Thrift Stores ROCK!

Maryn · Jun 18, 2008

Our everyday glassware is getting scratched up, and I never much liked it, so I've been keeping an eye out for replacements. I haven't been impressed with the offerings at Bed, Bath, and whatever, nor Target. I haven't yet visited the high-end department stores, but I know myself well enough to know I'd balk at the price of anything really cool.

Today at Goodwill they had eight matching water tumblers I liked, all still with manufacturer's tag glued to the glass. I bought them for $1.99 each, less my senior discount. (Woo-hoo, I'm old!)

Back home, I looked online to see what they retailed for originally.

I have now strained my shoulder patting my own back: A pair of the lead crystal glasses I bought retails for $80, although if you look you can find them for $66--but no place seems to have four pairs in stock.

So I paid $13.52 at Goodwill rather than $264.00. Do thrift stores rock, or what?

Maryn, smug

StoryG27 · Jun 18, 2008

Woo-hoo!

I love thrift stores myself. My daughter. . .she can shop 'em for hours!

melaniehoo · Jun 18, 2008

Wow, that is a great deal! I don't go there nearly enough, but if we ever get to return to the states I'll need some house stuff and that sounds like a good place to start.

JennaGlatzer · Jun 18, 2008

Awesome! I'm a thrift store gal, too. A great deal like that can make a person's whole week.

maestrowork · Jun 18, 2008

I've heard Rob needs a new bra.

StoryG27 · Jun 18, 2008

And Ray needs a thong.

Maryn · Jun 18, 2008

Underwear is one thing I won't buy at a thrift store--but Rob's standards may be lower, eh?

melaniehoo, I outfitted both our kids' kitchens from thrift stores. The only things they had to buy new were shelf liner, knives, and silverware. They've got as good a set-up as I do, with nice china, Revereware or Faberware, small appliances, the works. It took some time to accumulate it all, and I strongly recommend a check-list, since I seem to have bought cheese graters every time I saw one.

Maryn, still overly pleased with herself

melaniehoo · Jun 18, 2008

LOL, eat a lot of cheese, eh?

It's mostly glassware we'll need since I can't seem to wash dishes without breaking them. Right now we have a college apartment collection.

Maryn · Jun 18, 2008

Most thrift stores have lots of glassware, but not often a set larger than five identical items. It's common to see threes and fours of water tumblers. And, sadly, champagne flutes with white ribbons still tied to the stems. I assume they'd keep them if the marriage was still on.

But I do have enough champagne flutes to handle the whole family at New Year's, in twos.

Maryn, who likes the Moet ones best even though they're thick and cheap

StoryG27 · Jun 18, 2008

I actually DON'T like my things to match. I purposefully mismatch plates, glasses, and such even if I have a set. Don't know why, it's just me. So I love to go "treasure" hunting and find just one or two of the weird and wild things I like, buy 'em for pocket change, and then take them home and make them part of my collection. It's just more fun that way, IMO.

MidnightMuse · Jun 18, 2008

Yay for unmatching

I love dishes that don't match, but just look good together. For years, I feared if I wore matching socks, the universe would collapse. Until one day, by accident, I realized I'd gone for hours with matching socks and the world didn't end.

But there's no longer any life on Mars, so I could be at fault for that one.

Write4U2 · Jun 18, 2008

Maryn said:
Underwear is one thing I won't buy at a thrift store--but Rob's standards may be lower, eh?

melaniehoo, I outfitted both our kids' kitchens from thrift stores. The only things they had to buy new were shelf liner, knives, and silverware. They've got as good a set-up as I do, with nice china, Revereware or Faberware, small appliances, the works. It took some time to accumulate it all, and I strongly recommend a check-list, since I seem to have bought cheese graters every time I saw one.

Maryn, still overly pleased with herself

As well you should be! I love thrift shops, too. I have found many people's treasures that have now become mine. My faves are a copper chafing dish ($5 yard sale), and a large, blue and white cookie jar that my husband said, "huh?" when I bought it in a thrift shop for $2.

Does anyone else shop at Ross? I can always find treasures there, too.

awatkins · Jun 18, 2008

Wow, Maryn!

Kitrianna · Jun 18, 2008

That's awesome Maryn. My own personal victorie from a thrift store...finding a Toronto Maple Leafs shirt with the Maple Leafs Garden listed as there arena AFTER they had shut it down for only 2 bucks. He wore it until it wasn't even good enough to be called a rag.

Write4U2 · Jun 18, 2008

MidnightMuse said:
Yay for unmatching I love dishes that don't match, but just look good together. For years, I feared if I wore matching socks, the universe would collapse. Until one day, by accident, I realized I'd gone for hours with matching socks and the world didn't end.

But there's no longer any life on Mars, so I could be at fault for that one.

Midnight, I just looked at your link to the Trunk. Totally excellent!

Marian Perera · Jun 18, 2008

Maryn said:
Underwear is one thing I won't buy at a thrift store

I used to volunteer at a high-end thrift store, and on more than one occasion I've found new underwear in donation bags. Most still had the tags on, and they certainly looked new. Not to mention great quality (satin, lace-trimmed, that kind of thing). With my volunteer discount, they cost me literally pennies. So I don't mind underwear.

Ol' Fashioned Girl · Jun 18, 2008

Thrift stores are the bomb! I've bought brand-spanking new jeans for $2 a pair.

Another good spot for bargains (and I know you'll accuse me of favoritism) is the AUCTION... not only ours here at AW, but local ones.

I watched ('cause Ol' Boy was holding my arms down) an antique, hand-carved solid oak Art Deco buffet from the 1930s in wonderful condition go for $50.

Yes.

FIFTY dollars.

StoryG27 · Jun 18, 2008

OFG, I'm surprised you didn't morph into your avatar and get that antique buffet anyway.

Ol' Fashioned Girl · Jun 18, 2008

I know one thing: I ain't never takin' him to another auction!

The other company owned by the boss is an auction company - the warehouse is co-located with me at the insurance company. I will be watching for more upcoming merchandise...

Sean D. Schaffer · Jun 18, 2008

The chair I'm sitting in came from a Thrift Store. Though it has an occasional problem staying up, it does its job decently.

I've bought stereos, TVs, computers, and all manner of other cool stuff -- and a couple of my best typewriters

-- at Thrift Stores. They're really full of good deals.

If you like to shop around and look for deals, they're a good place to go.

Maryn · Jun 18, 2008

I hear you about auctions. When my mother-in-law died, we donated scads of her things to various charities she supported and had her furniture sold at auction, except for the few pieces we managed to cram into our house.

Her sofa, an Ethan Allen less than three years old which cost her about $3000, went for $25. I keep telling our kids to hit auctions; the auctioneer told us upholstered items in particular tend to go for far, far less than they're worth. Some may need a professional steam cleaning, but you still end up with a durable, attractive piece of squeaky clean furniture for under a hundred bucks.

Maryn, who wishes she'd found a place for more of her things

Fraulein · Jun 18, 2008

The sexy, summer sweater that I'm wearing came from a thrift store. I didn't realize that my $3.50 purchase would include compliments.

I love thrift stores too! :LilLove:

ChaosTitan · Jun 18, 2008

Thrift stores, auctions, and flea markets are my favorite places to shop. It isn't just for the bargains (though being a girl on a budget, I love getting new shirts for a dollar, still-good snack cakes for a quarter their retail cost, and cheeeeeeap books).

The other thrill I get is that special "find." Just today I was looking at an old New York Handy Guide (1947) I found in an auction box. Tucked inside its pages was a scrap of paper, and on it, a typewritten love poem. No idea if that poem is original or a copy of someone else's work, but oh the wheels started turning. Who bought that guide? Who wrote the poem? Was someone sent the poem and asked to meet their secret lover in NY all those years ago? Did they meet?

Yeah, that's the writer in me.

StoryG27 · Jun 18, 2008

ChaosTitan said:
Tucked inside its pages was a scrap of paper, and on it, a typewritten love poem.

Ohhhhh, talk about a treasure find! That's awesome, just the feelings and imaginations it evokes would be worth a lot.

benbradley · Jun 18, 2008

Oh my, do I have a long list of thrift store buys. I'm literally looking at one right now (HP "Ergo 1600" 21-inch CRT monitor, great for watching full-screen Abba videos, I forget exact cost, but under $20).

My Thrift Store Buy Of The Day is an Alan Turing biography from about 25 years ago that I didn't know existed. I've read a bit about him in other books, especially "The Code Book," but I was excited to see this title. He made huge, fundamental contributions to computer science as well as helping decode military radio transmissions encrypted by the Enigma Machine in WWII, yet he lived a tortured life for being gay, ending in suicide.

Goodwill hardback price: $2.50

Amazon.com's lowest used paperback price: $1.58+$3.99 shipping=$5.57

Discovering the book exists: Priceless.

Thrift Stores ROCK!

Baaa!

Miss Behave

And thus we begin the edits

wishes you happiness

Fear the Death Ray

Miss Behave

Baaa!

And thus we begin the edits

Baaa!

Miss Behave

Midnight Reading

Not harboring illegal parrot

Official Bad Cat's Prez

starting over

Hand? What hand?

Miss Behave

Hand? What hand?

Baaa!

Spooks? Where are you?...

Around

Miss Behave

It's a doggy dog world