Tuesday, June 26, 2018

The Future is Now


I bought a dining table at the Goodwill Bins today.

For a dollar.


I always think when I get a particularly good deal that this one might just be the all-time most amazing score. And then another comes along and tops it. But a decent dining table for a dollar – has to be a record at least in the furniture department.

Have you been to a Goodwill ‘outlet’ – AKA The Bins? It's the last stop for all the leftovers from all the local Goodwill stores, giving them one last chance to avoid the landfill or being baled and shipped overseas or whatever they do with the mountains of stuff that no one wants. There is always good stuff that has drifted downstream unnoticed, until someone plucks it out of a bin. you pay by the pound for most things, so if your finds are lightweight you can really make out.

Fortunately the furniture does not go by weight. It gets a few days at five bucks, and then is marked down to a dollar. My table isn’t fancy 


and getting it home was a bit of an adventure; convertible with the top down to the rescue. 


Probably someday I'll find a better one, but till then this will do just fine.

And it wasn’t even the best deal of the day. I found two sweaters of the same brand in the same bin. Eskandar, made in Scotland 


and sold in places like Neiman Marcus and Bergdorf Goodman. 


My guess is this pair of sweaters was donated by someone who received them as a gift from a wealthy granny and never wore them. The crew at the Goodwill didn’t recognize the brand name and so they got sent straight to the bins; this is not the time of year that sweaters are in much demand. But my rummaging hands know good fibers when I feel them. One sweater is the softest merino imaginable, the other is cashmere. I looked up the brand when I got home. Similar merino sweaters are about $1500, and cashmeres are over $2000. My price was about $3-4 each.

I wish that rich granny would give up buying unappreciated sweaters and simply adopt me. 

Meanwhile, I will certainly appreciate the sweaters!

Last week we saw something that was a first for me.


A 3-D printer, available at a garage sale. 

I wonder if they’ve been showing up on driveways for a while now, or if I might have spotted the very first one in the world.

No way to know. But a thrifter can dream!

17 comments:

  1. Glad to see you back.
    I always find people at the Goodwill bins to be really aggressive!

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    1. Nice to be back!

      Sometimes we run into someone unpleasant, but most people seem to be looking for different stuff than I am. I want the cashmere sweaters!!

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  2. Such a bargain on the table!! I love those sweaters and glad you found them before the landfill.

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    Replies
    1. What an awful thing that would be, my beautiful sweaters in the landfill!

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  3. So happy you're back! Love the table AND the sweaters! First chance I get, I'm going to check out the nearest "Bins" even though it's 50 minutes away.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks! I've missed everyone! Do check out the bins, even though it's hit or miss. You never know what you might find. Hmmm, just like a garage sale!

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  4. can't believe someone would pay 1500 for a sweater....and a cream one, one spaghetti spill ach

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    Replies
    1. I know, I keep thinking I'll need to be extra careful with that one since I always manage to spill. But wait...I bought it at the Bins!!

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    2. I ripped a hole in the front of a (thrifted) merino sweater -- it is now my work-outside sweater.

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    3. That's like my husband, he gardens in cashmere!

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  5. That table is quite the find! I never found furniture for a buck! and BTW The Bins don't exist in Quebec (BUMMER). Those sweaters are the bomb! Imagine having enough money that spending $2000 on a sweater is just a regular day....I hope that when I get rich I will keep my head and still thrift....

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I still can't believe a dining table for a dollar. And it wasn't the only one they had!

      When you get rich I'm sure you will still thrift, because it will be part of the reason you got rich. (And then you will adopt me. Thank you.)

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    2. I also saw that 3-d printer and thought it rather odd--and cheap!

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  6. Your table is a twin of the one my parents have had for nearly fifty years. Somehow they fit seven people around it every night for dinner.

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    Replies
    1. Round tables are so practical, especially with the center pedestal. I too grew up in a family of seven!

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  7. Check out Margaret Manning’s Sixty and Me website and YouTube videos. You are really going to enjoy her. She is divorced, living in a studio apartment in Switzerland.

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I really love your comments. Thanks for coming along on my thrifty adventures!

 
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