Thrift stores, garage sales, and unicorns

When I was a kid, my clothes were often hand-me-downs or thrift store purchases. I was the eldest of three children (four in my teen years once my youngest brother was born!) and my mom, as many parents do, stretched each dollar as far as it could go. It used to be frowned upon to wear clothes from places like that. In fact, I remember being teased quite often because my clothes were not name brand and other such nonsense.

Despite all of that, however, I am glad that my mom taught me the value of a dollar. I have no shame hitting up thrift stores. Luckily, getting good deals is more socially acceptable than years ago. Steve and I love browsing thrift store shelves and perusing garage sales. You can find the best stuff if you take a moment and really look!

I love unicorns, and I collect them. Nearly all of my unicorn collection is from local thrift stores, Goodwill, or gifts from people!

Those are just the figurines. I have so many plushies, paintings, and posters, and jewelry...its ridiculous. If you like collecting things, thrift stores are the way to go!

I also love shopping at those because when you have two kids, you blow through clothes like you wouldn't believe. In 2013 Ari went from wearing 4Ts, to 5Ts, and now she'll be in 6Ts. So in the span of just over a year she's had a huge growth spurt! I've snagged several pairs of kids' clothes for my children for a couple of bucks at garage sales, and a few dollars more at the thrift shops. The key is to make sure you're getting a great bargain for quality stuff; you won't catch me buying any stained, ripped apparel. Never ever! The best thing is, you can find name brand clothes at these stores and nobody will know any better (unless they're reading this, of course)!

The other day Steve and I noticed a garage sale next door, and we grabbed 4 children's books for a dollar, and an awesome, slightly shabby shelf for two bucks!

At the suggestion of my pal Bee, I'm going to fix up the sides (the only part that's a bit worn) with paint or stain, and we'll have a good-as-new shelf for the plants! As you can see in the above picture, its even great the way it is. This shelf definitely was meant to be ours. I had talked to Steve about how I thought a shelf or table near the kitchen window would be a perfect spot for some plants, instead of concentrating most of them in the living room. We shopped around but nothing else quite piqued our interest. Its such a rush to get a great deal and spruce up the kitchen all at once!

I look forward to the next few months full of deal-seeking. Even if we go home empty-handed, just seeing what these places have to offer is a joy!