HAUL: Village Thrift
Having recently moved to a new house (and the first one that we own), I've been making almost weekly trips to the home improvement stores. I noticed a thrift store, Village Thrift, in the same plaza as my local Lowe's and have been wondering what the store is like. (Unfortunately, while their cash registers are quite up-to-date, they appear to have no web site and apparently have only the one location.)
I had heard their best deals are on Mondays, so Juliana and I headed over on Monday to check it out. Overall, I was impressed with the store: it's large, well-organized, and offers just about everything, without offering a lot of items that feel like trash. However, I had some major problems with the prices. Many items I saw still had their original tags, or tags from other thrift/yard sales, but often the Village Thrift price was equal to or more than the other tags. For example, I found one shirt with its original tags, which showed many prices, ending with a final clearance price of $7.20; Village Thrift was offering the shirt for $8.90. One of the shirts I bought had another tag on it for $3.00, but Village Thrift was charging $4.90. I also noticed that many items, particularly popular brands, had prices that were close to what they would sell for new, like an H&M knit dress for $19.90.
So, while I'll certainly be going back because it's so close and large, I'll have to be very vigilant regarding brands and prices to ensure I'm actually getting good deals. I also plan to only ever shop there on Mondays, when certain colored tags are 50% off, and Sundays, when certain colored tags are other percentages off — the regular prices were not good enough for me, especially since I'm usually buying items that simply hit my fancy, and not items that I actually need.
Anyway, enough with the review, and on to the haul!
The Goods
Gray knit dress
Sparkly tunic shirt
Empire-waist shirt
Flowered shirt
Straight jeans
Word Spot coffee table game
I brought home 6 items for $23; not bad!
Read through for specific details on prices and brands.
HAUL: $22 at Salvation Army
Hi, I'm Andréa's younger sister Juliana.
I live 8.5 hours from Andréa during the school year, so I hadn't gotten a chance to go to her favorite Salvation Army store until today. Stores like that tend to overwhelm me, but having Andréa and our older sister, Christy, there to help me look made it easier to find stuff. Unlike Andréa, I was looking for specific items: comfortable jeans, denim shorts, and maybe a fun skirt. We managed to find everything I was looking for.
The Goods
Lace dress
Patterned skirt
Denim shorts
Skinny jeans
Bootcut jeans
My tally: 5 items for $22.
Continue reading for the details on brands and prices.
HAUL: $40 at Salvation Army
Despite promising myself after Saturday's haul that I wouldn't go back to Salvation Army for a few weeks, I wound up taking my sisters today, since they're in town. We all snagged some great deals, so they'll be posting their hauls, too.
The Goods
Flowered dress
Shift dress
Green knit dress
Skinny jeans
Straight jeans
Bootcut jeans
Tank top
Wine rack
Folding garden fence
The total: 9 items for $38.91 before taxes.
Read through for the details on brands and prices.
HAUL: Juliana’s New Wardrobe
Juliana is back from China now, so she was able to "shop" for her new wardrobe from the options I had picked for her. (For more background, you can read the original mission, see all the pieces I bought for her, and view the sample outfits from the options.) In addition to purchasing many items from among her options, Juliana also received some of the pieces as birthday gifts from me and my parents and snagged some hand-me-downs from me and my mom that match her new wardrobe color scheme.
The Goods
Black tank top
White tank top
Black tank top
White tank top
Blue layered tank
Purple tank top
White tank top
Purple tank top
Purple tank top
Teal T-shirt
Purple T-shirt
Black T-shirt
White half-sleeves
Black long-sleeves
Long-sleeve shirt
Flip-flops
Rose sandals
Black & gray dress
Purple dress
Black lace dress
Khaki shorts
Black shorts
White sweater
Black sweater
White sweater
Juliana's going back to school with a total of 25 items for $75.00 out of her pocket.
If you want to read the nitty-gritty on brands and prices, continue reading.
HAUL: $100 at Salvation Army
Yesterday I had some time to kill for about 4 hours while my car underwent some work. I had the auto shop's courtesy shuttle drop me off at my favorite Salvation Army Family Store, where I proceeded to nab some really great deals before the shuttle came back to pick me up.
The Goods
Blue & gray flowered dress
Flowered dress
Black lace dress
Blue & white dress
Fuschia tank top
Black & white tank top
White V-neck tank top
Button-down shirt
Comfy jeans
Dark jeans
Black slacks
Bolero-style sweater
Silver cardigan sweater
Striped pitcher
Disposable plates
6 books
Glazed Murder, Jessica Beck
Simple French Desserts, Jill O'Connor
Murder Melts in Your Mouth, Nancy Martin
The Essential Pasta Cookbook, Whitecap Books
The Complete Illustrated Guide to Dog Care & Behavior, Bruce Fogle
Ultimate Cake, Barbara Maher
Altogether, I bought 21 items for $100.56 after taxes. Now that's a good shopping spree!
Continue reading for all the nitty-gritty details.
DEALS: Bed Bath & Beyond Online Clearance
Bed Bath & Beyond tends to have higher prices than I like, so I usually only shop there when I have a coupon or need something specific. My biggest complaint with BB&B is that they usually don't have much clearance, if any at all; what they do have discounted are typically returned/opened products, damaged products, and products missing pieces. Right now, though, they have a quite extensive online clearance section. Since their prices start out higher than other stores I shop at, their clearance prices are higher as well, but there are still some good deals, especially for the dorm room.
Read through for my picks for dorm, home, and gifts, or just head on over to browse for yourself.
HAUL: IKEA “As Is” Department
Today I made what was supposed to be a quick IKEA run to pick up 3 lamps, 3 wall shelves, a planter, and a set of curtains... and I walked away with way more than just that.
As I usually try to do, I stopped by the "As Is" section before checking out. I was disappointed to realize that the lamps I had wanted were actually candle holders, but my disappointment quickly dissipated when I noticed some of the other deals. (Don't worry, I still got lamps -- and for cheaper than the candle holders anyway!)
The Goods
2 cloth napkins & 1 dish towel
1 apron & 4 dish towels
2 washcloths
8 plastic containers, 1 whisk, & a cork trivet
1 body pillow case, 1 twin size fitted sheet, & 1 pillow case
My excursion in the "As Is" section came to a total of 23 items for $17.87 before taxes.
Read through for the nitty gritty details, including the break-down of prices.
OUTFITS: Juliana’s New Wardrobe Possibilities
My sister Juliana recently asked me to help her create a new coordinated wardrobe. I know that one of her problems has been finding pieces that she can mix & match without having to worry about if they clash. As an architecture student, her pieces need to be able to transition from class to studio to presentations to fun with minimal effort. To demonstrate just a few ways the 36 new pieces I picked up for her can be mixed, I threw together 3 no-fuss outfits.
The Outfits
Tank, dress, sweater, & sandals
Shorts, tank, sweater, & sandals
Khakis & tee
Outfit #1 came in at $32.00: $6.49 for the tank top and $13.49 for the dress, both from Old Navy, and $7.00 for the sweater and $5.00 for the sandals, both from TJMaxx.
Outfit #2 totaled $37.00: $10.00 for the sweater, $10.00 for the tank top, $12.00 for the shorts, and $5.00 for the sandals, all from TJMaxx.
Outfit #3 was just $19.00: $7.00 for the T-shirt and $12.00 for the shorts, both from Marshalls.
Make sure to check back to see Juliana's final wardrobe picks!
HAUL: Juliana’s Wardrobe Possibilities
My sister Juliana recently asked me to help her get pretty much a whole new, coordinated wardrobe. (Read the details of the mission here.) She set me a budget of $100, but I know she likes to be able to pick from choices, plus it's hard to know exactly what will work for another person, so I went over budget, knowing that many items would be returned.
All in all, I spent just around $300 for 36 items, providing a plethora of wardrobe options.
The Goods
White tank top
White tank top
Black tank top
Blue layered tank
Teal tank top
Purple tank top
Purple T-shirt
Lilac T-shirt
Lavender T-shirt
Gray T-shirt
Black T-shirt
Black T-shirt
Black T-shirt
Black T-shirt
Turquoise T-shirt
Teal T-shirt
White half-sleeves
Teal long-sleeves (rear)
Gray long-sleeves
Black long-sleeves
Black & gray dress
Striped dress
Purple dress
White sweater
White sweater
Gray sweater
Gray sweater
Gray vest
Black sweater
Black sweater
Black sweater
Rose sandals
Khaki shorts
Gray shorts
Black shorts
Flip-flops
Read on for all the details on prices and stores.
HAUL: Library Book Sale
My local library recently held a book sale. Like at most libraries, the books sold were mostly donations, with the occasional "removed from circulation" book. I was thrilled because the book prices were even cheaper than usual: just $0.25 for a paperback and $0.50 for a hardback.
The Goods
Whole Lotta Trouble, Stephanie Bond
Iced, Carol Higgins Clark
Hitched, Carol Higgins Clark
One for the Money, Janet Evanovich
Four to Score, Janet Evanovich
High Five, Janet Evanovich
Wife for Hire, Janet Evanovich
Inked Up, Terri Thayer
Larceny and Lace, Annette Blair
The Ghost in the Gallery, Carolyn Keene
A Century of New Words, John Ayto
Olivia Joules and the Overactive Imagination, Helen Fielding
The Southern Heritage Cakes Cookbook, Southern Heritage
In total, I was able to get 13 books for $4.00. (14 books for $4.25, if you count the second copy of Whole Lotta Trouble that I got for my sister.)
Read through for all the nitty-gritty details.
Categories
- About the Site (5)
- Complaints (2)
- Confessions (5)
- Deals (11)
- Events (2)
- Freebies (17)
- Hauls (38)
- Missions (3)
- News & Links (6)
- Outfits (3)
- Playlists (1)
- Shopping Tips (3)
Topics
Filter Posts
Archives
| S | M | T | W | T | F | S |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| « Apr | ||||||
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 |
| 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 |
| 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 |
| 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 |
Favorite Sites
- Amazon: All Free MP3 Albums
- Amazon: All Free MP3s
- Amazon: Free Rising Artists MP3s
- Books on the Knob
- Freecycle
- IKEA Hackers
- Through the Looking Glass