Before I went to sleep last night I thought, you know, I don’t need anything, why don’t I sleep in Saturday? So I didn’t set the alarm and out I went in a blink.
Come 7:30 am my eyes flew open. Okay, I’m up, looked at my hair and it didn’t scare me too much so I dressed and left for the Grand Ave Salvation Army store.. I really want to try another Sally, but I didn’t take enough time to plan and toodled off up Grand Ave.
Only two cars in the lot, it was cold so I stayed put in my car until about 8:30 when the other early birds started to line up. I managed to be about 8 in line. It was cold, but sunny with no wind so the time passed fast while chatting with others in line.
I have a love/hate relationship with thifting. I enjoy finding great bargains, but I hate the anxiety that rises inside me until I find something good. So for the first few minutes or longer I feel just so trembly, and can get cranky in a second if someone annoys me, so I try to get through that feeling fast by hitting a section where no one else is and do a quick scan for something that appeals.
This time I saw the toss pillows. I found a couple cuties and put them in my cart then looked at the Domestics section and found a big tablecloth and a couple small throws. In the cart they went. I now had some things, and I was able to relax. Anything else would be gravy. I tried to skip my usual first stops (dresses and skirts) and look at the tops as my skirt collection has grown but my go-with tops are few. But I just could not get into picking through the 1000’s of summer tops this morning.
Back to the skirts I went and scanned for something good. I like them really long so I usually just look at the bottoms of them and then stop when I see something long. I picked out a skirt I normally would have passed on due to it being blue. But once on it really was flattering, so in the cart. I also found a nice sleeveless sweater top that looked nice with it too.
That was about it. I found a quiet spot to check out my selections. I decided against the throw pillows and ditched them. Looked over the throws and tablecloth for problems, all looked fine. I then found a cute pair of PJ bottoms in my size and tossed them in the cart without trying them on too.
I circled the store a couple times, I watched others as they grabbed this or that. One guy with about 15 pair of the same small size foam sandals. One man with a cart full of sneakers. and baseball caps. A couple women going through all the shoes and purses. Lots of people hitting up the odd toaster ovens and crock pots. A group of small tan women with carts piled as high as they were, collecting almost anything at the 69 cent tag color to send back home. I have learned if I want to look at a section before it is picked over to go to it immediately upon entering at 9 am on Saturdays.
Todays deep discount color was Tan for 69 cents. The next discount was White tags for 25% off. (next week Saturday the white tags will be 69 cents). Everything I bought today was 69 cents each. I will pay the regular price on a tag if I find something I really like and want, it does not have to be 69 cents but it doesn’t hurt.
Today I was done and out of the store at 10 am. A record for me. I contemplated hitting another store but I decided to hit ALDI then go home and make my honey a nice breakfast.
The tablecloth turned out be a very nice Crate and Barrel woven 100% cotton measuring 70 x 120 in Ivory/Taupe. I use a lot of tablecloths in the summer when we go camping. It really makes a warm summer’s supper outside on a picnic table just so much nicer.
The throws consisted of one dark olive green velour lap blanket. Nothing special but it is so soft. And matches our sofa very nicely. Then the oddball item was a hand crocheted granny square style using white, red and hot pink yarn. It is so ugly I could not leave it behind. I will see if I can find any use for it.
I only paid 69 cents each for this stuff and my total was under $5.00. I felt both thrilled and let down for not finding more. Well, there is always the Goodwill tomorrow…..
