I wonder if you know...

how very frugal I am?  I'm not sure I've ever admitted it here.  It seems very obvious to me, but I realize that I've never actually fessed up and announced it.  So, here it goes:

Hi, my name is Terri and I am a bargain-lover. 

I lurk around places with names like "Goodwill", "Salvation Army", "Garage Sale", and "Flea Market".  I also stalk the SALE aisles at Target (sometimes several times a week) waiting for something to be marked down.  But, my most favorite things are from that side of the road Wonderland marked "FREE". 

You don't have to have two pennies to rub together when you open the back hatch for one of these....

Yes, the bed in my daughter's room was F-R-E-E. 

I found it alongside the road where it was waiting for me

This chair in my room...also F-R-E-E.  Still in need of an Extreme Makeover, but free is not always perfect.

{My favorite F-R-E-E-bie}

I had to do a little begging to keep her.  She lived (and aged) through Hurricane Katrina and begged me to take her to a good home when I discovered her knee-deep in a moldy Dr.'s office.  The rest of my clean-up team insisted she be laid to rest at the garbage pile with the rest of her friends, but a little begging and pleading won her a spot in the back of our bus.  (Wrapped tightly in a garbage bag and duct taped shut)  They wouldn't even consider rescuing the matching desk. 

I couldn't save 'em all.  But I did save her.  Beside her is a mirror salvaged from my grandmother.

Which leads me to my next best type of bargain. 

The kind that is free to you because someone you know has no use for it and you happen to be at the right place at the right time.  Like my grandmother's mirror.

And like my grandmother's other mirror. 

As well as the suitcases that belonged to an old friend of a friend.

And the rusty "gate" that I snagged from my mom's yard sale before the customers came.

I guess gifts would fit in this category, too.

Like the bed my mom bought me at an auction. 

(Does it matter that the pieces did not go together?  No, it does not.  You improvise and lean it against the wall, and no one would ever know - unless you tell them)

Or the table my son made me in shop class. 

(Actually, I guess I technically paid for this, since my taxes paid for the wood and materials,

but you get the idea)

I'll save some of my other THRIFT-y bargains for another day.  But since we're in my room, I'd like to introduce you to a pair of fraternal twins that made their way here all the way from the Goodwill showroom.  One lights up next to my bed...

...while her sister lights up a corner of the livingroom. 

The pair set me back a hefty $10.00. 

 

I can't help it, I just LOVE to get a great deal. 

I don't think you have to sacrifce having a nice home just because you're on a budget.  With a little creativity, a little search and rescue, and a little appreciation of things of yesteryear I think we can live on a tight budget and enjoy it, too!