Thursday, April 03, 2008

Thrift Store Thursdays

I'm joining Minimalist Mommy in her Thrift Store Thursdays posts. If you'd like to do the same, just drop by her blog and link up.

Thrift Store shopping is one of my few addictions. It's just amazing the deals you can find if you can get beyond your inner snob. Sorry, I just had to say that. I recently visited a site that discussed fashion and recommended, if all else failed, going to a thrift or resale store (if you could get beyond your inner snob). Well, that's no problem for me.
Being a stay-at-home mom, I don't dress fancy most the time. But for church, or a date night with hubby, I like to put on the ritz a little bit. So I keep my eye open for pieces that have a dressy-casual look. And one of the things I like to wear is a feminine leather jacket (hopefully no one is imagining me wearing a harley).

So I was at my favorite local thrift store and came across a lovely brushed leather jacket marked $15. That's a decent deal at that price. But this happened to be a yellow ticket item that was 75% off that day...so I started to look for the defect. You see, this store gets an incredible volume of people; a jacket this nice, at that price, would never normally stick around to make it to the markdown. I suspected it was brand-new, the little squishy gel packs were still in the pockets. Would you have walked around with those in your pockets for a year or two? Never mind... don't answer that.
Sure enough, I found the defect. The jacket was perfect, except for where the snaps went down the front. The snaps were actually hidden underneath, but when they inserted one of them, it had damaged a spot on the front leaving a worn circle about 1/2 inch in diameter. And something like that sticks out like a flashing beacon on a leather jacket, especially on the front.

Still, at $3.75 , I just couldn't pass it up (it really is a lovely brownish color). But what to do about that spot? I'm going to reveal my amazing technique that made this jacket as good as new:

I went home and colored the spot with a medium brown crayon! Just like it was a coloring book page...but I stayed inside the faded circle:) Hubby couldn't find the spot when I asked him to try. He thinks I'm pretty smart...we'll let him keep thinking that for a while.

But don't leave yet- I have one more great deal. Last week, I went into a local retail store to grab a few things. A clearance stand caught my eye, so I checked it out. And that is where I got these lovely cashmere-lined leather gloves for .99 cents. The retail price on the tag: $24.99!

And they're brown (of course). I quess they thought no one would want to buy them in March, despite the fact that it snowed the very weekend after I bought them.
And I wouldn't have gotten them if I hadn't needed them for warmth (right...).

So those are my treasures...isn't this fun?

I plan to post some home-decorating finds next week- see you then!

7 comments:

Kaye said...

Great finds!

Marva said...

Too great! Awesome bargains! i love thrifting. We have one local store about 10 minutes away, but it is really bad.

There is an awesome one 35 minutes away though. we try to stop when we are that way.

congrats and blessings!!!!

Nikki said...

Great deals! I wish I could find ones like those.

Anonymous said...

I love the jacket!

I had one similar YEARSSSS ago, that I paid over 120 for....you got a deal!!!!

-Blessings!
-Donna-

Melanie said...

LOVE finding great deals at the thrift store or garage sales! Great finds!

Mrs. Darling said...

Hey my google reader shows you write a homeschool post. Aha you can run but you cant hide. Once you publish it all of us with feedburners can read it no matter if you pull it back into draft! Think twilight zone music here.

Anonymous said...

Wow, you hit the jack pot, girl! Way to go!

~Kristy @ Homemaker's Cottage