Simple Pleasure #3: Thrift Shops

When I was a little girl, we didn't have a lot of money. But my Mama did what she could to make the most of what we had. In fact, my mum had an organic garden (still does) and compost before it suddenly became fashionable and mainstream! But we used to visit a lot of second hand shops for our clothes. I remember that at St Paul's, our local church where I had my Brownies meetings, there was a second-hand-shop at the back of the church hall. I remember all of the clothing items were organized into cardboard boxes and labelled at the front. There were even things like corsets! I used to hate going there. As I got older, I began to appreciate that second hand shops can be a wealth of treasures. And now, thrift shopping is one of my favorite things to do.

Perhaps it's the "thrill of the hunt", or perhaps it's the feeling that it's a bit like when you are little and pretending to be hunting for treasure. And I have found some excellent treasures in my time. Most of the time, as you can imagine, I browse for second hand books. My favorite second hand book place is St Christopher's. It's neat because they have everything laid out on trestle tables, the prices are very affordable and you can get some great finds there, everything from really old editions of Penguin paperbacks, to magazines, to near-new releases. A few months ago I managed to pick up a recently released Jodi Picoult that was selling in the bookshops for $34.95. At St. Chris's I bought it for $12.

Other favorite "hunting grounds" include SaveMart, which is predominantly second-hand clothes and proceeds benefit the Child Cancer Foundation. A friend of mine managed to pick up an Armani suit in good nick in the designer section (where you do have to pay a bit more but it's still good value) for $100! When I was losing weight and transitioning through sizes I went there to pick up a whole heap of good quality, inexpensive shirts and jeans. I also love going to the Dog Watch and Cats Protection League charity stores. A lot of their goods are extremely inexpensive, but I always give them extra. If something is $3, I'll give them a $5 note because I know it's going towards a good cause. At the Dog Watch shop quite often they 'dog sit' an adorable West Highland Terrier called Oliver who loves having his belly rubbed.

I think that even if I were a millionaire I would still do the thrift-store thing. Partly because so many of the thrift stores actually benefit charities, and partly because that thrill of a cheap bargain is kind of ingrained in me! I think it's genetic. :)