Yogurt Gives Back

Yogurt is an absolute staple in our house. Being out of yogurt is like being out of milk. It means an immediate trip to the store. We always have at least a quart of vanilla, a quart of plain for the chickens and cooking purposes, and usually a quart of either strawberry of peach. We only buy yogurt in quarts so we are limited to whatever flavors are available in that size. When the kids go to Grammy's they love to raid her individual yogurt cups because they know they will never find them in my fridge. Mainly because it is a billion times cheaper, but also because I think it is a waste of packaging and, sometimes, product. If we get the quart size I can control the portions. In any event, hopefully buying yogurt will someday be a thing of the past when we have our goats giving us milk and I learn how to make my own cultures.

In the interest of transparency I must tell you that I don't often buy organic yogurt. Believe me, I know that Stoneyfield yogurt is better for us, it definitely tastes better than the store brand, and it is a NH based company and, for me, that's local. But it is twice as expensive as the store brand and that kills me. Every week I give it a longing glance, but then the Frugal Fanny in me opts to cheap out.

I am a super fan of the company and all their green initiatives, but it is one of those dilemmas that I wrestle with all the time. When does cost win out?

I may have found a new strategy though as I just joined myStoneyfield Rewards. Maybe everyone on Earth knows about this already, but I didn't. It caught my eye when I went on to enter the Farm Getaway Sweepstakes. With the Rewards program you can enter codes of the products and earn point that can be redeemed for merchandise ranging from free yogurt to cool drinking glasses. It only took me a minute or two to register. So now if I opt to spend more for the better yogurt, at least I'll feel like I am getting something extra.

It would also be worth your while to go enter the Farm Sweepstakes where you can win a trip for two to an organic dairy farm in Vermont where you will get to stay in a B&B, eat an organic breakfast and help out with farm chores. Screw the Caribbean. This is my kind of vacation!

You can find all the info, plus much more, on the Coupons & Offers page of the Stoneyfield website. There is a bunch of stuff to check out and next on my list is the "Going Greener Guidebook" that you can download for free.

I am generally not a name brand kind of a gal, but sometimes your roots call you home and your taste buds want to come along for the ride. That and the factory tour is really fun so maybe it's time for a change.

Five super simple ways to start saving money and resources right now.

1. Cut down on how often you wash your hair. Less frequent shampooing is actually better for your hair. You can still shower, less frequent personal hygiene is not necessary better for you or your social life. You can either wear a shower cap or wet your hair, but not wash it. I rinse my hair in the shower everyday and then just put on a dab of leave in conditioner and comb it out, but I only shampoo and condition about once a week. I can make a rather small bottle of shampoo last for months and I have some seriously thick hair.

This Bunny Says "Cheap"

I'm not sure when Easter turned into the second coming of Christmas, but it is ridiculous how extravagant the store displays have gotten. Although any secular gluttony seems a bit weird to me since our standard Easter goodies were typically a bookmark that said "He Is Risen" and a package of yellow Peeps. If I haven't mentioned it before, my mom is fairly religious (Episcopalian) and we didn't "do" stuff like Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny. We gifted and celebrated and had egg hunts, but always with the "reason for the season" in mind. I never felt jipped and although I am not nearly as dedicated to matters of faith as my mother, I try to remind my kids how these holidays came to be and that they are not merely an excuse to get stuff.

So when I am putting together Easter baskets, I am truly wearing my EcoCheapo hat and trying to assemble them using a little "new" as possible because even better than something that was made in an environmentally responsible way is something that was not "made" for this occasion at all. In the immortal words of Meg Ryan in When Harry Met Sally, "It's already out there".

Wicked Cool Wednesday - The grass can be greener

I'm from New Hampsha so "wicked" is a way of life and since my photography skills are actually wicked bad, I don't feel bold enough to declare this post "Wordless".

Credit History

I often find myself starting posts and then saving them because I feel they need a bit more background. That the true inspiration for many of my thrifty thoughts needs to be told before I proceed. I have known what I wanted to say for some time, but just haven't put it out there yet. So before I discuss one more idea, experience, recipe or tip, I must first give credit where credit is due.

Big Boy Budget Birthday

Hey now, Simple Butta Blog! You thought I forgot about you, right? In addition to new businessy ventures, it is also the holiday season (as if you hadn't figured that out from the incessant barrage of waste and attempts at financial ruin). That has made things extra crazy and, round these parts, December gets even hairier as two of my three progeny made their way into the world in the 12th month. Not good planning on our part, but the one kid we weren't trying for was born in June so go figure. I'm just sayin' it - December can be a crappy month for celebrating birthdays. Most people think of the financial burden, but to me it's strictly scheduling. It has taken me weeks to figure out when to hold their parties, yet it took minutes to get their gifts together. My store of choice lies in my basement where I stash all the treasures I have picked up during yard sale season and on my weekly (OK, sometimes daily) trips to the thrift store. Yes, I give my children second hand gifts and they LOVE them! They don't even notice the lack of packaging.

A Free Play Makeover

No, it's not for me, although I could use a serious overhaul. I keep waiting for those "What Not To Wear" people (most likely contacted by my very fashionable sister) to pop out from behind some aisle in a store or ambush me at preschool pickup. I would have to kill them if they tried to throw my clothes away, though. Not because I am particularly attached to them, but I spent good dollars at the thrift store one those and I can not condone such waste. The thrift store is certainly my favorite place to acquire new duds, but it is also my go to destination for just about all my other non-food needs, as well. So when I decided that I had finally had it with the mess the kids make of a playroom that I am chronically organizing, it only took a quick trip to Chez Cheap and I was off.

Here is a "Before" of the room in question. If I don't keep on them all day it ends up looking like this...

...or this

...and this.

                                                  

I was trying to think of a way to cut down on the amount of stuff and provide some new and stimulating ways to engage the kids (mainly the girls) in more productive play. I was checking up on one of my favorite blogs when I saw this on Our Yellow House. My Noah attended a Montessori preschool and kindergarten and I suddenly started thinking that all those Practical Life activities would delight the girls. So I did a little online research for inspiration and decided to go with a Montessori-ish theme. I moved all of the dolls, ponies, etc. onto higher shelves where the girls need to ask for them and filled the reachable areas with new activities that I put together for practically nothing.

A week and a half later and we are well on our way to a new way of playing and taking care of what we play with. Here are the shelves now. The top three shelves on the right and one of the ones on the top left are Noah's things and those still need to get pared down. The lowest shelf is all activities that need to be done on the floor. For these, the girls need to get one of the small rugs that is folded on the bottom left and their things must stay on that space. When they are finished, they must pick everything up and return it to the shelf before choosing something else. The next two rows up are all "works" that they will do on their table.

This used to be an end table that David had refinished, but we don't have room in our current living room configuration for it. The two little chairs were given to us for free when we stopped by our neighbors yard sale last summer.

The TV used to be here, but I moved it to the other side of the room because I hated it being the first thing I saw when I walked in. Since that move, the television has died and I couldn't be happier. We are not planning to replace it anytime soon. So now we have David's amazing dollhouse that he built for me last Christmas to greet us. The room also needed some additional lighting so I picked up this lamp at the thrift store for $5. It had a hideous black shade, but I found this funky one there for 50 cents. The rolling rack I got at another yard sale for $5 and it is awesome. The bins all slide out and I put some additional activities and books in it. Samson the itty bitty black kitty also wanted to get in on the action.

This is the new and improved Art Wall. Each child has a "clothesline" where we hang some of their recent work. There are also some projects created by the two oldest.

I moved this little corner table that I got from a free pile last year and made it part of our theme area. Right now I have out a little basket with figures from "Nightmare Before Christmas", some wooden apples and the Fall-ish books. All this was stuff we already had.

                                     

Here are the girls demonstrating one of the floor activities - stacking blocks. This can be a two person work and must stay on the rug to prevent them from getting thrown around the room.

This is an activity that helps build muscle strength and fine motor skills. Caroline uses tongs to transfer the little dinosaurs from one bowl to the other and back again. The whole thing stays on the tray and makes it easy to keep everything together and carry it to and from the table. I spent a total of 50 cents on this one.

This sorting activity can be done with any small objects, but Josie needed something a bit more challenging so here she is sorting a bowl of dried beans into a dish with three sections that I picked up for 50 cents.

The rice bin is a huge hit, but stays on a higher shelf and must be requested. It can get a little out of hand without supervision. I filled a large tub with rice and the girls dig for small plastic animals that are buried. This is a good one for them to work cooperatively on. They also like to use funnels and scoops to play with the rice. Some does get spilled, but it hasn't been too bad and after they are done I have them sweep up and they LIKE it!

Water play is always a hit, but I limit that to the kitchen. Each child has a tray, a dish of warm water and sponges cut into various sizes. They work on building muscles important to fine motor skills, like writing, by squeezing the sponges into the bowl. They also experimented with floating ad sinking. Had all the materials and just dried the sponges and put them away till the next time.

Pouring! I could write an entire post about how much kids love pouring. Here, Caroline is using a large plastic measuring cup with spout to pour into the funnel and fill a small glass vase. I put a drop of green food coloring into the water so she could see it better. This is all on a tray and a plastic place mat. Cost was 75 cents for a few things we didn't have a spare of.

Every day I think of more things to add and the beauty is that it all comes from right around me. The few things we didn't have I got second hand so there is not a single "new" item in the mix. The kids are loving it and I can't wait to incorporate some big kid activities for Noah. They are learning to work more peacefully and cooperatively. As I write this, they are ALL at the table behind me doing a puzzle together. And no one is SCREAMING. Miracles do happen. So take a look around, ask Barbie to scoot over and see what your kid can get their hands into.

This Weeks Thrift Store Haul

Sometimes I am on a mission when I go to the thrift store only to come up completely dry. I love deals, but I won't just buy anything. It has to be the right thing. Sometimes I go and just peruse and maybe pick up a gift to tuck away or a great pair of shoes. This week though, I went armed with a mental list that included:

• a few backup pairs of mittens or gloves for the girls
• a new hat for Caroline who is blessed/cursed with my hair which is ridiculously thick and makes hat wearing a challenge
• something to organize the barrettes and ponytail holders that are taking over
• materials to undertake a complete Montessori-ish playroom makeover

After spending $19.50 I walked out with the following:

• 2 cute hats
• 3 pairs of gloves
• 2 metal lap traps with the folding legs in great shape and with identical girly design
• a small three drawer organizer (for the accessory explosion)
• 1 laundry basket
• 3 medium storage totes
• 2 plastic stackable storage drawers
• 1 very nice plain wooden truck in perfect condition
• 1 wooden tray
• 2 basket trays
• 3 sectioned plastic trays
• 2 plastic sink size bins
• small plastic storage box
• small wooden handled brush, never used
• a brand new dust pan
• a huge vinyl placemat, brand new
• brand new set of measuring cups and spoons
• 2 small ladles
• 1 pair of tongs
• 1 small spreading knife
• and my best find of the day, a totally cool three wheel scooter which Josie has been asking for as a birthday or Christmas gift, in great shape and only $1

Everything except the outwear, the hair nightmare holder, the lap trays (Christmas gifts for the ladies) and the scooter will be combined with things I already have to organize the playroom and create works and activities for the kids. I am only loosely using some of the ideas that I witnessed when Noah attended Montessori preschool and kindergarten. I want the girls to begin to keep their materials in a confined space, to finish what they start, to put away something before they take out another activity and to just up the ante a bit in terms of their home education. I am chronically feeling guilty because I spent so much time working with Noah on anything and everything and the girls have never gotten that type of attention. There will be a few new things out for Noah as well, but he is generally pretty neat about his things and has a high level of natural curiosity that leads him to explore in his own way.
So that is my room redo plus extras for less than 20 bucks. I will post some before and afters once it is completed and, in the meantime, I am preparing to arrive before the doors open at a super mega Rummage Sale on Friday. I hope to walk out with my Christmas and birthday shopping for the coming year done. I may get buck wild so I'm bringing $40.00.

Vindication

I have been feeling a bit guilty that I spent $43.00 at Apple Annie's the other day. This fruity expenditure included 37 lbs. of end of season, Pick Your Own Cortlands that I only managed to get because I am 5'9". The entire time I was picking I was thinking of my grandmother saying to twelve-year-old me "Some day you'll appreciate being tall." and I would be all "Yeah, right.". I never believed her, especially since she was never taller than 4'10".
The rest of my purchase was 27 lbs. of what they call "sauce" apples. They are like seconds, small and maybe a bit imperfect. These are sold for .50 cents per lb and the PYO are .80 cents. So with my 64 lbs. of apples I am planning to make sauce, apple butter, misc. fall yummies like crisp and fried apples and also attempt to dry a significant amount for use during the winter when seasonal fruit does not exist in New England. I am going to try two drying methods. First I will see how it goes with a food dehydrator. At the bus stop one day, I noticed that my neighbor had one out with her trash. It was still in the box and she asked if I wanted it. Took it home and discovered it had never even been opened. Score! I will also string some up the old fashioned way and hang them above my newly drying jalapenos.
I wondered if I was crazy to lay out so much cash for apples, but on an emergency run to the dreaded Walmart tonight I saw the towering display of red, fall fruit by the door and the price was .79 cents per lb. When you average out the price of all my global goodies you get .64 cents per lb. Kiss my local, low spray ass Walmart!

Make breakfast an oat meal

I have to admit that there is many a morning when I just slap a bowl of cereal in front of my kids and hope they finish it in time to catch the bus. I, myself, am not a cereal fan as I grew up lactose intolerant and with a mother who only deemed two boxes nutritious enough to put in her cabinet - plain Cheerios (not even Honey Nut) and Quaker 100% Natural (which is delicious even if I always thought it was for old ladies). We pretty much always have store brand Cheerios (the honey nuttyish) that I buy in the big bags and also use as snacks and in trail mix. The other weekday morning choices are usually english muffin or toast with either peanut butter or our homemade jam or apple butter. Weekends are when I go all out and do pancakes, eggs, waffles and the like.
But once temperatures begin to dip into the 50's and the grass is crunchy when I step outside at 6:30am I begin to dream of oatmeal mornings. For some reason, oatmeal seems to have been marginalized to a packety powdery status or viewed as a bit of a hassle. Those little flavored oat pouches are sure convenient, but just about every bit of nutrition has been ground out of it and the excess wrapping triggers my gag reflex. Plus, the portions are ridiculous. It takes about three of them to make a decent adult sized meal. Hmmm...I wonder if they do that on purpose so you'll have to buy more? No, corporations can't be that manipulative. They always have the consumers best interest at heart. *Insert sarcasm here*

I was on a kick with steel cut oats for a while. If you've never had them, you should definitely give it a try. They have a chewier and coarser texture than rolled oats and are derived from the inner portion of the oat kernel, but have only been cut into two or three pieces. The only drawback is that the cooking time can be be nearly double that of rolled oats and on weekday mornings it is tough to get it done. Some people do prepare them the night before in their crock pot, but if I'm being realistic, I know that getting the oats ready as I am stumbling through my nightly chores is about as likely to happen as me hopping into the nesting box and laying an egg. In addition, the kids are not huge fans and so these nutty little oat gems only make an occasional appearance in our breakfast bowls.
That brings us back around to traditional rolled oats. Everybody has some, but they are often relegated to the shelf of Seldom Used Baking Ingredients. My love for these grains in apparent in my Homemade Chewy Granola Bar recipe and there are many more delicious treats that these come in handy for, but they can also be amazing when they fly solo. Additionally, they fall into both the eco and cheapo categories. I purchase the 100% Whole Grain Old Fashioned Oats in the huge 42 oz. canisters. Not only does this cut down on excess packaging, but these containers can be reused for a multitude of storage purposes. The store brand oats in this size cost me $2.28. I find the serving size on the package to be about right for us. The girls eat a little less than one portion and the rest of us a bit more so it evens out. There are 30 servings per container so that works out to less than .08 cents per serving. Consider ten minutes total prep time and I am compelled to quote Grey's Anatomy and say "Seriously."

As for flavoring these grainy goodies, I like to keep it fairly traditional. My hubby enjoys consuming them al natural (gross), but the rest of us like a little more sweet lovin'. I typically go with either maple syrup/brown sugar/raisins or brown sugar/cinnamon/chopped apples with a little milk to cool it and add creaminess. Tomorrow I will be drying some of the apples that I just picked to utilize in oatmeal this winter as we try to ween ourselves off of foreign fruit. So let's say these add ins even double the cost per bowl, that's still only .16 cents per person and I'd like to see a sugar laden, packaging nightmare, crappy toy promoting box of cereal top that. So dig into the back of your cupboard or glance to the right or left of your normal breakfast aisle purchase and discover the warm and frugal goodness of a hearty bowl of oats.

Halloween History

Let's just put it out there right now - my mother is amazing. Not in a baking cookies-cleaning your room for you-white glove test- kind of way, but in a stay up all night to help you finish a project and still go to work the next day- Girls Scout leader/Sunday School teacher- teach you to love others as you would love yourself- "I am so proud of you"- should be canonized- sort of way. She was and is the best and although she wasn't super crafty, one of the things I will never forget is that she ALWAYS made our Halloween costumes. Even if it was out of poster board or assembled from old clothes, we never had a store-bought get up. So when I became a mother and had no vision of what kind of a parent I would become, I at least knew that I wanted to carry on this tradition. One of the most special things about doing this was that when my son was born, my Dad had already retired and since he was the only one in the family who could operate a sewing machine, we worked together on many of Noah's costumes. These have become the most cherished of memories as my Dad passed away over 4 years ago. Although my girls did not know him, when they don one of the costumes that he helped to create, we can talk about how wonderful he was and we all feel him close to us once again.
Even though Dad is not with us to help sew buttons or cut fabric, we are still carrying on with our commitment to do Halloween Homemade and now I try to give it an ecological twist, as well, by repurposing things we have and purchasing as much as possible from the thrift store. This year, I am making a Joker (a la Batman) for Noah, a ladybug for Josie and a spider for Ms. Caroline. These are a work in progress and as soon as I am done I will detail how they came together and, of course, add photos.
Until then though, I decided I would post some of our earlier costume creations and possibly get some folks unstuck if they are still trying to figure out what they can put together and are feeling the pull of the plastic guises on the rack at Walmart. I am missing a few years that were pre-digital camera, but let's see what we've got.

AHA! Noah as a musketeer at age 4. Not a single stitch in this thing. Just printed out a fleur de lis, traced it, cut out felt and glued it together in the form of a smock. Add an eyeliner mustache, David spray painted a dowel and made it into a foil and all the clothes were pulled right from his drawer or dress up box.

He wanted to be a vampire so I pulled this cape out of the dress up box and just put the rest together from things around the house. Did have to buy the fake teeth and some black hair spray. We also invested in a cheapo makeup kit that year. It is still going strong and noone's face has fallen off yet. Josie spent her first Halloween as his bat which is made mostly out of a hooded sweatsuit and was transformed from Noah's baby costume as a black cat. I ditched the tail and made wings out of cardboard covered with felt.

Stop! You're under arrest for continuing to crank out kids! After two babies in 18 months I did break down and buy the police hat and night stick. Again, the rest of his outfit is from clothes we had. I took white sweatsuits that I had for the girls along with baby hats and drew the lines with fabric marker. My favorite part was the ball and chain that each girl had. Painted a Styrofoam ball and made a pipe cleaner chain. Noah was six here and that was the last time I could con him into the group get up.

The gender neutral costumes were making their rounds this year with Josie wearing the Elmo costume my Dad and I made for Noah (he sewed, I dictated and made eyeballs). Caroline revived the bat and Noah went as a Highland Bagpiper. We are Scottish and that was my grandmother's kilt. He had the hat already and I made the sporin (that pouch thingy) out of a men's shaving case, some faux fur scraps, and a ladies chain belt I found for 50 cents. This was his idea and was one of our favorites!

And here is the crew last year. Poor Caroline is the eternal recipient of the hand me down and is sporting  Elmo (no choice given here). Noah wanted to be someone from Star Wars and my limited crafting and sewing skills led us to compromise on being Luke Skywalker as a Jedi knight. All the black clothes came from the thrift store, those are my black boots and he pulled the saber out of his toy box. Josie as the bag of jelly beans has got to be one of my all time favorite creations and was certainly the easiest. Two clear plastic trash bags (which I later reused) a bunch of colored balloons (not so ecofriendly, but they had a ball with them later) and the headpiece top of the bag was made out of a paper plate that I wrapped with cellophane and tied with ribbon. I then velcroed the plate to an old hat and attached a ribbon that I tied under her chin to keep it straight. Paint a few jelly beans on those cheeks and we had Halloween heaven.

*The one disclaimer I should put out there is that my kids are not allowed to just pick any costume. It has to be something I can actually figure out how to make. Noah started off wanting to be Batman this year, but after some discussion we decided that the Joker was more doable. I gave each of the girls a choice between two different bugs that I knew I could pull off and let them choose. To get a closer look at any of the costumes just click on the thumbnail to see a larger image.

I put together this photo retrospective for two reasons - to show that someone who can't sew, knit, paint or craft at all and really does not have any artistic inclination whatsoever can get a little creative juice flowing and find a way to put something together AND to further show that costumes can be gleaned from things you already have and second hand sources and need not cost more than a few dollars. Sure, there is a time investment, but trust me, it pays in spades. I know that when my kids are 30- somethings, these are the things they will look back upon and remember that their mom did it because she loved them. I know this because every Halloween I am reminded that my mom was the greatest and that the memories of her creations have lasted far longer and are sweeter than any cookie she could have ever baked.

You might be an ecocheapo...

...if you wouldn't even consider calling a bottle of something "used up" until it has spent two weeks turned upside down to get every last drop.
...if one of your child's first words was "rip-off".
...if you hoard frozen juice lids and egg cartons and occasionally find a use for them.
...if you have bought underwear at a yard sale.
...if you give someone a second hand gift and proudly tell them how little you paid for it.
...if you have ever hung your washed plastic baggies out to dry on your clothesline.
...if you even have a clothesline.
...if you wash your plastic baggies.
...if you have ever gone to a party, noticed their was no recycling bin, and offered to take all the cans and bottles home.
...if you have given someone something in a zip loc bag and asked "If you aren't going to reuse that can you give it back?"
...if you consider the word "disposable" to be offensive.
...if you have ever stood in a grocery aisle and engaged a four year old in a discussion about unit pricing.
...if your kids announce that you won't buy Cheese Sticks because "she can just cut the cheese!" to everyone within earshot.
...if you find any of the above only moderately embarrassing or unreasonable because your wallet and your world are worth it!

Lowish Guilt Movie Run

It seems that three is the age when all of my children have been interested in going to a movie in the theater and also the age when I thought they would be ready to sit through one without being one of those kids. So today it is our youngest Carolines' turn and so the first time that I will be taking all three to catch a flick. What occurred to me last night is that this also ups the cost on such an outing. Of course, the movie that was acceptable to all parties is Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs in IMAX 3D so it is an even pricier venture. I almost toyed with the idea of saying "Bag it. We can watch a movie for free here." But going to any movie is a pretty rare treat around here and a First Movie is a milestone.


Since I can't renegotiate the ticket price and matinee discounts of any significance seem to have gone the way of the Drive In, I am definitely smuggling in snacks and drinks. Sometimes I have neglected this step and been sorry when we got there and paid more for food than admission. And let's all just admit it now - movie popcorn sucks nowadays. The only thing worth anything is Non-Pareils. Even the soda tastes nasty to me. Maybe it's that bitter rip-off flavor.

To have an acceptably fun snack substitution I busted out the air popper and filled four, lunch size, brown bags. I know what you are thinking. Those paper bags are now going to be trash since they will be all popcorny on the inside and, therefore, unrecyclable. Is that even a word? Hold on. Let me check... It is! It even has its' own symbol. Who knew?

I am OK with this waste since paper bags are ultimately biodegradable and I have been working out of the same package for well over five years now. I also figure we offset this minimal trashiness because we only buy popcorn kernels and never microwaveable. I decided to add some butter flavored sprinkles this time after some grumbling about how our popcorn doesn't taste like the stuff at the theater. OK success, but I think I might just stick with salt. Butter in spray or powder form skeeves me out. I also packed a small baggies of M & M's for everyone. I buy the 4 lb. bags of those little chocolate pills for purposes of child treats and bribery. I will wash all those baggies later. I am a hardcore baggy washer and you will get a brain full of it soon. Stay tuned for that one. It's one of my specialties. Throw in a few water bottles and my oversize purse and we are ready for stealth snacking.

So I think I've got the cost down as much as possible. Now if I can just stay awake through the move I'll really get my monies worth. Ooh, this just in...the boy wonder has scored Red Sox tickets via Dad and will be making the pilgrimage to Boston with Grammy the Psycho Sox Fan. This outing is getting cheaper by the minute.

Give me $5 and call me Santa

On Wednesday's Noah has Coyote Club which is sort of a kids nature group that meets at a local park. He loves it and I am quite keen on the activity since I am a much bigger fan of trees than sports. What this means for me is that I need to find a way to occupy the girls for and hour and a half since it isn't really worth it to drive home, nor is it enough time to do any serious errand running like grocery shopping. So today we took a quick trip to Agway to pick up chicken supplies, stopped in at the vets to pick up medicine for George, the hot mess puppy bulldog, and then went to our most coveted place - the thrift store. Ah, those two little words set my heart a flutter. My affinity for thrift stores and their many Eco (logical and nomic) benefits will be the subject of many a post here, but for today I will sum up my $5 score.
After scanning my usual hot spots, shoes for Noah and me and pants for the boy giant, I let the girls hit the Toy Room and I went over to check CD's and books. No "new" music of interest. I think I hit my high in that department when I found a copy of "Ill Communication" to replace my scratched one. Who the hell gives away a Beastie Boys CD? Hello, inheritance? On to books. I quickly found a hardcover for me that looks completely untouched. Then one that screamed "Buy me for Mom". Then one for my sister. All in beautiful condition. When I had finished scanning the shelves and surveyed my pile I had a total of eight - four gifts and four for me. Prices? 50cents for hardcover and 25cents for soft. Total = $3.00.
Back to the toy room to pick up the girls and I discover two very girly cases filled with never-used art supplies. A buck a piece. I am always on the hunt for two-of-something to avoid "She won't SHARE it with me!!!". So that's a couple things that will balance out Christmas a bit. I checkout with a total of six future Christmas presents, plus four new reads for me. Not that I will get through them anytime soon, but most of them are reference anyway.
So some might say that I did not need to spend that five dollars. But come December when everyone else is frantically throwing their money at anything that looks like something they can pawn off as a thoughtful gift, I will be at home making wrapping paper out of brown bags and bragging to David about how cheaply I acquired this bounty and resting in the knowledge that my generosity is recycled and still full of love. See you next week Thrift Store!