Keeping the family happy

Happy and frugal - these two don't always go together. We're pinching pennies these days. Luckily, we've discovered thrift shopping.

Amigo and La Petite and I were visiting relatives recently, and decided to check out the thrifting opportunities in their town. Amigo needed a polo shirt or two for his forensics meets, so that was our main goal. Amigo, of course, had his own idea: a bean bag chair.

First stop, their local Goodwill store. La Petite guided Amigo to the furniture department while I poked through the shirts in Amigo's size. My teen, search through his own shirts? Oh, no, he had priorities. But I found two in blue patterns that worked for him, and we checked out. The next store on our list had a note on it. Sister-in-law had noted that this place had lots of clothes. I put La Petite and her smartphone in charge of navigating through town. Our journey ended in a strip mall with the thrift store and a Sears Outlet on the other end. Amigo teased me about trying on a pair of shoes on the way to the men's shirt racks - heck, I didn't know he'd be there before I was because they had no furniture, much less bean bag chairs in stock! I picked out two more - orange this time to go with his school colors, orange and black.

The Sears location was mainly an appliance outlet, and they didn't have coffee grinders. Yes, dear readers, my coffee grinder bit the dust last week, and I was sad. Very sad. I did find a vacuum-sealer for preserving my garden produce next summer. It's out of season, and that's fine with me! I can store it until it's time to pick and freeze the vegetables.

Keeping me happy: 4 polo shirts at an average of $1.50 each and an inexpensive tool for preserving the garden yield.

Keeping La Petite happy: chief navigator status. She's good at this, with or without GPS. Need directions? Ask her.

Keeping Amigo happy: listening to store announcements in Spanish followed by English, testing his memory from high school Spanish classes. He has excellent hearing and a knack for languages and accents.

Keeping all three of us happy: time bonding together.

And the happiest fun? Playing with their baby cousin and the cats when we got to our home away from home. Yes, it was priceless.

I wrote this post (after returning from our visit and thrifting trip) while participating in Social Moms blogging program, this time in cooperation with Farm Rich. It is not a paid post, but I could qualify for a Target gift card worth $25. To find out how you can participate, click here.

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