Adventures of a Frugalista
31Aug/110

Free eBooks: 8/31/2011

After the 23 free e-books I snagged in the first half of the month from Amazon and Barnes & Noble, I've loaded my nook with another 32 books from the second half of August. Read on to see the 32 freebies I've gotten since the 15th, with book descriptions from the sites and links to purchase them.

Please Note: While all of these books were free at the time of my purchase, that does not guarantee that they are still free or that they will remain free. Make sure you check the price listed before purchasing any books.

31Aug/110

HAUL: Village Thrift

Having recently moved to a new house (and the first one that we own), I've been making almost weekly trips to the home improvement stores. I noticed a thrift store, Village Thrift, in the same plaza as my local Lowe's and have been wondering what the store is like. (Unfortunately, while their cash registers are quite up-to-date, they appear to have no web site and apparently have only the one location.)

I had heard their best deals are on Mondays, so Juliana and I headed over on Monday to check it out. Overall, I was impressed with the store: it's large, well-organized, and offers just about everything, without offering a lot of items that feel like trash. However, I had some major problems with the prices. Many items I saw still had their original tags, or tags from other thrift/yard sales, but often the Village Thrift price was equal to or more than the other tags. For example, I found one shirt with its original tags, which showed many prices, ending with a final clearance price of $7.20; Village Thrift was offering the shirt for $8.90. One of the shirts I bought had another tag on it for $3.00, but Village Thrift was charging $4.90. I also noticed that many items, particularly popular brands, had prices that were close to what they would sell for new, like an H&M knit dress for $19.90.

So, while I'll certainly be going back because it's so close and large, I'll have to be very vigilant regarding brands and prices to ensure I'm actually getting good deals. I also plan to only ever shop there on Mondays, when certain colored tags are 50% off, and Sundays, when certain colored tags are other percentages off — the regular prices were not good enough for me, especially since I'm usually buying items that simply hit my fancy, and not items that I actually need.

Anyway, enough with the review, and on to the haul!

The Goods

Dress

Gray knit dress

Tunic

Sparkly tunic shirt

Shirt

Empire-waist shirt

Shirt

Flowered shirt

Jeans

Straight jeans

Game

Word Spot coffee table game


I brought home 6 items for $23; not bad!

Read through for specific details on prices and brands.