A Dollar or Less! Which was the best?

[MsSpot]

I'm asking this because lately I've been VERY fortunate in purchasing a number of things for a $1 or less.

For instance, I just purchased ELEVEN 8 ounce jars of instant coffee for $1 each.

In the past month I've bought 4 college textbooks at the local thrift shop for $1 each. To date I've sold them all on half.com for a grand total of $170.

Then yesterday, at a garage sale, I bought 2 brand new blankets for $1 each. Someone had bought them, had a picnic and got grass all over 'em. I brought them home, shook the grass out, washed and dried them and have great looking blankets on my bed.

My very best find this month didn't even cost me a $1. I trashpicked a WORKING stainless steel 55 cup Farberware coffee urn from a local dumpster. I have the cord, lid, coffee basket and it works! This would have been wonderful even if it didn't work. The urn is beautiful and looks brand new and I could SURE serve alot of ice tea from it even if it didn't work. I looked up the new price on this particular model and it costs over $200 new.

I also found a brand new Ricardo of Beverly Hills rolling suitcase in the same dumpster. I can't find any indication that it's ever been used and I plan to use it when I have to travel for my job. (However, I really DID go over it carefully, hoping to find the bundle of cash that I was SURE was in there somewhere! :~)) I don't understand why the owner threw both of these items away but I plan to make full use of them.

Ok, you've allowed me the chance to brag about my very frugal purchases and finds. So, what have been your best purchases and finds?

[Mrs-M]

What a fun read! Going to give this a little thought as to my own finds. P.S. Re: the Farberware Coffee Urn, what a grand find that was! People are so wasteful aren't they...

The urn, MsSpot, is it the style with the tapered neck? Like this? (http://www.partyplusrentals.com/products/coffee-fab%2055%20cup.jpg)

[MsSpot]

Yes, MsM, the urn is exactly like the one in the picture. Isn't it beautiful? Not a scratch or a dent on it. :)

[Mrs-M]

I'm totally envious and jealous, MsSpot! I will never understand people and what they toss away. P.S. If the urn ever needs a good polishing, let me know, and I'll dig up the name of a cleaner (I use) that's nothing short of unbelievable!

[iris lily]

Great dumpster finds, way to go!

[Float On]

Oh my word, you got some great deals and that urn is delish! Shoot! I was just giving myself a peptalk on the way to town today about how I need to make it a goal to NOT stop at yardsales on the way to work.......

[Mrs-M]

Originally posted by Float On.
I was just giving myself a peptalk on the way to town today about how I need to make it a goal to NOT stop at yardsales on the way to workAnd I need to start giving myself pep-talks about how I need to (occasionally) stop-by yard-sales on my way to/from town. LOL! Especially when I come across inspirational stories like that of MsSpot! Darn it all anyway, I can't get that coffee urn out of my head... See what you've done to me, MsSpot! :laff:

[MsSpot]

Yea, well I just looked up the new price on the suitcase. OMG! I've been carrying around the same $5 duffle bag for 10 YEARS. So, are ya ready? The new price at Macy's on the Ricardo suitcase that I found is $250 - $300 for ONE 24 inch expandable suitcase. Oh well, now I'll fit in with all the big wigs when I go to a conference, won't I? :) OR perhaps I'd better list this one on Amazon or eBay or something! I could use the money more than I'll use the suitcase. KWIM?

[mamalatte]

My feeling on yard sales is that I'm a lot more likely to get something I really don't need, just because it is a great "deal." Not really a problem money-wise, since the items are often very inexpensive, but a problem clutter-wise. For example, I would have been sorely tempted by the awesome coffee urn, but have been getting by without one for twenty years and would probably use it like once a year, if that. So, for me, that would be better left behind. The things on offer at a yard sale rarely ever seem to coincide with the things I actually "need" at that time.

As for under-a-dollar items, you can get one lollipop for 15 cents (Tootsie Pop or Blow Pop) at our local store and I think it's such a great inexpensive treat for the kids (and me!). We'll make an outing of it and walk down there just to get a lollipop. I could probably buy a big bag of them for much less than 15 cents each, but then they would be around the house all the time, and we wouldn't get to do the walk which is part of the fun.

[Mighty Frugal]

I'm hosting a neighbourhood Easter party next weekend and for $1 I bought 36 paper plates

With the help of a pair of scissors and stapler and some string(already had at home) I am making bunny masks for the kids to wear. I did spend another $1 for a ton of Easter stickers for them to stick on their masks.

Also for about 30 cents I made an Easter egg pinata with a blown up balloon (10 cents) and some flour (20 cents) and water and newspaper. Another neighbour has donated the Easter toys that we are going to put inside.

AND for a few dollars I bought a big box of 100 chocolate bars after Halloween (reg price was $12.95 I bought it for 2.95) they don't expire until July of this year. Another neighbour donated the plastic eggs and we put one choco in each egg to hide for the kids!

so for just a few dollars we are going to have an extravagant chocolate filled party for about 30 kids!

[JaneV2.0]

What awe-inspiring finds! I've bought a number of nifty clothing items in the under five dollars range lately, but my favorite recent treasure is a 50-inch necklace made of lacquered paper and glass beads for $2 or so. A fiesta of colors and shapes.

(My luggage is leopard-print Ricardo I picked up at a couple of discounters some years back; it's sturdy and handsome. Good work!)

[MsSpot]

Wonderful finds! Keep 'em comin'! I don't post on here very often at all but I LOVE reading about the great things that people do in order to stretch the money as far as possible. Unfortunately, I live alone in a 4 bedroom house and also have hoarding tendencies so I have to have rules to live by.
Rule #1: if you bring something new in, you have to get rid of something.
Rule #2: Just because you have four bedrooms is not an excuse to fill them up with "stuff", so 2 of the bedrooms remain unfurnished and un-junk filled. I only use one bathroom, so keep the other one clean and stocked for visitors.
Rule #3: The living room MUST be tidy and ready for company at all times.

Unfortunately, my bedroom and the kitchen table are "catch-all" areas, but at least the rest of the house is generally tidy.

[Anne Lee]

A pound of Roma tomatoes for $.98. And they were good.

[bunnys]

I can't get over the textbook purchases and resales. How did you know that those particular textbooks would even be resaleable?

[early morning]

In the past we have trash-picked and sold sooo many items, and used even more - I can't remember my favorite but the best money-wise was a small walnut built-in corner cabinet (about 52") painted white, which we sold for $ 120-130 (don't remember exactly) to an east-coast picker. I would like to think it ended in some trendy shop for an obscene amount of money - it was sweet! But all I know for sure is that we enjoyed removing it from the waste stream, lol.

There are some good $ deals at the local Christmas Tree Shoppe - I know they aren't everywhere but they are spreading, sort of like a TJ Max w/o clothes. Last trip I got some wonderful quilted Waverly table runners for $2.50 and packs of 4 Waverly napkins for $1.

[leslieann]

Text books are tricky but check the copyright/pub date. Publishers are now in the habit of printing a "update" every two years. The cycle used to be a bit longer. But a textbook that is more than two years beyond print date isn't too likely to be in use.

Actual books, like classic literature, are more likely to be resaleable to students. MsSpot did very well. Mostly the publishers work hard to make the resale market as small as possible.

[Mrs-M]

Enjoying reading everyone's stories!

Early Morning. One of my favourite things is quilted table runners! I love all things, napkins, doilies, runners, placemats, and tablecloths!

[MsSpot]

Hi Bunnys - I've always been lucky in recognizing the value in books, but Leslieann is correct. If a book has a copyright date of less than four years, it's probably got some value. But just because I've been lucky recently doesn't mean that I'm always lucky or correct with my book sales. I usually have a few non-saleable books around the house.

When I was in college, I hung around the college book store. After a couple years they'd sell their unused textbooks for a $1 each. Between the college bookstore and a couple local thriftstores, I managed to average $300 per month in book sales. It allowed me to have a few luxuries other than non-stop ramen noodles.

Today, I still take advantage of that talent in myself. I also sell hatching eggs on eBay. I can sell my fresh eggs locally for people to eat for $2 per dozen, but on ebay, I average $10 a dozen and the buyer pays the shipping. Most of my customers are happy with the fertility of my hatching eggs and are return customers year after year. I have a small flock of birds with only 9 laying hens, but they are all purebred heritage breeds and manage to buy all their own feed and equipment through egg sales.

[ginastarke]

5 disco 45's in perfect condition. Made my Vinyl-collecting husband's morning :D

[JaneV2.0]

Large bone-colored leather B. Makowsky tote, needs cleaning, $10. Fingers crossed it will clean up well