Every so often, my husband and I go bargain-hunting at thriftshops. That's what we did this morning, and we got some pretty good buys. Our hunting ground was Westlake. When we left home, we weren't sure what we'd bag.
First we stopped a the Discovery Shop, but didn't find anything we wanted, although the shop had some great stuff.
Next we hit Goodwill, where I found a like-new Coldwater Creek black knit dress for $4, a beautiful handmade mug for $1.49, and a copy of Edible Wild Plants for 75¢.The dress coordinates well with Dylan.
Since I had a coupon for $1 off, I didn't do badly. John bought a spiffy-looking made-in-UK wool cap for $1; with his coupon, it was free.
We arrived at the Westlake Library a few minutes before the early closing and bought $11 worth of books from the sale rack of discards and donated books. I selected four I wanted to read; John found two for himself. Most of the copies were in mint condition; only one was a discard. The retail value of the books was over $120. Since John and I are both avid readers, we were pleased with our find.
My writer buddy Marion has been telling me how good The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency books are, but I hadn't read any. Now I will. I'm a John Irving fan, so I was also glad to get The Fourth Hand.
Our best finds came on our way home when we stopped at Clay's consignment shop. I'd been wanting a set of International Tableware in the Bob Timberlake Ella's Rooster design since I'd found two cups for a quarter each at the Rocky Mount Goodwill a few months ago. I really liked the colors and the country design, but the pattern had been discontinued.
Clay had a complete service for four—twenty pieces—that hadn't even been used. The set was marked $40; after a bit of haggling, I got my dishes for $15. The color goes great in my country kitchen.
I have no clue how much these dishes would have cost new. Anybody know? Some of the online replacement china sites list the plates for $9.99 each.John probably scored the best bargain of the day. He's wanted a Texas Instruments graphing calculator for a long time, and Clay had a TI-83 Plus. However, it didn't have batteries so John didn't know if it would work. He decided to take a chance.
For $20, he got both the calculator and a small TV that we're now using as a monitor for one of our security cameras.
The calculator, which retails for $99.99 at Staples and other stores, works fine.
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