How do you leave deals at the thrift store?

**scooby8themall** · 01-22-2010, 08:28 AM

I look at items that were probably very expensive when the person bought it I like to look for clothing like L.L.Bean ,Chadwicks,Christopher Banks if it is 5.00 and less and some thing we would wear I'd buy it .I also like to cook so I look for expensive cooking items that people have donated and some times I find them in the original box for 5.00 or under.I only go to second hand stores for certain items and I know before I go what I might be looking for. Books are another item I look for they are expensive new, love it when I find them 4 /1.00 when they were 5.97 a piece new .
Our SA has a section of free books limit 1 only but they are free.

**DJ1972** · 01-22-2010, 08:48 AM

I was having a hard time with passing up bargains too! I would just stop in the thrift store to see if they had anything new, and would come out with books, clothes, or whatever I thought I couldn't pass up. I would rationalize, it is such a great deal I may as well get it now while it's here. Gah! Even if it was just $10 it was money I didn't need to spend.
So, I have quit going unless there is something specific that I am looking for. I have to remind myself that going to the thrift store when I don't need anything is just like going to the mall when I don't need anything....using shopping to entertain myself.

**Pemberleyan** · 01-22-2010, 09:14 AM

Well, "how I do it" has evolved over the years. In my 20's I was living in a nice town I Florida and was a dedicated yard-saler. Over the years I collected all sorts of things, furniture, kitchen items, etc. After I married, I rented an antique booth and sold some of it off. Then about 3 years ago we had to move my mother and clean out her house. You'd have to have seen it to imagine it, the volume of it all, because my mother was constantly buying things at bargain prices because "someone might be able to use it." It took so many people so many hours to clean that place out -- it was a wake-up call for me and I began clearing out and making donation trips to the thrift stores myself.

So now when I am in a thrift store I try to ask myself, "Will I or DH really use this," "Do I have room for this," etc. Our Salvation Army does not take returns, but the largest thrift store does take returns, for credit only, so sometimes I bring things back if DH doesn't like it or I change my mind.