Decorate Your Walls

You can find so many different unique ways to decorate the walls in your home at flea markets, thrift stores, and yard sales.

I like the idea of using vintage game boards as decor. They are very unique and look very interesting. You can usually get them for next to nothing also.

                             You can also find some great vintage art work. Like these kitties!

This art work was so neat. It is an actual window that they painted and added a piece of art behind. Really neat. Probably would not be hard to make yourself one of these if you didn't want to buy one.

Vintage Sewing Patterns

The best way to get sewing patterns is at thrift stores, yard sales, and flea markets. They are usually VERY cheap. Most of the time they arr vintage and already cut, but if you get a pattern that you will use a lot , it is a good thing it is already cut. Especially if it is your size that you need. That is the part that I hate about sewing - cutting out the pattern! You can even find fabric for low cost. Even Walmart usually has marked down fabric for sometimes $1.00 a yard!

If you don't know how to sew - LEARN! You can save a lot of money this way. I taught myself how to sew just so that I could make the cloth diapers that my son wore. I even made some money selling some online. Got us thru my husband lay-off.

You can find a lot of FREE sewing patterns online - I have a lot of my favorite free sewing patterns listed on my Sewing Ideas Pinterest Board.

 

DIY Privacy Screen

This is the neatest thing that I saw at the flea market ...They took old doors and made "walls" for their booth! I want some to make a privacy screen. Would be good in a house or for what I want it for on my patio. I would have to make a stand for them out there or somehow put them in the ground. But, it would be neat looking. Frugal also. A lot cheaper than $100.00 + dollars for actual privacy fence panels. I see old doors all the time at yard sales and such for $10.00 to $20.00. Pretty easy also. They had big hinges on them.

Reuse/Recycle/Alter/Redo DIY

This tray out of a big toolbox was leaning up against the wall at a flea market and the first thought thru my head was "wow, what an awesome spice rack!". My daughter wanted it for all of her makeup and nail polish. Neat how different things can be use for many different uses. I bet you could even come up with something else that this could be used for.

COMMENT BELOW ON YOUR IDEAS OF WHAT THIS COULD BE USED FOR...

Take Care

excuse the mess, a puggle helped me make the bed!

When you have very little room and hardly any closet space, but have a large amount of clothing, you have to find ways to hang them and take care of them. I found this clothes hanger at the dollar store for $10.00! It holds a lot of clothes and they hang perfect so they are wrinkle free. Just because your clothing came from a thrift store, doesn't mean that you can't take care of it. This has helped me a lot to have this.

 I am planning on getting a couple more. My wardrobe will be growing , won't it??

Pretty Stripes

I finally found some items that I can wear with my olive green pants that I had gotten at a yard sale last summer for 25 cents. This top is what I will wear with them today. Another find from the $1.00 sale! Needless to say I am going back to that small thrift store next week!! Find some more treasures. I had lost a lot of my clothing when a storage unit we had had been flooded and no one told us. So anything in the unit that was fabric or wood was lost!! I have been rebuilding my wardrobe the last couple of years. Having to be super frugal while I do it.

Vintage Hats! Add Some Unique Style!

Flea Markets and thrift stores are great for getting stylish vintage clothing and watch out for the hats. You can find some pretty amazing vintage hats at them. And for not a lot of money. These 2 hats , that unfortunately were too small for me, were only about 10 to 15 dollars each. Not a lot of money to add so much style to your winter wardrobe.
With vintage hats you just have to look at them well. Make sure they are in good shape and have no moth holes, etc.  If they have anything on them, like jewels, feathers, ribbons, make sure they are attached well.

Shop Smart To Save Money & Make Money

One of the best ways that I have found to save money while shopping for unique clothing and home items is to shop in consignment shops. A lot of towns have a small one. You can find a lot of great items and a lot of higher end items at consignment shops. I have found many designer handbags at consignment shops for a 10th of what they would be new.

A consignment shop is also a great place to make money. You can take your items there to have them sold and get some extra money to then be able to buy "new" items. They will price the items and do all of the other work for you. All you have to do is bring in the stuff and then pick up your money! This is an awesome way to make money with clothing and toys that your children have outgrown. Take the money you make to buy them new clothing. Win-Win!!

You can use this link http://consignmentshops.com/ to find out where consignment shops, thrifty stores, and more are in your area. An awesome tool to have on hand. Secondhand Chic: Finding Fabulous Fashion at Consignment, Vintage, and Thrift Shops

Details Can Make An Outfit

Clothing that has special little details is always a great way to make an outfit stand out. I love this skirt that I got for 85 cents during anniversary sale at thrift store. It has cute lace at the bottom and is lined. Looks awesome with the denim jacket. Get a pair of tights to wear with it or , like I did, I wore a pair of white thermal leggings with it and my black boots. Cute and warm enough in 40 degree weather.

                                          The cold will not stop me from being fashionable!!

DIY Camouflage Skirt

Found a book at thrift store - Free-Style Handmade Bags & Skirts - and right away found several things I want to make. I want to start with this skirt. I had found a pair of camo pants at a yard sale last summer for 50 cents that I can do this with.
Seems easy enough and since they cost almost nothing , it will be worth a try.

How to Create Custom Jeans in Military Style and Original Jeans Turned Inside Out

To design custom jeans in military style you'll need a piece of camouflage material, a needle and thread, buttons, scissors as well as a sartorial chalk. Turn your jeans into Capri trousers by cutting them a bit lower the knee line. Cut two square pieces from camouflage material, with a length of the trouser bottom and a width of about 10 centimeters each.

Sew the cuffs down to the bottoms of trouser legs, whip the side seam and stitch the seams on the sewing machine. Turn the cloth to the front side, carefully spread the cuffs, iron the side cuts into different directions. Turn the upper cut of cloth inside onto 5 millimeters, tack it to the trouser legs of your jeans and stitch the seams.

Sew down the buttons sideways near the outside seam of the trouser legs. Cut out two pockets from camouflage material of the same size which jeans' pockets have.

Turn over the cuts of one of the workpieces 5 millimeters and sew them down to the back pocket of jeans so that the factory stitching of pockets stays visible. Sew the second workpiece using the same technique, however, place it a bit outside of the pocket.

You can also make another patch flap pocket on one side on the thigh. Sew down buttons to the pocket and make cut loops in the flap. That's it!

To create extravagant "inside out" subculture jeans you'll need denim cloth, metallic buttons, thread, a needle and scissors.

Mark out a cut line on both trouser legs. The cut lines should have different levels, for example, one can be marked out up the knee height, the other one a bit lower. Cut off both trouser legs on the marked line using sharp scissors. Turn the cut off parts of trouser legs inside out.

Tack the outstanding inner seams so that they fit to the cloth and the stitching that will come to the front in the ready-made customized jeans model looks neat.

Sew down the finished trouser leg to the place where it was cut off so that unfinished cuts come on the outside, on the front part. Fray the cuts by taking out the threads with your fingers or using a gypsy needle.

Cut out of denim cloth of contrast color eight square worlpieces for onlays about 5 centimeters in width each. Our onlays will have different length, the longest one will be exactly the trouser leg's width, and each other will be 2 centimeters shorter than the previous one. Two last onlays should have equal length.

Turn over the cuts of each workpiece 0,5 centimeters and tack the edges. Stitch each workpiece using the thread of contrast color and on one of the ends make a cut loop using a sewing machine.
Tack and then stitch the onlays except for the shortest one to the jeans on various height parallel to the bottom of the jeans trousers. Sew down metallic buttons to decorative cut loops.

Onlays of different length can be equally placed on trouser legs of your custom tailored jeans. Cut out or pierce holes on back pockets using sharp scissors. Place them so that they would look as symmetrical as possible on both back pockets.

You can create a balanced impression of a complete jeans model by decorating one of the back pockets with a fake onlay.

Complete the pocket's decoration by sewing down a metallic button. Decorate the second back pocket using the same technique. That's it! Your originally built customized jeans are ready.

Custom jeans design, denim fashion - Getwear customized jeans brand

Wicked Shoes!!

 You can always find the most wicked and cool shoes at thrift stores!

<<< Already thinking about summer with this pair of shoes!! They will go with so many different things.

Jeans, skirts, high waisted shorts, sun dresses, maxi skirts, etc. The possibilities are endless with this pair.

>>>The style of these shoes will go with all of my winter outfits. When it is not snowing since they have an open toe. But, I love them.

Seriously, can we ever have enough shoes!! And at $3.95 a pair you can have as many as your house can hold!!

Too Many To Choose From

You can find a shortage of purses, handbags, and backpacks at thrift stores. Almost too many to pick. There are always a few that would make a great addition to my wardrobe. So many styles, colors, and eras. Vintage and new.

                                            Whatever style you are looking for can be found.

Thrifty Home Decor & More

Don't rule out thrift stores as a low cost way to decorate your home. You can always find great art and more. It is also a way to find vintage items if you want a bohemian style. I have found some really unique pieces of furniture and antiques at thrift store. Also, added to my pottery collection, with the recent drop in prices on McCoy and other pottery my pottery collection has doubled.  You can really change the whole look of your house on a frugal budget by shopping at thrift stores.

This huge picture was only $7.00! I wish now that I would have gotten it, it would have fit and looked perfect above my couch.

Keep an eye out for knick knacks, glassware, and collectibles. Thrift stores and yard sales are a great way to add to anyone collection. For very little money - This cute cardinal was only 50 cents!

The trays made out of paper in the 1940's I got for a whole $1.00. Isn't it amazing that some thing that is made of paper has lasted that long?

 Not sure why I bought this creamer and sugar set. They are kind of cute, but ugly! Vintage pottery is my weakness. 50 cents for the set.

 These funky vintage chairs were $2.00 each and I had to have them all. Even though my OCD is freaking out because one of them is yellow. They are marked Casalino I on the back. Which is a great item I am finding out after doing some research. A true treasure!!

Vintage toys are another item to keep an eye out for. Relive your childhood for very little money. I found a scratch n sniff colorform set just like one that I had when I was a kid for 50 cents!! Amazing shape it is in. Only missing 1 or 2 pieces. YAY!!


               Check out your local thrift stores - you will be surprised at what you can find.


SHARE SOME OF THE TREASURES THAT YOU HAVE FOUND IN THE COMMENTS BELOW!!!

Reinvent Your Boring Sweatshirt

Here is an easy way to update your sweatshirt. Take your boring zip-up hoodie and make it new.

Get out your zip-up hoodie and take different colored strips of other sweatshirt fabric, from thrift store finds. Kids sweatshirts are perfect for getting the fabric for this project, just enough fabric and most thrift stores have kids clothing for about 99 cents each piece!

Measure the front diagonally to from the shoulder to the zipper, then from the zipper on the other side to the side seam. Cut out the fabric that you want to make the stripes with. Pin them down real well on the front and then start sewing by hand around. You can use a contrasting color thread to make it look even more interesting. That is it!! A new sweatshirt!!

Patterns Are Fun

Wearing patterns is a fun way to add to a look. This brand new top that I found at a thrift store, still with the tag on it, has a great pattern. This can be worn with jeans or worn dressed up.

So many times I have found items of great looking clothing at thrift stores and yard sales that still have price tags on them. Do they know how much money they are wasting with buying new clothes and not wearing them? Basically giving them away for free. If you think of what they were new. This top has a price tag of $58.00!! I paid $3.95!!

Generation T

When you go to thrift stores or yard sales look out for books (and other stuff), too! Some of the best books that I have come from them.

This is an awesome book that I found recently, Generation T. It is full of different ways to create new items of clothing or decor items out of t-shirts. I love this book. Everyone should have a copy of this.

There is even a wedding dress in this book. Very cute!

                                                     Let your creativity come out!

Stripes, No Gripes

I love this new top that I found. It was $2.50 at a thrift store. Went yesterday to my favorite store out of town. I do not get there too often , but when I do get there I always find great stuff. Yesterday was not a good day for me to shop though , we had gotten a very late start out and then got there at 5pm! Had to be back home by 8pm and it is and hour and a half away. So I was literally running thru the store. I promised myself that I am going back very soon. Just to go there.

          This top not only has stripes , but it also has a cowl neckline that hangs perfectly.

Sewing - A Tee For Me!

I actually got out the sewing machine and got myself a tee sewn. I had bought the fabric to make a kimono top, but I thought better of it. This fabric is too lacy and stretchy. Better for a tee. I am going to have to wear a white camisole under this or a white turtleneck for winter. Maybe. I will see how it looks. I also have enough left over to make something else if I want. This Breezy Tee sewing pattern was free. It was easy to put together and once I got it pinned the sewing only took a few minutes. I already have a stack of fabric put to the side just for making more of these. I get all of my fabric from thrift stores and yard sales, so that makes it very frugal. All of my sewing patterns come from them also. I have bought only a couple of new sewing patterns. I get mine for next to nothing or you can look thru my BOARDS on Pinterest for A LOT of FREE sewing patterns and tutorials.You can also find a lot of low cost sewing patterns HERE!!

               If you can sew, you should make up some of these tops. They are so easy to make.

WHY WHY WHY

The only bad thing about shopping at a lot of thrift store is that that is the one item they have. If it is awesome and they do not have your size - OH WELL! Like this amazing pair of shoes that were just $3.95! But , my size 9 foot would never be able to fit in a pair of shoes that are a size 5!

                                A curse of swollen feet on the woman who has such tiny feet!