Frugal Finds and Fixes: Lights... Action

Since we moved in here about a year and a half ago, a couple of the light fixtures have been on the want-to-change-that list. One is the hanging fixture over the dining table: it's a bit too low and has hard edges, so, bad combination if you're taller than I am (which includes almost everyone). The other problem light is the chandelier-thing that  hangs down from the ceiling in the loft area and lights the front hall. Mr. Fixit's opinion is that it was the original dining room fixture, repurposed for whatever reason. One problem with it is that the lights shine up instead of down (see the photo), so it isn't very effective, and the front hall is dark even with the light on. Also, it hasn't been working quite right; the bulbs burn out too fast.

 When we turned our clocks back on the first of the month, things got even darker (of course).

So we bought a new fixture (with lights hanging down), put the ladder up along the upstairs railing, and changed it. Mr. Fixit said that it was a good thing we did, because the old fixture definitely had some internal medical issues.

Much better.

Over the fall, Mr. Fixit and I have done quite a lot of thrifting. I've decided to step back from my own volunteering, but we have been checking out some of the other local thrift shops and antique markets pretty much every week. Mr. Fixit's finds are generally radios or pieces of audio equipment to restore, or things like power bars (he found a good set of T.V. rabbit ears this week). We've bought some pictures...

some table linens, a few baking dishes and other odds and ends...

An odd-shaped white dish that seems like it would be good for party food, but it can do candles too

The three teapots on the lower shelf were all found this year. Mr. Fixit gave me the first one for my birthday (from a thrift store), and the other two (which are pot-plus-cup combos) were also thrifted.

Candles, 

a DVD of Charlie Brown's Christmas, and three Christmas CDs. 

And a toy Rudolph (that's Mr. Fixit's).

Also some books.

(The Castle of Llyr was off wandering somewhere when I took this. The set is lacking The Book of Three, but I'm sure I'll find one sometime.

(I had a Kindle copy of Essentialism, but I picked up a print edition.)

Some of the things I've bought for myself have already been worked into clothes posts or shared on Instagram, so this is just a roundup.

I have had the best luck lately with sweaters, and sweater dresses.

(My dollar-corner cardigan find)

(Also a dollar)

Talbots striped cardigan. My daughter thinks it's from the early 2000's, and with that cranberry and purple combination I'm inclined to agree.  The funny thing was, I went thrifting with the idea of a multicoloured sweater in my head, and that's probably because I had been looking a few days earlier at a suede-and-handwoven sweater jacket in the vintage-clothes booth of at an antiques market, and wondering if I would actually wear it or if I should just pay my respects to it and walk away. Much like this one:

It was nice, but the thrifted version came close enough, and it goes with a lot of things already in my closet.

Another Talbots sweater, and this one's only a couple of years old. Bought "by the pound," which meant it came to less than a dollar. Yassss (as they say).

Not technically a sweater, but wants to be one. Fleece zippered poncho/cape, with snaps here and there so you can make sleeves, or crisscross the sides.

I've also done well this fall with scarves and earrings.

(That last one is for outdoors. It's getting cold.)

And in general, how are we doing at saving money?

Well, like the rest of the world, there are a lot of things we're not doing, i.e. spending money on. So that helps, I guess.

We are noticing that a lot of things are more expensive than they used to be, and they're not all optional: you have to eat, right? So that makes us doubly grateful for unexpected sales, needed things popping up at the dollar store, and thrifted finds. Things like table runners and candles don't just get stashed: we use them regularly to brighten up the dinner table.

Tonight's menu? Baked potato soup, with bacon on the side.

And that's it for this installment.

The Intentional Thrifter: Summer Blues

Given the constraints on thrifting recently (e.g.  unpredictable store hours, no change rooms, no yard sales or rummage sales, the consignment store has closed forever), we have still been doing all right. Mr. Fixit has found a few things to restore, and we also bought a small bookcase for the living room. We used to have a floor radio in that space, but since it got sold awhile back, Mr. Fixit suggested that a bookcase would work well there. Mama Squirrel did not complain about that idea, and recently we did find a nice one.

It is, obviously, riskier to buy clothes when you have no way of trying them on first. However, it's not the clothes I have had a problem with recently, it's the books: the few I've bought were just not what I expected. Well, one of the tank tops from a previous trip did have several small holes in it that I did not notice until later. (Saving it for pajama wear.) But overall, I think I've been lucky. 

Blue jersey wrap top or cardigan. It's a brighter blue than this (something like the tank top shown in the next photo), but the lighting was poor.

White, very lightweight shirt

Striped summer pants. The hems are unfinished, but I think that's the way they're supposed to be. I've been wearing them with the white shirt.

Accessories, obviously, are less risky.

Pink glass necklace from an antiques market

Floral cashmere scarf from another antiques place (something to save for fall)

And for our house: a painted round bowl I'm using as a candle holder, and two packages of round candles that came up at the very next stop.

Frugal Finds and Fixes: To Top That Off

We've been in our new place for several weeks, and it's starting to feel more like home. While we unpacked pretty quickly, there were still some unfinished bits and temporary messes...well, there are still things to work on, but the big needs are taken care of and the messes are fewer. I find Dana K. White's two cleaning-out questions very helpful, especially when it comes to large, strange assortments of stuff. Her first is "where would I look first for this?" Someone's bleeding--we don't have an obvious medicine cabinet in any of the bathrooms--so where's the first, easiest place I'd look for bandages? I think the cupboard right over the stove would make the most sense. But that still isn't where they are, so I need to fix that.

The second question is, "If I suddenly needed one of these, would it even occur to me that I already had one?" And, obviously, that I'd then know where to look for it. This is where White's Decluttering at the Speed of Life meets Marie Kondo: everything needs to have a home. It can be a weird home, but if that's where you'd most easily put it away (Kondo) and where you'd instinctively look for it (White), that's fine. I'm not sure which question or which voice I was following when I shredded some thirty-year-old work contracts (don't ask me why I still had them): just call it a Greek chorus of "no, it would probably never occur to you that you had those buried in the bottom drawer. Even if the chance in a million happened that somebody actually wanted to know what you got paid for two weeks' temp work in 1991."

I already posted about the amazing bedroom closet. I'm still full of awe and gratitude for that space. I attached plastic shower curtain  rings on the end of the bottom rack, and looped scarves through them. (I do better when I can see things than when they're hidden away.)

We re-purposed a metal decoration that had been hanging outside, for the kitchen wall.

The plumbers finally came, fixed a few things, and replaced one bathroom sink. Mr. Fixit asked if I could make the boring brown bathroom more interesting, so I tacked a travel clothesline to the wall and pinned up some favourite postcards (I had mini clothespins from a long-ago craft project).

We found a ceiling fan for half price, for the upstairs bonus space. This is the best time of year to find deals on barbecues, fans, and patio furniture.

Mr. Fixit did a bunch of fixing, pulling out, and cleaning up in our little backyard space.

In cheap entertainment, we've been watching a library DVD of Stargate Atlantis Season Four. We're also watching Stephen Fry's lawyer-in-a-small-village-surrounded-by-crazy-people series Kingdom, and the first season of The Saint.

We've used some two-for-one hamburger coupons when we wanted fine dining with no cooking. We also improvised a pot of vegetable soup one night. The freezer compartment here seems to work much better than the one in the apartment, so we're planning to make freezer meals soon.

We've also been to a couple of early-fall yard sales. I didn't find much more than a box of stationery, but Mr. Fixit found a small vintage record cabinet to hold things in his not-in-the-dining-room-anymore workspace.

Speaking of workspace, I used mine to finish off a new study guide. (Just throwing that in.)

On to clothes: I'm happy with my fall #Project333, but I did find a couple of nice extra things on thrifting trips. The first was from the store where I volunteer. No, I did not strictly need an animal-print tunic dress, but for a couple of dollars I thought it would be fun to try out being a person who wears an animal-print tunic dress.

Later, I happened to be in the Mission Thrift store with Ponytails (not a usual thing, but it worked out that way); and I came across a blue cotton t-shirt. I would have bought it anyway, but I was a bit blown away by the label. If that name means anything to you, you'll know why. My very lucky day.

Finally, I got in a quick visit to the Salvation Army store last night while Mr. Fixit and Grandpa Squirrel were looking at Cruise Night vintage cars. This is what I found: a red leather vest with an embossed floral design.  

And that's hard to top.