Nifty to be Trifty

I know most of you reading my type of blog already love to thrift.  You know....... buy second-hand stuff from garage sales, Goodwill, Salvation Army, Craigslist, and other local thrift stores.  If you're not one of "us", let me give you some things to ponder to see if it isn't, in fact, a good idea for you too!

First, thrifting is fun!  Grab a great cup of coffee, load your best girlies in someone's car, and ride around helping each other find treasures.  It's so much fun! 

My friend, Di, and I found this beauty propped up against a neighbor’s fence.  We were kind of afraid we were stealing it, so we left a note in the mailbox, loaded it in the truck, and peeled out.  The neighbor later called and thanked us for taking it.  Whew! 

It's good for our planet.  I really believe almost anything we need can be found second-hand.  Think of all the transportation expense and packaging we're saving by recycling something someone else no longer needs or wants.

I was thrilled when I found this machine.  It is the same model as my mom’s; the machine I grew up sewing on.  It is considered one of the best machines Singer ever made, and I purchased it for $25 in almost unused condition.

It keeps more of our American dollars at home.  Let's face it.  We Americans like lots of stuff, and we like to buy it for cheap prices.  Sadly, this means we are sending lots of our dollars overseas (which translates to less jobs here), creating a huge trade deficit.  Every dollar we keep in our local economy, helps our local economy.

The Salvation Army is hit and miss for me.  I find the clothes to be inexpensive, but the housewares, too pricey.  An exception is pillows.  I always look over the pillows and often find wonderful feather down pillows with ugly covers.  It’s a steal to get these for 99 cents.  I also found this very sturdy chair for $2.50.

It helps us live on less so we can give more.  If you are reading this blog on your own computer, you are considerably wealthier than most people living in the world today.  Poverty, lack of medical care, unsafe drinking water, hunger, and more are a daily reality for so many.  If our needs can be met with something second-hand, why not use the savings to make someone else’s life better?

Thrifting has allowed me to save, so I can team with others from my church to take medicine to some very special friends.

It’s a great teaching tool for kids (and us).  It’s no secret that credit card debt is out of control in the US.  We like to get what we want, when we want it.  Kids are no different.  When we thrift, we often have to wait to find the item we are looking for.  Delayed gratification is a good thing and helps us all understand the value of saving and waiting.  Also, when kids use their own money thrifting, they learn the worth of a dollar much more than if we give them a few dollars to blow everytime.

My kids quickly learned what a great buy legos are at garage sales compared to new sets from the Lego store.  We once purchased an enormous storage tub filled with Legos for $10.  It was easily $1000 retail.

So what are your thoughts?  Is thrifting a good thing, or a way to collect a bunch of junk?  I’d love to hear your thoughts, tips and ideas.

Thanks for stopping by,

Ellie