Thrift stores, yard sales

[azsnowman]

Just curious, how many here shop thrift stores and yard sales? The reason I'm asking this, my neighbor is having a yard sale starting today and I swear.......all 30,000 residents of the White Mountains have stopped by her yard sale :o

We have 3 thrift stores up here, the biggest......St. Vincent De Pauls, I've found some REAL bargins there, some old antiques at a STEAL.......the ppl who volunteer there have no sense of value, somethings are WAY too high, others..........well, that's the reason I shop there!

As far as yard sales.........NAAAAA, most of the time it's not worth the gas driving around!


Dennis

[Miss Mary]

I've never gotten into garage/yard sale hopping. Our street has held a few and you'll get folks who breeze into your garage, ask if you have a very specific item and walk next door. That time all I had were toys and kids items. One lady was pretty disappointed! I could get into it but then again, I have so much junk here in my own closets I need to weed out. I'd be afraid the situation would just get worse if I brought more home.

My youngest daughter loves garage sales. Her last "find" were vintage license plates from Ohio. Going back to 63. She bought about 8 and has them hanging on her bedroom walls (she's into cars, tomboy stuff). She would have me stop at garage sales each Saturday if she could, but we're usually in a hurry going somewhere else.

Thrift stores......that's apparently a teen thing to do now. Nina and her friends shop there on occasion. She's so proud to come home with a bag of clothing that cost only $15! What she does come home with is in question. She now shops in the boys T-shirt section b/c they're oversized anyway. One shirt was from July 4th, 2000. People ask her all the time - why are you wearing THAT shirt? LOL

[GalvestonDuck]

Being a collector of Patty Duke stuff, I used to stop at yard sales, thrift stores, and "antique stores" that weren't full of the ritzy stuf but were more like salvage yards inside a building. Found an old 45 and a VHS copy of the Patty Duke/Melissa Gilbert version of "The Miracle Worker."

But then, Ebay came along...

[streetsoldier]

When I was in STL, there was a Goodwill Industries outlet...I found a LOT of priceless stuff there (if one is a militaria collector), such as a WWI German pilot's dress/"walking out" cap (RARE), a WW II GI "pot" with Colonel's insignia from the 3rd Armored Division, an 1875 Pattern U.S. cavalry officer's model saber (no scabbard, but VGC), a Viet Cong junior-grade machete and wooden scabbard, several pairs of fully serviceable Navy dress shoes (I bought three pairs, which saved me a world of polishing..as at the time, I was still a patrolman) etc., etc.

Down here, they have no such outlet, but on occasion I have found usable and/or collectable items at "pennies on the dollar".

[Stephanie]

I may glance as a drive by to see if I spot anything of interest. We have farmer's markets around here too which are pretty interesting.

[Guest]

I'm a bargain-hunting-nut, LOL. I occasionally drop by a garage sale when there's one in my neighborhood. I like thrift stores. Like Bill said, the people selling the stuff aren't always aware of the value of what they are selling. And that's where I come in, LOL. You don't have to go to garage sales and thrift stores exclusively to find good deals though. Just make sure to shop the clearance racks wherever you go!

[chadtm80]

Nothing can beat, Flea markets... They are great.. Cheap and have it all! Im a big cheap skate... If i cant get it for under 5 bucks i dont want it... LOL

[azskyman]

Garage sales remain big here in Phoenix. Many are organized by neighborhoods to bring many people here when all neighbors have sales at the same time.

We bought some baby items for Emma last year...she's arleady outgrown them. So the next time the "hood" has a sale, we'll be moving those on "til next time" for a few bucks..or a few cents...or for free by the end of the day!

Thrift stores are busy here too.

A quick story...my cousin was looking for a small suitcase to use for carrying some electrical items to craft shows he was in. He went to a thrift store and found just what he was looking for.

When he got it home, he examined it closely, cleaned it up and discovered a couple of old bill envelopes inside one of the sleeves. The bills were address to an uncle of his who had passed away some 15 years ago.

Lo and behold...after asking his uncle's kids (his cousins) about the suitcase...he discovered it was once his uncle Dutch's.

For a short time...he didn't want to approach it again. He let it sit in the corner. Almost as though a voice from the past had come back to visit him. But alas, he decided that good ol' Dutch, one of our favorite uncles, probably just wanted my cousin to "carry on" with his luggage. So that is what he did.

Eerie, huh?

[Stephanie]

That is pretty eerie Steve! :o

[Lindaloo]

I do the flea market thing too. I like all the arts and crafts they have at the flea markets. I found a wooden unfinished trash bin at one for like 10 bucks. I brought it home and finished it, glued me some apple designs on it and I have a wooden kitchen garbage can. This same bin costs about 80 bucks at JC Penney and places like that.

[streetsoldier]

One does have to be careful, though.

At one "flea market", just after I was raised to Master Mason, I was in search of a Masonic ring...I found one, priced at $300, but despite the "14K" stamp inside the hoop, a cursory examination showed that it was "jeweler's metal"...i.e. a nickel-plated zinc fake that should have sold for 1/10 that amount.

And, not long ago, three local "flea markets" were closed down by the police, as they were selling supposedly "NFL-MLB-NHL-authorized" and marked ball caps and jerseys which turned out to be cheap foreign-made "fakes". Ten people were arrested, and the retail value of the merchandise as confiscated was about $2,000,000.

[azskyman]

Paul Harvey this week reminded us of the occasional
"real bargain" that can be found. A gentleman here in Scottsdale paid $75 for a box of old lithographs and other artwork. It has a value on the low end of $1 million.

Flea markets here in Phoenix are big time. One in East Mesa and two in SW Phoenix, plus one by the dog track south of town draw a lot of crowds...especially in the winter. They are HUGE!

[petal*pusher]

Well.... comin' from a family with 6 kids made us appreciate anything "passed down" to us from friends and neighbors! My sister and I learned to sew early on, and everything we wore was either hand-made or used.....but we really didn't mind.......sometimes we'd even "re-do" some of the hand-me-downs into some pretty "unique" clothing!

My own 2 kids never had a problem with anything used either. Actually, it was ME who had the problem! Anytime they had NEW clothes, I would usually keep them back for "just the right occasion"........sometimes waiting too long; they'd outgrow them!!

My daughter decided in middle school that she only would wear vintage clothing......even planned on having a store to sell these popular clothes. (Of course I had bell-bottoms, platform shoes, and jewelry left over from the 60's and 70's!!) We went to every Goodwill, St. V's, rummage sale, and church bag sale we could! Boy! What goodies we found! That girl really has an eye for that era and can really spot 'em!! (We were even in a Salvation Army store in Toledo once....she had several mens shirts in her cart.....some fella came up and gave her $10.00 for 2 of the shirts because he wanted to re-sell them!! She had $$$ left over after paying for her stuff!) She's 25 now and still looks like a model out of the 60's!!

She had 2 huge "Vintage Clothing" sales when she lived in Ann Arbor, Mi.......made almost $3,500!! It was funny to see station wagons of families come and "paw" thru these clothes, etc.......then the college kids (who also loved this era) carefully pick up and inspect the stuff, then lovingly fold it up!!

When my daughter relocated to Mesa, Az. about 4 years ago, we rented a 15-passenger van to take her and all her stuff out there. After the 2nd day of driving 12 hours straitght, we found ouselves in albequerque, N.M. When we went out to the van early the next a.m., we found most everything was gone..... Our suitcases were stolen also..... She was devestated, but determined! We stopped to get undies, and one set of duds for each of us, then drove on to Phoenix. Thanks goodness for those SAVERS stores!! What great stuff we found there! I found one back home here in Toledo......it's one of my favorite places to look around.

I always get compliments on what I wear.......I have a ton of clothes......but I'm sure a "cheap" dame to keep!!..........p