My husband is hard on clothes when he is working in his shop, especially when he was working on his vintage John Deere tractor. Cleaning out old grease, sand blasting old paint, welding, and whatever else he could think of doing would wreck his clothes, so he would go to Value Village for more pants and shirts, and a jacket to wear when it was cold. While he was doing his shopping, I would stay in the van and read. I had no interest in “browsing” through rows of used stuff.
On one occasion, he suggested that I come in the store with him because I am always looking for vintage glassware. I would often find lovely vintage glass pieces at garage sales and flea markets, which I loved to give as gifts to friends. When we have guests, we often receive a bottle of wine, which we appreciate very much, but if we needed to select a wine, we really don’t know a good wine from a not-so-good wine. I now take a lovely vintage glass dish, with some chocolates, or bath soaps, or wrapped cheeses for the hostess, and to date, not one hostess has refused the gift!!!
I agreed to do some looking while he was getting some work clothes. I had two very surprising experiences that day. As I walked in the direction of the kitchen and gift section, I spotted a ladies’ jacket hanging at the end of a rack of clothes. It was the exact jacket (but a different color) that I purchased two years previously, to wear at a very special social event. I paid over $100.00 for it, much more than I usually would consider, but rationalized that it for a very special reunion of my nursing classmates. I took a closer look at the jacket on display; it still had the store tags on it, but the asking price at Value Village was $12.00. If that jacket were my size, I would have bought it just because it was so cheap that I couldn’t afford not to buy it.
I proceeded to the kitchen department, and as I was looking the the large selection, I spotted a small crystal bonbon dish that was in the pattern of my mother’s collection. There was no price tag on it, but because I have purchased other pieces on Ebay to replace broken or chipped pieces in my mother’s collection, I had a good idea of what a reasonable price would be. I told my husband that if the dish was less than $10.00, I would purchase it.
When I went to the check-out, I asked the cashier to get a price for the dish, and off she went to speak with her supervisor. After a brief discussion, she returned to tell me that the price was ….. 37 cents! All I could think about was, “There must be some mistake! Perhaps she misunderstood!” The cashier asked if I was still interested, and I accepted the price she quoted, and thanked her for helping me.
I now return to Value Village whenever I have the opportunity or the time to do a bit of “treasure hunting”. My wardrobe has improved, and I have found “bargains” that I share with friends. I’m having a lot of fun, with hardly a nip in my budget plans. I also have a convenient location to donate items that are still saleable but not needed at our home. That is called 'down-sizing' AGAIN.
Tags: Bargains Shopping Donations
