My business partner just bought a night table with very nice lines (tooled legs, good proportions, good wood) for $24. at St. Vincent de Paul's (three doors west of us). Her house is a showplace, but the background of all her furniture varies from very high end to garbage dumpster, literally.
Anyway, she'll steel wool it and wax... and add a new knob.
We buy what we like, but always look for the best price. Also, we buy as much as we can in bulk, and make good use of the two freezers in the basement. We regularly visit 3 supermarkets and Costco.
At Costco nothing's ever on sale, but some things are better priced than in the supermarkets, though we're careful not to buy more than we can use of perishable items. Romaine lettuce is much cheaper, organic greens, 2 kg. blocks of cheese ...
I scan Safeway's flier on Sunday for what on for 2 for 1. If it's a value pack of pork chops, I'll buy the two, split them up into family sized portions and freeze. Beef roasts, ham, whatever. The 2 for 1 is always better than the best price anywhere else.
We buy steaks in bulk for bbq season back in January/February, before the prices go up, enough to last to through to falltime. We've shopped at the same meat market for years, so the owner is kind enough to call us before the prices rise.
My kids like turkey as a sandwich/wrap filling, particularly Safeway's oven roasted turkey breast, which is something like $2.70 for 100 grams (about 1/5 of a pound). A ridiculous cost. Now what we do is, when one of the supermarkets offers utility grade turkeys for 88 or 98 cents per pound (one only allowed), we go around to four or five stores, buying one at each.
The only coupon I regularly use is Safeway's bonus Airmiles coupon, spend $100, get 100 free Airmiles, spend $200, get 250 free Airmiles. I'm in heaven when they have good 2 for 1 specials the same week as the Airmiles coupon!
The gadget that's become indispensible to us for buying in bulk is the FoodSaver. It's paid for itself many times over, I'm sure, if only in repackaging cheese ...
Gee, missed this thread!
I read constantly, & like Noddy I enjoy fantasy. All my books are either from the library or from thrift stores.
I go to thrift stores weekly... even though we're in a rural area we have lots of thrift stores... and always browse the books. Our local library is small, but they can get almost any book I can think of from other branches. They even call me when a book I've requested comes in.
I buy all my clothes and all hubby's from thrift stores. I usually wait for "bag sales," where you can stuff a plastic bag with clothes for $2 or $3. Yesterday I got two linen outfits, a dress, slacks, & a Merino wool sweater for $2. They even included several books in the bag for that $2, including a rare 1935 tatting booklet which I plan to sell on eBay.
Hubby wears size 14-15 shoes, so I always browse men's shoes in thrifts. These days I can tell a size 14+ just by looking. Wal-Mart doesn't even carry his size. Just got him a pair of Rockports, like new, for $1.50.
Also finally found a coffee maker with a timer yesterday, for $2.50.
I have to be patient, and wait for what I want to show up... but it always does, sooner or later. I also have to clean most of the things I buy before using them, but I've gotten good at distinguishing "surface dirt" from "worn out."
I don't even go to our local Goodwill... $6 for a dress seems outrageous!
