Lord, I loves me a bargain. And by bargain I mean, “something you really wanted/needed that you happened to find at an astounding price.” White Elephant stories don’t belong in this thread.
Here’s my story. I was browsing in the camping store in my town, and as I was walking out the door, they have a notice board which I was glancing over. A sign next to the noticeboard caught my eye: “Bob’s Insane Sale: Everything $10” with an arrow pointing down at a stack of shoeboxes. I looked up at the counter, “Is everything in this stack really $10?” I asked. “Yep” came the reply. I found me a pair of Gore-Tex waterproof/breathable hiking boots in my size – and a nice color (brown) – for $10!!! (Comparable boots retail at about $150). I had bargain-hunter’s high for a week.
I recently obtained a single by The Doors, in mint condition, on a record (.45). It has both “Light My Fire” and “The Crystal Ship.” The price? Two dollars. I’m hoping I’ll profit decently on eBay.
Rickenbacker 620, which I’ve seen in stores for $800. I got it for $300 from a friend who had just upgraded to a hollow-body and wanted the guitar to go to a loving home (which it did).
They’re random, and to others they may be junk, but…
A bread machine at a garage sale nabbed for $8. This was when bread machines were first becoming “in” and this model cost over $200 new (it was pretty new as it was). Puh-retty sweet in a college apartment!
A hammock swing for $10, clean, undamaged, and actually in near-new condition.
A brand new LitterMaid litterbox–the self-cleaning electric kind. Kinda kitschy, but hey…it was $20 (I saw them in stores at the time for $150-$200) and came with everything but litter. And it worked great!
I got a beautiful slate full-sized bumper pool table for my kids for $35. It’s gorgeous and we are going to keep it fordamnever because it weighs a freaking TON and nearly killed all 4 of us getting it into the house.
And we got the world’s best dog for free, after someone raised her, trained her, and then abandoned her when they moved from their apartment. Poor little bug, but definitely our gain.
Nearby, we have a store called Gabriel Bros. Gabe’s sells discontinued, and/or slightly (and sometimes majorly) imperfect merchandise, mostly clothes. Early this past fall, I found a great medium-weight jacket of some fleecy material for $9.99 in perfect condition. Best part? It still had the $40.00 Fashion Bug price tag on it!!
Grocery store: Our local supermarket has a gas station. When you buy gas, you can get a ticket punched that entitles you to discounted merchandise. You need 6 holes punched for one coupon, and you get one punch for each $5.00 in gas. I had a coupon filled for Maxwell House Coffee. The coupon entitled me to buy one, get one free. Well, last week, Maxwell House was on sale, buy one get one free. So I picked up two, presented my coupon to the cashier, and the one I got charged for, was deducted for my coupon. Two cans of coffee-FREE!
I picked up a lovely 13 inch copper skillet with a long brass handle for $26 at a consignment store. Pans like that usually cost over $100. It cooks very nicely.
A pair of leather pants for 5 bucks. It was a house contents sale and I was just walking through each of the rooms and spotted the pants and couldnt believe that they were a very small size. There wasn’t a price on it so I asked the guy how much and he was like how much do you have. I pulled out a 5 dollar bill and said that and he said they’re yours. I was quite happy but at the time it was my second pair so I kinda did regret spending hundreds before when I got a pair for so cheap. But now I’ve given them to my friend.
Pleather (soft, you really can’t tell it’s not calfskin) three-quarter length, fitted, peacoat-styled driving coat. It had some cracking where the collar meets the coat, but that’s IT. And I got it for $5 at a half-off consignment sale. SCORE! It’s even surprisingly warm.
I LOVE consignment stores. Especially in Florida. Old people have the best stuff, and that’s where they go to die. So that’s where the good stuff ends up. Morbid? Yes. But with deals like I’ve gotten there, I’ll take a little morbidity.
I bought a really old Baseball card off of eBay for $5, and as soon as I got it in the mail, I put it right back up for auction. I got over $500 for it, woohoo.
About 14 years ago, I got a sweet deal on a slightly used, short, Italian woman, from some guy that was looking to get her out of his house. So far, she’s only cost me about a couple hundred thousand…
I have two: an Aigner purse that retails for $98.00 that I got for $1.98 minus my employee discount, so about $1.50 with tax. I also got a Scepi handbag that was $168.00 regular price for $2.99. Store was dropping the line and a few items hung around for a while and I got the deals!
I have picked up a number of books and resold them on eBay or half.com . Just sold a DSM-IV Casebook for $27 that I bought for $1, and another book that I got for a quarter went for $23. Not too bad!
Last week, in a local thrift shop: perfect condition Ann Taylor cashmere sweater, lovely shade of blue: $2.00. It cost more to dry-clean it than to buy it!