Bargains!

I had a great day today. I met up with a friend for lunch and managed to score myself a couple of things I'd had my eye on, with a little bonus to boot.

We started off at the Salvation Army thrift store. I love to go thrift-store shopping (down here we call it 'op-shopping', *grin*) but don't get to go all that often. This particular thrift store was on the 'nicer' side. Lovely, wonderful ladies, the kind that throw in 'a little something extra' when they make up your bag at the cash register :)

I've been looking for a few items for a while now, kitchenware mostly, so I was checking out the shelves of glassware and the like when I spotted this little cupboard. Now, as is the case with most second-hand stores, you get what you get. It could be mint condition one day and not fit for sale the next. It's part of the fun...almost like a lottery. I noticed the little cabinet was in mint condition so I snaffled it up. It turns out that the store had received several identical cabinets brand new from a business that was closing down. In original packaging, bubble-wrapped and all. The price? Ten dollars.


Now before you wonder why I was so excited about a ten-buck teddy/doll wardrobe, these kind of cabinets retail in places like Kmart down here for $40. There's no way I'd have spent $40 on a cupboard specifically to house Miss Moo's doll clothes, but for $10, it gets squirrelled away for her birthday/Christmas come December. She'll go bonkers over it :) And, they have some cradles of the same brand awaiting assembly (they like to put a couple together for display) so I'm going to swing by next week to grab one of those as well. Both items are really solid wooden contraptions.


I also bought this little canvas print from my new favourite store. I discovered this little gem of a place just the other day and it is filled with gorgeous French/country style furniture and homewares, and though the items are new, they're without the snooty price tag. I did splurge a bit on the print at $26 (I have a little Mad Money set aside) but I just loved the print when I first saw it.

Later on, my friend and I were at the shopping centre and decided to try our luck at the public transport kiosk. They often have a little display set up with new timetables, staff members to answer questions about routes etc. They have a ticket validator machine there, rigged up in a sort of competition - you 'validate' your ticket and if you win, you get a free multi-trip ticket (I just bought one of these for $13.80 not long ago and saved $5-$10 on what I had been spending getting to and fro on the bus system). Well, my ticket came up a winner, meaning I scored another multi-trip ticket. It's an 'all-times' ticket and is actually worth $22 (whereas my purchased ticket is only valid 9-3 during the day). I won't need to buy public transport tickets for quite some time :) Quite chuffed about that really! It was a nice day out :)

Next on my 'to find' list is enamel canisters. They have them new at My New Favourite Store (no, its not called that, LOL) but I was gobsmacked at the price! Yet I've looked elsewhere and enamelware seems to be rather expensive...I guess because its quite durable and the type of canisters I'm after are almost seen as a decorator item. I looked up some on ebay when I got home today and positively drooooooooled over these:


The 'buy it now' price? $120! I've got that much in my kitty, and then there's Mother's Day coming up, but sheesh! There are other sets by the same seller/ebay store, and you can buy the laundry tub and coffee/tea/sugar set separately as well, but each of those are still going to set me back $50. The seller also had those cute little 'homekeeper' boxes in enamel. Sigh.

I know, I have a disease, LOL.

Oh, and I picked up a copy of Anna Karenina for $3 at the thrift store - I've never read it. Gosh knows how long it will take me to get through it, LOL.

Cheers,
Lizzie