Who's Been Good To Me?

Goodwill's been good to me.

And a few other thrift shops and consignment shops, too.

( A very, very good day at one single Goodwill!!

The most expensive item was the Bombay platter at $6.96. I know!!)

I like Craigslist and Offer Up.
( I can scroll through in a very few minutes)

(Listed on Offer Up for $50.00. Seriously?? Must pick up that same day! I'm on it!)

(A Craigslist find. It cost more in gas to go get it than the shelf was priced at. Such a deal!!)

I'm all about recycling and re-purposing, so thrifting works for me.

(Adorable bamboo table with flip up shelf. So many uses.

 And a perfectly styled shot! LOL #nicevacuumcleanerlady )

I have had a lot of nice comments on social media about all the goodies

 in my last two One Room Challenges, the Black Is Back Library and the #motherdaughterorc Chinoiserie Meets Boho Chic bathroom. 

(There's more "stuff" in this room that any other in my house

. But it seems cozy to have all these fun things in a Library.)

The large bamboo china cabinet replaced a simpler one-

 that I bought at a thrift store years ago-

 which I sold at a consignment shop for more than this beauty

 I found at the Salvation Army Store.

The bamboo coffee table cost $5.00 at a yard sale- glass and all.

 The bench in the foreground came from Goodwill.

The ORC library chairs - before. Goodwill. $14.91 with ottomans 

which they mistakenly resold before I came back to pick them up. 

So they gave me $14.91 back. Two chairs for $14.91. 

But I'm sad about the ottomans.)

Someone asked if I spend hours thrifting everyday.

I wish I had time like that, but not so much.

(Only thing that didn't come via thrifting is the limes!)

I have a pretty crazy schedule everyday, I live in a metropolitan area where it can take an hour to go 10 miles in the middle of the day (not even rush hour), and I don't actually like to shop. And I am a complete failure at returning stuff.

(This one barely fit in the car! But it was half price furniture day at the Salvation Army!!

Which I totally didn't know before I got there.)

However, and this is the biggie, I can be in and out of a Goodwill in 10 minutes including checking out.

I live near quite a few thrift stores  Goodwill, Salvation Army, and a variety of thrift stores.

This helps. And a lot of people donate what I think is really good stuff :)

One man's trash is another man's treasure and all that.

(Check this guy out after a little gold spray paint!)

So this is how I go about finding the "good stuff!"
(And please know that I can visit 10 times and find nothing and then...  yowza!
Something amazing is sitting there just waiting for me!!)

I grab a cart on my way in.

I know I'm "supposed" to check the 50% off color at Goodwill
 but that doesn't really matter to me.
 I don't base purchases on that and what I want never seems to be the color anyway!

Then I head directly back to the furniture, where ever that is in the particular store.

I also scan the top of the shelves from a distance as I walk to furniture. That is how I have gotten all of my globes and a couple of amazing lamps.

 I check the furniture, pull the tag if I am interested 
and then move on to smaller housewares like dishes, etc.

 ( $2.00 worth of bamboo garden stakes repaired this chair that was marked down to $10.00)

Then I look through the decorative items and dishes for blue and white 
(luckily it's easy to spot.)

(All my blue and white has been thrifted!)

I move down to baskets and such because I am after wicker hampers and picnic boxes to use as storage for two spots in my house.

 ( I can pack a car!! Still think KIA needs to use me in a commercial!!)

I run by frames because I usually purchase any bamboo frames or mirrors that I find and can potentially use. I have some I bought 20 years ago at a garage sale!

So basically I am only looking for what I specifically want.
I am not shopping to resell
 although I'm tempted because I have to leave good stuff behind all the time!! #thestruggleisreal

I can be quick because I know what I want and I'm pretty focused on that.

If I find something great that I'm not sure whether I "need" or not I will take a few moments to think about what I can move or replace.
 The full cycle is donating something that I have used and am changing out with a new find.

I don't feel bad if I find a "better" lamp and donate one back when they both cost $4.94 :)

(This came home with me yesterday. You'll see this project in a future post, I'm sure!)

And, full disclosure, sometimes I find something so amazing for such a deal that I will grab it and figure out what to do with it/where to use it later.

I honestly have a bamboo bench, in the way, on the back porch that I cannot for the life of me figure out where it should live but it was less than 20 dollars,
A similar one is on Craigslist and Offer Up for over $100,
and it's awesomeness is too much to part with.

Every week I say I need to give it away and every week I hang on to it for
 "just one more week because it will come to me!!"

#bamboohoarder

#forreal

I try not to let that happen but sometimes it just does :)

My favorite rooms on the internet and in homes I visit always
 have a variety of items including thrifted items
 and/or furniture and travel or family momentos.
My favorite rooms in the most recent ORC are the ones from the guest bloggers who had to get creative and use that creativity to design amazing rooms of color, texture and depth. I felt like a lot of the "chosen" designers spent massive amounts of money designing rooms that showed off a bunch of sponsors or had very few creative ideas that the rest of us could learn from or use. I am not bashing the One Room Challenge. I love that Linda has created something that gets us motivated ( Goodness, knows this self professed 85%er needs it) but I'm just not feeling the "reveals" that read like the shopping guides from a swanky design magazine. I'm probably the only one but that's my two cents worth. Maybe I'm just grumpy because I don't have sponsors :) Anyway, I hope you checked out all the guest bloggers and saw some of the amazing things they found to use in their rooms.
#thriftingforthewin

You can see many of my "finds" in real time on Instagram !