Tuesday, May 6, 2008

Southern Junk

For as long as I can remember I have been a thrift shopper. When I got my drivers licenses it was one of the first things I did on my own. I love to shop flea markets, yard sales, thrift stores, anywhere a deal on something unusual might be found. I practice this hobby to this day, and I don’t ever plan on stopping. As a matter of fact I can’t wait til life slows down and I can get back to it.

I had to back off a little ya see. For years I would buy all kinds of things at markets and thrift stores that I thought I could either use or sell for profit. Some of my best purchases have made me hundreds of dollars quickly. You have to know what something is worth when you see it, but most important you got to know where you can sell it for a profit. Buying it is one thing, find someone to buy it at a profit is the trick. One of the best deals I have found was a ten piece Le Creuset set of pots and pans for $18.00. They probably retailed for around $300.00. That was ten or so years ago and we still use them today.

I basically had a “store” that I could transport to the nearest flea market and set up business for the day or weekend. I quickly learned it was no fun packing and unpacking all the little items. Sure I could buy all kinds of cool stuff for three, four or five dollars and sell them for double or more, but how many transactions of this size did I need to do per day to really make decent money? The answer was a lot. So I started building furniture and slowly got rid of all the small items that were a pain to handle. But I miss getting in the car and spending the day going from junk store to thrift shop looking for that next big deal. Now days I go looking for something in particular like clothes or something I need. I can really save money on things I need and sometimes I find something I just gotta have, like this chair.

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Ain’t it great. I was at the Value Village the other day and I had picked up two stainless steel bowls for the dogs, $2 for the pair. I found two pairs of shorts I could work in this summer, $3 each. I found a large rusty metal star that will look great on the headboard of a bed and a few other things. I was checking out when I saw this chair, right off I loved the design. The lines were great, the colors were great, it was in great condition and probably dated to the 1960’s. It also was priced $2.50! I had to have it. That’s why now days I don’t go to these shops nearly as much as I used to, sometimes I just can’t help myself. Hell a good deals a good deal.

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