Mad Men Casting Call

Any Mad Men fans out there?

I just submitted a photo for the Banana Republic AMC Mad Men Casting Call. The person with the most votes will win a walk on role on Mad Men, season 5! If that isn't enough they also get a $1000 Banana Republic shopping spree. It would pretty much be the best thing ever. If you want, please vote for me and tell your friends. You can vote once every 24 hours. Thanks!

VOTE



Also, you can check out the Man Men Banana Republic line here.

Thanks!

Quirky Cross-Stitch Portraits

I'm in love with these quirky cross-stitch portraits I bought at a garage sale.


I remember seeing them from afar and thinking, "I bet they're overpriced". Luckily I was wrong. The homeowner was moving to Arizona and very eager to get rid of her stuff, which meant most items were dirt cheap (love that). She told me her mother-in-law handmade them. Other than a little dust they were in great condition. I came home, cleaned them up and now I'm quite happy.



The craftsmanship is amazing! I do not cross-stich, but my guess is these portraits took some major time and skill.



Check out the different fabrics and detail. I like how the man's pocket handkerchief overlaps the stitched gold border.

Quirky is probably the best word I can think of to describe these things. I'm not sure if they are actually cool to the general populous, or if I just have a strange fascination. Either way, I'm glad to give them a new home.

Loubella Extendables Blouse - $1

About two months ago (or maybe more) Joe purchased a Groupon for Advanced Consignments. The deal was spend $15 and get $30 worth of merchandise. We finally made our way into Advanced Consignments the weekend before last. They have a lot of antiques and collectibles and a fair amount of clothing. I of course started with the $1 clothing rack. Before I knew it, I already had 5 items in hand. I then checked out the racks of regularly priced (used) clothing and found nothing. Apparently I want the stuff no one else does. That's cool.

This blouse is one of the $1 items I purchased.



I love the pattern and color. I also love the condition, the white is immaculate. Can anyone help me place an age, era, decade? It is made by Loubella Extendables.



The fabric is very thin and light, should make a great layering piece. Of all of the items I grabbed off the $1 rack I only bought this blouse, a skirt and a blazer. All in all, pretty good finds.



That only used up like $3 dollars of our allotted budget so we bought some non-clohting items including this beer sign. It is approximately three feet tall-ish.



Fun.

$.69 Belt from Goodwill Outlet & Value World Coupon

I spent a good two hours at Value World today. They have another awesome coupon - 50% off your entire purchase. That is a massive discount, especially when you consider how low their prices are to begin with. Good stuff. I'll be checking out another location tomorrow.

I saw one of these phones (clear Conair) at Value World today. Growing up I always wanted an extra phone line in my room with a phone like this; one that glowed and lit up when it rang. Ugh, if I had a land line right now I'd probably buy it just to fulfill a childhood dream. So cool.

Anyway, I got this belt (below) a couple months ago at the Goodwill Outlet when I was still in Indiana. If you missed my post about Goodwill Outlet Stores you can read about it here. Items are priced by weight - $.69/lb. Since I bought a handful of items at the same time I'm not able to report the cost with 100% certainty (they put your entire purchase on the scale at one time), but worst case it was $.69, because it definitely weighs under a pound.


I was pretty surprised when I found this belt, because in my experience cool stuff at GW Outlet is few and far between. There were two more bold wooden belts right next to it, but I handed them off to another shopper. Share the wealth, it is good thrifting Karma, ha.



This skirt was featured on a past post, here.



A simple outfit for a humid day. Despite the heat the sky was quite pretty.

Wise Old Owl Says, "Save Wrinkled Dollars"

I found this little gem at a garage sale a couple weeks ago for $.25.



It is an amber glass "Wise Old Owl" bank. Perfect for saving wrinkled dollars, am I right? The internet tells me that it was made by the Libbey Glass company in the 70's.



The internet also tells me that they typically sell anywhere from $5-$25.



Garage sales are dangerous for me right now, because everything I buy is another thing to pack. I couldn't pass this up though. If you like it there are plenty available online (eBay, Etsy, etc). I saw a clear glass version as well - in case you enjoy looking at your money.

If I get up early enough tomorrow I think I might seek out some garage sales. I've heard that Thursdays and Fridays are great days to go sale-ing. In the past I've mostly gone Saturdays and Sundays since I worked during the week.

Do you guys like/love/hate garage sales?
What do you think is the best day to go sale-ing?
Do you use craigslist to locate sales or do you drive around and see what pops up?
What is your biggest garage sale pet peeve?

$.25 Clothing - Is it worth it? Yes!

One great thing about being in Michigan for the summer is Sunday mornings at the DAV. In case you forgot, select items are $.25. You really can't beat that price, can you? While I would like to go every weekend I've only been a handful of times in the last few months. It can take a lot out of you. The people there are...serious....about shopping. It is frightening sometimes.



You've gotta jump the crazy mountain-high piled clothing hurdles to get to the finish "check-out" line, which is what I did when I bought this lace-ish floral top. I actually left with 3 other $.25 items that day. Well worth it.



It is funny. Somedays I enjoy the craze; I gladly invite the adventure. Other days I think, get me the heck out of here! It must be the Gemini in me.



Let me provide some more detail to give you a better idea what I'm talking about. On Sunday mornings at the DAV, customers line up outside the front doors before the place even opens. Then, once it opens they push their way in grabbing one of the limited shopping carts and barreling directly for the far-side of the racks (where the $.25 items are). They proceed to stack piles AND piles of clothes in said carts, paying very little attention to what they are taking. I'm talking like stacks taller than them, really high. After their cart(s) is full they find a spot in the store to sift through all of the items to decide what they actually want to keep. The process is nuts. There are always creepers creeping up on the items I'm holding. You gotta stay strong, ha.



Have I turned you all onto the shopping experience yet? Who's free this Sunday!?

Anyway, I wore this top on Tuesday. I also wore it back in June (below) when I went strawberry picking. I've gotten quite a bit of wear out of it for just $.25!



I like it and I'd do it again AND I will!

I Was Away and Now I'm Back.

I’ve been away. According to my last post I’ve been away since May 22nd, that’s a long time in the blogosphere. Over the last two months I’ve made several attempts to come back, but in the simplest terms - life got in the way. Instead of boring you with the details, let me try to explain briefly.

I’m moving to San Francisco!



So, for the past two months I’ve been back at home in Michigan wrapping things up:

• Visiting family & friends
• Updating my resume
• Finishing up my current job
• Planning a baby shower
• Having a Yard Sale
• Selling furniture on Craigslist
• Etcetera

Meanwhile Joe has been working and setting up our life in San Fran. I’ll be joining him first thing in September, at which time I also hope to start working. Let the job searching fun begin!

Friday, 7/29 was my last day at work. I’m taking August off to relax, refresh, and rejuvenate. A month to myself seems like a dream come true. How can I fit everything in?

Regarding wrinkled dollar, I’m ready to bring it back. I have a lot to share with you, but please bear with me; more than ½ my wardrobe is already 2,500 miles away. I’m working with what I got! The good news is I have time on my hands to get out and thrift.

In addition, wrinkled dollar may start to feature non-clothing finds. Ever since I found out about the move I’ve been addicted to design blogs and finding cost-effective ways to decorate our new place. There are a few things I bought at garage sales I want to highlight, so look out for that.

San Francisco is one of the most expensive cities to live. Once I officially re-locate the new challenge will be how to keep shopping with wrinkled dollars. Wish me luck!

I hope you will excuse my absence and stay tuned for these new adventures! If you live or work in the Bay Area I would love to hear from you!

Outfit post tomorrow. Missed you all. Glad to be back.