Hi. I've been posting here, and it just occurred to me that I never got around to introducing myself.
So, belatedly, here's a little info on me.
While I'd been to thrift stores before of course, I didn't really start thrifting until I moved out on my own for the first time (probably a common tale). I found myself attracted to shabby yet chic decorating so this worked out well. I'd say most of my clothes and furniture are thrift finds. And I love it. Oh, and books and audio tapes! That's where the real "gold" has been for me at thrift stores. I've gotten so many good books and books on tapes that I have learned so much from. I've gotten audio tapes such as Anthony Robbins for $10 for a set of tapes that probably was originally over $100. I bought other tapes for $2 that later I found had the original reciept in them that said they cost $100 originally. But beyond the monetary thing is that these have taught me more confidence, self-esteem, skills, etc. that I didn't have before...which is more important.
When I decided I had too much stuff for my small apartment I re-donated some stuff to the thrift store, but I also took some of it to a consignment shop and that was my first taste of selling things. When I moved I got the courage to ask a local store that is very hip and cool if they would buy any of the stuff I had and they bought one of my tables. I've sold some things on eBay, but I don't enjoy that too much. I do have a cool story about that though. I once bough something for $10 that I really liked, but decided to try to sell. It was a promotional item that had a popular artists work printed on it. I listed it on eBay and had a few bids, two from France. The item sold for $50 to a lady from France and it turns out she was the daughter of the artist whose work was on this item! It was cool.
Where I live we have the Deseret Industries thrift stores which are called D.I. for short (which I believe have a similar setup to Goodwill, but I've never been to a Goodwill). And one of things about D.I. is that they're there to help train people to get into or back into the workforce. They'll help people with disabilites or those who have lost jobs or whatever learn skills by working at the store for about a year and then after the year is up D.I. helps get them to look for a "real" job. So I actually have done that...worked at a thrift store for a year too. D.I. even helped me get my G.E.D. They did that mostly through encouragement, but they also paid for the fees and such. And now I go back and shop there and say hi to the managers there and tell them what's new in my life.
I occasionally sell some things that I find at thrift stores, yard and rummage sales, etc. still. I consider it a service and not a bad thing at all to buy from thrift stores and resell them because I know a lot of people who want vintage items but won't buy from thrift stores, mostly because they don't have the patience and get the enjoyment from it that I do. And thrift stores often can't sell the items for the higher prices that I sell for. I've seen them try, and the item just sits there and sits there, until they either mark it down or throw it away. So I feel like I help the thrift store too. (Note: when I worked at D.I. that I did not buy things from them to resell as I felt it was a conflict of interest. And by the way they have a rule that those who work there can't buy something unless it's been out for an hour so they don't get all the good stuff before customers do. And it bugs me when this rule is ignored.)
Okay, this was a long post...probably told you more than you wanted to hear. Sorry about that.
