Lesson Learned. 99 Cent Store Store Trip. Meet John Doe (1941) Great Stuff...

I was cleaning out a laundry basket of online receipts and cellophane bags and such from Christmas, clothes hangers, blah-blah from my closet.  I came across a blue bag I'd used on vacations before, I haven't used it in over several years. I also found a sweet bag my daughter, Marianna made me for Christmas one year not too long ago. Both bags were being ruined squished in the basket. It made me sooo aggravated that the clutter made me overlook the pretty tapestry bag Marianna worked so hard on!  That just really hurt my heart.  The blue bag went straight into the "Give Away" bag. I've been more ruthless with clutter lately.  That little lesson made things really sink in on simplifying...The clutter really does make us miss out on what we truly love! 


~Robert Stock

Lately we have enjoyed shopping at the 99 Cent Only store.   (Check out this site, it's a hoot!  The store is a little trek from our home but worth it.  Another blog I sometimes read is doing a series on the 99 Cent Only stores and I have found it to be very interesting, and am so glad someone else sees the value of the 99 Cent stores. This is one reason why I love blogging and reading other blogs...I learn things and interests are renewed, I like to share things with others, whether it be good deals, food recipes or of course my faith.

I know, I know, there are those who might say...they stay away from religion.  For me?  It's not really religion, where it's an I'm protestant, you're catholic type of thing.  Jesus isn't really religious unless you are talking about true religion, that of visiting the fatherless and those vulnerable in distress.  Right?  So that is my life and my life is what you see here. : )  I don't want to compartmentalize my life.  I want to be true-blue and even more importantly; true-blue to Christ.

Here are some of our 99 Cent Only Store finds.  So great. Maybe you too will enjoy taking a trek there?  It's soooo worth it.

I was even able to meet an adorable couple from France the last time we were there!  I noticed them speaking French and the wife gingerly smelling the potted flowers by the register.  They too had lots of fresh produce in their buggy and just the way she was appreciating the flowers...sooo European.  My girls and I could maybe be seen doing the same.  We too "waste time" doing stuff like that... ; )  We like to enjoy life where we're at.

I like what A.W. Tozer said:

Let us believe that God is in all our simple deeds and learn to find Him there.

Our 99 Cent Only store is in oldtown in the less expensive rent district and that's okay with me...Our office is around the corner in what was an old convent, our conference room is in what was the nun's chapel.  I just love the old things, I love people who love the old things and good deals, the real stuff.

You will meet many real people there at the 99 cent store.  You may meet a French couple who drive from the suburbs, you will meet a single mom making ends meet... you may even meet a sweet homeless man buying his daily bread.  You may even meet some smiling Italian-looking gals with Southern accents... ; )   We are all ...The Salt of the Earth. We are the John Does in some way shape or form... John Doe?...  Meet John Doe (1941).  (GREAT movie by the way)  I highly recommend for the entire family.

MUST SEE:

Quote from the movie, (1941) Meet John Doe

I'm gonna talk about us — the average guys, the John Does. If anybody should ask you what the average John Doe is like, you couldn't tell him because he's a million and one things. He's Mr. Big and Mr. Small, he's simple and he's wise...

Our regular sized grocery cart was filled to the brim, we spent $68.56 and are still using these groceries more then a month later with 6 adults in our family.  Trust me, if I were at the normal grocery store?  These things would have been triple the total.

Here's just a few of the finds:

We bought a huge variety of organic canned beans (from U.S.), large cans of tomatoes, beautiful fresh produce, the orange peppers were two for .99.

Isn't this pretty produce?  Look at this beautiful broccoli.  We make our meals from our finds!  We make pasta gravy with the squash and zucchini, peppers go into salads.  Broccoli was a large side for a dinner or topping for baked potatoes, a soup?  Pinto beans are bought in bulk at .79 a pound.

Large boxes of nice tissue. Tealight candles we needed.  The girls pop a tealight in a glass punch cup for "pretty" for company or a birthday table.

A box of Stevia!  A bag of yellow potatoes!...Napkins! Paper napkins at 99 cents beats washing cloth ones for me...(6 pack) bottled water when needing that convenience.  Below we have minced garlic in a jar!  I use this in a special crockpot recipe...It didn't say grown in the U.S. but it is packaged in the U.S.   I may have to buy a more expensive brand to get the grown in U.S. When I was in smalltown I noticed my conventional store-brand didn't state grown in U.S. either and was twice the cost of the 99...So. We just have to do our homework on what is important.  Also if Animal welfare is important to you?  It is to us!  God's sweet creatures!  I'm noticing the Sun products at the 99 state on the box: Not tested on Animals so I think that is great.

Valentines card for long time friends.  I was a slow poke on a Christmas card to them so I thought a pretty Valentines card would be a nice surprise.  They will know we thought of them. A Large can of enchilada sauce. Black olives...corn...peas.... All from the U.S.  Most cans are 2 for .99.

 The same amount of Stevia packets as the conventional store boxes for 99 cents!

The below padded hangers were only 29 cents in the "needs to go" section. I like these for my cardigans and dress-up sweaters.

 Do you see Guisseppe's little doggy shirt above?  This was from the baby section of the 99 cent store.  It is the 9 -12 months size and fits our little 13 pound Guisseppe perfectly.  Un-snapped of course, the dimensions are perfect.  This is a good weight for just-cool temps... Guisseppe is older and becomes cold easily.

Parchment paper?  Storage bags?  These are great storage bags. Twisties come with them. Cotton Swabs? Jem found a huge bag there at the 99.  I have found Carr's water crackers...big bottles of Martinelli's sparkling apple cider.  It really is a lot of fun to shop there!

These pretty glass dinner bowls above are not from the 99 cent store although they may carry them but these were found at Dollar Tree.  This is a cereal sized bowl and I thought this would be super good for our family.  We cook vegetarian dishes like kale and such, very soupie.  Sometimes the "soupie" dish may be a side, not the main dish so we needed bowls not too huge, but not condiment size either. This size and look was perfect.  I thought these were so pretty...Depression-period-look.

Well friends, I guess you could call this blog my Show n' Tell newsletter.  I hope this will encourage you too, just look how you can save on groceries and practicals?   Why not? : )

Yes sir, my friends, the meek can only inherit the earth when the John Does start loving their neighbors. You'd better start right now. Don't wait till the game is called on account of darkness. Wake up, John Doe, you're the hope of the world.

~taken from 'Meet John Doe' (1941)

  ~Robert Stock

Take care now, God be with you and bless you, may we be still enough to hear that Still Small Voice.     ~Amelia

Don't let the Heelots get ya.... Beware of the Heelots!  
 ~from Meet John Doe (1941)

You'll have to watch 'Meet John Doe' (1941) movie to see and know a Heelot when you see one.  Beware!  They are amongst us...Don't buy into it...