Return of the Intentional Thrifter

Part One: The Stuff

Some doors have re-opened for us.

We have found a few treasures. Mr. Fixit's were mostly the kind that go into the workshop. These are mine:

A newer book about William Morris-style decorating

The Space Trilogy in hardcover

Vintage copy of Our Island Story (We have a newer one, but this was hard to pass up.)

Book of inspiration for Mr. Fixit

The box on the left is a set of tiny porcelain candleholders, plus red candles, slightly larger than birthday-candle size. You can see what they look like in the table photo.

Earrings

Jersey top

T-shirt dress (the scarf is just so you get an idea of the colour).  

Fringed scarf in bright pinks and greys

Part Two: The blue t-shirt dress that goes with everything

(The new scarf is okay here, but it's better with a grey dress)

Frugal Finds and Fixes: We Moved Again Edition

Moving house can feel like the ultimate creative chance to re-use and re-purpose, because everything goes into a new spot. But it can also feel very costly when the decorating fun-money gets re-purposed for a garage-door-opener replacement, a dryer-vent overhaul, and an anticipated visit from the plumber. Just saying. We also had to buy a stepladder, a garbage can, a recycling bin, and a bunch of bits and pieces from the hardware store to make things work better.  But we are happy about the things we didn't have to fix or replace, like the appliances and flooring.

Our townhouse isn't officially much bigger in square footage than the apartment. But since it's two stories plus a basement, it feels roomier. There are more empty spots, like the breakfast nook (or dinette, whatever you want to call it) between the galley kitchen and the back deck. We have been using  a very old card table in there, but today we replaced it with a vintage Formica-topped table. It's not very big, but it is prettier and less wobbly than the card table. Now we just need to scout out some chairs.

Mr. Fixit thrifted a putting-on-shoes stool for the front hall.

More on the house as we go along!

In other frugal news: 

Sometimes you have to wait awhile for things to come along...like a good-quality t-shirt dress from the thrift store.  

I found this really bright scarf to wear with it.

Lydia says it's my Sarah Saw a Blue Macaw scarf.

These capiz-shell earrings were a case of when it really pays to wait. I saw them months ago on the Ten Thousand Villages website, but they were not that high on my priority list. Then I thought they had sold out forever; but they suddenly reappeared for two dollars during a clearance event. (The makers get paid in full no matter what.)

Mitford books and life-simplifying books from a yard sale, all free for the taking:

A very useful pair of navy pants from the thrift store. The photo is pretty bad (the light was terrible), but they look better in  real life. I also found a pair of beige pants at a consignment store that has an annual half-price sale in August. (Almost everything I've ever bought there has been during August.)

Finally, in the nice but not necessary department: while we were searching for tables at the antique market, I found a "bundle" of three sugar bowls and creamers, all three for five dollars. I put down the beautiful book about William Morris textiles that I had intended to buy, and took the not-matching-but-very-pretty pieces instead. (The first teapot shown was from a yard sale. The second came from a very out-of-the-way antiques place right after we moved to the apartment. History repeats.)

A bit of colour

Small Japanese teapot from the antiques market

Found antiquing: books, teapot (and giant teddy bears)

Mr. Fixit and I heard about an antiques place off of our beaten track. We took a ride out there earlier this week. It turned out to be mostly old furniture: interesting, but not really what we were after.

But I did find this teapot, something just for fun.

They had a few books, at very low prices because I think they deal more in big stuff.

What are the mystery books?

The Royal Road to Romance, and The Call of England by H.V. Morton, that intrepid motor adventurer.

When I took my things to the front, the only one behind the counter was a giant teddy bear. I wasn't sure he was completely trustworthy, so I waited for a human helper. A man appeared, counted things up and said "ten dollars." While I was getting the money out, he asked if I had the time, because the power had been out. I said my husband had a phone with the time, so they started talking. I handed him the ten dollars, and he said, "So, it's ten fifty." I started fishing for more quarters, but then I realized he meant the time, not the total.

Now that we're all straightened out...

Two books for my homework

Found at the antiques market this morning. (Well, what would you do if you got a notice that the power would be off for several hours?)

Date night: rummage saling

Mr. Fixit and I had some time together this afternoon and into the evening, with everyone else off doing other things. We drove to the antique market in the town where I grew up. Mr. Fixit found a radio to clean up, and I got a copy of Robert Louis Stevenson's Virginibus Puerisque and Other Papers. If that sounds familiar, check out the quotations in the sidebar.

We went out for some dinner and then to a rummage sale. The Eugenia Price books are in honour of my grandma, who always had a few of them around.

Christmas stationery in a nice box

A little tray to go with the cards. The coins are just to show the size (it's hard to tell in a photo).

And then it's off to Lydia's school to pick her up from Grade Nine Night. There is a meet-and-greet for the parents as well.

Welcome, weekend!

From the antiques market

We went to the antiques market, for some fun on Family Day. A lot of the booths had special sales on, so the place was pretty crowded. Ponytails bought records. Lydia found a teacup. Mr. Fixit bought a Polaroid camera. I was searching for one book but didn't find a copy there; but I did bring home a 1940's Pilgrim's Progress, and Herbartian Psychology by John Adams. You can read Herbartian Psychology on archive.org; it's a book that Charlotte Mason quotes in Chapter VII of her Philosophy of Education.

And two of us won free coffees when we "rolled up the rim to win" at Tim Horton's afterward. So all in all it was a worthwhile trip!

Flea market finds (books)

From a nearby antiques mall, today:

The Avion My Uncle Flew, by Cyrus Fisher. A 1990's Scholastic printing.

The Golden Legend, by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Used in Charlotte Mason's schools.This copy is not in very good shape; the spine is cracked inside. But I think the lady on the cover is delightful.

Treasures from the antique market, and a frugal thought

There are three or four antique markets in our area where Mr. Fixit goes regularly to pick up vintage radios for his business.  This weekend our Sunday afternoon family plans got changed at the last minute, so we decided to go for a browse at the two closest ones (across the road from each other).

Usually I just look at things, especially the stalls of vintage books (there can't be that many of us who actually like looking at old school books).  But this time I found one book to buy at each place.   I am much pickier than I used to be about bringing home books from anywhere more expensive than the thrift store.  They don't have to be in perfect condition, but they have to be things I don't see all the time.  They have to be either useful (like a very cool sewing book) or have something great in them to read, or be something we need for school.  Mostly, I have to like them.  If they're early-to-mid-20th-century hardcovers with paper dustjackets, so much the better.

(These aren't my photos, but they're like the books I bought.)

The White Deer, by James Thurber

Tales of a Grandfather, by Sir Walter Scott, in the Blackie's Famous Books edition.

I know the photo shows a Katy book instead, but they're all very much the same style, with the squiggly things up the sides and the list of other books on the back.  A new paperback copy of Tales of a Grandfather would cost about $30 (Canadian) if ordered through our local bookstore, because who orders Tales of a Grandfather?  This one was $10.  Sometimes antiquing actually saves money. (UPDATE: I realized later that this Tales is somewhat abridged, which does it make it less useful than I had hoped.  But I still like it.)