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Love garage sales. We shop them all summer to have mostly books to sell and while there I have found great clothing, great furniture, items to donate to animal shelters, gifts, etc.
It does take longer and you cannot be fussy about having the "latest and greatest" but I have found almost everything i have wanted.
Walnut dresser for $25. Timberlake table and four windsor chairs for $200. Smocking machine for $15 (retail $159).
Even auctions are great. I got about 7 pieces of Ethan Allen maple room components for $200 (was willing to pay up to $500). Tomorrow we are going to check out an auction for a leather sofa from a model home. I need to replace our sofa and this one is the same color and we wont pay over 20% of retail if we get it.
Oh heck I live for thrift stores, Im not made of money and there are very few things I need to buy new. Ebay and Savers are my two favourite places to go.
Auctions too, are sometimes pretty good places. I got a king sized bed, from an auction at a storage place, for 15.00. Brand new, still in the plastic wrapping, someone didnt pay their storage and they cut the locks on the unpaid units, and put everything out to auction off. Actually, I walked out of there with a few things at bargain prices.
Last edited by country pride; 01-27-2008 at 06:50 PM..
Going to thrift stores is like going on treasure hunts. When my kids were little, they lived in thrift store clothes, it was far easier to throw away something that cost a quarter than to try to clean some of the goop off they got into. I've gotten so many things I can't begin to list them all - televisions that worked perfectly but someone had lost the remote; new studded snow tires that were redundant because someone got a new and different car; many pairs of Birkenstocks; several Coach handbags; a Fire King airtight woodstove; tons of yarn of all kinds; a guitar; an accordion; a couple weaving looms, including a 4 harness table loom; lots of different kitchen appliances; and the oddest of all was a Black Hills gold ring that my daughter found in a toybox. She was about 4 at the time. The TVs were 5.00 each, payable after they were found to work, the wood stove was 100.00, none of the rest was over 1.00.
Craigslist is fine, but Freecycle frustrates me. It keeps telling me my password is incorrect [it's not], then it won't let me create another account because it says I'm already registered. If it thinks I'm registered, it should let me in, but it won't. So I'm stuck with getting all those listings for my area and I can't do a thing about it.
Except for her underwear and socks, my wife buys all her clothes at thrift stores, and has for the last 40 years.
She is the most senior person at her work site and make a pretty good salary of about $80K a year.
She has heard some of the younger women talking about how professionally she is always dressed and they would like to dress that way but they can't afford it.
While they are saying this, they are dressed in their $90 blouses and $200 skirts from Nordstrom's and don't realize that my wife's entire "professional outfit" probably cost less than $10.
The best thrift stores are the ones with high turn over in merchandise. There's nothing worse than going back to a thrift store 3 months later to see the same junk there. That is a "DEAD THRIFT STORE". I love to pick up a nice oil painting for $20.00.
Sad part around here is the second hand stores have ridiculous prices for things. Both stores have all their inventory donated so I don't see why they put such high prices on stuff. It would benefit them more having lower prices especially since our county has a high rate of unemployment.
First, this is my first post on this forum. I collect old radio's, TV's, stereo's etc.
Second, I agree 100% about high priced "thrift" stores. Most of the ones around here are church / charity run and all of their inventory is donated to them. Today, I was in a local "thrift" store and saw a mid '60's Zenith B&W console TV. It still worked; but, the picture tube was a little weak and it needed the tuner cleaned. The price? $52.50. There was also a '70's particleboard console stereo for $194 and a beat up mid '90's Zenith console TV for $85. I asked the lady running the store about the '60's Zenith and she let me know there was no warranty (DUH, I didn't expect one) and that I could either pay the price or leave it there. I also asked about non-working electronics that no one would buy and I got brushed off. I find it strange that these stores are always begging for free stuff to sell; yet, they overprice most of their items and will not come off the price. Using that TV as an example, I doubt anyone in 2008 would pay that kind of $ for a '60's B&W vacuum-tube based TV. They could have gotten $25 or $30 out of me; but, since they are so hell bent to get their price, it will probably sit there forever. Also, I thought these stores were supposed to gear their pricing towards lower income customers. I could go buy new items cheaper than what they want for their worn out junk. If their prices were more reasonable, they would move more stuff and could display a better variety instead of the same stuff month after month. I've now gotten to the point where I will not donate my unwanted items to a thrift store. I'd rather give my stuff to someone who really needs it instead of a bunch of money hungry jerks.
A lot of the quality of the items in thrift stores depends on the area and economy of the city where you live. I haven't found many stylish things at the Goodwill ,Salvation Army,etc. where I live, but when I visited one in Virginia I found many very nice/barely worn items of clothing and a lovely end table! I think you find nicer things in consignment stores,but they are more expensive.
I just took my 10yr old to the thrift store this weekend for summer clothes. I spent roughly 50 bucks for apprx 12 shorts and 20 shirts!!! I usually supplement her summer wardrobe with thrift store items. When I was younger I loved going with my grandmother and mother we'd make a Saturday of it. While my mom, daughter and I were inside searching my niece (15) sat in the car. She doesn't have the same appreciation for thrift store shopping lol. When we got outside my daughter told her "you should have come in, you could have gotten some nice stuff". My niece didn't agree... imagine that!! lol
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