WOW! I got several “likes” and a couple of new followers from the first instillation of my frugal day post. I hope the rest of the story is equally popular.
For several years I have volunteered at a neighborhood school, helping with an after-school club called ECO CUBS. Eco Cubs offers forth – sixth graders opportunities in outdoor learning activities and environmental awareness.
How is this frugal? As well as the satisfaction of passing on my love of nature to the future generation, I get a lot of entertainment from my time spent with the children. Two hours of FREE entertainment every other week is FRUGAL entertainment.
As a thank you gift the teacher-advisor of the group gave me a gift card to Wild Birds Unlimited. I immediately knew that I wanted to use it to purchase a new finch feeder (one the squirrels can’t raid).
Gift card in hand I set out.
The agenda for the day:
Wild Birds Unlimited
Grocery shopping
Thrifting
Visit with my sister.
I stopped at four thrift stores: two Goodwills, St. Vincent de Paul and Deseret Industries.
At the first Goodwill I picked up:
A bag full of toothbrushes (to be donated to a rescue mission)
4 jelly jars. Goodwill sells all mason jars for 20¢ each. I make homemade jams and give it as gifts so I’m always on the look out for inexpensive jelly jars.
A puppet pattern. I just think it’s cute. I love to sew and some time in the future I’ll need a gift for a child.
Total $3.04
Next stop Deseret Industries
I spent $1.37
On a hook to display one (of my many) bird ornaments.
and a basket that I’m using as towel storage but I may come up with a differant use later on.
At my second Goodwill I was delighted to find.
The very finch feeder that I planned to get with the WBU gift card. Although it needed a good cleaning it was in perfect condition. The price at GW is much more reasonable with tax it came to $4.37.
I’ve always got my eye out for found money, and for some reason I always find a penny or two at this particular Goodwill. So I was a little disappointed when I left without finding anything. That is until I got to the parking lot where I found not a penny but a dime.
My 4th thrift store was St. Vincent de Paul. I didn’t find anything there.
To be continued……….
Do you pick up change (or bills) you find on the ground? Why or why not?
afrugalspinster 
Info on occasion. Depends on where I’m at. For example, I’m not going to stop for a penny in the Walmart parking lot. Too many crazy drivers. However, I work at a school and invariably find a coin at least once a week in the parking lot.
I wouldn’t put myself at risk to pick up money either. So far that hasn’t been an issue for me.
I always pick up money that I find if I can do it safely. My 6 year old nephew seems to run across pennies quite frequently and my mom tells him they are from his Papa in heaven. I am not a religious person but I find it a sweet thought nonetheless. 🙂
I love that basket, and in fact have two of them myself that I found at a yard sale. One holds old towels and the other smaller old cloths in the top of my laundry closet. With a child around, plus 3 dogs, a cat, and 6 newborn kittens we go through a lot of old towels/cloths!