{Antique Shops}

It took me a long time to figure out my home style. When I was single and living in my townhome, my style was sleek and feminine and somewhat cottage-y. When I got married we had to compromise some style, and then when we built our house on family land we planned it based on what we liked at the time with our townhouse. If I had stopped and taken our time to think about how we would have lived here long-term it would have probably saved us money and changes now. We didn't have any kids so couldn't imagine life would be so different with them. 

First off, our kitchen countertops would not be the dark colored granite. Wood cutting board maybe, sleek stainless steel maybe, or white Corian like the Petersiks (Young House Love).  Anyway,  my point is that our style really is more of a Farmhouse chic. Hubby and I love old and vintage items, especially farm ones. He is a sucker for old bottles, any shape, size and color. He has also found old 8mm player. I have some old hats, vintage postage scale, flour mill cabinet. So our taste has changed and suits us more. 

I went to this sweet little antique shop in downtown Lincolnton- Treasures on Main and found some things I LOVE, and some ideas I want to copy. I am always looking for new places to find vintage and antique items- cheap. What are the places you like to check out?

This sweet little metal urn.

 Love this vintage metal cake stand. So adorable!

 Close- up of another cake stand

Vintage Alarm clock

 Love this Kate McCall mason jar wrapped in chicken wire with a handle.

 These card catalog drawers were $16 ea. I like them but don't know what we would use them for.

 These 2 jars I am really hoping are still there when I go back. Especially the little ink jar!

 This one cracks me up. There were actually several of them, in various sizes and some cooking pots. These are vintage enamelware in either black, or red trim. This one hubby and I were cracking up at because it reminds us of the phrase- "don't have a pot to piss in" that's because a lot of people did have pots like this that were their night time potty that was dumped in the morning, but if they were really poor, they didn't even have this and had to go outside to do their business. Thus the phrase.

 I think this was a neat idea. If you can't tell these books were painted completely white- pages and all. not the interior though. I personally like the aged look, but it was a cool idea.

Oh This----candle sticks with stacked thread on it- wouldn't this be neat at Christmas!

This was a bed post hanging near the register- but could also work on old fence panel. They took Christmas lights and tied scraps of fabric around it. It looks even better in person.
What ideas and sweet items do you find in antique stores?What is your personal style?Do you have a favorite antique store I should check out?

Big Sale at Michael's this weekend!

Just got my weekly email from Michael's and there are some great things on sale this weekend. I am particularly drawn to the brightly colored flowers!

you can click here to see the full preview.

I can see a great project with these frames! Plus they are SO cheap! You can't beat $.66.

Then a big sale on storage items: I have several of these and love them!

Other deals I noted in the ad:
4/$1 Open Stock Paper
Albums starting at $2.99
Ashland Garden pots $3.99
40% off baskets!
YUDU screenprinting sale $119
all 2 pk canvas BOGO Free
Free tote bag for mom with a scrapbooking purchase of $25+


Enjoy the Sale!

Shopping Spree!!!

I so want to have a shopping spree. I am one of those people that Loves to shop, but most of the time I put stuff in my buggy and take it out before I leave a store. I guess I get somewhat of a 'high' just by placing an item in the buggy. I then come to my senses before check out and realize I don't need the item and put it away. I Love finding a deal, but have lately found myself only getting things I absolutely need instead of lots of little things I don't need but found a deal on. I get super excited by finding stuff at thrift. PROJECT! a lot of the blogs I follow are about DIY crafts, sewing, decor, furniture. I enjoy these things. I want my house to look nice, but on a budget. And it allows me to find things to do/keep busy relatively cheap. One of the $ saving blogs I read lead me to this post. We budget. We save. We are cutting out our debt and will never have a credit card again! and If we could get rid of this timeshare we have, we will never do that again either. In the meantime, we are utilizing that timeshare since we have to pay annual maintenance anyway.

Ok back on track! We follow Dave Ramsey's steps in the Total Money makeover towards Financial Peace. I can personally tell you I have much more peace and knowledge over our finances than ever before. I now talk to my hubby openly when things are tight, when we can't spend, when I blew money on something I shouldn't. Even though I maintain our finances, I am now completely honest with him when I flubbed up and we work together on how to fix it. It helps having someone to be accountable to. We also sit and do our budget together and build in fun, splurges, dinner out, but have also found to ask for those things for gifts. Having 2 small children, we would rather watch movies at home when the kids are in bed than pay babysitter, waste gas to drive and pay $$$ movie tix and snacks, plus the usual dinner out. Its too stressful! and there are other things we would like to use our money on, like maybe new cute shoes, kidding, well only partly! I do want some new peep toes I saw on the Payless website. Really things like our daughters birthday party, or animals for our small farm. or pictures of the kids, etc.

We do get tired of the necessity to budget, to do without, to not splurge. We would like to go out and have a Huge Sushi dinner, or go to the Melting Pot or cheesecake factory. However when I read the post below, it helped put it back in perspective. Hope it helps you too!



How To Combat Frugal Fatigue | Momtastic