Monday, September 23, 2013

Goodwill Outlet Haul


Hey guys,
I'm officially done with summer school, and that means two well-deserved weeks to spend with my family in Indiana before school starts. My mom and I share a love of bargains and being that I just started this love affair with thrifting, I decided to introduce my mom to thrift shopping. It began with us shopping the local Goodwills, until my mom and I discovered the holy grail of thrifting: Goodwill outlets! The town we live in is extremely close to a Goodwill outlet. Goodwill outlets are different than regular Goodwills in that 1) they sell items by the pound 2) they are supplied by items that didn't sell at the other local Goodwills, and 3) everything is placed in big bins, not on racks or shelves. At this particular Goodwill, the prices were: glass and ceramics at $0.49/pound, clothing, household items, and others at $0.79/pound, and shoes at $1.29/pound. With the constant influx of donations, most Goodwill stores are overloaded with merchandise to sell. To prevent clutter and keep new merchandise circulating throughout the store, Goodwill has a policy that items can only stay in stores for 3 weeks. After three weeks, Goodwill ship these items off to the outlets, so that they can be sold at a discount price. These items are then marginally sorted into bins. At the Goodwill outlet I went to, items were divided into clothing, shoe, book, and household item. The household item bins ranged from toys to furniture to all sorts of knick knack. My mom and I read up on tips and made sure to bring water, gloves, and my phone to google item values. I have to say, this store is not for the faint of heart. It's dirty, the other customers can be rude and pushy, you have to dig through junk, and there's no guarantee you will find anything. But that's part of the experience, and trust me, is was quite an experience! Luckily, I had beginners luck and found some amazing items. Enough chit chat, onto the haul!
*overview of haul:

1) Plato Dialogue on Love and Friendship (Easton Press) Leather Bound Collector's Edition


Can you believe I found this just lying in one of the bins? This is a beautiful leather bound collectors edition of some of Plato's works. I googled it and saw that it was selling on ebay for $30-$75. Unfortunately there are a few stains and knicks due to rough treatment during shipment to the outlet and well, the other shoppers aren't exactly gentle with the merchandise. I can't wait to have time to actually read it- Plato has some amazing philosophical ideology. At the time being it just sits in my room looking beautiful, a great addition to my decor!

2) Vintage Aden Clear Safety Glasses
-(top 2)
Vintage Prescription Sunglasses
While I was digging through the bins I found a bunch of glasses in the bottom and I was just estatic when I found these clear glasses! Unfortunately the lens are a bit scratched from being tossed around but overall, still in good condition. I googled the brand Aden and found that Aden is a vintage brand that made safety glasses for labs and other hazardous occupations. I found a few on ebay which were around $17. The sunglasses are so cool in shape and look extra boho funky but when I got home I discovered they had a prescription :( so I can't wear them because they make my eyes blurry. Oh well, not much money was wasted :) it probably cost less than $0.50.

3) Terrorist Poker Cards
-(brand new with case)
I saw these cards and I just started cracking up! These cards have pictures of Saddam Huissen, Bin Laden, and all other Al Qaeda members. The backs of the cards are camouflage design. Definitely a fun quirky novelty item and it will be great for playing drinking games with!

4) Heritage USA 1983 Ornament
This is the first vintage ornament I have found and I have to say this is beautiful! A perfect piece to add to my decor ;) who says Christmas decor can only be up in December? Unfortunately when I brought it home, my dog thought it was a toy and started playing with it and dropping it on the floor. :( it definitely added a few cracks to it but it's not too noticeable. Speaking of my dog Lily, everytime my mom and I come back with our goodies from Goodwill outlet, she always has to sniff each and every item. Guess she's a fan of thrifting too! My mom always jokes that we should take her thrifting ^^ she can sniff out all the good stuff haha.

5) Vintage Express Cartigan

This cartigan is so soft. It looks just like one of those grandpa sweaters old people wear. I've been looking for a sweater just like this and this is literally the epitamy of perfection! 
 
6) Alfred Dunner Patterned Sweater

Such a raggedy ripped up sweater but that's what makes it look just like a vintage sweater I'd find in back of an 80's moms closet. It is a bit short so it looks almost cropped but it looks just lovely with a pair of high waist shorts. 

7) Dirty Girl On the Go mini kit
This was brand new in the packaging; it even had the plastic wrap intact! I'm pretty certain you can find these at Barnes and noble. I believe it retails for $9-$13. For what you get I think it's such a ripoff -_____-. It comes with a little notebook that you can write addresses, phone numbers, and random little notes/reminders. It also comes with two baggage tags(which are made of laminated card stark!), wipe towelette, and a Chapstick. Being that I probably only spent a quarter or less on this, I don't mind but I would never buy this for retail price. Also I travel alot back and forth from California to Indiana so the tags and booklet will come in handy.

8) Pokemon 23k plated Card
-(poliwhirl!)

This was apparently a promotional item from Burger King. It will be a perfect paperweight. Pokemon was my childhood; I would wake up every Saturday morning to watch the cartoons. I love finding things from my childhood. I have this silly idea that ill collect these novel items and show my kids someday: "Hey kids, in my day we collected cards that had creatures called pokemons on them and would battle them, using our imagination. Not like you guys with your implanted tv and computer in your eyes." Yes, in my imagined future, kids have electronics implanted in haha.

9) Gazz-it! Modeling Compound
I believe this is a knockoff of flooz? I forgot the name but that stuff was my crack when I was a kid! I love playing with this stuff. This one was brand new; when I brought this home, my brother was so excited! He remembers this from our childhood as well. This stuff definitely initiated some brother sister bonding time.

10) Vintage Cat Cry Toy

This stuff is suppose to make a noise that sounds like a cat. Unfortunately it got a bit dinged up in the bins so it's not working fully. One of the busts of my haul.

11) HP memory ram sticks
At first I thought it was a new unused crucial memory kit, which retails for $79.99! But unfortunately, it turns out to be old memory sticks someone switched out from their laptop. They seem to be unused/ in good condition, so still useable :) and lucky for me I own an hp laptop so perfect match!

12) Vintage Leather Travel Bag For Suits & Dresses
*my brother playing model haha
This travel bag is in perfect condition, and the quality is great: the label says it's made in Korea. I love finding pieces like this. I know usually items like this are rediculously marked up on etsy and ebay, so it's amazing I found this and spend close to nothing to get it. Like I said, I travel alot, so this will come in handy when I need to keep nice pieces wrinkle free. 

And that is my wonderous first haul from goodwill outlets. I hope you guys enjoyed my haul :) til next time!

<3 jess

Sunday, September 15, 2013

Exploring Fullerton's Thrift Stores (8/14/2013)

Hey guys,
Today, I have to admit something horrible... I'm getting sick of my nearby thrift stores. Don't get me wrong, I love my nearby thrift stores! I'm blessed w some of the best thrift stores around, that have the coolest stuff at the lowest prices. But sometimes a girl just wants to spice things up and explore something new. Luck would have it, I had to go all the way to Fullerton to get my car inspected. Fullerton is chalk full of thrift stores, so with the help of Yelp and the thriftbuddy app, I planned out an epic thrift store trip. Allow me to present the haul:

*haul overview:


 1) Budweiser Holiday Series (Limited Edition) Champion Clydesdale 1980 Mug- $1.91 (Sav-Mor Thrift)
I found this mug at Sav-Mor thrift store on Orangethorpe Ave. This mug caught my eye right away and I had a hunch that this might be worth something so I decided to google it. Imagine my surprise when I found that this was selling for close to $50-$100 on ebay! Apparently this is part of Budweiser's holiday series mugs and was the first of the series, made in 1980. I picked it up for $1.91 and listed it on my ebay. It sold for $30+shipping! :) Thrifting has not only become a way of saving money for me, but its is also blossoming into a source of some extra cash. I made a new ebay account just for my thrifting finds so I am excited to see if this takes off!
*ebay account: isntshilovely

                                                 



2) Kikkoman Soy Sauce Spoon Plate- $1.91 (Sav-Mor Thrift)
Got this at the same thrift store as the budweiser mug. I thought this was so cute and would be a great addition to my kitchen. Sav-Mor prices are always cheap so it was not hard shelling out $2 for this. I did some research and this was apparently a free gift that kikkoman sent out to costumers with proof of purchase. I still think this is an awesome find. 

 3) Gold Plated Seashells Earrings- $3.00 (Zion Thrift Store)

I got this at the very first thrift store I went to on this thrift store trip. The thrift store is called Zion Thrift store, and it is associated with the Zion Church in Fullerton. I have to say, I really enjoyed this thrift store. They had all sorts of knick knacks and interesting items, and the prices were more than reasonable. This store definitely required digging but I only got to spend around 20 something minutes here because I had my car appointment. I am obsessed with these earrings. They caught my eyes right away when I was strolling by the counter and they reminded me of mermaids. These are made of real seashells that are gold plated and are handcrafted. When I went home, I couldn't find anything online from this brand nor any earrings similar to this so I feel like this is an extremely special find. 

4) adorable sea creature cake forks and spoons set- $3.99 (Savers)
This was my first time shopping at Savers and I must say, it was a blast. Savers is humongous! It is like the costco of thrift stores. There were so many items to choose from and look through, I was extremely overwhelmed(but in a good way!). I managed to find this gem in the knick knacks section. It was on the wall with all the other bagged random goodies. The other bags were random assortments of items. This is a cute animal fork and spoon set for cakes and pastries. Useful? Perhaps not the most, but it definitely is the cutest thing ever! I just had to snag it. I didn't find anything else in the other sections. Unfortunately, I feel like Saver's prices are a bit more expensive than my usual thrift stores, but they do have alot of different sales on colored tags. I believe that the day I went the sale color was yellow. I took advantage of a Yelp promotion and did a check in online and got 15% off my whole purchase ^^ whoo!

Alright, so that pretty much wraps up my haul. These were not the only thrift stores I went to, there were a few others I checked out. Unfortunately I wasn't able to find anything in those thrift stores, so they don't get mentioned in this post. But if you are ever in the Fullerton area I definitely recommend checking out their thrift stores! :) I promise you won't be disappointed.

Until next time,
<3 Jess