Pocketful of Joules - May Thrift Haul

May Thrift Haul

This was an extra lucky thrifting month for me and I’m excited to share it with you guys! I ended up with some fantastic home items, a super sparkly tank top and some adorable kid’s clothes that I chopped apart.

Let’s take a look:

Cactus picture, $14.50

You guys, this cactus picture was love at second sight. Not first sight – I left it behind at the Goodwill the first time I saw it – but second sight, when I realized a week later that it was a missed connection. Luckily, the picture was waiting for me, still with the brand-new box and tags on it! It looks perfect in it’s rightful place by my bed. Now, that is absolutely giving me more than $14.50 worth of happiness.

Sparkly tank top, $2

When I was planning my outfit for the Taylor Swift show, I knew I wanted something to go with my star + moon tulle skirt for my Midnight’s Era look. Obviously, sparkles was what I needed! I picked up three potential sparkly tops, brought them home to try on, and this one was the winner…for just $1.99! The other two tops went back (my new Goodwill takes returns within 7 days) to the store for someone else to love.

Here it is with my fabulous skirt:

Lu-Ray Cups and Saucer set, $12.50

When I saw these, I loved them. But when I did a little research on the brand… I loved them even more. Lu-Ray Pastels was Taylor, Smith & Taylor’s most popular line of dinnerware. They were made in the United States and was first introduced in the summer of 1938 and discontinued in 1961. Each piece is stamped on the bottom with the date it was made, and my pieces are from the 1940’s.

I purchased the whole set of 4 saucers and 4 mugs for $12.50 total and I’m thrilled to add them to my home!

2 Pottery Cups, $2 each

Here are two more items that I fell in love with immediately. I found these little pottery cups tucked in with the glasses section, but I love them as homes for my tiny succulent plants. These are definitely handmade, but there are no markings (other than a “12” written on the bottom in pencil) to tell me where they came from. They look adorable in my bathroom.

Chive Pooley 2 Vase, $4.50

I’ve seen this vase online before, so when it popped up at my local thrift store in perfect condition with no chips or breaks, I had to grab it. It’s sold online on the Chive website for $34.95, but I purchased mine secondhand for $4.50.

It looks adorable with an assortment of little stems in it on my kitchen counter.

Kid’s clothes, $7.50 (one on half price) down to $6.25 total for three

Last, but not least, I checked the kid’s section for some denim in fun colors and prints. I found these three items, which totaled $6.25 for all of them. These cute little pants and dress were cut down into patches, which I used for a visible mending project on a pair of favorite jeans. And I still have plenty of patches left for future projects!

Like what you see? Share me with your friends!

Let’s Talk About Phones for Pre-Teens

Okay, parents of children, pre-teens and teens… I’m doing some information gathering and I can use your help! We are planning to get Jack’s first cellphone (one that actually works as a phone, unlike when we did this) this summer. However, I plan on locking it DOWN so I’d love to know what rules you have for phones in your house and what apps you find helpful for your pre-teen kids.

Why are we getting him a phone now?

He’s starting middle school in the fall and there are days that he will be coming home from school before Travis or I get home. I want him to have a phone for safety, so that he can feel comfortable being home alone. We do not have a landline, so this makes the most sense. Also, many/most middle school kids have phones, so I want to introduce it slowly in a way that is purposeful and controlled by mom and dad.

Rather than wait until the week before middle school, I plan to get him his phone in the summer so he can get used to it and it’s not a ‘shiny new toy’ right before throwing him into 6^th grade.

Let’s Talk Rules

Some rules we are currently considering for Jack’s phone:

He can use the phone for calling, texting, internet searches, camera/photos/video, and I’m planning to let him have a few games on there.
He is only allowed to call or text an approved list of family and select friends. No adding new friends’ numbers without clearing it by mom and dad.
Mom will look at his texts. Keep it classy.
Phones are put on a charger in mom and dad’s room at a certain time at night and not accessed again until a certain time the next morning.
No social media. None. He’s 11, so he is underage for Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and anything else they come up with.

Let’s Talk Apps

There are a million parental control apps out there, so I’d love to hear your personal recommendations.

So far, I’ve had Life360 recommended to me, which sounds pretty great. It has a free level, which might be fine for us. It allows the three of us to track each other’s locations, so Jack can see if mom or dad is home, and how far away we are if we are still working. There are also “Place Alerts” that we can set, which will send an automated text when Jack gets to pre-determined places, such as school and home.

I’ve also heard about Net Nanny, which allows you to build custom web search filters.

I’m open to hearing about any and all apps that help your family feel comfortable with a pre-teen with a phone!

Like what you see? Share me with your friends!

Home Update: Our Amazing New King Bed, Frame & Headboard!

You know when you make one of those home updates and then you kick yourself for not doing it sooner? That’s us right now. We’ve been living with a queen-sized bed for our entire relationship. Considering that my husband is 6’4” with a gigantic wing-span and we are coming up on 15 years of marriage… that is way too long.

It’s not that we didn’t want to upgrade to a king-sized bed… it’s just that every time I glanced at mattress prices, they were over a thousand dollars and that didn’t even include the frame, headboard, sheets or comforter!

Also, I was petrified that we would pick out a mattress, get it delivered to our house, and then sleep on it a few nights only to find out that it caused our entire bodies to hurt. I mean, how do you pick out a mattress and make the RIGHT decision??

Well, things got a little interesting on our vacation. The VRBO property we stayed at had THE MOST comfortable bed. Literally every morning, Travis and I raved about our night of sleep. I tried to check the mattress for a brand name, but finally in desperation emailed the owners to figure out the brand and model of the magical mattress.

And it was from Amazon.

Even better. It was affordable! The day I checked the mattress price, it was $650 with free Prime shipping. Which is over a thousand less than I was expecting. Also, it had over 3,000 reviews with 4.5/5 stars.

So, I stuck it on our Amazon Wish List (pro tip: always do this so you can keep track of price changes) and started shopping around for a frame and headboard.

And a mattress cover. And a sheet set. And a new comforter. I researched the heck out of everything to find exactly what I wanted, stuck it on our Wish List and left it there.

Over the course of a week and a half, the bed price dropped by $60 and the mattress cover went on sale for 50% off.

So, I ordered the mattress cover and waited some more.

Until one morning, I woke up and checked my Wish List… and the mattress was $439. FOR A KING-SIZED MATTRESS! I could NOT have hit purchase any faster! The headboard/frame I liked hadn’t changed price at all, so I went ahead and ordered that too. After looking at what felt like hundreds of options, I found our comforter and sheets at Target.

The mattress and frame were scheduled to arrive throughout the week, so I had planned to take apart our old bed on a Saturday morning and then build the new bed.

Everything arrived a few days earlier though, so it snowballed from “let’s move this stuff upstairs for the weekend” to “let’s just grab our old headboard and take it out on the way down” to “I took apart the old bed” to “I’m building a bed on a school night.”

The bed actually didn’t take very long to build. I unpacked all the pieces, stopped for a homework help break, started putting the frame together, stopped for a dinner break, finished adding in the slats, and then called for Travis to come and help me lift the mattress onto the frame and open the plastic.

If I had worked straight through, it probably would have taken me an hour. I was being SUPER careful about putting everything together exactly right, loosely tightening everything and then getting it nice and tight once everything was perfect.

Totally worth it though because this bed is AMAZING. The mattress is amazing. The frame and headboard are amazing. The comforter and sheets are amazing. You guys, I am so thrilled that we finally upgraded!

Here’s what we got:

Mattress: Classic Brands Gramercy Cool Gel Memory Foam and Interspring Hybrid 14-Inch Euro Pillow Top Mattress – King Size

Keep an eye on the price for this one – I’ve watched it go from $439 – $650 and back with no rhyme or reason. If you add it to your Wish List, you can easily check the price each day (or multiple times a day if you’re nuts like me).

Headboard and Frame: HOOMIC King Sized Platform Bed Frame with Geometric Wingback Headboard in Dark Grey – King Size

This frame and headboard’s price stayed consistently at $235 with $59.99 delivery. However, for a period of time they had a $40 off coupon (which we used) on the listing.

Mattress Pad: Utopia Bedding Quilted Fitted Mattress Pad – King Size

This “retails” at $29.99, but I grabbed it when it went 50% off for $15. Stick it on your Wish List and wait until it gets down to $15 before you hit purchase. The bed is a pillow-top, so I didn’t really need this to be fluffy. But it was reasonably priced and I like to be able to throw it in the wash regularly.

Comforter: Casaluna Textured Chambray Cotton Comforter – King Size

I was super, super picky about what I wanted with our new comforter and this one from Target hit all of my checkboxes. The King size comforter with 2 shams is $149 – I bought it in the store because I wanted to fondle the fabric and make sure I loved it.

Sheet Set: Opalhouse Designed with Jungalow Floral Cotton Sheet Set – King Size

I had been eying the mix-matched floral sheets from Natural Life, but they were just too expensive. So, I was thrilled to find this gorgeous floral set from Target for $60. The pillowcases were gigantic because they are made for king-sized pillows. However, we have standard-sized fancy memory foam pillows we love, so I just sewed the pillowcases down to a smaller size.

We are ecstatically happy with our new bed set up. And my super-saving heart is happy that we spent a total of $908 for everything!

Disclaimer: This post contains Amazon affiliate and Shopstyle Collective links. This means that clicking on a link may help me earn a small commission at no cost to you.

Like what you see? Share me with your friends!