Extravagant Costs of Underwear

Hi Frugalicious People,

Why is it that underwear is so EXPENSIVE?! A bit of stretch fabric and maybe some lace to pretty it up. Each year when I look for a couple of new items I am shocked at the ridiculous prices. Being on the Rubenesque side of things, I can not find inexpensive little numbers. So paying 50% of my food budget to hold my boobs up?! Is a No Way - I don't think so, situation - well this week that's for sure because I'm feeling extra frugalicious.

With an increasing need to lift my Balcony to better heights I wandered into an op shop near a public library I was visiting and there... behold my eyes, was a rack of brand spanking new bras for $6.99. Original Target price tags of $39.99 still attached. I tell you, those who look and wait an extra day are often happily rewarded!

So my lovely Blogland friends go and take a look at your local charity shops - there might be some brand new underwear in your size just waiting to help your body lift its game.

Are you willing to go looking in your local charity shop for that tiny bit of stretchy fabric?

To all ladies having to pay the extra costs for having extra flesh (like I do) I wish you luck on your hunt,

Stephanie @ Frugal Down Under.
(FB - Link)

Thrift Finds This Week

This week I went op shopping twice and spent a total of $7.50.

This is what I purchased:

• Trousers for work as my favourite pair is worn out and no longer suitable $1.00
• A fun pair of green trousers for weekend play $1.00
• A pair of gold metalic trousers (poor photo) for crafting or Dolly's birthday party (maybe for decorations) $1.00
• A pretty hair clip/brooch $1.00
• A silver tray for Dolly's birthday party food .50 cents.
• Free broken jewellery was given by the shop assistant as she knows we like to craft.

Amazing Stash for $4.50

A sweet white skirt for? I don't know - I just loved it too much!!! The lace, quality and sewing is beautiful $1.00
A pretty floral top for the fabric and buttons $1.00
A cute shirt for my market stall $1.00

Pretty, Pretty and Pretty for $3.00

Now I have to go and find the same or bigger amount of stuff to leave our home. I have some clothes that need to be ragged or tossed. They can not be on my clothes hangers anymore as they are beyond acceptable at work.

Did you obtain any thrifted, second hand or gifted goodies lately?

Gift Box For $5.85

This is a gift box of goodies Dolly gave to her friend for her 5th birthday. Dolly crafted the card and assisted with some of the bag construction organisation. Dolly also guillotined the scrap booking paper into small cuter sizes.

$1.25 Box made from Rubbish & Op Shopped Calendar & Book. (I'm wearing a thrifted $1 top purchased in 2011)

The library bag and box was made op shopped items that were reused. The plastic Doll was unfortunately new from a department store but will be much love.

French Seamed Bag with Different Fabric Straps.

I Love the Pretty Floral Fabric. It's a Beautiful Quality Too.

Total Cost of the gift was $5.85
My labour was more at 7 hours, some of it fun and some of it very frustrating!

Crafted Box $1.25 (glue and bits of an op shopped calendar and book).
Crafted Library Bag $1 (piece of green op shopped fabric and a girls dress purposely purchased for fabric) (Letters are a piece of old damaged fabric needing using).
Crafted Card 10 cents (scrap paper and picture from a damaged op shopped book).
New - 10 Pieces of different Scrap Booking Papers 50 cents.
New - Doll $3 (Purchased at Christmas time for this very purpose).

I felt very satisfied putting this gift together and hope to keep building my crafted gift repertoire and skills to create from used items. This gives me eco pride and frugal satisfaction (as you can see from my face).

Have you made anything this week?

Op Shopping (Thrifting) for Party Goodies

As many of my readers already know I am preparing for my 4 year olds move into big girl-hood as she reaches 5! We are currently preparing for her party which is in 6 weeks time. I know... I'm getting in early... being organised and early on this one means having time to search for great items at prices I can afford. And it also allows me time to make things such as her invites, party bags, decorations and also turn to op shop shops (thrift stores/charity shops) and Freecycle for items I may want.

I'm aiming for a $80 party which will included food, decorations, crafts, pass-the-parcel and goodies. However I don't want the usual prominent stuff from the party area of Coles. And If I do get some of that stuff, I want it to be second hand and maybe upcycled.

This being my last week of the holidays, I popped in to my local op shop (only 5 minute walk from my home) to search for toys or trinkets for pass-the-parcel. I spent a whopping $22 from my $80 budget, but I did well. Take a look...

Op Shop Finds

I purchased 2 candle calabra's to decorate the table for $3 each, quality glass bead necklaces, bracelets and other lovelies for pass-the-parcel. Flower, sandalwood fan and 1 necklace are Dolly's, as part of her costume.

Here are close ups of the great items.

Quality Trinkets for Party Favours

Silver - Yes silver! With tiny animal charms.

Pretty in Pink Glass Beads.

Zebra Beads to Die For. 5 Of Them. I'm Dancing The Happy Dance.

Heavy Glass, Stone and Silver Beads.

Mini Guitar - We Have a Couple of Boys Invited. 

I am upcycling some items and re-threading beads.

The elastic on the zebra bracelet was damaged, it was also too big for small wrists. The Glass, stone and silver beaded bracelet was also far to big for little girls. I cut them and turned them into 4 bracelets fit for Queens with a few additions of spare beads from home.

2 Bracelets Re-threaded to Perfection.

As for the guitar, I made it a bit more fancy to be fit for a royal king. I just need to layer a little more gold glitter and maybe some ribbon.

Royal Music.

If you have any party ideas - let me know...

Have you been op shopping, thrifting, charity shopping?

Library Bag

With the new school year commencing soon, I wanted something homemade and special for for my sweet 4 year old...

So a couple weeks ago when I saw a pretty piece of green fabric with small flowers for $2 at the Op Shop, I knew I wanted to make her a library bag. I held off buying the fabric knowing it would be marked down. I returned the following week and purchased it for $1 at half price. I also had a piece of dot fabric from a $1 dress purchased in 2010. I still have plenty of this fabric, it's a strong cotton that can be used for many future projects. You you may see it again and again. And lastly I have Hello Kitty fabric at home which was purchased new in 2005. I put these all together and sewed my Dolly a new School Library Bag.

(In Australia it's often required by primary schools that students have a library bag to transfer borrowed school library books from school to home and back again. This aids in keeping them together and protected from further wear and tear.)

New School Library Bag - Dolly LOVES it.

The library bag has cost me less then $1.50 to make. Inexpensive compared to the themed library bags on sale at the shopping centres. Also by making the bag myself I have opted out of buying more new stuff, used items already at home and purchased 1 small piece of fabric, second hand.

It's the time that is takes me to sew that is frustrating. I understand that the more I practice the better and faster I will become, but being impatient and busy means I want faster now! I thought about attending sewing classes to gain much needed skills but have decided to teach myself as best as I can with books and You Tube as a free alternative. I can't afford paying for hobby classes at this point in my life.

I found the instructions for the library bag in Kelly Doust's book, The Crafty Kid (borrowed from the library of course). It was a little tricky for me understanding some of the instructions however as I made errors I had great light bulb moments, unpicked and tried again. Kelly Doust doesn't get you too just sew, she makes you to do French Seams so the finish is beautiful and polished. Fortunately my 4 year old will be forgiving of my beginners messy stitches. But now I'm working on a Birthday gift library bag, and this one will need to look polished.

Do you sew? If yes.. how did you learn? Do you attend any "hobby" classes?

Use What You Have On Hand

Dolly is currently preparing 4 craft boxes for 3 friends and herself as gifts. Yes she's preparing a gift for herself too. How smart is that.

To present all the inexpensive and op shopped goodies as pretty as possible I have been working on making the boxes as gorgeous as possible to give it extra Zip Dang Bang! I have completed 2 so far (one a night at roughly 2 hours each) while my family sleeps.

The boxes were from The Rambling Expats workplace destined for landfill. Old A4 Illford Photography Paper boxes (back from the darkroom days). He saved them for me knowing I'm a hoarder of all good things. I started cutting random images from books and mags but then remembered these sweet calenders from 2010 and 2011 purchased in op shops for .50 cents each. So cutting and gluing ensued with beautiful outcomes.

 

These are not completed. They need one more lick of glue to varnish and protect, then I'm done. These are time consuming but I'm hooked as I have found it meditative to cut and glue in the quiet. We have a 70th Birthday party to attend soon. I'm planning to ask a shoe shop for a nice sturdy shoe box that I can cover. I hope to fill it with herb/rose petal sachets, chocolate and photos. It's for a man, so I will masculinate all my gifts.

Have you done anything like this before? It's my 1st time and I think it's quite nifty. Have you been using what you have on hand?

I might be away tomorrow as We are taking The Rambling Expat out for dinner - it's his Birthday. Pop over to his fishing addicted Blog to wish him a happy 45th (he only looks 30 - lucky Duck!) We've been together for 19 years. Who would have ever thought? My plan was to stay single and sexy all my life and then I met him... Now I'm content and Rubenesque :-)

Cyclone Making A Come Back, Op Shopping and Gardening.

It seems the cyclone will be heading our way as it has changed directions yet again. We may have gale force winds Christmas evening. However Darwin may miss out on being directly hit. It's a wait and see game with preparations thrown in. So far it's only predicted to be a category 2, but big enough to cause damage where I live.

This morning Dolly and I left the Rambling Expat at home for 2 and a half hours and headed to our local Salvation Army Op Shop (charity/thrift shop) (which I find over priced) and looked for the half price items (I was searching for heart shaped buttons). I was out of luck however we did make a few purchases.

• Dolly purchased a Tinker Bell costume - $2.50
• Baby socks & hat for her Dolls - $1 the lot.
• I purchased a skirt for $2.50 because the light cotton, bird print fabric was too pretty to leave behind.

Total Cost = $6 (hat missing from pic)

Fabric is a light cotton with pretty birds.

Dolly and I then went to our garden plot to catch up on gardening as I haven't done any in over 5 weeks. The garden plot helps to reduce our groceries costs, is a healthier option to sitting at home watching TV and has way less food miles then items from the supermarket. We weeded, pruned and fed the chickens spinach. As I went to place green waste in the compost bin I carelessly thought wow look at that pretty snake.

WHAT!!! Stopped myself in time as I realised SNAKE! Stepped back and withdrew my hand. I think this is a small Golden Tree Snake - not dangerous. But I still don't want to be bitten.

Golden Tree Snake?

She was keeping an eye on me for the rest of the time at the plot.

This is our lovely produce: If purchased in a supermarket this would easily be over $25 worth. I am so lucky to have a garden plot.

Healthy, Local and Organic.

• Basil from my plot and a friends plot (for pesto).
• A handful of a new type of snake bean I have been growing (to eat with lunch tomorrow).
• A few chilli's from another plot as their tree was loaded (to add to various dishes in next few days).
• Eggplants (I want to make chargrilled marinated eggplant if possible).
• Pawpaw (for snacking).
• Banana from our home garden (for snacking). These trees will blow down in gale force winds.

We ended the day with Dinner at Grandmas and then Dolly, Grandma, The Rambling Expat and myself driving around in our little car to see all the Christmas lights. Dolly had begged to do this and was thrilled by each house she saw twinkling. She asked if we could do the same. I said no and explained the financial cost and ecological waste involved.

How was your day? Did you have any time for the garden or other inexpensive pursuits?

Op Shopping For My Daughters Gifts

In the past 2 weeks I have op shopped but not purchased much as I have tightened my belt.

However I am buying a few gifts for Dolly's Christmas present. I'm not into Christmas but I really don't want her to feel she's missing out when all her friends are being treated to lovely gifts. She is soooo excited about Santa, so I need to make an extra effort. I will organise Santa to leave 1 "new" toy such as Rapunzel or something similar which I know she will adore.

This is what I have found for her which will be part of the gift from me. A spend of $8.25.

$$$ Break Down of Stash:

• Charlie and Lola book $2.00
• Katie Meets the Impressionists Book .25c
• Plastic snap together toys to create creatures. $2.00
• Ceramic bath tub for her doll house (This was a candle which I removed) $2.00
• 2 handmade ceramic plates from Thailand to add to her tea set $2.00

I'm trying to keep it eco frugal by buying local second hand wherever possible. It's hard at this time of year. There is a lot of psychological tactics employed by shops and it's hard to not get sucked in. What about you? Are all or some of your Christmas items secondhand too? Do you find it hard at this time of year to being frugal or even eco, due to the mayhem of parties every couple of days?

Home Sick Odd Jobs

Hello wonderful people. A reminder to my Aussie readers to don't forget to enter my Giveaway - a $200 Coles/Myer voucher! I know what I would spend it on... groceries. And then place $200 from my usual grocery budget into my mortgage.

I stayed home sick today. I should have seen it coming. The sore ears, unbalanced and all the sleeping I've been doing. My nose is like a running tap and my ears are so blocked I feel like I'm under water.

I spent the day feeling hot and sorry for myself. Drinking lots of water and taking a couple of Panadol to ease the aches. Luckily the fridge was full of cooked food so no cooking had to be done - just heating up.

While I had a small burst of semi energy I cleaned and painted 2 small vintage wooden frames that I had sitting around for over a year. I had purchased them them for about $1 each, maybe $2, but no more then that. I placed inside them pages of a damaged 1966 children's book I purchased for 50 cents at the op shop last week. I think they look lovely and will make pretty presents for Birthdays and new babies. At $2.05 a pop these revamped old frames are looking fresh and sweet with a vintage touch. Plus I have many more pictures left to use. Each prettier then the next. Swoon.

Pretty as a Picture.

One other job that caught my eye today was the stack of medicines we had. So I decluttered the fridge door compartment where they all live. 6 items had expired in 2010 and 2011. So out they went. However the compartment still looks just as full! How does that happen?

I hope you are well and keep frugally fantastic.

Op Shop Finds

I needed a shopping fix during my lunch break - because... like many people it's a kind of addiction and pure entertainment. A Want - Not a Need. Frivolous fun. Once upon a time I used to say to myself; I worked hard for my money so I deserve all my treats. Except all my treats meant lots of treats and I spent all my money. I had no debt but I had no savings. The fridge was always getting bare by the time the next pay came in and white rice with a dab of butter was common for dinner for a few nights before payday.

Now I'm careful with my cash, but still have a craving for shopping fixes. It's a treat, but also a waste of money. So I always have that promise to myself, I will not spend more then $5, but I can never resist the goodies. So with my intense need to itch my addiction, I headed to a city op shop and spent $7.

Another Stash

• Prettiest dress; to reuse the floral linen fabric $2
• Book of Aboriginal Portraits (photography) - For The Rambling Expat $2
• The softest chenille knitting wool for a X-mas gift project $1
• New, Ben10 Packet of Tattoos for either gifting or Dolly's next Birthday Party Goodies Bags $2

Tomorrow night I will need to find some items of the same size or bigger to leave our house in our decluttering attempt.

Do you shop for pleasure, addiction or entertainment too?

Saturday Op Shop Finds

Of course being the op shopper addict I am, I went for a quick 15 minute look in my local today for some quick thrifting. I'm searching for something in particular but have had no luck so far. Today is still one of those unlucky days. However I did find these other goodies.

This is what I got:

• Blue with Butterflies High Neck Sleeveless Dress (for Dolly) - $2.00
• 1 new packet of A4 brown card paper (12 sheets) (for crafting) - .50 cents
• 1 new packet of A4 blue card paper (12 sheets) (for a gift project) - 50 cents.
• 1 new packet of 5 sheets of pink tissue paper (was for a gift project but Dolly really wanted it) - 50 cents.
• 1 new packet of 3 handmade butterflies for crafts (for a gift project)- .50 cents
• Brand new cotton baby shoes - very sweet, (for gifting) - $2.00
• Beautifully illustrated book about roses (couldn't leave it - for crafting, gifting or enjoying) - .50 cents
• Fiction book for my bedtime relaxation - .50 cents
• Super fun and interesting book on Shoes (for gifting - I have my own copy) - $2.00

Mixed Lot Of Lovely Finds And Useful Find.

Total spent $9.00

And of course I followed with my new rule any new stuff means old stuff of the same quantity or bigger has to go. So this is what is leaving our home tomorrow.

• Some of Dolly's outgrown playing clothes for a toddler we love.
• 2 University readings on Conflict Resolution for a friend who is studying to be a mediator.
• 3 books for people at our garden plots working bee tomorrow and if no takers they will go to the free bookshelf at work or maybe Bookcrossed.

Mixed Lot To Go.

It's been a busy week and I have lots to talk about, so I'm going to try and post regularly this coming week. Plus I have My Memories Suite Software Giveaway starting tomorrow, so please pop back.

Did you buy any random second hand goodies this week? Or did you get anything off the side of the road? It's the yearly hard rubbish collection here tomorrow and there is some amazing stuff thrown out. I just don't get why people don't give to the op shop. One of my neighbours found a broken Burmese Teak chair he is going to restore. The amazing and expensive wood was just there, waiting to be placed into landfill. Why why why why why....

My Saturday Op Shop Finds

Hi I'm back after a very busy 2 weeks. I've spent money on a little junk food, a big purchase (new mobile iphone G3) and some local art for Dolly. I haven't fully restrained myself but I've been good-ish. I had a little splurge at the op shops and purchased $9.50 of goodies.

I'm easing back into blogging by showing you what I purchased second hand today at my two local op shops.

A Lovely Babushka (4 Nesting Dolls) for Dolly's collection: $3.00

3 Home styling magazines for me .50 cents each: $1.50 - Out of date, but magazines I enjoy when I need a bit of mindless relaxation.

A candle stand (?) which we will revamp as a bangles stand: $2.00

A large Marta Mikey Lead Free candle (80hrs burning time) for a Birthday gift: $4.00 - I've no idea how much these cost new - hope I got a bargain. It's looks nice and smells nice, it's my poor photo quality that makes the candle look worn out.

And because I've made a New Decluttering rule for myself; these university readings will leave my home on Monday.

My new rule is: Whatever new stuff comes into our home the equivalent size - plus some must leave our home. So I listed my old Community Development university readings on Freecycle and a lady studying Community Development is coming on Monday to pick them up, which I'm thrilled about as I think she will enjoy them and find them useful. Since we have been cleaning most nights for 30/40 minutes I'm becoming a little more house proud and ready to rid of more and more stuff.

Do you make any rules for yourself about how you manage your stuff or declutter?

A Happy Yess $50

I completed my laundry, watered my 2 plots, had my market stall and menu planned. But I'm too knackered to do my food shopping, that will have to wait until Monday or Tuesday night.

So.. at The Happy Yess market I made $50 after taking out;

• $150 float, 
• $12 stall fee, 
• $25 stock costs 
• $7 for 24 coat hangers and 
• $8 lebanese food from a fellow stall holder for The Rambling Expat, Dolly and myself. 

This is less then last time, however I set up too late, missing the 1st influx of willing customers who found nothing at my stall to tempt them. And this is still a hobby. Me playing around, dreaming of the "what if's..."

Clothes Rack, Bookshelf and Card Table.

Dolly made $7 on a soft toy and a pair of outgrown shoes. She spent $2 on gingerbread men another stall holder was selling. Leaving her $5 to divide into 3 equal parts. As this would prove difficult I slipped an extra 10 cents into her pile of coins. And this is what my 4 year old did on her own with a brain foggy with exhaustion. (Proud Mama here.)

Dolly Positioning her Money.

$1.70 placed into each container;

• short term (spending, lollies, toys), 
• medium short term (horse?), 
• long term (home?).

And this is my $50 :-)

Let the Good Times Roll

• $25 will go into our travel fund (Borneo?)
• $25 into my garden plot jar as I need to purchase a timer for water irrigation.

I really wanted to try and squeeze another market in somewhere else last month but felt too shy. However another stall holder has given me her number and we may go together and cheer each other on. I just have to go and spend my $25 "stock money" on another op shopping spree to prepare my next stall.

Did you sell or swap anything this month?
What do you get your kids to do with their money?

Overspent Again on Op Shopping

I purchased some items for my Happy Yess market stall coming up this Sunday. My budget was $25 but I spent $36 for the market stall and $10 on myself.

This is what I purchased for the market:

6 books at 50 cents each - $3
1 vogue magazine Oct 2010 - $1
Leather Colorado handbag - $6
Mazi skirt with vintage look flowers $6 (new skirts go for $59 to $89)
Brand new with tags, Joe and Paul Sister, silk top $8 (Retailed $240!)
Baby ring sling $4 (These retail for $25 to $35)
Pretty white cotton lace dress $5
Watch $3 (May have been an silly purchase as it needs a battery and I don't know if I can change it myself)

For me:
Edith Piaf 2 CD box set $6
Gorgeous book on paper crafts $4

2nd Hand Goodies.

As I was taking this photograph someone saw the Colorado handbag and bought it. I didn't want to make a profit from her but she insisted on giving me $10. A $4 profit that paid off the baby ring sling. I'm now down to $26 purchased for the market which is on Sunday. Therefor only $1 over budget... Yay :-)

As for the "me" purchases, once I've enjoyed the book and tried making some of the crafts I will sell it on at the market. The Edith Piaf CD may also go if I already have all the songs.

With secondhand shops selling such great items, I find there really isn't any reason to purchase items new. And if I was slim I would have fun dressing up in beautiful dresses everyday for a pittance.

What a crazy society we have become discarding items so readily. Do you buy new or are you green and frugal opting to only purchase others discarded lovelies?

I Made Some Sales and Talked About Being Green and Frugal

Hello,

It's been a long time since I've last blogged and I've had so much to talk about...

On Friday I received a call from the Happy Yess Moles telling me that there was a groovy concert with 20 bands playing and a small bazaar on Saturday. If I wanted a stall all I had to do was pay the $25 concert fee. Never to miss local talent, fun times and save/make a buck in the process I said "Yes Please!"

I had already spent my $25 stock budget for the month but since this was a special event I headed out early and hit 3 op shops in 3 hours. I bought clothes, jewellery and accessories for a mixed concert going crowd and spent $51.

Then raced home, cleaned some of it and priced it all, loaded the car and arrived at The Happy Yess venue in time for the 3pm start. My mum kindly picked up Dolly at 6pm for a sleep over as the concert had a 1am finish. I was in for the long haul and all the fun.

My 1st sale of the evening was to this amazing musician.

I had a really good time meeting old friends, making new friends and chatting to lots of people about how I personally action being frugal and eco. People were interested, which is very cool.

There were only 5 stalls (including me)! One was a illustrator Click here to see her amazing work :-) Another was a jewellery maker creating cool stuff out of plumber rings and ionised aluminium. Another sold reggae T-shirts and the last sold vintage clothing. And then there was me selling a mixture of vintage and modern trash and treasure. I think we were a good small mixed group.

3 stalls side by side in one of the 3 concert areas.

So how did I go with the selling of my lovely second hand finds, you ask.....

I came home with $140.50. But after taking out my costs of 76$ Stock & 25$ Entry fee, I was left with a profit of $39.50, sure nothing to quit my job over, but I was super happy never-the-less as I really enjoyed myself and didn't dig into my early retirement savings for the concert. Plus I still have plenty of stock for the regular market next week. I'll purchase another $25 of lovelies this week as I am back down to 0$ stock costs.

I'm putting my small profits into plants for my garden plot and the fruits of my labour will grow interest with lovely sustainable fruit & veggies ;-)

Have you sold anything or enjoyed a event without digging into your savings lately?

Treasures at the Op Shop within Budget

I have been working on my budget. I'll post it up latter today or this week. I'm super behind in my posts as the 3 times I tried to post this week I was unable to do so, due to Blogger ongoing maintenance and issues.

Last Saturday I went out and bought some "stuff" that is "allowed" in my new budget.

For Market Stall:
I have now given myself a budget of $25 per month for my market stall. This way I don't stop myself from buying some great goodies for the market, but I also don't go overboard. Anything I make over $25 at the next market will be my gravy money - and put towards various family projects without dipping into our savings that are pigeonholed for other projects such as home renovations, emergency fund, body corp fees and so forth.

Here is what I got for $7.50

• 1 Camera Bag (These cost about $45 new - in great condition!) $3.00 
• 1 Wide Brim Green Hat $2.00
• 3 Books (.50cents each) $1.50
• 1 Polka Dot Dress for 1 yr old $1.00

Mix of Goodies

Polka Dot for Market, Beautiful White Dress for Dolly.

For my own Fun money I have given myself a Budget of $15 a week. It's a lot but that includes any junk food I get myself for lunch in moments of weakness, any purchases that are not "needs", hairdresser, clothing, books, gifts and so forth. This part of the budget is a work in progress and will need to be tweaked.

Out of my Fun Budget I purchased these items for $7.50

• 1 Gorgeous cotton white dress for Dolly (About $25 new).
• 5 x 2011 Calenders to Use as calenders and for Dolly to cut (these were marked at $20-$25 new! No way would I spend that on a calender each year!) I gifted 1 calender to a work colleague with a teenage daughter who is a Twilight fan.
• 1 Fiction Book for easy reading when I'm super tired.
• Dolly purchased 1 new toy in package for a friends 7 week baby (he's a bit young for it but Dolly saw the opportunity and grabbed it - they sell for $11 new).

Calenders and Book

Little People

One of the calenders I bought twice, because the package contained really good value for money lovelies.

Very Pretty!

The package has: 1 Desk Calender, 4 post cards, 1 Reminder Dated Note Book and the calender for Dolly to cut out all the very pretty vintage images for her crafting.

I'm within budget and am making sure that our Budget does have Fun Money included - which it didn't in past years, but was spent anyway. As I said my new budget is a work in progress as I keep thinking of other things to add to it unfortunately.

How's yours? How is it created/thought out? I'd love to know what you do.

Saturday Op Shopping Finds

Hello Lovers of Thrift,

I went to my local Op shop with my 3 year old daughter and found some great goodies to feed my consumer wants and needs.

My Total Spend = $8.50.

I bought a Pumpkin Patch tracksuit for Dolly for $8.00, it's super soft and warm. This is a purchase for our trip to France. It will be so cold and winter! Due to us living in the tropics we don't own much warm clothing. I need to build up 3 sets of clothing for her. I am relying heavily on family in France to lend us other winter clothes when we arrive.

I also purchased a novel in Spanish to gift a Columbian friend for 50 cents. Bargain and unusual find.

Warm Tracksuit and Spanish Read.

My daughter Dolly also made a purchase with her own money: Total Spend $6.00

Dolly purchased a beautiful rocking unicorn for the inexpensive sum of $6.00. She should be able to flip this and get her money back once she had outgrown it.

Rock My Unicorn

I also picked up a couple books (Perfume), tops and vintage Dollies to flip on Ebay. I'll see if I have any luck.

Did you go op shopping (thrifting) recently? Any fun finds? Were they needs or wants?

In thrifty solidarity,

Stephanie @ Frugal Down Under.

Op Shopping Fantastica

I LOVE op shopping (thrifting). It's frugal, it's green and the chase is thrilling.

Many people think op shopping is "dirty and gross" but everything can be cleaned in some manner and re-used. There is always so much to go through to find your gems, but there is a lot out there and many wonderfully unique pieces too. Once you start op shopping regularly you will find you get used to running your eyes along the racks quickly and finding the good stuff.

I love being able to purchase items on a small budget and feel guilt free too. I see my purchase as saving stuff from landfill and preventing the over production of new stuff.

I op shop not only because it's frugal and green, but also because I'm Rubenesque meaning clothing shops with my size are ridiculously over priced and very limiting in range. So I'm very lucky I have Op Shops around me and even though I'm in a small town I still find many gems.

So don't be shy, go and browse your local op shop. My hints are; take cash as some op shops don't use cards, take a shoulder bag to keep you arms free for the items you want to check out, look carefully for stains and holes and have fun. 

Here is what I purchased in the past 2 weeks: TOTAL PRICE $14, all items in pics below.

• Novels in French for my partner: $2.50 for two.
• Professional development book for myself .50cents.
• A really cute leather headband for myself, $1.00.
• A book I really wanted last month but refused to fork out $45 for, and there is was... Urban Eco Chic only $3.00!!! I was so EXCITED... it's a beautiful book.

Books and Headband = $7.00

My Gorgeous Book!!! = $3.00

• Cooper Street dress with a teeny weeny burn. $2.00, purchased for sewing projects. (New Cooper Street dresses start at $159. The fabric is luxurious.)

Cooper Street Dress = $2.00

• A white wool beret for an up coming trip to France $1.00.
• Trial size make-up from Mary Kay $1.00 for a whole lot.
• Sewing hooks & eyes I needed for a sewing project, Lucky me! .50 cents.
• Salt and Pepper shaker by an Italian company $2.00.
• Maori doll for my daughter .50 cents.

Beret, Make-up, Doll, Salt & Pepper Shakers and Eyes & Hooks = $5.00

Do you Op Shop? What have you found lately?