Cheapwad Finds--Opposite of Blow That Dough!

[CaptTom]

I live in a HCOL area, and sites like FreeCycle have virtually nothing. Blow That Dough has been elevated to a competitive sport here!

One local second-hand shop recently closed due to (they say) lack of staff. The place was always mobbed, mostly by out-of-state visitors, based on the license plates. There are a few "boutique" shops selling high-end second-hand stuff, but I have no interest in their wares.

There's a large "Savers" second-hand store a few towns away, but frankly their prices are not much cheaper than buying new. I only go there for old stuff you can't buy new any more.

 

[John Galt III]

My local 'arts' movie theater has $6 Wednesdays for one movie. And sometimes a $3 one-time-only showing on Saturdays for old cult movies. I go to both.

 

[EarlyandLate]

My 89 year old dad cooks for himself. He has learned a lot since mom died. Last time I was there, he was complaining that his nonstick skillets were no longer nonstick. They were pretty cheap and terrible to use even when new. I just bought him a set of two All Clad nonstick skillets on Amazon. They were 20% off. Then I noticed that there was a click box for a $10 off coupon on top of the 20% discount. He would never buy himself such nice cookware.

 

[Livefree]

I buy 2 pounds of coffee @ Dunkin Donuts for $10.99

 

[travelover]

I know you are joking, but in reality Costco and Amazon are almost the same price for brand new clothes as our local Goodwill is for used clothes. So factoring in remaining garment life, Goodwill is actually more expensive.

Well sure. Only the rich shop at Goodwill.

My local Humane Society resale store has 1/2 off on Wednesdays for seniors. I can buy any article of clothing for $2.50, except coats. I've gotten some nice stuff there and it doesn't smell funky like the Goodwill store stuff.

 

[ncbill]

Gas card from Shell. I normally get the cash price posted when I use it. One station near home already has some of the best prices, and I get 10 cents off the cash price.


Kohls is / was having a clearance sale. I found a pair of denim Levis short for under $22 OTD, and paid mid $30's for the same thing there a few weeks ago. Watch those sale ads.

Just got the BP/Amoco card.

30 cents/gallon off for 60 days, then 15 cents/gallon discount thereafter.

Add the card to the BP app so you don't need to carry it around.

 

[daylatedollarshort]

Well sure. Only the rich shop at Goodwill.

My local Humane Society resale store has 1/2 off on Wednesdays for seniors. I can buy any article of clothing for $2.50, except coats. I've gotten some nice stuff there and it doesn't smell funky like the Goodwill store stuff.

Goodwill stores here are also kind picked over. We actually have some very nice boutique type thrift shops for local charities in our metro area. I bought a lot of furnishings for a college apartment for one of our kids at a thrift shop down the street from a Neiman Marcus store. It is laid out like a real store with displays only everything is gently used instead of new.

 

[Beldar]

We used to donate a lot of nice unwanted items to Goodwill, so someone else local could make use of them. No more. Why?

I wondered why the local Goodwill stores were ~always~ looking picked over and filled with broken garage sale junk. Then I found http://shopgoodwill.com.

It seems that anything of any value is filtered from each store and auctioned online. I used to find things that I collected (radios, phonographs, etc) at really low priced because no-one was interested. Then the web site got popular, and now many of the final auction prices make Ebay look like a bargain.

We now donate to other local, non-chain second hand stores. They aren't in it for a big buck, and their inventory shows it.

YMMV.

_B

 

[calmloki]

Hello. My name is Calmloki and I'm a yard sale junky. Saturday mornings we cruise the offerings - go out with nothing in mind and come back with weird stuff. We've bought a $5 printer that works just fine and is a duplicate of one we paid ~$150 for at Staples. Old real lawyer's bookcases. Griswold and Wagner cast iron pans. Leather couches. A box with a dozen or more old hand planes, including a 24" Stanley. Tribal headdress with cowrie shells. Tribal oriental and Navajo rugs. Cast iron tobacco plug cutter. Name brand clothing for a buck or two. A 100' roll of #12 burial electric cable. Stuff we had no idea we needed.
Second hand stores are too rich for my blood.

 

[Trailwalker]

Nature's Bounty

Harvested our two apple trees this week: 8 trays of apple chips from the dehydrator, a crock pot of apple butter, four gallon freezer bags of pie filling, and five gallons of apple cider from an inherited cider press. Took some work but I'm retired. Most will go into the freezer for winter enjoyment.

 

[Z3Dreamer]

Blood Drives - There was a mobile blood center in the Walmart parking lot. This is when we were vacationing in Florida. The bus (AKA mobile blood center) had One Blood written all over it. Anyhow, we gave blood, and in exchange we received the usual snacks, but we also received a T-shirt and points that were redeemable for gift cards. In this case $20, each.

Recently there was a shortage so another organization in another state (The Blood Connection in NC) upped the ante by offering the normal points plus some bonus points. I believe we received $70 gift cards, each, for donating blood. This time the drive was on a college campus so DW and I had fun viewing the abundant species called "college students." I have seen college students before, but have not been in a setting where we could closely observe and interact with these aliens. Or are we the aliens?

We give for the right reasons, but the gift card doesn't hurt.

 

[aja8888]

Hello. My name is Calmloki and I'm a yard sale junky. Saturday mornings we cruise the offerings - go out with nothing in mind and come back with weird stuff. We've bought a $5 printer that works just fine and is a duplicate of one we paid ~$150 for at Staples. Old real lawyer's bookcases. Griswold and Wagner cast iron pans. Leather couches. A box with a dozen or more old hand planes, including a 24" Stanley. Tribal headdress with cowrie shells. Tribal oriental and Navajo rugs. Cast iron tobacco plug cutter. Name brand clothing for a buck or two. A 100' roll of #12 burial electric cable. Stuff we had no idea we needed.
Second hand stores are too rich for my blood.

Someone's inheritance someday, I see!

 

[calmloki]

Someone's inheritance someday, I see!

It will probably load a dumpster - or maybe thrill someone buying from clueless heirs. But the hunt is the thing and it sure tickles me to find strange goodies for a pittance.

 

[aja8888]

It will probably load a dumpster - or maybe thrill someone buying from clueless heirs. But the hunt is the thing and it sure tickles me to find strange goodies for a pittance.

I hear ya! Some of my best buys over the years were from garage sales and Craigslist.

 

[Koolau]

I buy 2 pounds of coffee @ Dunkin Donuts for $10.99

Starbucks is less expensive. Grande cup of coffee is 16 oz and only costs (roughly) $3.5. That's only $7 for 2 pounds.

 

[aja8888]

Starbucks is less expensive. Grande cup of coffee is 16 oz and only costs (roughly) $3.5. That's only $7 for 2 pounds.

I think he means pound like in weight, not liquid ounces.

 

[Koolau]

Starbucks is less expensive. Grande cup of coffee is 16 oz and only costs (roughly) $3.5. That's only $7 for 2 pounds.

Oh, I forgot the

 

[Koolau]

I think he means pound like in weight, not liquid ounces.

Thanks. I guess I must have missed that.

 

[daylatedollarshort]

I hear ya! Some of my best buys over the years were from garage sales and Craigslist.

We picked up a big screen TV and patio table for free from Freecycle type site. I think it would be possible to furnish an entire house here from Freecycle and have it look pretty decent. The really wealthy people in our metro area just give stuff away instead of donating it. Some friends moved gave us an almost new $4K living room set and wouldn't accept any money for it. (We did some work on their new house to try to reciprocate the gift.)

A big budget saver for me is living off wealthy people's discards and unsold items - marked down organic food at the outlet stores, unsold event tickets, and Freecycle / thrift shop bargains. Plus their local taxes help pay for a lot of nice community services here, like very nice senior centers and libraries.

 

[brucethebroker]

Love the yard sales.
Found a nearly new pair of Men's Levi's for 50 cents recently. Have found a half dozen pair of expensive walking/running shoes over the last 2 years for $5-6 each. Most look like they were only worn a couple of times (pop them in your washer and let them sun dry before wearing-smell like new!). Have found really nice Hawaiian silk shirts for a buck or two. $100+ sewn number jerseys of local NFL team sometimes go for $5 bucks or so when a player gets cut-traded. Use a seam ripper and remove that players name off the jersey back.

 

[FLSUnFIRE]

Thanks for starting this thread. It is fun and reminds me of decades ago when I was a young, poor, FIRE wannabe! I still have a lot of the old long dead links to thrift sites in my web browser (nostalgic links, I guess!).


One thing I've discovered and seem to be growing are statement credit offers on my credit cards. Most you opt in and then when you make a purchase at whatever merchant or category get a statement credit. Many are 5% or 10% and some are flat $. They add up and often exceed my rewards amount. My WF card has the most but Chase, Capitol One, Amex, and even occasionally (but much less often) my bank card. I always check for offers when on their App/website and opt in to those I may use. I use reminders on my phone for which card to use where and the expiration of the offer when I add one so I don't forget.

 

[mystang52]

I just bought a new BTD telescope, including a sun filter. Believe it or not, it's VERY hard to find the sun when that required filter is on the scope. For $45, one can get this plastic attachment: https://www.televue.com/engine/TV3b_page.asp?id=66

Before buying that, I tried making my own and it worked perfectly, using a toilet paper roll, piece of cardboard, and piece of plastic bag (see pics).

 

[Winemaker]

Harvested our two apple trees this week: 8 trays of apple chips from the dehydrator, a crock pot of apple butter, four gallon freezer bags of pie filling, and five gallons of apple cider from an inherited cider press. Took some work but I'm retired. Most will go into the freezer for winter enjoyment.

I envy you. Due to a late frost, we didn't harvest 1 apple this year on our 2 32 year old apple trees, first time ever. Nor did we harvest a single wild black raspberry or blackberry. My sister has 8 fruit trees and she did not get an apple, peach or pear this year. She did have an ample supply of blackberries; that's good, the last time I priced blackberry juice, it was $170/5gallons, but it is no longer available.

 

[intent]

Hello. My name is Calmloki and I'm a yard sale junky. Saturday mornings we cruise the offerings - go out with nothing in mind and come back with weird stuff. We've bought a $5 printer that works just fine and is a duplicate of one we paid ~$150 for at Staples. Old real lawyer's bookcases. Griswold and Wagner cast iron pans. Leather couches. A box with a dozen or more old hand planes, including a 24" Stanley. Tribal headdress with cowrie shells. Tribal oriental and Navajo rugs. Cast iron tobacco plug cutter. Name brand clothing for a buck or two. A 100' roll of #12 burial electric cable. Stuff we had no idea we needed.
Second hand stores are too rich for my blood.

How do you find the Saturday morning offerings? I think I'd like to do this. Is there a common place where most people list the date/location of their sales?

 

[calmloki]

How do you find the Saturday morning offerings? I think I'd like to do this. Is there a common place where most people list the date/location of their sales?

Up in 10K population town in Oregon I check Craigslist under "garage sales" and find a few, but mostly just cruise the main street and look for the signs people put up. Down in 45K population SoCal town the city is civilized and posts a page on Friday with all the sales in town that paid their $10 yard sale permit fee. I transfer that info to some paper maps we print up and we get real efficient in our hunt.