Thrift Shopping Extravaganza

Thrift shopping is a new concept that my mother-in-law has introduced me to.  I rather enjoy going shopping and before I moved to Colorado I did it quite often; even if it was nothing more than wandering around the clothing section at our local Fred Meyer.  Thrift shopping however, was a new experience.

I had my first experience of thrift shopping in January, and when I say thrift shopping I mean thrift shopping.  Which as you will find out is very different than just going shopping while at a thrift store.  Instead “thrift shopping” is an entirely different process.  Cindy invited me to go thrift shopping with the church ladies. Josiah convinced me that I should go, since he thought it would be fun, something to do for the day, and maybe even pick up a few bargains while I was at it.  

We left our house around 6:30am to meet everyone else at a house in Brush.  There were either two or three car loads of people (mostly from the church) that went that day.  We arrived at the first thrift store in Denver about 9 or 9:30, we stayed there until lunch time at noon.  Lunch was at a Taco Bell not too far from the first store, since as Cindy puts it, “That’s not what we’re there for that today.”  After lunch we hit TWO MORE thrift stores, and then headed home; stopping by a Target for some Starbucks and a restroom on the way.

Now that you have a taste of my background in thrift shopping, I will share my latest thrift shopping adventure.

Last Monday I went thrift shopping with Cindy and her sister Becky, who was visiting from Florida.  It started out not that different from my first time thrift shopping, other than it started slightly later, but since I am no morning person, this was fine with me.  We went to the first store as usual (they always go to the same thrift stores in Denver) with nothing to dramatic happening, I did find some really good bargains though, many of which came from Becky or Cindy insisting that I buy something (Not that this was that bad, but it should have been a hint of how our day would continueJ). 

Lunch time came and went as we had spent all morning in the first thrift store, without stopping for lunch.  By the time we did get to Taco Bell it was about 2pm, a rather late lunch.  We decided to get lunch to go and then eat in the car on the way to the second store for the day, which was going to have to be our last since I had to get back to Brush for Bible study that night.  When we arrived we started to shop as normal, finding some nice things here and there, then I found the furniture section…

This particular store is rather small so there is not a very large area for furniture, but I thought I would look just for fun.  I eyed a couple of nice end tables, that at that moment I wasn’t seriously considering, and then I saw the chair.  At this point it would be good, for you to get the whole effect of the story, to know we were in Cindy’s Nissan Altima, which already contained four to five large bags from the last store.  I will also explain the chair concept.  Cindy remodeled Megan’s old room to become her craft/ sewing room; she had taken many pieces to use as storage etc. from the antique shop, and was in the market for a wing back chair, not too overstuffed with skinny arms and nice wood legs.  This chair was a PERFECT fit for what she was wanting and only $35 (similar style chairs she saw new in furniture stores for about $250-$300), this chair was an excellent deal!  The only issue, getting it in the car, remember Nissan Altima, definitely compact car!

Once I had looked at it, and the price, I called Cindy over to see the chair.  She really liked it, comfortable, good fabric (even the color), good condition, and the style she was wanting!  Cindy had Becky come look at it, because apparently used furniture is more Becky’s area of expertise.  She sat in it, examined it, even smelled it, she agreed it was in good condition; again the only issue was COMPACT CAR.  Cindy decided to buy it, or at least attempt to buy it.  She asked if she could see if it was even possible to get it in the car before buying it, since we were so far away from home, it’s not like we could have just drove back later with a different car.  Well, it fit.  So we were going home with a new chair for Cindy, and for the in tables…let’s just say some outside sources helped convince me that I should come home with those too (I did call Josiah on that one to see what he thought).  

The chair in the trunk, this is pre bungee

The back seat loaded with in tables and bags.

By the time our thrift shopping day was complete we had a chair (held in the trunk by a blanket Cindy had to buy and bungee cords bought at Target on the way home), two end tables, 10+ large bags of cloths, a suitcase (Becky needed to buy it so she would have enough space to get all of her stuff back to Florida), and three people crammed into one little Nissan.  It was quite the successful day! We decided next time we’re taking the truck J, and we now have a complete set of varying sizes of bungee cords for each vehicle on the ranch, just in case!

               The new in tables. Next to the green chair there was nothing before because I only had one in table, which is very exciting since I had no where to put that cute tea light lamp that is currently on that table.

The old in table. It is in good condition, but not exactly my style.