Yard Sale Bargains--all this for under $23!!

Until today I've only been to maybe 4 yard sales all season.  I've just not have cash on me to spend.
I was thrilled last night when my daughter told me that  a lot of the sales were advertising craft things.  She asked if I had any money and if I wanted to go with them.

We left this morning just before 8 am.  We hit about 20 or so sales and got home about 12:30 pm.  It was really hot by then.

Here is my haul:

 Dora sheet and pillowcase for $2 (will be turned into fabric bags) and a large box of fabric--$2!!

 Photo album still in wrapper--$1  Skirt  .25

 $2 for a box of shiny fabric and fine netting.  Also had a mirror and 2 roses in the box.

 $5 for this box of fabric.  Individual prices came to over $10

 $1 for this box full of fabric.  Some nice pieces in here!

 $1 for this box of soft material (I will use it on the inside of a quilt) $1 for a yard total of fabric.

 Pantyhose for .10, pillowcase for .25, flip flops for .25 and a blanket for $1

 3 curtain panels .50 each (these will also be made in to fabric bags)  Scott Foresman 3rd grade science set for $1, Science puzzles book .25, Math on the Moon set .25, and Oregon Trail 5th edition still in wrapper for .25

soft material for .75 (going to put this inside a lap quilt) bag of hair accessories for .10, and a thread container, including thread and such for $1

Not pictured is 3 Garden magazines and 7 Mardi Gras necklaces at .10 each .  She charged me .90 instead of $1.

All this for a total of $22.85!!!   Can we say that now I really need to concentrate on finding time for my crafting?  I know I can.   
I already had enough supplies to keep me busy for about 3 years....now it's 4 or 5 years.

I had so much fun.  Now, where am I going to stash this stuff?  My oldest granddaughter, Ariel, says in my craft room corner.  I told her that corner is already stuffed.

Have you found any awesome yard sale bargains lately?  Share them with me in the comments and if you've posted about them, please share the link too!  Hey!  These make great posts to add to my Frugal Friday link up as well.

Shop Hop Saturday 8/27/11

I am a lot later today getting my shop hop post done but I was out having a blast all morning and in to the afternoon.  I actually got to go all over to yard sales today!!  Yeah, I'm excited.  I will be doing a post at a later time with photos of my buys.  I got LOTS of material and things for my quilts and crafts.  You know what that means??  It means now I must find the time to get to work on things, get them made, and get them listed in my stores.

This past week I did a few things towards my business.

I added just one new listing to my etsy store:

Washcloths Set of 3 in Country Mauve 

 

I added just one more item to my zibbet store as well:

Cotton Crocheted Washcloths Peach colors Set of 3

marsha32

$6.00

 

I put up some box tops for education on listia:

25 Box Tops for Education

Winner will receive 25 Box Tops for Education

Other Stuff in Hutchinson, KS

 

And, I started getting some books listed for sale over on half.com.   I only have 3 listed so far but it's a start.  I've not sold there for years, but used to do pretty well with it. You can get your career as an Author started by using the Guide to Career Education. It was a suggestion by my friend Heather to give it a try.  I hadn't even thought of it.

 

Well...that's my report for this week.  I am linking up with abitosunshine.  Please click the button below to link up and/or support others!

 

 

52 Weeks of Organizing--Week 34 --Coupon Binder Re-Do

I have lost track as to what week this would be for me.  I found orgjunkie into her challenge and haven't kept up with getting something done each week.

From the start I went around my house taking photos of all the places and things that I wanted to get organized.  One of those things was to get my coupon binder going again.

Recently I bought 60 coupon binder pages from momsaves.com.  Along with my order I received a bonus of 22 Sunday coupon inserts from past weeks.  I paid $34.85 for my order with shipping.  The first thing I did was to go through the free inserts and pull out all coupons I knew I would use right away.  I came up with a total of $31, which made me feel better about what I spent.  I didn't end up using all of those coupons before they expired, but  since then I have cut out the rest of the coupons and have used a few more.

Putting together a coupon binder is no easy task.  It takes a lot of time to just cut the coupons, then there is the process of putting them in to the binder.  I did my old binder by ABC type order.  This time I chose to use categories.  I printed the coupon category pages courtesy of Rebecca from Extreme Couponing.

I am not done putting in all of my coupons.  I still have some of the abc letters to get out of my file box and in to the binder.  One problem I have run in to is that some of my sections are full and I have no more pages.   I will continue to put in all that I can however.  I still wanted to share.

I took this before photo showing my abc file box, a stack of coupons to be cut out and my "old" binder.  Also the tab divider pages I rescued from our garage sale items to use for myself.  My old binder pages were much more frugal as I made them myself with old page protectors I had already around the house.   I also used gallon size ziploc bags.  I sewed (by hand) across different ways and cut openings.  Now that I'm thinking about it, probably not all that frugal as I know that I had to buy the ziploc bags.  I've not used my binder for so long that the coupons that were left inside of it expired in 2009.

Here is what I have now.  I can't wait for my first chance to go shopping and carry my notebook with me.  I would like to have a zippered binder, but in pricing them I didn't see anything that I could, or wanted to afford.  I'm hoping to find one cheap at a yard sale before the season is over.  I will be taking the binder in the car with me every time I leave the house because you never know when a bargain will come along that you didn't expect.

I am linking this post up at orgjunkie.com

 

Frugal Friday Link Up 8/26/11

Welcome to Friday and the start of the weekend.
I think it's been a pretty good week. I've been working on my coupon binder all week. It's been a goal of mine to complete since joining in on the 52 Weeks of Organizing challenge with orgjunkie. The binder isn't complete yet. I still have a lot of coupons to get in to it. In fact, so many that I don't think my 60 pages that I bought are going to hold all of them.
I paid $34.45 for the 60 coupon binder pages with shipping. The special deal was that as a bonus I received 22 Sunday supplement coupon inserts from past weeks. The first thing I did was go through those inserts and take out coupons I thought I would use right away. I came up with $31 worth so almost enough to cover my cost in savings. That made me feel better. I didn't end up getting them all used, but since cutting out the coupons from the rest of the inserts I have already used 4 more of the coupons.
I will be doing a post later with photos. I hope you will check it out. I will also link up the later post with next week's frugal linky.

I'm more or less naturally a frugal person. I actually enjoy making due with what we have. Extravagance doesn't make me happy. I like that feeling.

I stopped at a few yard sales this past weekend. I was specifically looking for things I could use in my crafting. I didn't buy anything except at one. I paid $1 for a VHS of the movie Grease. The grandkids love that movie.

I did pick up a t-shirt for myself on clearance at Wal Mart for $1. I also picked up a shirt that will part of a Christmas gift for just $1 too. I wish I would have thought more along the lines of Christmas past the one shirt though as I have several to buy for and some no clue what to get, or make them.

Each week I've been sharing tips out of the 99 Cent Solutions book that I bought. We are still on baking soda!
1. Soothe a canker sore. It's hard to believe how much pain a tiny sore on the inside of your mouth can cause. Soothe the pain away and help heal the sore faster by swishing every other couple of hours with a solution of 1 teaspoon of baking soda stirred until it dissolves into 1 cup of warm water.

2. Soak your way to comfort. In the evening, put your feet into a basin of cool water with baking soda stirred in. Soak for 15 to 20 minutes. This will soother your feet and help cut down on odor during the day, and it will also help dry up athlete's foot. (Boy am I going to make my husband do this!)

3. Soften hard water washes. Add 1/4 cup of baking soda to a hot white wash to boost the strength of your usual detergent and get your whites brighter. (I'm going to give this one a try too.)

4. Ready your AC for the season. Window air units need the filters washed before each season. Brush off any obvious dirt from the filter then lay it in a basin of water with several tablespoons of baking soda mixed in. Swish it in the water to clean then rinse and dry it in the sun before replacing it in the unit.

Squidoo Hopping 8/25/11--Linky

It's Thursday already this week!

You won't believe it but I did get some work done in squidoo this past week.  I almost don't believe it myself.

First I updated My Toothbrush Rugs with a couple more photos.  I still plan on making that rug bigger but for now that is on hold.

I finally got in and did the final update on Our Homeschool Journey Part 5.  Now I need to get a lens started for this school year.  I am still thinking just one lens for the entire school year where I share the books we use as well as put in some pics of Jasmine throughout the school year.

Then, I happened across My Home Town, Hutchinson, KS  on wikipedia so added some more things in to that lens.

Finally, I actually built a new lens.  This one is Finance Without Fear.  It's a book review lens.  I did the post here on my blog then hopped right over to make the lens.  They provided me with a media kit of information with the book so it was fairly easy to put together.  I forgot to add the disclaimer (do I need that for squidoo?  If so I need to get it added to all my book reviews.)  I also need to add the donation module now that I know what module to put in. (Thanks Ruthi)  

I am still wanting to add the donation module to a lot of my lenses so that might be a good project for the next week to get some updating done.

I can't wait to see what everyone else has been up to this past week.....go and see some more lenses....and learn something new too.

 

WIP Wednesday 8/24/11

Good  morning.   I know I've worked on things this past week, but I was not very productive in my work.
I did finish the squares and last row on the one part of the quilt top for Global Missions that I pictured last week.  Duh!  Forgot to take a photo of it with the last row.  I will get a photo when it's completed.

I sewed more strips together for a jelly roll for church.  When I measured I had around 1200 inches.  I cut the rest of the material in to strips.  I didn't get anymore sewn, but with all of it cut, I will have enough for a 2nd top.  I'm in hopes that next week you will see what I have sewn so far.

 I have an order from my etsy store but she has special ordered matching bags in a smaller size.  Below is 2 of the bags I am working on.  I have to buy the material to make the other 4.  I think they are going to turn out really cute.  They might just end up being a new addition to my etsy store in set of 2.

 That's it for this week.  I hope to have more to share next week, but only time will tell on that one.  I mean that literally as I seem to be having trouble finding the time I want to work on crafts.

I am linking up with the following blogs:

Walgreen's and Wal Mart Coupon Shopping 8/20 and 8/22

I want to apologize as I didn't take photos of either of these shopping trips---I know the posts are quite as boring when you actually see what the person got for the said amount of money.

Let's start with my Walgreen's shopping today since I only bought 4 items.

I had a list in mind, but changed my mind on how much I wanted to spend once I got there.  I decided to use the majority of the $7 in RR's from last week to get us some much needed cat litter.
I ended up with:

Dial Nutriskin Body wash on sale for $3.99 with $3 back in RR's.
Sharpie pen .39 with Walgreen's coupon
Pencil Sharpener .39 with Walgreen's coupon
Scoopable cat litter $5.99
I used 3 RR's from last week totaling $7.  I paid $4.63 including .87 sales tax and came home with $3 in RR's.    Not the best trip, but less than the cat litter alone would have cost me and still $3 to spend towards next week's shopping.


Now on to Wal Mart where I bought what seemed like a ton of things!  Let's start with the items that I bought with coupons:

2 bags of Sour Patch candy, $1.97 each, used $1/2 coupon--not a real bargain at $1.47 a bag but treat for my teen.
3 packs of Trident gum at .96 each.  I used $2/3 coupon making them .28 and .29 each.
Tic Tacs at $1.04 using $1 coupon making them .04
3 regular size bags of m&m's at .74 each.  I used the $1.25/3 coupon making them .32  (couldn't help it, coupon was going to expire and I wanted a treat for myself.)
Carnation Instant Breakfast at $4.96, used $1 coupon making it $3.96
6 Travel size Garnier shampoos and conditioners at .97 each.  I used 6-$1 coupons leaving me with .18 overage.
Pert shampoo travel size for .97, used $1 coupon for .03 overage.
2 Degree travel size deoderants at .97 using 2-$1 coupons for .06 overage.
I then did also buy 2 more of the Degree using the .75 coupons making them .22 each (great stocking stuffers!)
Tide 1 load at .97, used $1 couopn for .03 overage.
3 Gain 40 ct fabric softner sheets at $1.77, used 3-$1 coupons making them .77 each.
Just for Men--used free coupon
Glade aerosol at .98 using $1 coupon for .02 overage.
2 Carefree pantyliners at .94 each, used 2-.50 coupons making them .44 each.
U by Kotex at $1.24, used $1 coupon making them .24
Bayer Advanced at $3.74 used $2 coupon making it $1.74.  Mailing in for $1.74 refund.
4 Whiskas wet cat food at .55 each, used 2- B1G1F coupons, making them .275 each.
Temptations cat treats at $1.74, used $1 coupon so .74.



Bought without coupons:
2 tee shirts on clearance for $1 each.
4 pack of Wal Mart canned cat food at $1.28
Wal Mart dry cat food at $1.50
Fabric at $1.25 for an order
Edwards 2 pack single serving pie slices at $2.38--I had a coupon for $1 off, not realizing it had expired.  I should have put these back but they sounded so good.
Deli sandwich at $2.50 (for Jasmine's lunch)
20 oz Mello Yellow at $1.48 (for Jasmine's lunch)

Here is the good news about this trip!  I spent $33.42 including sales tax but I saved $34.57 with coupons!!  That means that even with sales tax I saved over 50%.  I am very please with this!

Until next time, happy shopping and saving!

My own about.me Page!

Do you have an about.me page?  If so, I would love for you to share your link with me!  Just add your url to the comments on this post.

I signed up for the bzz campaign over at bzzagent.com some time ago.  Pretty much kicking myself for procrastinating so long on actually getting in and getting my page made. 

The process of signing up and making the splash page was so easy.  Now I can just promote the splash page and anyone who cares to follow me is ust a click away from finding me on lots of different websites on the internet.

Check out my about.me profile!

Mailbox Monday 8/22/11

Not a bad week here.
Magazines:  Ok!, Entertainment Weekly, Businessweek, Good Housekeeping, Sports Illustrated, People and Time.
Several other pieces of hausernet mail (they opened back up the account at my mom's address too so I could input what had come in)
Jerky Direct auto shipment (paid for by my downline)
Wags World magazine from Wal Mart with coupons
Book--The Elfin Child to read and review
Fresh Express salad kit from vocalpoint including coupon for a free bag.



In my email an order for 4 dish scrubbies.

I am linking up with afrugalfriend:

New Limited Entry Gift Cards on Swagbucks

Swagbucks knows how valuable your reward points are to you, and they've introduced a line of Limited Entry Gift Card Swagstakes that give you a low price for entries, improved odds of winning, and a way for you to get free stuff without paying a high price. If you've never entered a Swagstakes before, they're drawings where you buy an entry/multiple entries for a relatively  small amount of Swag Bucks with the chance to win a larger prize.

They have a $25 Restaurant.com Giftcard - 25 Entries per giveaway, and each entry is only 40 Swagbucks. To celebrate these new cards, Swagbucks is going to be running a special promotion all next week - every day, they're rolling out an AWESOME Limited Entry Gift Card AND giving you the opportunity to help you build a GIGANTIC Swag Code to be released on the 29th. For more details tune in to the Swagbucks blog on Monday at 10am PDT, when they'll reveal the first card!

- We've created a series of new Gift Card Swagstakes (where you buy an entry/multiple entries for a relatively  small amount of Swag Bucks with the chance to win a larger prize). The first 7 launched today.

- Each Swagstakes has lower entry prices and amounts of entries than before, making them both cheaper and giving each entrant better chances of winning.
- Each day next week (starting Monday at 10am PDT) we're introducing a new Gift Card Swagstakes AND working with the community to build a gigantic Swag Code for August 29th, so people should check out the Swagstakes and come to our blog Monday at 10am for more info.