The Preschooler's Busy Book

Okay, so...this has been MC's and AB's fall break...this week.  Needless to say, this has interrupted my routine and schedule, just a little bit.  Interrupted in a good way, but changed it all the same.  We have made great use of their time at home.  We have been to Monkey Joe's.

 

We also went to the Pumpkin Patch.

I know, I have a super cute family :)

And...we have done a lot of hanging out at home.  Thursday, I made a Goodwill run and found a super book, that I absolutely had to have (for $.50).  When I saw it, I knew that it was going to offer me lots of wisdom and sage advice that I would have to put into practice.  Enter Exhibit A:

So, I got home, began to leaf through the book and saw some really great suggestions of how to fill my their time.  I thought that we would start with a somewhat simple activity...so easy that you are going to laugh when I tell you about it.  

Our first "fun" activity was money cleaning.  Seriously.  Money Cleaning.  All they needed was an old toothbrush, a bowl of warm soapy water, and some change.  And they were busy for 30 minutes.  Now, that might not sound like a lot of time, but trust me, when you have a 2 year old and a 5 year old, 30 minutes is a long time.  Enough time to unload the dishwasher, fold a load of laundry, and sweep the kitchen floor...maybe even use the bathroom if you are quick.  Basically, this activity bought me some time, and they had a blast!  They could not believe that I was letting them clean their money.  I couldn't believe that this actually worked.  If you try this, let me know how it works for you kids.  By the way, isn't that the cleanest money you have ever seen!!!

Saturday, I got out the construction paper, glue, and child-friendly scissors, and we made decorative halloween chains for our kitchen. MC wrote on hers and AB just cut fringe on her construction paper, but all in all it was a very fun, relaxing, time-consuming activity.  It kept them very engaged and busy for at least 2 hours.  Lots of fun and great memories made.

MC's chain

My chain

Also last night, after the gluing and crafting, my table was pretty disgusting...so I busted out the shaving cream and let them do some painting before bath time.  They had a huge time, and I have to tell you that my table has never been cleaner!  I am ahhhmazed at how sparkling clean and soft (weird?) my table is!!  Love. It.  We will do this once a week from here on out!

So, the smiles tell me that I did something right over the past few days, and that to me is priceless.  We will be trying out a lot more suggestions from my book, and I will share those as we go.  Let me know of  your great ideas for spending time with your preschoolers, and let me know if you try any of these!

Best Finds Contest

Okay Friends,
Doing my last post on Claire's finds, has really made me curious about what all of you have found.  Send me pictures and prices of your best finds and they will be put on the blog.  Not only that, but everyone who sends an entry will be entered into a contest to win a $10.00 Michael's gift card.  I will use Random.com to generate the winner.  Fall is upon us and I would love to see your best fall treasures:  clothes, holiday decorations, halloween costumes...whatever you have found.  Let's see who is a great thriftsperation, and who can inspire us to go out and find amazing things at thrift stores (by the way, that is the definition of Thriftsperation)!!!  I can't wait to see what you send me!  All entries need to be sent to thriftysparkle@gmail.com.  The contest lasts until 11:59pm October 14th.  The winner will be announced at 12:00pm on October 15th.

This is my sweet Ella Rose, and by the way, it has nothing to do with the contest, but she is wearing a really cute set that I got at Goodwill for $1.50, and it IS monogrammed with an actual "E."  I. Love. Her. So. Much!!!

The Amazing Claire and her Amazing Finds!

I have a friend named Claire, and I told all of you in my previous post that my next post was dedicated to her.  Claire sent me her deals to look through, and I had the BEST time checking them out.  Claire is a GIFTED thrift shopper, and has an eye for beauty in things that are not yet beautiful.  She can look at items and turn them into something great.  She has found many things at Goodwill that she has transformed into treasures.  I so enjoyed reading her great ideas, and I hope that you do too!!!

These are Claire's favorite find.  A pair of Frye Boots that retail for $249.00

Guys, I have to tell you, these are just a FEW highlights of Claire's amazing finds.  I am so thrilled that she chose to share them with me and with you!  She is such an thriftsperation...new word I am trying out, what do you think?

Claire,
Thanks for sharing with all of us!!!  I hope that I can share more of your stuff later on!!!
Anyone else who has awesome finds, send them to me and I will highlight you next!!

Remember to stay sparkly, but in a thrifty way :)

Baby Bedding and Home Decor!

Hi everyone!!!  Sorry that it has been a while between posts, but I am going to make up for it here in the next few weeks.  I am LOVING this weather, and it really puts me in the mood for SHOPPING, ThriftySparkle style! 
The first deal that I am going to share with you, is actually one that I found quite a while back...actually about 1.5 years ago.  At the time, I knew I was pregnant with our third baby, but I did not know if it was a girl or a boy.  I was shopping at Goodwill for clothes for my older girls, and of course had to check out the linens.  Sitting there on the shelf was a set of the bedding that I had wanted for both of my older girls, but had never been willing to pay what it cost brand new.  It was the bumper, the quilt, and the diaper holder...all for $8.98.  It was the pattern Bubblegum by BananaFish.  I had literally drooled over this bedding for both of my other girls, and was not going to pass it up here at Goodwill, even though I didn't know if I was having a girl or a boy.  Luckily, we had a girl and I was able to use the beautiful bedding, but I just have to say, that was my FIND of the year!  That bedding brand new is $100.00 for the 4-piece set.  I think we can all agree that is major savings!!

Another great Goodwill find is actually from this week!  I was at our Frankfort Goodwill and came across this beautiful oil painting, and it is going to look GREAT in my living room.  I bought the painting for $15.50 and there is an actual price tag on the painting of $65.00.  Definite Deal!! The painting is 2'x3'.  LOVE.IT.

Thanks for checking out my deals on this post.  My next post is going to be about some great finds from my friend Claire.  She is an EXPERT Goodwill shopper as well, and you will want to check out all of the neat stuff that she has found!!!  Remember to send me any of your deals, I would love to feature them!!

Monograms...to buy or not to buy

Okay, so this one might make a few of you feel out of your comfort zone, but that is part of what thrifty shopping is all about!  Let's talk monograms and personalization.  I have come across some EXCELLENT deals on monogrammed items at thrift stores.  I have a bag that I love, love, love...but it has someone else's initials on it.  The thing is, very few people actually pay attention to the initials that are on there, they just notice that it is monogrammed.  When people do notice that those aren't my initials, I just tell them the story of where I got it, and how much I paid for it and we always end up having a great conversation!!  Kind of a two for one deal, not only a killer bag at a great price, but also a very creative ice breaker!

My great bag that I got at Goodwill...I paid $2.50.  By the way this bag is about 24" wide and 18" tall,
so a great size for toting things.

Another monogram issue is kids clothes.  I have bought clothes for my girls that have the wrong initials on them, but that is because I know the options available to me....so let me share those with you. 

1. Place an applique square over the monogram.   Anyone with an embroidery machine can do this for you.  It is simply a piece of fabric appliqued over the monogram.  You can even have your child's initials monogrammed on the applique, before they put it on the outfit.
2. You can pick out the monogram (with a seamripper) and either leave it blank, or have your child's initials monogrammed where the other monogram was.

This is a Royal Kidz dress.  It would be approximately $60.00 brand new.  I have started to pick the monogram out, but haven't finished.  Be aware that this can be a slow process, but worth it in the end.

3. You can just let them wear the clothes with the wrong initials.



A dress I bought at Goodwill with the WRONG initials monogrammed on it :)

I wouldn't recommend number 3 in all situations, but if you came across an outfit that maybe had the same letters, but in different order, that might make it acceptable.  That was our situation with 2 Kelly's Kids outfits that I came across for Cutie Pie a few years ago.  Cutie Pie's initials are mLc and the initials on the two outfits were mCl.  Soooo, I bought them for $1.50/piece and she wore them loud and proud!  Loved them and got lots of compliments on them.  The jury is out on whether or not I will put Miss Sassy in them :) 

Kelly's Kids outfit for Maddy.

Let me know your monogram stories and I would love to post some of them on the blog, with pictures!!!

Men's, Women's, and Kid's Deals Today!

Hi Guys!  It is so funny...everytime I go thrift shopping I come away saying...I have to tell someone what I found today!  I am so excited to now have this forum where I can share all of my treasures that I found! 

Today I swung into our Goodwill here in Frankfort, for just a moment, and I am glad that I invested the time.  I was able to get a like new Talbot's dress for myself, a new with tags Lucky Brand shirt for Handsome Husband, 2 like new Carters school shirts for Cutie Pie, and some brand new Stride Rite school shoes for Miss Sassy :)



This is my beautiful Talbot's dress.  I paid $5.00 for it and it would sell for about $70.00 brand new :)



                                                      

Carters shirt for Cutie Pie.  I paid $2.50 and it would be around $15.00 brand new.

Another great Carters shirt.

Brand new with tags Lucky Brand T-shirt for Hubs.  This was a FIND!! 
I paid $7.50 for this and brand new it would have been around $35.00.

Yay!  Brand new Stride Rite school shoes for Miss Sassy.  I paid $3.00.  These would be around $55.00 in a retail store :)

DEAL ALERT!!!

If you live in the Frankfort Area and need a new purse, Goodwill has a Coach bag for $19.00.  It was a great deal, but if you have read my previous posts, you know that I just got a Louis Vuitton, so I don't need another bag.  That brings me right into my thrifty tip for today...

*Just because you find a deal, it doesn't mean you need it.  This is an important thing to remember, because if you don't you might just find yourself on an episode of Hoarders.  Thrift shopping can be addictive, so learn to recognize when you have enough and when you come across a deal that is too good to resist, either tell a friend about it so that they can take advantage, or send me the info and I will happily post on the blog.  As thrift shoppers we have to be conscious of only buying what we need to buy.  You will find that you are going to come across A LOT of great deals, so be prepared to say no to some of them.  At first, it isn't easy, but trust me when I say, it is a good area to really exercise your self discipline. 

A deal at Kroger in Louisville was reported to me today.  They have all of their summer stuff on clearance, and one of our thrifty friends was able to get 22oz. plastic cups for $.07 and $.10 a piece!!

Feel free to email me if you have any questions!

thriftysparkle@gmail.com

Crocs...at Target???

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Hi Ladies, and maybe some gentlemen...
I found a huge deal tonight at Target!!!  Well, great deal for me, since I am looking for back to school clothes for the kiddos.  I have really wanted to get some Crocs for the girls, but I am not going to pay that price for them!  Well....at Target they sell Jibbets by Crocs, and tonight I found them on sale for $6.48!  I was able to get both of them Crocs for $13.00!! 

 As a reminder, SEND ME YOUR DEALS!!!  I want to hear about what you are finding at thrift stores, and any great sales that you come upon!!!  Share your knowledge and we can all benefit.  You can email me at thriftysparkle@gmail.com.

My week!

A lot of you know that we just moved to KY, so I am still familiarizing myself with all of the thrift stores here.  So far, I have pretty much stuck with Goodwill, but next week I am really going to be branching out to some of our other thrift stores and consignment shops.  This week I did go to a really great consignment shop here and found some GREAT deals on some back to school/fall clothes for the girls.

My goal on Saturdays will be to kind of wrap up my week's finds, and hopefully get to post some of your finds as well.  Hopefully you will get inspired!  With it being back to school time I want to encourage all of you to check out your local thrift stores.  Here are a few rules to get you started:

1.  Go in with an attitude of if I find something GREAT, if not, GREAT!  You don't want to force yourself to walk away with something, it can really take all of the joy out of the trip.
2.  Don't get overwhelmed.  Some of these stores don't have the best organizational skills, so especially if you are a beginner, take a deep breath and start small.  Maybe pick one area to look through and then stop when you are feeling like it is too much!

3.  Have FUN!!!

So I found some neat deals this week.  It would be hard for me to be more thrilled than I was this week.  Let me know what you think of my finds!!!


These next few pictures is a group that I bought at The Freckled Frog here in Frankfort...GREAT consignment store for kids things. 


Brand New Keds for $4.99





Smocked dress by Yvonne
$4.99





Bailey Boys Scarecrow Outfit
$5.99





Silly Goose Smocked Fall Bishop
$5.99



The trick to consignment shopping is to look for half off sales and buy items that are going out of season.  All of these outfits were on the summer racks and were half off.  The KEDS were considered fall merchandise, but she had a SUPER price on them.  I walked out of that store with 3 great boutique outfits and some brand new back to school shoes for Maddy for $23.99 and that included tax!!!!

I went to a local Goodwill and found a fantastic deal on a Bath and Body Works candle holder.  For those of you that have been in a BBW lately I am sure that you have seen their beautiful silver candle and soap holders.  The new styles generally sell for $7.50 and the older styles for $5.00.  I found a spring edition for $.50.  I already have it out and it is so pretty!

Okay, I also had some great luck with back to school clothes for Cutie Pie at Goodwill...Check these out!  Prices and Brands will be listed underneath pics!



Heartstrings Peacock Dress $2.50
This would retail for app. $30-$40 brand new!



Ralph Lauren Polo Dress $2.50
This would retail around $50 brand new.



Pink Gap Sundress $2.50
This would retail around $30 brand new!!



 By the way...let me apologize for being a terrible photographer!!!  Okay...now on to the

DEAL of the WEEK

I should say that I have a weakness for purses...lucky me, unlucky for my wallet.  At a local Goodwill I came across this deal!  I don't know if it is real or not, and I don't even care!  Hubby has tried to find out, but can't decide.  Even if it isn't real, a fake one of these can be around $200-$300, so I definitely came out on the winning side.  I got a Louis Vuitton for $3.00!!! 

Now, I realize there is some fraying at the top, but seriously, when you get a Louis Vuitton for  $3.00, how picky can a girl be???

Looking forward to next week already!!!!  Remember to be on the lookout for your own deals.  Email me, and your deals might just be featured in next week's blog!!