Thrifty Thrift stores?

so it started with Black Friday, then Cyber Monday... this year they threw in small business saturday...

I should have tagged along for my friends' honeymoon to Thailand - Between every radio DJ, commercial, website, news broadcast, Facebook status updates and phone calls from my mother... I was constantly reminded that the world was getting some killer deals. I took my annoyance out on the kitchen floor with a vengeance. A shiny, clean, tiled surface beneath my feet... like that makes up for it...ha

Almost for a good laugh more than anything I headed down to AMVETS (thrift store) at 8:58 Friday morning (Black Friday) just to make myself feel better. Best Buy wasn't the only store with a line of people waiting to get in! Ok so it was just me and the ladies who worked there who had accidentally locked themselves out... but it counts...

For the most part I think thrift stores are a pretty good bargain, but every once in a while, and more recently and more frequently, I've been a little disheartened by the prices. 

Although I don't frequent Target these days, I do recall some smokin' deals I've come across on their clearance clothes racks. Like... a couple of times I've even found some stuff for $3! And it's brand new...

Which always flashes through my head when I come across a little something at a thrift store that has a price tag of $5.99. Really? A little market research would tell you that down at the Closet you can get almost half the store at that price... and did I mention it's new, and in every color, and size!?

The point of my nothing new, was really to try and not shop at all... Use up what I've already got, but of course there are limitations which is why it was something "not new"... plus it really just makes you think twice about buying something at all. 

So I googled the definition of "thrift"

thrift

 noun \ˈthrift\

Definition of THRIFT

1

: healthy and vigorous growth

2

: careful management especially of money

I'll take #1 :) and call this year an "education". Only they'll be no diploma or higher salary opportunities (although saving money could count) and of course no student loans...

And I guess thrift stores who are getting my 6 bucks for a shirt I could buy new at Target for $3 are definitely taking #2 seriously and doing a good job of it. 

The point of all this, is that another lesson has been learned. Some of you probably got much better "deals" this past weekend buying brand new stuff, than I did buying it used. Now that's just not smart as far as I'm concerned. Although because I knew that... I may not have bought as much stuff that will eventually be given away anyway... whatever.

I have a rule in life (prior to this year) that I'm not allowed to buy anything unless I love it. As in, I go home and I can't stop thinking about it, love it.

 Because, how many times have you purchased something and forgotten you even bought it? You find it still in the plastic bag, in your closet or your car a few months later....

That's just retail therapy at it's finest. And as far as I'm concerned, that kind of therapy doesn't come with a degree or a comfy couch to lay on :) 

Hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving and worked all those calories off with some road rage in those ridiculous parking lots... 

:)

I'm a loser...

I'm a loser.

 I lose everything. 

Well not everything... but a lot of things. In fact I lose things so frequently that if I can't find something, I assume I lost it.

 I'm terrible about remembering my purse, so I don't usually carry one... My theory is, if I put in that little bag... my phone, my wallet, my ID, my money, etc. then if I lose the ONE bag, I lose EVERYTHING. I'm better off just risking the loss of one thing at a time... right?

But... it then becomes a burden on my friends... If we have to dress up. Not usually my preference I'll have you know. 

I'm not a big lipgloss, extra makeup, brushes, teeth whitener (yes some girls carry whitening strips in their purses...and probably more than you think) etc person, so usually I just need someone to hang on to my ID and a credit card, and my phone. Or, I wear clothes with pockets. Like boys. But as I mentioned there are times when I'm not allowed to wear clothes with pockets. 

For example. One night in college, I was peer pressured into going out on a Saturday night. Don't get me wrong, I had my fair share of nights out in college, usually Fridays, but for the most part, I liked to stay in and clean my friends dorm rooms while they went out. No joke. 

1. their rooms were filthy.

2. I lived in "temporary housing" for the first semester so I didn't have a dorm room. Vicarious living...

3. "going out" tops weren't a staple in my wardrobe.

  (I also liked to get up early and wake them up wearing silly outfits, singing songs very loudly as I jumped on their beds. In my defense they always promised Friday night that we would get up really early for tailgating, and then every Saturday morning when I tried to hold them to their word, they pulled the covers over their heads and yelled obscenities at me :) 

#3 was what really annoyed my friends. 

(wearing those pants in public might have been a close second...)

One of the few times I gave into their taunting and agreed to go out on a Saturday night, it turned into a wardrobe debacle. Apparently jeans and a t-shirt weren't the protocol. Black pants - were required for Saturday nights. This was frustratingly explained to me as one girl rummaged through her Saturday night attire section of her closet for a new outfit I would wear, while the others pulled out my pony tail to give it some curl, and smeared a variety of colors on my eyelids.

I have to admit... I did look the part - Saturday night floozy - but I wasn't happy about it. Needless to say, those fitted black pants did NOT have any pockets, nor did the flouncy, open back handkerchief of a top they made me wear. So... it was their civic duty to carry all my crap, unless they wanted me to put back on my jeans... They carried my crap. And have ever since :) 

But they're not always around, and so it has become one of the pains of "growing up" that I keep track of my own crap. 

I'm not doing a very good job.

 I lost my phone charger soon after I started this whole nothingnewforayear thing... I've been carting my laptop with me everywhere because I do have the cord that can charge my phone through my computer. 

The un-forseen advantage of this is the fact that I'm constantly updating and backing up files... the disadvantage of course is that I have to haul out my computer every time I want to charge my phone.

Along with the cell phone charger, went my kindle charger. They were one in the same. Actually a great product. It had a different hole for both the phone and the Kindle in the SAME charger. Pretty ingenious for a girl like me who doesn't do well with a lot of things to remember. That is, until I lost it. 

But now I'm torn. My Kindle is rendered useless until I get it charged which would require a purchase. My phone I can manage with my computer - but lugging my computer out at the airport just to charge my phone is getting kind of ridiculous. Especially considering I will be spending most of the fall traveling... not the most convenient of places. 

I guess we're back at the great Kindle Debate - which was never really answered... Do they sell used chargers like this down at the Salvation Army? or are used books from AmVets the way to go? 

In lieu of the anticipated response from my mother... I've already tried this one:

St. Anthony, St. Anthony

 I've been looking around, 

I've seem to have lost my chargers and they can't be found