It's never too late to save money... Our Goodwill sells NEW items, as well as previously owned ones, but for low prices. Lots of great new decorative and household items are sold there. Garage sales and estate sales also provide sources for still-in-the-box new or slightly used items people are trying to get rid of.

Get to your local thrift stores by the end of December. People are clearing out their old "stuff" for newly received Christmas "stuff"; and also getting rid of unwanted Christmas gifts - all in time for the Dec. 31st tax deduction time.

-Grainlady

Unfortunately our local "thrift" stores do not often get new items but there are times when I've been able to purchase unopened games, puzzles etc. still wrapped in original plastic..to "regift". When I had younger ones at home they didn't care if something was used as it was new to them and I made sure things were complete (game pieces etc. or made some substitues). It is never too late to start filling in loot for a birthday or Christmas with treasures found at a thrift store, so any money saved was a plus.

I used to volunteer at a local thrift store and I wanted to let you know that Mondays are the best day to shop. Why? Because during the weekend various church groups and scouts will stock the store.

Also, try and find a thrift store in an richer area. A thrift store in the next town has volunteers from an more upscale area and they donate great items.

I had rather not buy my family gifts than pass on used things. They certainly would not do that to me. If I saw something I think my sis would like I would buy it for her and tell where I got it. I shop in thrift store every other week or so for like new hard back books. I have built a nice library of over 400 books. I also check for movies and jewelry.

Yikes!! Why not bake some cookies with a ribbon on it instead? A used from thrift store gift? How about you
wash your old socks and wrap them up?

"How about you wash your old socks and wrap them up? "

Good one! LOL!

I don't see what is wrong with a used gift. Assuming the item is in working condition and good shape, why disdain it because it doesn't smell of new plastic and the mall?

This feeling that a used gift is somehow a veiled insult (I'm not good enough for you to spend more money buying the exact same item with the exact same functionality from the mall?)

Or it's about labels...I bet if I post photos of the excellent condition "retro" wooden game I gave my nephew, ppl would say, oh, but that's retro, that's different. Nope. Retro is still second hand. Vintage, antique, period: all just labels for used and second hand.

Older items are almost always of better quality for less money, they are more ethical purchases than most (not all) new items, and I am myself charmed to know the giver looked through flea markets and second hand shops to find this one unique item for me.

Hey, I've known people on both sides of this spectrum. You have to know how the person who is to receive your gift feels, and then examine how you really feel about them. Hubs' sisters were always insulted at the thought of a used item as a gift. But I think it's because they were raised so poor, they never got anything that wasn't used. Some of them, I like well enough to respect their wishes, so I try to buy them something new that I think they would like. Some of the other sisters are so "snotty" about everything that I kind of delight in giving them something I've gotten at a Thrift Shop. One time, I bought an old Christmas sweater, wrapped it up and gave it to Hubs' youngest snotty sister. Oh, the look on her face was hilarious. Then I followed it up with something really nice. She was pretty ugly to me immediately after the first gift, so much so that I almost didn't hand her "real" gift to her at all. But that was worth it, too, because she was embarrassed then about what she said to me. Hubs' sisters also didn't appreciate a home-made gift, either.

I think the difference is this.... Some people measure everything by dollar value, and for them what was purchased speaks for you as to how much you think your relationship with that person is worth. If you go to a garage sale and get something for a dollar and give that to one person, but then, go to a department store and buy the same thing for another, that person who gets the one that only cost a dollar feels like you don't value them.

On the other hand, buy a gold necklace for $10 at a garage sale and give it to one person. Take that same $10 to a department store and buy a little bitty bottle of perfume to give to your person who has to have "something new". (make sure you include the tag, they say they want it so they can exchange it if they want but actually they also want it as proof that you did buy it "new". Somebody's sure to get insulted because they only got a bottle of perfume while someone else got a gold necklace. I wonder who?

I think gift-giving for specific holidays is just something cooked up by the marketing community, to force us to buy something we ordinarily wouldn't. I see things, still in their packages, at garage sales and this is testament to that fact. So I don't go in much for that at holidays, and everyone who knows me, knows that. I much prefer to give something to someone I care for because I know they want or need it, and WHEN they want or need it. Most of my friends are tickled pink with their presents. Recently, I gave a Squeeze-O to a gardening friend that, when new, costs a couple of hundred dollars. I was able to find it for much less at an estate sale. She was thrilled. I also gave a Marcato pasta maker to another friend. It sells for more than $50 when new. That friend didn't give a rip about what I paid for it. She had wanted one for a long time and couldn't justify spending the money. For my friends to whom it is so important to receive something "new", I just don't buy them gifts very often, because I can't afford to. Usually when I receive something from them, it's something I don't need, don't want. Usually some kind of fancy lotion that came from a shop at the Mall. This is, in a way, insulting to me, if you want to get right down to it, because here I've got something I won't use now, and I'm obligated by this gift to go out and buy something for full price that I think my "gift giver" will want, so that now I won't insult HER. (I guess I COULD take it to the same store where she bought it, and exchange it for something else, and then give that to HER. Except that usually you're expected to have a gift ready to hand over when they give you yours.

*sigh.....* Sooo complicated.

It has to do with the way the giver spends money, imo. If they buy themselves new things all the time and give thrift store gifts then it is cheap and stingy.

I always try to give thoughtful, appropriate gifts to people. If an item looked brand new, and really, I do mean brand, brand new, and it came from a thrift store, and was appropriate and thoughtful, then I would give it as a gift.

My son`s fairly recently-acquired lady friend got me a nice long winter coat a year ago last Christmas.

It was in good shape (apart from half of the belt buckle having gone on extended vacation) ...

... and she was very concerned about letting me know that it was acquired at the thrift store.

To which my son replied that she need have no concern about that - that his Dad patronized them and would give her more respect for having been careful with a dollar.

I feared that I`d left it somwhere, when last fall rolled around, as I couldn`t find it ...

... but it turned up, about a month and a half ago, hidden under some other things.

It`s really soft ... and has a zip-out lining.

ole joyfuelled

After some more good use keeping not only my body ... but my heart ... warm ...

... it's about time to let the winter coat go into summer vacation.

ole joyfuelled

The difference between "second hand" and "antique" is only a matter of time. I wouldn't be at all bothered to learn that the perfect gift came from a second hand store.

When visiting at a friend's on Thanksgiving, she gave me a soft, used, cotton, dishtowel that she referred to as vintage, that she had found at the Goodwill. She said, "I saw this and thought that you would probably like it." She was right!

Sue

"no one would be the wiser" is not the way I shop for people I care about.

I wanted to add, if I saw something I knew someone would like, I would buy it for them, but not as a birthday or Christmas gift.

I used to collect/ buy a lot of old costume jewelry. Very nice things. I bought at garage sales, antique shows, etc. One year I picked two pretty pins, wrapped them up and gave them to my two snotty sisters in law. Both appreciated their gifts and didn't realize or mind they weren't "new". But I would never intentionally buy gifts at a thrift shop. One year my cheapo/nasty MIL shopped at a dollar store for her Christmas gifts. She gave me a junky-looking cutting board in the shape of a pig. I'm glad she saved money but I thought the choice of gift was tacky. A batch of cookies would have been nicer.

When you see a traffic signal go yellow, half a block ahead ...

... if your car has an automatic transission - take your foot off of the dang throttle!

Mine has a standard transmission ... so, unless there may be a traffic problem, pedestrians that may do unexpected things, etc., or another car ready to drawl up my tailpipe ... I often push in the clutch and turn off the ignition.

I've become fairly adept at arriving a short distance behind the last stopped car about when the light changes, and that car starts moving just before my car arrives, so I don't need to stop.

Check this out with your local autorities, however, before you try it, as when I spoke of it in this forum before, some folks said that it's against the law in their jurisdiction.

An engine that isn't running ... isn't using any gas.

ole joyfuelled