Happy Birthday America! 250 years of independence are being celebrated today! One way to stay independent is to save money, and one way to save money is to buy things used instead of new, at thrift stores. You can buy something brand new, like a mop, and pay $30. Or you can go thrifting, and find one for $5, and buy a few books and clothes or other things that you will use and enjoy, and pay $25, and still save. Just remember to only buy things that you will use/enjoy and have a place to store them, and never go into debt to go thrifting.
So, oh yeah, let’s talk thrifting! It’s been over a whole month since I last mentioned thrifting, I’ve been so focused on sharing Celebrate America 150 ideas here on my blog.
The photos in this post show what I got at thrift stores for the month of June 2026. I did two long trips, both times at the same place, then a really short trip at a different store, where I limited myself to ten minutes and didn’t look beyond appliances, books, and games, to make it a short trip.
Above was my first visit of the month to any thrift store. I went to the Provo Deseret Industries (DI). I think the total was around $16. I got a gold polka dot top, some books, and a fun little container thing with handles. If I still had lots of children at home, I would use it contain snacks for picnics. I’m probably going to use it to for crafting, for our Cousins’ Craft Day in the fall. It looks perfect for holding little bits and bobs. I got the Texas board book to give to my Texas grandchildren for Christmas, as they are ages 2 and 0. The Charlie Brown Christmas is to add to my Christmas picture book collection, or I might give it away. The Brave book is a Little Golden Book for my LGB collection, some of which is shown below. I keep these books on a low shelf so my grandchildren can pull them out when visiting. I don’t buy just any LGB I see at thrift stores. I look for the more classic-themed ones and ones about manners, holidays, seasons, Jesus, and hero journeys.
The George Washington book is for my patriotic picture book and chapter book collection, as shown here. The book with the image of the Savior on the cover is the one below. I’ve heard about it years ago from my Veggie Gals girlfriends. It just seems like a great book to have on hand for anyone in my family to learn from, including me. Or I might save it for my Veggie Gal Jolabokkaflod in January. The author wrote it as a combination of Book of Mormon principles with AA’s 12 step recovery program to overcome addiction. Her website is here. Perhaps the author used these truths to overcome a carb addiction? Her story about eating carbs is here. She’s a kindred spirit for sure.
The Book of Mormon Summer looked fun and inspiring. I want to read aloud a little bit of it every night to my husband and 16 year old son after we do scripture reading before bed. The author, Joy Saunders Lundberg, is Janice Kapp Perry’s cousin. Janice is one of my favorite composers. At the beginning of the year our bishop gave us a copy of the Book of Mormon Another Testament of Jesus Christ with the invitation to give it away. Maybe this book will inspire us more to do that. My 16-year-old son did missionary work with the local missionaries last Saturday and gave one away digitally, using the app. I’ve been wondering if that can count? Probably not, LOL. I think we’ll take the hard copy over to the same person if the missionaries haven’t already.
I also got these books above for my husband for Father’s Day on that same trip. A spiritual, serious book by a prophet of God, President Dallin H. Oaks, and a funny book. Then our children and I pooled our money and got him an Angel Guild membership.
Then I went back a second time to the Provo DI, about two weeks later, and got everything below for $18.
The above photo shows the goods from my second trip. I got more fun books, including one by the Pickerings! That’s Rhonda and Farrell Pickering of propheticappointments.com. The photo above shows a glare on the book, so here it is below. I have blogged about the Pickerings’ last days timelines, many times; go here to see on of those posts. The Keepsake Christmas Stories book has all the stories from the Tabernacle Choir Christmas concerts. I may give it away to one of the sisters I minister to come Christmas time, as it looks like new. The other book is a little book full of Disneyland facts.
Then I got a turquoise/teal shirt. How fun that it matches the bowls. I will be cutting a V-neck out of the scoop neck and making the sleeves a bit shorter to make the T-shirt more femininely flattering and not so hot for summer. I also got some Lincoln Logs for only $2 to add to my collection that I’ve acquired since my oldest was 4. We’ve got a big plastic bin full of them that the grandchildren play with now. This new box will add some fun new pieces, especially with the dog and the guy.
The Lincoln Logs were brand new, with the logs and the figures of the dog and guy still in sealed plastic bags. The guy looks like Daniel Boone or Davy Crockett, two of my favorite American heroes.
Finally, some gorgeous bowls!
The bowls are Geoff Tygert brand. I looked them up and they often sell used on ebay/FB marketplace for about $50 for a set of four. I got them for $2 each! What an amazing find! They are in pristine condition! I absolutely love the teal color and the patterns. Now I have some pretty serving bowls instead of just the stainless steel and glass Pyrex bowls that I have been using for my 30+ years of homemaking. I will use them for my Jane Austen party next year and for Thanksgiving. They look like Pioneer Woman but they aren’t. Here they are below, in their own solitary glory, the top view and the bottom view. I love that the bottom view has a different pattern from the top view. (Ignore the scratches on my table in the bottom left corner. This is a very well-loved table that I keep in our game room/office.)
So those photos show the two big trips to DI in June. I had really hoped to find a slow cooker with a lid to replace my Pioneer Woman slow cooker’s lid. I did find some slow cookers on my thrifting trips in June, but none that had the lid with hooks. I really wanted to keep my PW slow cooker bottom part because of the beautiful flower pattern, and just replace the lid. I finally gave up looking at thrift stores for a lid, and ordered a replacement lid online. It took me weeks to find one because I kept doing a search for “crock pot” instead of “slow cooker” with the model number. It turns out that my thing is Hamilton Beach brand slow cooker, not crock pot brand made by Rival. Once I finally looked in the right place, I found a replacement lid easily. So lesson learned: know the exact brand name and don’t just assume you know when looking for replacement parts.
I saved the turquoise blue handle from the shattered lid in hopes I could swap it out with the white handle on the new lid. My husband says he can’t do it with the tools he has. My hope springs eternal that I’ll somehow find someone who has the tools he can borrow to do it.
Ok back to thrifting. My last thrifting trip of June was to the Orem UT Savers for a quick trip to see if I could find a hand mixer. Someone in my family, who I shall let remain nameless, decided to foolishly try my hand mixer on a jar of natural peanut butter to mix in the oil and broke it. Ugh. If only I had been there to tell this person to not even think of such a thing. Peanut butter is way too thick for a poor little hand mixer. So now I’m in the market for a new one. I found three at the previous DI trip but they didn’t have any beaters, and I forgot to bring one of my old ones to see if they would fit. So no luck with getting a mixer, but I did walk out with these two books below. I’ve seen the Wonder book at the public library and have been wanting to buy it. These two books were $5 together. Kind of steep for thrift store prices but oh well. I’ll add the Cat in the Hat holiday book to my Bright and Early Beginner’s book collection for the grandchildren. The World of Wonders looks brand new. I might save it for Christmas for one of my daughters.
That’s it for June!
Then below is something I saw thrifting at the Provo DI on that first trip. A Kitchen Aid Mixer for only $40! I didn’t buy it because I already have one. I wanted to get it for somebody but didn’t know who I would get it for. Anyway, it just goes to show what you can find at a thrift store. Inexpensive, useful, and beautiful treasures abound!
For more thrifting fun go here. Happy thrifting to all!
