My iron died last week. I iron everything, being a big fan of cotton. And because I’m currently so broke I can’t pay attention, I went iron-hunting at my local Salvation Army thrift store. There I found a harvest gold iron, a big heavy one (I like the heavy ones, they press better), for $3.99. It heats and everything! Whoo hoo!
StG
Congratulations on your find. It’s always refreshing to find a fellow bargain hunter. Garage sales and thrift stores are without a doubt the best places to get small appliances and other little, mundane stuff you need to furnish or replenish your living cheap apartment. I personally own no furniture that was not given to me or bought at either a thrift store or Big Lots. Someday I’ll upgrade, but for now this cheap tacky stuff keeps my butt and my belongings off the floor. What else do you need, really?
I really needed an 80’s type skirt (lots o’ tulle and whatnot) for Halloween. On the Tuesay before, I went to Goodwill and found the exact skirt I was thinking of. It was great. (I also found these wonderful purple stillettos.)
What’s an iron?
:rolleyes:
My current best find is this year’s winter jacket-black suede, midthigh length, drawstring waist, full hood and it FITS! Cost, 2.00 Cdn! At the same store they had a bunch of army surplus clothes for my just-joined-cadets army-crazy son-.50 an item including a jacket! I also got a mint condition brown leather vest for a buck. It’s the kind with a real back too, not those silly satin things, and again if fits perfectly. I love second hand!
My current best find is this year’s winter jacket-black suede, midthigh length, drawstring waist, full hood and it FITS! Cost, 2.00 Cdn! At the same store they had a bunch of army surplus clothes for my just-joined-cadets army-crazy son-.50 an item including a jacket! I also got a mint condition brown leather vest for a buck. It’s the kind with a real back too, not those silly satin things, and again if fits perfectly. I love second hand!
:eek:
oops!
Oh God, don’t talk to me about secondhand stuff - almost everything I own is secondhand. 
I love buying clothes and bags at the market or op-shops … my friends think I’m crazy, but at the same time, they love the clothes I get.
How about a hospital gurney, for 14 bucks? I have no idea what to do with it, but how could I turn it down for 14.00?
Thrift store shoes have always been problematic: I’ve been told that shoes broken-in by another’s feet will never conform to one’s own and will do podiactral damage, and then there is also the issue of fungal spores.
I got a $275 pair of K2 rollerblades for $35 never used at a garage sale…that’s pretty good, but not quite suede jacket good, which was so good it had to be posted twice [sub]sorry, had to say it[/sub].
Got a pool table for $ 40 bucks.
Bah! I’ve bought many pairs of shoes at the thrift stores with nary a problem at all. I do clean them up and spray with a disinfectant before wearing but nothing else.
I’ve found Birkenstock sandals, Doc Marten boots, too many to count pumps and heels, leather and bad weather boots all at thrift stores. I don’t buy any is they are not in perfect or hardly worn condition, though.
Being a thrift shop junkie, I’ve managed to find more than a few bargains at the second hand shops.
[li] A 24" tall cobalt blue glass “floor vase” made by the famous Danish glassmaker Holmegard (who made my crystal stemware). It is pictured in the Danish National Art Glass catalog. Since finding it I have found three of its little brothers in amber, olive green and brown glass as well. The big blue one was the least expensive. What did Starvation Army want for it?[/li]
$5.[sup]00[/sup]
The set of them is prolly worth on the order of $500.[sup]00[/sup] to $1,000.[sup]00[/sup]. Didn’t pay more than $12.[sup]00[/sup] for any one of them.
[li] A small hardbound book of poetry entitled “Strange Victory” by the famous poetess Sara Teasdale. Inserted inside of it are bound slips of paper with handwritten errata corrections. All of them are signed S.T. I’ve had offhand appraisals given to me at $200.[sup]00[/sup]. The book was from Britain and marked inside at what was probably 10£. Trust an American to ignore this shopkeeper’s mark and charge me all of;[/li]
10¢
Deliciously weird find: Martini glass bearing the Hayward County Sheriff/Coroner Official seal on it. What tha? I love to drink from it and think “this drink is killing you – see ya soon!”
Got a gorgeous, like new, 50’s movie star-style leapord print coat. (Can’t tell if it’s actual fur or not, but seems too wirey-feeling to be real.) $6
Last week saw a Longenberger (sp) basket for 35 cents. (It was ugly…why do those things sell for so much?)
I rarely, if ever, buy clothes new anymore. It’s gotten to the point where I get sticker shock even at Big Lots or the Old Navy outlet.
You may not be a fan of the Oprah book club, but I’ve never paid more than 99 cents for one of them, heh heh. Gotta love it!
Silks! Silk silk silk. I can spot silk from all the way across the store. Silk blouses, skirts, and pants for less than a dollar each!
Bags of antique glass beads for pennies!
Hideous shirts for formal occasions!
Gloria Vanderbilt and Bill Blass jeans for a dollar each!
I love thrift stores. 
Cashmere! to find it just touch each & every sweater they have, its soft you can tell which one it is. Sometimes they don’t have labels, so they should be around $2.50 for sweaters. Silk is also cheap in our stores.
I work for three thrift shops so I know the tricks. Two are for animals, one is for people charity.
Also, a funny book is ‘Thrift Score’ it teaches you the tricks of the stores & customers. Like those sneaky ones that hide our nice stuff in the store & buy it during a half off sale
I found an old, bright green dentist’s chair last Monday. Only $10! Sadly, I had nothing to take it home with, so I had to pass.
Then again, there are those of us who were raised by people who wouldn’t even go into a Salvation Army thrift store, let alone buy clothes there. My mom was (and still is) convinced that clothes bought at the Salvation Army will give you tuberculosis and possibly leprosy.
It’s tough to overcome the conditions of your upbringing, I tell ya…
jayjay
AIGH! Where do you live? I could have probably shoved it into my van and stolen it…uh…taken it home for you.
WHAT I WOULDN’T GIVE for a dentist chair. Not that I have anywhere to put it. BUT …I MEAN…HOW COOL IS THAT?
I live in thrift stores, resale places and garage sales.
All of my kids Xmas presents ( Fisher Price & Playschool) are garage sale finds and the only thing wrong with them are they don’t have the box.
My parents bought (in 1961) a one hundred year old pump organ in outstanding condition for the astromical price of $125 from the Salvation Army. I am now the proud owner of this behemoth thing and after my my mother dies, hope to be able to sell it and fund the kids college. It has to be worth at least 10k now.
I bought my only pair of skis from a T-shop for $10. (boots and bindings were a gift from my husband.) Picked up a really cool Stroll-o-matic stroller ( from the 30’s - 60’s they were made) for $25 and it had never been used. It is just way cool.
I still **regret ** not buying the largest moose head with a huge [sub]and I mean huge [/sub]rack on it at a t-shop when I saw it. It was $900 (trendy thrift shop) and owned only a little Festiva at the time.