Goodwill is open again!!

So, not sure if Tennessee reopening the state earlier than others (during coronavirus) will turn out to be a good thing or not, but I have to say, it was great to get out of the house again!  When I saw that the local Goodwill store would be reopening after being closed for a month, I wanted to get there as soon as possible.

I know so many people have spent weeks organizing and cleaning their homes as never before, so I figured Goodwill would probably be pretty well stocked.  Since I still need to find tons of stuff for the house – and have been stuck with just online resources - I was ready to go shopping again.

(I have to admit, being “forced” to shop for an entire house at one time is pretty much living a dream.  I actually have to go shop.  And even better than that, it’s not just any shopping - which I get less excited about - but its thrift store shopping, which I am ALWAYS excited about.)

And Goodwill came through! 

So – a bit of a disappointment – because of coronavirus, none of Goodwill’s normal little sales are on (as in “all blue sticker items are 50% of this week”) - so I ended up paying “full price” for everything.  Not sure what coronavirus has to do with sales being on or off, but anyway, I did spend enough to finally hit 10 points.  (At Goodwill, you get a point for every $25 spent.  After you hit 10 points, you get a free $25 credit.)  See??  Isn’t Goodwill great?

So what does $94 spent at Goodwill look like?  I won’t bore you with a whole written list, but here is everything in photos:

Since we really want to offer a family-friendly airbnb, I’ve been collecting some baby/small kid things, so we can offer an option of baby items in the house if families don’t want to haul all their kid stuff with them on vacation.

I loved this great presidents' plate that ends with George Bush Sr.  

And the perfect duck pitcher for $5!

You always need a few little brass bud vases - for the peonies & irises in the yard.

Some necessities

I can't resist a few beautiful things - got to have something for that china cabinet!

Wasn't it  nice of someone to donate a serving bowl monogrammed especially for the house??

I'm really looking forward to getting back to the house soon to start putting all the pieces together!

The second mother lode

Remember the two chairs and ottoman I purchased for the living room ($250)?  How the same seller contacted me and offered me a red and white toile sofa (practically never used) for free?  (It was posted for sale at $200, but no one had bought it, so it was offered to me for free just to remove it from the home because a new one was being delivered.  The couple was redecorating and clearing out their old – but practically new – stuff.)

So anyway, I sent my husband and teenage son to do the heavy lifting for me and pick up the sofa.  I had noticed a lamp and some curtains in the room that I really liked and thought I could use.  So I gave the husband instructions to find out if she was willing to sell any of the rest of it, and if it was less than $25, to take it.

When they got home, my husband ran upstairs with a look of excitement.  (It was the same “grill gleam” light I had just recently seen in his eyes.)  “You’d never believe this,” he said, “but when I told this couple about your project they told me you could have everything in their garage you want for free – just to get it out.  They told me you seemed so nice that they really wanted to help you out.” 

Wait, what??  Again??  This was the second time in a week!  And because I’m so nice!  (Good thing our first contact was brief and I didn’t have a chance to ruin that impression.)

Since we were renting a trailer the next day to take some of the furniture to The House of Goodwill for the first time, we swung by the house of my new best friends to clean out the garage.

And what a garage it was!  (This is where living near wealthy suburbs comes in handy.  Not to mention that the things this couple were getting rid were really beautiful.)  In one garage space were chairs, really new looking pillows, lamps, tables, etc.  “My husband is sick of not being able to get to his car.  Take whatever you can use” I was told.  So we did!  Into the trailer it went.

So that made 2 mother lodes in a span of 3 days.  What a blessing!  Thank you Bob & Tina!!

Memories of Miss Martha

A couple of Saturdays ago, we had new neighbors moving in on each side of our house.  (Not The House of Goodwill, but our year-round residence.)  I was so busy with a million things, I felt bad that I hadn’t taken the time to really meet them, but just waved in passing here and there.

Since my family goes to a church that has been talking all year about the importance of loving and serving our neighbors  – and not just our neighbors in a general sense, but our actual literal neighbors – I’d been really wanting to do something to reach out.

Church nudging aside, I kept thinking about Martha Lanham, my former (literal) neighbor who had moved away less than a year before.  Martha had advanced cancer and her husband Gene was going blind.  Their daughter wanted them to move closer to where she lived, and so our wonderful neighbors of 15 years were gone.

Miss Martha and her equally wonderful husband, Gene

I have always had the blessing of having LOTS of amazing neighbors.  I mean really, really great people – the kind you hope move in nearby.

I would guess that the first time I met Martha, she was probably standing on my doorstep with a cake/pie/cookies/something delicious in her hands.  I actually don’t remember the first time we met, but Martha was always showing up at my door with a cake/pie/cookies/something delicious.  But that wasn’t why I loved her; it was what her cake/pie/cookies/something delicious represented.

She was such a caring, kind and loving person.  She helped my husband and I in innumerable ways, always willing to give and serve however she could.  Getting mail, watering plants, feeding our cat when we went out of town, gathering new neighbors for dinner with us so we could all meet , sharing her flowers when she divided them and giving lots of helpful gardening advice.  When my husband was out of town and I had to work late, she would stay up with her husband and not go to bed till they saw I was home safely.

When I told Martha that my beloved dog passed away she cried.  For me.  And I will never forget that.

So I made a “Martha move” the other day.  I baked some pumpkin-carrot-raisin bread and I shared it with the new neighbors.

May my home truly be a “House of Goodwill” like Martha’s was.  She will be in my heart forever.

The mother lode (aka. The price is right #2)

So I found this beautiful queen sized white iron bed on craigslist for $50.  Of course, I sent the husband to go pick it up for me.  When he got home, he told me the family he bought it from said they are combining houses after a new marriage, so she’s clearing out her former house and so is he.

He said they gave him a box spring for the bed (free) as well as a shop vac (also free).  “You’ve got to stop what you’re doing and come back with me!” he said.  “They have a PODS container in the driveway they are trying to clear out, and they have lots of stuff they’ll either sell cheaply or give you.”

Super score!!  (And even more so because this family was moving into a really nice, really BIG house – ie. the “stuff” they needed gone was really, really good stuff! J)

What did we find at the mother lode?

A beautiful china cabinet for $50 

(I had not been thinking the house needed a china cabinet, but with one this beautiful I will now find something to go in it.)

A perfectly good king-size mattress (free) for the (free) king size bed my son and I found for free on a walk.

A chair, a desk, a table and chairs – don’t know if I’ll definitely use them but for $35 I like having the option.

A lantern

A really nice tv cabinet/table for $45

And there was some other, miscellaneous stuff.  To be honest, I’m not sure I’ll be using it all, but the family was giving it away because they were tired of having a PODS container in the driveway.  Having more stuff to choose from gives me more options for putting things together, and what I don’t use I can pass on to someone who can.

The bed alone was certainly worth more than what we paid for everything we took, so I’ll file that one away in the Super Great Deals file. 

I’m feeling a little less stressed about the budget now. J

The joy of shared values

I was having a conversation with my husband in the office the other night when he happened to look out the window.  He jumped up, cutting me off mid-sentence while peering through the blinds.  “You wouldn’t believe this,” he exclaimed, “I think I see a free grill!”

With that, he ran out of the room.

Wow.  All I could think was, wow, how times have changed.  When we got married (almost 22 years ago, yikes!) he was king of the credit card, and thought in terms of monthly payments.  I, on the other hand, was raised with a “make do” mentality, from “why do we need to replace this perfectly functional  50-year-old item for something new?” parents.

But over the years, I’ve watched him change.

Although my bottom line reason for loving to buy things used is always budget, another big reason is the environment, and my love for this beautiful planet.  Less wasted stuff = less garbage in landfills.  If I can possibly fix something instead of throwing it out and buying a new version, I almost always will.  I patch clothes.  I glue broken pieces.  I buy used.  And if for some reason I just want a new version of something I already have, I find some way to sell or donate my old one.  I never throw away something that still has possibility.

I am amazed at what people will throw away.  On my daily dog walks, I’ve found laundry baskets, children’s toys and TONS of perfectly good wrapping paper (don’t people know the holidays will be repeating again soon?), among other things.  I always love the couple of weeks after Halloween, ‘cause I score a lot of great pumpkins, which are awesome for compost.

When my puppy jumped up and bit a hole in one of my favorite shirts, I used one of my favorite fixes: the iron-on patch.  (Does this remind you of your childhood?)

I cut this one into the shape of a heart - I actually liked how it turned out!

But back to the grill.  Apparently our new neighbors had been given someone’s old grill that they thought they could fix.  But the new neighbor guy looked at it and decided that no, he couldn’t.  (Or maybe didn’t want to, not sure which.)

Anyway, my husband was psyched!  “I definitely can fix this with probably $50 worth of parts, and it’s exactly what we need.”

I tell you, this was NOT the guy I married.  And I mean that in a good way!

The craigslist non-buy

When I think of what a lake house should be, for my family, and for guests, two words that come to mind immediately are “relaxed” and “comfortable.”  I really want to make this house a great place for families to come and vacation with their kids and dogs, if they choose.  It’s hard to find appropriate places to take small children, where both adults and kids can have fun together.  While a real, actual vacation for adults might involve leaving kids and pets behind, for those who are looking for some family time, I think spending time on a lake is perfect.

The first time I went to the house with my foster children (ages 2 and 3), I realized just how much work we need to do to make the house child-friendly.  We need a baby gate at the top and bottom of the spiral staircase, and some extra protection added to the porch railing, as well as two gates for the stairs.  I am concerned for my (smallish) dogs as much as small children with these.

Anyway, I started my furniture search looking for living room chairs.  As always, I faced a major dilemma with what to buy.  As a rule, it seems a sofa and chairs either have to look good OR be comfortable.  If it’s a cozy recliner (where we all really want to sit, right?) it’s ugly.  If it’s really cool and stylish, you want to sit in it for about 5 minutes before looking around for a recliner.

I used to have a friend with some money to burn and she spent a lot of it flipping houses.  She loved finding the most unique art and furniture she could - and she always had these really eclectic and super cool rooms, but what I really remember is that there was never one comfortable place to sit in her house.

Maybe I’m a little bit more on the guy side here, but if it’s not comfortable, what’s the point?

Here are my rules for what makes a chair (or sofa) comfortable: it has to have good back and neck support, and you have to be able to put your feet up if you want to.  I bought a chair once because I liked its look, but it only came midway up my back, and after sitting in it a short while, I’d find myself constantly changing positions or slouching trying to get comfortable.  I learned from that.

So it killed me a little when I found this pair of chairs and ottoman (on craigslist, of course) that I LOVED the look of - the colors, the pattern, etc. but I could tell they were 5 minute chairs.

So pretty!  But not high enough in back to really be comfortable.

The ones I ended up buying I bought because not only were they practically new, but they have great support, and I could read or watch a movie in these comfortably.  (See picture in previous post.)

Good looking, comfortable AND cheap?  This is not easy!

Used = Gross?

I was sitting here writing when my husband came in to talk about some business regarding the House of Goodwill.  As we were talking he happened to say, “I wish we could buy some new mattresses for the house, but I guess that wouldn’t fit the budget.  Isn’t buying a used mattress a little gross?  Oh, well, I guess we have to.”

Since I had just written the paragraph below, I simply handed him my laptop and told him to read.

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I have a lot of friends who hate the idea of buying anything used.  I think some of them associate buying used with not being able to afford something new and they can’t get over the pride factor.  Some others have told me the idea of buying used stuff is “gross.”  These are the same people who – without a second thought - stay in hotels, sleeping in sheets and toweling off their personal places with towels that have touched hundreds of other people’s most personal places.  I’m fairly certain they also sit on public toilets and swim in public pools full of small children – do we really want to go there?  And I certainly would advise no one to ever look too closely at their forks in the nicest of restaurants – you really don’t want to see what the giant commercial dishwashers miss.  In light of all that, is buying a used table really that gross?

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“Oh,” my husband said.  “Ok.” 

I do have one rule – whatever I buy used I do wipe down with Lysol or run through the dishwasher or washing machine.  Just because.