One Frugal Thing -- Refurbishing a Goodwill Bins Dopp Kit
Remember this filthy leather and waxed canvas dopp/toiletry kit that I picked up at the Goodwill Outlet bins the other day? It came complete with dog hair, which is a plus when crafting the most dramatic "before and after."
Note to self -- make the "before" as disgusting as possible.
Slightly less disgusting after a luxurious soak and scrub. However that "NJM" monogram is not even slight close to "KWS." It's got to go!
Luckily, I weirdly enjoy unpicking incorrect monograms, as it's both peacefully and hypnotic. An enjoyable hyperfocus. Note my arsenal of tools and please appreciate that I found the tweezers on a sidewalk in The Bronx. I ended up using just the scissors and tweezers.
The process can't be rushed, which in this case was extra true as this toiletry kit is fully lined, which meant I was only able to access the outside surface. This probably doubled the process.
Fully lined with a bonus side pocket!
Time is going to pass either way, you might as well have something to keep your hands busy. You can see the after image of the monogram, but I figured it would diminish after a second wash cycle. I was hesitant put it through the washing machine, (not exactly the best for leather) but decided that a single cycle wouldn't do much harm.
Here she is all clean and ready for her closeup. I'll offer it up to my youngest, as they have a couple vacations in the near future.
I wasn't able to identify the brand and model and think it might be handmade by an Etsy seller. Even though it had "Sivani" stamped into the leather. I even checked using the word "Invais," as those letters also work upside down!
The quality on this piece is levels above what you'd find at a Target or similar mass production store.
So, how'd I do? I definitely saved it from the landfill and am putting it back into circulation. This is always my goal. Nothing in the refurbishing process took advanced skills or purchased supplies, just patience and a willingness to commit to the process.
Katy Wolk-Stanley
"Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without."
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Looks great. Now it can live longer, haha. You always have interesting saves, Thanks for the inspiration.
Very nice!
Gorgeous!
1. I did my laundry at the laundromat in a nearby town.
2. In the same trip I walked an hour at the beautiful park by the river, and bought gas for $3.55 a gallon. Gas prices are rising.. sigh.
3. I bought tomatoes at the farmer’s market and a watermelon.
4. I came home and made turkey meatloaf with the marked down $2.24 lb ground turkey I bought at Aldi earlier in the week. I am still
Munching in the free cucumbers my neighbor gave me.
5. I shall clean house and take a nap in my house I pay taxes for every year.
Frugal fail. The air is on bc it is muggy and a HOT 100 degrees with heat index. I am not tolerating the heat well at all this year.
A/C on is not frugal fail. Your frig/freezer really benefit. Your health benefits. Not sure if the wildfire smoke has affected your air quality or not *but* your body benefits also. I have no use for A/C "martyrs" - turn it on at a temp to get the humidity out of your house. Then set a higher temp if needed. The leave-it-off-until-mid-afternoon-heat-humidity-has-built is just nuts.
We made a number of changes to our house when we bought it re: energy efficiency. It has paid off not only in spades but hard dollars.
Job well done! I have a pair of pants that has the Amazon logo on them. I freaking love those pants! Good quality, good fit, lots of deep pockets. I picked them up at the GW bins. You’ve motivated me to do my own picking.
Ooh . . . let me know how it goes!
I love a good monogram disembodiment. Excellent work!
1. I took a survey about 2.5 weeks ago that a local program puts out yearly. Completion gives you a $100 e-gift card so you know I was all about it. I realized they hadn't sent me the gift card yet so I emailed back and asked if maybe I didn't submit it properly and lo and behold they sent me the link to pick my card with haste! I chose Kroger so I can put it to use for groceries when we're back in the States.
2. My youngest had an itchy tag in a dress that had escaped my notice until now! While she and her big sister played I plucked it out with my handy but very broken down seam ripper.
3. I tweaked my shoulder (again! It happened a few months ago and now I think we've figured out what's causing it) so I was unable to bake today but my husband made soft pretzels for dinner. I love this man.
4. We also had bacon in the fridge that needed to be used up so he cooked it on the stove and then used the bacon grease as the base of a roux for dairy free cheese sauce to dip our pretzels in.
5. I finished my accidental 18 hour endeavor on Libby. It was not worth it. I fell asleep twice which never happens to me! So according to the app it took me almost 22 hours to complete the book. I disliked many of the characters, the story felt unnecessarily chaotic. I finished solely so I could find out if it was less terrible in the end... It was not. As a reward, I have a long awaited hold now available and listened to the first half hour or so.
A big improvement! An obstetrician in my network has the first name Silvani, so maybe it's a sort of name tag?
Once more I opted to stay in, even though the smoke is dissipating. It's still hot and humid.
I made an enchilada casserole today, using up odds and ends. I didn't have enough tortillas, so that made it a little sloppy in texture, but it's edible.
I made another eBay listing. I priced this item high -- that is, what I believe to be a fair price -- because I don't really mind if I don't sell it.
I scanned the two receipts I found yesterday to Fetch. They were each worth 25 points.
I brought home a copy of Book Page from our library yesterday, and today I went through it and picked out books to put on hold. This is the publication that has been banned from some libraries for being too "woke." As I fully expected, the books reviewed covered an even range of topics and genres, and the reviewers were fair and intelligent. I hope not too many libraries give in to this nonsense.
I wore my new-to-me Christmas socks, which are white socks with a pattern of pink and green evergreens. I thought they looked great in July.
Sorry, I meant Sivani.
My daughter has a friend with that name.
Katy: Fabulous save on that bag! A few years ago, I bought a monogrammed bag from Goodwill. I would have passed it by had I not learned from you that monograms can be removed pretty easily. I don't have a seam ripper so I used a small sewing scissors. My bag is nylon so there are some visible puncture wounds from the original monogram, but I'm very pleased with how it turned out.
I love a good before-and-after! Very well done.
I've cooked pinto beans in the IP, eaten lunch outside and am watching the 3rd place World Cup game.
I found a brand-new looking black Nike polo shirt at the thrift where I volunteer. It was perfect, save for a brand name stitched on the sleeve. I got most of the name off before I snagged the shirt. I wasn't about to lose it after coming that far. I ordered a round "Tacos" patch and sewed it over the logo and the snag. It became kid's favorite shirt, because he loves tacos.
My husband had two black polo shirts with logos embroidered on them. The shirts were like new, but I snagged them something fierce trying to get the logos off. I punted and bought two patches. One shirt when to a grandson; the other one he kept. He does a lot of veteran-related activities. I got an appropriately themed, but simple, branch patch and sewed that on. He wore it the other day and it looked great. Since the shirts were free to begin with, this wasn’t a huge financial outlay and they look good!
I wandered thru etsy's custom dopp bags, you found a nice treasure. I love a bins happy recovery story.
I bought a $2 Six light kitchen unlaquered brass chandelier, used a wire cable trolley system to install it over the 3 season room dining area, making it lowerable for late evening gatherings. I retrofitted the lightbulbs with solar stake lights sans stakes. The lights were a group gift and came with a remote to change colors, dimmable. So fun.
"Time is going to pass either way, you might as well have something to keep your hands busy" is added to my quote doc. I come for the frugal posts but you have a way with words that have me in stitches. I think it's pretty amazing!
If I write it here, it's often because it's something that I need to remind myself!
Love it !!
I found a new-looking good quality thermal-lined high-viz safety work vest at a local church op-shop (Australia). The brand retails at over $100; I paid $5.
It was embroidered with the logo of a major road-working company & the volunteer said it had just come in - donated by someone who had seen it beside the road & stopped to rescue it.
Un-picked the logo, and hubs has worn it extensively for work.
Happy Happy.
That's a great bargain!
When my DD bought her cute Suzuki right-hand drive truck, the driver's seat was badly torn, with the foam underneath the cover also deteriorating. She has been driving it for months with a jury-rigged cloth grocery bag seat padding, courtesy of what I had in the car when we picked up the truck.
I encouraged her to bring the truck up to see me, starting the day early. We set to work to solve the problem using what I had on hand, including a lovely large swath of upholstery fabric, some cotton 'smoothing' fabric, some foam pieces from a few projects, an old fitted sheet for padding, two different glue guns, my aged and competent sewing machine, various socket wrenches and extensions. We worked steadily and with patience, as of course there were challenges, yet with a willingness to just keep going, we were successful in re-upholstering the seat. GO US!
During this adventure we tried those cornmeal pancakes – good, if rather filling – and leftover chicken and potatoes and broccoli and chard from my dinner the night before, when I though I was cooking for my Daughter Outlaw. Her loss was our gain; we fell upon that food like a ravening hoard, once everything was done and all the tools and such were put away. I am currently sitting with my feet up feeling as if I have used every muscle in my body – who knew that something so 'simple' could be so demanding?
Katy I love watching you rescue, repair, and reuse hinges yourself or passing them on to others.
It's so satisfying to refurbish something like that. Great result!
I love before and afters and your monogram removals are inspiring! My husband won a handmade golf theme quilt last year at a charity tournament. I took a quick look at it and decided it was for a child and shoved it in a closet. Just looked again this year and it's not childish at all and beautifully done. It had one patch embroidered with the name of the tournament and date which I did not want. I was able to carefully pick it out, wash it and it's ready to be a Christmas gift for our youngest son who plays and lives on a golf course. So excited about this. Thanks, Katy!
This is very similar to small bags and accessories I purchased in Bangladesh, during a trip. It was made by a collective of women in a village, as a means of revenue. The pieces were designed by someone with an eye for the western esthetics and probably hand made by the women. As Bangladesh and India are very much connected in many senses, my bet is on a Bangladeshi or Indian enterprise with a similar set up.