frugal frau

It's no secret that I'm real sweet on a good bargain. Though I have always sought out good deals like Sherlock Holmes on a mad mystery, it's gotten to be even more of an art as of late. I realized upon graduating college that I had an exorbitant amount of expenses and virtually nothing left over for fun or frivolities. So I got creative. Here is a small compilation of some of my thrify finds.
If I want to see a movie, I wait until it goes to the budget theater-$1.50.
I, like any other woman in America need one to four new pair of underwear from time to time. Underwear are ridiculously over-priced. I refuse to spend $10 on a pair of fabric that wraps itself around my nether regions. I will pay $2.50 or less. Absurd you say. Nope, I religiously check the clearance sections at almost any department store I shop at and lo and behold: Valentine's day lace-$1.75/Bright red and blue summer cotton-$.80/Silky beige with ribbons-$2.00
One of my worst weaknesses is antiques. And most of those are more than my shopping price range of $5. But with an arsenal of self-restraint I will wait until I find beautiful pieces of furniture, mirrors or home decor at St. Vinny's or roadside sales. I recently found a petite old lamp, think Aladdin and rubbed it to see if a genie would come out and give me more money to buy the retro chairs I wanted for $60. No luck. But the gold genie lamp was $1.76 and quite fetching. I bought it for good luck in New York.
And clothes! Oh the clothes I crave. Again, I don't even tempt myself anymore by looking at full price. If it's not %75 off good riddance I say. I was on vacation a few weeks back and had the uncanny luck of going into St. Vinny's on fill a bag for $5 day. I was with four of my sisters who are equally budget-conscious. We decided to split a bag and each contribute one dollar. With my expert clothes rolling skills, we each came home with the skirts, shirts, pants and sweaters that our hearts desired. All in all we each got about five pieces and had over $60 worth of clothing in the bag.
Why didn't we just all spring for our own bag? Because we didn't each need or want a whole bag full. And look at that. New wardrobe-$1 each.
I impart this little bit of wisdom because upon talking to others about ya know the economy, job down-sizing, feeding family's of ten, we've realized it's not just nifty thrifty to seek out $.80 underwear and $1 haircuts (going get that done on Wednesday) it's pretty darn practical.
Happy spending my friends!