Frugality Means Work!

I have been looking for a wing backed chair for a couple years. I started by browsing online to get an idea of the new prices of them and found they range in price between $175 to $250 and more. I knew people often set furniture out at yard and garage sales, so I just tucked it away in the back of my mind. Yesterday while yard saling, we came upon a place that had quite a bit of furniture for sale. One of the pieces was a wing backed chair. I was so excited, but needed to conceal my excitement. I sent my oldest son to ask them what the price was on the chair and they said $20, but it was negotiable. I looked around at everything else and picked up some primitive prints that I liked and made my way over to pay for them. I asked them if they'd take $15 for the chair and they said yes! Hooray! That is a savings of at least $160!!!

We loaded it up and my wonderful oldest son scrubbed it with the upholstery cleaner attachment on our carpet scrubber. It now resides in our bedroom. I wanted a smaller chair for our room to just sit on without reclining because recliners take up more space. Plus this chair helps to bring out more of the mauve in my tan/brown curtains. ;) Now, to focus more on some masculine colors for our bedroom. I'm working on that though.

I also thought I would take a few moments to share some other beautiful yard sale finds that are in our bedroom now as well.

This is last year's yard sale find. It reminded me of the garden mentioned in the Song of Solomon. I still have some things to add to the wall with this picture, but with the ruggedness of grape vines and such, I'll be able to pull it all together with minimal cost. This is the one thing that simply must be understood~Frugality takes patience and time.

On the opposite wall is this lovely wire rack type of thing. I thought it looked neat and it mimicked the above picture with the curves and vines, so it is on the opposite wall. Yes, there are things to add to this wall, but I am not in a hurry. Usually when one is impatient, one spends more money than is necessary. It still looks nice, but will be completed in due time.

This particular combination is simple and elegant. I think the only thing I would add is perhaps something to cover up the nail hole on the hanger. This is a small wall space with the moulding for the closet doors on either side of the berries.

This is what the edging of our curtains look like. There is very little mauve in them, but there is also green and some browns. This is where I am pulling colors in for our bedroom. I like taking something so simple and pulling colors off of it to decorate our home. Of course, there are times when I buy things at full price. The small picture in the above photo that says, "I have found the one my soul loves." was bought at full price. My curtains were full price, but they were used in our living room at our old house before we moved here. The quilt for our bed is also new. Our quilt is a cream color with very very tiny flowers on it edged in one of the greens in the curtains in scallops as well.

Another purchase made yesterday was 2 dish sets. They were "incomplete", but filled our needs perfectly. I'm not bothered by having mismatched dishes. I am bothered by chipped and cracked dishes, however. It was time to keep my eyes out for more. The first running of the new dishes went in to the dishwasher last night before bed. The second running is just now coming out. Yes, there were that many dishes! Some of them, in fact, are being packed away to go in to the attic for future use. I spent $15 on 2 sets of dishes, which by the way, were probably more like 3-4 sets now that I think of how many pieces there were. I've looked at "new" sets and when you're looking at a 4 piece place setting for 4 people for $36, I've saved at least $57.

Now, mind you, when looking for things, I am very picky. It has to go with my basic color scheme that I have in my home and it has to look nice. I won't pay money for it if it doesn't follow those very basic criteria. All of my house is pretty much decorated in blues, greens, mauves, reds and tans, so that gives me quite a wide variety of things to choose from. One of those basic rules that I go by is that if it is an electrical item, I need to make sure it works before purchasing it. If I haven't done so, it is my fault if and when the item doesn't work.

For clothing, it has to have a size tag. If it doesn't I hold it up to the person it would be for. If it is a shirt or a jacket, where the shoulder seams meet the sleeves, it has to go down past their shoulders by at least an inch. If it hits them right at the shoulders it probably isn't big enough. If it is pants, skirts or shorts, I hold it up to them again like shirts and it has to meet with the side seams of the garment they are wearing or just a little passed it. I can take things in, but I can't add more material to the sides when there isn't material there to add. LOL

We found 2 skirts and 2 shirts for my precious daughter all for under $10.

I just love her eyes in this picture.

Frugality takes a lot of work, but the pay off is a wonderful sense of satisfaction that you've saved money on something you needed or wanted. You have more money in your pocket for other more needful things. It is all about choices. Each of us have choices in how to spend our money that God has blessed us with. Everything that we have is the Lords, so we need to decide how to manage HIS money and be good stewards over the things He has blessed us with. For us it means something different than someone else. The good thing is to know there are choices we can make. Knowing this is a powerful thing in and of itself.

What does your time translate in to? Are you choosing to be more frugal in your choices? If so, let me know how! I would love to hear from you! We spent 6 hours yard saling yesterday. We saved OVER $250 easily with our choices. That translates in to paying OURSELVES $41.67 per hour of work in looking at yard sales.