TIGHTWAD TUESDAY - Jackpot Find!

Sometimes being frugal, or being a tightwad, isn't just about saving money, but making money as well. Even better, making that little bit of money from things someone else has thrown out!

One day last week I was leaving my mom's and heading to run some errands. As I went down one of the side streets in her neighborhood, I noticed a pile of 'junk' setting by the curb. As I was in a hurry to get to one of my destinations before they closed, I made a mental note to check the pile out if it was still there when I finished my errands. And as luck would have it, it was!

I knocked on the door and inquired about the pile. It was garage sale 'leftovers' and was up for grabs for anyone if they wanted it before the trash pick-up ran and took it all. She said I was free to take any or all of it that I wanted. There were some nice things in that pile (in my opinion) and I couldn't bear to see it trashed, so I rearranged, pushed, shoved, grunted, and managed to get it all crammed into my car.

I wasn't even sure what all I had, as a lot of it was tightly boxed up together. So when I got home, I unloaded it all and spread it all out to get a better look at it and see what my jackpot netted me.

Everything supposedly works, but I am checking it all out to be sure. There was quite a bit of electronics in the bunch, including things that I had no clue what they were. The printers/scanners I will have to do a little researching on. Some of those things you can no longer get cartridges for and the refill stores aren't allowed to refill them. That stinks and is such a waste!!! I hate throwing perfectly good working things like that away! And as you can see in the back, Dusty felt the need to 'stand guard' over it all. He's such a good dog! As you may remember, he was also a "dump off" that I brought home, and he has turned out to be a great value to me and my little farm.

There were a couple of things in the stack that I decided to keep, but most of it I took out to my flea market set-up last weekend. Although it was a slow weekend and most of it got rained out, most of what I sold came from this stack! That CARS lamp/talking alarm clock went really fast, as did the GMC computerized analyzer. I have a few things left, but quite a bit of it sold. I still need to find a battery to see what Elmo does. That set of bathroom scales you see in the front is one of those fat analyzers, and all of us at the flea market had fun trying to figure out how to program it, but none of us have figured it out (free entertainment during slow periods, although watching us trying to figure it out was probably what was entertaining, lol). I will have to look the instructions up online. It does appear to work, though.

I was needing something to put my smaller stuffed animals in at the flea market (besides the plastic bag I keep dumping them in and out of each week) and that tub worked great so I kept it. Now I just have to grab the handle and drag it in and out of my storage unit/tiny shop each week and it is ready to browse through! I am also going to keep that styrofoam ice chest. I am thinking of making an egg incubator out of it. I am saving up "junk" to try and make one for nothing. Wish me luck! Oh, and if you have already made one, I would love to hear how you did it.

But my best 'find' in the whole pile was a calendar. It had a .25 sticker on it. It was a 2008 Thomas Kinkade, Painter of the Light Calendar in great condition. I thought that surely it was worth more than a quarter, but couldn't believe just how much more. I decided to research it online before I set it out on my quarter table and was shocked to learn that it was selling on Amazon for just under $157.00!!!! So no, it is definitely NOT going on my quarter table! I absolutely adore his work, and am greatly saddened that he has passed away and there will be no more of his beautiful works created (and he was so young!!!, so very, very sad). So it is a tough decision as to whether to sell it or keep it. But as finances are so extremely tight, I am sure I will have to sell it, but certainly not for 25 cents! (glad that sticker came off cleanly)

So, my Tightwad Adventure for this week was tightly cramming my car with treasures that were someone else's trash! If you have a simple, easy, and ultra inexpensive way of cleaning all of those lovely silk flowers you see there in the pic, I would love to hear it! They are in great condition, just dusty.

Have a great and thrifty week!

(AF) Naming the Fur Ball

Some of you may remember the little Fur Ball I rescued from certain death a couple of weeks ago. I still have him and he is doing well. He is getting along amazing well with all of the farm animals, except that he sometimes likes to chase them, simply because he is in the mood for a good run. If they don't run, he just stands there looking at them, all disgusted because they are spoiling their fun, or pokes at them with his nose to try and get them to run so he can chase them. I am trying to break him from it, but it is pretty funny to watch. Now, getting along with my other dogs? That isn't going so well, so they have to stay separated.

The pic you see here is him the first day I got him, showing how bad some of his mats are. I have been cutting and trimming them off, but there are so many, and many are matted so tightly to his skin, that I have basically been cutting the them off about half way down with the intent of letting them grow out so that I can continue to trim them until they are completely off. It is just too cold to give him a real close cut right now. So now he looks like he has dread locks! It is a pretty funny site. I will have to take some new pictures of him soon. He is just a hard one to get to stand still for a camera.

Okay, so what to name him. I sure wish I knew what his name was, because I always hate giving a grown dog a new name. It is so confusing and unfamiliar to them. But I have to call him something. When he decides to take off and give a chicken a chase, I have to able to call him back, lol. So for days, I mulled quite a few names over in my head, calling him by some to see what his response would be. Initially, I had decided upon the name Matt (yes, *groan*, because of all the mats he had). But he wouldn't answer to it at all and I didn't blame him.

Then one day, as I was cleaning his face off and laughing, it hit me. That whole first week he was here, he thoroughly explored my house, especially under and behind places I hadn't been in awhile (shame on me), And after each exploration, he proudly trotted back to me, looking up at me with a face covered in dust bunnies! His face always got the bulk of it, but all over his body, stuck to all of those remaining mats, were globs of dust bunnies that took some work to clean off. He was so proud of himself, like he knew what he was accomplishing .... cleaning my house. I do believe it is time to move that furniture that hasn't been moved lately, and give it a good sweep, or just move it out and let this dog run around it a few times, ha, ha.

Well, I can't name him Bunny, because I already have a dog named Bunny. So ..... DUSTY it is. Amazingly, the first time I called him by the name Dusty, he perked his ears up, cocked his head, and got all excited! And every single time now that I have called him by his new name, he has run to me, or at least stopped and immediately looked at me. Or is it his new name? He is acting like that has always been his name. Wouldn't that be neat! He is mostly black with a little brown edging on his face and back end, with a 'dusting' of gray all down his back. Whatever his name once may have been, DUSTY is a very comfortable fit for him.

(AF) Up For Adoption

When you wake up in the morning, sit up in bed, plop those feet down on the floor, and mentally review your schedule for the day, it doesn't always turn out the way you have planned. The day can often bring very unexpected surprises. Today, was just one of those such days.

I spend most weekends working in my two little shops at a near-by flea market. Today I was running late and got there a little later than usual. I stopped to say my 'howdys' to everyone on my way to my space, then went to unlock my door.  But just as I was walking up, there, curled up in the patch of grass in front of my space, was a shabby little black dog.

I asked if the flea market owners had gotten a new dog. Nope, they hadn't. I asked if anyone knew who it belonged to. Nope, no one knew. It had apparently been recently dumped off in the area. They said it had come up there a few days ago, disappeared, then returned last night. His hair is all full of mats and clumps, he is full of fleas & ticks, he is a he but is completely missing his um-hums, and his tail is cropped. He appears well fed but is very cowered down and skittish. He had a big cockle burr stuck tightly where his back leg joins his body and me and another vendor carefully got it cut out. Not so easy, since it was tight against his skin, but he sat so still and patient while we worked on him. Then he went to sleep on my lap, went limp as a dishrag and snuggled right in. He really groaned when I put him down so that I could get back to work. Then next thing I know, every time I sat down, he was back in my lap! I kept trying to find him a home all day, as everyone joked about how the little fur ball had adopted me. NO, NO, NO.... I can't have another dog!

.......And now, he lays curled up next to me, sleeping soundly, as I type on my computer ..... at home. Ugh! I told him to not get comfy, we are finding him a HOME.  So, how did he end up coming home with me? I overheard Mr. Flea Market Owner telling one of the men that he was going to take care of the problem this weekend. He said that he, his 22, and the dog were going to go for a walk in the woods and the dog wasn't coming back!  Noooooooooooo,  that just isn't right! Not even enough time has gone by to find out if it belongs to someone and it just got loose. And, that is just wrong. I asked him about it and he was dead serious. He said he would just go take him out and shoot him and the problem would be over.  So my heart broke, the little dog came home with me, and I am now desperately looking for him a home (plus keeping my eye out to see if anyone claims him, though that isn't likely).

I can't keep him, I am struggling to feed the critters I have now. And I certainly can't afford (time or financially) to keep any more that are simply pets and not earning their keep around here. And having not been raised up from a puppy with my other critters, he is kind of upsetting the Apple Cart around here. So please help me find him a home. After I get him all cleaned up, get the mats out, and get the fleas and ticks off, he should be a beautiful dog. He has a really sweet personality (well, except that he thought my chickens and cats were fun to chase) and is obviously extremely smart. He seems to know several commands. He didn't try to hurt my chickens or cats, he just had fun chasing them. The ones that didn't run, he ignored, lol. I don't know what kind he is so if any of you do, please leave a comment and tell me. But most of all, PLEASE HELP ME FIND HIM A HOME FAST!!! Thank you!!!!!