Thrift shop bargains

Ruby,you know me well enough by now,im the worlds biggest bargain hunter lol,im always on ther lookout at the garage sales and the car boot sales too.I was once looking around a car boot sale and I saw an old school stachel,now I love a challenge and as soon as I saw that battered old brown leather satchel I wanted it,my mate thought I had lost my marbles,but I went over and asked how much he wanted for it,well he said he wanted just fifty pence for it,I knew I could make money on it,so I swooped it up.Took it home and started work on it,first I lightly scoured the patches of scribbling off of it,then I gave it a fewe good coats of shoe polish lol,then in between each coat of polish I gave it a good buffing.The buckles needed fastening a bit tighter so I re didid them with button thread,then before I knew it it looked really good,I was impressed with my efforts lol.I put it on the auction site and in the end it got fifteen pounds,it was a reallt good investment for me.

I buy all my books and clothes from them. They are starting to get some good DVDs donated too, and I have bought a few for less than they would have cost to rent. I'm quite good at finding items of clothing and footwear that have never been worn, and sometimes they still have the original shop label attached. I would never buy used underwear but I was looking for swimwear and I found a two piece in my size, still with its label and protective plastic strip inside for hygene, so I knew it has never been used, and I bought it for less than £3. Last winter I bought myself a good quality fleecy faux-suede hat for £5. It was as-new with its original label, from an expensive outdoor fashion store, and I reckon it would have cost at least five times what I paid for it.

One of my daugthes needed new sheets and a comforter for her bed because she had , had hers for ahwile and it really was in bad shape so I went to the one and only thrift store we have in our area to see if I could find anything . I was really lucky when I found a comforter with the sheets and pillow cases looking like brand new . It only cost me a couple of dollars to get the whole set and although it was not new it could easily have passed for a new set and not only did I get it for a steal but it was also something my daugther would have picked out for herself because it was all done in pastels colors which suited the coloring of her room . My mother got me a great deal as well one time . In her area there are thrift stores everywhere and she loves to go into them all the time and is always looking for things she thinks those of us in my area might like , knowing we don't have much of a selection with only one thrift store . Anyway she found three Halloween cotumes for my girls . They were the heavy duty costumed that you don't have to worry about wearing a jacket with , she got these for 15 dollars where they would have cost well over a hundred in the store . I still have them today even though my children have outgrown them because they were so much like brand new when she got them for me and I know how expensive they are to buy brand new that I would hate to throw them away . I am waiting for someone I know to need a costume for their little one so I an give them the one's I have .

I love thrift shops! I once got a 3/4 length leather jacket for only $10 at a thrift shop. You can find so many things there that are in good shape, sometimes even new and even good quality things that you would pay a fortune for anywhere else. And when I need to get rid of things, I always donate them because you never know who's going to need them.

I scour the shops looking for good bargains to sell on,ive had tons of good finds,the finds range from shoes to crocks.I found a pair of handmade leather soled shoes,made by a northamton shoemaker,they were new,never bin worn,Polished them up and listed them.It was a good few days before there was a bid on them,but one came,then another guy messaged me and asked about them,they were sold easily,not a huge profit but still a profit,and all the pennies add up to pounds .

Hi Ruby. I'm in Scotland and love to have a blooming good rummage in the local charity shops. I like looking for clothes for my kids as children's clothing is so expensive in certain shops. Although sometimes other shops are just as good and as cheap for brand new. In saying that I did go into one charity shop and came away with a pair of trainers (sneakers) for each of my 2 kids. They cost me £5 for the two pairs, both were brand names and neither pair had ever been worn! I checked the prices in another shoe shop for the same trainers and they would have cost me about £50 to buy from there! So I saved a massive £45. My hubby thinks I am mad, but certainly doesn't complain when he gets one of my charity bargains. I have gotten him brand name clothes still with the labels on for £5 and less. But my best bargain had to be from ebay. When hubby was in the army I had to buy an evening dress for a mess function. I could not find one for love nor money that I liked where we were living so checked ebay. Lo and behold there was a beautiful dress for £20. So I bought it, paid £30 in total with postage, paid a dressmaker £10 to alter the length (everything else fitted perfectly, it was just 6 inches too long). And got a beautiful dress for £40. I went to the mess function and met a girl who had gotten a similar dress made for her. It was practically identical to mine and cost her over £300!!! You should have seen her face when I told her mine cost a grand total of £40! Now that hubby is no longer a soldier (thank goodness) it is now sitting in my wardrobe as I'm a bit sad it will never get worn again. I think it is time to list it on ebay and see if I can recoup my £40 lol. But it certainly was a good buy. I think thriftiness is the order of the day given the current situation of our country. Thanks for sharing this xx

[i]Hi ruby, ohhh..I am very active when it comes to bargain also..LOL! When I was working back home, my friends and I will always go there since they will open new arrivals..LOL, every Sunday at 10 am, so we have to be there early!I got a lot of good clothes and sometimes, I am shopping there during Christmas for our relatives and neighbors(kids)! ANyway, here, I used to accompany friends also and I've been out 3 times since I arrived here, not much since everytime we arrived in the place, we are always late![/i]

I'm a big fan of thrift shops as well. I could not tell you what my best find was as there have been so many over the years. Being a single mom, I have always had to resort to thrift shops. Even in times when I have had extra money, I still used the thrift shops to make that money stretch as long as possible. I have notice with the economy as it is that more and more people are buying from them. I now will run into people in them that I would never have imagined seeing in them a few years back.

I've found many good deals at local thrift shops in various places that I have lived. I can't think of any one thing in particular, but I've bought sweaters, purses, pictures, curtains, books, and various knick knacks over the years. Ok, probably the best deals I found were when I was living in Minnesota. I was able to buy $30-$40 brand name sweaters for sometimes $1-3. Those deals were great!

I use charity shops to get bargain books, my local Oxfam is great for that. I tend to try to get things second hand now because I think recycling is so important. We are living such disposable lives and the Earth will not be able to keep up with the amount of stuff we seem to want. I am trying to reduce my buying because of this reason and charity shops give me a chance for some guilt-free shopping!

I actually find chaarity shops expensive - they seem to mark the items at a price that is unreasonable considering they are second hand and normally the majority of the time quite old styles. I get much better bargains looking in Primark! : )

Hello there ruby222 My thrift shop bargain was actually a pair of curtains. They were £4 but when I got to the till with them I noticed some cut marks in them. I showed the lady at the till who then said that she couldn't possibley sell them in that condition and I could have them! Well I couldn't just take them and made a donation all the same!

you are absolutely the same way with my wife who is also in love in doing a thrift shopping in most of the Malls who have a branded name and she said she won't care if she bought the things on Sale as long as it is worth on a Branded Name of the product.....and the last time she went shopping in the Landmark in which they have s Brand for ladies things like Nexus.

i really and truey love going for bargains it helps me when i dont have extra cash... but nowadays less places are having them. I live in cananda so its hard for for me too find unless i go to the Bargain, bargain bargain store. but the thing is not mnay places have such a variety of things u would need. when ever i go thier are unsally useless things people dont need. For me acyullt thier wasnt many that were great but i would say that Bargain Bargain Bargin shop is the best. well it the only one thier too

oh yes... i love to hunt for bargain as well... especially at the thrift stores like the $2 shop or reject shop here... i think they are fantastic stores and i can really get lots of good bargain from there... and you are right... in the tight economy situation like this, those shops really help us a lot in spending our money... take care and have a nice day...

i absolutely love shopping at thrift stores and we have some really great ones here in the city that i live in in canada. you can get all sorts of stuff at the one that i was at today! Stuff you didnt even know you needed! :-) i have done quite well over the years at thrift stores and have gotten some new stuff and some antiques as well. some of the new stuff, i even give out for presents!

hi ruby Ialso love to shop at good will and salvation army shops as you can find bargains there. I got some real wood end table and some chairs, and a desk chair all for fifty dollars. they had been very good quality but needed cleaning and some reoairs made. a really great find.

OMGosh, YES, I love this kind of shopping too. Also yard sales, auctions. Auctions are also a great social event, I see people I haven't talked to in awhile! LOL I am redoing a spare bedroom and plan on "thrift" shopping for a bed. and a nightstand. I already have a dresser.

Here in the Philippines, you can find unique items at bargain stores... you can even find authentic pieces that are sold for very low prices and they are mostly available during Christmas time... =) I'll be starting my Christmas shopping next month and for sure, i'll be raiding every bazaar that i'll find in the metro.

Every week we goaround the thrift shops we look for old china bits,plates,cups ,vases and anything old in the way of china.We make a day out of it,we have a coffeee in between shops and we take our time looking around them all.We have to use public transport so we have a day ticket,an explorer,so we like to make the very most of our day out.There have been loads of times we have come across bits of good pottery and china,and we once found a good bit of majolica,we managed to sell it for a decent amount too.