The very good, very weird finds $138 got me for the house I don’t own yet
Everything I thrifted in July and what I paid.
Hi Geezers,
I am currently spending my second summer upstate and having the time of my life. This has been sort of a trial period for figuring out whether I want to buy a weekend house up here, and I am leaning… yes, I do. So naturally, to manifest this, I have been thrifting for a home I don’t yet own. SO. July was a month when I spent a lot of time exploring new-to-me stores on Long Island, but perhaps most importantly, I mapped out every Goodwill and Savers along the route from Brooklyn to my cousin’s wedding in Northeast Massachusetts and stopped at every single one, turning what should have been a three-hour drive into a 10-hour trek.
PS. If you’re new to the thrifting series, you can check out the 10 questions I ask myself before buying something (and why I put back a designer dress after answering), and how to find something valuable in the thrift store in under an hour.
Today, I’m showing you everything I bought in July, why I bought it and what I paid for each thing.
A $12.50 horse and carriage ride back to the 90s
Let’s begin with the fan favorite from Instagram, which I found upstate at the bestttt and most inexpensive store (more on that store below): a framed 1990s Pleasant Company poster of American Girl doll Samantha for $12.50. I was more of a Molly girl myself, but I couldn’t resist. Yes, I always go through my 10PC, but this one really falls into the category of the vintage LL Bean Advent Calendar; I could not leave it behind. I could see hanging it in my upstate bathroom (you know, in the house I don’t own yet), or in my office.
A $5 cookie jar from the 1960s
Next was something that had been on my list: a pretty vessel for my Grüns. I had been looking for a long time. It needed to be big enough to fit at least 20 packs, and it had to have a lid. I finally found this gorgeous vintage Anchor Hocking Wexford cookie jar for $5 at a 2A Thrift. Jars like this were produced in the ’60s and ’70s, and I got lucky and spotted it on a cart they were pushing out to the shelves. I snagged it before anyone else saw it. It can fit 30 packs of Grüns! BTW, everyone around me was sick over the last week — including kids — and I am fine :)
Here’s something I left behind
This E.O. Brody candy dish for $4.50. Why did I leave it behind? I already have a lot of glassware (like, a lot), in my storage unit and in my parents’ basement. I didn’t have an immediate use for it, and I didn’t love it enough to say, F IT, I NEED IT. This is something I would have bought no questions asked just a few years ago but I have refined my process and now am comfortable leaving some stuff behind for others to find and love. I am sure this went fast.
Behind the paywall: the $7 find I absolutely did not need but could not leave behind once I realized what it could be worth and the big mistake the store was making that helped me find it for so cheap, and the $50 thing I almost passed up before I realized I’d never come across it again. Plus, the ugliest thing I saw all month.