It’s Thursday, and You Know What THAT Means…

Posted On August 7, 2008

In an attempt to help make your Thursday as thriftilicious as possible, I bring you this week’s edition.

HUGE SALE ON VANS
First of all, if you’re still school shopping for the kiddos (or just shopping for yourself!), you’ve got to go—NOW—to 6pm.com. Today they put nearly all of their Vans on sale for $19.95. Most of these run more than $45 regular price, and some are as high as $75, so this is a real deal! If you’re not familiar with Vans, they’re known mostly as being “skater shoes,” but they do have some cool styles for boys and super cute styles for girls that don’t scream “SKATER!!” if your child’s not really into that. For instance, I wish I had someone who still fit into Toddler sizes, because I would buy these cutie-patootie shoes:

But since I don’t have a toddler in my house any longer (*sigh*), and I don’t have a girl
who can wear these funky shoes:

I ended up with these for Boy #2, along with a different pair for each of the other boys:
New shoes? Just checked those off my list. And I didn’t even have to drag them to the mall and try on 15 pairs while making sure the other boys didn’t disappear under a clothing rack or behind the checkout counter. Life is good.

ONE-STOP SHOP FOR FREE PRIZES
Maybe some of you are already frequent visitors of Prizeatron, but if not, ask yourself this question: Do I like to get things for free? If you answered “Yes, thank you,” (and I hope you are this polite to yourself), then scoot your buns right on over to Prizeatron, where they update contests and giveaways from various blogs and Web sites DAILY. It’s like the bloggy carnival every day of the year! How fun is that?!

LIBRARY CARD—THE BEST BARGAIN AROUND
Okay, Internets, I’m going to make a confession. I have a little problem when it comes to libraries. I love them…a little too much. But can you blame me? Where else can you access thousands of books, borrow movies for the family, and surf the Internet—all for FREE? It seems like NOTHING is free anymore, which makes your local library an even more valuable resource.

My love of libraries goes way back. My mom used to take us to our local public library, an old building smelling of musty books, just as a library should. It had spacious ceilings and beautiful heavy architecture. And the books. Oh, the books! They all looked so inviting! Trixie Belden, Nancy Drew, Agatha Christie. They all called my name. But then there was the nonfiction too. I could learn about anything I wanted to; all I had to do was follow Dewey Decimal. (I secretly dreamed of marrying Dewey one day. Then I could be “Mrs. Decimal.”)

But therein lied my problem: There were too many good books to choose from (or “from which to choose” for my fellow grammar snobs)—and my mom only let me check out three at a time. THREE. This proved to be torture for me, as I hated to disappoint any of the fine books I had spread out in front of me. So many times, I ended up leaving the library in tears with no books in my arms because it was just… too… hard… to… choose.

Fortunately when I visit the library now that I’m an adult (and medicated), I have a bit more control of my emotions. However, every time I walk through the glass doors and see all there is to offer, I just want to shout, “Can you believe this is all FREE?!” But I’m pretty sure I’d get a big “SHUSH!” from the librarian, so I just shout it inside my head instead. Nobody better “SHUSH!” me there!

Before Boy #3’s surgery, we visited the library and checked out a slew of books to keep him entertained. We also brought home two DVDs to watch, one of which was Enchanted, a new release! How great that we can bring these home for a week and not pay the $4 at Blockbuster or even $1 at redbox. And then if we don’t get around to watching them (which happens quite often in our house), we don’t feel guilty that we paid $4 for a movie we didn’t even see! (Yeah, don’t even get me started on Netflix. I’m pretty sure we could’ve taken the whole town to the movies for the price we paid for a couple of movies that we had for months and NEVER EVER WATCHED!)

Husband just discovered that he could download audiobooks onto his computer from the library and keep them for a week. Pretty cool service for those who prefer to listen to books. (Me? I’ve got to feel the pages in my hands and hear the story in my head. I’m just weird that way.)

So, if you haven’t yet got a library card, what the heck are you waiting for? Get yourself over to your local library and sign up. (By the way, what does it say about me that I have a horrible memory and have to ask my sister about things that happened growing up but I still remember that my library card number when I was little was 2838?)

Bring books home for the kids so you don’t get sick of reading the same books over and over (and over) again. (“If I have to read The Very Busy Spider ONE MORE TIME…”) Have a family movie night with a free DVD and some microwave popcorn. Check out some cookbooks and copy the recipes you want to try instead of cluttering up your cupboards with yet ANOTHER cookbook to add to your collection. Find out what everyone’s been talking about for like 3 years or so by checking out the first season of LOST. (Yeah, we haven’t even gotten through the whole first season yet…We know. We’re losers…) Or just find a thrilling mystery or steamy romance novel to cuddle up with on a rainy evening.

C’mon! Everybody’s doing it!

Even Kareem Abdul-Jabbar!

(Is it just me, or does he look like a high school principal in this picture?)

Have a thriftilicious day!