It’s #thriftythursday! Today I’m sharing what I got for my thrifting trips during September 2025. I did weekly trips to find a flowy white skirt, which I’ve ben looking for all summer. I haven’t found one yet and now it’s fall. Sigh. Fall is not really a time to wear a white skirt. Along the way of not finding a skirt, instead, I’ve find all this other fun stuff, mostly clothes and books, and a few other little things. (Over here is what I found in May, June and July, and here is August’s.) I’m just about to the point of giving up on finding one at a thrift store and just buying one on amazon or ebay for between $15-$30.

Then maybe I’ll reduce my thrifting trips in October? Do I dare propose that? Once I get my skirt, I only have one thing left to thrift for that I really “need,” which is a lid for a pot that I’ve had since I got married or close to then, and somehow it’s gone missing in from the past move or two. Unless I decide I want to keep thrifting to find books and little games and stuff for Christmas gifts. It would be nice to get my Christmas shopping done before Thanksgiving, and to find all my giftable things in super nice condition at thrift stores would be amazing.

OK, I’ll talk about the stuff at the very top at the very end of this post. The picture below shows my first September thrift haul.

I just love that tangerine colored top! And the shoes! Both pairs look brand new! Each pair was $6 from the Provo Deseret Industries (DI).

I have been wanting some super comfy casual white shoes that are good for standing and walking in for hours. These are perfect! They are Soft Science brand and still had the price tag, showing that they retail for $74.99. What a great deal!!!!

Some might say they look like nurse/Grandma/dowdy shoes but I don’t care. I think they look great and will go with a lot of my outfits. The clean soles show that they have never been worn outside. They were so pristine that I didn’t wear them for a few weeks after buying them, it just seemed like I should keep them virgin for a time after buying them, LOL. I finally tried them out this past week and loved wearing them!

The pink shoes look brand new as well. They replaced a pair of pink loafers I got about two years ago, which turned out to scuff easily and are uncomfortable. I gave them to Savers after replacing them with the pink ones above. I’m being better about giving away items equal to what I bring in.

Then here are some books above I got from the Provo DI the second week of September. A DK edition of the classic book Heidi!!! I don’t love the art work in the Table Talk book but it has fun ideas about making dinner a bonding family time, which I’m all about. Then the Hebrews for Dummies book to add to my Dummies collection!

Above is what I got when I went to the Provo DI the third week of September. The boots I got to replace the beige boots I got a while ago that are similar but now scuffed up a lot on one of the toes. Then two card decks (Hold to the Rod and the Dad Trivia) to add to our tabletime/culture time card decks. I might save them for Christmas stockings for my husband and me. We’ll see. Then I found a Grandpa Beck card game to play with my grandchildren when they visit, Nuts About Mutts. Then some interesting books.

I got fascinated by Mount Vernon when I toured it as part of a trip with my homeschooling co-op in May 2019, what I call my National Treasure Tour. I just love the fact that Mt. Vernon is not owned by the government but a private association started by a group of ladies.

Notice the price tag on the back cover. It probably came from the Mt. Vernon museum shop, which I visited 6 years ago. I wonder if that price is from over 30 years ago? That price seems low for a brand new book in a gift shop these days!

I’m a sucker for Christmas stories. I do have a lot of anthologies of Christmas stories for adults and children already, so over the past year I’ve been passing up most of them that I see when thrifting. This one though looked great and unusual enough for me to get. See the front cover above and below.

I also had this mini-haul below on another visit the third week. A basket for $1, and the book and the card game for $1.50 each. I love that the basket fabric was so clean. I didn’t have to take it out and wash it like I have with other fabric-lined baskets I’ve bought. I collect Professor Noggins’ Card Games, so I got the one below to add to my collection. So far I have: Art History, Medieval Times, Countries of the World, USA Geography, American Revolutionary War, American History, U.S War Between the States, Science, and Wildlife. I rotate through these for our mealtime games and occasionally use these conversation starters to help with dinnertime fun and bonding.

If you look close you can see a name written in ballpoint pen on the bottom of the card game. I assume that’s the previous owner’s name. So thank you Trish for donating the game to DI so I could pick it up a lot cheaper than on amazon, LOL. Then I got the math book to help me inspire my last remaining homeschooling child (age 16) to enjoy math, especially in the Pyramid Project class that he’s in, which I am mentoring.

Then here’s my last haul, below, the best one of the month. This is the one I did with my married daughter and two grandsons in tow. It had been a long time since I went thrifting with her. It was a quick trip! We met at the Springville DI, and she only stayed for about 15 minutes and then left, and I stayed longer. It was such a great haul for both of us. I was so happy to find the stuff below. I went looking for some fallish looking tops that would look fall with some orange or yellow in them but not be dark/drab/too brown or thick or heavy because it’s still hot outside. I also wanted them to be longer and cover my tummy and bum, as I have, ahem, gained a bit of weight as I’ve let up on being strict keto. It’s time for me to reign it in! These are all perfect to wear until I lose some weight and feel OK wearing my smaller tops that end at the waist. Plus I found two skirts to go with them! I love how the peach skirt goes with two of the tops and the black one goes with all three! This black skirt is a bit different than the one I got in the summer because it is a bit shorter, with knife pleats, so it looks sassier. My daughter said the middle top looks like a nurse’s scrub, which maybe it is, but I still love it and will wear it anyway. I might add some elastic to the sleeves to add cute puckers to the bottom edge of the sleeves.

Now for the books in the photo. My son is into drumming. I figured he probably would already know all the stuff in the drumming book but he could use it in case he wants to teach drumming. Then The King’s Equal is by Katherine Paterson, author of Bridge to Terabithia, which I love so I figured it would be just as good. It appears to be a parable about marriage and gender roles. I can always give it away if I don’t like it, it was only $1.50. Then the Suzuki piano book 1 is to help my last child or any grandchild want to learn piano with Suzuki YouTube music and this book.

Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings I got because the whole family has read it but me. They’ve always read a public library copy. I finally decided it was time to get our own copy. It’s one of those books where I know it would be good for me to read it too to be culturally literate. I’ve tried and just can’t get into it. It was only $1.50. I just have a hard time enjoying fantasy. Narnia and Holly Claus are as fantastical as I get.

Then here’s the story behind the picture book, Prayer for a Child. I mentioned it in my post last Sunday and am copying it and pasting it below, in case you didn’t read that.

About a week ago, I read aloud the book Prayer for a Child by Rachel Field and illustrated by Elizabeth Orton Jones as part of our Morning Basket time for homeschooling. The book has a page in it with an illustration of children from all around the world, representing different races. I saw it and thought, this image is just so lovely. I wish I could turn this page into a framed piece of art for my wall, but I don’t want to take this page out of the book. I wish I could have another copy.

For the last few days of this past week, I babysat my grandson who lives in TX (the one who was born 18 months ago, right before the solar eclipse in April 2024). His parents have been in town for a few days to go to the Faith Matters Restore Conference. I agreed to babysit the little guy for Thursday night, all day Friday and all day Saturday while they attended the conference. So I thought of stuff to do with a little toddler in tow. My first idea, after playing with some toys with him, reading to him, and taking him on a walk, was to go thrifting! I texted my married daughter and asked her if she wanted to go thrifting with me. She said yes so we met at the Springville Deseret Industries (DI). Guess what I found? The above book in a board book edition! It’s big and so beautiful! Only $1.50! So now I can break apart the other book and frame that page, plus any others I want to! When we got back from our thrifting jaunt, the first thing I did was read aloud my new Prayer for a Child board book to him. It’s such a gorgeous book, published in 1941. and winner of the Caldecott Medal, for its beautiful illustrations. When I read this book, I picture my mom a as a little girl because this book was written when she was turning 2 that year. I’m recalling a photo of her at that age, where and she looked like the little girl, with blond hair and soft eyes. I just love the glowing, comfy, warm, cozy adoring family life it depicts. It features a prayer worth repeating today, in the midst of all that’s going on, one I hope will resound in the home of every family during this pivotal, divisive time of earth’s history.

Then here are the books I got by trading with books at some Little Free Libraries. My homeschooling son has some classes where I drop him off and then I go on brisk walks while I pass the time while I wait to pick him up instead of going home. I’m much more motivated to go on these walks when I know I can trade out some books. Sometimes you just have to do things to bribe yourself to do habits that are so good for you but boring right? Listening to a podcast or YouTube video and checking out all the Little Free Libraries helps the medicine go down for sure.

The brown book hidden under the Ben Franklin book is like this one below, just a different edition, in a plain brown cover. I can’t wait to read it this winter for some hygge time.

What I passed up: a bunch of tops that were pretty and floral but too big, a bunch of books, including Christmas picture books, because I have so many, a magazine holder/stand with three baskets, and a bunch of games that looked interesting and fun. I have so many games that I’m holding off and not getting more unless they are truly compelling. Thrifting is fun but it can be easy to go overboard and get more than my home can hold so I’m being good at restraining myself.

Want some more thrifting fun?

Go here to see my top things I’ve thrifted for homeschooling.

Go here for other thrifting posts.

I’d love to hear about any of your thrifting finds if you want to share below in the comments. Happy thrifting!