I'm always finding great purses at stores. I've found it all: great vintage, fun Kate Spade prints, and classic Coach styles. Probably, my best bargain was when Salvation Army was having a buy one, get one free sale on their bags. I bought a canvas bag for $4.99 and snagged a small, black Coach purse for free. Yes, free. Or, if it makes you feel better, let's say $2.50. The canvas bag became my summer camera bag after I built inserts for it, and the black Coach is my goto "out for the night" bag, when I only need to carry a few things. Exciting, right? I have three other Coaches, that I love and use a lot: a small brown one, a classic black bucket, and a black briefcase. I looked up the bucket bag and briefcase last night. The bucket sells for around $100, and that's the resale price because it is vintage. I paid around $5. Pretty cool, huh? I saved the best for last. My briefcase sells for around $448. It's also available on ebay or etsy for about $250. I paid $10. See what snooping around the resale shops will get you? Bargains! I know there are a lot of fakes out there, but I'm pretty sure mine are real. However, if they aren't, who cares? They were still a deal.
Next stop ... clothes. Again, there are great bargains can be found. I especially love getting vintage leather and wool coats for the whole family. Until this year, Grace and Phillip have always had beautiful wool dress coats. Unless I admitted it, no one would have any idea I paid pennies on the dollar for them. Plus, kids grow out of their clothes so quickly that it seemed wasteful to buy things for full price. $150 for a coat. Not this girl. I'd rather pay $4.99, thank you very much. I get lots of compliments on what we're all wearing, and, most of the time, it's from a thrift store. The same goes for shoes and other accessories. If you're patient and learn to wait, you will eventually find it. That's been my experience. My best finds in this department are my Uggs and Dan Post boots. I paid $20 for my Uggs, but they retail for over $200. My cowboy boots were $10, but they sell for $180. Both of these items were absolutely new in the box, never worn. As you can see, they've been worn like crazy since I got them, and I love that I didn't have to pay full price for them.
Last stop for the day ... housewares. It's always interesting what you can find if you take the time to look. I've found valuable collectibles, great furniture, homeschooling materials, musical instruments, and video game components. My favorite to find is vintage Pyrex and beautiful pottery pieces. It's all there. You just have to dig a little. The ikea table and chairs for $30 and my coat stand for $1.99 are my current furniture favorites. The kids' current favorite is the rock band components (drum kit, guitar, and microphone) that we found for under $20.
If you're looking for something specific and haven't found it yet, just let us know. Both Kimberly and I would love to scout around for you. We're always finding things for others when we're thrifting.
For my fellow thrift store junkies, what has been your best hauls?
On Monday, I'll be sharing ways I've tried to streamline our morning routine to makes things less stressful and more productive in our makeover segment. Hopefully, I'll have some tips that'll help others out there.
Until next time, let's try to keep things simple!
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