Thrift Store Scores - The Mommy/Daughter Date Edition

Thank you Queen Bee Coupons for posting about Value Village's 50% off sale on Presidents day!

Since the man of the house was home from work earlier than usual on Monday due to the holiday I decided to ask Ashlyn, my just-turned-11-year-old daughter, if she wanted to ride along for a little thrift store hunting.  She agreed to go and grabbed her purse containing her birthday money and off on our mommy/daughter adventure we went!

First stop was the local Starbucks for a much needed 3pm-ish pick me up.  I used my Starbucks gold card birthday reward for a free drink and paid $2.95 out of pocket for Ashlyn's chocolately chip frappe.

Then off we went to Vancouver.  Slowly. I forgot what a pain it is to deal with after work traffic.  One fun thing I discovered on our crawl towards I-205 was using Siri to send text messages.  We also noticed some fun graffiti with the message "Excuse me world, I know you're busy but I wanted to say you are loved" Ash tried to snap a picture, but the words weren't quite large/dark enough to see.

We finally arrived at Value Village and I put Ashlyn to work searching out clothes in her size.  She's not really in need of much clothing wise, but she is getting to the point where she would rather pick things out for herself than have me shop for her and I can accept that.  She ended up with 5 or 6 tops that we narrowed down to these three:

Top left: Longsleeve from Justice (her new favorite store, crazy expensive in my opinion!) I was happy to pay $3.50.  Top right:  xhilaration brand short sleeve, $2. Bottom: 3/4 sleeve short sweater that she is excited to wear over her zebra print cami, $2.

I paid for her clothing selections and she found a new book and a softball that she purchased with her own money.  Neither of those items were half price, but we talk a lot about the value of buying good quality items secondhand and I think she is beginning to understand this concept more and more each time she accompanies me on these treasure hunts and THAT, to me, is priceless :)

I found a few maternity items for myself, because who really wants to pay full price for something that will only be worn for a few months?  The best thing about these purchases is it will be easy to sell these online when I am finished with them and make back the money I paid or more.

Liz Lange shirt for $2.50, Liz Lange jean skirt for $2.00 and a pair of new with tags bermuda length khaki shorts for $2.50.

Our last, but not least, finds at Value Village half off prices were my favorite:

I heart Dad Oshkosh tee $2 (perfect for father's day, right?), Hanna Andersson 2pc pjs $1 (super score!), Old Navy muscle tank for my blonde boy who desperately wants to play tball in the spring $1.50, Gap swim trunks in the coolest nautical/sailor print $3, Thinsulate snow mittens $1, and a pink Gap onesie that says BYOB Bring your own bottle for .50 cents (we'll keep this if we have the girly sort of baby in June or toss in the consignment pile if our baby ends up being of the boy variety.)

We left Value Village and it wasn't too late yet so we checked with Siri to find the closest Goodwill because I know there are a few in Vancouver.  It just so happened that we were 0.3 miles away so we decided to head there for just a little more browsing before calling it a night and I'm sure glad we did because these are the treasures we found there:

Two new in packaging Taggie blanket clips for 99 cents each.  I will probably keep one for our newbie and use the other in a baby shower gift or add to my consignment sale inventory.  One pair of Gymboree cargo shorts for $2.99, and two pairs of excellent condition Stride Rite shoes in wide sizes for $1.50 each (they were marked $2.99 but happened to be the half off color!)  I am undecided on the shoes.  We may hold on to these until we find out the gender of our baby... we'll need wides if this one takes after it's bigger, redheaded brother... or I may list them on ebay, probably in the neighborhood of $10-12 each pair.  Not pictured are a usb mouse & keyboard for $3.99 each that we needed for our new kid's desktop computer set up.

Ashlyn found another book and a Nerf gun while we were at this location.

We worked up quite the appetite with our evening of shopping and hit up Subway for dinner before heading home.  It was a great time spent with my daughter, and I really do hope that having these experiences with her now will carry over into positive spending and saving habits as she gets older. 

Thrift Store Scores - Ikea couch & bonus!

Thrift store shopping (aka, treasure hunting) is one of my favorite things to do.  It actually fulfills quite a few of my passions; shopping, shopping at a discount, and reselling for profit.  I have been an on and off ebay seller for quite a few years, and have been involved in the children consignment sale scene for a year or two as well.  Having multiple kids and living on a fairly tight budget has made me much more aware of quality brands that will last and I am frequently able to find items used that will last through a child or two and still be able to sell at consignment when we are done with them.  Very rarely do I buy brand new kid clothes from the store, and when I do its always when there are sales/free shipping offers or other rewards involved. 

Finding half off deals at the thrift stores is even more exciting!  I love the ability to find things we can use in our home, and knowing what I can buy at a fraction of the retail price and sell to offset the cost of the thrift store scores we keep. 

This recent trip to our local Salvation Army during their half off customer appreciation sale has been one of my best trips yet!

As an avid fan of everything Ikea, I noticed this little couch right away and was happy to see the $75 price tag that equaled $37.50 with the 50% off sale.  I carefully inspected the couch for stains, structural issues and yes, I did the sniff test too because no one wants to take home a stinky piece of furniture.  The couch is in great condition, I wonder if maybe it was a floor model at the store, or just something the owner decided wasn't going to work out for them because it sure doesn't seem used to me.  When we relocated from northern California to the Portland, Oregon area we ended up renting a home that has a front room and a family room/den.  The extra space is great, but we haven't had furniture to fill both rooms.  Its nice now to have a comfy little seating area in our front room turned play room AND it is a pull out style that can double as a place to put an overnight guest.  (My mom recently visited for the weekend and apparently its comfortable enough for an adult to sleep on!)

Of course, when I got it home I was excited to find the retail value so off to www.ikea.com I went and this is what I found:  http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/70087108/  Under no circumstances would I have ever paid $169, but for $37.50 I am thrilled! 

But wait.... there's more!

I also noticed this pair of shoes:

Cool, huh?!  They were Vans and possibly a size that would fit my older son so for $3 (half off the marked price of $5.99) I grabbed them up knowing that if they didn't work out for him, they would be a great resale item.  Again, I searched to find the resale value and found that they were only available at the store Journeys and had a retail value of $41.99! http://www.journeys.com/kidz/product.aspx?id=241289&c=1508

When I determined that they weren't going to work out for my son I posted them for sale on ebay with a buy it now price of $30 and offered free shipping.  After shipping costs, paypal fees, ebay fees and figuring in my initial "investment" I ended up with a $16.32 profit on the shoes.  (man, those fees add up!)  I like to think that after this was all said and done my cute little couch only cost $21.18 out of pocket.  I love these types of shopping trips.  Its a hobby, its a passion and sometimes its even a small income.