What is your best thrift store, garage sale, or flea market purchase?

[Panina]

What is your best thrift store, garage sale, or flea market purchase?

I have so many beautiful high end items. My initially thoughts was to post a beautiful oil painting or a piece of handmade pottery but I gave it more thought. Which item makes me smile? Which do I enjoy the most and notice every day?

To my surprise it is an item that cost me $1.50, has no worth in monetary value and is only 3 inches by 3 inches. It is a ceramic with a special saying my departed husband use to always say. He even has a silly night cap that I still have that said it too. Each day I see this and I smile.

I purchased it on Marco Island, one of my favorite timeshare destinations, at the Bargain Basket. I remember the excitement I had when I found it.

 

[Luanne]

Not one that I made, but one my sister made. My sister only has one son so when I had dds my sister went nuts at garage sales for me. She would buy things for little girls and send them to me. One item was an infant sleeping bag. That went to our older dd. That became her "blankie". She still has it. Or rather she has what became of it. My mom replaced the lining for her, then the backing, so she really doesn't have any of the original Blankie.

Another great purchase, this one made by this same dd, was her senior prom outfit at a local consignment store. She got dress, shoes, shawl and jewelry. Then she ended up wearing it to two proms and used the shawl at her wedding.

 

[b2bailey]

I've been a thrift store shopper forever. So many cool things over the years. I'm looking at a large (30x42) picture I have hanging. It's one where the artist is a photographer and did something to make the photograph look like a painting. I found it while living in Naples, FL. Photo shows beach, birds, water, blue sky and fluffy white clouds. I googled the name of artist and he was renown enough to have a website at the time - about 10 years ago. Price of $25 included unusual frame.

 

[pedro47]

I purchased a gas lawn edger for one dollar at a garage sale. The owner said it would not start. I took that edger home, cleaned it up, changed the oil, replaced the blade and replaced the spark plug. It started up on the very first pull.
That edger lasted over ten years. Total cost a quart of oil 69 cents, a spark plug $2.00, an edger blade $4.00 my total cost was less than $8.00 dollars.

 

[clifffaith]

I prefer "antique malls" and I won't seek out thrift shops but will go in if one appears in my path while on vacation. But I love reading stories on my eBay boards from the thrifters who find special items at thrift stores. The old timers have so much awesome knowledge in their brains that they are picking up treasures while the newbies are still looking things up on their phones. And many of them can go to a church rummage sale at the end of the day and pick items from the "dregs" left behind that other people didn't recognize as sellable. At least once every six months someone starts a "what was your best find" thread that will go on and on --so much fun to read! I've been wondering if the weeks after shops reopen will be a bonanza for thrifters because folks have used their time to clean out closets. Seems like every day on Nextdoor someone is asking where they can drop stuff off, only to be told no-can-do right now.

 

[jackio]

I purchased a wine rack off Craigslist that cost me $20. It was almost new and has brought me a lot of satisfaction.

 

[Sandy VDH]

You have to watch this movie if you want the ALMOST best garage sale find. It is an interesting story about just how small the art world is and without provenance the art world will stick up its nose at you. This was from a $5 purchase at a garage sale.

Who the #$&% Is Jackson Pollock? (2006) ⭐ 7.0 | Documentary

1h 14m | PG-13

www.imdb.com

 

[missyrcrews]

Most of the clothing my daughters own is from Goodwill or Salvation Army. American Eagle jeans, LL Bean shirts, Adidas workout wear, we have it all. I refuse to pay the prices that those brands demand at the "real stores!" We love going to thrift stores when we're on vacation, too....Audrey scopes out the routes from our timeshare digs.

My best buy right now is an LL Bean coat I got for $1 at Goodwill this winter. Still enjoying it...winter's long in Maine! Aside from timesharing, Goodwill is the thing I miss most. Can't wait to get back to thrifting!

 

[easyrider]

I usually don't go to garage sales but the few I have I did score. One guy had some stuff left on his last day and last hour before moving. I stopped in because I saw a gas can and it was on my way and I needed another gas can. He had a $600 brand new marine carburetor for sale at $300. It had adapters to fit many boat engines. When I arrived he was throwing things in a dumpster. His wife told me to just take what ever I wanted so I asked if that included the carb. She said yes. So I ended up with a free gas can and carb.

Bill