We Survived a Thrifttown Sale

On Memorial Day my family and I decided to go to Thrifttown because they were having a sale. A pretty good sale... half off ALL clothing. Normally, I am of the opinion that Thrifttown sales are for thrifting amateurs, much as New Year's Eve is for partying. Too crowded, too crazy, no fun.

But we'd been hibernating much of the holiday weekend because I had the stomach flu. We were looking for something cheap and easy to get us out of the house. And my boys needed new pajamas.


On a Thrifftown sale day, I like to be at the store when it opens at 9am. But we were having a relaxed morning and it didn't work that way, so we didn't arrive until around 9:45. The parking lot was full and folks were parking in unofficial spaces. We ended up parking at the gas station several doors down.

This was a momentous Thrifttown trip because my husband went there for the very first time. I do not have a single picture of him, unfortunately. Not because he is camera shy, but because the store was so crowded that I opted to mind my children rather than snap pictures of him.

I was filled with regret as soon as we crossed the threshold. Too much of a frenzy; everyone's arms full  of stuff. Yes, it's second hand stuff, but a thin film of greed seemed to envelope the room nonetheless. Must. Have. Stuff. For. Cheap. We are addicted to cheap stuff.

My kids are six and nine--great ages to learn about history. I could have brought them to a Memorial Day Commemoration in Richmond at the USS Red Oak Victory. When the ceremony began at 10 we were sifting through racks of mens' pants and kids' pajamas.

My husband took the boys to window-shop at a nearby bike shop while I waited on line... and waited and waited. I waited for 30 minutes through a line that must have been fifty shoppers deep.

Much to my surprise, my husband enjoyed the trip. He got two very high-quality, work appropriate pairs of pants for $20 instead of $40. Of the two of us, he is the clothes horse. So now we might be a family of thrifters.

And we got the boys some nice, much-needed pajamas. In the Bay Area, full-length cotton pj's are always justs about right. These pairs were $1.50 instead of $3. Was it worth braving all those crowds just to save $3? No, they'd be just as cute and cuddly at full price.

My Trip to the Dollar Store

You might think that a dedicated reduce/re-use/recycle gal like me would absolutely HATE the wretched Dollar Store. You would be wrong!

Yes, yes, I do truly loathe the aisles full of plastic flowers and cheap, nasty plastic toys that will break after one use. I hate that much of the food that they sell is so low quality, and so processed that it scarcely resembles actual food. I shudder at the thought of the chemicals that are in their cheapo cleaning products and personal care items.

But despite all of that, there are a few items available at most Dollar Stores are enjoyable.... and so periodically, off I go. Yesterday was one of those days.

1. Greeting Cards. Even though Facebooked condolences and birthday wishes are now the norm, sometimes I find myself needing a proper paper card.

Most cards at the Dollar Store are 2 for $1. And cards at Target can be as much as $5. A card is a card is a card--why pay more if you don't have to? I really don't understand how Hallmark is still in business now that 50 cent greeting cards are so readily available.

2. Fertilizer Spikes. Organic. Made in USA. One dollar. Swoon alert! Sigh... have I died and gone to heaven? I have no idea if they will help my sad, sad melon plant... but who cares? This hits all my buttons.

3. Bottles for canning. Or would they be cans for canning? Or bottles for bottling? In any event, these are sold at the Dollar Tree Store. If I spike the Japanese cucumbers in my garden with organic fertilizer spikes and they really take off, we might just have to make some pickles this summer.

And they're Made in USA, another bonus. I wish I knew where in the USA, though. I don't want to get excited only to find out that they were made in the Northern Mariana Islands, a U.S. Commonwealth that is somehow not subject to the US' workplace rules.

4. Tin foil pans. A few times a year I need to make a big vat of something--pasta, salad, chicken, etc. for a school event. I admit it--on those occasions I like using a disposable container. I don't have a lot of storage in my kitchen to hold containers that are used so infrequently. So... hello Dollar Store! The selection is great.

5. Vinegar. Yeah, I know, you can buy vinegar all over the place. What's so special about Dollar Store vinegar? Well, to keep it priced at a buck, it comes in a reasonable size. And it's affordable, and it's not Costco (which overwhelms me and is a story for another post).

I use a lot of vinegar. We use it to keep things smelling good in our washer. It is my primary cleaning fluid. I also mix it with soap and water to kill weeds (which have the audacity to keep growing back... grrrrr).

How about you? Are you a Dollar Store lover or loather?

Get the Most Out of Thrifttown

I feel like I'm getting to be a broken record about Thrifttown. What can I say? I can't help myself--I find TT to be a superior shopping experience. Bargain-basement, environmentally- and socially-conscious retail therapy is my thing.

"Thou shalt not enter Thrifttown without a coupon" is the thrifting commandment I try to live by. Why pay full price when you don't have to?

I signed up as a VIP at the Thrifttown website. A few times a year, they have specials like the one pictured above. $5 off a $15 purchase. You can simply show it on your phone, and it's good once a day for about two weeks. Enjoyable.

Thrifttown also sends out a regular coupon in the Val-Pak mailer. It looks like this:

Last week I popped in during a heat wave and picked up a pile of new-to-me shirts for just 10 bucks thanks to my coupon.

Here's a made in Thailand tshirt. My retail therapy experience at Thrifttown would be complete if somehow everything I purchased was magically made in North America. Not so, of course. The racks are filled with Old Navy, Gap and Target items cast off by their original owners.

Stemming the tide, just a teeny tiny bit at a time.

Do you shop at Thrift Stores for Gifts?

I seldom do. Though I purchase most of our clothes, books, toys, small housewares and many many Christmas decorations (more on that later in the year) at my beloved Thrifttown, I reflexively point the car towards Target or a local toy store when we are invited to a kids' birthday party.

The shelves of Thrifttown are packed with jigsaw puzzles, board games and stuffed animals. I buy these for my own children, but not for others.

"No Gifts, Please" is a common part of kids' birthday invitations nowadays. I haven't quite been able to go that route with my own children, because it just seems too joyless. But as I've previously discussed here, my kids don't play with a lot of toys.

So for both giving and receiving, used toys seem like a great fit. Less costly, less packaging, less stress if the toy breaks or a piece goes missing.

I did venture in to Thrifttown gift giving a few weeks ago, and it felt great. My neighbor gave birth to her second child, a daughter. Their older child is a boy--so they actually can use some new things.

Thrifttown racks are packed with adorable, gently used baby clothes. I have only boys so shopping for girls is a special treat. I went to town and still spent less than $10. But I only felt bold enough to give second-hand clothes because my neighbors are fellow Thrifttown lovers.

Onesies... lots and lots of perfectly good onesies, for about a buck each.

Stretchy, girly, practical pants.

Now do you see why I'd rather de-lice a used stuffed animal than buy new?

Games and puzzles galore. For these, you have to be willing to take a seat at the store and go through the box, to make sure everything is there.

The death toll in the Bangladesh factory collapse is now over 400. Salon has a story up today about how to shop post-Bangladesh. It gives a comprehensive list of ethical clothing providers, but does not touch on the idea of buying used. We already have so much perfectly good stuff out there, ready to be worn again. Buying less, buying smarter, spending more when necessary and buying used are what we need to do post-Bangladesh.

Just So Much Urine

Water conservation has been on my mind because here in Northern California we had a dry, mild winter (sorry to bring it up East Coast friends). It was pretty lovely--sunny and 65 day after day after day. But all that great weather comes with a price--a low snow-pack in the Sierra Nevada.

I was thrilled, then, to run across this post on a blog I really like, Northwest Edible Life. It's all about PeeCycling. Pee can help your garden grow, and peeing outside saves on water. Win-win. Oh yeah! This we can do.

Everything old is new again, I guess. Will peeing outside become the new indoor plumbing? I don't enjoy cleaning up after boys who miss the toilet all the time. Pee on dirt is way less smelly than pee on porcelain.

I'm not quite sure if I'm ready to get my squat on just yet. I think I'll spare my neighbors for now. But, in all seriousness, water shortages are a serious issue. What are you doing to cut back?

What Not to Buy at Thrift Stores, Pt. 2

Cribs and Mattresses


I will start by saying that I don't recall ever seeing a crib or mattress for sale at Thrifftown. Mattresses are on the verboten list because of the risk of bed bugs. Bed bugs are serious business. They have the ability to make your life and your home a living hell. Thrift store proprietors don't want to have anything to do with mattresses, I'm sure. Plus, they take up a ton of space.

But there are plenty of second-hand mattresses available on Craigslist. I'm sure they sell... otherwise people would stop listing them. It pains me to think of perfectly good mattresses going to the landfill because of the fear of bedbugs (as opposed to actual bedbugs). You know how you can take a car to the mechanic for an inspection before you purchase it, to make sure there's nothing terribly wrong with it? I think you can do that with mattresses now. It might not be worth it for a cheap mattress, but if you're going for a high-end, organic king-size mattress off of Craigslist, it could be worthwhile.

I don't see many cribs for sale in thrift stores, but have in consignment stores. Same difference in terms of the items being second-hand. We bought a crib from a neighbor. It worked great, but after awhile something happened and the side no longer went down. When we were done with it, we gave it away on Craiglist; the recipient was very appreciative. I say, proceed with caution.


Helmets

Surprise, surprise, I tend to agree with this one. Bedbugs are ghastly, but eventually taken care of. Head injuries are forever. I think you're more likely to get lice from a helmet than a stuffed animal, because the soft inside pieces of a helmet are difficult to launder.

Socks and Underwear

No. Folks, I have my limits. And besides, do either hold up well enough to even make it to the thrift store?

My $.02 on What Not To Buy at a Thrift Store, Part 1

If you google "What Not to Buy at Thrift Stores", you will find a fairly standard list in many places. They look like this one, from an excellent blog called Sammy Davis Vintage.

Oops. I've been a bad girl. I am the proud owner of thrift-store versions of many of the items on the list.

Here's a start:

1. Stuffed animals are usually high on the list of items to avoid at thrift stores. This is because of the risk of lice. Stuffed animal threads mimic human hair, allowing lice to thrive. Lice is a serious nuisance. If you have school-age children and you have not yet been visited by lice, you are very lucky!

But here's the thing. Some simple prevention can eradicate the risk of lice.

My boys are in a stuffed-animal phase. It's pretty cute. They love naming them, reading to them, and throwing them across the room. It's fun to reward them with an occasional trip to Thrifttown for a new friend.

When we get a stuffed animal from Thrifttown, I follow standard anti-lice procedures as a precaution. All of our new buddies go immediately into a hot load of laundry followed by at least 30 minutes in a hot dryer. Sometimes I repeat this just for good measure. You can also put your thrifted stuffed animals in a tightly-sealed, dark plastic bag for a week just in case any buggers remain.

We dealt with lice last year. In entailed about 48 hours of laundering everything in the house, and a whole lot of careful combing and inspecting. It was a nuisance, for sure. But not the end of the world.

The shelves of Thrifttown are positively overflowing with stuffed animals. So, as long as they can fit comfortably in my washing machine, I'm game.

Stuffed animals like this one-- you know, the kind that guys feel the need to win for their girlfriends or children at amusement parks--  will definitely never find a home with us. These pain me.  All I see is future landfill.

2. Carseats. The internet lists all say that you shouldn't buy used carseats for safety reasons. Okay, I kinda get that. It's nice to bring your wee 6-8 pounder home from the hospital in a new carseat. If it's new, you can be sure that it works exactly as it's supposed to.

But these days, kids are in some kind of carseat for a long time. In California you have to be in a booster until you are 8, or 4' 9". When you have school-age kids, carpooling becomes more common. But in order to cart other people's kids around, you're going to need more boosters. I got this perfectly good Graco booster at Thrifttown for $3. Yeah, it's a little stained. But it's fine. But it's fine, and it's nice to have it around for unexpected kiddos in our car. I know others might feel differently, but I do not fear that this booster is less than effective just because it was used by another, unknown family before us.

More of my renegade purchase to come soon.