Well, on Friday, I started out at the West end of town -- furthest from me and decided to pop in to a "charity" shop that is sponsored by a coalition of churches in town here. It closed down shop a few months back due to rent and size issues and now have reopened in an industrial site, a bit out of the way, but they have so improved the set up and the feel of the store is a real fun experience. It is bright and open and clean. Wandering through, my hopes began to sink that I had not found a craft corner -- but then behind the sheets and draperies and towels and tablecloths I found the baskets of yarn and knitting and crochet pamphlets and pattern books. Then just a little right turn of my head and a whole cubby hole type cupboard became visible with fabric remnants in rolls or stacks along with the jumble of sewing supplies... What a feast! Of course in a second hand store, the rolls of fabrics just have a price and it takes a bit of experience to be able to know what cotton feels or even smells like compared to poly cotton, but I found a half dozen pieces that I will be able to add to an African themed quilt that I have been collecting fabrics for, for about 2 years now! In my mind, it was a treasure that enables me to really get going on that quilt -- and since it is one of my listed UFO quilts for the Challenge my online group are encouraging each other to work on in this year, it is even a better find! These treasures are what I so enjoy about Second hand stores -- you just never know when you will find just the thing you have been looking for and best of all, at a price that often will only empty the change from your wallet -- the money you sort of forget you had. I spent just under $8, for what turned out to be about 12 meters of fabric!! Can you believe that!
Now if you are reading this, I must caution you if you have not before taken a wander through a second hand store, that shopping in the thrift shop/second hand shop/ charity shop is not at all like shopping at The Gap or Marks Work Wearhouse, or even your local quilt shop. In a second hand story you may or may not find what you want today, so that means you need to come back next week. Sometimes you never find exactly what you want and then nextime you spot something that you didn't even think you needed. One of the essentials of a household is a crockpot. Never had one? The last one you had no longer works and $50 is a bit much to spend? Walk through the thrift shop, how bout a $2. crockpot -- and it works and it has a removable insert and it has its lid! What else might you think you didn't need, but there it is sitting on a shelf in a corner... Make the rounds of your local thrift shops at least once a month, good exercise and very easy on the pocket book...
Oh the other thing that I have recently begun to do is to re purchase Christmas decor yearly at the thrift shops -- I buy nearly-new decorations and ornaments and wrapping paper or gift bags from the thrift shop in mid November, then after Christmas I donate it all back to them -- means I don't allocate any storage space to Christmas stuff, well, except for my small artifical tree that has its own special corner in the attic and a couple of ceramic houses that I display all year round. It is worth more to have the free space than to spend $20 or so each year on decor for a short 2-3 week period...
Just wanted to emphasize, that thrift store shopping is not an exact science. You have to go with a wish but not a plan. You can't say, today I need a teapot -- you might find one, but you might have to go back to the shops in your area two or three or more times before you find just the one you want. Thrift store shopping is an art, mostly the art of patience. Just remember that thrift store shopping is where you might find anything at anytime for anybody... Keep shopping! Oh yeah, and don't forget to take and donate to the shop the things that you no longer need... Clothes in good condition, are you financially secure enough to change your towels when you repaint your bathroom, take the used ones to your thrift shop. You don't have to be poor to shop in the second hand store, you just have to be frugal minded and not predjudiced against having something 'pre-owned' in your home...
With most things you buy second hand, no one will know where it came from unless you tell them. My sister is a great 2nd hand store shopper, she had more years to shop with the master -- our Mother, so she has a great eye for finding classic style clothes and shoes. Amazing how stylish she can dress for under $20 bucks for her 'high powered' executive type job. Then there is just the opposite, one of my brother-in-laws has said numerous times that he wouldn't be caught dead with other peoples stuff, but when his Mom passed away, he was the one who claimed all her 1970's couch , chair and end tables , her 1990 20" tv for his bedroom, her 1985 kitchen table with swivel chairs, her particle board china cabinate and all her 1980's bedding and bath linen.... No, he would never have anything second hand!
But then if you are still reading this blog and you say that you still will not shop in a thrift shop, well, then I am happy to say -- More for Me! Someone has to buy all that stuff new... and that I thank you for...
