Thrift Shopper Forum

First thrifting trip of the year.

* Susan Bristol knee-length jacket in textured red floral brocade-like fabric: $4.43
* tan oval "Perfect Service" shirt patch: 57¢
* 12 white plastic shank buttons: 97¢
* small souvenir plate of the Hotel Minnesota, Detroit, MN: $3.97
* itty-bitty 2" tall glazed clay pot: 27¢
* vintage package of "pearl" beads: 17¢

Total: $10.38

According to Wikipedia, the town of Detroit Lakes, MN, was known simply as "Detroit" from 1906 to 1926.  I knew the plate was old, but I didn't realize it was THAT old. 

That jacket sounds really nice!

I tried to find an event I could participate in for today's MLK "Day of Service," but there was nothing happening in my zipcode and the closest events were at least two bus rides away.  Sigh.  Next year I'll start searching early and hopefully I'll be able to do something useful for the community.

Since I couldn't be of service, I went thrifting.  Everything at Thrift Town was 30% off and I did pretty good:

* yellow silk pillowcase, souvenir of Washington, DC, not sure if it's "vintage" or modern, $1.04
* pretty seafoam green cotton sweater, $1.39
* 3" 3-ring binder, 48¢
* Childcraft volume 6, Holidays and Famous People, © 1939, 34¢
* "Car Talk Car Tunes Vol. 1" CD, $2.09
* "Historic Gershwin Recordings" 2-CD set, $2.00

I'm especially happy with the Gershwin CDs, because they include the 1924 and 1927 recordings of "Rhapsody in Blue," one of my favorite pieces of music.

My biker friend asked me to try to find fitted bedsheets to cover his motorcycles.  He wanted at least five but told me to try to find one or two, at no more than two or three bucks each.  He will be happy to know I found five at $1.04 each.  Maybe this was my "service" today?

Running total, not counting the sheets:  $17.72

That's nice, at least you looked in to doing something, most people take the day for granted. 

Superbowl Sunday is one of my favorite shopping days of the year - while everyone else is watching football, I'm finding great deals.  Well, that's how it's supposed to be.  I went to Magnolia Antiques to take advantage of a 20% off storewide sale, and I came out emptyhanded.   :`(  Then I walked down the street to Thrift Town, where I just knew all the fabulous scores were waiting for me.

Yeah, right.

I knew it was going to be a crappy day when I perused the knickknack, houseware, linen and toy aisles and my basket was still empty.  I had better luck in the clothing department:

black Calvin Klein jeans, $1.99
gray sweatpants, $1.49
gray Banana Republic tee shirt, 99¢
sheer yellow floral blouse, $2.99
NEW black Converse All-Stars Chuck Taylor high-tops, $7.99

Finding a pair of jeans that fit is always a reason for celebration, and a pair of those elusive size 3 Chucks is icing on the cake, but it just wasn't a fun day.   :-\

Running total: $33.17

Well, you got further than you would have around here.  All thrift stores are closed on Sundays.  Probably because Mass. law requires time & a half pay on Sundays.  Nice job on the converse, I have found quite a few of those myself, although not lately. 

I have been meaning to start one of these threads myself, but have been unispired by the slim pickings last month.  My best finds have been from freecycle & the library, I don't know if that counts as thrift.

mattie - what's the car talk car tunes like??? i'm a closet fan. my kids groan every saturday...

You know, I gave it one quick listen then loaned it to a friend who saw it sitting on my table and thought it might be interesting.  I wasn't impressed the first time around - nothing memorable, no good hooks.  When I get it back I'll give it a few more tries and let you know what I think.  The songs were all groaners, I can tell you that.  I saw another Car Talk CD last weekend - a "best calls from listeners" compilation - but didn't buy it.  I love Click and Clack but I'm not sure I'd want to listen to a CD of reruns. 

i like to listen to them just to hear them laughing!

This morning I went with my thriftin' pal Jody to a sale at her dry cleaner's.  The shop was selling all the abandoned clothes that customers didn't pick up.  She found half a dozen nice things; I found nothing.  Lots of trendy hip-hop clothes (not my style) and church-lady dresses (also not my style) and everything was too big for me anyway.

Then we went out to Thrift-Mart, where Jody had good luck again.  Her basket overfloweth.  I ended up with just two things: a vintage package of sewing pins for 99¢ and a book called Sacramento Then and Now from 1994, also 99¢.  A friend of mine recently wrote a book called Sacramento Now and Then, and when he gave a talk about it at the historical society he said a lot of 1994's "now" photos were 2009's "then" photos.  Sac has changed tremendously in fifteen years.

Running total: $35.15

I always donate the abandoned orders at my dry cleaners.  I did a lot of research on this.  In Virginia, if a drycleaner sells an abandoned order, they must keep track of how much the customer's clothes were sold for, and if that customer EVER comes back to claim them, you had to write them a check for what you sold the clothes for.  Not wanting to keep track of all that paperwork, I donate everything, (and take a writeoff on my corporate taxes).  This way the clothes were sold for nothing, and if someone comes for an order that was disposed of, I made no money selling it, and I am not obligated to write them a check.

-Jay

I went out to St. Vincent today.  Sad, so sad.  Bare shelves.  A guy waving a big THRIFT STORE sign out on the sidewalk to attract customers.  Why is this store slipping?  Is it the new location?  A lack of donations?  Too-high prices?   :`(

Anyway, I found a few goodies:

* card of 12 clear plastic buttons, 17¢
* 2 glittery buttons, 27¢
* old advertising tape measure from Grants, 57¢
* Halloween "Boo!" mug with a skeleton and a spiderweb, 37¢
* small cedar planter - souvenir of Hayward, Wisconsin, $2.97
* "The Good Good Pig" by Sy Montgomery (paperback), $1.95
* "The Architecture of Happiness" by Alain de Botton (hardcover), $3.95
* pale pink Appleseed's angora mock turtleneck sweater, 98¢
* blue/aqua/white striped Sonoma sweater, 98¢

The books were a lucky find - They were on my list of books to read, but I didn't expect to find them so easily.

I deleted a tiny ceramic vase from my running total because I gave it to a friend who admired it (I'm only tallying things I buy for myself) so my new running total is $47.09.

I took a spur of the moment trip out to Thrift Town this afternoon.  I only found three things:

* a bag of silver and gold plastic building blocks, actually flat panels with windows and doors for making skyscrapers, $2.99. I haven't dug into it yet but it looks like fun.
* a hardcover book of color photos of antique dollhouses, 99¢.
* a glass house-shaped music box, $6.99. The walls and floor are glass on a wooden base and the removable glass top is gabled.

See a pattern here? Something's telling me my next art series will be about houses/buildings.

Running total:  $58.06.

That doll house book sounds cool, my daughter has a vintage dollhouse, I would love to see pictures of really nice antique dollhouses.   The Salvation Army had a nice first edition hardcover copy of Judith Miller's Costume Jewelry ID & Value guide.  It has alot of gorgeous color photos.  I would have grabbed it, but the SA decided to go back to an old assinine book pricing policy of 80% off list price or $1.99 if no price is on the book.  I guess it is good if no price is on the book, or for a vintage book with an old price on it, but it is not good for newer books like the Judith Miller book, which had a $30.00 list price inside the cover.  Sorry, but I would never spend 6 bucks on a thrift book unless it was really valuable. 

They had that pricing policy years ago, but did away with it, now it is back for some reason.

This morning I dragged two heavy shopping bags full of donations out to St.
Vincent. I gave 'em a wool throw rug, clothing, little household things, and
even my old mailbox.

When I went inside to shop it was as sad and barren as it was two weeks ago.
All I bought were a baking sheet and a book. In a way it's good because I gave
more than I got (and cleared out some space in my house) but it's not good for
St. Vin's. :(

Running total:  $62.98.

I went back out to St. Vincent on Saturday but it was still picked-over.  I got some thread and ribbon, a small wooden box and a package of screw eyes.  All stuff I can use in art projects, but nothing exciting.

Running total: $65.83.

I've done some occasional thrifting since I last checked in, but nothing worth gloating about until now.  It rained all weekend and I was stir crazy so I went to St. Vincent De Paul on Saturday (got a few things there, nothing great) and Thrift Town on Sunday.  Now THAT was a successful thrift jaunt.

In addition to some clothes, fabric and household stuff, I scored this haul. 
1. Two Lincoln Beautyware canisters, very shiny, very cool.  The big sugar canister was $1.99 and the little tea one was $1.49. 
2. A little plastic tray commemorating "Azteca 70" (Mexican soccer?), 99¢.  I collect these cheap souvenir trays, glue wire on the back and hang them in my bathroom.
3. A kitschy 1960s photo/thermometer souvenir of Niagara Falls, 99¢.  I hung this in my cube at work because it's always cold there and I want to know exactly how cold it is so I can justify my constant whining.
4. Super fantastic score: a 1930 Victor Records catalog.  It lists every recording by over 7000 artists.  It was in the "collectibles" case with a $12.99 price tag, but the price tag was purple - and it was half-price day for purple tags.

To top it off, I spent $21 and I happened to have a coupon good for $5 off a $20 purchase.   ;D

Running total: $102.75.

I've had no thrifting luck lately, but today I hit an estate sale that had lots of tiny goodies.  I love little old packages and I have a small collection of advertising rulers so I was thrilled with this stuff.  I also found a 1955 map of Sacramento (such a wee town back then!), a 1960s box of Dixie cups and a half-full bottle of Sloan's Liniment that's probably from the '20s or '30s.  The bottle's going to be emptied because that stuff is powerfully stinky.

Running total: $133.34.

I just realized that my running total jumped thirty dollars from one post to the next.  The goodies I bought today cost a total of $5.  I've been thrifting here and there, just not posting about it because nothing's been really great!  Well, there's the July 1942 Fortune magazine that I got for $4.99 from the WEAVE thrift last week, but the other stuff's been ordinary.  :)

Great finds, I love old advertising stuff too.  Those old dixie cup dispensers are very collectible- I love the pink & green colors! 

One of the things I put in my suitcase last week (at the church sale where you could fill a suticase for a dollar) was those 70's style dixie drink cup holders that hold the plastic cone shape cups & three bags of plastic cups.  Like these:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Vintage-Dixie-Paper-Cup-Holder-Red-Retro-Plastic-8-EC_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp3286Q2em20Q2el1116QQhashZitem3348b002a9QQitemZ220262826665QQptZLHQ5fDefaultDomainQ5f0QQsalenotsupported

Mine are in the 70's red, orange, yellow & green colors.  They would make great punch cups!

I went back to the estate sale today because everything was ostensibly half-off, but they were eager to get rid of everything so "half-off" was an understatement.  I got three cool old advertising yardsticks (including one for the "sweet, smooth, sassy" 1957 Chevy), two big metal popcorn buckets, a bunch more little packages, an old book of office timesaving tricks (I work as a secretary so this will be useful - right?  :P ), an old photo of a young soldier, and other nifty stuff.  Spent $5 again.  :)

I went to St. Vin's today.  It was my first visit in over two months and I wasn't very optimistic going in the door, since my last couple of visits were so depressing.  But whaddya know, I scored a bunch of good stuff.  I got fabric, buttons, thread, a decorating book from 1965, a pair of chunky display boxes to hang on the wall, and seven CDs for $26.74. It's about time I found some scores!

Running total: $147.55

That is alot of stuff for 26 bucks!  During my yard sale rounds this morning I stopped at the lamest sale.  They had a bunch of old one-hit-wonder type CD's and wanted $7 per CD or 2 for $5.  I said "seven dollars!" out loud when I walked by the table because I couldn't believe it.  I turned around & left after about 30 seconds of browsing.