resale/thrift shopper?|Pad Patter 4.11.2018

We tend to buy our furniture second hand, there's a few good shops in our town for that. Sometimes I rescue furtiniture or reusables from other people who are about to take them to the tip. I have a lovely old solid storage bench that I need to sand down and repaint soon, that someone was going to tip. We use hand me downs, and I collect rags for upcycling with (about to start a rug making marathon for my sister's new home). Some of our games and jigsaws have come from charity shops, and we always take anything we don't pass on or reuse to charity shops.

 

I loved going when I was younger in my early days, but since getting married, nope. We did go to a few auctions when we were engaged and that was fun.. we picked up a 8mm movie projector that we still use for $9 and a few other things if I can remember correctly. Hubby does not care for garage sales or the like... and he wants me to actually get rid of stuff. I normally just donate to the good will as he doesn't want to have a garage sale either, but after I go through stuff I may have to have a sale

oh when I visted Dad once he decided since I was coming to visit he would have a garage sale. We had our first RCA VHS video recorder.. we put a pricetag of $5 on it and it wasn't moving. So half way through the garage sale, i went and put a 2 in front of the 5.. instead of marking down, I marked up, and guess what?, in 5 minutes I had it sold. Dad and I used to giggle about how we couldn't practically give it away and then when I upped the price it sold!

When I was around 16 or so I bought my bowling ball at a church bizaar for 25 cents... I loved that ball... it was spring green and marbelized.. I used it for years and bowled pretty well with it. I put it in the dumpster with Dad's bowling ball when we moved to Florida in 1988. My friend's father would tease me bowling on the team with the 25 cent ball!

 

Until a few months ago, almost everything we owned was secondhand (and not my taste) passed down from other people so thrift shopping is something I actively avoid.

There are no words for how happy I was to finally get rid of the last hand-me-down clothing I owned when I got my new job. For the first time in my adult life, everything I wear was bought new, bought for me with my tastes in mind, & has only been worn by me.

 

Well, yes and no.

I didn't grow up with this but I was the youngest of three girls so I pretty much was used to it either way. When I moved out on my own long ago, I did so with many second hand stuff. My aunt got a new washing machine? The old one was stored for me. My parents got a new couch? The old one was stored for me. So my home was all mine, but also not really. I was absolutely thankful though, because I did not have the money to purchase half of those things new by myself.

When we were younger though, we didn't go to thrift stores and garage sales aren't a thing in this country. What we do have, are curb sales like twice a year. And people try to sell their garbage. That's how I perceived it back then. Says enough.
Now that I am about to move though, I do plan on visiting those curb sales for so-ugly-it's-getting-cute art and decor items to upcycle. I also do check out thrift stores for things like furniture to make pretty again.

I am all about a great sale. Today I went to Ikea to hunt for ideas for the new house. I saw the felt dividers I wanted for my drum attic and they were half off. So I bought the last two for the price of one. I also have three star shaped lamps waiting in my garage. They have been there for 1,5 years, but they were a steal and I just knew I was going to use them in the new house. Which was nothing concrete back then, but yet.

 

I can't deal with the time & effort involved with a yard sale so most of my don't-wants go to a local thrift store run by the Lutheran church that really does a great job in getting things to those who need them. Goodwill here throws so much into the trash and only sells fairly pricey (for a thrift store) things. I try to avoid looking at what's for sale when I drop stuff off but there is a GW a block away from my dentist so recently I needed an apple slicer as the plastic on ours broke. (Are apples getting harder???) I found a slicer in GW for $1 but then when I went into Dollar Tree next door they had new ones for...$1.

That said, I have recently bought a bunch of clothes vis ThredUp and have been very happy with those I've kept incl a pair of OldNavy jeans which made me realize that jeans there will fit me. Good to know. And there is a torn knee area so even funnier, I'm sort of in fashion. Or was that a couple years ago!

 

I volunteer in a charity shop, ( for an animal clinic ) so yes am tempted often ! I work in the book shop, but there are Clothes and bits in the rest of the shop . I try not to buy anything, but books I can never leave alone, and Jackets, I haven't paid full price for a jacket in years. I like it this way , That way I don't feel too bad replacing it.
House Auctions now, please don't let either Tony or me near one of those, I love a good house Auction. We have bought many things that way. I have a G plan rocking chair I got for 25 euros, and a large partners desk for 100. ...

 

This is a joke between my daughters and me. They're huge resale shoppers and I'm just not. They drag me into one once in awhile, but I wouldn't think of going to one on my own. I did buy a beautiful piece of furniture in a resale shop when my oldest daughter dragged me in there. It's actually a TV cabinet, like the ones we used to put TV's in and the doors stayed closed when you weren't watching TV. There's a cut-out in the back, even. Like I said, it's beautiful and was only $45 and she has a huge SUV that we were able to get it in.

 

I am a huge thrift store shopper - I’d say 60-70% of what I buy is from a thrift store with the rest being on sale in some fashion.

 

Ummm YES!!
I used to grage sale every Thursday during the summertime when my children were little. That is how I clothed them.
Not too much the last number of years.

Now I do alot of antique malls and resale shops my FAVORITE is called Treasure Mart which is about 30 minutes from me and I ‘ve found my couch there I purchased it for $265 and when I did research on the brand found http://www.pearsonco.com/
It is a brand I never could of afforded buying brand new.

 

Oh yeah! I'm definitely a thrift store and garage sale shopper. I don't go unless I need something otherwise I end up buying stuff I don't need because "it's such a good deal" Lol! I also LOVE Craigslist. I've found some super amazing deals for furniture in my house on there. In fact I think about 80 of the furniture in my house is from Craigslist. I like that I can buy something for next to nothing and see if I like it in my house without the pressure of spending a ton of money I don't have. If I buy something that doesn't work, I just re-list it on Craigslist and usually end up making a little money back too! Score! I bought a set of bunk bed for my boys several years ago. They were in rough shape, but with a coat of paint they looked straight out of Pottery Barn. They used them for several years and then I sold them and got back twice what i paid for them.

 

Not really into it. I have gone to garage sales over the years. Usually tagging along with someone else. I have been in thrift stores as well. I don't mind looking but I very rarely buy.

However, I am big on donating items for these stores to sell. I give to a local charity that helps homeless when needed. They also have a food pantry and this past winter when 2 families lost their homes to fire on NYE and NYD, they helped the local Red Cross find them shelter and clothe them. I have sold furniture this last year to a 2nd hand furniture store. The last items I wanted to sell, she never responded to me so I donated them to a Habitat for Humanity organization in another town... I need someone that is willing to come get the furniture items and they were. We have a goodwill in town but I have never donated to them. When I was still working I donated items to a garage sale every year that was raising funds for Relay For Life. It was held at one of the properties my company owned. What they didn't sell, they donated to the thrift store in town.

I am not comfortable using online sale groups or craigslist for many reasons.

 

I am not even exaggerating...99% of my clothes and the girls' clothes are from Goodwill, Uptown Cheapskate, Kid 2 Kid, Other Mothers, Varagesale (app) or local swap pages! It kills me to pay full price for clothes...like really kills me. My middle daughter is using the daybed I used when I was little, then my oldest daughter used it before my middle daughter. My middle is also using my childhood dresser. Our couches were my MIL's (who won a work raffle, they were in the waiting area) my side tables are from a swap page. The computer desk was free from Varagesale. My bar height table and stools as well the two chairs at the island are from Varagesale. I am a total cheapskate!

**edit** because hubby get his uniform from work, I do buy his graphic t's new; but his shorts and jeans are 9 out of 10 thrifted. His shoes are also new. But when it comes to my shoes, most have been thrifted; and the girls are 50/50 new/thrifted.

 

We have a thrift store about a block and a half from us that I LOVE!! So many wonderful things. The bulk of my camera collection has come from there...



My daughter is taking over my son's room when he leaves for college, so she's collecting stuff for her new room. She's picking up stuff cheaply as she finds it. Here are some of her recent finds...



The flour and sugar came from the thrift store and so did the bird rack ($4 from Anthropologie with the original tag still on it!). She's on the hunt for cheap vases from the thrift store for her flower bouquets.

She's now getting into buying clothes at the thrift store as well. She loves ThredUp too and has been buying from them for a couple years now. @cookingmylife Have you tried their goody box service? Clara tried it about a month ago. It was pretty fun for her. She was wanting a StitchFix type experience without the price tag. She got a huge box of stuff to try on. I don't think they've worked out all of the kinks though as we sent it back over two weeks ago and they still haven't charged us for anything. My only beef is that the stuff she had in her box seemed to be priced higher than her normal range of stuff she looks at on ThredUp... but then again, most of it was new with tags.

 

@tkradtke What a collection!! Which one is your favorite?!!? I'm loving your daughters style...those metal flour and sugar tins are amazing!

 

It's like picking a favorite child! I'm not sure I can do it... lol! Although I do love my Argus and I'm intrigued by the Fuji Half (it was designed to stretch a roll of film by taking two photos per frame). My son loves the Soviet Russia camera and even took it to school to show the AP Photography teacher. They figured out how to work it and he gave him film for it. He's almost finished the roll and then they'll develop the photos.

I do too! She's been picking out some cool stuff. We loved those tins too... no clue what's going to go in them yet, but for $4, we had to have them!!

 

The Fuji Half film sounds interesting!! That's awesome they still teach them how to develop their own film!! You'll have to make some pages with the scans!!

 

I love getting good deals at Goodwill and such, but I don't love shopping, so I don't do a lot of any kind.

My favorite recent bargain is my daughter found a beautiful prom dress she loves at Goodwill for $8 and sparkly high heels for $6.

 

@tkradtke i love your camera collection - you buy globes and record players too right? i love seeing your pages with the stuff you find.
when i lived in CA i used to love the thrift and do the garage sale scene. everything was so close and easy to hit a lot in a short amount of time. my area is pretty rural. when i try to do the garage sale thing here i get aggravated so give it up. i'll hit an antique store or flea market every once in awhile. i do love them!

 

@tkradtke I haven't done ThredUp's Goody box but I might come fall. I think I'm done shopping for the summer months (no longer have a returns' credit!) and may even go for a StichFix in the fall cause their ads look really tempting. All this comes at the same time with really paring down my wardrobe. I've really enjoyed that almost as much as getting a box full of things I mostly like!