We hope you all had a great weekend. We went to a couple yard sales & even managed to visit a couple of our favorite thrift stores. It was sunny, but not particularly warm - it may have reached 60. We can't begin to tell you how eagerly we await the arrival of warmer (not HOT) temperatures! We're ready to work in the garden, hike, & go to the beach! We've been watching for new-to-us warm weather clothing & sandals. We've spent the winter scouring Pinterest & the internet in general for new things to do this summer...and, now, we're just so anxious to get to it!
For now, though, some miscellaneous thrifty thoughts...
In our quest for the next great bargain, there's a bit of an unwritten (until now?) guideline for what we will & won't buy at a thrift store. (Please understand that we're not telling you what to buy or NOT to buy. These are just our personal "guidelines" that we're sharing, no pressure on you! If it helps you, that's just a bonus.) Let's start with what we try to buy at thrift stores, rather than buying new.
Our list of things we ALWAYS try to find at thrift stores:
-books. There are a few authors I love & am trying to accumulate their entire body of work, and most of them are purchased for under $1. (Last year for Christmas, we bought 25 kids books at a thrift store, on 50% off day, and wrapped each one in Christmas wrap. Each night, before going to bed, the kids got to open one & have it read to them. They loved it! And to give credit where it's due, we got the idea from Pinterest...)
-clothes. On occasion, for one reason or another, it is necessary to buy NEW clothes, at NEW prices. Mostly, though, it's cost effective, and better for the environment, to purchase used clothing at reasonable thrift store prices. This is especially true for children. They grow so quickly that oftentimes they only wear an item a few times before it no longer fits.
-shoes. Buying shoes - love. Owning shoes - love. Wearing shoes - tolerate & do it when necessary. I'd much rather go barefoot! But, for those situations when going barefoot is inappropriate, it's nice to have a selection from which to choose! It pains me to pay full price for shoes. (Except at 4th of July time when Wal-mart has their festive flip flops for around $2...it is tradition for me to buy those & I get MORE than my $2 out of them. I wore one pair into the 3rd season before tossing them!)
-halloween costumes. It's hard to believe the new, often plastic costumes are $20 and more. We keep our eyes open year-round for costumes or items that could be put together to create costumes. (I found an awesome Pirate shirt for $1 a few weeks ago, which is perfect timing for the Big 5 Pirate Party we keep mentioning)
-baskets. I have "a thing" for baskets. Picnic baskets may, or may not, be my weakest weakness, as far as baskets are concerned. In my defense, I started collecting them to organize my craft room. I have about 6 of them across the tops of my fabric shelves. They look amazing up there, they keep the dust off of my stuff, AND I spent no more than $5 on any of them. I love shallow, handled baskets for harvesting my garden.
-party/holiday decorations. We find many of our decorations at thrift stores (and yard sales) for little to no cost. We don't want to pay full price for party decorations, especially if we're not likely to repeat that theme. If we think there's a chance of the theme repeating, we MIGHT hang on to the items, but if not, it's great to know we haven't spent much money on them before RE-donating them to the thrift store! As for those holiday decorations...it's just fun to find new-to-us items to add to our holiday experience. I'm still on a personal quest to find more Thanksgiving items. (ever notice how the stores go from Halloween straight into Christmas??)
In general, we buy anything possible at discounted prices. There are a few things that we rarely, if ever (I hesitate to say never) buy at a thrift store, and we will discuss those next week. Until then, Happy Thrifting!
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