Challenge ACCEPTED!

Guys, I'm like the Barney Stinson of thrifting challenges.

Need something for a craft project? CHALLENGE ACCEPTED. Sure, it'd be easier to go to a craft store--but why when I could scour a thrift and find the same supply for half the price?

There's a cart of bins to be unloaded at the front of the store? CHALLENGE ACCEPTED.Oh, you can bet I'll be digging through them, finding all the gems that are buried within. 

So when Young House Love challenged their readers to complete a Macklemore Thrift Store Challenge (like the song, yo), I literally screamed "HECK YEAH!"

Luckily, I was alone in my car on my lunch break at the time, so no one looked at me weirdly or anything.

The challenge rules? Head to a thrift store, spend only $20, find one item from the song and photograph it, then share all your buys. Since Friday thrifting is already my thing, I just swung over to an ATM so that I could have twenty dollars in my pocket, then I cruised over to Goodwill and let the thrifting fun begin!

Without further ado, here are my Macklemore spoils:

This lovely dark wood frame was $3.99. YES. $3.99. It is large enough to fit an 11 x 14 and it's perfect. This would cost like $15-$25 at any other store. I love thrifting!

This oil-rubbed bronze candle lantern was only $2.99 and I knew it had to be mine when I laid eyes on it. I'm having an urge to switch around my usual living room vignettes and this guy will look just lovely in there. I'll share pictures once I'm all done :) He had a little "Made in India" sticker on the bottom. I feel like the shadows cast from the starburst-esque cutouts will look really awesome.

These next two pieces were kind of hard to photograph since they're photos themselves. They are large (11 x 14 and 10 x 10) and were $4.99 apiece originally, but I got them half off (wahoo!) So really just $4.99 total. There was a bunch of photos by the same guy, but these two were my favorites.

Next up, this little gold pinecone candle, a Target castoff, was $0.99. My local Target donates all their clearance merchandise that fails to sell to Goodwill, so we currently have a TON of Target Christmas stuff. I had already hit the 90% off Christmas sale at Target (better deals than Goodwill is offering now!) but somehow I missed this guy, so I brought him home for next winter.

I like that the top easily comes off to reveal the candle (and protect it from dust & dirt when it's not in use), but the whole thing is cute enough to sit out all the time, too. And it smells great!

As expressed here, I love vintage alarm clocks! This gold-rimmed "Baby Ben" clock was quite cute for just $0.99!

And it's no secret that I have a thing for jars. I'd never seen this lined Kerr jelly jars before. I like the logos on the lid! These cost $0.49 apiece.

I also picked up this gold etched glass thing (it's not really a vase, but I'll probably just display it decoratively as one) for $0.99.

And can you blame me for buying this little guy for $0.69? C'mon, y'all, it's a candle squirrel. When will I ever see one again? Ryan has always dreamed of having a pet squirrel. This is as close as we'll come.

I love the shade of these amber compotes, and for just $0.99 I got two of them. I think I have a DIY project cooking up my sleeve for these guys, involving this pin.

Isn't it amazing how far a $20 bill can stretch? Almost done now. I got this trio of frames for just $0.69 each.  The art in them ain't my cup of tea, but I liked the size of the frames and can imagine popping some cute art in them (like this) for my eclectic gallery wall. I might end up painting some white, but others will definitely stay wood.

Last up, I scored a quartet of fun-colored Fiesta mugs for $0.99 each. Fiestaware is our main dinnerware, so when I see it in a thrift (and I've only seen it one other time!) I buy it! Funny story: I bought two of these, then had to go back in the store and get a bag of purchases I forgot (whoops!) when I spotted the other two. So I hopped back in line again.

Oh, and here's some pictures of me with the awesome zebra flannel PJs (okay more of a robe thing, but someone could wear it as PJs, right?) that I found to fulfill the second part of the challenge--finding and posing with an item from the song.

Since this is a challenge, I figured I'd better do some official calculations. 

TOTAL:

• $3.99 for the large wooden frame 
• $4.99 for 2 photographs ($8.98 total)
• $2.99 for the bronze starburst-esque lantern ($11.97 total)
• $0.99 for the gold pinecone candle ($12.96 total)
• $0.99 for the vintage alarm clock ($13.95 total)
• $1.47 for the jelly jars (3 at $0.49/each; $15.42 total)
• $0.99 for the gold etched vase ($16.41 total)
• $0.69 for the squirrel votive holder ($17.10 total)
• $1.98 for the amber compotes (2 at $0.99/each; $19.08 total)
• $2.07 for the small frames (3 at $0.69/each; $21.15 total)
• $3.96 for the Fiesta mugs (4 at $0.99/each; $25.11 total)

BUT BRITTANY! You're thinking. THAT IS MORE THAN TWENTY DOLLARS YOU CHEATER. And what about sales tax dummy?

Well friends, to you I say HA! I get a 20% student discount (as long as I still look like myself from 3 years ago when I took that ID photo...booyah!) AND here in Big Sky country we have no sales tax. Woot. Which brings my total to $20.088 when the discount is figured in. So technically I went almost a dime over the total...I am assuming the Thrift Police will not come after me for that one.

Whaddya think? Did I do good or what?

Oh, and be sure to check out the other finds over at Young House Love!