8965 Research Blvd.
Austin, TX 78758
512-832-0004

Store Hours
Mon-Sat: 9:00am - 9:00pm
Sun: 11:00am - 7:00pm

One of the things I want to do with this new blog is re-instate my previous attempts at cataloging and reviewing Austin's thrift store offerings. I'm a thrift aficionado; I've thrifed in several cities, and Austin is by far the best I've seen. Still, some places are far better than others, so a series of Austin thrift store reviews may be helpful. If nothing else, it will help me keep track of where I've been and whether I liked it. And give me a chance to show off my thrift store scores.

The Goodwill on Research Blvd, called the MacFarlane Goodwill, is my go-to thrift store. It's huge, it's fairly well-organized, it's reasonably clean, and they have a big book section. All of these are important attributes in my book. The pricing is the general Goodwill item-type pricing they all seem to be doing now ($6.99 for pants, $5.99 for skirt, $1.99 for paperback book, etc.), which is fine--at least it makes things easy when you are shopping. Given this pricing scheme, though, I really really wish they'd stop putting price tags on the book covers. They are impossible to remove.

My latest trip to this thrift mecca was on Saturday. I wasn't looking for anything in particular, which is, in my opinion, the best way to thrift shop. I spent about an hour and a half in the store. One thing I noticed is that there are a good number of plus-sized clothes mixed in to the regular clothing sections, and the quality of these items seems to be higher than that of the plus-sized clothes in the plus-sized section. This is worth taking into account, I think, given the difficulty of finding quality plus-sized clothes second-hand. It seems that, in some stores at least, the best finds are not in the plus section at all. I'll definitely keep this in mind.

I came home with the following:
-a long khaki skirt, Old Navy, size 16, perfect condition
-a pair of sailor style wide-legged pants, Isaac Mizrahi (Target), size 18, new with tags
-a pair of khaki Banana Republic slacks, size 16 long, perfect condition (though weirdly over-starched)
-a set of four Pilsner glasses from Crate & Barrel
-three paperback books (Margaret Atwood's Oryx and Crake, a memoir about being part of the first generation of interracial adoptions, and the last edition of a woman's history essay compendium), all in very good condition
Total cost = approximately $32, including tax

Weak spots in noticed were in men's short sleeved shirts and shorts (which is probably seasonal) and house wares (lots of old Tupperware taking up shelf space). I used the dressing room, and it was reasonably clean. I got no impression of the employees of the store on this trip.

5555 North Lamar Blvd.
Austin, TX 78751
512-451-2306

Store Hours
Mon-Sat: 9:00am - 9:00pm
Sun: 11:00am - 7:00pm

The Goodwill at North Lamar is the swanky new store that replaced the smaller store that used to be basically across the street. It's right next to Half Price Books now, too, which is certainly a boon.

Oddly, even though this store is bigger, newer, and cleaner than the old store, I have visited it several times and not had nearly as much good luck as I used to have at the old store. The women's clothing section is very large, but very skewed towards small sizes, and the plus-sized section, which is mixed up with the maternity section, is pretty much a joke. I haven't bought a single item of clothing for myself at this store.

House wares is similarly large but disappointing. There's lot of space, but many of the shelves are sparsely covered, and a lot of what they are covered with is no-two-ways-about-it crap. I'm not sure if this speaks to the stores donations not meeting its space requirements or what, but it's disappointing.

The book section is pretty good--better organized than is usually the case--but not as large or well-stocked as the MacFarlane store. Also, the pricing is higher here, with paperback books mostly marked at $2.39, rather than the $1.59 or $1.99 I've found at other local Goodwill stores.

The dressing rooms at this store are typically Goodwill (I think they might actually be the same modulars they used in the old store). I used the bathroom on this trip, and it was pretty bad, but not as nasty as the one in the old store was known to be.

Edited to add: I forgot to itemize my bounty! For around $12, I got a short sleeved, striped Dickies shirt and two paperback books (both about grizzly bears) for Mark.

5319 N I H 35
Austin, TX 78723
(512) 380-0025
9:00AM-8:00 PM, 7 days/week

This is an old-school thrift store, more like the ones of my youth and less like Austin's rather uppity Goodwill network. There is a lot of crap here. Clothes that are torn, stained, or just plain nasty. Things that smell like moth balls or need to be washed really badly. The whole place is fairly dirty and not very well organized, and the dressing rooms are tiny and atrocious. I wouldn't even attempt to use the bathroom here. The book and houseware sections are not worth your time. This is a store that requires patience.

However, if you are a patient type, it's worth a gander. Why? Because it's cheap. Shirts are generally $.99 to $2.49, pants and dresses under $5.00. Plus they do that thing were a certain color of tag is 50% each day, so you can definitely find some bargains, if you are willing to look. On my last trip, for example, I found a fantastic mod-style vintage dress for $4.49.

There is no seperate plus-sized section in this store and in general the larger sized offerings are minimal. Also, the store has a no returns policy--everything is sold as is--so be sure of your purchases.

5329 N I H 35
Austin, TX 78723
(512) 451-7156
Closed Sundays

I'll come right out and say that I don't like The Salvation Army. Their politics suck, and their stores generally do, too. Occaisonally they are good for furniture (there's another Austin location I'll review at a later date that has some good furniture options), but usually they aren't worth the time and self-loathing shopping there requires.

This particular Salvation Army, located right across the parking lot from the Texas Thrift Store, is worse than usual. The stock is sparse and the store smells really bad. The most recent clothing I saw was at least a few years old, the quality was bad, and the organization was, as far as I could tell, non-existant. Even the furniture stock was poor, nothing worth a second look.

I spent less than five minutes in this store, yet felt pretty confident I had seen everything they had to offer, and I left feeling vaguely unclean. This is one you may as well skip.

5222 Burnet Road
Austin, TX 78756
(512) 323-0707
Store Hours
Mon - Sat: 9 - 9
Sun: 10 - 6

I drove past Savers on Burnet probably 200 times before it occurred to me to wonder what it was. When I looked it up and found out it was the same thing as what we from the Pacific Northwest call Value Village, I was stoked, as VV was one of my favorite thrift spots in Portland.

Trips to the store have dampened this excitement. Either I've changed, or Savers is no Value Village.

Savers is a good thrift store for people who don't actually like thrift stores. It's clean and ostensibly very organized (although the last time I was in, it wasn't actually very organized at all). They try, to the extent possible, to seem like a department store. Things are organized by size, then by color. They tend towards newer clothes when possible. You aren't going to find much vintage or funky here--mostly just whatever you could have gotten last year at Old Navy, worn by someone else a few times, and quite a lot cheaper.

And if that's what you are going for, this store is probably fine. It's a little more spendy than less "department store" thrift stores, but not that much. Items are priced individually, so there are no hard and fast rules, but generally shirts run in the $2-$5 range, pants and skirts in the $5-$7 range, and dresses in the $7-$9 range.

Plus-sized offerings are separated out here, as everything is by size, and there seem to be more of them than there are at many other local stores. As Savers buys their stock from other thrift stores, this is probably intentional. Still, I didn't find anything must-have in my size on a recent trip.

It should be noted that this is primarily a clothing store. There is a furniture section, a house wares section, and a book section, but all of them are pretty piddly and I wasn't at all impressed with any of their contents.

This isn't a store I visit often, but it might be somewhere I would add to the list were I to introduce someone new to thrifting. The search is easier, due to the organization, and most of what is on the racks is recognizable in terms of brands and styles, which is probably comforting to a new thrift shopper.

One final note--the dressing rooms are TINY closets, and they have a ridiculous three-item limit in them. Disregarding this limit will earn you the venom of a not particularly pleasant staff. So be forewarned.

1015 Norwood Park Blvd.
Austin, TX 78753
512-637-7502

Store Hours:
Mon-Sat: 9:00am - 9:00pm
Sun: 11:00am - 7:00pm

I haven't forgotten about my intention to review thrift stores--just been on hiatus from it for a bit, as I've only been visiting stores (OK, really just the store on Research) I've already reviewed. However, I took a turn by the Norwood Park Goodwill yesterday, so I do have something a bit new to report.

This is a farily new addition to Austin's Goodwill scene. Norwood Park is the location of Goodwill's computer works store, as well as a community center of some sort. And I'm sure those elements of this location are absolutely lovely.

The retail store itself, however, sucks.

It's far, far smaller than the Goodwill locations I frequent (North Lamar and especially Research). About...1/4 the size, maybe? And it's almost all women's clothes--a few men's and children's clothes, but almost no housewares or books. I spent less than ten minutes in the store and felt that I'd seen all I needed to see--and I can easily spend hours in a good thrift store. I left empty-handed.

On the plus side, this store is new and very clean. But that doesn't do much good if there's nothing there.

Someone asked me a bit ago whether I feel guilty for shopping at thrift stores, since I could feasibly afford to buy things new and many thrift shoppers could not. I've gotten this question a few times, and I figured I might as well give a go at answering it.

To be totally honest, it did not even occur to me until someone asked that I would have anything to feel guilty about with thrift shopping. It just never entered my mind. What kind of person that makes me is questionable, I guess, but there it is.

After giving it some thought, though, I still don't feel guilty about my thrift shopping. While I can see an argument against people who can afford to do otherwise taking advantage of low-cost resources meant for the poor (for example, I wouldn't take my pet to the low-cost spay and neuter clinic for this reason), I think that, on balance, thrift shopping is still a good thing.

There are a few reasons for this. The biggest one is environmental sustainability. Put simply, every time you buy something used rather than new, you do aren't increasing demand for the manufacture of that product, and you are also increasing its life span and often keeping it out of a landfill. A connected second reason thrift shopping is good is that buying an item in a thrift store does not add to the demand of that product, which I generally consider good, given that so much of what we buy is made by unorganized and exploited labor and under questionable environmental regulations.

Another reason I think thrift shopping is more good than bad is that many thrift stores (and nearly all of the ones I personally frequent) are non-profit enterprises that support jobs programs, homeless shelters, etc., so by shopping at a thrift store, you are contributing to these programs. Clearly this is not true of for-profit thrift stores, but it is true of your local Goodwill.

Another reason I personally feel fine about thrifting is that I give more to thrift stores than I take away from them. On balance, my presence increases, rather than reduces, their stock. Again, that maybe says something about me and my consumerism and collection of stuff that I wouldn't be proud of, but it does alleviate any guilt I may have felt about snatching up all the good thrift finds.

I could just be rationalizing, because I love love love to thrift shop (I found two Alice Waters cookbooks for Mark this weekend for $2 each), but that's my rationale. In case you were wondering.

Since my previous post, regarding the social ethics of thrifting, seems to be garnering me a bit of attention from other thrift-store loving Bloggers, I have a question: Is there an online forum anywhere where people trade their thrift finds? I know some boards have their own forums for that (such as Mothering Dot Com), but I was thinking of something more general, or a forum attached to a DIY/Craft/Thrift board. Anybody know of such a thing? I'm always finding stuff that is great, but just not something I need. I'd love to have a reason to buy it.

I have been reading a lot of thrifting blogs today, and am inspired by the stuff people have found and the pictures they've posted on their blogs. So I thought I'd post a few of my favorite thrift finds.

These are my two Godinger silver jewelry boxes. The larger one is something I found at the Goodwill for $2 or $3 a couple of years ago. I was jazzed about it then and have remained jazzed since then. I am generally not a fan of the options of storing jewelry, and I have and wear a lot of it, so it fit a need in my life, besides being very cool. The small one, which is the same company but a different pattern, appeared to me at the Goodwill yesterday, for $4. Well worth it, as I had outgrown the first one.

I looked them up on Ebay and they don't have any real value, but I don't care, because they are perfect for me and I wouldn't sell them anyway.

4901 Burnet Road
(512) 458-2633
Wednesday-Saturday
10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

The Assistance League Thrift House is one of those thrift stores I have been meaning to stop into forever, and it is write on my path between home and work, but the hours aren't the most convenient, so it took me a long time to actually get there.

It's a nice little store, clean and well-organized. The prices seemed a bit high for what they were selling, but were also variable. While it definitely seemed like a place you could stumble upon a great find (especially in terms of housewares), I didn't actually stumble upon much myself. I left with two Moosewood cookbooks, both in very good shape, for $4 each. That seems high for thrift store books, but it still beats the hell out of new pricing, so I think they were worth it.

The strong points of the store seemed to be housewares and children's books and toys. Clothes and adult books were weaker points. They also had a variety of more-expensive vintage and collectible pieces behind the counter, for those interested in that stuff.

Assistance League of Austin is a philanthropical organization with multiple aims, some of which you can read about here. They seem to be doing good work and I would have no qualms about supporting their store.

4902 Burnet Road
(512) 454-5161
Monday- Saturday 10-7

Top Drawer Thrift is consistently considered, by those who know these things, to be Austin's coolest thrift store. Which may be the reason I don't like it. Every time someone tells me how very hip it is, I try to give it another chance, and every time I am disappointed.

Maybe it's just me, but I don't like my thrift stores to be hip. I don't want a thrift store to be somewhere I am uncomfortable, where I don't feel like I'm dressed correctly to shop. I like the worn out comfort of thrift stores. I like the mixed clientele. I like shopping next to elderly women and mothers with three kids in tow. And that's not at all the scene at Top Drawer.

Also, I've never actually found anything there that I wanted to buy! Their selection is small and often seems quite run down. Prices are OK, but that doesn't do any good if there is nothing worth picking up.

The high point of Top Drawer, of course, is that the proceeds support Project Transitions, which provides hospice, support, and housing to people living with HIV/AIDS. I am completely supportive of that cause and politically I'd love to shop there. But realistically, I won't, both because it's not fun (and what good is thrifting if it's not fun?) and because there isn't anything to buy.

6555 Burnet Road
(512) 459-4592
Mon-Sat 9:30AM-5:00PM
Thurs evenings until 8:00PM

Having nothing of particular importance to do on Saturday, I decided to check out some of the small thrift stores that dot Burnet Rd. I started with the store closest to my house, the Austin Junior League Resale Shop.

I've been to this shop before, and never been very impressed. Their stock is limited and their prices are quite high for thrift. This visit was only different because they were having a sale--75% off all of their clothing. I found two Banana Republic shirts for Mark for $2-$3 each after this discount, which was great. However, that still makes their prices $8-$10 without this sale, and that's just too high for a thrift store, in my opinion.

Clothes are this shop's strong point--most of what they have is fairly nice, newer styles and brand names. They have a fairly strong maternity section, which I know can be the hallmark of a great thrift store if you're expecting. The book section is small and of no particular use. The house wares are mixed--I could see the potential to find a treasure, but the only thing I found on this trip that was worth a second look was a set of embroidered napkins, and I wasn't going to pay the $15 they were asking for them.

The store is very clean and organized, and always seems over-staffed. Customer service is a strong point, as the clerks there are very friendly and anxious to be of help.

The Junior League is a woman's volunteer organization. As far as I know, they do no evil, but rather are dedicated to a variety of causes, mainly having to do with kids (see their list of charitable affiliations here). They also give significant time and money to Animal Trustees of Austin, which is, in and of itself, a good enough reason to support them in my book.

I'll continue going to this store in search of the perfect item that is worth their high prices, but if you are looking for true thrift bargains, this store should not be your first stop.

5907 Burnet Road
(512) 323-2001

(Note: I didn't write down the hours when I was there, and can't find them online anywhere, so I'd suggest calling for hours before you go. I know they are closed on Sundays.)

The next store on my way down Burnet was St. Michael's Academy Thrift Store. This was one I hadn't been in before. I haven't really been missing much. Once again, prices are higher than I think they should be for thrift, and the store is small with limited selection. I did run into a great colorful cotton sweater, which I bought for $7.95, even though I thought that was too much, but that was it. The clothes were mostly older and smaller sized, the books were nearly non-existent, and the house wares, as is generally the case in this kind of store, were mixed. Once again, it is certainly possible to find a treasure here, but you're probably going to have to visit often for that to happen. And you're going to pay a premium for whatever you do find.

This thrift shop is set up to benefit St. Michael's Catholic Academy, a private Catholic high school. Do with that what you will.

Bethesda Resale Shop
5353 Burnet Rd.
(512)451-2652
Mon.-Sat. 10 a.m.-4 p.m.
1st & 2ndThu. of each month 4 p.m.-7 p.m.

My next stop was the Bethesda Resale Shop. This is an old-style thrift store. It's tiny, crowded, and smells kind of odd. The prices are lower than those at the previous stores, but still higher than the Salvation Army or Goodwill. Selection is limited, though they have a pretty strong plus-sized clothing selection for such a small store. They also run tag sales, where certain items are 50% off. The day I was there, it was women's pants and blouses that were on sale.

It took me less than 10 minutes to inspect everything in the store, and there wasn't anything there I wanted. Once again, though, it's probably a place worth another stop into some other time, as the potential for great stuff is always there, plus it's just kind of a fun place to go into.

Bethesda Resale is a fund raiser for Bethesda Lutheran Homes and Services, an organization that provides support services to people with disabilities and their families. The shops are volunteer-staffed and 100% of proceeds support the organization.

5335 Burnet Road
(512)459-1288
Monday through Friday 10:00AM-4:00PM
Saturday 10:00AM-5:00PM
(but give them a call first, as I believe they are moving stores soon)

The last stop on my route was worth the wait. Next-To-New is a fantastic store. It is large and full of furniture and house wares, including the best selection of glassware and dishes I've seen in forever. Full sets, mismatched pieces, you name it, they have it. And tons of furniture, most of it in good shape and quite a number of things I'd actually like to have in my house.

Their pricing structure is also fantastic. They start items out with pretty average private thrift-store prices, but the prices are reduced based on how long items sit on the shelves. For example, I bought a gorgeous set of margarita glasses. They were originally priced at $10.00, but had been in the store for more than a month, so they were $5.00. If they had been there into the next month, they would have been $2.50. This I can get behind.

The clothing and books sections of the store are not particularly strong--stuff for your house is really where Next-to-New shines. It's going to become a regular stop on my thrifting list.

The store benefits St. David's Episcopal Church in downtown Austin. I believe it is run by their "ladies' committee" or something like that. As churches go, St. David's has pretty good politics--they stress diversity, and being welcoming of all people. They have a great program that provides box lunch-type things to homeless people in Austin, as well as some other admirable charitable works. I'm OK with supporting them.

I am not going to bore you with the various and sundry ways in which I sucked this weekend, nor with beating myself up about it. I shopped, I didn't go to church, Mark and I fought, it was bad. However, it is back to being not bad now, and so forward we will go.

On a happy note, both Oliver and Edie are now on trial adoptions with their new families, who seem in both cases to be well-suited for them and happy to have them. This is great for them, and good for us, as well, as we need a little bit of less stressful non-fostering down time to get our collective shit together.

Before anybody says anything, yes, I know I'm not supposed to be shopping. I don't want to discuss it.

5700 Manchaca Rd. #240
512-442-7200

Store Hours
Mon-Fri: 9:00am-8:00pm
Sat: 1000:am-7:00pm
Sun: 11:00am-6:00pm

Thrift Town is one of those for-profit corporate thrift stores, of which I disapprove. However, it's kind of a fun store. It's well-organized and very clean, and they have daily colored tag sales (where one specific tag color of items are 50% off). They have a good-sized selection, particularly of clothing. However, they do that thing where they mark some of their clothes (mainly the ones with recognizable brand names) as "better" and then charge more for them, which irritates me to no end. Also, they have no return policy. You buy it, its yours.

All that being said, I had a good trip there recently. Because everything is so well-organized, you get through the largish store very fast, which is nice when one is lunch-time thrifting. Also, the stuff that isn't marked "better" is fairly cheap. My haul included:
-a sleeveless scoop necked black velvet top, in perfect condition, no recognizable brand, $1.99
-a cute 1/2 sleeved black cardigan with embroidery, good condition, no recognizable brand, $2.99
-two of the smallish glass jars with hinged lids I am always collecting to store homemade bath products in, $.99 each
-four vintage calico napkins, $.29 each
-set of six brand new blue and white cotton napkins, $1.29

All in all, I'd say it's a store worth stopping by if you are in the neighborhood, but it isn't worth driving out of your way for.

5734 Manchaca
Austin, TX 78745
512-448-4849

Store Hours
Mon-Sat: 9:00am - 9:00pm
Sun: 11:00am - 7:00pm

I know it is the in thing for true thrifters to hate on the Goodwill, but I just can't. It's my Gold Standard thrift store. And I like across the board pricing (which you can see here, FYI). As Austin Goodwills go, I'd say the one on Manchaca and Stassney (same parking lot as Thrift Town) is fair to middling.

This store is far smaller than my favorite Goodwill (the one on Research), and was a lot more crowded and disorganized on the day I visited, but it's still a pretty OK store. This was just a quick trip, and I didn't browse the books, but the housewares selection was good, including a very nice new basket for dog toys I picked up for $2.99 (the puppy chewed up the last one).

The clothes, in typical Goodwill style, are organized by color rather than size in most cases, which makes me insane, so I didn't look at them for long, but there did seem to be some good stuff there. I also found a stuffed snake for my dogs (pretty much their favorite thing ever) for $1.99 and a new metal lunch box for my collection for $.99.

916 Springdale Road
Austin, TX 78702
512-928-8832

Store Hours
Mon-Sun: 8:00am - 8:00pm

I have not always been a great thrift shopper. I started thrifting in high school, but I had a much different attitude about it then than I do now. Then, it was about getting more clothes for cheaper, and about finding the kind of clothes I couldn't find in "regular" stores (sadly, I was a more creative dresser in high school and early in college than I am now). At a size 10 or 12, thrifting was easy, and I never had to get particularly good at it.

As I got a little bit older and a lot fatter, thrifting for clothes for myself became more difficult, but I never stopped liking to thrift, and in fact got more into it in college and after. This was for two reasons. The first is that, being on my own, I started seeing the value in thrifting for non clothes--for a long time, when I was most frustrated with my body, I thrifted only for books and housewares, and a large percentage of what is in my house is thrifted. The second thing, though, was that I started to really like to thrift for thrift's sake--going through other people's old stuff was just fun, regardless of whether I find something that works for me or not. And that, I think, is what makes me a good thrifter.

And my mind, the way you know a good thrifter is by what she can do at the bins.

To walk down memory lane again, I grew up with good thrift mentors. My mom isn't much of a secondhand shopper, just because she isn't much of a shopper of any kind and she lacks patience and willingness to spend hours going through stuff. My mom's next eldest sister, however, is a master. She calls it junking, rather than thrifting, and no store is too nasty, too crowded, or too full of crap for her. So, of course, it was with her that I went to Portland's bins.

The bins, for those who aren't familiar with the terms, are the place where the stuff that doesn't sell or isn't deemed salable from a chain of thrift stores (Goodwill or Salvation Army, in my experience) goes to die. The term "bins" comes from the fact that the stuff isn't sorted or on shelves or racks, but rather just dumped on large tables or in "bins" for patrons to sort through. In the case of the one I went to with my aunt in Portland, said stuff is then sold by the pound.

And y'all, I couldn't handle it. It was early in college when I went, and I was overwhelmed, grossed out, and scared that I'd reach into a bin and pull out a hypodermic needle or something. I just couldn't do it. And I haven't been to a bins store since then.

Until today...

In Austin, the Goodwill bins is called the Blue Hanger Discount Store. Stuff there isn't sold by the pound, but it's significantly cheaper than regular Goodwill prices (for example, clothes are $1.25 per item, books are $.50, etc.). The layout is just like I remember the store in Portland being--a big warehouse room of tables piled high with stuff. Not really sorted, other than clothes in one area, books in a second, and everything else in a third, and not very clean. Sorta smelly and questionable.

In all that silt, though, there is gold.

At left, you will see my haul. Total spent? A bit less than $20 (cat not included). For real.

This is what you're seeing in the picture:
A brand new cat scratching post, $3
A beautiful wicker sewing basket, $2
A stuffed snake (my dogs LOVE them), $1
Two wide mouth mason jars (I use them to hold bath salts, scrub, etc.), $.25 each
A burlap, plastic-lined reusable grocery bag with an organic coffee logo, $2
2 pairs of Banana Republic slacks for Mark, both in good shape, $1.25 each
A cool old-fashioned style bandana, $.25
A velvet bolero jacket/shrug/fancy cover up thing from Lane Bryant, $1.25
A red flowered Gap cami with built in bra, $1.25
A gorgeous black embroidered blouse from Lane Bryant, $1.25
Two pairs of capris for me, one Tommy Hilfiger, one Gap, $1.25 each
A fully lined black Le Suit suit skirt for me, $1.25 (which doesn't fit, unfortunately)
TOTAL: $18.75 plus tax

So, needless to say, I am LOVING the Blue Hanger Discount Store.

However, there is a caveat: if you don't actually like to thrift, don't bother with the bins. Seriously, it's not worth it. The prices are great, but this is a thrifting marathon. You have to dig through A LOT of shit to get to the good stuff. And some of it is nasty. I'm not just talking about seeing other people's old underwear, here, either--I'm talking about seeing other people's old potty chairs, vibrators, dentures, and syringes, and none of it being clean. And having to dig through it with your own two hands. It ain't pretty. I saw one woman there with gloves on, and she clearly had the right idea. There are no dressing rooms, but I wouldn't try this stuff on without washing it even if there were. There are no returns or exchanges, either--you buy it, it's yours.

Also, if you have a lack of patience, don't bother with the bins. This trip took me about two and a half hours. The stuff there is 90% crap, at least, and you have to get through it all to find the good stuff. It takes time.

If you are a small size, though (anything below a 12 I'd say) and have a good bit of patience and a strong stomach, you could practically re-outfit yourself here for not much money at all. And don't skip the non-clothes, either--I found some wonderful stuff in the junk bins, and if I had kids to buy for, I'd have really been in heaven. The only real loser section is the books, and I might just be thinking that because I had to see books thrown around in bins like that.

All in all, the Blue Hanger has to be the most rewarding thrift experience I've had in Austin. It's going to be my new go-to store.

Several times, I have been advised that the way one is happiest in one's job is to try to make money doing something you love to do anyway. I've steadily ignored this advice, since the one time I tried to make money doing what I loved (writing for a newspaper, in this case), it was disastrous. I ended up not loving it anymore, and it hasn't been worth it to me to try again, since I'm not willing to lose anymore passions.

Until now.

Another piece of advice I've gotten more than once is that I should become a personal shopper, since I love to shop, especially for other people, and can often find good deals on things and spot cool things other people miss. This advice has also been met with resistance, as I've said that anyone who can afford to employ a personal shopper is going to want to shop for things that are beyond my interest and shop at stores I'm not comfortable setting foot in. Nobody, I've said numerous times, wants a personal thrift shopper.

Except maybe they do, because that is what a lot of Ebay is--personal thrift shoppers. People who buy things at thrift stores and garage sales and resell them for a profit on Ebay. I knew this before, of course, but never did it myself, because I could never figure out how buying something for $5 at the Goodwill and selling it for $7 on Ebay would be worth the time.

And then last week I discovered the Goodwill bins, where all items of clothing are $1.25. Buy something for $1.25 and sell it for $7 and there might just be enough profit in it to make it worthwhile. And so I set out, for only the second time, trying to make a profit doing something I love...

I've opened an Ebay store, Your Personal Thrift Shopper. Right now, it's very heavy on clothes for babies and toddlers, because that's what I've had the best luck with finding at the bins, and because I've gotten a lot of wonderful advice on what brands, etc. are good for resale in that department. However, I'm keeping statistics of how much I put into things and what they sell for, and I'll be trying to tailor my thrifting (and therefore inventory) to meet whatever is in demand. That being said, if you have a size or item you'd like me to keep my eye out for, just drop me an email.

I'm sure, given discussions I've had here and elsewhere before, that there is going to be some flak headed my way for trying to profit off thrift shopping. It has been suggested to me that someone in my income bracket is somehow "cheating" by even shopping at thrift stores, much less buying low there with the intention of selling high(er). I've got to tell you, though, I've given it a lot of thought, and I see nothing to feel bad about. The stores in my area are stocked to the gills--there is no shortage of stuff to thrift. And the bins is the last stop pre-dumpster for most of this stuff, so buying it, even to resell, is keeping it out of a landfill, which I'm all for. Also, if it doesn't sell, and some of it surely won't, I'll either give it away or give it back to the Goodwill, so it's not like now that I'm selling things I'm going to stop giving. When someone buys something off Ebay that they could have thrifted themselves, what they are paying for is the time and effort it took the person who found, listed, and sold that item to do so. And I think that's a skill worth paying for. My time has value, and if this can draw that value out of the time I spend thrifting, then I don't think that hurts anybody. Much--even most--of what we pay others to do is stuff we could do ourselves, or could learn to do ourselves, and I don't see how this is any different. Just like anything else, thrifting can be a service.

So, if you are in the market for thrifted stuff, without having to dig through the piles yourself, keep an eye on my store. The stock should change often, as I thrift often, and as I said before, I'm happy to do what I can to fill special requests, just let me know.

Well, I'm a week in, and my first bunch of auctions have ended. Results thus far have been semi-disappointing. It's doable, I can make money at it, but it's a lot of effort for a little bit of cash so far. However, I know at least ten times as much about what will sell and how to sell it than I did at this time last week, so I'm guessing my next bunch of auctions will do better. And even if the profit margin is smaller than I'd like, it seems pretty clear that I can consistently make SOME money at it. And in the credit card pay off race, every little bit helps.

Which brings me to my other update.

On February 22, I posted the following:

Total credit card debt: $8,093.16
Total student loan debt: $33,674.75
Total savings: $163.77
Checking account balance: $11.69

Right now, I'm here:

Total credit card debt: $6,130.13 (though $600 is Mark's and will be paid from him ASAP)
Total student loan debt: $33,517.92
Total savings: $100.00
Checking account balance: $200.24

The other change is that my raise went through, so my monthly take home has moved from about $2,868.97 to $2,969.04. So...progress, albeit not quite as much as I'd hoped.

I've never been a very good environmentalist. It's not that I don't care about the environment, or that I don't think there's real danger, but I grew up in a culture in which environmental protection was, or at least seemed to be, at odds with my family's livelihood, and there really wasn't room to be wishy washy on the subject, as we were just getting by as it was. As I got older, environmental concerns just seemed really far away. I can understand, intellectually, that we are running out of clean air and clean water and natural resources, but I can't see it in my day to day life. Which makes it hard to justify making sacrifices. Sure, I recycle and try to curb my use of nasty chemicals, but I still waste and waste like a typical American.

Well, it's come home lately.

Since I've started frequenting the bins, I've been told that the stock at the stores turns over at least once a day, and that what doesn't sell gets thrown away. I didn't really believe that, though--I mean, how can it really be true that hundreds (thousands?) of pounds of stuff are being thrown out every day, much of it in good condition and almost all of it in usable condition? So I decided to try to find out for myself, and proceeded to visit one of the bins stores four days in a row.

They're weren't lying. The stock has completely turned over every day.

And I get it now.

We're killing ourselves with our own consumption. Creating these mountains and mountains of trash that isn't trash at all, until we're all buried under it, and all the time buying more and more new stuff. I'm as guilty of this as anyone, and guiltier than many. And, in part, I've justified my consumption by donating my old stuff to the Goodwill, with the idea that someone else will use it, and it supports a good cause, so it's OK. But it's become clear now that someone else doesn't always use it, and when I buy something to "replace" something that doesn't need replacing, I'm not really helping anybody.

So reduce, that's step one. Just buy. less. shit. It seems so simple, and yet it is the single most difficult thing I've ever attempted. Why is that? I can't see this resolving itself, but I'm hoping that the picture I now have burned into my brain of forklifts loading trucks to take usable stuff to the dump will help. I can literally imagine being buried under it all. It's a chilling image.

And secondly, reuse. And what that means to me, in part, is that thrifting has moved from a hobby to a business to a responsibility. I simply cannot, in good conscience, buy stuff new that I know I can get used. Now that I know, and have seen with my own eyes, just how much stuff is getting thrown away just in my little corner of the world, how can I rationalize adding to it? Sure, there are certain things I "need" to buy new (shoes are a good example, due to my size issues) or just can't quite stomach not buying new (underclothing, etc.), but for 95% of what I wear and use most days, there is no good reason to buy new. Yes, buying new is easier, but so is not recycling, so is driving instead of walking, so are a million and one other things that I and people like me all over the world are doing that corrode the planet. Easier just isn't a good enough reason anymore.

I've long admired people who have contests on their blogs, but never put one together myself. However, an idea came to me last night while (what else?) thrifting, so I present to you my first ever blog contest!

First, some background: one of the reasons I like thrifting (and this may be true of all thrifters or may just be me, I'm not sure) is that I am sentimental about other people' stuff. I like to look at all the items for sale in thrift shops and think about where they came from and what they were used for and stuff like that. This is a messy business, however, when it comes to trying to make a profit thrifting, as it is difficult for me to force myself to buy only stuff I think I can resell and not stuff I think deserves another chance.

And there are always certain items that I just plain feel sorry for. Not the stuff that has clearly been used and loved and has come to thrift store to die--I'm fine with that stuff. Rather, I feel sorry for stuff that has clearly not been used. And more than anything, these days, I feel sorry for Beanie Babies.

Every time I go to the bins, I see no fewer than 20 Beanie Babies, 90% of which still have their tags on them. These have never been played with or used in any way. They were purchased to "make someone a fortune," and when they didn't, they were ditched at the thrift store. This is unbearably sad to me. And yet, I can't let myself buy the Beanie Babies and give them a better life, another shot, because I know I can't resell them and I have no use for them myself. I mean, what am I gonna do with an Army of tags-still-on Beanie Babies?

That's where the contest comes in. I want to hear all of your ideas for uses for these poor neglected and abandoned Beanie Babies. Come up with some reason for me to free them from their thrift store confines. If it figures into your equation at all, know that they can be had for between ten cents and a quarter each.

The best idea will get a prize. The prize is a secret. Go forth and participate!

Having been to both Goodwill Blue Hanger locations in Austin several times now, I think I am qualified to tell you this:

The North store is far, far superior than the East store. It has AC, indoor bathrooms (that are not bad at all), it's not as crowded, the staff is nicer, and the selection and prices are just about the same. Also, they don't run out of carts and there are always parking spaces. Can't recommend it highly enough.

But don't go there and get all the good shit before me!

Someone asked me recently how my thrift-for-profit venture was going, and I realized I hadn't posted a full autopsy report of that now-dead enterprise. I meant to, I apparently just flaked on it.

Anyway, thrifting for profit. First, I absolutely believe it is doable and that some people are very successful at it. I also absolutely believe that I will never be one of those people. It's just not in me.

See, the part of thrifting for profit that is time-and-effort consuming isn't the thrifting part. It's the researching what will make money, writing listings, answering questions, and spending endless hours at the post office. And I want to do none of those things. So, what I end up with is piles of stuff that either isn't worth enough to bother trying to sell or I am too lazy to try to sell, making the entire enterprise revenue-reducing, rather than revenue-generating.

Which isn't to say that there aren't still things I would buy and slap up on Ebay if I saw them--Ergos, new Dankso clogs, things I know will sell. But thrifting for profit in bulk, as a side business, just isn't going to work.

I've learned a couple of valuable lessons, I think. The biggest one is that just because something has "intrinsic" value (is well made, has lots of wear left in it, etc.) doesn't mean it has market value. I should have already known that, of course, but this experiment certainly served as a reminder. The second one is that my labor has worth, and even though the thrifting part is something I'd be happy to do for free, the rest of it isn't, so the whole thing would have to pay enough for that part to be worth my while. Which it doesn't.

However, having seen what I've seen by visiting the bins weekly or more for months, I don't think my personal consumption habits will ever be the same. The sheer volume of stuff that is thrown away is truly nightmarish, and it has definitely upped the ante for me in terms of how I shop. I'm not committed enough to go 100% used--at my size, I just can't put in the effort and time and heartache all used clothes would mean--but there are things I would have bought at a conventional store before that I won't now. For example, I spent a couple of month’s worth of thrift store trips looking for pint glasses recently. We wanted some, and they wouldn't have been much more expensive (and would have been immediate) if we'd just bought them new, but I know how much glassware gets thrown away, so I just kept an eye out for them until I found them used. Whether or not that kind of a gesture ultimately makes any difference I can't say, but it does make me feel marginally better about being a part of this over-consuming society.

My attention is currently on thrifting Christmas gifts. I don't think I'll be able to manage 100% thrifted presents, but I'm going to do the best I can, and I have a few things left over from my attempts at thrifting to sell that will work well as gifts. I'm working on feeling OK about giving the people on my list who are not thrifters themselves non-new presents...without getting up on a high horse about it. We'll see how that all goes.

All in all, I'm glad I conducted the thrift-for-profit experiment, as I think it has really opened my eyes and helped me to be that much more honest with myself about my consumption. I admire people who do it seriously--it's a butt load of work, and mostly not the fun kind. And I'm glad to be back to just being a recreational thrifter.

Can I just say how wonderful it is that it's only Saturday morning and I feel like I've already had a full weekend? Extended weekends are possibly my favorite thing ever.

I do have a good bit of work to do this weekend--revisions on my PR--but I can't even get worked up about that, since I feel like I have plenty of time and I'm still faintly interested in the project and I know it will be completely done forever in just a few days.

My blogging guru The Princess upgraded us to Movable Type 4 last night, so as I'm posting this, everything looks totally different. It's kind of disorienting, actually, and I think it's causing me to write in a semi-disoriented way, so I apologize. I have already noticed a couple of excellent-seeming new features, including post auto-saving. So I'm sure I'll get used to it.

Today we're making turkey pot pie. Doesn't that sound good? It's all rainy and nasty outside--what could be better than a pastry crust to deal with that?

I had fantastic luck thrifting yesterday. Not much for myself, but several cool swappable things. I also shopped some excellent online Black Friday sales at small shops yesterday, which I shouldn't have done, but couldn't resist. I should be set for bath products for some time. And a few gifts as well. I love Etsy. Speaking of, have you heard of the Buy Handmade Pledge?

I suppose if I am going to be typing, it ought to be on the PR. Or I could nap...it will be very convenient, as I've not changed out of my pajamas yet.

One of my favorite holiday gifts this year has just been given, so I can share it with you all now.

About a month ago, I purchased a Ryan's Room A-frame doll house at the Goodwill. It came with several roomfuls of furniture for a total of $9.99. Retail for the lot would have been $150 or more, but it was in less than savory shape. The house's previous owner had covered much of it with marker scribblings, a house number, stickers, etc.

(The photo is of a colorful wooden doll house covered in scribbling, stickers, etc.)

Knowing my small friend Y. was wanting a doll house for Christmas, I thought maybe I could do some touch-ups on this and make it good-as-new for her. Today, she and her Pepe came to visit us, and she left with this:

(The picture shows the same doll house, newly painted in bright colors.)

It's amazing what a little cleaning, sanding, and painting will do.

Now, if I get the furniture done before her birthday...

Anybody who has been reading this blog for any time at all knows that I am a voracious thrift shopper (in fact, I have a whole blog archive of thrift-related posts). However, something I may have been less-than-forthcoming with here recently is that I haven't, for the last few years, thrifted much in the way of clothing for myself.

Why? Well, there is a simple reason and it's one I'm not proud of: It just got too hard. Not only did finding clothes in my size in thrift stores take forever once I passed size 14, but sifting through rack after rack of clothes too small for me made me feel bad about myself. And though there was no moment at which I decided to stop trying to find clothes for myself at thrift stores, I slowly did stop trying. I still thrift shopped as much as ever, I just bought other things.

All of this would have been fine, of course, except that it didn't translate into me not buying clothes. It translated, instead, into me buying new clothes. For the last couple of years, most of my clothes (and they are significant) have come from Ross, Target, and New York & Company. I've even ventured to Old Navy and the Gap more often than I'd like to admit.

I have kind of a moral problem with that. I've been buying clothes that were made under bad labor conditions of chemically treated fabrics, then sold for less than they would be worth under a real wage system. And I've been doing it, basically, out of laziness and inability to deal with my own body.

It needs to stop.

Yesterday afternoon, Mark and I finally got around to pulling some stuff out of our garage and loading into the Element to take to the Goodwill. I drove it over to my favorite store, which also happens to be the one closest to our house. When I pulled up and popped the back open, the man on duty wrinkled his nose and told me, in nearly these exact words, that he couldn't take my cat-hair covered crap, and that I should throw it away myself and not expect them to do it for me. I was stunned into silence. The things in my truck were not exactly prized possessions, but they were not crap. They were what I would consider about median items for that particular store. And, as someone who visits that store about once a week, I think I'd know. I wasn't really angry that the dude didn't want my stuff--that's fine, that's his perogative--but I honestly couldn't believe he was so rude about it. And I checked afterwards--nothing in my car was on the posted list of stuff the Goodwill won't take.

So I drove the stuff home, and proceeded to forget to take it out of the truck. Then, today, I visited another Goodwill, this one closer to work (and one for which I desperately need to write a review, as it is fast becoming my second favorite). On a whim, before I left, I whipped over to their donation area and asked the two men there if they would accept the stuff in my car. They said of course, were very polite and kind, and even thanked me for helping them get it out of my car (there was a heavy piece of furniture involved). Then they offered me a receipt, thanked me for my donation, and sent me on my way.

I am thinking this shouldn't piss me off. I should be charitable and assume that the guy at the first GW was just having a bad day, or was allergic to cats (because I am not about to pretend my stuff was hair free). There was nothing insulting in my load of donations. Nothing that should be repellent to touch. There were no uncleaned Diaper Genies or half-used bottles of KY jelly, which are both things I have seen for sale in that store. I didn't do anything wrong. So it had to be something having to do with that particular dude. Still, a very strange experience, and one that left a bad taste in my mouth.

A long time ago, Bomboniera posted about a French press travel mug. Then, after she actually acquired said mug, she posted again about its awesomeness. Since reading these posts, I have been lusting after said mug. But I have refrained from buying it, thinking it unnecessary, as I have a French press at home and a French press at work.

Well, yesterday at the Goodwill, I spotted the mug show at left, this Bodum model. New with a Target sticker stuck on it (probably the reason Target sent it to the GW). For $1.

How could I say no?

I'm drinking out of it today, and it is indeed everything I'd hoped. It doesn't keep the coffee hot for as long as my regular travel mug, but it also lets me make the perfect amount of coffee, not wasting any. Plus it has a great lid that actually closes so I don't slosh coffee all over.

Score!

Some time ago, I started what I intended to be a series of posts highlighting some of my coolest thrift finds. Given my propensity to start and not finish things, it is unremarkable that my series ended up one post long. However, I'm picking it back up, so hopefully I'll remember to actually do it regularly now.

What you see here is part of a set of cool looking pie plates I've thrifted. I paid between $2 and $3 each for them. I actually also have a few more similar plates that don't belong in this set, and there was one more, a strawberry pie one, which I had to throw out because it broke. I'm still on the lookout for another one of those, plus the pecan pie, cheesecake, and quiche Lorraine plates that go with the set.

Internet research tells me that these aren't actually as old as they appear. In fact, I think they are part of the Royal China Country Harvest series, which means they're from the late-70s/early-80s. They don't have any branding on them, just a "USA" stamp on the back. So, they aren't worth much, or even enough to be worth my time Ebaying them, but that's just as well, because I love them and want to keep them.

Now that I am not going to bore you with my daily clothing choices, what shall we talk about?

How about my other favorite subject: thrifting!

I have to start bringing my camera when I go to the Goodwill. You would not believe the crap I see. I am a committed re-user. There are very few things I won't buy used. That being said, it is simply inappropriate to see half-used bottles of Astroglide for sale. For real. Ew.

That being said, I did really well thrifting today. I bought an extra large collapsible dog crate, worth about $160 new, in excellent condition, for $15.99. We don't need it--we have one just like it--but the rescue can definitely use it. I also bought some Robeez in excellent condition (a gift for the small friend whom I hope to visit this weekend), and a few items for my crafting pleasure.

And these.

These are a set of three super heavy-weight glass jars, from Italy, with cool slanted tops. We use these types of jars for all of our legumes and grains, and these are the by far coolest ones I have ever thrifted. I paid $5.99 for the set, which is probably too much, but I just couldn't resist.

Okay, it's March 1, and that means it's time for my first list, as per this month's NaBloPoMo theme. Since I spent the better part of the day today hitting a string of thrift stores with my good friend The Princess, seems natural that my list should tell you where we went and what I thrifted!

1. Goodwill South Lamar was our first stop. This isn't a store I frequent often, since it's way out of my neighborhood, but it's a nice store and usually has something to offer. Today wasn't any different--our first stop was the most worthwhile, at least for me. My best find was the two tin recipe boxes you see here, for $.99 each. No idea what I am going to do with them, but aren't they great? I also came home with a brand new Bodum French press for $1.99 (and we don't really need another one right now, but given my propensity to break them, it doesn't hurt to have a spare), a shirt for Mark for I think $4.99, two of these great calendars for $.99 each (and again I am not totally sure what I am going to do with them), and a princess book for a project I'll tell you about later for $2.99.

2. Our second stop was Savers South Lamar. I am not a huge Savers fan, but it was very much worth my time to stop there today. I found the cat condo you see here being enjoyed by Atticus and Illy, which is brand new, for $25. I thought maybe I'd overpaid until I looked for something similar online and found prices around $90 for something not so cute. At the cats love it so far. I also got a couple more princess books and an Easter Seals calendar (I needed flower pictures for a project I'm working on), for $.99 each.

3. Stop #3 was at Thrift Town. I've reviewed this store before. Nothing there for me today, though I considered buying a big bag of cat toys for $4.99.

4. Next, we hit another Goodwill, the Cherry Creek one. I've reviewed this store before as well. Today it was better than last time, though still lacking in the organizational department. I picked up a bunch of princess valentine's for $.49/box (again, I will explain why at some point in the future), some chi-chi bath sets from Target for $2.99 each, and the world's cutest salt and pepper shakers, new in the package, for $.99.

Then The Princess had to go home and tend to her wee one. Boo hoo!

5. On the way home, I hit the Norwood Goodwill, a store I haven't visited in some time (though I did review it a while back). Like last time, the store was very nice, but didn't actually have anything I wanted. The only thing I even considered buying was a plastic ladle for $1.99.

6. Finally, I went by my weekly stop gold-standard store, the Goodwill at MacFarlane. There wasn't anything there for me today either, but that's not surprising as it's been less than a week since I last visited.

All in all, a very good day. Had a wonderful time, got good stuff, and didn't spend an exorbitant amount. I really like visiting the stores that are off my usual beaten path. Looking at the GW website, I remember my plan to visit every GW in the area. I still haven't been to the Balcones location or the one on Brodie, or any of the ones in the burbs. Maybe next weekend...Princess, are you up for an adventure?

2800 South Lamar Blvd.
Austin, TX 78704
512-442-8802

Store Hours
Mon-Sat: 9:00am - 9:00pm
Sun: 11:00am - 7:00pm

The Goodwill on South Lamar is one I have been to several times before, and it's always been pretty good to me. It's cleaner and better organized than your average Goodwill, which is always a plus, and it uses the same basic pricing structure for most items. However, this store also has a separate section of "better" clothing (lots of gently used and new Banana Republic) that are priced slightly higher (around $10 an item). For someone who doesn't mind going through and looking for these things herself, that's a bit of a drag, but for a less dedicated thrifter it might actually be a plus.

On my most recent trip, I didn't look much at the clothes--I've previously been discouraged by a lack of plus-sized selections. I spent most of my time in the housewares section, which was great. It's a good mix of used and some vintage pieces and quite a few Target seconds or clearance items. Things are reasonably well-organized and priced pretty consistently.

The book section in this store is only average sized and hasn't ever begotten much for me. The furniture is in a separate building, away from the rest of the store, and is very hit or miss.

Yesterday, the intrepid Princess and I hit some new thrift stores. In specific, we went on a troll of suburban Goodwills.

First, we hit the northern Blue Hanger store, which I've visited many times (and mentioned here) before, but the Princess had never visited. We both did well there for tiny amounts of cash. I got a heart-shaped box to turn into a princess box, some cute striped envelopes to use for packaging some bath products, a star-shaped silicone mold to make bath products, a bunch of Disney princess books (again, for collaging), and a beautiful small bamboo cutting board which will be perfect for antipasta. There may have been something else as well...and I spent like $6. The Princess stocked up on thank-you notes and some great wooden toys and a few books for her Small Man.

Next, we had had lunch (and made a much-needed hand washing stop--I really need to start carrying sanitizer in my car to use after Goodwill trips). Then we we continued up the highway to Cedar Park. Where we got lost, paid unnecessary tolls, and then finally found the Parmer Lane Goodwill.

This is a very, very nice Goodwill. It would be a great starter store for someone who isn't experienced in thrifting or is yucked out by it. It is extremely clean and well-organized (the books are alphabetized by author, which neither The Princess or I had ever seen at a thrift store before). We didn't spend much time in the clothes, but they look to be of pretty high quality and very nicely arranged (though not by size, which is so annoying). The children's clothing section looked particularly well-stocked, and I saw several racks of plus-sized clothes as well. I'd say housewares were the most lacking section in the store--only a few short aisles.

I snatched up a few more Princess books, but didn't see much else that would work for me. The Princess got a couple more books for the Small Man. Neither of us found as much as I'd have expected, given how nice the store is, but it was likely because we were looking for housewares and linens and not clothes.

Last, we hit the Cedar Park Goodwill. Another very nice store, this one with a few more housewares fewer books. Again very clean and pretty well organized. I didn't look at the clothes at all, so I can't attest to anything there. The housewares section was pretty extensive, and had some nice stuff. The Princess picked up some plastic glasses to use in her yard, some more thank you notes, and...something else? I got another box for collaging.

No major expenditures today, or really great finds (except maybe the bamboo board), but these are both stores I'll visit again. There is another store, the New Hope one, that is only a couple of miles directly down the road, so the next trip will definitely need to include a pass at that store as well.

OK. This is a list of all the area Goodwills, the ones I have visited in bold.

1. Balcones
2. MacFarlane
3. Norwood
4. North Lamar
5. Airport
6. South Lamar
7. Cherry Creek
8. Brodie
9. Lake Austin
10. Blue Hanger
11. Blue Hanger North
12. Cedar Park
13. Parmer Lane
14. New Hope
15. Georgetown
16. Hutto
17. Oak Hill
18. Round Rock
19. San Marcos

So that thing about how I haven't eaten or shopped to combat stress? Spoke too soon. I did both today. Again, though, I remained fairly moderate. I went on my once-weekly thrifting trip, but I stayed in budget, and I ate some fast food, but I stayed within my daily points, so I don't feel terrible.

One of the new rules I'm establishing for myself, however, is that I have to post here every time I thrift, including pictures of what I bought and how much I spent. The dual purposes here are keeping me honest, and trying to get up an archive of my thrifted treasures (because I totally love it when other people do that). Today's trip wasn't that interesting, all things considered, but you have to start somewhere.

Location: Goodwill Blue Hanger North

The big thing I looked for on this trip was clothes for myself, along with a few things I owe to other folks. I don't usually do this well for myself on one trip to the bins, though.

The first picture shows a pink and blue paisley box pleated Liz Claiborne silk skirt, a white and blue geometric floral Merona sleeveless shirt, and a sleeveless knee length blue cotton dress by Apostrophe.

Here we have two three-quarter length scoop-neck tee-shirts, by George (is that Wal-Mart?).

Finally, a pair of blue and white plaid flannel PJ pants (there are never too many!) and a sleeveless green sweater from Old Navy.

Each item was $1.25. The thing I really love, though? These clothes are from horrific manufacturers (Wal-Mart??), but I did not in any way support those companies or the demand for their products. That's the beauty of it. That and this stuff will now be worn by me, rather than be sold as rags or worse.

I didn't just buy clothes today, though. I also got this stuff:

What you see here are five pillowcases--one geometric green and white one, and four tie-dyed one. I have a bit of a pillowcase obsession, as I change my cases every five minutes or so to keep allergies at bay. And I love these dyed ones. Mark, of course, hates them. They were $0.50 each, and although they aren't quite as cool as the stuff my friend over at Dye Tyke makes, they'll definitely work.

This is three pieces of fabric. One is about 1/2 yard of yellow synthetic felt, one is about 2 yards of green felt, which I think is wool blend, and one is 1 1/2 yards of blue wool blend cloth. These cost between $1.00 and $2.00 each.

These were my most interesting finds of the day. The parisol was $1.00 and the wooden beads (and there must be at least 20" of them) were $2.50.

Total spent, including tax: $19.49

I forgot to take a picture before I put everything away, but I went thrifting again today (I know, I'm only supposed to go once per week, but I really needed a break from work so I went at lunch). I spent about $7.50 at the Southern Blue Hanger and got the following:
-four glass jars with hinge lids to keep grains/legumes/etc. in, in particularly good shape
-a blue wrap dress for myself (I think it might be too small though)
-for a swap package I am making for a little girl, two princess dresses (with easily removable Disney princess bits), a pair of fairy/butterfly wings, and a grass skirt

Y'all, I never thought it would happen, but it has:

I've gotten too cheap for the Goodwill.

The bins has ruined me.

Yesterday, I went by a regular Goodwill store, as I was selling books at the store next door. Did I find anything I wanted? Yes. Did I buy it? No. Why? Because I thought it was too expensive.

I have long made fun of people who complain that the Goodwill is overpriced. It seems ridiculous to me. But yesterday I found myself doing the same thing.

To be fair, though, what I was looking at was overpriced. There were several of these jars (the large ones), available for $4.99 each. Notice how they cost $3.99 each new at Ikea. Yeah. That really is ridiculous.

It's not just that, though. I look at clothes, for between $3.99 and $7.99, and think to myself "but this would only be $1.25 at the bins!" I look at books for $2.99 or $3.99 and think "$0.99 at the bins!" It's bad.

I once again neglected to take a picture, but a $5 trip to the southern Blue Hanger store during my lunchtime yesterday yielded the following:

• A new-looking Build-A-Bear train, for a small friend's upcoming first birthday
• Four much-needed ice cube trays, to freeze stock and pesto in at home
• A vintage tin Pillsbury recipe box
• A set of brand new Australia coasters with cool art on them (our coasters are disappearing like mad for some reason)
• A stack of unused cross stitch cloth, in various shades of white and off-white
• A stack of vintage 60s and early 70s knitting and sewing patterns

I've noticed recently that many of my favorite blogs feature contest. I just entered one at not martha fantastic cards, for example. Karen at chookooloonks is currently running one for a framed print of one of her photographs. Ree at Confessions of a Pioneer Women has ones with fantastic prizes all the time. So, I was thinking to myself, I should have a contest!

Here's what we'll do. You leave a comment. Tell me the types of things you wish you could thrift for, or you do thrift for. A week from now, on Thursday, July 17, I will use a random number generator to pick one comment, and I will thrift a fabulous gift for that person.

Cool?

Comment NOW!

Remember the other day when I was saying that I am now too cheap for the regular Goodwill?

I realized the other day exactly what my issue is:

In the past, I've defended the Goodwill's right to charge prices as high as they'd like. My argument is that the service they provide isn't selling cheap goods--the stores are money making ventures to fund their job training and placement services. So if they can get high prices for their stuff, then more power to them.

Now, though, I think they've overshot their mark. Because the regular Goodwills seem to be less and less crowded, and the bins more and more, both with goods and with people. The implication of that, to me, is that they are selling less at their regular stores and more at the bins. Which in turn implies that other people are feeling the same way I do, and spending more time sifting through the bins and less time looking at the shelves in the regular stores. And, ultimately, spending less.

The bins isn't immune, either. I had a big stack of craft felt sheets in my cart the other day, 30 of them, and the cashier said $0.25 each. Which would have been a total of $7.50. How much are those new? Less than $5. But most of the time, it's great.

Recent finds?

A NIP Melissa & Doug backgammon set ($29.95 new) for $2.

A NIP Wilton cookie set (cookie sheet, cooling rack, and Christmas cookie cutters) for $1.

Really cool brandy snifters for $0.99.

Tye-dyed dog bed cover (woohoo!) for $0.75.

Oh, that reminds me--better go enter my blog thrifting contest. Today's the last day!!

The random number generator picked naughty number 9, so the winner of my thrifting contest is the 9th commenter, Shoppista! Send your mailing address to avengingophelia@gmail.com, Shoppista, and a thrifted treasure will soon be on its way to you.

Thanks for playing, everyone!

Yesterday I actually thrifted something worth money. I think it's even worth enough to bother listing it on Ebay. This is, as I've mentioned before, unusual for me. I tried the whole "thrift for profit" thing, and I am just not cut out for it.

My score? A vintage 1973 Fisher Price Little People Play Village, in excellent condition, with most of the pieces (people, vehicles, furniture, etc.). For $1.

For a minute there, I felt like Betsy Smith.

Some days, the thrift gods smile on you. I have my fair share of those days. Days like today, though, the thrift gods sweep you up in their arms and give you a deep tongue kiss, and you are powerless to resist them.

So you wanna see my haul?

First, two wool Army-style blankets, $2.50 each. These are to swap, as I know someone who is looking for them.

Next, a few things for my house. In this picture you see a small sized Borden French press ($0.50), two glass hinge-top storage jars ($0.50 each, can't ever turn those down), three cute jelly jars ($0.25 each), a collapsible cribbage board ($1.00), and a spice jar ($0.15).

Here we've got two big boxes of K'nex. Well, mostly K'nex--one of the boxes is actually about half NBA-set Legos. It's gonna take a while to sort those out! $2.50 for each box. These I'll either swap or sell.

Here we've got two floor puzzles, both in excellent shape ($1.00 each), an amazing pattern for a 20's flapper style dress ($0.50), a new learning to crochet kit ($1.50), and a pound of olive oil soap base ($0.75). The puzzles I can either swap or gift, the rest is for me. Maybe I'll even learn to crochet!

In this picture you see a Ziploc full of spools of ribbon ($1.50), another full of buttons ($2.00), a new watercolor paid ($0.50), and a couple of packages of elastic ($0.25 each). I am hoping to swap these things with folks who can use them.

And then there was yarn. So. much. yarn. All of this is for swapping. Unless I magically learn to knit. It was all $0.25-$0.75 per skein.

This is five skeins of pale blue Spinnerin Mona yarn, imported from Switzerland. It is 100% virgin wool.

Here we see seven skeins of dark purple Emu Superwash washable wool yarn. It's 100% new wool and made in England.

This picture shows a crazy twenty skeins of lavender Kid Mohair yarn. It's from the Italian brand Filatura Di Crosa. It's 80% mohair kid and 20% nylon.

This pink yarn looks like it has been around a while, even though most of it is still new in the sleeve. It is what I think comes out to five skeins of 70% mohair and 30% wool yarn from Bear Brand's Loop-Aire.

Finally, in the miscellaneous yarn category, we have a big skein of blue yarn that I think might be synthetic, a skein of 100% wool yarn from Sensations in "green licorice," a skein of the Swiss Mona yarn in cream, and a skein of 100% Italian mohair yarn by Ballet in pink/lavender.

Hot damn.

Remember my attempt to thrift for profit? And how it failed? I've recently found a few things that are actually worth selling, and that got me to thinking about that whole concept again.

But it's not in me, honestly. Thrifting for profit takes two things I really don't have: the first is commitment, the second is patience. So, instead, I have sort of developed my own set of thrifting guidelines. Which will I now share with you.

When I thrift, this is what I am looking for (in this order):

1. Things that are needed or wanted at my house. I have a list (mentally, usually) of these things. There are some things that are seasonal or move off and on to the list, and some things that I am always looking for. For example, I'm always on the lookout for cool large sized glass jars with lids for food storage, button down shirts for Mark, dog and cat toys, and things that can be used for dog beds (particularly crib mattresses). Lately, I've been looking for heavy bottomed lowball glasses and appertif glasses.


2. Things that others have asked me to look for: My friends and family occasionally ask me to look for certain things for them. I keep a list of these things in my day planner and an always on the lookout for them. I've been looking for a 10" glass pan lid in excellent shape for Mark's parents for a year.


3. Gifts. I absolutely thrift for gifts and hoard them. Anything that is new with tags gets a gift-possibility once over (though most of it gets left behind as inappropriate for anyone to whom I give gifts). An example? My mom got three 100% cotton (she's allergic to wool) new with tags sweaters, all name brands (Eddie Bauer, Ann Taylor, Ralph Lauren), last Christmas. All from the Goodwill. Child friends very often get thrifted gifts, including Melissa & Doug floor puzzles and a Build-a-Bear train set, most recently.


4. Swappables. For the last several months, I've been doing a lot of swapping on one of the Internet communities to which I belong. I really love it. Swapping is a much friendlier system than selling. I both look for things to swap that I know people want specifically and general items that always seem desirable. Mostly, this is craft stuff or cool toys. I always buy natural fiber yarn, embroidery thread, vintage knitting and sewing patterns, etc.


5. Sellables. Even though thrifting for profit isn't my calling in life, I occasionally find things I know I can sell, and I definitely grab those. The Little People village was a recent example of this. Other times, I thrift things thinking I'll gift or trade them, and end up selling them because they end up being worth more than I'd expected. The big lot of mohair yarn I thrifted recently is an example of this. However, I try not to thrift anything with the expectation of selling it unless I am quite sure it is actually worth the time and trouble, which doesn't happen often.

Using these guidelines, I have definitely cut down on the worthless crap I bring home. When I pick up an item, I run through this list. If I doesn't fit, it shouldn't be coming home with me, no matter how cool it is.

Since I shared my thrifting rules, let's see how well I have managed to follow them these past couple of days, shall we?

This is a Vera Bradley wallet. I just bought it for myself because I thought it was cute and wanted a wallet with a window ID pocket. It was $0.25.

This is a super cute pajama set, new in its cotton bag. I really love the old style pattern and the very light fabric. Sadly too small for me, this will make a great gift for someone a bit smaller than me. I've got a couple of ideas of folks who might enjoy these. $1.25 was the price, I believe.

These new with tags Kelme soccer shorts are for Mark. They were $1.25.

A bag of leftover Christmas cat toys, had for $1.00, is always useful at my house.

These cute little suckers are Latitude Enfant Grannimals Emile and Emilien. I believe they were $0.75, and they're to be swapped, along with a previously thrifted animal from the same line.

This wooden puppy puzzle is meant to be a gift for my small friend Zahni. I think it was $0.50.

Here we've got two bags of bath salts from Austin's own Herb Bar. Either for my own use or for gifts, I can't pass stuff like this up. I believe each bag was $0.50.

I'm not sure whether or not I should have bought these two things--a new in package set of paints and a set of watercolor crayons. I may be able to swap them. They were $0.50 each.

In this picture, you see some sewing notions. A new in package spool of elastic thread, and two packages of waist interfacing. Each was $0.25. These will be sent to some of my sewing friends.

Here are some embroidery supplies. Two bags of embroidery thread and some linen embroidery cloth. There is also a spool of jewelry wire here. The big bag of embroidery thread was $1.00, the other stuff was $0.25 each. I have an online swapping friend who is learning to embroider, so the thread and cloth will go to her. I may use the jewelry wire myself, or send it on to another friend who makes jewelry.

These are die cuts and stencils with which to make Christmas cards. This is another purchase I'm questioning. They may be swappable, but I don't know. Each package was $0.50.

These books were $1.00 each. There is a home owner's journal, which I am hoping to use to get some of our household stuff together pre-sale. The two stitching books are hopefully going to help me learn to crochet. If not, maybe someone else can use them.

These skeins of yarn are all 100% cotton. As I mentioned, natural fiber yarn is always in demand. This can either be swapped or maybe I can use it for my crocheting enterprise.

My two biggest scores are these two pieces of fabric. The top is is six or so yards of Laurie White for Hancock Fabrics upholstery fabric. The bottom is what I think must be a whole bolt of cotton flannel. I have no idea what I'm going to do with these two, but I know someone will be able to use them. The upholstery fabric was $2 and the flannel was $3.

Finally, I wanted to share with you all something I traded for. I thrifted a bunch of costume supplies for a little girl, and that little girl's mom made me this dress. Isn't it fantastic?

So what do you think? How did I do with my rules?

I sold the Little People village for $66, and the merino yarn is bid over $30 already. Life is good there.

Also, in my first month on Weight Watchers, I am down 11 lbs. I feel really great about it and am already looking and feeling better.

These things do not suck.

Went to the Goodwill today (first time this week, go me!) and did OK--in terms of following the rules and in terms of getting some good stuff.

This first picture is my most questionable purchase. These are four Salton yogurt containers, for storage of homemade yogurt. I have no particular intention of making homemade yogurt. However, they are very cool containers. Which I do not need. So there's that.

Another possibly questionable purchase, these are three Kindermusik book sets. I am not sure all the components are in each one, though. My intention had been to swap them, but I don't know if anybody will want them. They were $1.50 each.

These are two wooden alphabet train floor puzzles. I think they're new, they don't look to have ever been played with. I plan to gift one and possibly swap the other. They were $1.00 each.

This is a child's knitting kit from Magic Cabin. It's all wool, and can be used to knit up two kitties. Should be swapable, I'd think. It was $0.50.

I absolutely love the old-fashioned style of these new ABC's flashcards by Dolce Mia. They cost $0.50 and I will likely gift them.

I bought this Vera Bradley purse because I just kind of liked it, and intended to keep it. However, it is a discontinued fabric and seems to be new (though it doesn't have tags), so I might Ebay it. We'll see. It was $3.00.

This is my best score of the day, though it may not look like much in the picture. It is what seems to be a new (though again, no tags) Hearthsong Under the Sea canopy. The intention with this is definitely a swap. I paid $3.00 for it.

So, all in all, a pretty good day. Total spent was about $17 with taxes.

What you see here is my desk/craft table. Well, you can't really see it, but it's holding up this gigantic pile of stuff. See, this is the problem with being a prolific thrift shopper. What do you do with the stuff once you bring it home? The swappables, the giftables, the things that might come in handy someday...it's all here, taking up half of our office and driving Mark no end of nuts.

What makes it worse is that I already have a closet full of more organized thrifted stuff, as you can see at left. Those bins are all full, so even if I were moved to organize the stuff that is all over my table, I don't really have anywhere to organize it to.

Honestly, I need to clear things out. If I don't have a specific someone in mind for a gift, and nobody is forthcoming for a swap, I should just donate it all back. An organized house and organized mind and all that.

But I probably won't.

Ingredients:

+

Thrifted wooded rainbow beads + thrifted ribbon

Organization:

Beads disassembled from their original strings and organized in baby food jars. Jars courtesy of The Princess.

Craft:

100% recycled toddler jewelry (guarded by Illy).

The last three times I went to the bins, I left bloody. Each time, I reached into a bin and cut myself on something. A piece of broken glass, a piece of broken bed frame, and a third object I could not identify. Cutting yourself at the bins is both irritating and kind of scary. It's irritating because then you only have one good hand to dig through things with, and it's scary because you never know what infectious diseases could be lurking in the bins. An open wound is so not something you want to chance.

A normal person, after this happening three times, would perhaps take a break from visiting the bins. Or at least get some gloves. I, however, am not a normal person, I am an addict, and as such, I went again last night.

The best news? I didn't get cut.

The second best news? I only spent $5 and got all of this stuff:

Here you see the following:

• Two new Japanese-art printed file boxes, for Mark, as part of our effort at containing our office clutter, $0.50 each


• A Better Homes & Gardens sewing manual, for swapping, in excellent condition, from 1970, $1


• A new copy of Dorothy Allison's "Skin," for me, $0.50


• An EUC floral wet bag, for a swap, $0.50


• An EUC sugar and creamed set, vintage Pyrex, to swap, $1.00


• A whole bunch of beading cord sets and necklace clasp sets, mostly for swapping, NIP, each originally marked $0.99, $1 for the lot

This is the kind of thrifting trip I need to strive for. Low spending, only items that have a purpose, and nothing physically large to take up a lot of space. Plus the Pyrex is SO cute...

Back when I used to watch Trading Spaces, Vern Yip was always my favorite designer. I liked his simple, non-silly designs, and he seemed like the closest thing the show's designers had to a real person. So, when I saw that he had another show, Deserving Design, I was all over it. Now that I've watched the show, I love it even more. The premise is simple--Vern goes into the home of "deserving" regular folks and redesigns two rooms--one that they know is going to be done, one that they don't. "Deserving," here, means people who have given of themselves in some way. The most recent episode I saw featured a family who had fostered 62 children, some of them very high needs, and adopted 6 of them (all of whom had to have been under 12). Vern's makeovers focus on what the families actually need and how they actually use their space (and he uses tons of photographs, which I think is great), which is fantastic. What really gets me about the show, though, are the families themselves. The things they give to their communities and the sacrifices they make are inspiring.

So I was thinking about that. And about how, not so long ago, I was more focused on how I could help other people (my monthly giving, among other things). Lately, though, my focus has gone inward in a way I'm not proud of. And while I was thinking, I was, like I often am, thrifiting. At the south bins. Where I came upon an entire table of new with tags Beanie Buddies. Clearly these are no longer collector's items, I said to myself, but couldn't you have donated them to a homeless shelter or something? Kids can still play with them if they don't get destroyed here! And then it occurred to me that I could make that happen.

And so I came, inspired by Vern Yip, to purchase 40 Beanie Buddies. I had no idea how cute these things were! A couple of them (the octopus, the ladybug, the moose...) might have to live at my house and become gently loved dog toys. The rest, though, can go to a local DV shelter, or be saved for Christmas-time toy drives. What toddler is going to care of his/her lovey is still in style?

It's nice to wake up and remember why I'm here.

It occurred to me, astute photojournalist that I am, that my avid readers might like a look at this mysterious Bins you hear so much about. So I took my trusty (hardly) digital camera with me to thrift today, and snapped a few shots. I felt weird doing it--people were not looking at me in the friendliest ways--but I live to serve my adoring public, so here you go:

Here you see as much of the store as I could get in as possible, from the front left (near the entry door).

This is from the opposite side, the back right corner, and is once again as much as I could get in.

This is a big pile of VCRs and DVD players. There is always a table like this, with what seems to be rotating stock. Makes me proud to be an American to see this, let me assure you.

About 1/3 of the store is devoted to these tables of clothing. This is the hardest part to shop in, for me, as sifting through table after table of clothes gets tiring. In the rest of the store, things are mixed up so it doesn't get boring.

Most of the store looks like this, with tables (and sometimes bins, like you see in the second picture) of what I'd call "general refuse." Could be anything and mostly it's not sorted in any way. This is my favorite part, because you'll never know what you'll find.

These pictures don't really give you an idea of the enormity of the stuff in this place, but they're a first try. Maybe I will get bolder as a photographer if I keep trying to do this. Looking at them, just like being there, gives me this combination of adrenaline (what might I find?!) and sickness (how did we get to be a society that throws this much stuff away?).

Today, I have to post to share a victory. A couple of weeks ago, I cleaned out my closet. As usual, I had a huge garbage bag of stuff to give to Goodwill by the time I was done. Partially this is due to my having changed in size a bit since I started losing weight, but mostly it has to do with dumb purchasing decisions.

At the back of my closet, I found the dress you see here. It is (I think) vintage, and I thrifted it without trying it on a couple of years ago, for something like $2. At that time, it didn't quite fit--the lining was too tight across the hips and I was afraid I would split a seam if I tried to walk in it. When I came across the dress during my closet clean out, I put it in the "to wash" pile, rather than giving it away, in the hopes that a) I could get all of the dog hair off it (Ata sleeps in our closet) and b) it would fit now.

And it does. Ignore the dumb expression on my face in this photo and whatever is going on with my hair, and focus on that dress. How hot is that? I've loved this since I bought it, and I cannot tell you how excited I am to be wearing it.

I am editing to add that if you are at all interested in clothes, you should read Kasmira at What I Wore Today. She's my new style icon. I absolutely love the stuff she puts together.

I have slowly been accumulating a list of blogs featuring thrifted finds and thrifing information and stories, but I've yet to find a real comprehensive list of these blogs anywhere, or a circle of them or anything, so I thought maybe I'd do anybody who was doing the same search I was a favor and put up a list of what I've found. This is by no means comprehensive, so if you have or read a blog I haven't listed here, please leave a comment and I'll add it!

• Ann's Treasure Box: this blog features Ann-Marie's thrifted finds and homemade creations. She also sells her finds on the site.
• Apron Thrift Girl: This blog is a great combo of thrifting, swapping, frugality thought and tips, crafty stuffy (l love her menu planning pages), and great design. Apron Thrift Girl is also the mastermind behind the $99 Thrift Challenge, which I think is pretty much the sweetest thing ever.
• Confessions of an Apron Queen: You may already know this blog as the host of my favorite weekly blog event "Vintage Thingies Thursday." Aside from VTT, though, it also features a great pin-up girl inspired blog design, an excellent recipe section, and an occasional drool-worthy antiquing photo journal. PLUS she gives away vintage aprons every week. For real.
• freshvintage: Colleen's blog features the great stuff she finds, mostly at garage and estate sales, outside Philadelphia. She clearly has both a good eye and the requisite good luck.
• lala-on-the-gogo is the personal blog of thrift webside goddess Lala (Thriftland: One Girl's Adventures in Secondhand Shopping). You should check out both of them.
• My Thrifting Finds is a newish blog featuring photographs of my online pal Tilia's thrifted finds.
• Thrift Candy: this blog features both blog owner Missa's original thrifts and her favorite picks from Flickr's 100% Thrifted and Nifty Thrift pools. She describes herself as a "kid in a candy store" and it comes through in her positive and fun (though stylistically very plain) blog.
• The Thrift Shopper isn't so much a blog as a thifting information page, review site, and community.
• Thrifting in Oblivion is a how-to blog about thrifting in the Southwest US (particularly the New Orleans area). It features photographed trips to thrift stores and salvage yards, thrifting tips, etc.
• Thrifty Goodness: a combo craft and thrifting blog.
• Queen of Fifty Cents uses her blog mainly to chronicle her Saturday morning garage sale and estate sale adventures. They're worth reading.

Remember back in July when I had a thrifted finds contest? Well, I FINALLY found a suitable prize for the winner, The Shoppista. So, Shoppista, if you are reading this, watch your mail late next week for your truly fabulous prize. Let me know when it arrives and I'll post a picture of it, too.

Since I finally got that taken care of, I think it's time for another contest!

Since I've started reading more thrifting-focused blogs, I've not noticed many people writing about WHY they thrift. Do you shop secondhand mostly for economic reasons? Environmental? Because that's where you find things you like? Leave me a comment and tell me WHY you thrift, or better yet, write a post about it on your blog and leave a link in the comments. All commentors/linkers will be considered for the prize, which is another thrifted treasure!

Contest is open for one week, closing at 11:59PM on Friday, October 17.

Can't wait to see what you have to say!

Today is the last day of my current thrift contest, so get on over there and enter before midnight if you want a chance at a custom-thrifted prize!

Now, as promised, my answer to the question "Why do you thrift?"

I thrift for all the reasons people have mentioned so far--frugality, environmentalism, preservation of history, the thrill of the chase. My biggest reason, however, is different than those mentioned so far:

I thrift in order to get time alone. I am a person who needs a lot of alone time who lives with a homebody. I am very, very rarely home alone. So I need to get out of the house for my alone time, and my number one favorite thing to get out and do, by myself, is shop.

I know it's out of fashion to admit you like to shop, at least for my social/political group. I'm supposed to claim to hate shopping and be sickened by the crowds/consumerism/exchange of money. But in reality, I don't, and I'm not. I absolutely love to shop. Walking around, looking at things, doing something in a public space that is totally acceptable to partake in alone--I just adore it.

Thrifting allows me to fulfill my desire to shop in a way that is both more economically viable and more environmentally friendly than any other type of shopping I could be doing. This is not only due to the lower cost and reduced environmental impact of thrifted goods, but also due to the time in to time out equation. When you are shopping secondhand, especially somewhere like the bins, it takes a lot more time and effort to find things you want to buy than it might in a more shopper-friendly environment. The treasure hunt angle. Because shopping at a thrift store is more challenging than a first-run store might be, I can spend the same amount of time shopping, but come home with less stuff. Because for me the actual experience of shopping, rather than what I find, is the point, that's a win-win situation.

As far as I'm concerned, there is no bad reason to thrift shop. The more people accept secondhand goods as viable options, the better off we'll be, in terms of our environment, our wallets, and the support we're (not) giving to crappy labor practices. I continually strive to buy fewer non-used items. There are so many reasons to do it, and I can't think of a single good reason not to.

I'm refocusing on paying down debt. As you know if you've been reading here long, I've been making a major effort towards debt pay down since January, but in the last couple of months I've flaked a bit, and I am now trying to get back into it. Hence the new focus on reading frugality and debt reduction blogs. One thing I've noticed from those blogs is that accountability is key. People really seem to be helped by writing their spending down.

You know where this is going, right?

I promise not to post every time I buy a cup of coffee. However, actual shopping trips I'm going to be coming clean about for awhile.

Tonight I went to the bins:

My purchases, as seen above, are (from top left): a cute blue floral knee length skirt that I didn't need, but will wear ($1.25), four pink linen napkins on which I am hoping to embroider for gifts ($.0.25 each); a quilted Vera Bradley picture frame that appears to be new and I plan to gift ($0.50); a black cardigan sweater that I really did kind of need and will definitely wear ($1.25); two appertif glasses Mark specifically asked me to keep an eye out for ($0.25 each); a white milk glass mug that I am going to use for a shaving set I'm swapping ($0.25).

Total: $4.75 + 8.25% tax = $5.15. I paid cash from my $100 cash allowance for the rest of the month.

Self, I said to myself as I drove to the bins. You are going to be more responsible with your thrifting. You are going to only buy things you actually need, you're going to go with a budget, and you are only going once a week, so make it count.

I went on to tell myself, in a very strict voice, that I was not going to spend more than $15, that I was looking for long sleeved shirts, mugs for shaving sets, and stuffed animals without plastic eyes for dog toys, and that I was not to come home with any bath products of any kind, any sleeveless shirts, any skirts, or any fabric.

What you see here is as follows:

• Three plastic eye-less stuffed animals for the dogs, $0.75 each


• Seven tops for me, five of which have sleeves, $1.25 each


• Three sections of upholstery fabric, $1.25 each


• Four mugs, $0.50 each


• An adorable hand knitted frog, $0.50


• A blank dieter's journal, $0.50


• An unopened Origins pick-me up set, including a toothbrush, toothpaste, facial mist, lotion, foot lotion, etc. (maybe from an airline?), $1.00


• Two vintage perfume bottles, $0.39 each

Not pictured is a very nice beagle sized dog bed, barely used, for which I paid $3. So my total before tax was $22.53. With tax, $24.39.

Obviously I didn't obey all my rules. The stuffed animals, sleeved tops, and mugs were all fine. The sleeveless tops should have stayed there. The upholstery fabric is actually fine, as I've been looking for a section of that type of fabric to recover an ottoman, so it does have a purpose, but I should have only bought one section of it, not three. The hand-knitted frog wasn't on the list, but I'm never going to turn down something that cute and handmade for $0.50. The dieter's journal wasn't on the list either, but I plan to remake it as a Christmas gift, and for $0.50, that's a bargain. The Origins set was supposed to be an absolute no-no, but I've brought it to work to live, and I really can use it here--I've been wanting to freshen up after lunch recently. The vintage perfume bottles were another thing I couldn't pass up--I plan to fill them with my own concoctions and either gift them or use them myself. The dog bed was fine--those are always needed by the rescue and are not cheap new. And I went over my allocated budget by about $10. Which is, unsurprisingly, about the value of the stuff I bought that wasn't on my list/needed.

What can I say. It's a work in progress.

I've been asked, quite a few times, whether I think my success in thrifting comes down to luck or skill. Honestly, I don't think it has a whole lot to do with either one. It's something else entirely. Or, actually, a combination of things. So today, for our first Thrifting Tip Tuesday, I am going to tell you what I think you need to be a good thrift shopper.

To Be a Successful Thrift Shopper, You Need...

1. Good thrift stores: Often, people will say that there just aren't any good thrift stores in their areas. This may or may not be true. I think that there really are some areas that don't have good thrifting. More often, though, folks don't know where to look. In general, it has been my experience that you find the best all-around thrifting in mid-sized cities with large college populations and stable economies. Austin, of course, fits this bill perfectly. In big cities, it sounds as if (my personal experience with this is actually limited) the better stores are found in the suburbs. I'll do a whole post about the types of stores you may encounter and what you might find there later in the month, but for now, the #1 thing you need to be a successful thrifter is a place to do it.


2. Time: Thrifting is not a quick process. It is very difficult to make it work for you if you are unwilling or unable to put in the time it requires. For some people, this may mean visiting the same store or stores several times a week. For others, it means garage sales every Saturday morning. For me, what it means depends on how seriously I am thrifting at a given time, but lately 1-2 trips per week to the bins. And it's not just about going often, it's about willing to put in the time while you are there. It takes a while to sift through mounds of useless crap to find that one worthwhile thing, and you have to be willing to do that sifting or you aren't likely to score many great purchases.


3. Patience: This kind of goes along with time. If thrifting is about anything, I'd say it's about patience. You may not find anything you even remotely want for hours, days, or weeks. You have to keep going out and looking, or it won't work. This, I think, is why most of the best thrifters are people who get off on the process itself. I like looking through other people's trash. And when you aren't finding anything fantastic, looking through other people's trash is exactly what thrifting is. So, if you don't already really enjoy that, then you have to cultivate amazing patience.


4. A running list: It is a common mistake of beginning thrifters to go out one day with a list of things to find and then be disappointed if they don't find anything from their list (or if they only find one thing). This is a new store mentality, and it must be erased. By all means have a list, but it needs to be a running list. Whenever you think of something you'd like to find used, add it to your list. Every time you go thrifting, keep your eye out for all of the things you've listed. Don't expect to find all, or even any, of them. The list here isn't a tool to tell you what you need to buy before you stop, it's a guide of what you should be peeling your eyes for. Finding something from your list, especially something that has been on your list a long time, is cause for celebration, not a routine event.


5. Willingness to compromise: As well as looking at list-making as a long-term, rather than immediate, venture, you also need to look at it as a more general venture than you normally would with first-run stores. For example, my current list entries include "something to use for a bathroom trash can" and "containers for sugar scrubs." Were I planning to buy these things new, I might have "small lidded stainless steel trash can" (my ideal for the space) or "16 oz glass jars with hinged lids" (again, my ideal). Putting a priority on buying things used has many advantages, but it has disadvantages as well, and one of the biggest ones is that you sometimes need to compromise on getting exactly what you had in mind. This can be a good thing too, though, as it can help you to be creative and consider using things in ways you wouldn't have considered if finding just what you had in mind was easy.


6. A creative eye: On a somewhat related note, another thing you need to develop if you are going to thrift shop successfully is a creative eye. The majority of the things I bring home from thrift shops have been passed over by tens of other people. Why? Well, either they don't need that item, or they don't see the potential in it. You want to become someone who sees the potential. This can be tricky, as you end up with way too much stuff and no money if you see too much potential, but it's important also to have an open mind. Some people have this naturally--you know these people, they're the ones who can see a pile of popsicle sticks and honestly see a sculpture or whatever. I'm not like that naturally. In me, as, I suspect, in most people, the creative eye has developed over time. And I still mess up, a lot--I bring home lots of stuff that is just, in fact, crap, and I likely pass by great stuff. But the more you do it, the better it gets. This is also a place where I think reading thrifting blogs and seeing the cool stuff other people pick up helps.

Those, in a nutshell, are the things I think you need to be a good thrift shopper. Obviously there are other things that help as well, but those are the big ones to my mind.

Now that you've read this little intro, tell me--what other thrifting topics would you like to see me address on Thrift Tips Tuesdays? I can think of a lot of different things to talk about, from more general stuff like this post and my thrifting philosophy post, to more specific things (like the post I did a while back about thrifting for clothes while plus-sized). What would you be interested in reading?

I didn't find anything amazing today, nor is this a great picture, but since there are some readers who have expressed interest (and indeed, to keep me honest), here's the yield from tonight's Bins trip.

In this photo, you see:

• One patchwork sari-esque throw, from World Market, $2. Now resides over the back of the leather chair in my living room, for the purposes of deterring cat scratches on leather.


• Two yards of green and white toile fabric with a ship/island theme, $2. No good reason for buying this.


• Two small (antique?) tin angel candle holders for a Christmas tree, $0.25 each


• A small metal meat tenderizing mallet for Mark, $0.25


• Four handmade items of children's clothing--a smock, a jumper, a reversible vest, and an apron, intended for my small friend Y.'s Christmas present, $1.25 each


• Four new cotton print Cost Plus napkins, always useful at my house (we go through lots), $0.50 each


• Two new looking and I think handmade U Florida Christmas stockings. These are going to be filled w/ homemade treats and given to my Florida alum neighbors for Christmas, $0.50 each


• A pair of new looking Old Navy wide leg jeans for me, $1.25


• A sleevless Merona no-seam undershirt in army green, for me, $1.25

Total spend, including sales tax: $16.51

First, the trip I took to the bins over the weekend:

What you see here is:

• A half dozen wide-mouth pint canning jars with lids, $0.39 each. These are for packaging sugar scrub.


• A patchwork stuffed elephant. This was intended to be a dog toy, but Mark took a shine to it and decided to take it to lab and make it his totem. I think it was $0.75.


• A vintage dish I'll tell you a bit more about in a minute, $0.25.


• Seven small (new) green glass bottles with corks, perfect for reed dispensers, $0.15 each.


• A cool tin mug advertising British Navy rum drinking, $0.39. This will be for a shaving mug set I will make.


• A set of six block printed postcards. Not sure what I'm going to do with these, but they were too cute to pass up, $0.50 for the set.

Total spent, including tax = $5.72

A bit more about that cool vintage dish? Well, this is what it looks like close up:

Front:

Back:

It's a soup bowl from the Blue Heaven collection made my Royal China Company in Sebring, Ohio. Looks like the pattern dates from the mid-50s to mid-60s. It's not worth anything, but isn't it cute?

Now, I was thinking about what I wanted to do for thrifting tips today, and I decided I'd share my top five thrift scores, and tell you what "lesson" I learned/you can learn from each one. These aren't necessarily the most interesting things I've ever thrifted, but they are the ones most likely to be considered "scores." Generally, this means they are the most valuable. They're all from the last five years or so, since I am not blessed with a particularly long memory.

#5: Wolky Barcelona Shoes
Last fall, while meandering around the North Lamar Goodwill, I spotted a pair of black Wolky Barcelona shoes. Upon further inspection, I found them to be a) size 11 and b) clearly unworn. These shoes are not at all my style, however, I knew Wolky was a good brand and they were my mom's size and looked like something she'd like, so I picked them up (I think for $5.99). Turns out they are $200 new. I gave them to Mom for Christmas and she rarely wears anything else now.
Lesson: Always buy exceptional new stuff. Even if you don't want it personally, you can gift or sell it.

#4: Ergo carrier
When I first started going to the bins a couple of years ago, I walked by one day to find a man (clearly a "professional") fingering a tan Ergo baby carrier which looked to be in excellent condition. Holding it upside down, he muttered "what the hell is this?" before throwing it to the side. At which point I scooped it up and paid $1 for it. Then I sold it on Ebay for $80.
Lesson: Know what you're looking at.

#3: Little People Village
Last spring, while digging through garbage at the south Blue Hanger store, I noticed a very beat up and possibly moldy vintage 1973 Fisher Price Little People Village box. Just to be sure, even though I really doubted there was anything in it, I peeked inside. And inside was a nearly mint condition Little People Village with 99% of the pieces. I hauled to the register, paid $1 for it, and took it home and sold it on Ebay for $70.
Lesson: Always look in the box.

#2: Columbia Sportswear parka
One evening last fall, I was sifting through the clothes at the north bins location when I spotted a tag. I always look at things with the tags still attached, just to be sure. This tag led me to a Columbia Sportswear parka, retail value about $150. Thinking there must be something wrong with it, I nearly put it back. I mean, who gives a new with tags parka to the Goodwill, and if they did, why would it not sell in the regular store and end up in the bins? But I looked it over and didn't see a thing wrong. You never know what people will throw away. Now said parka hangs in my closet, waiting for a time when I live or visit somewhere cold enough to wear it. It got a test drive in Norway last January, though, and did great.
Lesson: Sometimes it's not too good to be true.

#1 Table
My very favorite thrift find ever happened just after we moved to Austin. We moved from a small, shared apartment in Portland to a much larger house of our own here, and we didn't bring some of our crappy old stuff with us, so we were pretty low on furnishings. After exhausting ourselves and finding nothing we both liked and could afford in any of the furniture resale stores we tried, we were driving home when I spotted a small, crappy looking thrift store on South Lamar and insisted we stop. We almost turned around at the door--it was that uninspiring--but since we'd already stopped we went inside. At the back of the store, surrounded by four horrible ripped up woven cane 70s-style chairs, was a rectangular, solid maple butcher block kitchen table. The sign said "table and chairs, $150." Mark and I talked to the person running the place and told him we'd pay $100 for the table and they could keep the chairs, which clearly didn't belong with it. He had to call the shop owner to make sure that was OK, but our deal was eventually accepted. That table, with "new" (from Craigslist) chairs, sits in our kitchen today and I full expect it will continue to do so for the rest of our lives. It's a solid, beautiful, perfect piece of furniture. This is the closest thing to it I can find online. Yep, for $1,250.
Lesson: Always stop at one more store.

I don't feel like posting about feminism today. Let's talk about the odd collection of stuff I came home from the bins last night with instead, OK?

Here you see the following:

• A large stuff goose. Dog toy that lasted all of 10 minutes. $0.75


• A cute brown shirt for me, $1.25.


• A stack of a dozen of these cloth diapers, all with liners, all in very good shape, $0.50 each. These are to be embellished (or maybe not) and gifted to baby-having friends/family.


• A small blue jar for packaging some sort of bath product, $0.25.


• Three embroidery kits (I'm still trying to learn). $0.50 for the little one, $0.75 each for the two big ones.


• A small stuffed mushroom and a small stuffed rhino. Dog toys that have lasted slightly longer. $0.50 each.


• The oddest thing: a stack of six large fabric envelopes. I can't figure out what they are for. They are made of cute, heavyweight decorator's fabric, one side print, one plain, and they are sewed together on three sides with the fourth open. And they're huge--about 3'X4'. Some kind of cushion cover? Anyway, they'll make fantastic dog bed covers. $1.50 each.

Trip total, including tax, was $21.92.

And the curious tabby cat, as always, is free.

A couple of days ago at Secondhand Nation, Carrie posed this question:

Are we thrift fanatics inadvertently making a statement about the absurdity of an economy built on novelty and competitive envy?

For herself, Carrie said, thrifting is simply about economical shopping. She also linked to this article, published earlier this month in the L.A. Times, in which author Judith Freeman writes:

Thrift stores are places where not only the poorest of the poor shop but where one can also see the incredible turnover in the products Americans have consumed and then discarded, often perfectly good items that simply don't get used any more. In thrift stores, you see the evidence of our gluttony.

A bit back, I asked WINOW readers why they thrift. Several of the comments mentioned frugality/economy as the primary reason for thrifting. And, I think, for most people who thrift, it is. I spend a lot of time in thrift stores, the the majority of the people I see there seem to be there either to buy for resale or to buy practical type things for themselves or their families. There are also, of course, the occasional trendsters who are there to find funky one-of-a-kind clothes or strange records on vinyl, but they are the minority. The majority seem to be thrifting because they need to.

Which worries me. Why? Because pickings are getting slimmer, even here in thrift mecca. While this may well say something good about digusting American over consumption (that people are buying/replacing less and thus have fewer things to donate), it could also have an ill effect on those who have grown dependent on the perfectly good cast-offs of the average over-consumer.

What do you think? Is this something worth worrying about?

One thing folks ask me about fairly often is where to thrift. So today here are some pros and cons of different thrifting options. Keep in mind that this is all my opinion, and there may be regional differences as well.

Garage/yard/rummage sales
Pros: often the cheapest option; money goes directly to individual people; limited merchandise so it's easier to look through
Cons: seasonal; have to get up early; I always feel pressured to buy something even if there is nothing I want
Best for: kids' clothing; toys; sometimes cheap furniture

Consignment stores
Pros: nicer merchandise; clean; organized
Cons: expensive; limited selection
Best for: when you need something specific quickly

For-profit thrift stores (e.g. Savers/Value Village)
Pros: usually clean and well-organized; things have often been washed; often open more hours than charity shops
Cons: giving money to a corporation; higher prices
Best for: people who aren't comfortable with thrifting

Large/chain charity thrift stores (e.g. Goodwill, Salvation Army)
Pros: large selection; sometimes low prices (very store dependent); supports charity
Cons: lots of crap to sift through; less convenient hours; poor organization; supports charity you may disagree with
Best for: just about everything, if you are willing to look

Large/chain outlets (e.g. Goodwill Blue Hanger)
Pros: very cheap; lots of choose from
Cons: dirty; tons of junk; not organized at all
Best for: everything on the cheap

Small/independent charity thrift stores (e.g. church stores)
Pros: usually higher end selection; clean; well-organized; can be cheap
Cons: limited hours; limited selection; priced vary widely
Best for: older things, particularly dishes

What do you think? Where do you prefer to secondhand shop? Why?

So the big present-giving extravaganza holiday is approaching us (at least, it's approaching those of us who choose to celebrate it). And I have one piece of priceless advice for you in that regard:

Thrift your gifts.

Yes, it is OK to give thrifted gifts. It's not rude, it's not cheap, and it's not gross. It is frugal, environmentally conscious, and thoughtful. And anybody who thinks otherwise can pretty much bite me.

Now, let me back up and say that I do have a different threshold for thrifted gifts than for non-gift thrifted items. I want thrifted gifts to either a) be new; b) look new; or c) be something so cool it doesn't matter that it isn't new. I don't, for example, generally gift thrifted clothing unless it has tags on it. However, one year I got my mom three much needed sweaters--one Eddie Bauer, one Land's End, one Ralph Lauren--all from the Goodwill, all new with tags. If I didn't tell her they were thrifted, she never would have known the difference. This year, I am giving Mark's mom a gorgeous antique Irish linen table cloth, which I got at the bins. It isn't new, but it is in wonderful condition, and for something like that, I'll make an exception to the new rule.

There are some big advantages to thrifting gifts. Clearly, it can save you money. Possibly more importantly, it reduces the time you have to spend in retail shopping centers this time of year. You're also able to find things you might not otherwise find. However, it is much more work than buying new. I've been looking for Christmas gifts on my thrifting trips all year long. If you want to get each person on your list something that will really knock their socks off, and get it used, you are going to have to put in the hours.

Here are a few tips for thrifting for gifts:

• Start early. This is going to take some time.


• Take a quick look at anything you see that is new with tags/packaging. Not everything will suit someone on your list, of course, but everything is worth a second glance.


• Have a list of who you need to buy for, but not necessarily what you want to get them. You will have to be flexible.


• Make use not only of regular thrift stores, but of used book stores (my step dad's presents always come from here!), consignment shops, etc.


• When you are deciding how much to get someone, the thrifted price isn't important. Don't feel like you have to give more gifts just because you are giving thrifted gifts.


• Accept to begin with that you will likely not be able to thrift for everyone on your list. Sometimes, you just can't find something thrifted, or you want to get something specific and it isn't available. That's fine. The idea here is to cut down on buying new stuff, not necessarily stop it completely. Do consider handmade and local gifts for those you aren't thrifting for, though, for the most economically and ecologically responsible holiday shopping.


• Never underestimate the value of wrapping. A collection of things that are just "eh" unwrapped can be transformed into a great gift with a little creative packaging.


• If available, swap! Have you thrifted something that you can't use or gift, but someone you know can? Swap it for something they've thrifted, or something they've made, that you can use. A lot of my gifts have come to me this way this year, and I'm so stoked about it.

Looking over my gift list this year, I think I've got about 1/4 thrifted gifts, 1/2 handmade ones (either by myself or from swapping), and 1/4 still to buy for. I haven't bought anything new yet and don't plan to. That makes my holidays pretty damn happy.

How about you? Are you thrifting any gifts? What would you think about receiving thrifted items?

Y'all wanna see my Bins scores from today?

Of course you do.

I know this just looks like a pitcher, so what, but it's actually really cool. It's enameled cast iron! I've not seen anything quite like it before. Anybody have idea idea where/what era it is from? It's not in wonderful shape, but it's not terrible. I think it is going to be a vase or something. It was $0.50.

This is a cute little set of mini cookie cutters, or pastry cutters, shaped like autumn leaves. The outside of the case is a bit beat up, but the cutters themselves seem to be new. They are from the Purple Puma Cookie Company, which, from what I can tell online, is in New Hampshire? Anyway, I thought they would make cut cut-outs on pies, and they were $0.25.

These are new! Don't ever even seem to have been opened. It's a 100 wooden block set, from Target's Little Tree line. It includes shaped building blocks and alphabet blocks in a plastic backpack case. They are headed to a kid for Christmas--I've got several on my list in the correct age range, or I might give them to the Santa program where I work. They were $1.50.

How cool is this?? It's a vintage 70's (at least that is what the folks selling them on Ebay tell me) Santa's Circus Train set. It's all wooden and in pretty good shape--one piece needs a little wood glue, and there is one piece (a tractor that is supposed to go inside the last train car) missing. I have no idea what I am going to do with it--it's probably a bit fragile to actually be played with regularly--but I couldn't pass it up. Again, $1.50.

My favorite find of the day, and one of my favorite finds ever. This is a "Jar of Whimsies." My entire line of reasoning in buying it was "wow, this looks cool." But then I got home and looked it up. Turns out these are sold by a cool shop called One Good Bumblebee. They are plastic 32 oz jars filled to the brim with tiny pieces of ephemera, many of them vintage. I haven't opened mine yet--I am getting too much of a kick out of turning it over and over in my hands and looking at it. But I'm sure I won't last much longer.

In researching it, I found out that these Jars of Whimsies aren't just a One Good Bumblebee thing, though they may (I'm not sure) have started there. Mamaphunk at Believe in the Power of Beautiful Stuff posted about a Jar of Whimsies swap here. There are a ton of them on Flickr. There have clearly been swaps for them. And there is at least one person selling them on Etsy. Can I please just tell you how badly I want to try my hand at this now? With as much random and fascinating crap as I have to leave in thrift stores because I don't know what to do with it, this could be a great solution...

I bought a few less exciting things today as well--10 new shaving set mugs at $0.39 each, three new low ball glasses (the awesome heavy-bottomed kind) at $0.39 each, a couple of glass canisters (one of which may or may not be depression glass, I can't figure out how to tell) for $0.50 each...I totaled I think $12 with tax. It was a good day.

In general, I try not to get into protracted discussions in the comments to my posts. This isn't because I don't care what you all have to say--I very much do. Rather, it's that I don't think people who read the blog usually come back to older posts and read the comments, so discussions in them tend to feel kind of pointless and secluded. If something catches my attention more than once, I generally try to sit on it for a while, and then, if it's still something I want to say something about, come and re-post about it.

Which is what I am doing now, because this particular something has been stuck in my craw for days.

The comments made by Randy about "racial pricing" at the Blue Hanger stores are as follows:

Watch out for racial pricing!!!! I have been to the Blue Hanger on McNeil three for four times. Shopping is hit or miss, as can be expected. What really gets me is the pricing. Yes the prices are posted but Hispanic customers get charged between .25 cents and .75 cents, where Gringos (White people) get charged full price or more. Today the cashier was very nasty when I commented about this. I got the name and number of the assistant manager and called him from the parking lot. He said they have had complaints about this before and offered to refund the amount of my purchases. I don't feel that this matter should be kept "in house". They need to lay down the law with the employees, one price for everyone. I don't mind paying the posted prices as long as the shoppers in front of me aren't getting a 75% discount based on race. (Comment edited by blog owner to remove names.)

The problem is when prices are at the cashier's discretion, I get charged the highest price. Stuffed animals are priced small medium and large. Some of them are the size of a small child. I would think that is a large. One I had that was less than 12 inches in height, but the cashier charged the large size. I have also been charged more than the posted price, and when asked, the cashier's comment was, "That's what the price is." Either they should have no posted prices and let it be completely up to the cashier and all be a guessing game or FOLLOW THE RULES. (Comment edited by blog owner to remove names.)

Here's what I think about these comments:

First, I can't say for sure if I've ever been charged differently than the person in front of me. Why? Because I never pay the slightest bit of attention to what the person in front of me is being charged. Why should I? It makes absolutely no difference to my transaction.

Secondly, I have no problem believing that the prices are different depending on who you are and who the cashier is and probably what kind of day the cashier is having. That's part and parcel of somewhere with discretionary pricing, and I personally have no problem with it. If I'm quoted a price that seems unreasonable for the item I am interested in, I always have the option to not buy that item. I use this option quite often, as do other shoppers at the Blue Hanger stores. No harm, no foul.

Third, if I did notice a disparity in pricing, my guess would be that it has much more to do with personal relationships between cashiers and customers than with race. At the Blue Hanger store, it's pretty clear that there are regular customers who know the cashiers well. Do these customers get better prices? It's likely. Am I concerned about that? Not really, I think it's just kind of the way things work. Anybody who works in retail and says they've never given a break to a friend either possesses a level of scruples that I don't or is just lying. I also think that if Randy shows the kind of attitude at the store that s/he showed in the comments here, s/he can probably expect even higher prices in the future.

Finally, say there is "racial pricing," meaning Hispanic customers regularly get lower prices at the Blue Hanger store. It's still not something I can get too worried about. Why? Because that would make it the one in a hundred, or one in a thousand, situation in which being white works against me instead of for me in this country. Until I can not only recognize the other 99 (or 999?) situations, but rally against them, I have no right to be too concerned about this one.

I was recently involved in a discussion online about "anti-Christian discrimination" in the U.S. An online friend said that she thinks that people who get used to being treated preferentially often mistake the situation for discrimination when their preferential treatment ends--i.e. they are so used to being discriminated for that they mistake equality for bigotry. I wonder if maybe that isn't the case here.

Remember when I found the Jar of Whimsies at the Bins and was all excited about making my own? Well, I've finally started doing it. And it's just as much fun as I'd thought it would be.

First, I spent a couple of weeks gathering up stuff at the Bins. Each trip, I'd grab a Ziploc bag (there are always some around there) and start shoving all the tiny, shiny things I find into it. Like what? Small toys, especially old or interesting ones; tiny paper goods; bouncy balls; doll clothes and furniture; game pieces; rubber duckies; bells; marbles; dice--whatever strikes my fancy that is small enough to fit in a jar.

Next, I separated all my stuff into bags. I thought about doing it by color, so insure having a good color mix in the jars, but decided to do it by type instead. So I have one bag of marbles and bells, one of bouncy balls, a couple different ones of toys, one of small pine cones, one of vintage pieces, one of beads...etc.

Now I needed jars. As luck would have it, I have a vast collection of thrifted jars (aren't you shocked?). Most of them, however, are canning style jars that I have writing or ornamentation on them. For this, something plainer is better, so I choose some plain Ikea jars (these) that came from the GW a bit ago.

Then I put the pieces together. I did it without a plan. I just picked a few things from each bag, tossed them in, then took a look at the jar. Then I added, subtracted, moved things around, and shook the jar until I was satisfied.

This is my kind of craft--more time spent thrifting, less time spent with glue or a sewing machine. And the result is so great. It's this joyful little package. And, the best part? 100% recycled. There is nothing new in any of the jars I've made, and I don't see any reason why there would need to be anything new in any I'll make in the future. I can't feel a bit bad about that!

Recently, someone I know online asked me if I had stopped thrifting. After I finished laughing, I assured her that yes, as long as I am breathing and have access to thrift stores, I'm still thrifting. I can't imagine it being otherwise. What I do seem to have stopped doing, however, is blogging about it. This hasn't been intentional--I just haven't though to do it. Due to being unusually busy, I have been thrifting less often than usual, and though my take is generally pretty OK, I haven't come home with anything so fantastic I felt the need to share it with the world in a while. But, since I was asked, and since this is pretty much my favorite subject, I thought I'd share the goods from my bins trip last night.

What you see here is the sum total of last night's trip. From the bottom left:

• Three new greeting cards with envelopes, all of which read "These are but wild whirling words"--William Shakespeare. $.25 for three


• Four plastic containers of Risk figurines, intended for Tiny Shiny Things jars, $.25 each


• A hand knitted red cotton strawberry baby hat, $.25


• A Panache appertif poster that is going to go in my bathroom, $.50


• Three bags of new rubber jacks cat toys, $.25 each.


• A small candle mold, $.25


• A large candle mold, $.75


• A package of three small red tins, $.25


• A Bamboo Utensil To-Go set like this, $.25


• A cool wooden tension toy/puzzle, $.25

This represents what has become a very average trip for me. Nothing exceptional, but a few cute things, very little money spent, and very little new stuff that I don't have an intended use for coming into my house. I'm very happy with being in this stage of my thrifting career.

After at least a month's absence (too much to do!) I finally got to the Bins today.

I spent a total of about $8.50, including tax. The haul was:

• A large Ziploc full of embroidery thread and fabric


• A wooden Bentley's tea chest


• A glass jar with hinge lid


• A Vera Bradley makeup bag in new condition


• A small Ziploc full of (all unopened) samples, mostly from L'Occtaine


• Two Alice in Chains CDs


• An (unopened) jar of salt scrub


• An (unopened) sample size bar of Lush's Honey I Washed the Kids soap


• Two vintage tea tins


• Several spools of vintage-looking trim

Mostly, this stuff is to give away or swap--the embroidery stuff, the Vera Bradley bag, the salt scrub, the trim. I'm planning to make candles in the tea tins and use the wooden tea box to store essential oils. The glass jar is for Tiny Shiny Things. The CDs went to Mark. The Lush soap and L'Occtaine samples are all me, though.

I missed the Bins. It's kinda hard to thrift right now--with moving on the horizon, I'm trying to weed out possessions, not add to them. But I think I did a pretty good job today sticking to things that could be used immediately or useful immediately, either to me or to someone else.

I know I'm supposed to be making pre-BlogHer posts, but I can't resist this.

Yesterday, while doing a bit of thrifting with The Princess, I spied a bag of yarn. I always look at the bags of yarn at the Goodwill, but 95% of the time, they are full of half-skeins of synthetics. This time, however, I saw something else. Since the bag was stuffed full and marked $4.99, I decided to take a chance and bought it.

The contents:

• One hank of Cotton Classic 100% cotton yarn, yellow (retail $6)


• One hank of Himalayan Yarn Co. 60% wool 40% recycled silk yarn, maroon (retail $9)


• One skein of Noro Silk Garden yarn, 45% silk, 45% kid mohair, 10% lambswool, Tan/Purple/Black/Teal/Rust (retail $12)


• Two skeins Crystal Palace Yarns Panda Silk fingering weight yarn, 52% bamboo, 43% superwash merino wool, 5% combed silk, butterscotch (retail $8 each)


• One skein of Crystal Palace Yarns Panda Wool, 51% bamboo, 39% wool, 10% nylon, Neptune (retail $7)


• One skein of Crystal Palace Yarns Panda Wool, 51% bamboo, 39% wool, 10% nylon, Vine Green (retail $7)


• One hank Berroco Cotton Twist, 70% mercerized cotton, 30% rayon, varigated (retail $5)


• One skein Elann Adara, 87.5% mercerized cotton, 12.5% linen, Pecan (retail $2.50)


• One skein Elann Adara, 87.5% mercerized cotton, 12.5% linen, unknown color (red/brown/white) (retail $2.50)


• One skein Elann Adara, 87.5% mercerized cotton, 12.5% linen, Lagoon (retail $2.50)


• One skein Elann Adara, 87.5% mercerized cotton, 12.5% linen, Surf (retail $2.50)


• One skein Elann Adara, 87.5% mercerized cotton, 12.5% linen, Fern (retail $2.50)


• One skein Elann Adara, 87.5% mercerized cotton, 12.5% linen, Amaranth (retail $2.50)


• One skein Elann Adara, 87.5% mercerized cotton, 12.5% linen, Teaberry (retail $2.50)


• One skein Elann Adara, 87.5% mercerized cotton, 12.5% linen, Hyacith (retail $2.50)


• One skein Elann Adara, 87.5% mercerized cotton, 12.5% linen, Garnet Rose (retail $2.50)


• One skein Elann Adara, 87.5% mercerized cotton, 12.5% linen, Byzantium (retail $2.50)


• One skein Elann Adara, 87.5% mercerized cotton, 12.5% linen, Pistachio (retail $2.50)


• One skein Elann Adara, 87.5% mercerized cotton, 12.5% linen, Waterfall (retail $2.50)


• Takumi Clover #6 4.25 circular bamboo knitting needles (retail $9)


• Takumi Cover #7 4.5 circular bamboo knitting needles (retail $9)


• Two sets Takumi Clover #13 0.9 circular bamboo knitting needles (retail $13 each)


• Takumi Clover #11 8.0 circular bamboo knitting needles (retail $13)

Total estimated value: approximately $149

Nice score, huh?

So, the contest: leave me a comment and tell me what you would do with this yarn if I sent it to you! What you would make and who you would make it for. One week from today, I'll pick the most awesome answer and send that person the works.

Go!

As I get my bearings in our new home, there is one important thing I have to do. Find the thrift stores. And once I find them, I'll be reviewing them here, just like I did in Austin. Right now, though, I don't have time to go out and explore much, since I'm still unpacking, and I wouldn't want to bring any new treasures in anyway, since they'd just get lost in the mess. So, step one is making a list of possible candidates.

A Google search led me to this Guide to Thrift Store Shopping in Northern Virginia. Gleaning it, I'm thinking a trip to Falls Church to visit Unique, the "granddaddy of all thrift stores," is in order. I'll probably also need to head over to Purcelville to visit the Blue Ridge Hospice Thrift Shop.

The Goodwill, so long my standard, go-to store, doesn't have a huge presence here. There is one fairly close by, in Sterling, which I will definitely check out. The next closest is in Falls Church, so I'll stop by there when I got to Unique. The rest, though, are all more than 15 miles away, so they aren't likely to be weekly outings the way they have been in the past.

The Clock Tower Thrift Shops benefiting Northern Virginia Family Service might be promising, and there are two of those in Falls Church and one in Centerville, so I'm adding those to the list.

Right now, that is, sadly, the entire list, with the exception of a store I spied on the way to Mark's new job that I will stop by as soon as I get the chance. I'm sure there are more, and finding them is part of the fun. I'll keep you updated.

Yesterday I left the house bound and determined. I was going to do it. The wealthy people surrounding where I live on every side have to be throwing their barely-used shit somewhere. There has to be good thrifting. My failures on previous trips had to be coincidental, or me not looking in the right places.

I made a list. Nine thrift stores, spread out throughout the suburb in which I live and the closest ones around me (Herndon-Reston-Sterling-Ashburn, for those in the NoVa know). Nine stores. Fortifying Starbucks. How could I go wrong?

I came home five hours later with nothing. Not a single blessed thing.

I wasn't out to be picky. I was looking for clothes for myself or Mark, small housewares (lamps, bowls, barware, kitsch), stuff for the pets, anything giftable...or just anything that caught my eye. I've spent thousands in thrift stores over the years. I am not a hard sell. And yet, nothing.

Let's break it down.

I started close to home, in Herndon. My first stop was at the Salvation Army Thrift Store (2421 Centreville Road, Herndon,‎ (703) 713-6691‎). In Austin, I never lowered myself to stepping into a Salvation Army. I don't like their politics, and I never found their stores to be all that anyway. Here, though, I was bound and determined to give all my options a fair try.

It's not a terrible store. It's large, well organized, and clean. There were some possibilities in the furniture section--nothing we needed, but a few things that weren't complete crap. The book section, though small, was well priced and had up-to-date books. The kids' clothes looked promising. But the housewares were dismal (think old off-brand Tupperware and glassware that obviously wasn't supposed to spend so much time in the dishwasher), and the clothes I looked through all seemed to fall into that unpleasant zone between vintage and current. Nothing for me there.

Next, I hit a charity store, the Herndon-Reston Bargain Loft (336 Victory Drive, Herndon, (703) 437-0600‎). The store benefits the F.I.S.H. (Friendly Instant Sympathetic Help) program. It's a small store in a mostly-abandoned office park. This isn't a bad place--it's mostly houseware type stuff, very little clothing. Prices are a bit on the high side, but I could definitely see the possibility of treasures here, in the "we got this out of Grandma's attic" vein. Though I didn't find anything on this trip, I'd go again. It's never going to be a place where I'll find a lot of stuff, but I could see running into an occasional treasure, and it's a pretty pleasant shopping experience (I'm pretty sure I was the only person under 70 there).

To finish out my Herndon rounds, I hit the two thrift stores I'd seen within a block or so of each other in what Mark and I persist in calling "historic downtown Herndon." The first is The Closet (845 Station Street, Herndon, (703) 437-7652‎). The Closet is a charity shop. Its story is kind of neat, actually--it's a joint effort between several local churches. It was the best store I visited all day--packed to the gills with potential. However, it was very crowded, and I got there at about 1:45 PM, not knowing that they close at 2 (the store is only open from 10am-2pm Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday), so I didn't get the chance to look around as much as I'd liked. I did see a pretty good book selection (I notice several current books on CD, which I don't see all that often), and a decent-looking craft section (lots of new-in-package stamping and scrapbook stuff). The clothes that I could get to looked to be pretty high quality as well, but the crowding made it hard to tell. I'll definitely try again another day.

The other downtown Herndon thrift store is FAITH (Ste 2A, 795 Center Street, Herndon, (703) 766-3396‎). FAITH stands for Foundation for Appropriate and Immediate Temporary Help, and the store benefits local humanitarian efforts through that program. FAITH is a Muslim-based program, though they will help anyone as per their website, and the store reflects that. It's a really small space, and I'd say about a quarter of it is dedicated to scarves, abaya, and similar clothing. Another large portion of the store is taken up with children's clothing and toys. I doubt I'll visit again, since neither of those areas of merchandise is of much interest to me.

Having exhausted my options in Herndon, I moved on to Reston. Feeling that the issue here may be that the locals are into consignment, I made an exception to my usual "no consignment stores" rule and hit Vogue to Vintage (1631 Washington Plaza North, Reston, (703) 787-5700‎). This is a nice little consignment store--I tried on a gorgeous leather jacket that was marked $30, and had it fit, I'd have bought it in a second. The store seems to cater to a slightly older clientele, and it's all women's clothes and accessories. I saw a few pairs of designer jeans, a Betsey Johnson bag, stuff like that. Nothing that I just had to have, but, as far as consignment stores go, it's probably worth visiting. As a bonus, there's a used bookstore and a children's consignment store (Small Change Consignments) in the same little shopping center. The center also houses the only indie coffee shop I've seen here.

After my consignment detour, I moved on to Sterling. In Sterling, my first stop was the Goodwill (22405 Enterprise Street, Sterling, (703) 444-5186‎). I tried this store once before and was unimpressed, but I thought I'd give it another shot. In Austin, the Goodwill was always the #1 go-to store. No need to give this one another chance--everything in here is old. Not vintage, just old. Worn out, sad, depressing. I was in the store for less than five minutes, just like the last time I visited.

The next Sterling stop was the Good Shepherd Alliance store (Ste 113, 20921 Davenport Drive, Sterling, (703) 444-5956‎). Once again, a store full of worn out stuff. I don't think I even picked anything up.

Finally, I headed to Ashburn. First, I attempted to go to the SACS Family Store (21673 Beaumeade Circle, Ashburn, (703) 858-2700‎), but I drove around a business park for fifteen minutes and couldn't find it, so I gave up. Then I went to the Ashburn Good Shepherd Alliance store (20684 Ashburn Road, Ashburn, (703) 724-1555‎). Much better than the Sterling version, this store had the most potential of any I saw, other than maybe The Closet. Decent sized, well organized, with some cool stuff. The neatest thing I saw all day was there--this awesome Melissa & Doug tree house toy. It was in new condition and was $45, which is less than half retail, so not bad, but not the bins. There were a few OK housewares (though nothing we need), and the clothes looked pretty good.

So, in summary:
Try again: The Closet (Herndon); The Herndon-Reston Bargain Loft; SACS Family Store (Ashburn); Good Shepherd Alliance Store (Ashburn); Vogue to Vintage (Reston)
Skip: Salvation Army (Herndon); Goodwill (Sterling); Good Shepherd Alliance Store (Sterling); FAITH (Herndon).

It was depressing. I can see the potential to maybe find something every once in a while. If I visit The Closet every week, for example, I'm sure I'll grab a few cool things. But it's clearly just not going to be the way it was in Austin. And my question is still lingering: where are all these upper middle class suburbanites dumping their barely used stuff? If anybody out there knows, please let me in on the secret!

This afternoon, I found myself needing to waste some time in Falls Church, so I thought I'd give another go to thrift shopping here in the great state of Virginia.

And it was better! It's still not great--it's not Austin and it's not going to be--but it was better! I made actual purchases, at least.

First, I hit Unique (2956 Gallows Rd, Falls Church). Unique is this area's answer to the thrift mega-store. It's a mostly for-profit enterprise, from what I can tell. It's huge--a warehouse--and well-organized. Unfortunately, 99.9% of what is there is crap. When I thrift, I am looking for either new or like-new items at prices much cheaper than they would be new, or vintage or hard-to-fine items I couldn't find new. What I am not looking for is been-used stuff that I probably wouldn't have wanted even if it were new.

That being said, if you're patient, Unique can turn up some worthwhile items, few and far between as they are. The high point sections seem to be the clothes, where I didn't spend much time today. I did browse the ladies' jackets, and found several nice ones. The prices were too high by my reckoning, though--used Old Navy should never cost $10, and no used jacket should be $50 in a thrift store.

But I did come home with a few things. I bought: a set of six blue and white patterned Japanese finger bowls ($.99); a new-in-package set of Emilie Henry ramekins ($4.49); a copy of bell hooks' Feminist Theory: From Margin to Center ($.99); a copy of James Beard's Beard on Bread ($1.41); and a set of green linen napkins that look new ($3.49).

Next, I went further into Falls Church to the Clock Tower Thrift Shop (2860 Annandale Rd, Falls Church). Clock Tower is a non-profit store benefiting "Northern Virginia Family Service (NVFS). This is a really tiny store, and it's very crowded. You can barely walk between the racks. However, there are real gems here. I didn't look a lot at the clothes, but the dishes and housewares were full of vintage things I know a collector would love (there was a tea set from the 50s I really wanted to bring home). There were also at least a half dozen nice wool scarves and a big basket of vintage stockings that I'd have been all over if I was a smaller size. However, I was dismayed to see a used jean jacket marked $25. It was Calvin Klein, but come on--that's consignment price, not thrift. Finally, the vintage jewelry section, though it's all cluttered up behind glass and hard to browse, is amazing.

Once again, I managed to pick out a few things to bring home with me (I easily could have brought several more things, but I was trying to be good). The glass pitcher was a bit spendy at $8, but I've been looking for one just like it (that size and heavyweight), so I went for it. The noodle bowl is lovely and was $2. Finally, I was stoked to find new in package, locally hand-made beeswax candles, also $2.

My last stop was just a couple of blocks away from Clock Tower, a store called Joseph's Coat (3022 Annandale Rd, Falls Church). Joseph's Coat is a thrift shop benefiting the Bethany House DV hotline and shelter program. It's a much larger space than Clock Tower, but much smaller than Unique. The first thing I noticed was the stellar book section--best one I've seen here. I recently vowed to stop buying books that I don't for some reason need to own rather than just read (i.e. no fiction unless I really love it, mostly cookbooks, art books, and feminist books), but if I hadn't, I could have gone nuts. The furniture was also quite nice--there was an early 70s slipper chair in great condition there for $69 that I really wanted to bring home (but didn't because Mark would have hated it). Housewares are another strength--lots of full sets of dishes and older glassware. I didn't look closely at the clothes, but my glance turned up a few decent brands and things with tags on them.

It was at Joseph's Coat that I found my favorite score of the day, a bright red tin bread box, for $6. I think it's reproduction and not vintage, but it's super cute, and I've been wanting a box for the half-loaves of bread always cluttered on the top of our fridge. After much hemming and hawing, I also picked up a new condition coffee table book on DaDa. The book was $20, which seemed ridiculous to me for thrift prices, but it's really nice, and I felt slighted for not letting myself buy novels, and I haven't bought any art books in a long time, so it came home with me too.

All in all, a great day of thrifting. The best one I've had since we moved here, and I feel myself getting reinvigorated to do serious, browse-through-all-the-clothes, takes-all-day trips. Stay tuned!

Now that I've had a bit of thrifting luck, I'm itching to keep going. So, yesterday, I gave a couple of local stores another shot, then headed south to a store I'd heard good things about in Centreville. This is how it went down:

I hit The Closet in historic downtown Herndon first, making sure I was there early enough to look through the entire jam-packed store before they closed at 2pm. The store was wall-to-wall people; you couldn't get around in it at all without bumping into people, which I hate. That said, the stock didn't disappoint. I picked up two pairs of jeans for myself, one from The Gap, one from American Eagle (and a size 16 long is not something you see in thrift stores often), for $4.50 each; a set of brand new cloth napkins for I think $2; four new-in-case stamp sets from A Stamp in the Hand, all with their original $22 price tags on them, for $2 each; and a new in the box Bodum French press (I break them so often I like to have a spare around) for $5. I had a bit of a tense moment at checkout when I realized The Closet is a cash-only establishment (yes, turns out those do still exist), but they kindly held my purchases while I went to the ATM, so it all turned out fine.

Next, I hit Herdon-Reston Bargain Loft. When I went there before, I though that I might well make some discoveries on another trip, and I did. I got four nice martini glasses (the one kind of classic bar ware we were missing) for $1 each; a Williams & Sonoma tea pot with a strainer (something Mark has been asking me to find for him) for $7; and a little antipasta plate that I thought was cute for $.50. One thing I saw that I have no need for personally but would be a good find is a new-in-the-box Senseo machine for $30. Looks like retail on it is about $70, so that's a decent deal. I also have to note that the women who were working in the store were exceptionally nice and wrapped my martini glasses really carefully so they wouldn't break, which I appreciate.

Next, I hit the Herndon Salvation Army. I didn't buy anything there, but I did notice that the have some very nice furniture. I spent several minutes lusting over a mid-century dresser that I knew Mark would hate (I wish we didn't have such opposite tastes!). It was marked $79, but completely worth it--it was in great shape, with the drawers all going in and out smoothly, and hadn't ever been refinished. I'm still kicking myself a little bit for not going for it.

Lastly, I headed down to the Clock Tower Thrift Store in Centreville (6031 Centreville Crest Lane, Centreville). This store isn't quite as exciting, I didn't think, as the Clock Tower in Falls Church. It's a bit smaller and doesn't have quite as good a collection. That said, I did score a silk and cashmere Ann Taylor wrap sweater for $6, and a set of never-used Vera napkins for $1.50. I haven't decided whether to keep the napkins or put them up on Etsy--I kind of like them, but Mark hates them, and I know there are collectors of Vera's table linens all over the place.

All in all, another good day. I'm completely energized now. My next trip will probably up to Leesburg, where there seem to be about five stores within a three block radius, and then on to the Blue Ridge Hospice Thrift Shops in Purcelville and Berryville. I don't know if I have any local WINOW readers, but if I do, please leave me a comment and tell me your favorite thrift spots! I can't wait to check out all the rest of the options.

First, sorry about that silent period. WINOW was down for several days due to technical issues, but we're back now and hopefully won't be down again (at least not for long).

But on to more important issues: I finally had a really really great thrift trip! My friends visited last week, and we took a mid-week trip to Unique Thrift Store in Falls Church (2956 Gallows Rd., open 10-8 Monday-Saturday and 11-6 Sunday). I've been to Unique twice before. The first time was a bust, the second I scored a nice haul of ramekins, napkins, and books. This time, though, was the mother lode.

The friends I was thrifting with did well too, and I promised I'd blog their finds as well. I don't remember what they paid, since I don't have their receipt, but what you see here is (clockwise from top left): a cool pair of black scrub pants with a scissors pocket (one friend is a doctor and she was jazzed about these); a super cute black sweater dress; a World Wildlife Federation water bottle; a metallic clubby type dress; a dri-fit shirt; and five books (four paperbacks, one hard cover). The books I know were super inexpensive--between $.69 and $1.99 each, I believe.

My haul was even more impressive (plus I can tell you more about it!). Clockwise from top left: a cute lavender and black plaid flannel shirt with snaps ($3.99); a gorgeous, new with tags silk dress by Jonathan Martin ($24.99, and one of the most expensive pieces of clothing I have ever thrifted); a workout hoodie with a ruffled hood by Lucy ($4.99, and SO comfortable I've barely taken it off since I washed it); a set of four new Crate & Barrel napkins in a great retro pattern ($4.99); a beautiful brown wool, fully lined, houndstooth skirt by Harve Benard ($4.99); three paperback books (between $.69 an $1.19 each); a gorgeous wool Banana Repubic pencil skirt in the ellusive size 16 tall ($5.99); a Patagonia fleece neckwarmer ($.49); and a pair of fleece socks ($1.99). Total with tax was right around $60.

So what's the secret? Well, first off, previous trips to Unique found me looking in the wrong section for clothes for myself. Unique separates clothes into Small-Medium-Large-Extra Large. I assumed my size 14/16 stuff would be XL. They call it large. Knowing that will certainly improve future trips. Unique is large and overwhelming--there is a lot of stuff there, most of it is crap, and some of it is weirdly overpriced. If this trip is any indication of the typical quality you can find, though, it's going to become my new go-to.

As a little thought experiment, I decided to try to figure out how much it would have cost to buy the things I bought new. Obviously I can't price those exact items, but I can look at similar ones. So let's see.

First, the plaid flannel shirt. The brand on it is Outdoor Exchange. I've never heard of that brand, so I Googled it, and I couldn't find anything. It's a nice shirt, pretty heavyweight, so I think something similar would probably be Carhartt. A mid-weight flannel shirt for women at Carhartt is regular priced $40.

The dress is by Jonathan Martin. A web search for a silk dress of that brand led me to Overstock, where they're selling a Jonathan Martin dresses, most of which are poly blends, for $30-$50. Since mine's silk, we'll call it $45.

Lucy workout hoodies are expensive! The style I bought isn't on their site, but the ones that are range from $48-$118. Assuming the one I got is mid-range, it would be $83. Close enough.

Crate & Barrel sells their napkins for $3-$8 each, or $16.95 for sets of four. Again, the ones I got aren't there anymore, but there are some similar ones.

I thought Harve Benard was a fancy brand, but it turns out it's sold at Sears. Still, the skirt I bought seems to be very good quality. Nothing they have currently on the Sears website resembles it in the least--no wool, for one thing. Everything I found online that looked remotely similar was at least $60, so I'm calling the skirt I got $50.

Unlike the clothes, the books are all in "used" condition (clothes are all new or like new), so I'm gonna go with Amazon Marketplace values for those. Those values are $1.79, $.97, and $.97.

The Banana Republic skirt actually is still on their website! And it's $79.50.

Patagonia sells their fleece neck warmers for $25.

Finally, the most colorful fleece socks are $15-$20 per pair for adults, depending on the brand. Mine don't have a brand label, so I'll say $15.

So the total, if this stuff were bought retail, would be $358.18. Before tax. Even if I overestimated in some places, at least several times as much.

This isn't the only reason to thrift shop, but it is sure one of them.

Over the years, I've had a lot of people tell me they wish they could come thrifting with me. This makes me laugh, honestly, because I don't think thrifting with me is exactly a good time (though you'd have to ask The Princess, as she's been there and lived to tell the tale). It's an endurance sport, an all-day kinda process. That said, since the majority of the folks who say they wish they could come with me are too far away to suffer the actual sore feet and sugar crash that it would entail, it might be fun to take y'all on a trip virtually. So, today, that's what I did. I went on a typical Saturday shopping/thrifting mission, and I took photos and notes of what I was doing so I could come back and recount it all to you. Dig in, get something to drink, put up your feet, and let's go.

First thing first: what you wear on a thrifting trip is important. You've got to be comfortable. You also have to consider trying things on. In most cases, you're going to want to wear stuff you can easily get in and out of in a dressing room. Today, though, that isn't going to be enough, because they main store we're visiting doesn't have dressing rooms. So how do you buy clothes you can't try on? Well, the first thing is to be pretty sure about what will fit you--not your size so much as being able to just look at something and think it will or won't fit. This is a learned skill, for sure--I am pretty good at it because I've been doing it for a long time, but it's not a natural thing. If you've never tried to do it, I suggest pulling a few things that fit really well out of your closet and looking at them on the hanger. Just get a sense of what a garment that fits you looks like.

The other thing to do is to wear something that facilitates trying things on without a dressing room. At a thrift store with no dressing room, doing this isn't going to be strange. My go-to ensemble is leggings and a sweater dress with a tank top underneath. I forgot to take a picture, but that's exactly what I had on today.

12:12 PM: This is when we leave my house. I always try to leave early, but I never actually make it out on Saturday until noon or later. There is coffee to drink, an Internet to screw around on...just too much to do. As we back out of my garage, we notice that our neighbors have decorated their front yard with a dozen or so different sizes and shapes of plastic flamingos, and are playing in it with their grandchildren. Things like that don't usually happen in the suburbs. Has to be a good omen.

12:18 PM: We make our first stop, just up the road from my house, at Starbucks. I'd love to tell you that I fuel for my adventures at a local coffee shop, but the sad truth is that I don't have a local coffee shop. As in, I can't find one anywhere. So Starbucks it is. Mini mall Starbucks, no less.
And feel free to make fun of me for my order. It's a grande skinny two-pump three-shot vanilla latte. Yeah, I know. Pathetic. But in my defense, if I could trust the coffee to be good, I'd just have coffee. In Virginia, I cannot trust the coffee to be good. That little devil with it is a blueberry scone. 10 freaking points in that thing, and yet, so tasty. Eat up, you're going to need the energy.

12:42 PM: Everything in northern Virginia takes a long time to get to, so it'll be nearly a half an hour before we get to our next stop, even though it's less than 15 miles away. Don't worry, I'm a good driver. And we can listen to "This American Life" in the car. Our stop won't be a thrift store yet, sorry. Thing is, there are things I need that I can't thrift. Specifically, bras. And I have a gift card for T.J. Maxx/Marshall's. And they are on the way. So T.J. Maxx is the next place we pull in. I'll spend a half hour looking for bras (and a spring bag, and leggings) and then come out with a black sweater dress from the clearance rack. Oops.

1:18 PM: As luck would have it, there is a Marshall's just a few stores down from T.J. Maxx, and still on our way, so we'll have a quick stop there, too. I will take another half hour to look and I'll strike out completely. OK, I swear we're really on our way now.
1:53 PM: Almost two hours after leaving my house, we finally get to my new favorite thrift store, Unique. Unique is a big-ass thrift store. It's a bit terrifying, actually--you go through this odd marketplace full of knock-off designer bags and perfume and discount underwear to get to the actual thrift store part. As we go in, we'll notice the signs that list today's 50% off items. Not much of my interest--furniture, electronics, toys, and stuffed animals. Two weeks ago it was coats, scarfs, and boots, which is a much better deal. Still, something to keep in mind.

I've been asked if I have a method for going through a thrift store--if I always do it in the same order. I do have a method, but it changes depending on the store, my time frame, and if I am looking for anything specific. Basically, if I am in a hurry, I start with whatever I want to find most or whatever that store is most likely to have. If I am not in a hurry, I start with everything else and move to the sections that are most important/most likely to have good stuff. With some exceptions. Today, I am not in a hurry, so I'll start with the sections that are the least important to me/least likely to have stuff I want (housewares, toys, craft stuff, accessories) move on to the best sections, where I'll spend the most time (clothing), and end with a spin through the books (often time consuming, so I skip it if I don't have a lot of time), a look at furniture (want to do that last so you don't have to carry anything you decide you want around), and a glance at jewelry (since it's in a case at Unique you have to get it right before checking out).

There are several rows of housewares at Unique, but they only take me a few minutes to browse, since I'm not really looking for any of that type of stuff. The same is true of the purse and scarf sections--I haven't found these to be particularly strong areas at Unique, and today I don't see anything. Same with craft stuff--I pick up a few bags of yarn, but only see synthetics, and I hesitate for a moment over a cool blue-and-orange print piece of vintage fabric, but leave it when I notice it is only two yards.

The toys is a section I often skip completely, but since it's 50% off, I take a quick gander to see if anything grabs me. It's a pretty small section of the store at Unique, and often really picked over. Today, though, something jumps out. It's a plastic anatomical model. Not something I need, I suppose, but how freaking cool is that? Plus it's marked $1.91 and it's half-off. Yeah, I'll buy that for a dollar.

Next stop is baby clothes. I don't have a baby, it's true, but I have an ongoing list of my friends' kids' clothing sizes and what they are in need of. I love thrifting for baby clothes--the younger the better--they are cheap, they are super cute, and because they aren't for my kid and thus aren't "needed," I can afford to be super picky. Today, I scored two dresses (well, a dress and a dress/bloomer set) for an online friend's foster child.

Here I have to make a confession--as far as serious thrifters go, I am willing to pay a lot for thrifted items. A lot of people who thrift as much as I do are what I would consider pretty damn cheap. But when I thrift, I'm comparing the price on the item not to what I think it should be used (or garage sale prices), but to what it would be new, or at least new and on the clearance rack. I am blessed to be able to do that--it speaks to my privilege as someone who thrifts because she wants to and because she thinks it is the right thing to do politically, rather than from dire economic need. That caveat made, these dresses were not particularly expensive for what they are. The green outfit is an extremely, new-condition Gymboree set, and the lavender dress is from Kohl's Blueberi Boulevard line and is new with tags. They were $3.49 each.

The next section I hit is men's clothes, to look for stuff for Mark. My sojourn here is brief, as the only thing on his current "wish list" is a greatcoat, and it only takes me a minute to exhaust that section. Then I'm on to what I'm really here for: clothes for me!

I have a large wardrobe. Recently, I moved out of the master's closet Mark and I share and started to convert part of my office into a closet/dressing room. This move frees me from even pretending I am going to pare down clothes. I love clothes, and I like to have a lot to choose from. If the majority of what I have is thrifted, I feel very little guilt about obtaining it. And so, I thrift for clothes with a rather embarrassing free reign. Be forewarned.

The first section I hit is dresses. I am in a big dress phase right now. Finally having some options for tights and leggings that are long enough makes dresses a lot more wearable. In Unique's dress section, I find three frocks that I think will work. The left-hand one is a sort of Army green jersey dress from Kohl's Apt. 9 line. It's got cute waist detailing and is about knee-length, and I like the cut and probable comfort a lot. It's $6.49. The middle one is a shorter, dress with a similar cut, in red, from The Gap. It's probably too short to wear on its own, but will be fine with leggings. It's also $6.49. Finally, I spot a dress at the end of the rack, which someone has picked up and then discarded. The tags are completely cut out of it, so I have no idea about brand or size, but it's a teal blue shirt dress with a matching belt with little embroidered birds on it. So cute, and very retro feeling, if not actually vintage. It's $9.99. My finding this great dress speaks to an important thrifting tip, especially at big stores like this one--always pay attention to the "hot spots" where other people have discarded things. A lot of the nicer stuff will make its way there.

When I look for clothes at Unique, I look at everything in the large and extra large sections. This is because Unique seems to categorize extra large as beginning at size 18. I am usually a 14/16, so my clothes are in the large section. However, when things aren't numerically labeled, I'm usually an XL. Looking in both sections helps me not to miss anything.

Next, I hit up skirts. I'm not quite as into skirts as I am dresses, but I do like them a lot. Plus, I don't look at pants at Unique. Pants I really, really need to try on. And probably even if I could try them on, I wouldn't spend much time looking at them, because finding pants to fit me at a thrift store is pretty unlikely (only a few brands fit, and I need a long length, which isn't all that common). So I skip that section completely. I skip shoes, too--I wear a 12, it's just not likely to be there.

In the skirt section, however, I do well. I find a purple corduroy skirt from H&M for $4.99, a gorgeous lined wool brown Anne Klein skirt for $6.49, and a new with tags Jones New York skirt in a tan and white pattern for $9.99. I'm not 100% sure the shorter, pleated style of the Jones New York skirt is going to work, but I like the pattern and am always trying to broaden my horizons when I thrift for clothes, so I decide to take a chance.

Next, I hit sweaters. My current dress kick is accompanied by a cardigan kick, and I've done very well with cardigans at Unique. Today is no different. The cropped black and pink and white one is by Style & Co. (Macy's) and cost $3.99. The black one with the ruffled collar is much cuter on than photographed, cost $4.99, and is my beloved Ann Taylor. The chunky gray one is from The Limited and was $5.99.

This brings up another question folks ask me fairly regularly--do I look for specific labels when I thrift? Yes and no. There are a few labels I simply won't buy--WalMart's George comes to mind. And there are a couple that I don't necessarily seek out, but I do pay attention to when I see them, since they seem to work for me so often. Ann Taylor is one of those. I thrift a lot of Ann Taylor. Doing so wasn't originally an intentional decision, it just ends up that Ann Taylor makes a lot of stuff I like. (God, typing that sentence makes me feel old.)

After sweaters I moved to shirts. I've been trying to expand my blouses and non-jersey shirts lately. I don't generally thrift tee-shirts, because they always seem to be faded or shrunk or both--environmentally, I'd like to thrift them, but vanity wins out. Today, Unique's blouse section netted me a blouse and a short dress. The dress, at left, is Merona (Target) and I paid $9.99 for it, which is more than even I would usually pay for a used Target item. However, I really loved it, so I did it anyway. The blouse is cotton and in perfect shape, from Sonoma (Kohl's). It was $3.99.

Having completed my clothing rounds, I stopped by the books, but didn't see anything. Looked at the furniture, and briefly considered a desk chair for Mark, but didn't want to lug it out to the car and wasn't sure it was the style he wanted (it was marked $49.99, but was in great shape and was 50% off, so it would have been reasonable). Finally, I stopped at the jewelry counter. It irritates me that Unique has all their jewelry behind glass--it's a very clogged area and it takes forever to get someone to show you the stuff you want to see, plus I always feel stupid for looking at things and then not buying them. However, it's worth it--they have an excellent selection, including quite a bit of vintage stuff. Today I didn't see anything, though, so I hit the checkout and left.

3:34 PM: Back in the car post-Unique, I marvel at how quickly I got through the store, and decide that the afternoon is still young and we should head over to the next town over to check out the Innova Hospital thrift store. Someone told me that hospital thrift stores are the way to go out here--doctor's families donate all the best stuff. Since you are imaginary, you are agreeable, and off we go.

3:55 PM: Except that on the way to the other thrift store, I get sidetracked by my hunger and need for more caffeine. Chik Fil A! Doesn't take but a minute to buzz through the drive-thru for a Coke and some waffle fries! What would you like?

4:07 PM: When we finally get to the Innova store, it doesn't look like much. Small and crowded. The type of store I usually avoid out of a mixture of laziness and claustrophobia. Still, since we're here, might as well check it out. Doesn't take more than a few minutes. This type of store is too small to go through with a plan, I just look through the stuff at the tops of the piles. Turns out these particular doctors' families aren't all that generous. Most of what's here is total crap. But it's 25% off crap.

That said, I manage to score a really cute black Jones New York dress (which didn't photograph well at all--trust me, it's cute!) and a vintage half slip for a total of $8.66, so it wasn't a wasted trip. Plus the entire stop took sixteen minutes.

And we're off again!

4:32 PM: You may be pissed off by this point. I insist we stop at yet another T.J. Maxx so I can continue my bra-buying quest. Another half an hour search (because I can't look at just bras!), another strike out.

It's at this point, leaving T.J. Maxx, that I realize that if I don't get back to the dry cleaner (conveniently located next door to the Starbucks at which we began our day) by six, I can't pick up my huge armload of dry cleaning. Which I kinda need. So we're back on the road. And the traffic, as is the case at this time of day, even on Saturday, is intense. That's OK. We'll listen to NPR.

5:56 PM: Made it! I go pick up my dry-cleaning. Most of which is actually the product of previous weeks' trips to Unique.

6:06 PM: We return to my house. Neighbors still have the flamingo farm in their yard, but the kids are gone. And probably you run far, far away and refuse to ever go thrifting with me again.

It's been brought to my attention that I never share my thrift scores with y'all anymore. Someone even asked me if I'd stopped thrifting. Yeah, and then I stopped breathing and then I stopped drinking coffee. The thrift store is my happy place--I go at least once a week. I just hadn't been posting about it, both from laziness/oversight and because I thought y'all might be bored.

If you are bored, you can tell me. Or, if you love it when I post my thrifted finds, tell me that too, OK? I'd like to know whether I should keep doing it or not. In the meantime, let's take a little breather from the Happy Housewife project so I can share the booty from my latest thrift trip:

The other day, I dropped Mark's milk foamer thing, which I'd gotten him for Christmas, and broke it. He likes to make himself cappuccino-esque coffee drinks. I was happy to be able to replace it so quickly, with this cute little Bodum cappuccino set, featuring a smaller version of the same frother and an espresso sized French press. It's new in the box and was $3.93. I also bought a rise shelf for our messy spice cupboard, for $1.91.

I'm constantly adding to our cloth napkin collection, since it seems that every load of laundry turns up one that is too stained to use anymore. I especially like napkins like these, which are made of heavy-weight cotton so they don't wrinkle easily, and are muted and patterned enough in color to hide some staining. I was happy to pay $2.99 for four.

Though it falls squarely into the camp of "things I don't need," I couldn't resist this vintage Pyrex juice pitcher for $1.91.

Mark is a fan of Jamie Oliver, and I haven't brought him home a thrifted cookbook in quite a long time. We have a lot of Jamie's books already, but not this one, so I was happy to pay $4.94 for it.

This Gap tank top was $5.99, which is more than I'd usually want to pay for a thrifted tank, but I love this style, it's a great color, and I'm pretty sure it's new, though it doesn't have tags. Plus my tank top selection is pretty sad right now, being almost all too big or ratty. I'm sure I'll get lots of wear out of it.

Since I've started working from home and exercising most every day, I wear a lot of exercise apparel. And I'll admit it--I like the higher end stuff a lot, especially Lucy. All of my Lucy stuff is thrifted, and I was thrilled to add these two work-out shirts to the mix for $6.99 each. Again, that may sound like a lot, but as expensive as these things are new ($40-$60), it's not that bad.

The picture does not do this cool, drapey Banana Republic shirt justice. I love black shirts in general, and this one is both comfortable and attractive. An easy decision to buy it for $4.99.

Though I'd never heard of the brand, "To the Max," I loved the color and cut of this shirt, so I bought it for $4.99. Turns out it's a BCBG line.

This Tommy Hilfiger shirt is actually one I looked at last time I was at the thrift store, didn't buy because I felt $9.99 was too much, then wished I'd bought later because I love the style and pattern. When I saw it was still there today, I swooped it up.

I feel a bit funny divulging the prices I paid for things, because I am almost sure that other thrifters would be scandalized at them. In a previous incarnation, I would have been. But everything is expensive here, even thrifted stuff. It's still cheaper than new, and I still feel better about buying it this way, even if the prices aren't what they used to be.

I've been meaning to post about this, to tell you all about it, and to remind myself. One of my favorite bloggers, Apron Thrift Girl, has been hosting a ring called "Thrift Share Monday" for several months now. She and other thrifting bloggers share their weekend finds every Monday. It's totally worth checking out, and, if you are a thrifting blogger, participating in. I am going to try to start this Monday (assuming I thrift something this weekend). I'll put the button over on my sidebar to remind all of us!

Woohoo! I finally got it together to participate in Thrift Share Monday!

I didn't actually find anything spectacular, or spectacularly cheap, this week, but nevertheless, I will share my finds:

These three pairs of shorts are all for me. The blue ones are Adidas sports shorts, the other two are destructed Bermudas from Ann Taylor and dark wash Bermudas from Izod. I believe they were $4.99 each and they all fit! Since I'm so in love with Bermudas right now, I was happy to find them.

This dress didn't photograph well, but it's really cute on. It's by Alfani and I think it was $6.49.

This is a super cute faux wrap shirt from Ann Taylor. It's not right for this season, but I'll definitely wear it in the fall. It was $4.99.

This was my most fun find! A clearly handmade metal rooster sculpture. It's name is B.B. and it now lives among our plants.

I have no idea what my plan is for this wooden box, but it just seemed so handy. It was $1.91.

This is a set of Vera napkins. I love Vera napkins. Mark hates them, so we don't actually use them, but I keep collecting them anyway. They were $3.49 for four, and I don't think they've ever been used.

This was Mark's gift--a little kit to make three small wooden boats. He's enraptured with it. I think it was $.59 or something.

Like I said, nothing extraordinary, but a good day's thrifting. Hopefully I'll have something more interesting to share next week.

I haven't given up on 100 Days to a Happy Housewife--in fact, I'll have a post tomorrow detailing just why I've been absent for a few days--but for today, I just want to share my weekend thrifting finds. I actually didn't do much thrifting--just popped into my favorite store on my way back from Dim Sum yesterday, but I came out with a few things, so I thought I'd share.

The teal cami with the fancy trim is by Bamboo Traders, a company I'd never heard of before, but it's cute and long enough, so yay. The black one is a workout top from Lucy, something I can never have enough of. They were $4.99 each. The scarf has no labels on it, and I think it's poly-blend rather than silk, but I just love the pattern and color so much I had to buy it for $3.99. Look for it in a future Happy Houswife post, for sure.

How about you? Any great thrift finds this weekend?

Yay! Thrift Share Monday!

I actually went a bit outside my comfort zone this weekend and visited a bunch of new stores. Unfortunately, they were almost uniformly terrible, and the bulk of my great finds came, as always, from Unique. I did buy some glassware at smaller shops, though.

My favorite finds:

From Unique, a great coffee table book about Georgia O'Keefe (it includes her art and her letters, which is really fascinating) and a cool blue glass pitcher. I thought the pitcher was mid-century to begin with, but I think it's probably actually Ikea or similar. I believe both items were $4.94.

Also from Unique, a trio of graphic black-and-white print tops. The lefthand one is an empire cotton tank top from H&M, the middle is a great sort of floaty top with an asymetrical neckline from Loft, and the righthand is a basic kind of sleeveless top by I think Izod. I'm really into these sorts of prints right now. These were, I think, $3.99 each.

This trio is from two small thrift stores in Falls Church, Joseph's Closet and...something else. I absolutely love the hand blown amber glass pitcher, and I paid $12 for it, which is a lot for me. Mark says the bulb-bottomed amber glass vase looks 70s, but I don't care, because I love the shape and it was $5. The pottery vase is sadly mass-produced and not handmade, but Mark loves it, and it was only $3.

I can't resist the napkins! This set of 4 new ones was $2.99 at Unique.

My most practical find of the weekend, which I forgot to photograph, was a new in package set of four small, square white porcelain cereal bowls for $5. I've been looking for some small cereal bowls--we have only huge ones--and these are perfect.

It's true. I'm reigning in my thifting. Trying to get it under control. In reality, I spend way more money thrifting that I likely would if I just bought things new--that's how much stuff I buy that I don't need. And it's not sustainable, or admirable, or financially wise. So I've made some new rules for myself when it comes to hitting the thrift stores.
1. Only buy things for yourself/your household if you see an immediate use for them. Picture where they are going to go and what they're going to be used for, and if you come up blank, but it back.
2. Only buy gifts if you have a specific idea of who it will be for and for what occasion. No "that'll make a good gift for somebody."
3. Only buy things for other people if they have been specifically requested. No "I bet X would love this!"
4. Do not thrift to re-sell.

Obviously, these rules wouldn't work for everyone. A lot of people come out ahead when thrifting for re-sale. Those people are for more disciplined and knowledgeable than I am.

Yesterday, on my birthday, I set out to Unique with my new rules in mind, but no budget. The first thing I picked up was something that I originally would have thought I was buying for re-sale. Knowing that was against my rules now, I picked it up thinking, "hey, I know X would love this." And she would. But was it something I would actually get together and send at an appropriate time for a gift? I wasn't sure. I put it down. A few minutes, I returned and picked it up again, having realized that I actually wanted to keep it for myself, and could see where it would sit in my house quite clearly. As a bonus I knew Mark would love it. So I put it in the cart.

The mystery object? This perfect condition, vintage-with-original-tags dark green faux croc ice bucket. I paid $5.49 for it and really, how could I possibly have left it there?

As I browsed through the rest of the housewares, I picked things up and then returned them to the shelves several times, realizing each time that the item was not one I needed or really even wanted to have in my house. Then, in the toy section, I spotted another interesting object, this one a clear gift. It met my rules easily--I knew exactly who it would be for, and when. For $1.91, there was no need for much argument and it went into the cart. (And won't be revealed here, in case the intended recipient is a reader.)

After I'd been through all of the housewares and books, I hit clothes. I usually start with skirts and dresses, since those are what I'd most like to find. I found a gorgeous 100% silk dress with the Macy's tag advertising the $109 price tag still on it, but it fit me like a nightshirt, so it was a no-go. Great find for someone else. The skirts all seemed to be bum-length. Undeterred, I decided to have a gander at the jeans, since fall is on its way and I could really use some new ones. I was rewarded--a pair of Eddie Bauer curvy fit trouser jeans, dark wash, barely worn (if worn at all), in a size 14L. These are jeans I was 95% sure would fit, I loved the style and the wash, and they aren't a duplicate of something else I already have. Easy peasy. $6.49, and I was right, they fit perfectly.

Lastly, as always, I looked at the jewelry case. I've been really into thrifted jewelry lately. I've been really into jewelry in general, actually, and thrifting is my favorite way to get it--less expensive and more interesting stuff. Still, I was trying to be prudent, so I knew I'd have to be a bit picky. With a bit of birthday luck, though, I spotted something I'd had my eye out for--a multi-strand seed bead necklace. I've been admiring these for a bit, and had decided I really wanted a vintage one. The one I got? In perfect condition, from the late 70s or early 80s (I think), and baby pink. Perfect. At $9.99 it was a bit more than I usually pay for thrifted jewelry, but totally worth it.

I left the store having spent only about $26, which is, I am embarrassed to tell you, quite a bit lower than my usual thrift store bill. I bought only things I am 100% sure I like and have a use for, and I feel great about my purchases. Hopefully every trip under the new rules will be as great as this one!

Don't forget to go to Apron Thrift Girl and Southern Hospitality and see all the rest of the participants in Thrift Share Monday!