Thrifty Thursday: Goodwill Hunting.

I was trying to decorate the living room to be a little more summery since this heat wave has come through Richmond. I went through my stash of decorations and wasn’t inspired at all. I was so uninspired that I was getting frustrated that everything was just a small knick knack and there was nothing to add height to our mantle or side tables. I had my eye on a few vases at HomeGoods, but I thought I could do better than that. I went to Goodwill last night on a mission to find things to work in all of our main rooms: living, dining and bathroom. This meant it had to be green, white, or silver. I usually throw in pops of color with flowers and pillows, so I like to keep the accessories neutral.

As soon as I got there I spotted this Apothecary Jar for $1.25:

I was studying which room I’d use it in and what it’s purpose would be. The problem was I had 100 ideas for it, and I was fighting with myself over which use I’d have for it. The poor thing will be homeless until I find a permanent spot because I want to use it everywhere! Where's that multiply button? For right now, I just have it sitting with my pony head with a flower inside.

Then while I was trying to find more inspiration, the unbelievable happened. I was so excited that one day I got 50% off both of my items, and never asked why. Well, over the intercom, a voice spoke some beautiful words: "attention shoppers, this week is half off all blue sticker items!" It was like magic when my eyes darted around focusing in on all the items with that color sticker. I'm not going to lie, they picked a good color to mark down that day, because it seemed like only all the best items were ready to be bought for half off. I normally don't fall for percentage sales, especially after working for the mecca of this tactic, a mall department store. But seeing pewter candle sticks for $3.13 each? I'll take that TYVM.

I had 7 things in my arms that I placed on the counter one by one, excited about seeing the total:

Then my cashier, the lady behind me in line, the cashier beside me AND her customer all looked at my stash with mouths dropped at how nice everything looked put together. "Oh, I love those candle sticks!" "I know, those things are beautiful!" "wow, all those things are so nice!" "where did you find those?" Well, ladies, it was all right where you were looking. My eye just happened to see the potential ;) They aren’t really all that pretty. They just look better pulled out from a bunch of useless junk. They needed some cleaning up, so I got to work tonight polishing and scrubbing and then placing them around the living room. Lets break down each item:

Cute little dish= 4.25

Bowl that says “LGA 1956 First Flight Runner Up Bill Herman”= 3.25-50%= $1.63

Avon After Shave Bottles= $2.25 each-50%=$1.13 each

And here’s the new fireplace topping, including a decanter and another apothecary jar holding wine corks, a vase that held my Secretary Day Bouquet from my boss, and the silver all shined up:

All that for just over $13. Not too shabby :)

Then I come home tonight after work, and realize in our pile for the neighborhood cleanup, someone took the countertop off our cabinets and dropped off a crib frame.

Real funny, guys. Real funny. It would have been a perfect present from the stork, had I been pregnant. It’s not everyday someone has a good condition, vintage crib handed in their lap. Yes, I want it. No, Drew won’t let me keep it. But I have a vision! For SOMEONE! Anyone that’s pregnant!