Garage Sale Season and Thrifting Finds

Finally, Spring in Alberta means garage sale time. Last weekend I visited a hall garage sale that had about 10 vendors. Slim pickings but I did manage to pick up this great 1976 British Tom and Jerry Annual for $1- very vibrant cartoons on the inside.

I am not sure why I am buying books to read but for .25 cents I could not leave this behind - Kathy Reichs is one of my favorite authors (TV series Bones was based on her books) and this is one I have yet to read - this will be passed on to my mother who has the same reading interest when I am done with it. My goal is to read at least one book a month to keep my brain cells alive. I finished another book last night - and am one book behind this years goal so will read two by the end of May to catch up.

This past weekend I dropped off a bag of books at my local Salvation Army and discovered that EVERYTHING WAS 50% off! This particular thrift store raised all of its prices recently so I have been avoiding shopping there - but this little vintage Ruben Original (made in Japan) flower holder that I have had my eye one had to come home with me - marked down to .75 cents. This will either go in my future Etsy shop(if that happens) or I will use it for a Baby shower gift.

I went to three garage sales this Saturday and left two without buying a thing - much more selective now that I am moving.

At the third was this vintage votive holder (marked made in the USA) in the free pile - so I bought this little book for .25 cents and made off with both. The book is very interesting and I know others who I can pass it on to.

Finally, in need of some Spring clothing today these finds from my Goodwill (I dropped off a large box of glassware there for donation):

H&M blouse $5.99
Reitmans tank top $3.99
The two go really nicely together and this is the first money on clothes that I have spent in 2012.

Linking up with Her Library Adventures Flea Market Finds.

Final Days of Work Countdown

I am giving notice at work next week, my last day of work will be June 1. 27 work days left! I like most of the people I work with but not the job. Insurance, well insurance is an unhappy business. It has no heart. Time for a change.

After that who knows, some time off, a part-time job, or self-employment. The house still is not sold but we have shown it seven times in April and interest is still very good. We declined a low ball offer ($59,000 off our asking price) but told the guy if it was still for sale in a few months we may give him a call. If still not sold by the end of April we may do a small price reduction.

We sold some more crap this week, a fifteen year old patio set on its last legs for $80. The photo makes it look too good - much worse in real life. Total crap tally $2370. The truck was sold with a deposit and then the people changed their mind right before we were supposed to take it to the mechanics for inspection - being the good people we are we returned their deposit. Kind of a big waste of our time though - it happens (with a big S). Then the scam artist in the last post.

Hubby got a bit down about that but is showing the truck to a guy tonight. Other than the house, the truck is the last large asset we need to sell. The remaining furniture will be sold when the house sells. No one said this was going to be easy but we are both trying to remember the vision of Vancouver Island and taking walks on the ocean any old time we feel like it. Our empty house in Comox is being checked by our realtor and we have hired someone to take care of the grass until we get there.

I finally managed to give away an old hamstercage that was well loved but still useable. I originally purchased this at a garage sale for $3. I tried to give it away twice on Freecycle and no luck but was able to give it away on Kijiji.ca today.

Please send positive vibes our way - we need them. Life is still good, we are happy, can afford to carry two homes for the time being, the kids are alive and healthy, even my ancient hamster looks like he will make the trek to the island with us - I just want to GET ON WITH OUR NEW LIFE! I really should not be feeling sorry for myself.

When Selling Privately, Beware of the Scam Artist

A scam artist emailed us to purchase the truck we have up for sale so he could ship it to Asia. Oldest trick in the book - they even offered more than we were asking for the truck $6500 purchase price - but of course - we would never be able to meet them because they are "very busy".

"Thanks for your mail...Due to nature of my job i will not be able to come for inspection,am a very busy type as i work long hours everyday,i have gone through your advertisement and i am satisfied with it.

Your price is Okay and i can offer you little bit more is $6800 i hope my offer is acceptable..?
As for the payment..i will be paying you via the fastest and secure way to pay online(PayPal).

I have a private courier agent that will come for the pick up after the payment have been made ..

You can now send me your PayPal email so i can pay in right away and also include your address in your reply.If you don't have a paypal account, you can easily set up one...log on to www.paypal.com. and sign up. its very easy.I await your reply asap."

Yeah, sure, I will jump right on that - not. Even though they indicated they wanted to use pay pal I am sure there is some way they intended to rip us off. DELETE DELETE DELETE! I would rather sell the vehicle to a live body, thanks.

Another common Kijiji or Craigslist scam is on rental properties where they try to rent a location from out of country and send you a money order for way more than you require. You cash the money order and mail them back the difference. About a month later you realize it is a scam and your bank advises you the bank order is a forgery - by this time you have sent them the money already.

Be wise-if it sounds too good to be true it probably is.

Every Little Bit Helps

Today is Earth Day. This morning after breakfast myself and my 14 yr old stepdaughter and 16 yr old stepson picked a whole bag of garbage up from the public path that goes beside and behind our home while hubby stayed back to do the dishes. Although legally, our County is responsible for keeping the area clean with the recent warm up and snow melt winter's garbage left behind is now apparent and it was time to clean it up. Part of it is from ignorant people throwing cigarette buts and coffee cups away, part is due to the fact that we have mandatory recycling and high winter winds unfortunately blew a bit of the neighborhoods paper recycling all over the wetland.

10 Minutes and one full bag of garbage. Our view, the pathway and wetland look better and the birds can have a cleaner pond.

What can you do? Anything - everything. Pick some garbage up, reduce consumption, recycle. Kind of like breathing - easy.

Friday Night On The Pond

Springtime on the pond in Alberta - these pictures were taken this evening around 730pm on the ponds that our house views. The ice came off the pond yesterday and the birds are back!

Two boy red winged blackbirds trying to turn the girl redwinged blackbird's head. Lots of song and dance, lots of tetosterone. The girl is at the top with the boys on either side vying for attention. One night I will shoot a video so you can hear them sing - they sound wonderful.

The Northern Pelicans are back - they just landed this morning, I spotted them on the way to work. Five so far, last year we had a group of thirteen who stayed through the summer.

Ducks, Canadian Geese, Northern Pelicans, Red Winged Blackbirds, the gang is all here.

I've Recieved the Liebster Award!

I received a bit of a shock this week, my blog was awarded the Liebster Award from Reduce, Reuse, and Rummage. She is one of my favorite Canadian thrift bloggers. Be sure to stop by her blog as well as the award recipients - Thankyou!

The Liebster Blog Award is a way to get traffic to blogs that aren't widely known. The rules:

Thank the person who nominated you and link back to them.
List your top five picks (who have less than 200 followers) and link to them, telling a bit about each one. Leave a comment on their blogs to let them know you've nominated them.
Copy and paste the award on your blog.
Have faith that your followers will do the same to other bloggers.
Have fun!

It was a very difficult choice as I have many favorite bloggers, a few of whom had already won the award. Here are my Liebster picks in no particular order:


A Living Space: A couple's blog about thrifty living, bargain hunting and vintage love. Check out their great Etsy shop as well.

Granny's Hoard: Confessions of a reseller, almost-hoarder. This is a brand new blog and I am happy to say I was one of the first five followers. Down to earth bargain hunting at its best.

Arctic Mum: Family life, crafting and thrifting in the Arctic - there is more than just snow there you know!

Adventures in Thriftland: Frugal living, thrifting, scratch cooking and faith. A woman who is master of her budget!

She Thrifts, $he Scores!: A busy mom's adventures in selling on Ebay including thrifting for stock.

Please be sure to visit them all. Cheers!

Time For A Cool Change!

This week has been extremely busy. I am still working fulltime and counting the days down to quitting time at the end of May. We have done three home showings and all have gone very well. Our home is almost twice as large and costs twice as much as the average here so not everyone who likes it can afford it and it will take longer than the average home to sell so we are trying to not get discouraged. Hubby is busy building his company and is on the verge of signing three more contracts for work.

We are getting a little tired of keeping the home spotless and yearn for the days when we can be messy and sleep in again on weekends - both of which are difficult when selling your home. I have been trying to cook good nutritious meals but it is harder when people are coming in and out of your home and hubby has been on the road with his business.

I suggested to hubby that we downsize our camping equipment used exactly one time in the last nine years for camping and one time in the yard when hubby put up the tent to show the younger kids their first scary movie - yes they were old enough but now they are too old to enjoy that kind of thing. If we get the urge to camp we will rent a cabin as we tend to not be tent people.

We managed to get $150 from one buyer for: Coleman lantern, three sleeping bags, tent and five sleeping pads you put under sleeping bags along with an older coleman cooler (we have another as I had a newer one when Dave and I got together that we are keeping). The man who purchased the lot has relatives coming from Germany to visit this summer and they want to do some camping here.

Total downsize crap sold to date: $2290 - the truck is the next item to be sold and will go up for sale this week.


Two weeks ago I made a huge pot of crock pot stew and just threw in what I had in the fridge, freezer and pantry. The result? Yummy! The first meal fed four of us (the younger kids were over) and then we froze the leftovers and ate the rest this week on one of those busy nights.

Ingredients:
Box beef broth
1 small steak and 2 small porkchops (I don't normally mix meats but didn't have enough of one or the other and it came out great anyway)
dry barley
Potatoes
Carrots
Celery
Onion
Salt
Pepper
Garlic
Bay leaf
1 small packet beef gravy (yes I cheated but it was in my cupboard)

We also happened to be out of bread so I whipped up this batch of biscuits, again only using what I had in the fridge and pantry. A little bit of sour cream and seriously these are the best biscuits I have ever made - now my go to biscuit. Very much like the Biscuits found at Red Lobster that I love but rarely go to due to being thrifty.

The recipe for these were found on allrecipes.com: Cheesy Drop Biscuits

I don't use self-rising flour so used the work around at the bottom of the recipe.

Finally, a video that hubby sent to me that represents our new life by the sea - he is a sweet man.



Cool Change by The Little River Band

March Budgetary Results & Hoppy Easter!

I hope everyone has a Happy Easter and if you don't celebrate at least enjoy a few Spring Days! This little postcard was given to my Grandfather as a child somewhere between 1910 and 1920. It was not mailed but hand delivered so a little hard to pin down the exact date. I love the cute bunnies playing tennis with an egg, the pussywillows, and even the tiny bits of old glitter on the eggs.



March Budgetary Results:

Grocery Budget $426.59 minus February overage of $74.60 = $351.99 Budget

Actual $382.29 or $30.30 over - I still managed to shave over half of the overage from February off so feel this was successful.

Coupons used: $16.84

Nonfood purchases of the $351.99 were $86.29.

I did not include groceries purchased in BC at our new residence as part of those were left there and some of the groceries like garbage bags were taken there so feel it will all even out.

The discount trashbags I purchased at 1/4 of the cost of Glad bags are completely great - no complaints from hubby and yet another win in the grocery budget.

We finally freecyled some badminton net and badminton racquets to a family on Thursday evening. These were originally listed in January but no takers - people don't like to think ahead these days.

Clothing Budget (Year) $200
To Date Spent - Zero! I even purged some more clothing that has not been worn in a long time.

Hair Budget (Year) $400
To Date Spent - $52 with nothing spent in March
I have scheduled a long overdue cut and colour scheduled for this Friday. There will also be some hair product to buy but as I don't really have grey hair yet (43 and lucky - just the odd one) I can stretch this budget to two professional colours per year. My last was in early December. Hopefully this plan will work - if not I may have to sneak in one home colour.

We signed up for a free trial of Netflix this month in hopes to reduce some of our cable coverage - So far so good but it took us a while to figure out how to hook up the laptop to the tv as don't have a video game console to do it. We have unlimited internet at home so no extra charges that way. Canadian Netflix is not really comparable to USA Netflix as we are much more limited on selection but it sure beats renting movies or buying movies from our Cable TV provider.

Two interesting things happened in Canada this month - the Canadian government approving ceasing production of the Canadian penny. This is a positive cost cutting measure and is prudent - now business do have to do some price adjusting so everything can be rounded off to a nickel but I see it as a smart move to cut government spending. I don't think the end cost to consumers will be more than $3 per year per person. I would rather pay less taxes and have no pennies.

The second cost cutting measure the Canadian goverment took was increasing the retirement age from 65 to 67 (date to collection old age pension). Unfortunately this had to happen sometime as there were insufficient funds to fund the current structure. If you are 54 or older currently this change will not effect you and you can still collect at age 65. As I am 43 and hubby 49 this will directly effect both of us. Our retirement plan does not include any money from the government as we decided a long time ago the only way to be financially independent is to have zero reliance on government income. Anything we do actually collect will be icing on our cake. If more people took this approach to self reliance the world economy would stabilize - my two cents.

Off to finish cooking the turkey as we are having our family get together today so the kids can be there as they spend Easter with their Mom tommorrow.

Finally - a quick shot of what back yard and ponds look like after our foot of snow dump on Thursday - is this really April??

We Now Have A Fish Man Named Vito

True story. We were driving last weekend in our new little hometown of Comox and saw signs posted "Fresh Shrimp 6:00pm Fishermans Wharf". $15 later and hubby secured a whole lot of fresh from the Ocean shrimp, which our new Fishmonger Vito provided right off the boat. We apparently caught the tail end of his shrimping season. Next week they start fishing for Halibut and Salmon. He gave us his business card and next time we get the hankering for fish we will meet up with Vito. Fresh shrimp are quite interesting - deep pink, and take a little time to peel to be ready to eat. We fried them in garlic, butter, white wine and served them over a bed of rice. Just part of living our new Island Life!

As I was ill most of the time on the Island with a terrible case of the cold/flu hubby took the opportunity to take down the horrendous Baba curtains and patch and paint the walls in our new living room. We still have to paint the pink out of the three bedrooms but with furniture it will be home. He is in the process of negotiating with a guy who owns a chain of flooring stores for hardwood for the new house - in exchange for some sales training for his staff. They have worked with each other for 20 years so fingers and toes crossed a deal can be worked out. We have a showing today of our Alberta home - someone actually wanted to look at it on Good Friday! And in an effort to generate more viewing traffic we will do an open house next Saturday. I really wanted to get the yard raked up and dead plants pulled out but the weather is not co-operating. Thursday we had a late winter storm that dropped a foot of snow overnight. It was very interesting getting to work that day. I expect that the snow will possibly melt by next weekend but that won't leave time to clean the yard up. Before we left for the Island hubby had sold our Snow blower to a friend $375 - Sold Crap tally is at $2140. This money paid for the weekend taxes (flight free with points), 1 night hotel before possession, car rental, groceries, and painting supplies. We picked up the new Coleman Airbed which was good for a few nights once you got used to sleeping on it. Due to a miscalculation we had to buy some bedding as a queen airbed requires king sheets based on the shape of it. We also bought a small patio set and some other items to help make our new home liveable without the Alberta furniture. I came back with the urge to purge - took a bag to Goodwill and listed a few items on Freecycle. The downsize continues, and hopefully a home sale is in our near future!

Back From The Island

A very quick post to let you all know we are back from Vancouver Island, and our new home is safely tucked away with new locks, an alarm and our realtor checking it. Unfortunately I caught a very terrible cold several days ago and am trying to recouperate - I will post more as soon as I am back on my feet. Oh, and we also have two peeping toms keeping watch - aka the new neighbors kitties who were peering in our windows - which is fine with me as hubby is allergic but I love cats.