Thrift stores
Looking for cheap silverware, dish sets? Fur coats? Try thrift stores. It takes a dedicated thrift store shopper to find good deals, but you can definitely save a lot of money.
My favorite trip was in San Francisco years ago when I lived with my sister. She sent me to Community Thrift in the Mission to shop for a dresser. I didn’t want to pay the prices they were asking for on dressers. ($400 when my sister said I should be able find one for $150, but those were the booming Internet years). I bought a full set of silverware and a nice tablecloth, which I still have. Its ugly brown stain is totally my fault, an accident with a pot of tea.
It’s not for everyone or everything, but many knitters like to find old sweaters they can unravel for nicer yarn, i.e. cashmere, or felt into mittens or bags.
As far as fur coats go, often times in a metropolitan area, there is one store in a chain of thrift stores that has all the luxury items. In SF, it was the West Portal Goodwill. In Baltimore, I think it’s the one in Reisterstown. I used to go to the SF store and look at the mink coats. I really like fur. I fantasize about mink coats when it’s 20F outside. They cost a tenth or less of the original price. They’re not well-stored, but if you want to look money, it’s not a bad place to start. We used to have ‘thrift store tuxedo’ parties in SF. The guys would find the ugliest ’70’s peach-colored tuxedos with light blue ruffled shirts to mismatch. Hideous, but lots of fun. Cheaper than going to a nightclub, that’s for sure!
Keep in mind that real people owned these clothes and so you might not find your size. Most fur wearers were plumpy and the coats were all too large for me. I could sure use a coat now. It’s horribly cold here now and I refuse to turn up the thermostat.
Oh! The point of this was not to ramble on about San Francisco memories, but to illuminate that you can find cool things for very cheap at thrift stores. Sometimes you have to dig, or visit regularly to see what’s new and special, but you can find stuff you NEED there, and not just stuff you WANT.
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