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Monday, July 27, 2009

Thrifty Treasures

Well I tried my hardest to stay out of Goodwill last week but for some reason my car just couldn't help its self from making a stop when we passed by. I’m glad my car decided that we needed a little shopping break because I would have missed out on some great finds!


I almost miss this. It was tucked away in corner but on my second walk through I spotted it. I almost didn’t get it but thought of a project and decided it would be perfect! I’m not sure of the exact length but I’m guessing it’s about 6 yards. I paid $9.00. Sounds like a good deal to me!

Closer look





Another GW find. This guy was 4.99. I need to make a trip to Joann’s to finish it off but I have just the right place for it!

This guy is for my Mom. He was only $4.00 and a lot taller than he looks in the picture. My Mom’s Christmas colors are pink, white, pale blue, and silver. I think he will fit in lovely.

Do you remember my green book from last week….well he found a couple friends. Meet Miss Orange and Lady Yellow! I think they will get along nicely.
All Christmas decor at GW (in my area at least) is 25% off. As you can tell I’ve been taking advantage of the extra discount. My plan this year for Christmas is to make all presents we gift (except for nieces and nephews. I won’t make them suffer with my homemade gifts). I’m hoping this will cut back on our Christmas spending so I’ve been gathering baskets to use as gift baskets. These were $1.00 each, the red and green shredded gift paper was $.50 each, and the little gift box was $.50 as well. They will never know the baskets came from GW.

These gilded pears were $.50 for the larger ones and $.25 for the smaller ones. I think I might need to go back and get a few more. They are bran new with original tags attached. The price on the original tag was $6.00 for the larger ones and $4.50 for the smaller guys.

I’ve seen a lot of great things done with these guys….I don’t even know what they are called. I snatched them up for $.50 a piece. I’m about to decorate our guest room so I’m thinking I can use them in there. I’ll post pictures when I get finished it.

Ohhh the Things that Happen at Goodwill
I thought I would take a few seconds to talk about Goodwill experiences. As some us may know we encounter all different types of people at Goodwill. For the most part people keep to the selves but every now and then you many run into a character. The other day an older women started talking to me. I could tell that she was very lonely and just wanted someone to listen so I did just that. She told me her whole life story. I learned about her marriage, her son, her grandchildren, her health, her finances, all the people that wronged her, and the list just goes on and on. She had a very hard life and really just needed someone to talk to so I listened to what she had to say. She was from Germany and moved to the states with her husband. They were married for 40 years until he cheated on her. Around this part of the conversation things started getting a little…..uncomfortable. She went on to tell me about their sex life (I’ll save you the gory details) and how she told him if he ever cheated on her she would kill him. I started nervously laughing as if she was joking but she went on to assure me that he would be dead today if she had found out. She told me several times that she “really” would have killed him. That’s when I started thinking it was time to close shop and find a way out of the conversation. Luckily my friend Andrea happened to call (thanks Andrea) which I thought would give me an out without offending her. She continued to talk to me as I was talking to Andrea on the phone. I just had to tell her politely to have a good day and started walking away even though she was mid sentence. While I continued my shopping and conversation with Andrea another gentleman started talking to me. He was very kind and only wanted to tell me that I was being very patient with the older lady. He said she talked more than most people should talk in a month!
This whole encounter just got me thinking about all the funny and strange things that have happened while I’ve been shopping at a GW/Thrift Stores. So I was wondering, do you have any stories like mine or am I the only one that has "Goodwill Stories"? They can be funny, heartwarming, strange, whatever. I thought it would be fun to do a post with a few of these stories. I have a few more to share as well. If you have one that’s short share it in your comment on this post. If it’s a longer story shoot me an e-mail at domesticprincessintraining@gmail.com and I will pick a few to post. If your story/situation gets posted you can link back so you share it with your readers as well.

Today I'm linking up with:
http://southernhospitalityblog.com/

10 comments:

  1. I love those pears and the hoops are used for cross stitch, to keep your cloth tight while you work, but now that I need to know what they are actually called I'm drawing a total blank. We just always called them hoops but I think they have something more technical. Sorry I couldn't be more help

    Meg

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  2. Hi, thanks for stopping by my blog! Those are embroidery hoops (the wooden circle thingies) for keeping the fabric taut while you stitch. they make great frames too! Love love love those pears, you'd better go get the rest of them or I bet you'll be sorry!

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  3. First - looks like you got some good deals. Yes - It is like I have a sign across my forehead "Talk To Me". I can be in a checkout line, walking thru a store, deli line, etc. and people start talking to me. I just seem to attract people.
    Glenda

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  4. Oh my!!! All that fabric for a fab price!!! You so scored! I have no stories to share about the people I encounter because I am on a mission. Now there is a cute high schooler or maybe he is a college guy, who is the sweetest boy that works there at GW. Great blog and thx for stopping by mine.

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  5. Great finds! I always snatch up the embroidery hoops when I see them. :) The manager of the laundrymat came and out and FORCED me to repark my car one day when I thought I was parking in front of Salvation Army. It was FREEZING cold, raining, and I had my youngest (baby) with me. She was so mean!! Then she had the gall to tell me she'd hold the baby while I parked. I very flatly said, "NO!"

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  6. Love your purchases and love Goodwill. I went to three different ones today and found great goodies at all three. One in particular has a check out lady who loves to sing/dance/act while she is checking us out. My six year old loves her. She is a very happy checkout lady. BTW...I found a set of Peir 1 dishes today for way cheap. They are so pretty and fun.

    Amy

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  7. Very nice finds, Kendra! Love that fabric. Don't forget to update your sidebar link to my new blog:

    http://southernhospitalityblog.com/

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  8. Hi Kendra, You made me laugh, cause I feel like my car takes me to Goodwill too often also. I am a woman obsessed. I need to stay out of there, in fact yesterday I left there without buying a thing. I love your thrifty treasure and will look forward to seeing what you do with the cool material Marla

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  9. Isn't it funny to choose books because of their color?! I do the same thing, and actually bought a bunch of old red ones for Christmas! I like the gilded pears too, and that silver vase is gorgeous! Great finds!

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  10. I am a Goodwill addict as well. I have to sometimes make myself leave something even if I want it for the next person. Sometimes my shopping gets out of hand. I will donate items and say I am not going in but then I think about the finds I may miss out on and of course in I go. There are a lot of lonely people out there. I find all sorts. Some of these women I see over and over again. I think they have the bug as well. Like you I find great bargains. But then there are days when they price things outrageously. I go no way. It is funny when the original price is on the item and they price it higher. Whatever.

    Well tomorrow is Saturday and it has been a while since I have been to GW. Hum looks like I will go YS and GW shopping. Love your blog.

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