The Thrifty Chicks

oh i just love your blog and these ideas and the c...

2009-12-15T21:21:20.247-08:00

oh i just love your blog and these ideas and the comments! i am about to bring home a 2 year old adopted from ethiopia in a couple of months and i am so excited to start our own holiday traditions! thank you so much for your creativity!

these gifts are amazing and beautiful! i hope i c...

2009-12-14T07:05:41.735-08:00

these gifts are amazing and beautiful! i hope i can get my little one on the vintage train!

Babs, Just toss the plush toy in the washer on re...

2009-12-13T19:15:31.688-08:00

Babs,

Just toss the plush toy in the washer on regular cycle. They are pretty sturdy. I fluff them and let them air dry.

Although Little Pie and I gave her favorite plush toy a bath in the sink. Little Pie felt more comfortable about that. [Wink.]

Absolutely love everything about this! Your creati...

2009-12-13T15:46:08.797-08:00

Absolutely love everything about this! Your creativity amazes me, and great job on finding such beautiful, unique items that our daughter will cherish.

Quick question re tiger: how did you clean it? I...

2009-12-13T15:09:48.386-08:00

Quick question re tiger: how did you clean it? I often see plush toys that look good, but am unsure if cleaning them will ruin them.

Oh, to be child in your house! I am very impressed...

2009-12-13T14:36:20.651-08:00

Oh, to be child in your house! I am very impressed with your eight year old, she is far ahead of her time. I wonder who will have had more fun, you putting her gifts together or her when she opens them? Thanks for sharing all your thrifty tips. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you and yours.

I like the elf diet; cookies and coffee always get...

2009-12-13T12:42:44.794-08:00

I like the elf diet; cookies and coffee always get me in the mood!

You are my inspiration! For Christmas this year, m...

2009-12-13T10:47:43.717-08:00

You are my inspiration! For Christmas this year, my young granddaughter will be getting a glammed-up Box o' Dress-ups: scarves, boas, glittery dresses, vintage ladies white gloves, tiny purses, assorted hats, all bought for 50 cents or a dollar at charity thrift shops. After gentle washing and airing, they are clean and ready for imaginative play.

I love your blog! I'm a blog rookie, having just s...

2009-12-12T08:38:58.916-08:00

I love your blog! I'm a blog rookie, having just started my own very recently. Mine is also about the wonderful world of thrifting! I recently posted one about the elusive "thrift gift" urging people to shop @ thrift stores instead of @ the massive retail chains for Christmas. Then I read about your awesome daughters Christmas wish list and had to put a link to it on my blog. What a good and smart kid! And what a creative and smart mom! Nice job!

Reading your blog has really gotten me into thrift...

2009-12-12T07:39:44.501-08:00

Reading your blog has really gotten me into thrifting (thanks!) and your posts about your daughter's Christmas wishes are really inspiring. : )

What great finds! You have a special little girl ...

2009-12-11T22:14:18.389-08:00

What great finds! You have a special little girl and it sounds like she has a very clever mama.

What a cool little kidlet you have! Love it!

2009-12-11T21:32:44.639-08:00

What a cool little kidlet you have! Love it!

LOVE Tootsie! How clever. I, too, find good deals ...

2009-12-10T14:19:57.635-08:00

LOVE Tootsie! How clever. I, too, find good deals with yarn and fabric. Found a sweet pattern for tiny sweaters to knit as Christmas ornaments. Everybody goes awhh...
And afghans! How our frugal grandmothers used up odds and ends of yarn.

My 13-yr-old looked at your music-paper ornaments ...

2009-12-10T10:01:03.787-08:00

My 13-yr-old looked at your music-paper ornaments and gave her verdict:

THAT IS CLASSY!

Jora

Your beautiful mohair inspired me, and I just pick...

2009-12-10T06:38:34.098-08:00

Your beautiful mohair inspired me, and I just picked up something similar at the thrift store recently to throw in a pretty bowl. I just love the look.

Even though I haven't sewed in years, I've started wanting to take up knitting. Maybe I'll get lucky (or practice my snake eyes!) and stumble across some fun knitting needles myself.

Thanks for the shout out!

Oh I love the little doll dresser! New to your sit...

2009-12-09T23:26:29.343-08:00

Oh I love the little doll dresser! New to your site and enjoying it!

Oh Haylee! Bawdy humor but too funny! A similar t...

2009-12-09T19:49:06.665-08:00

Oh Haylee!

Bawdy humor but too funny! A similar thing happened to one of our cats when I had really long hair. Apparently the cat ate one of my hairs and "it" was strung along by a good eight inches for a while, even when she ran. I haven't thought of that story in years. It was before the children and my husband and I couldn't stand up for nearly a day from laughing so hard.

One year our cat ate the tinsel off the christmas ...

2009-12-09T19:34:03.056-08:00

One year our cat ate the tinsel off the christmas tree and she walked around with tinsel literally hanging halfway out of her butt for several days after...

Needless to say, we dont use tinsel anymore.

Summer, Your day to find a bag of knitting needle...

2009-12-09T16:13:14.498-08:00

Summer,

Your day to find a bag of knitting needles will come and when you find them for $3, they'll be all the more special.

I searched for a year for the $3 Madeleine baking sheet for my friend. It wasn't a mandatory item. Just something nice to have. There was no rush for it. And it beat paying the $35 for the same thing on sale at the cooking store.

Just this week I had a friend put me on look out for a sewing basket because she wishes to put together a sewing kit for her daughter. Two days later I ran into her and she told me right after she spoke with me, she found the perfect item.

And then there's the famous day I found the new Pottery Barn sofa sleeper I had always thought would be nice to have but could not afford.

How about the year I bought the 100 year old, intricately carved, quarter-sawn oak upright grand piano with a rich sound for $600 and my grandparents made it a holiday gift to my daughters.

All kinds of things happen when one takes the unconventional route.

The zombie dolls sound adorable and will be certain to touch some hearts (in an un-zombie like manner).

Best!

I keep waiting to find decent knitting and sewing ...

2009-12-09T12:33:02.190-08:00

I keep waiting to find decent knitting and sewing items at my thrift store. However, I have bought several sweaters for about a quarter each to make into little monsters for the kiddos later.

Oh, my favorite things. I once scored eight little...

2009-12-09T12:31:40.709-08:00

Oh, my favorite things. I once scored eight little balls of teal mohair for .50 each and made myself a gorgeous cowl-neck sweater... right now I've got a backlog of some chunky green wool I keep meaning to make into placemats for Mom, a handful of purple self-striping skeins for who knows what, and two cones (maybe 10 lbs?) of rayon slub that I want to make into a coat. or two.

Mostly though I just pick up little colorful leftover balls and make patchwork afghans, and this Christmas I'm doing a lot of little dolls for my friends. Many of them are horror writers... who knew zombies could be so cute?

I only wish I could find that many knitting needles! I've managed to grab a few, but unfortunately, I still have to buy some retail, and you're right... checkers at retail craft stores *are* the slowest in the universe.

And then people wonder why kids abandon the toy to...

2009-12-09T10:33:20.570-08:00

And then people wonder why kids abandon the toy to play with the big box...

I've been reading your blog for quite some time no...

2009-12-08T08:04:27.845-08:00

I've been reading your blog for quite some time now, but I've never really commented. I absolutely LOVE your outlook on things and all of the great thrift store finds. You've inspired me to browse a few of our local thrift stores, but unfortunately we don't have very nice ones. We have two, and one is very small and they seem to think of it more like a garage sale than anything else. I don't think they "screen" the items before putting them out. I've found very old (and sticky) children's toys from McDonalds in their toy bins for 50 cents before. I don't think anyone, no matter how thrifty, will want that. Not for 50 cents ... It's very junk-ridden. To find something of decent quality you have to dig through piles of junk and literal garbage for an hour or so. The other thrift store seems to take the opposite approach. They don't have anything for less than $5 and while some of their stuff is VERY nice - vintage things and once-very-expensive things, it is not very thrifty. You'd pay less for new retail.

Anyway, I admire your blog so much and I've read the christmas bits to my boyfriend and we both just think it's wonderful. I've been waiting for Little Pie's list since you first mentioned it and it did NOT disappoint. :) You should write a book.

Mrs. Miser! What a wonderful story! What we adult...

2009-12-08T06:57:30.152-08:00

Mrs. Miser!

What a wonderful story! What we adults fail to understand that there is much to be left to the child, and their imagination will work the rest. You had the insight to see there was something calling you to that button, just as there was something calling me to 99 cent Nimble the elf.

Excellent story!

Your very lovely festive musings took me back to t...

2009-12-08T05:03:40.275-08:00

Your very lovely festive musings took me back to the days when my own children were still in the ‘believing in Father Christmas’ stage of their lives. They are now grown and have small ‘believers’ of their own. When you mentioned the sleigh bells it brought to mind the ‘Santa button’ that one year brought such a thrill and strengthened and maybe even revived belief in Old St. Nicholas in those who were getting to the stage where they were having doubts. Thus the story runs:

Being a person who enjoys a good rummage I was delighted to find, in a box of miscellany in a thrift store, a large heavy old golden brass button, nicely patina’d with an elaborate letter A embossed into it. “There must be a use for this,” I told myself and swiftly purchased it. Of course a thing of such beauty need not have a use, as such, it has done it’s time as a practical item, now it can retire and be admired.

Christmas was heading our way. It occurred to me that this glorious adornment with its stout Old English letter A might just be a button from Mr Claus’s red coat. Yes, I know, if I were really being trad I would have him in a cloak, but I was trying to weave the tale around the button.

On Christmas Eve, once the little ones were all tucked in their beds, we went about the task of eating a bite out of the mince pie they had left for Father Christmas, and swigging the glass of sherry too – always the hardest part, huh! But this year, in addition to filling their stockings, we left that mysterious golden button in the hearth.

Of course the children found it the next morning, but they could not figure it out.

“It’s off of Santa’s coat!”
“But it’s got an A on it, not an S!”

This little conundrum occupied them throughout breakfast until, without any prompting from an adult, they all decided that Santa probably had five large buttons down the front of his coat, and they would be lettered as follows: S, A, N, T, A. The ‘A’ button that is now a part of our Christmas tradition and hangs on the tree every year without fail, could have been either the second button or the last, fallen into our hearth during that squeeze down the chimney.

The best gift the children received that year was that of imagination, which is of course free and abundant. The cost of the button? I forget now exactly but it was mere pennies. Pennies well spent for something so priceless.