Frugal or just being smug...have you scored a real deal recently?

Dan Boone wrote:In "big city" supermarkets that are one to two hour's drive away from me this distributor always has a six-foot refrigerator case, but the prices are hellish: five dollars for a kiwano melon (which I can grow myself, they love Oklahoma conditions), usually four to eight dollars a pound for most things sold per pound....

Hi Dan.  Pertinent to this whole discussion:  I've read your posts here and there on Permies, but hadn't previously picked-up on the fact you're located an hour or two from your nearest big cities.  I too am rather 'remote' — in my case, being an hour from a town of 9000 people, four hours from a fair-size city (somewhat larger), and five hours from a much larger city of 120,000.  Out truly metropolitan western Canadian cities are 650km to the west, or roughly the same to the east.

As a consequence of a few thousand modest-income people living in my little valley, local second-hand goods (yard sales, estate sales, transfer-station "free" shacks) are generally super-efficiently scrounged.  I know that I mentioned on another thread about cheap/good "scores" that on balance I've had somewhat better luck (at least for buying used tools or equipment) at yard sales in quiet neighborhoods in the big cities.  But I don't get to the big cities too often at all.

Is your experience similar?

I scored 8,385,493,295,530.446.120,569,364 free leaves to make soil with. Excellent plant food that fell from the trees. All I had to do is gather them up. (all day every day lately ... it may never end) I also accumulate about 40 fresh cow pies daily. More good soil waiting to happen. Kaching.

Joel Bercardin wrote:
Hi Dan.  Pertinent to this whole discussion:  I've read your posts here and there on Permies, but hadn't previously picked-up on the fact you're located an hour or two from your nearest big cities.  I too am rather 'remote' — in my case, being an hour from a town of 9000 people, four hours from a fair-size city (somewhat larger), and five hours from a much larger city of 120,000.  Out truly metropolitan western Canadian cities are 650km to the west, or roughly the same to the east.

As a consequence of a few thousand modest-income people living in my little valley, local second-hand goods (yard sales, estate sales, transfer-station "free" shacks) are generally super-efficiently scrounged.  I know that I mentioned on another thread about cheap/good "scores" that on balance I've had somewhat better luck (at least for buying used tools or equipment) at yard sales in quiet neighborhoods in the big cities.  But I don't get to the big cities too often at all.

Is your experience similar?

Hey, Joel.  There are some marked differences, I would say.  I'm located about equidistantly from two metro areas with populations approaching (in one case) and exceeding (in the other) a million people, both about two hour's drive away; but nearer, there is a much higher population density of smaller towns than you describe.  I have several small cities in different directions in the 15k to 30k population range that are roughly an hour's drive, and I live a few miles from a town of a couple thousand people with half a dozen towns of similar size within a twenty minute drive, the largest and most distant of which has 7k people.  And, unlike what I have seen of western Canada, overall "out in the country" settlement density is higher here is well.  The whole area is divided into a nearly-complete square-mile grid of county roads (many paved, the rest gravel) allowing ready subdivision of the original 160-acre "quarter-section" plots that most people had at settlement.  So there are lots and lots of homesites (houses and mobile homes) sitting on one, two, five, or ten acres, and in most places there is a county water line and an electric line running down every county road.  

That said, there are some sharp cultural diversities among these people, usually along money lines.  Some garage sales are sad affairs of used baby clothes and teethed-over plastic toys; others are seventy year accumulations from a fat barn that's falling down and full of amazing tools, being sold by some cousin from the city who values none of it and is just trying to empty the property before Monday when the realtor comes.  And the people who show up range from hillbillies in smoke-belching pickups with patched coveralls on to high-wheeling ethnic women in fancy white bedazzled SUVs hoping against hope to find a designer purse on a clothing table.  

I will say that most men around here who go to garage sales are looking for a very narrow range of stuff: fishing gear, guns, tools, and construction supplies.  This is such a cliche that I often have women try to wave me off (apologetically) when I show up at a sale: "I'm sorry, but we don't really have any man stuff."

I always say "That's OK, but it's always worth looking around..." or something like that.  My classic example was a by-women-for-women sale in a fancy brick subdivision in my local small town.  Nothing but upscale used women's clothing on the tables.  But under one of the tables, there was a large cloth shopping bag full of old-fashioned (no longer used in the USA) glass baby food jars with lids, which I find perfect for storing melon seeds, screws, nails, and similar small assortments.  "How much for the bag of baby food jars?"  "$2.00?"  Sold, lady, sold so hard.

I don't go looking for "man stuff" and I'm usually not willing to pay the prices that are put on it, though I sometimes score bargains.  Often there's a "junk tools" box full of all the rusty junk hand tools; frequently it's five bucks or less and often the tool box itself is worth more than that, plus there's usually one or two rusty gems in here.  Also for some reason "man stuff" these days seems to mean power tools; garden tools are often exempt, and can often be had for one or two dollars each.  I just bought two really sound shovels -- one long handled, one short -- for two dollars each, I assume because they'd been used in a concrete pouring job and the metal blades are discolored and permanently stained with cement traces.

My standing shopping list is for the non-obvious.  Budget for most things is a dollar, plus or minus.  Garden containers made of thick heavy plastic (garbage cans, animal feeding/watering tubs), stainless steel (turkey fryers), aluminum (old pressure canners with no lids), steel (especially enameled steel, like old chipped waterbath canners or dutch ovens), copper (decorative flower pots full of plastic flowers), glass (fish tanks, fish bowls, large apothecary jars, gallon pickle jars).   Antique canning jars with wire bails, to use as kitchen storage cannisters.  Genuine old crocks -- I will pay more for these.  Always watching for decent kitchen knives in the $1.00 or less bin that's usually full of crappy serrated steak knives.  Always hit the black-widow-spidery genuine garages and sheds when permitted, to look for axe heads, sledge hammer heads, splitting wedges, adzes, froes, scythe blades, or any funky old woodworking tool parts -- it's amazing how many of those can be had for a buck or two when they aren't part of a complete tool in working order and aren't obviously in collectible condition.  And consumables, always consumables -- fertilizer, potting soil, bagged mulch, cedar chip bedding, plastic trash bags, brand new cans of paints and lubricants.  These things rarely go in a sale at anything like their retail cost.  And they are not sexy scores; most of our local gentlemen of the reddish-neck persuasion do not look for them.  They look for guns, and power tools, and fishing gear, and finding none, they go home.  

Dan: I am either glad I don't live near you, because we are looking for the same things at sales, OR I wish I lived near you so we could go out shopping together! I don't buy the obvious at yard sales, and what I do buy that's obvious, I'm not going to use for it's intended purpose.

The house across the street from this rental was put up for sale, they were moving to a senior apartment complex, the guy, an old farmer, had asst crap to deal with, he had a yard sale, I bought some things at his price, to be sure I got them, then after the sale made him a blanket price for everything that didn't sell. A couple truck fulls or more of power tools no one wanted (electric hedge trimmers aren't in style I guess, really old circular saws in neat metal carrying cases, etc) garden tools I have a bunch of but can always abuse more of them, bins of glues and tapes and sprays and etc that some worked some don't, boxes of cables and wires and pieces and parts, hoses and sprinklers, sawhorses and card tables, just on and on. Then their house sold in 9 days. He had to dump the rest NOW and clean it all out. We agreed that if I cleaned out his shed, left it swept and done so he didn't have to deal with any of it, I could have everything in it. Nothing he felt he could sell was in there, he had put it in the yard sale, but what was left was stuff I wanted, wood, metal, random weird hardware, pieces and parts of tools and machines. He got a clean shed, I think it took me three or four truckloads to clear it all. Win for us both! He was REALLY glad I took all his chaos, because he HATED the idea of tossing it all or sending it to scrap. He knows I'll use it.

And you are right, the guys came in looking for the good power tools, and the antiques, and the classy stuff, and were not interested in the rest.

Mike Barkley wrote:I scored 8,385,493,295,530.446.120,569,364 free leaves to make soil with. Excellent plant food that fell from the trees. All I had to do is gather them up. (all day every day lately ... it may never end) I also accumulate about 40 fresh cow pies daily. More good soil waiting to happen. Kaching.

I sneak over and toss a bag of leaves at you, to mess up your count!!
Actually, I'm envious, not doing leaves on the property this fall, wish I could. And I want your cow pies! (Have you ever, except on Permies, heard "I want your cow pies!"?)

Pearl Sutton wrote:...bins of glues and tapes and sprays and etc that some worked some don't, boxes of cables and wires and pieces and parts...random weird hardware, pieces and parts...

I'm getting into a storage crisis of my own because, beyond a certain point, if you can't put your hands on it you might as well not have it.  But the point for me of having all this stuff that your neighbor literally could not sell and had to give away to you (in exchange for the labor of clearing and hauling it away) is that it replaces so many very expensive trips to the hardware store.  I literally cannot imagine buying a roll of tape at this point ... have you priced that stuff in the store?  I mean, the good brand name stuff that sticks?  But I have every imaginable kind of tape, in brand names, 3/4-full rolls stacked 3 deep on a peg, and I didn't pay a dollar for any one of them.  

I am not an air conditioning technician.  I do not possess any ducts.  I nonetheless have a roll of silvery genuine duct tape -- not the old-fashioned aluminum kind, not the aluminized fabric kind commonly called "duck tape" today, but the modern high-quality plastic stuff like packing tape with a mirror-metal backing so it looks like the old-fashioned aluminum stuff but is lighter and more flexible.  What do I have it for?  I didn't know, but it cost me a quarter.  Then last night I suddenly faced a mint plant in a pot that was in dire need of a directed grow light, but the only fixture I had that I could put right up close and personal in secure way in that spot was a yellow plastic mechanic's drop light on a cord.  (Yeah, we are totally styling the light fixtures at my house.)  I looked at my 50W-equivalent LED 8W omnidirectional grow light bulb, I looked at the 180-degree opaque rear arc of that drop light in yellow plastic, and I thought "this thing needs an internal reflector".  Then I looked at the metal base where the bulb screws in and thought "a wad of tinfoil is probably not going to make my local fire marshal happy."  Turns out that two three-inch strips of shiny metallic plastic duct tape on the inside of the drop light works just fine!

I would never buy that six-dollar roll of genuine duct tape.  I don't "need it".  But it's good to have.

Pearl Sutton wrote:And you are right, the guys came in looking for the good power tools, and the antiques, and the classy stuff, and were not interested in the rest.

Some of the ones I see have big jobs and fancy money.  But many?  Do not.  I think it's lack of imagination, to be honest.  Or maybe they don't do anything but hunt, fish, and use new tools.

Mike Barkley wrote:I scored 8,385,493,295,530.446.120,569,364 free leaves to make soil with.

I love how the townspeople near me bag up their leaves for me to collect.  This year I had two big pallets in the back of my little truck.  By tipping them out from the wheel well to the side rail they made a huge trough to hold leaf bags.  I could fit about 20 of the huge (50-70 gallon) leaf bags in per trip.  I just check to make sure they have weeds in their lawn before collecting.  

PS. Mike, I didn't believe your leaf count at first but now I see the decimal place in there :)

Dan Boone wrote: I think it's lack of imagination, to be honest.

Yup. Exactly. Absolutely NOT a problem for me.
I feel sorry for people who have such a limited world view, I often will suggest something that can be done, and the person will look surprised and say "I'd have NEVER thought of that!" What a sad head to live in. I not only thought of that, I thought of 800 other options, and only told you the most boring one, the one that you might find useful.

I dreamed one night of humanity being a campfire of God (or the gods, if you prefer,) and the mass of humanity was the bright light, and the whoosh of flame, and that was awesome, the light and energy of the fire. But a bunch of us were the flames and sparks that dance on the edges of the fire, and that was what makes the fire beautiful! I'm a dancing spark, and I try to create beauty, out of the things the rest don't feel is worth using at all.

The decimal point was a typo. There really is that many leaves. I'm sure of it. Will add a couple more billion to the collection today.

Scored 3 deals that made me happy. It started of when I plugged my electric kettle in dry. Poof. End of that. So I went onto ebay to buy a replacement and the seller ALSO had a dog pack which is something I have been wanting for the car (emergency stuff).

Less than half price on the dog pack. What a deal! It is now being fitted as a canine bug out/get home bag (which means I am spending the money I saved on the bag ....on more stuff to put in the bag). Since my dogs vary greatly in size only 3 could actually wear it, but at least it keeps their stuff separate when I dig through my car bag looking for something.

It is a OneTigris med/large pack and it is really nice, I am quite pleased.

Stock image:


So I decided I needed to make a waterproof fleece dog blanket for the new pack. Went back to ebay to look for ripstop nylon that I could sew onto a fleece blanket.

I found a seller that specializes in factory seconds of outdoor/camo material! Bought 10 yards of ripstop green camo colored waterproof nylon for only $2.60 a yard  which is a super great deal (usually $6-$8 a yard). Enough to make a dog blanket, a rain poncho for me, and waterproof bags to store my get-home-bags in plus who knows what else.

If anyone wants to check out what else they have here is the link, they have lots of camo, awning stuff, etc.... https://www.ebay.com/str/fabric-2nds

Then last but not least I stopped at the thrift store while getting groceries to see if they had any fleece blankets and found a new-in-box electric kettle with the keep warm feature for $5 (the other one I bought doesn't have that since it is a pricier option). So now I have two electric kettles.

More smoothy fuel:

They had an auction across the road from me. I picked up a set of 8 lug rims with half way decent tires on them for $10 and they fit my buddy's truck perfectly. I didn't have anything they would fit but figured he could use them. At $2.50 per rim/tire assembly, I couldn't pass it up.

I recently got a new phone, I think it's a Galaxy S9.  My last phone is over 7 years old and the software support stopped years ago, so I couldn't use it for much except calling and texting.  Even the web browser stopped working well.  I wanted to get an S4 a few years ago, but they were the same price as the S5 and S6, go figure.  My plan was very cheap and I'd have to get a new plan with a new phone, so I just waited.

Two weeks ago my phone started totally crapping out and I got an email from my phone provider about a Black Friday sale.  Long story short, I braved the mall, talked to all the phone providers (there's a shit-ton of them now), and I walked out with an S9 for $19.50, I save $3 a month over my old plan, and I'll get a bill credit for $90.  Thanks to all my southern neighbours for exporting Black Friday to Canada.  Now I just have to figure out how to turn off the crap that I don't want, but I'm happy to have a phone with a good camera and the ability to use the net, all for $20.

The guy did try to sell me on a $10/mo protection plan, so I re-iterated that I had my last phone for over 7 years of construction work and farming, so he took the hint.

John Paulding wrote:They had an auction across the road from me. I picked up a set of 8 lug rims with half way decent tires on them for $10 and they fit my buddy's truck perfectly. I didn't have anything they would fit but figured he could use them. At $2.50 per rim/tire assembly, I couldn't pass it up.

Hey, I like this for a couple reasons.  One is the good price you paid — you scored a real deal, as the subject line on this thread puts it.

The other reason is you did something helpful to your buddy.  I remember an situation from about a year after I moved out to this valley.  I was more than 400 miles away, at a flea market back in the metropolitan I'd moved out of.  I was buying needed tools.  I came across a Stihl chainsaw, same as the one I'd bought (used) recently.  It was in very good shape and the asking price was $175, a fraction of what this tool cost new.  As I had some loose cash at that point, I took a chance... I bought it, brought it back to my rural home, asked around among other young homesteaders in my circle, found a friend who leaped at the opportunity to repay me for it.

It felt like a good thing to do.  Stuff like that is good for friendships and community building.

Smug!! I bought something I think is neat yesterday. A roll of upholstery fabric. Heavy, thick, pretty, incredibly sturdy. Quick and dirty math says about 23 yards of cloth, 60 inch wide roll, $20.00!! Whoo! This was NOT cheap fabric when it was bought new, some of the nicest upholstery cloth I have seen. The pictures I took came out weird, so the top one is without flash, and it shows the color well. The bottom one is with flash, and you can see the pattern better. It's a woven/embossed design, through multiple layers of cloth. It's not a pattern that if I was offered every color and design I have ever seen I would choose as my favorite, but it's definitely a pretty one.
Not sure yet what exactly will happen to it, insulated drapes for the house is most likely, always need insulated runs for the greenhouse too.  
Whoo! Awesome score!



Edited to add a picture of it unrolled. Beautiful condition! Pretty high odds it was never unrolled off the roll at all, and has been stored really clean.
I did a wash test on it, hasn't dried yet, but looked fine to me. I'm making a drape for my room in the rental to test it as insulation.
Wrapped it carefully and put it into a good storage area.

OMG Pearl!  I have to say that to my eyes it kinda looks like it got beat with an ugly stick, but you paid, what, the price of maybe one or two yards if you were going to buy it new?   There is never enough heavy fabric for all the projects.  At that price we would be making new dog beds for all the spoiled rescue dogs in our house, or maybe slipcovers for the ugly furniture that they have dirtied up beyond all hope.  

A totally incredible find.

Dan Boone wrote:OMG Pearl!  I have to say that to my eyes it kinda looks like it got beat with an ugly stick, but you paid, what, the price of maybe one or two yards if you were going to buy it new?   There is never enough heavy fabric for all the projects.  At that price we would be making new dog beds for all the spoiled rescue dogs in our house, or maybe slipcovers for the ugly furniture that they have dirtied up beyond all hope.  

A totally incredible find.

Ugly? :D Well. I think it's elegant. :)
Actually when looking for a better picture online of this (did not find one) since I took that in the garage with my phone, without untying the roll, I learned quite a bit. It's vintage, 40s or 50s, called matelasse brocade, which has the pattern both woven in, and quilted in. This doesn't seem to be cheap at all, the things like it I found were all sold, at high prices. It would have been used on couches like these:





Fabrics like it:




And definitely worth the price. Although seeing how much the retro types are selling furniture out of this stuff for, maybe I need to see if I can sell it. I hate selling. PITA.   I'll probably just have vintage elegance in the house.
And yes, incredible find :)

Combination of "not to my taste" and "doesn't work with my color vision deficiency" but don't take me wrong -- I still think it's an utterly wonderful find!  But now that I better understand what it is, I think you might be right -- it may be *so* valuable (especially if the fibres are sound and not rotten or weak from age/sun/decay) that reselling it makes more sense than any inhouse projects.  

Being a dude, I'd probably try to find somebody who would swap it even-steven for an equivalent yardage of #10 cotton canvas duck in sunshine yellow or practical spruce green.  But I know intellectually I would be getting WAY the worst end of that trade.

Gorgeous color and texture. Fantastic find. I'm lazy so I might use it as a bed coverlet.

Now that you mentioned it ... my grandmother had a couch like that. Very similar if not exactly like the bottom one shown. That IS some fancy fabric. Good score.

Dan Boone wrote:Combination of "not to my taste" and "doesn't work with my color vision deficiency"

but don't take me wrong -- I still think it's an utterly wonderful find!

 

I know, I'm giggling as I type "ugly!?"  :D Not taking you wrong, I'm being silly.

But now that I better understand what it is, I think you might be right -- it may be *so* valuable (especially if the fibres are sound and not rotten or weak from age/sun/decay) that reselling it makes more sense than any inhouse projects.  

Being a dude, I'd probably try to find somebody who would swap it even-steven for an equivalent yardage of #10 cotton canvas duck in sunshine yellow or practical spruce green.  But I know intellectually I would be getting WAY the worst end of that trade.

Honestly, had I seen a roll that big of canvas, I'd have snagged it too. It's rather elegant though, and pretty inoffensive for things like insulated drapes.

I have not unrolled it, it's huge, I have it on a dolly, while I figure out where to store it. The fibers look good at the end I can see, and it doesn't smell musty of anything, looks a bit dusty where it was sitting on the floor at the consignment shop, but that's it.
We'll see what happens to it :)
Still an excellent buy!!

denise ra wrote:Gorgeous color and texture. Fantastic find. I'm lazy so I might use it as a bed coverlet.

It's actually too stiff to work on a bed well.

Mike Barkley wrote: Now that you mentioned it ... my grandmother had a couch like that. Very similar if not exactly like the bottom one shown. That IS some fancy fabric. Good score.

heh, I always tell people "I cook like your grandma did!" (or would have if she had the ingredients I do to work with.) I can now add "I decorate like your grandmother!!" :D
Fancy! :D Yay!

Oooohhhh!!! Such decadence! I loooove it! I can get extraordinarily enthusiastic over fabric. Insulated window coverings... lucky you.

It looks like I'm gonna make mine out of *cough* moving blankets *cough*. I have ongoing access to upholstery weight scraps that someday will be done up as a crazy quilt, hiding the ugly. Something like pictured below... Though NOT so much pink!

I like that...therefore I must be crazy😄

My first thought was "cool a fabric stained glass window"!

I envy you all your sewing talents.  Beautiful projects!

Pearl Sutton wrote:
Not sure yet what exactly will happen to it, insulated drapes for the house is most likely, always need insulated runs for the greenhouse too.  
Whoo! Awesome score!

That is a great score! I love the fabric, too "rich" looking for my house (where everything has to be washable) but yes my first thought was it would make great insulated blinds. Remember you want them to fit flush with the window frame so air doesn't flow behind them if the goal is keeping the heat or cold out

I could see that making awesome Roman type blinds that get opened from the bottom up with cords. And the color is neutral enough that it would work in all sorts of rooms.

Pearl Sutton wrote:
It's actually too stiff to work on a bed well.

Going off on my history geek tangent for a sec here...I've got a book about early American life (I believe the emphasis is on quilting) that mentions bed carpets. I don't think they were made of that kind of material (too pretty for that) but New Englanders seem to have used something remarkably similar to plain old carpets/rugs on their beds during the worst of those winters in the colonial days.

On to my most recent/bestest frugal find. I've got a long wish list of books about permaculture and related things, and one of the books on it for about a year was Gaia's Garden by Toby Hemenway. I happened to spot a copy at Goodwill. Thought about getting it, decided not to as I'm trying to cut back on expenses and have a general rule about taking advantage of the half-price sale each week or shopping clearance for books. Well I went home and thought next time I go to Goodwill, that one will probably be gone. Wrong! Not only was it still there, but the color of its tag was the half-price color of the week. So I got it for $5. Not super frugal maybe, but I felt like I'd won a mini-lottery.

You have Molly !

I too have struck lucky. We found more second-hand units for our back kitchen (In my first post in this thread) and they're almost exactly the same as the ones we were given. Altogether, they cost a couple of afternoon's work and under 100 euros

This is a pull-out bottle thing which fits exactly beside the drawer unit and under the marble counter and is useful for oil and spices :



and these are three units which will be the start of a kitchen island for working on. I also used some silk material that I bought in India in 1974 to make some curtains, the hanging thing in the back window is an experiment :



I'll paint the units dark green and put some nice handles on them and they'll be a brilliant (and easy) storage addition to the kitchen.

Molly Kay wrote:

Pearl Sutton wrote:
It's actually too stiff to work on a bed well.

Going off on my history geek tangent for a sec here...I've got a book about early American life (I believe the emphasis is on quilting) that mentions bed carpets. I don't think they were made of that kind of material (too pretty for that) but New Englanders seem to have used something remarkably similar to plain old carpets/rugs on their beds during the worst of those winters in the colonial days.

On to my most recent/bestest frugal find. I've got a long wish list of books about permaculture and related things, and one of the books on it for about a year was Gaia's Garden by Toby Hemenway. I happened to spot a copy at Goodwill. Thought about getting it, decided not to as I'm trying to cut back on expenses and have a general rule about taking advantage of the half-price sale each week or shopping clearance for books. Well I went home and thought next time I go to Goodwill, that one will probably be gone. Wrong! Not only was it still there, but the color of its tag was the half-price color of the week. So I got it for $5. Not super frugal maybe, but I felt like I'd won a mini-lottery.

That is a great deal, Molly!

I went to Goodwill about a week ago and decided to splurge and get a couple of books.  I normally don't, preferring free from the library, but I was at my homestead where I don't have a library card and I had run out of the books I had brought (and sometimes an e-reader just doesn't do it).  I chose a couple fiction books and a gardening book (no permaculture books there - I always check though) and a huge Christmas mug that was cheery and I will use all year.  The mug was marked 50% off but when I got to the register, I noticed a sign that said everything in the store was 50% off in celebration of their anniversary.  So my entire purchase was $4.50.  Since I had been willing to pay full price for the books, I was thrilled to pay less.

I thought about going back to check out their jeans because 50% off for those is really nice but I really don't need them right now or soon so that wouldn't have really saved me money for the foreseeable future.

One of my kids brought home from work some large rolling metal containers with lids that they were throwing out. They will/would work great for so many things around the homestead. I'm thinking animal feed, soil mixes, etc. In the restaurants I worked, these containers were typically made from plastic, for 50# of flour, sugar etc. I think metal could be better. I'm excited.

The previous owners of our Mobile home had a leak under the dishwasher, which they failed to disclose. The leak damaged the subfloor as well as the  awful vinyl flooring. So since we    are planning to replace the sub-floor and flooring, we will have to replace the     lower cabinets (mobile home cabinets are garbage mostly. I thought "what a great time to add a farmhouse sink." So I've been searching yard sales, Craig's list etc. I saw an add for not just a great double drainboard sink, but a stash of metal cabinets to go with it.  Now if you don't know, my nickname is Pinky, and these cabinets are pink! 50s Montgomery Wards  I was in love, so I asked for more photos. The seller took more photos but noticed that the cabinets had gathered more rust while they were in storage. So she offered me the entire set $300! I've seen the sink and cabinet alone going for over $2000. So I'm stoked! I'm thinking I will have them re painted by an auto body shop with a spray room. Keeping the pink of course. The colors have faded with time, so they do need a bit of work. I'll have to replace the counters on the 24" & 18" base cabinets as well as they are damaged.

Stacy Witscher wrote:One of my kids brought home from work some large rolling metal containers with lids that they were throwing out. They will/would work great for so many things around the homestead. I'm thinking animal feed, soil mixes, etc. In the restaurants I worked, these containers were typically made from plastic, for 50# of flour, sugar etc. I think metal could be better. I'm excited.

I generally prefer metal containers/drums/barrels of various sizes.  When I come across them I grab them, unless they've contained something truly noxious & toxic.  I've found that even ones that have contained automotive lubricants (oil or grease) can be cleaned and re-used.  I boil a quantity of water, put a big dose of dish-washing detergent into the hot water, and pour that in, then use a funky old car-washing brush — which I keep, dedicated for this sort of purpose — to scrub the inside.  After sloshing the liquid around a bit, and dumping it out (for instance, on our driveway road), I wind up with something useful... though not for food or feed.

Almost all of these here at our place are used outdoors or semi-outdoors.  Plastic drums can often be susceptible to cracking from impacts, and most plastics will deteriorate after prolonged exposure to sunlight.  Hence my appreciation for the metal containers.

It is a long story, but due to a mistake upon a loggers part, and making sure I crossed very I and every T, I ended up with this tractor. Just what I am going to do with it I am not sure. I ended up with it in any case. I normally buy John Deere so I guess this officially makes me a "Cat Skinner".

Cat Skinner=Affectionate name for a heavy equipment operator.

Had a fit today, I  HAD to get this :) Need it like a hole in the head right now, no space for my 1926 Singer treadle, with cabinet and all, it's still packed down. But for $20.00, it came home :)
About 1925 Damascus treadle sewing machine, no cabinet, what you see is what I got. First pic was at the store, rest are at the house, not cleaned or anything. It's the most basic machinery I have seen, look at the belly shot, nothing to go bad. This is probably an unkillable machine. Works well, as far as I can see. Awesome cool low tech :) Heavy cast iron.
I HAD to :D

Pearl, of course you did. I'd do the same. I currently have 7 machines of various age and uses.

Josephine Howland wrote:Pearl, of course you did. I'd do the same. I currently have 7 machines of various age and uses.

This brings me up to 4. I ditched 2 when I moved.
2 treadles (one with full cabinet)
1 basic electric that is my daily use machine, and has been since 1982. Mom gave it to me for my 19th birthday.
1 Serger
I REALLY need a longarm.
And I almost brought home an upholstery machine a year or so ago, really have no space for it, it was huge and heavy.

I guess my coolest recent find was my Elektra Evolv climbing shoes, for less than a tenth of their original price.  Not something that would have in the budget to buy new.

Almost everything I own was thrifted.  Thanks to working in a thrift store I get an awesome discount too, but I always shopped thrift even before working there.  At Christmas they give us all gift certificates that can be combined with our discount... so good.  I get my husband really good workwear, Carhartt and Dickies, that will last longer in the woods, for less than a tenth of the original price.  And his two favourite pairs of shoes, Vibrams, and a really good pair of CAT work boots, were thrifted.  My wool base layers were thrifted.  The kid in our lives, almost everything she owns was thrifted or passed down from us, and when she grows out of it it gets donated again.  All my bedding.  All our dishes and cups.  Our printer.  Most of my books about permaculture, building, and homesteading, were thrifted.  We have a lot of things we never could have afforded to buy new.  Not sure what the single biggest score has been, because it's most of what we own.

Norma Guy wrote:  Not sure what the single biggest score has been, because it's most of what we own.

Yes. Me too. I post randomly, because we don't buy much of anything full price, less that 5% of our purchases. It's ALL cheap. Hard to say what's best.

Good on you! Wish you were close enough we could play :)

Pearl Sutton wrote:

Josephine Howland wrote:Pearl, of course you did. I'd do the same. I currently have 7 machines of various age and uses.

This brings me up to 4. I ditched 2 when I moved.
2 treadles (one with full cabinet)
1 basic electric that is my daily use machine, and has been since 1982. Mom gave it to me for my 19th birthday.
1 Serger
I REALLY need a longarm.
And I almost brought home an upholstery machine a year or so ago, really have no space for it, it was huge and heavy.

Pearl, I have a Kenmore machine for regular use, plus it has cams to do a variety of other stiches, which my mom bought me when I got my degree in Fashion Design , 1977, I have a serger I bought when I lived in NYC, before they made sergers for home. Then I have commercial machines that were my mother's a straight stich and a blind hemmer, Then I have an old old machine I was given that is labeled from Jordan Marsh I think? Maybe Macy's? I have the base to a singer treadle but the machine which is very fancy looks to  have electrified at some point (cord is cut) and of course, I have the tiny Singer child's sewing machine from when we were kids. I have sewing supplies that were my mother's, her mother's and my great grandmother. I think I told you before, that I have a  whole separate building on our property for my sewing.

Norma Guy wrote:I guess my coolest recent find was my Elektra Evolv climbing shoes, for less than a tenth of their original price.  Not something that would have in the budget to buy new.

Almost everything I own was thrifted.  Thanks to working in a thrift store I get an awesome discount too, but I always shopped thrift even before working there.  At Christmas they give us all gift certificates that can be combined with our discount... so good.  I get my husband really good workwear, Carhartt and Dickies, that will last longer in the woods, for less than a tenth of the original price.  And his two favourite pairs of shoes, Vibrams, and a really good pair of CAT work boots, were thrifted.  My wool base layers were thrifted.  The kid in our lives, almost everything she owns was thrifted or passed down from us, and when she grows out of it it gets donated again.  All my bedding.  All our dishes and cups.  Our printer.  Most of my books about permaculture, building, and homesteading, were thrifted.  We have a lot of things we never could have afforded to buy new.  Not sure what the single biggest score has been, because it's most of what we own.

Norma, I'm jealous (in a good way) that you can find that stuff at thrift stores and get good deals.  Good for you!!

I just edited my post about the fabric I got, added a picture I took this morning when I unrolled it and took a cut. Anyone who cares, scroll back to that post, new pic added :) Beautiful cloth! only thing I wish was it was purple instead of pink :D