

 



Sophisticated Stripes

I have been introduced to #StyleMeFeb on Instagram thanks to my pal, @SteffWatts. She tagged this photo of me from yesterday since my dress met the day 5 challenge: A Darling Dress.

 

Basically it's both a photo challenge and a style challenge all wrapped up into one. Everyday has a set theme and from there you build your outfit. Here's the challenge for the February 2014.

 

Let me go ahead and put this out there now: I am not committing to daily participation, but I will try my best to complete as many as possible!



 

Here is my take on the challenge for Day 6: Sophisticated Stripes

 

Orange Merona cardigan: $4.75

Sheer striped shirt: $4.75

Black pants: $2.12

Heels: $5.75

Earrings: $1

Watch: gifted

Ring: already owned

 

Outfit total: $18.37

 

Have any of you ever participated in an Instagram challenge before? How did you do? Tell me all about it in the comments below!

The Circle of Life

As you may have noticed by now, I have a deep love obsession with bargain shopping, thrifting in particular. And as much as I enjoy plundering through everything to find the treasures I'll end up taking home, I am fully aware that they don't just magically show up. The thrifting business is one that takes lots of organization and discipline.

 

Let's use this dress for an example.

 

There are many people involved behind the scenes to help this dress make it's way to the sales floor. First up is the person donating it. After the donation is received by the thrift store, it probably goes through the hands of at least three different employees- one who inspects it/prices it, one who slaps a hanger on it, and one who brings it out- all before I sort through the dresses to find this gem. If you've been keeping score at home, that is now FIVE people that have had a hand in my purchase.

 

Have you ever really thought about it before? It's quite amazing how well this system works. I am interested in having a better understanding of the ins and outs of the thrift industry. I happen to know three of my local Goodwill store managers pretty well so I am hoping they will agree to an interview later this month.

I'll keep you posted.

 

In the meantime, remember that the giving is as important as the getting. Make sure that you are giving any gently used items a chance to find a new happy home in someone else's closet/house/life. Your donations are typically tax deductible too :)

 

 

 

{These are on their way to Goodwill!}

Music and Lyrics

For some strange reason the song 'Afternoon Delight' is stuck in my head. But instead of the cheesy, yet oh so lovely lyrics by The Starland Vocal Band, I have changed them to my own:

♪ ♪ Gonna find my bargains, gonna hold them tight

gonna grab some thrift store delight ♪ ♪

I'm not really sure why. And it really has nothing to do with this particular post.
On another note, for those of you who have pets... Do your pets ever give you the stink eye when they are laying on you but you need to move because you are uncomfortable yet your moving clearly is a bother to them and their comfort level? Yeah. That just happened to me as I am writing this post.
Anywho.

Here are the great items I found on my recent Goodwill trip Friday evening.
 I hope you enjoy!

 {Fairly new black satin peep toe pumps: $5.75}

 {Small Express purse: $4.25}

{Yellow bead necklace: $2.25}

 {Silver earrings: 75¢}

 {Watch- in need of a new battery: $6.25}

{Owl ring; $2.25}

 {Cute polka dot button up: $4.25}

{Various shirts for myself and others: $1 each}