Thrifty



Not my yard, but I did plant some red day lilies.

For quite awhile now I've read bloggers who've conquered the world of thrift stores.
It's made me envious.  How do they do it?
 I'm ready to report that I've had some good luck with thrift stores. To be precise, it's thrift store - singular.

 

My husband and I had a mid-life crisis and acquired a beach house last year.  It came fully furnished. 
Home décor hasn't ever been our thing and we'd probably still be sleeping on the floor in sleeping bags and sitting in folding chairs in-between arguments over what we need and who was going to pay for it if the place hadn't been sold  fully furnished.  It's the best furnished house we've ever lived in. We aren't changing a thing if we don't have to!

Still, there have been a few things we've needed, mostly in the kitchen. The sellers were major drinkers and most of the glassware was focused on alcoholic drinks   As summer arrived I've been making iced tea and found the kitchen short on the glasses and pitchers needed for that.  Also, the house is 100% electric.  At home in Maryland we had gas heat and cooking and I heat with gas whenever possible because I'm nuts about Natural Gas, and it's cheaper.  One of the first things I do when arriving at the vacation place, particularly late at night, which is usually when we arrive there, is make tea.  The electric burner in our very basic electric stove takes forever! 

Over the years of visiting the beach I'd noticed a thrift store on my morning walks.  Not long after acquiring the house I stopped in, looking for an end table.  No luck on that, but I resolved to wander in again soon.  In the past few weeks that wandering in has produced a string of hits!

I bought this shipwreck map at a book store and went looking for a frame.  Framed artwork was 50% off that day, so this frame with the picture shown below was $10, 50% off the original $20 price.  I've been shopping for frames and a frame this size and quality -metal frame, glass- would have been more than $20 just by itself. 

 Not sure what this is, but it's not in its frame anymore.

 I like to make iced tea by boiling water and pouring it over teabags, then cooling it off.  I don't like to pour boiling water into plastic.  This pitcher was $3 -no chips.  Can't beat that.

My current favorite is Earl Gray tea with a big shot of lime juice and a touch of sugar. Earl Gray can be heavy, the citrus juice lightens it up.

The house has a wonderful view of a bay.  So wonderful that we gave the 1980s-era kitchen with it's dark cupboards and white Formica counters a pass.  The cupboards are not worn and have plenty of space and fancy little pull-out shelves etc.... We saw plenty of places with fancy kitchens and no view. Husband and I may not be able to agree on home furnishings, but we agreed about the view.

I just got this electric teapot.  I didn't know if it would work, but for $3 I decided to take a flier.  So far so good.  Electric teapots were pricey, more than $30 in stores.  If this one gives up the ghost I'll forgive it.  It heats very quickly.

I'd like a toaster oven so I'm not heating the stove up just to melt cheese or warm a roll, but the thrift store offerings all look too worn and unappealing.  I think I'm probably going to buy a new one.

The house came with the growler you see behind the teapot.  That's for Dogfish Ale, a slightly famous local brewery. You take it to the pub and they fill it with beer. 

Pizza is one of my main meals on vacation.  Husband stopped at a farm stand on his way home from the dump and got tomatoes, so we had tomato pizza.


I can see how people get into the thrift shop mode, it's fun to find what you need and still get change from your $20.