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Saturday, January 12, 2013

Goodwill or Salvation Army?

Do you like shopping thrift stores? Do you have a favorite? Have you ever shopped Goodwill or Salvation Army? Do you have others that you like? Yesterday, I went to an estate sale on a whim after work, and it was awful! The smell in the house just about drove me back out the door the minute I walked in! It was the worst I've ever been in. The house and the contents seemed to be clean, it just smelled really bad. The basement was worse! Plus their prices were incredibly high.

I was so disappointed! But, since I'd been in that area many times before, I decided to visit an antique shop, and a couple of consignment stores along the way, and I found a Goodwill store too! The antique store always has been out of my reach price wise, and the people working there have never been friendly. I even was telling myself, that when I was walking in, and wondering why I was wasting the time to stop there.

The worker there was super friendly yesterday! The prices were still too high for my wallet, but I was very pleasantly surprised at how welcoming and friendly she was! I'm glad things have changed there-I think there is nothing worse than rude or unfriendly workers in any type of shop!

Once I left, I stopped at two consignment shops that I really like. One has new owners and it isn't as fun as it used to be. Translated in my language...fun=cheap, and fun=vintage goodies. Now it's mostly newer stuff, and a lot higher prices. The other one, I pretty much always walk out with something, and this is what I got:



When I went to Goodwill, it was packed with shoppers! Most of them were swarming the glassware area where I was trying to shop. I found this gorgeous square cake plate-is it Fostoria American? I think it might be...I was soo disappointed when I saw that at one point the base had come apart from the tray, and someone had used some glue that turned yellow with age to re-attach it. They also did a really terrible job with the glue!

It ran all down the sides and they never cleaned it up! It was only $6.99, so I took a chance that I might be able to get the glue off. This was on my wish list from a few years ago, so I was willing to take a chance.

I got home and started picking at the clue, and prying it with the edge of a sharp knife. I got all the drips off! I was afraid to try goof-off, because I didn't want to etch or damage the glass, so I had the brilliant idea of soaking it in hot water, to maybe loosen the glue between the two sections.

What I didn't think about...was how the glass would react to the hot water! As soon as I stuck it in the water, I heard it crack! UGH!!! It's just a tiny little crack, but it is soo disappointing!!! I continued to soak it, and it did come apart once it got soft enough, and I totally got all the yellow glue off, but now it has a crack that is about an inch long.

I still love it, and since you really have to look to see it, I'm still gonna use it. I just have to find some glass glue that won't turn yellow so I can put it back together!



Would you have taken a chance on it for $6.99? I'm so mad at myself for just dunking it in the hot water and not thinking!!! That's what happens when you've been running all day, and are trying to get the glue off while making dinner at the same time! I won't make that mistake again!

I've been lazy this morning...still hanging around in my jammies. Time to see what adventure awaits me today, and time to hit the shower!  Hope you have a great weekend!

Happy Hunting!

10 comments:

  1. In the Detroit area I found the Salvation Army stores to be very nice. I loved them in fact. In the Grand Rapids area the Goodwill Stores are much better then Salvation Army. There are thrift stores everywhere it seems now. You never really know what you're going to get though, some are nice, most not so nice. You really seem to have to pick through those. I've never done the estate sale thing. Have a great day! ~ Jamie

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    1. I bet you'd be hooked on estate sales ifyou tried them-they are a LOT of fun!! Thanks for stopping by!!

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  2. We have Volunteers of America here and they tend to have better stuff than Salvation Army. And Goodwill is just too high-brow around here. Their prices are too high and a lot of the stores only have things donated from stores, not from people (which means no vintage goodies). Thanks for the thought about goof-off - I probably would have tried it and ruined the thing.

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    1. Hi Pam!
      I've been to a couple VOA's, but they aren't very close to me. The one's I've been to have been very sparse-not much stuff at all! Thanks for stopping by!!

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  3. Well, being in Australia, we don't have Goodwill but we do have the Salvation Army, which we call the Salvos over here!! And our op shops (thrift stores) differ from state to state too. Your plate find was gorgeous I have to say! I definitely would have taken a chance on that one for that price. I think my recent 'chance' buy was on some what appeared to be immaculate tan sandals which only had one unglued strap, which I figured I could fix. But unfortunately everytime I go to fix them, another strap comes away... I really didn't listen to my inner op shop voice who said to leave them in the store....oh well that's half the fun of op shopping though isn't it? Kel xx www.yougotthatatanopshop.com

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    1. Hi Kel!
      I'd LOVE to visit an OP shop someday!!! I have that inner thrift store voice too, and lately I've been ignoring it, and it hasn't turned out so well-this time I was lucky-even if I cracked it!

      Thanks for stopping by!!

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  4. I love to go to a thrift store not far from my house. It is run by all a group of retired ladies. They each come at the time they are scheduled to work. No one gets paid. They always have a lot of vintage things. I always manage to find some really neat things there for resale on ebay. I got an old pop up book with old cars and gas stations in it. It was a dollar and sold for 88 dollars. I try to go there at least once a week to see what I can come up with.

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    1. hi Barbara!
      That thrift store sounds wonderful! I wish we had some like that around here!!! That was an AWESOME find when you got that book-how FUN!!!
      Thanks for stopping by!

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  5. Estate sales are ridiculousness, so are some garage sales now days; I hate the ones that put ebay listings with there items, and they ask that price (thinking just because some random person on ebay is "asking" for that, it most be what it's worth.. right.. I went to an estate sale where the lady (daughter of deceased) was pricing and labeling each item based out ebay; she wanted $20-25 a plate. Almost all her items where vintage, but not antique..

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  6. I live in the Nashville, TN, area, and all of the Salvation Army stores have closed! So we're left with Goodwill, and Goodwill ships off all of their Pyrex and other good collectibles to their auction site. Boo!

    I'm really enjoying reading your blog (which I just discovered while searching for Boopie/Candlewick).

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