The best laid plans

for a quiet day at home pottering round, sorting stuff out and cleaning stuff up all fell over at 8:30am yesterday morning when there was a hammering on the door.

It was Janet and hubby who were out garage saling and thought I might like to come along. I tried saying no, honest I did ("No, now I'm underemployed I'm not spending money except on the necessities") but her plea that she needed The Voice of Frugal Reason along had me heading up the stairs, out of my PJs and into some clothes.

I declared I'd only spend what was in my wallet. Which happened to be a whopping $5.75. Which was all fine and dandy until we got our first garage sale which had a huge stack of CDs for $2 each. But I was strong. Picked out just one (The best of Nick Cave) and wandered round a bit. Found a book for 50 cents then spotted these:which would be perfect for trying to deal with the mountain of stock which has invaded my home over the past month or so. Asked the price. $5. The CD was returned to the rack and I staggered off down the drive happy with my $5.50s worth.

The next garage sale was small and disappointing. Until I noticed an interesting looking case in the corner. And since Frugaller's Rule Number One is "Always look inside things" I did. And discovered an old sewing machine which the owner declared I could have for free. Of course I said yes as I know Janet's hubby is a dab hand at sewing machine sorting out and Janet is always looking for more machines for a craft group she runs. Once the owner saw how excited we were she mentioned she had another machine inside if we wanted that as well: which turned out to be a beautiful old Singer. Janet was ecstatic!

At this stage we swung past home to drop off my drawer unit. I should have stopped then, right? Budget spent, fun had? But no. Somehow I found myself over the road at the ATM picking up another $20 before we were off again down the road to the Holy Cross Fete at St Margaret's in Hackett. Where I spotted a carton full of interesting looking boxes:which were full of interesting looking sewing bits:Under the boxes were knitting needles, including some torties and some other random stuff.Rather than pick through the contents I figured it was easier to just ask a price on the whole carton. And for $5 it was mine. I paid before I considered the impact this might have on my Seven Things tally this week...

And then I went home. And we sorted the contents over cups of tea. And I was very happy.