Marmot, my Mom and I approached the estate sale with all the strategy of a military takeover. We were armed with lists of the things we wanted, scissors for cutting tags off if needed, reusable bags to carry the small stuff, comfortable (ugly) shoes, and a whole lot of polarfleece to withstand the Midwestern sub-zero temps while waiting in line. Marmot and I spent $250 at the estate sale, and since we had set a cap of $300, we were pretty happy with that!

Here is the haul:

*TV’s! A 30″ TV that will be awesome in the sunroom, $40. And a small TV that fits into a nook in the kitchen, $25. Cooking shows anyone?

*A desk! My Ikea desk isn’t going to make it through the move (it comes apart, but doesn’t go back together) so I bought a little white desk with drawers and a CPU ledge, $25.

*Marmot’s haul included a new weedwhacker ($60, regularly $200+), a barely used SwissGear sleeping bag for $6, a gallon of Round-Up for $2, a space heater for $6, and a DeLonghi dual zone deep fryer for $30.

*Mrs. Meyer’s cleaning products! Two liquid hand soaps, two countertop sprays, and one shower spray- in my favorite scents, lemon verbena and geranium! $4

*Candles! Two large Yankee jar candles in frosted pumpkin and peppermint cocoa, and one Woodwick candle in cotton flower. $5

*And the best of the best….thrown into a plastic bag with bandaids and qtips, about $85 worth of Lush bath products. The price tag on the bag? $2, yes, $2 as in two George’s. I used the Sakura bath bomb last night, but the best part of the amazing bath was the good price I paid for it!

****Additional haul: we went back today (Sunday) which is half-price day, and got five more candles, a book, a candle warmer, some hella expensive skincare products, and a gas grill for $25. Score!

But the biggest thing I took away from the sale? The fact that stuff really doesn’t mean much. This woman died suddenly in her mid-thirties, and left a house jam-packed of just stuff. As I survey our current house and everything we need to pack for the move, it makes me want to clean out even more. I feel like the new house is a clean slate, and I don’t want to move a single extra thing with us! More stuff doesn’t necessarily make your life better, and it can detract from the relationships that really do make your life better. Definitely food for thought as I declutter and donate getting ready for the move!

From: Mom, queenb@thehoneyb.com
To: Honey, honey@thehoneyb.com
Date: Tue, Feb 23, 2010 at 1:40 PM
Subject: The Honey B.

Honey B. — This is your Mother speaking — does that make me the “Queen B”????

A few comments on your “Shift to Thrift” as I will call it …. First of all I called your grandmother and read your post to her. We would like you to know that nobody ever died from having their Orange Juice diluted! You are exhibit A. If you can go 7 weeks instead of 6 for a haircut you can certainly stand another 8 oz. of water in your 32 oz. carton of orange juice. I will however admit that when I was filling up the carton with water at the halfway point and putting in a little food coloring that may have been going to far.

Now, what is this about transferring money from one account to another – sounds like a slight of hand game to me. Just because it is in one account or another does not make it saved! That would be like me putting the carton of eggnog in the skim milk container and calling it diet!

Lastly, cut the satellite. Call it going green – or going frugal – or going nuts. You can live with the eight basic channels that come in free – a you will love that little extra time you will have to spend with Marmot!

“Queen B” (aka Mom)

I’ll be honest….I’m high maintenance. Since Marmot left his job, I’ve given up acrylic nails, high-end makeup (*sniff* I love you Sephora!) and those $100+ haircuts/colors. I’d love to say it hasn’t been that bad, but its sucked.

There have been a few things that have helped me on my journey to frugality, and none of them involve diluting the morning OJ.

-Man Vs. Debt’s article, 42 Ways to Radically Simplify Your Financial Life It goes beyond the run of the mill and includes some things that I found incredibly useful such as #29, Create a List of Everything You Own (which I’m still trying to do, which suggests I may have a slight problem) and #16, Insure Adequately in case you ever considered cutting insurance as a way to cut costs. We’ve all done that, right? No? Well, uh, me either. Ahem.

-Simplify Your Life {affiliated link} I read this book when I was probably 11, it was sitting on my Mom’s bookshelf and I read the entire thing in a day. I vowed that I would use all the suggestions when I grew up and while I have to some extent (the majority of my wardrobe is black and grey- I don’t own a single item in navy blue!) its a book I like to re-read. Oftentimes it helps just to have the concept of simplicity in the back of my mind as I make decisions that would contribute to (or detract from) overall simplicity in life.

-Salvation Army, Goodwill, and the like- my Mom was the Queen of the Thrift Store, and I think its genetic. I’ve found more awesome name-brand stuff, some still with tags, for a fraction of the retail price. Yesterday I wore an amazing long dress coat to work and got so many compliments on it….and no one was the wiser that it was $8 at the Salvation Army- with tags. For a half hour of searching the racks, Marmot walked away with three Brooks Brothers non-iron dress shirts for $3 each, they’re normally $80 new. Never ever again will I mock my Mom’s thrift store habits!

-Keeping track of the savings! Everytime I do something that saves money, I transfer that money to our savings account (or as of right now, our closing costs account!) and watch it grow. We changed to a cheaper satellite TV package, so every month I transfer the difference to the account. As much as we think we don’t have room in the budget, its amazing how the little deposits add up.

-And any number of other painless little things that really add up….the thermostat down a few degrees, going an extra weeks between hair cuts (does six weeks really matter compared to seven?), using sites like PaperbackSwap instead of buying books, and going with store-brand groceries.

What are your favorite painless frugal tips….?

I’ve been cleaning. Clearing. Purging. And otherwise ridding myself and our house of extra stuff that we have accumulated in three years of living in this house. I’m truly the anti-Hoarder, but being cooped up in the house every weekend due to the weather, and the impending move, has the anti-hoarding in hyperdrive. That and the ability to make some extra money to put towards our closing costs shortgage, its perfect timing!

And on that note, may I introduce….Honey’s Closet (link). Yes I have enough crap to warrant its own site. Seriously.

Today I posted some pieces from the Top Secret Baby Tote that I am not so attached to, as well as a few other items. None of them have specified prices- I like getting a bargain when I buy things online, and I know you do too….so the deal is make me an offer! I anticipate other items making their way into Honey’s Closet as we get closer to the move, so check back regularly!

-So we got the mortgage thing figured out for now. I would say for sure but nothing in mortgage financing is for sure, so I’ll just say for now. Woo hoo right? Right. But here is the little teeny tiny problem. We’re short about $3500 for closing costs. Ho-ly crap.

-Based on the new closing cost estimates, my frugality is on overdrive….nothing new with that, but I’ve started encroaching on Marmot’s territory. I ventured into the Man Room and picked out some things that could be sold. Note to self- do that when Marmot isn’t home.

-I think organic food snobbery is the advancement of lunchroom judgment over who has the PBJ. I got judged in the grocery store, with just a look, over how much organic vs. non-organic food in my cart.

-Tuesday is my 3rd Weight Watchers weigh-in, and I’m nervous like I am for tests in school! I’ve been good, but it seems like not good enough. Paranoia I wonder, or just premonition?

-I’m trying not to get my hopes up about house things (its a deep-rooted Italian superstitious streak) but I think I’d like to paint the little bedroom in the new house as the nursery. I’m thinking blue, because I can use that for a girl or boy. Optimism, or jumping the gun?

-Stay tuned this week for a post on frugality, a Weight Watchers weigh-in, my newest baby obsession, and thoughts on homebirth!

This pretty much sums it up.

I need a vacation! Marmot and I went to Mexico in January 2008 for our honeymoon and that was the last time I was somewhere warm in the winter. But I have a real excuse! My rheumatologist said my vitamin D levels were low! Seriously, I’m in the Great Midwest. I could lay naked on the roof for a solid week and my vitamin D still wouldn’t budge. I’m Italian, and I could pass for a dark-headed Norwegian! Its a travesty!

So really, it should be covered by insurance. Its medical need. Although lets be honest here, I’m pretty sure I would sell a kidney for a week wherever this is:

Still waiting on the scoop from Mortgage Man about what the hell happened that made my credit score drop since November? But praying that everything is fine and just proceeding as planned until we hear otherwise. We had our housing inspection yesterday, and it all went good! The things that were found are minor (the garbage disposal doesn’t work, etc.) and are all things we’re happy to take care of. The house is an absolute disaster with the cleaning out and sorting for the estate sale (it belonged to a woman who died suddenly) but its fun to imagine what we can do with the space and how it will look. The house has a massive amount of ‘stuff’ in it and her family is on the coast, so we’ve offered the family the option to just leave whatever isn’t sold in the estate sale and we can deal with it. It will be a lot of work, but we’ve got a two month overlap with the new house and the house we’re renting, so we’ll have time to clean out and then do all the painting, removing carpet, etc. that we’re planning. Its going to be a busy spring!

Hollywood’s Take on Childbirth was a fun post to write, but the best part were the comments….it was hilarious to hear what everyone else ‘knew’ about childbirth via Hollywood!

And its gotten me on a new obsession, birth stories. I’ve been reading them non-fricking-stop for the past two weeks. I’m obsessed with the Bradley Method. And I’ve been researching doulas. Stop the madness!

My three favorites: Kristal at Good Food, Good Friends, Good Life, Allison at O My Family, and Jill at Baby Rabies.

Ok don’t stop the madness. Because I’m having so much fun reading, and I want more! I want to know about your birth story/ies….do you have yours on the web? Have you read one somewhere that was inspriring/disgusting/interesting/otherwise? Feed my addiction, educate a wanna-be, link up ladies!