Having recently gone through and simplified the boys clothing because they apparently had too many that they couldn’t keep them in the dresser, closet, or the “grow into” totes. We simplified to dress pants and plain colored dress shirts for church thus leaving the overalls and a plaid or striped shirts for every day and town wear. Dress pants consisting of tan/khaki, black, and blue with a pair for each boy hanging in the closet. The dress pants can be paired with a plain white, green, or blue shirt. I did keep the two plain black and plain red shirt for a variety and the list below reflects my “wants” to find one for the other boys. They each have a suit coat as well as a couple of ties too.
Once I was done tackling the boys’ clothing situation, I delved into the girls’ closet and dresser and removed items that they had outgrown, etc.
After the simplification mode was over, I was left with a few missing items that the children needed.
Items on my list included:
- crib sheets (one or two) -- The two youngest boys ages 5 and 4 sleep in a custom handmade toddler bunk bed that my husband built about 9 years ago. It accommodates two crib mattresses.
- toboggans for two boys
- gloves for two boys
- gloves for two girls
- coat for son age 5
- coat for son age 4
- overalls for oldest son age 12
- pj’s for the two oldest boys ages 12 and 10
- plain white undershirts for hubby
- house shoes for hubby
- house shoes for all four boys
- solid black shirt for two boys
- solid red shirt for three boys
- hooks to hang up the two cast iron woks
- staples
I had $20 cash to spend and being that I like to shop thrift stores when possible, oldest son and I headed to the first of the only two in town. This particular thrift store happens to have “freebie boxes” in the foyer. They put stuff out in the boxes from books to toys and everything in between.
We browsed the freebie boxes first and found two shirts and a pair of pants for winter pajamas, along with a few miscellaneous items.
We then went inside where we proceeded to find a coat each for the little boys, a toboggan,pj pants, and a solid red shirt. I also bought two solid blue shirts for backup. I spent $10.75 there. Ds bought himself a coat there for $4 and a shirt. He spent $5 total.
Deciding that I wasn’t going to have enough cash to get a lot of the other stuff on the list, I remembered my $18 in Rite Aid Up Rewards and hoped they had the toboggans and gloves at least. They did! I finished getting the gloves and toboggans on the list and used $11 in Up Rewards for those along with a little big of change (.96) on a gift card.
Then we headed to the other thrift store which is a Goodwill. They were having a “make your own sale”. I knew I had $9 left and the least discount you could get was 10% off when you spent at least $10. They were having the usual 50% off and a 75% off a certain tag color sale too but I found nothing in those particular tag colors I was looking for. Ds had a little bit of money from his birthday money left and found a belt, a wallet, and an alarm clock. We combined what he had with what I had and earned the 10% off that way. I found a crib sheet, a pair of house shoes, and a pj set there.
So let’s revisit the list to see how I did.
crib sheets (one or two)toboggans for two boysgloves for two boysgloves for two girlscoat for son age 5coat for son age 4- overalls for oldest son age 12
pj’s for the two oldest boys ages 12 and 10- plain white undershirts for hubby
- house shoes for hubby
- house shoes for all four boys – still need 3 pair
solid black shirt for two boys- Updated to add just need one now as I found another one at a different thrift store.- solid red shirt for three boys – still need 2 solid red ones
hooks to hang up the two cast iron woks- Updated 11/30 to add I used some coupon overage at Kroger and got the ones I neededstaples- Updated 11/30 to add I ended up finding them at Rite Aid afterall and used my Up Rewards on them.
Not two bad and I came home with $2 and some change. Had Rite Aid carried the right size of undershirts I could have gotten those for hubby there but they were two small. I may check another Rite Aid out when I’m in the area to see if they have them being I still have some Up Rewards left. They didn’t have the right size staples either. Manager said they only carried the smaller ones. I forgot to check on the hooks to see if they carried those.
The moral of this story is that when you have a big list and little cash, don’t be afraid to check out the thrift stores to see what you can find. Everything does not have to be brand new and you’d be surprised just how many things you can find in a thrift store that are new with the original tags still on them!
Thank you God for caring about the little things like this and providing for us in a such an amazing way as only you can do!



















































