I Heart Free Stuff and a Tip

Thursday, November 15, 2012

My thriftiness started young.  It is almost like a game to find the best deal.  I understand that some just have the gift of thriftiness.  I think it was more inherited to me.  My mom has always been a thrifty  and her mom was too. I think it comes easy for me because I continually watched my mom pause an considered before she bought things.  So I've been pausing and considering for most of my life.  It's been a blessing and I never feel like I'm deprived because I can't just go and buy whatever.....I think the best part of watching my mom was that I got to grow creatively and find ways to make things work for nothing or practically nothing.

So it's no surprise that I have a lot of things in my living room that are free.  With a eclectic style you can really collect things over the years and they just work....so I thought I would share a few free things or practically free stuff.....
 My Trunk/coffee table: I got this from my old house in KC.  It was left in the basement.  I put a coat of black paint on it turned it side ways so I could store my magazines in it.  I thought about   putting a lid on it, padding the lid, and putting some legs on it and storing blankies in it.  Maybe someday.

 Vintage Dresser:  Was on a walk and there she was sitting on the side of the road....she was just too pretty to pass up.
 
 Round coffee table: Grandma gave this one to me. My lantern was $1 at Dirty Don's KC....Oh do I miss my stores in KC, gonna have to get down there!
 Clock: Was passed down to us from Scotty's Grandpa...it's such a jewel!
 Buffet:  Given to me by Grandma....she got it for pennies and wanted to get rid of it!

 Jean love seat: I got this little Ethan Allen love seat at a garage sale.  Decided to reupholster it with my friends jeans.  So I got the jeans for free and the couch for $15

 Pillows:  I found this fabric in the basement of my old house.  It was old and in good condition.  I loved the greens in and the design. So I covered some old pillows with it and I've had these things forever just love this fabric!
 Childcraft books: Given to me by my mom n law.

Curtain rods:  Was left here at the house.  
Curtains: I got these from a house that I cleaned in KC...she was getting rid of 8 panels. I didn't know if I would use them or not but I thought how can you go wrong with having white fabric around...I'll do something with them.  
So here my tip!  When I was putting these curtains up I had like 7 hooks for each panel.  That wasn't enough hooks and I didn't want to go and buy more hooks.  They are like $8 to $10 dollars for a bag of 7.  I wanted to put close to 20 on a panel and that was going to be close to $50 bucks! I just couldn't do it.

So I began to think how can I do this cheap with out it looking cheap, so I looked in the shower curtain isle and came across these plastic hooks.  12 hooks for $1.  I put them on and they looked great and for $8 bucks total they looked really great!!  I had to make small slits in the curtains and put no fray stuff on them, you could go as far as making button holes if ya wanted.  If you put your curtains up really high no one will notice that they are plastic!  They perfect for curtains ya don't use but if you do they are functional too!

Hope you have a good day and remember that there are free treasures every where you may just have to stop and look!
Next time I'll have to share the things I spend money on so ya don't think I'm completely cheap!;)

1 comment :

Rachel said...

I love free, frugal, hand-me-down items, too. But you already know that about me. I love the round coffee table, clock and lantern (which I can't believe was $1). :)