Redone Living Room for $426!!

I was so tired of my old dated living room. I wanted to update everything into a more contemporary look. This old couch I purchased in like new condition about 8 or 9 years ago used for $100.00. I have cleaned it a number of times but the stains were no longer coming out as well and I was just tired of the floral/cranberry. 

 I looked for months for the right living room set. I wanted a used set, brown, comfortable, smoke free, like new, preferably with recliners on at least the couch and a set that was reasonably good quality and fairly priced for used furniture. I went to a new furniture store to look around and was shocked at the thin fabric on the couches and knew I wanted something that was better quality than that and I sure wasn't willing to pay new prices for that thin fabric! 

 This glider was on the other side of the room. It is the most comfortable chair you could ever hope for. I got it for $5.00 or $10.00 at a garage sale, but it too needed to go. I am giving it away (already claimed!) where it's comfortable seat will still be put to good use!

When I saw this set on the Marketplace on Facebook, we had a family reunion that day and I almost didn't call on it but ended up calling anyway. The lady said it was spoken for, if the woman could find a trailer. I said "I have a trailer hooked up and ready to go right now!" And so she said first come, first served! Here is the couch!

Isn't it beautiful? I got the set for $325.00 The couch has recliners! (The love seat doesn't.)  I knew the colors I wanted for the pillows and accents. The rocking chair I got at a garage sale a few years ago for $10.00. The window mirror I got at a garage sale this year for $5.00. Also the antlers for $3.00 and the square aqua design for $2.00. I found some aqua pillows at Goodwill for $3.99 each and had a hunch that they had more at Wal-Mart and I was right! I got matching pillows for the love seat for full price at Wal-mart, about $15.00. Lastly, I splurged on the rug to bring it all together. I paid $70.00 for it at Wal Mart. 

Here is a better view with the couch and love seat. So, I re-did the whole living room for about $426.00 and a fair amount of patience. I am so please with how it looks! 

Summer Garage Sale Finds! Pay Yourself $$ Per Hour!!

I've been busy doing summer projects and working on some garage sale finds. I found this cast iron/wooden bench at a garage sale for $10.00. Exciting! 

 It needed a coat of paint and I found this older can of paint I had in the basement. It was barn red like the bench was originally. However, veering from my usual path of using whatever was available, I decided to buy some blue paint for this project. I also decided to repaint the cast iron because there was a little bit of rust in spots. Here is the can of paint I rejected and some free painting materials I got from Menards. The paint cost me about $17.00 for both the quart of blue and one spray can of brown metallic.

I found this cast iron stand at a garage sale for $2.00. I decided to paint it matching colors.

 
It was a pretty intensive project and took me a number of hours. I needed to put a few coats on the old, dry wood. The whole bench needed to be taken apart to paint it too.

 A $10.00 bench and a $2.00 stand and $17.00 worth of paint and some elbow grease and here is the end result! I am so pleased! 

I had some paint left over and during the drying times, I moved onto some other projects. I don't have a "before" photo of this but it is a plant stand and I paid $1.00 for it last year at a garage sale. It was gray and rusty.

Here is the end result, matching my bench and stand! 

I bought this fountain at a garage sale last week for $5.00. I thought for sure it wouldn't work but it does! It has a solar panel that makes it run. The woman said she paid $70.00 for it last year. I'm glad

 I took a risk!

I bought this bench at a garage sale a couple years ago for $10.00. It needed a fresh coat of paint now so I decided to paint it blue like the other one.

 Here it is in front of my garden. I love to sit on it between weeding rows!

I bought this glider at a garage sale a few years ago for $5.00. I am going to buy another can of spray paint and paint this brown to match the rest of the outdoor furniture.

Altogether I have a cast iron garden bench: $10.00. A cast iron stand: $2.00. A garden bench: $10.00. A plant stand: $1.00. A fountain: $5.00 and a glider: $5.00. Total $33.00. Add paint: $10.00 quart of blue. $7.00 spray paint and $7.00 for another can for the glider. Call it $25.00 with tax. $58.00 for all the outdoor garden furniture shown here plus quite a bit of elbow grease! I have about 8 hours in to painting and call it 8 hours of garage saling. If the items as they are listed above cost, say, $75.00, $25.00, $12.00, $70.00, $39.00 and $79.00 new, that is a total of $300.00. Granted, the items are not new, so, lets call it $200.00 altogether for the items. Working 18 hours on the project, I was paid $12.50 an hour (or $18.75 an hour if we called it $300.00). Pretty good pay!

Happy Savings! ~

Shop for Best Medical Prices and Insurance!

I find exorbitant medical costs to be a particularly disturbing thing, especially when it's difficult to price check, comparison shop and that the government wants to cover everyone all at the same time. This looks to me like a recipe for disaster for a number of reasons. 

Thankfully, there are other people who are also disturbed by the lack of being able to price check, and they have put together a couple of websites where you can do some price checking and comparison shopping. I have not used these extensively myself but I wanted to pass them on because I think we should all be empowered to compare medical costs!

These websites offer the chance to learn about medical pricing and can give you the opportunity to "shop" for services.

healthcarebluebook.com

hospitalcostcompare.com

Remember too that stand alone clinics like a medical imaging center can be far less expensive than hospitals. When patients are not allowed to shop or even question prices, hospitals have no reason to keep prices low. We should all expect that we have the right to know prices and comparison shop.

There is also something people are now doing called medical tourism. Again, I can't personally speak to this, as I have not done it, but there are many resources out there by people who have done it with success. Medical tourism sounds scary but some assure us that it is not scary if you do your research first.

Here are a couple of books and there are many more out there!

https://www.amazon.com/Medical-Tourism-Travel-Guide-Top-Quality/dp/1934716006

https://www.alibris.com/Patients-Beyond-Borders-Everybodys-Guide-to-Affordable-World-Class-Medical-Travel-Josef-Woodman/book/28905363

Here is a group called the Medical Tourism Association:

http://www.medicaltourismassociation.com

There are also medical sharing groups that people can join instead of using regular insurance. Here are a couple of those groups:

http://www.chministries.org/

https://www.libertyhealthshare.org/

There are other groups online that you can find. They all have their own rules and guidelines.

Together, when we make it known that we care what is being offered to us and that we will comparison shop and expect good and decent prices, we can make a difference and expect the medical community to compete for our business just like any other business.

Happy Savings! ~

Scratch and Dent Gluten Free Haul!

I am very thrilled with this scratch and dent mostly gluten free haul my husband and I came upon the other day. We were in Amish country and happened upon a little scratch and dent store. I went gluten free last year and gluten free items are very pricey. This is just some of what I got. 

Look at these prices! 

Croutons for .35!

GF flour for $1.25 a bag!

Chocolate wafers for .50!

GF Vanilla Creme Cake for .85!

Breakfast Bars for $1.00!

Cereal for $1.00!

And on and on!

I wish I lived closer to this store! I hope to be in that area a couple of times a year to stock up. Some of their items are out of date but many are just dented boxes etc. I will be in stock for quite a while!

If you have an Amish or Mennonite area close to you, it pays to check out their bulk food store where things are usually less than store prices and their scratch and dent places are often pennies on the dollar. 

Happy Savings!