Author Topic: Thrift stores...  (Read 600 times)

Bogie

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Thrift stores...
« on: January 23, 2022, 08:00:05 PM »
I'm somewhat of a semi-serious kitchenbitch...
 
Looked around my kitchen just now... My new hand mixer is a Kitchenaid that I got for $5 on Friday. My blender is a metal container Osterizer that I paid about $5 for. The toaster was a $10 Cuisinart. My 55" high fridge (small house kitchen) cost me $75. The chest freezer came new, unscratched, torn up box, from a rail salvage sale that a friend went to. The Cuisinart covfefe maker was a gift. Most of my plates, etc,. are from a large local thrift store. And most of them are restaurant quality. Same for coffee mugs, glassware, etc...
 
My living room set came from a Habitat for Humanity ReStore - out at the lake, they have people freshening up condos - A four piece Lazy Boy set cost me $200. The 15" Yamaha horn gig speakers cost me $50 at the same place.
 
I'm not thrifty. I'm cheap.
 
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230RN

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Re: Thrift stores...
« Reply #1 on: January 23, 2022, 08:19:13 PM »

You must be the world's worst consumer.

Sounds like me setting up my new mobile home householdery after the divorce.

Buy it cheap
make it do
use it up
do without...
Ayup.

I still have some of that kitchen stuff.

There used to be a really good second hand store right up the street from me and I got most of my stuff from them.  The ground got bought up by a natural food store and they put up a new building.  Boy, are they expensive.

tokugawa

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Re: Thrift stores...
« Reply #2 on: January 23, 2022, 08:19:56 PM »
Cheap and smart- most of that stuff will out last and out perform the new crap.

230RN

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Re: Thrift stores...
« Reply #3 on: January 23, 2022, 08:27:13 PM »
Wha-a-a-at?  Tokugawa, you mean the words "New!" and "Improved!" don't trigger the Pavlovian response of reaching for your wallet and lightening it?  Or your credito cardo and making automatic swiping motions with it?  "Uh, uh, uh, uh, uhhhh...

"Transaction approved."

"Ahhhhhhhhh."

For shame, Citizen.  Get in the boat and row.

French G.

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Re: Thrift stores...
« Reply #4 on: January 23, 2022, 09:12:24 PM »
I find stuff. Got a really nice pyrex baking dish at the dumpster freecycle. Revere all copper tin lined saucepan for $5 at goodwill. I buy every 99 cent graphite shafted golf club I find at goodwill just to have the shafts for projects. Occasionally end up with a Taylormade driver or something. $4 work pants are also a highlight.
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Boomhauer

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Re: Thrift stores...
« Reply #5 on: January 23, 2022, 09:19:33 PM »
The thrift stores around here are dogshit I have better luck by far on Marketplace

Some friends of my wife dumpster drive on move out day at the dorms/apartments of the Big Name State School in the area (Clemson) and those SPOILED ass mother *expletive deleted*ers called students toss out brand new big screen TVs, mini fridges, brand new high dollar clothes with tags on it, etc all because they don’t want to haul it home.
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Bogie

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Re: Thrift stores...
« Reply #6 on: January 23, 2022, 09:45:54 PM »
For a while, I'd drive a circuit of Goodwills, Salvation Armies, etc., on Saturday morning... Primarily looking for 1970s stereo receivers... I'd clean 'em up, and usually flip 'em for at least 2x, if not more... I've also occasionally found some decent tools. Oh yeah - My microwave is a jumbo Whirlpool that was made in 1994. _IF_ it ever dies, I'll try to find one the same size, but that'll be difficult. It cost $25 about 10 years ago.
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Nick1911

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Re: Thrift stores...
« Reply #7 on: January 23, 2022, 10:06:31 PM »
Right there with you guys on buying secondhand.  I hate to pay full retail.  I prefer to buy things used, private party, and preferably broken... for scrap prices.

I don't do thiftstores much, they mostly just have household crap, which I have enough of.

Definitively use habitat restore. 

Here's an example of my most recent endeavor with it:

Right now I'm putting down oak floors all through the house - from habitat.  They had pallets of mixed oak hardwood.  All different finishes, some unfinished - but all new, and for $1 per square foot.

Different finishes is kind of a problem.

So, I found an industrial drum sander for sale.  7.5HP Baldor motor, 36 inch wide infeed.  It came from a small one or two man cabinet shop.  The owner had purchased it used from a machinery dealer.  It worked okay, but didn't look great - so he had an helper tear it all down and paint it.  Replace bearing, etc.  The helper quit midway thought the project.  I brought it home in buckets.  I did have to do a little machine shop work on it, but she runs great now.  The flooring comes out of the machine beautiful - ready for stain and poly.  When I sell the machine back off I'll stand to make a decent profit.

I've got one room and the hallway done.  We started the second room today.  The floor looks good.

Sure, I could have paid someone to come in and do it.  Maybe about twenty thousand dollars?  DIY, I'll have three thousandish in it.   And a ton of time.  And effort.  That's okay, because I value and pride my work, seeing what I've done, and I also value saving money.  I want that money to do other things I want to do.

Not everyone is like that, and that's fine too.  Lots of folks want to work their one job and use income from that to avoid other work.  I work with some people that are happy to pay someone to cook for them, mow their lawn, clean their house, etc.  It's what they value, and there's nothing wrong with that... but it certainly isn't what I value.





 




230RN

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Re: Thrift stores...
« Reply #8 on: January 23, 2022, 10:13:22 PM »
Useta be microwave ovens were valued sources for high power vacuum tube applications. Transformers, rectifiers, capacitors all for high-power/voltage applications.

Not so important anymore.

Bogie

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Re: Thrift stores...
« Reply #9 on: January 23, 2022, 10:27:52 PM »
Oh yeah - picked up a Baldor "grinder/buffer" stand setup for $20 at a "used items" store. Also got some lamps there. My workshop lights are LED shop lights that I grabbed on a Black Friday walmart sale. 4' power strip from Harbor Freight takes care of the distribution to 'em. I figure I am WAY under amperage.
 
Speaking of which...
 
If I need a tool, and I don't already have it/can't find it (argh), my closest Harbor Freight store is about 15-20 blocks away... Hmmm... Maybe I should apply there... Still gotta get past the stigma of "not gonna spend eight damn hours standing on the messed up ankle" tho... Sad thing is, I probably put in more "miles" than the kids I work with. At home? On the sofa...
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Perd Hapley

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Re: Thrift stores...
« Reply #10 on: January 23, 2022, 10:55:27 PM »
My wife found a Cuisinart Griddler for $15.
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French G.

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Re: Thrift stores...
« Reply #11 on: January 23, 2022, 11:13:02 PM »
Good ol habitat stores, forgot about those. Used to be lots of fun way back before they decided they were full price stores. Still some deals, got a double pane glass door, a triple pane picture window and an Andersen double opening window to redo the office with for $150. Was buying mercury lightswitches for 25 cents just because. Got an oak office desk for $5.
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charby

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Re: Thrift stores...
« Reply #12 on: January 23, 2022, 11:19:25 PM »
I love my local Restore, I've picked up older Craftsman hand tools dirt cheap, like $1 for a 1960s vintage adjustable wrench.

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Bogie

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Re: Thrift stores...
« Reply #13 on: January 23, 2022, 11:30:12 PM »
My favorite one is about 170 miles away... Resort area, and they get a lot of "we're going to freshen up these condos" kind of donations. High dollar appliances, maybe a few years old, but... And nice furniture.
 
Here at the one in South Central St. Louis, you see a lot of stuff that has been torn out of rehabs - cabinets from the sixties and seventies, that sort of thing. Sometimes project-overrun windows or doors. Lots of lighting stuff. Occasionally odd stuff like whirlpool tubs, and so on. Some tools, but they tend to be overpriced. My dishwasher cost $25 at the lake. If I replace it with one from the ReStore here, I'd probably drop $100 - but it would be on a Bosch or something like that.
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K Frame

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Re: Thrift stores...
« Reply #14 on: January 24, 2022, 07:35:31 AM »
"The thrift stores around here are dogshit I have better luck by far on Marketplace "

Pretty much the same here in Northern Virginia.

And on top of that, the Goodwill stores, which used to be pretty decent for finding inexpensive good stuff?

They've apparently gone with a new pricing model the last few years... MSRP + 10 to 30%

I've seen a number of items at the local Goodwill that I know I could get for less at one of the expensive department stores like Macy's, and for about half at Amazon.

It's insane.
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Boomhauer

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Re: Thrift stores...
« Reply #15 on: January 24, 2022, 09:41:58 AM »
Right there with you guys on buying secondhand.  I hate to pay full retail.  I prefer to buy things used, private party, and preferably broken... for scrap prices.

I don't do thiftstores much, they mostly just have household crap, which I have enough of.

Definitively use habitat restore. 

Here's an example of my most recent endeavor with it:

Right now I'm putting down oak floors all through the house - from habitat.  They had pallets of mixed oak hardwood.  All different finishes, some unfinished - but all new, and for $1 per square foot.

Different finishes is kind of a problem.

So, I found an industrial drum sander for sale.  7.5HP Baldor motor, 36 inch wide infeed.  It came from a small one or two man cabinet shop.  The owner had purchased it used from a machinery dealer.  It worked okay, but didn't look great - so he had an helper tear it all down and paint it.  Replace bearing, etc.  The helper quit midway thought the project.  I brought it home in buckets.  I did have to do a little machine shop work on it, but she runs great now.  The flooring comes out of the machine beautiful - ready for stain and poly.  When I sell the machine back off I'll stand to make a decent profit.

I've got one room and the hallway done.  We started the second room today.  The floor looks good.

Sure, I could have paid someone to come in and do it.  Maybe about twenty thousand dollars?  DIY, I'll have three thousandish in it.   And a ton of time.  And effort.  That's okay, because I value and pride my work, seeing what I've done, and I also value saving money.  I want that money to do other things I want to do.

Not everyone is like that, and that's fine too.  Lots of folks want to work their one job and use income from that to avoid other work.  I work with some people that are happy to pay someone to cook for them, mow their lawn, clean their house, etc.  It's what they value, and there's nothing wrong with that... but it certainly isn't what I value.





 





My father put down hardwood oak in the living room and hallway. He rented a sander and put down like 6 coats of commercial grade poly. Looked like a basketball court when he was done.
Quote from: Ben
Holy hell. It's like giving a loaded gun to a chimpanzee...

Quote from: bluestarlizzard
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OTOH, there wouldn't be a tweeker left in Georgia...

Quote from: Balog
BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD! SKULLS FOR THE SKULL THRONE! AND THROW SOME STEAK ON THE GRILL!

MechAg94

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Re: Thrift stores...
« Reply #16 on: January 24, 2022, 09:43:50 AM »
I have gotten rid of old furniture at a local thrift store.  It was easier than trying to sell it and I didn't want to sit a couch at the end of the drive way.  Never tried to shop there.

Speaking of microwaves, mine does what I need it to do, but it dates back to the late 80's or early 90's.  My older brother had it for years and gave it to me when he got married.  It still works.  Before I got it, I had a handful of cheap models that would never last more than a few years. 
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MechAg94

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Re: Thrift stores...
« Reply #17 on: January 24, 2022, 09:47:27 AM »
These days there are so many ways to sell stuff online, it is pretty easy to go that route.  A coworker's son makes extra money buying and reselling stuff.  He said he looks for Craig's List ads that say "must sell now" or "getting divorced" then goes and looks and offers half the asking price.  He also has a trailer and can haul off heavy stuff. 
“It is much more important to kill bad bills than to pass good ones.”  ― Calvin Coolidge

K Frame

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Re: Thrift stores...
« Reply #18 on: January 24, 2022, 09:51:07 AM »
"Speaking of microwaves, mine does what I need it to do, but it dates back to the late 80's or early 90's. "

I bought mine in 1989, new, from Sears. It's a Kenmore-branded Sharp Carousel.

Thing has been bullet proof. A lightning strike took out a ceramic fuse in the early 1990s, but my neighbor's kid diagnosed it and I was able to fix it no problem.

I'm thinking it may well outlive me.
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Ben

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Re: Thrift stores...
« Reply #19 on: January 24, 2022, 09:55:11 AM »
I've never had an interest in selling my old stuff, unless it's something really expensive, or guns. Otherwise I generally just give stuff away. I've always liked giving stuff to the Salvation Army and Goodwill because I could just pile everything up and have them come and get it. They have become so picky over the years though, that they won't even take practically new stuff for I don't know what reason.

When I was getting rid of stuff before I moved out of CA, I couldn't even get them to take a fairly new 50" flatscreen. I was able to give it to a neighbor though. I ended up just taking a bunch of perfectly good stuff to the dump because it was easier and faster than trying to give it away by dealing with people on Craigslist or wherever. Kind of sad, since I'm sure there are a lot of people that could have used that stuff, and I would have been happy to give it to them.
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