Bargain Hunting

Recently I read over 120 of Miss Mustard Seed’s blog posts.  She mainly writes about decorating on a budget and how to get a certain look (shabby chic) when painting furniture.  Now this may not be up your alley, but it’s definitely up mine!

                So today was my day off from slinging donuts and I wanted to get things done! I may have made too many grand plans after reading about what this stay-at-home-mother (with a thriving business) gets done while I still have to work outside my home to pay the bills.  Anyways, I made a list for the day (which I’m sure by now you all know I LOVE) and started checking things off. 

                I FINALLY made a contribution to my retirement account, which I have been meaning to do since before the wedding in August!  I picked up a library book called It Starts With Food (saving money by not buying it), and will hopefully start reading it soon.  I seem to have accumulated an abundance of healthy food choice books such as Real Food and The Diet Cure. But I can’t start reading those until I finish the fifth book in the Game of Thrones series (it’s just so big!).  Yes, I’m weird and can’t read more than one book at a time while my husband can read six all at once.  Short attention span…speaking of which, I’m totally off topic.

                Where was I…Oh yes, reading is slowly happening and will soon be checked off the list.  The main portion of my day was spent at our local household building materials recycling center called Home Resource.  I could spend my entire day there and be content (hmm future job?). Anyways, they have everything you could ever imagine from paint to sinks to doors to lumber and so on.  And I always start at the “firewood” pile.  From this pile I have collected many things including pallets to make a picture display for my wedding and scrap wood to sturdy a piece of furniture.  Oh, and everything in this pile is free! Today there were two square boxes that had a side missing.  They could be used as storage bins or stacked to make a shelf, etc. So I definitely snatched those up lickety-split.  Next to those was a chest/bin that was simply wood, but could make a cool tool box or storage for something.  I don’t know yet, but I know that it was free and that’s a word I absolutely love! 

                Once I was done with the freebies, I moved on to the door section.  I have been wanting to make/find a headboard for our bed and I loved the idea of an old door.  Well, I found the winners today…yes I said winners.  They are two matching doors that were very lightweight (easy to hang).  Both were labeled 20 dollars, but when I got them to the checkout, I feigned ignorance and asked “does this mean they are 20 for the set since they are matching?” Now let me say that I am the worst person to barter, because when I get it in my head that I want something, everyone else can see it too and there goes your most valuable part of bargaining.  You can’t let them think you are too interested or you’ll lose your edge.  Just remember that the worst they could say is “no” to your offer and then you decide if you really want whatever it is for that price or not. 

Well, I got both doors for 20 total and found some knobs, a large frame (from a window probably), and a wood headboard for a twin bed (another fun project I’ll share eventually).  Everything together cost 35 dollars!!  Let me just point out that a new headboard alone would definitely have exceeded that price.  So there’s another tip for budgeting.  Most likely if you do it yourself or get it second-hand, it’s going to be cheaper!

Here are my finds for the day!

So that’s the moral of today’s post: learning to bargain and working on projects that are long overdue.  I’m slowly getting things done, but at least this train is back on her tracks…I know I can, I know I can (okay, I know it's cheesy, but I'm choosing to leave that one)!