What is a Thirft Store Convention?

I wish a thrift store convention were a gathering of stores and followers for a week at some swank hotel in San Diego on the harbor. Apron Thrift Girl and I toss that idea about. For certain there’d be fantastic forums, featuring, How to buy quality clothing – it’s not all in the brand or Product Re-purposing to accompany the urban crafts movement. I’d love to host a forum on Snake Eyes. We could design programs to become a Thrift Master.

Imagine the consumer enlightenment. It could bolster in a new age, a revolution turning away from our current Economy of Crap, an economy saturated with stuff we don’t really need, stuff that's only purpose is to meet quarterly projections. It’s kind of like an Economy of Nothing but comes with a heavy cost in dollars and carbon.

Thrift conventions are posts demonstrating the various paths to incorporate reuse into a consumer’s life. In short, these conventions feature items you need not buy new so you need not waste money, resources and energy. You can live a little lighter.

There have been many posts on the conventions of thrift. Unless there is an accompanying story, we delete the original post and add the photos (which have more meaning) with captions into to the slide shows on the left bar of this blog featuring: Clothing & accessories, Home & Entertaining, Kitchen and Children. Photo captions tell the story.

Take some time to view these slide shows. You’ll see beautiful completely outfitted place settings for under $5, fine jewelry for a few dollars, new clothing for 5% the retail cost…

Below is sampling of what you'll find in the growing slide shows. Enjoy.

Thrift Store Conventions: Jewelry Part 2

From the eclectic,

to clip-on vintage,


to the Bohemian,


to refined exotic,


to the truly re-purposed,


to something wooden and fishy;


All for under $10 dollars. Style is in the eye of the beholder and not in the a fat pocket book or some department store case.

Thrift Store Conventions: Jewelry Part 1

From fine costume necklaces,

to more more refined tastes.

From sterling,

to turquoise,

to cinnabar,

to sets,

and trends. All for under $10.

These necklaces bought at 50% for $3 each.


More to come in the next post. Jewelry is too easy to thrift it practically lands in your hands. For other ways to incorporate thrift into your life visit other Thrift Store Conventions on the Contents section in the left column - the Tabletop post was a huge hit and was picked up on other blogs all over the world.

Thrift Store Conventions: Addendum to Entertain

Mr. Golightly and I worked a marathon photo shoot last Saturday to document items for The previous Thrift Store Conventions: Entertain post featuring items readily found in thrift stores. Two things happened today: 1) we realized we forgot a few items and 2) I hit the thrift stores and scored. For your viewing pleasure and thrift enlightenment we offer an addendum to the initial post on Entertaining a la thrift.

These "snack sets" are a must for entertaining either at a cocktail party, a dessert party, a luncheon or a book group meeting. I bought this set of four for $2. They are still in their original box that reads “This snack set of four plates~four cups in sparking crystal glass for quick attractive service.” I love that.

Let’s grow that exponentially. You could serve, say 16 guests for $8. Consider the cost of paper plates and cups, make them pretty and sturdy. Hmm, you’re going to need more than $8 to cover that. Plus, paper plates are outright wasteful. So why not go to the thrift store, stock up on these “hospitality snack sets” and never buy a paper plate again? Have more refinement for a better environment and save money. The Elegant Thrifter writes, "I always keep odd dinner and salad plates on hand to give a guest a little something to take home. That way, they don't have to worry about returning the plate. They are also great for baked-goods gifts for the same reason. I love to say to someone who wants to return a plate, 'Why, just keep it!'"

Plate stands, like pedestals are great for entertaining. Like Louis Sullivan, they build up to add more content to the table without sacrificing real estate, $3.

All this for $1.90! I was feeling frivolous. Imagine that, frivolous for $1.90. That’s less that a latte and I get to keep the silver. If you are a connoisseur of fine dining, you may have noticed that my $4.61 place setting was missing a dainty butter knife. Bump that cost per setting to $4.71 for I hit silver plate pay dirt at the Salvation Army today! Note the dainty butter knives in my booty.

I also picked up this darling teaspoon set I just wanted to share. It was $4 and will make a lovely gift. Yes, it’s used but would you be offended to receive it? Might it not bring a smile to your face each time you measure Vanilla or Almond extract? Sonya, over at Dime Store Thrift doesn't have a hang-up with reused gifts either. She wrote a post about it today.

I must thank Mr. Golightly for humoring me tonight and snapping these extra photos. But he was pleased with this 1908 Keuffel & Esser slide rule that I picked up for $7 in it’s original case. It’s gorgeous. It’s art. It’s not planned obsolescence. It’s built to last like the old refrigerator in my grandparent’s basement that’s been running as a spare for 50 years unlike the many replacements that have come and gone from their kitchen. Currently, Mr. Golightly and I are in a tug of war over that slide rule. He wants it in his office but I want it on display in the living room.

Thrift Store Conventions: Entertain, $4.61 per placesetting

When most Americans think of entertaining, they think of racking up purchases at department stores or discount retailers. To put on a full spread for twelve guests for one swank occasion could spend $500 on the china alone!

But there is an alternative that few consider. The thrift store is the smart entertainer’s choice. Thrift stores routinely have all the accoutrements: punch bowls, domes and pedestals, linens. The host can save hundreds of dollars buying these items thrift.

The above photo features one of my treasured finds, an L. Bernardaud $ Co. Limoges antique covered dish bought at Goodwill for $5. LIMOGES at Goodwill! Well not so surprising, I found a sage Wedgwood cake stand for $4 at ARC Thrift. You can ask my grandmother about that. She loves it. The photos in this post have been added to the Thrifty Chicks Thrift Catalog featuring well over 200 items purchased from thrift stores; some new, others gently-used, some antique, all unique.

My favorite spot to save big is the $0.49 per item shelves a la Goodwill stacked with plates, bowls and glasses; both tumblers and stemware. That’s right $0.49 per item. Sure some of its Corelle, but some of it can be Alfred Meakin Tea Leaf Ironstone, or crystal.

The above photo serves testimony. Not certain if it’s apparent in the photo but the water goblets are new, with sticker still affixed. They were $0.49 apiece, the heavy crystal tumblers $0.49 per item too. When buying china from the $0.49 shelves, stick with a simple dinner plate for the foundation of the pacesetting. These $.0.49 apiece plates have a simple gold rim and fit well with most china patterns. Now, I confess my grandmother pulled the green glass salad plates and gold bread plates (I think) out of her giant grandmother’s purse that also serves as a weapon in a pinch. But similar items can easily be found on Goodwill’s $0.49 shelves. Okay, my grandmother found them at estate sales and they didn’t put a dent into her checking account. But they could fit in that purse.

Wait. It gets even better. Silver plate flatware shows up in thrift stores for $0.10 apiece. The flatware in this setting is a mix of estate sale and thrift. We use it daily. Sure, it’s not sterling but I prefer the vintage patina that silver-plate earns. Sterling can be 100 years old and polish up looking new. There are advantages to that, but I don’t want to pay the price for a set of sterling flatware.

Adding this up per place setting we have:
three plates $1.50,
two glasses $1.00,
seven pieces of silver-plate flatware $0.70,
individual salt and pepper shakers $0.41,
tea cup and saucer (not in photo) $1.
The entire placesetting totals $4.61.

That’s a tiny fraction of one plate in the conventional retail market. There is but one catch, place settings as such are built over time. A few months should do it.

Add simple glass votives and candles purchased at thrift stores and moss terrariums will save on fresh flowers and won’t be obstacles to conversation.
Mix and match silver-plate flatware with wild abandon, just about any combination looks cool. The more patterns, the more eclectic the look.

Buffets can be arranged with thrift. The silver covered dish was purchased at Denver La Cache’s annual sidewalk sale for $5. One would never know it based on the quality of merchandise but La Cache is the white elephant for Denver’s Children’s Hospital. The crystal jars with silver lids and footed bases were $15 for the three. All candles and candle holders are thrift. The runner was $3 at Goodwill.

Punch bowls are easy finds at thrift stores and can usually be purchased with cups for about $7. Always wise to buy two, one for virgin and one for alcohol. All candles and candle holders came from Goodwill for pennies on the dollar. Vintage books, for one to two dollars a piece, are a lovely way to raise items. The buffet was purchased at a yard sale for $80. I refinished it and transformed it entirely.

This B Rogers silver, footed ice bucket has an attached lid that swivels back, purchased at Goodwill for $4. This product sells for $20 minimum online. The Six Baccarat Tumblers I wrote of from my great grandmother rest nicely on this mirrored tray from Goodwill, $7. The decanter was purchased at a 50% off Saturday at Goodwill, $3.50. Champagne is served on an aluminum pedestal, $4. French lemonade bottles may be reused to serve water or purchased at thrift stores for around a dollar. Marbles can be purchased for about a dollar a bag and to ensure you never lose your marbles, store them in apothecary jars for a dollar apiece and lift them on a pedestal for $4. Don’t want to lose those marbles, especially after a glass of champagne. Thriftfully Modern Mommie and I prefer, Gosset Champagne Grand Rose.

Glass pedestals and domes are musts for entertaining and are easy finds that run from $7 to $12. We don’t need bother to compare these prices to conventional retail the difference is laughable.

To the left, decanter $3.50 and cordials off that wonderful $0.49 shelf again that mirrored tray comes in handy, $7. Total ensemble, not including brandy was $13.50.

Entertaining doesn't need to hurt. And, my guests do not flip a dinner plate over to see what they are dining off of. Golightly's guests are not that rude.

If you are a new visitor to this blog, be certain to scroll back up and pull up the Thrift Catalog slide show featuring over 200 items from thrift stores to give you an idea of what could be waiting for you.

Please see the addendum to this post.

Thrift Store Conventions: Reflection

French poet Jean Cocteau is quoted as saying, “Mirrors should reflect a little before throwing back images.” I couldn’t agree more. This begs to question if new, assembly line mirrors from chain retailers are have much to say. Probably not. Like most things in life mirrors need seasoning to really cast a meaningful, telling image.

When in need of reflection, go to the thrift store. You will find more material on the shelves and racks that provides for a mindful reflection on how we live, what we value and what we don’t. Good to know these things and check in to see if you are in sync with the values our culture translates or perhaps what retail buyers think or project what we espouse. I do not follow the trends of conventional retail. It's very confining.

Should your reflection be in need of a self imagine, you’ve also come to the right

place. Unique, stylish and original mirrors can be found at thrift stores for a small fraction of the cost a new, illiterate mirror. Since I am imperfect and somewhat aged, I feel no need to have a precise refection. Aged cloudiness or tarnished black spots are fine by me for I bare them both inside and out and and have no need in pretending or hiding them. I am at my strongest when I admit what I am and my weakness when I deny it.

With a steep pitched roof to handle the heavy snows of Denver, the Golightly 110 year old home is 1,800 square feet. It’s just right for our family of four. However, mirrors hung onto the walls can create an illusion of added space in some of our smaller and oddly shaped rooms, unique to old homes.

Thrift stores serve up many types of mirrors from hand held to magnifying to trays to hanging or standing. They all flow through thrift stores on a fairly regular basis.

As we head into this holiday season during a deep recession, some might call a depression; I think this is a good time to reflect. Make certain your reflection holds a seasoned, wise version of reality to help you define yourself over time.

The mirrors: 1) the round mirror was purchased at a 50% Saturday sale at Goodwill for $8, it has a three foot diameter; 2) purchased at a yard sale for $4, I painted the frame to add the look of a metallic age; 3) the gilt mirror hanging on the door was purchased at a yard sale for $30, a bit pricey but worth it; 4) the wood framed painted mirror was an ARC find for $6; 5) with a clouded patina the table top mirror was $4 at Goodwill; 6) the three stacked mirrors range from $3 to $7; 7) this three-paneled, etched mirror was a $5 yard sale find and 8) the tray below was $7 at Goodwill.

Haunted Cookware

One type of thrift I've come to love is kitchen thrift, vintage cookware. I’m not writing about Calphalon or Kitchen Aid, which can be purchased at thrift stores. I’m writing about enameled cast iron from Belgium, Yugoslavia, and old copper saute pans from France. Emile Henry ceramic baking dishes from France. Haunted cookware.

Haunted by the meals they have brewed, simmered, sauteed and served. There is a spiritual element to a well-worn piece of cookware. With is comes a long history of trial and error that eventually gave rise to perfection.

We often cover our pots, set a timer, and walk away never giving one ounce of thought to what’s lies beneath. That’s when the pot takes over and orchestrates the mix into a pièce de résistance. This seasoned cookware knows how to properly blend ingredients and make them sing. They are cooking companions, friends you can count on. It’s surreal to hold the brass stem of the copper sauté and have it almost tell you when to flip the crêpe.

Sometimes I ponder the possibility of a séance around my island chopping block, inviting the women who once held these pots into my kitchen. Perhaps we might have tea and share our stories.

Never, never frown upon a piece of fine vintage cookware. Be assured, it knows more about cooking than you. Well, unless you’re my 85-year-old grandmother who lives in a house that smells like cake.

Should you see a quality piece of cookware on the shelf at a thrift store, grab it, clutch it close to your heart, and race home. It will tell you what to prepare. You just have to listen.

Thrift Store Conventions: Camping

This post is truly off the beaten path. Enjoy.

I have a theory. On the last day of school, districts across the country slip teachers, parents and children a specially-designed sleeping potion. It’s produced in uncharted New Mexico, probably near Area 51. It could be in the punch at end-of-year picnic, in an undetectable mist, or in mechanical mosquitoes that juice you up. After receiving a dose, we go to bed feeling exceptionally tired. We sleep heavily, and have a series of dreams that make for an entire summer. The next morning is the first day of the next school year. I think schools made a deal with the rest of the world for continuity to their scheme. This is done make to us believe there is a reprieve from the grind. They call that reprieve "summer."

So summer is merely a dream. I realize there are a lot of holes in my kooky theory but I’m certain many of you are nodding, thinking, “That explains a lot! Like how me move from Memorial Day to Labor Day in a blink! Yet we cover a lot of ground before we get to the New Year.” So, I might be on to something after all, no?

Here we sit on the eve of Labor Day, and because I was sleeping, I was unable to write a post on thrift vacations where my family wanders through pristine wilderness and pays next to nothing to do so.

What is available in the bank usually dictates what is a vacation. This recession has landed on my family like Dorothy’s house landed upon the Wicked Witch of the East. Though we didn’t fall into Oz, I sometimes wish we had because all I’d need is a bucket of water to blast that evil witch and get her bat monkeys off my back. And, don’t they go to a spa in the Emerald City?

I had a “dream” my family took a 4th of July vacation that cost us nothing but the gas to get there and back; groceries (we would have needed anyway); a few cups of joe at our favorite coffee stand on THIS PLANET; a Frisbee; and one dinner out. Oh yes, I purchased my $3 vintage mohair wrap and vintage earrings for $6 mentioned in the previous post "Have you been claimed?" Not bad for five days of vacation.

For those of you who don’t camp, I’m adding pretty pictures to carry you along, so you don’t leave me. Come, be an armchair traveler to the backcountry of Colorado.












The five-hour drive from Denver to Crested Butte is a vacation in it’s own right, weaving along mountain streams; up to a plain touching 10,000' where antelope freely roam, surrounded by snow covered majestic 14,000' peaks; up to Cottonwood Pass which becomes a winding dirt road; down through a tiny canyon of red rock; and off to Jack’s Cabin Cutoff to land on the fringes of the small community of Crested Butte. The ski resort is up on the mountain and is not visible from the town. I like that. Resorts are a dime a dozen in Colorado. It's nice to feel like you're actually visiting a town, a community.

We camped about 10 miles outside town on a dirt road on Brush Creek with Teocalli Peak well above 13,000', heading off the valley. (Above is the view from our campsite near sunset.) Teocalli is reminiscent of Colorado's famous Maroon Bells near Aspen. This is not surprising because Aspen is not far as the crow flies from Crested Butte, but it’s one heck of a long car ride. You can hike it or mountain bike to Aspen via Pearl Pass but it ain’t easy.

I’m guessing by now you’re thinking, this is all lovely but “Show me the thrift!”

To really do up a happy camping trip for four to six nights with a family, you need A LOT of gear. Purchased new, this can add up to a quick thousand, easily two and on up to three. My family is completely fitted for the outdoors and much of it is owed to thrift stores. Anyone who has shopped an REI or EMS knows that outdoor clothing is expensive, but a must for serious campers. Regular cotton fabrics are no-no’s. Get them wet, you’re uncomfortably wet for hours (or days) and you'd better hope that it’s not cold, because then you’re wet, uncomfortable, and cold and that’s NOT good.

Yes, it helps to live in Colorado, I find all elite outdoor gear clothing in thrift stores and it usually sells for $3.99 to $2.99, doesn’t matter if it’s adult or child. There are flashlights, Nalgene bottles, stoves, air mattresses (for le car camper), tools, daypacks, pots and pans, coolers, stools, folding tables…all cheap. And, say you get that stove home to test it and it’s a flop. Thrift stores are easy on returns, just save the receipt and get back in ten days. For items like tents and sleeping bags, go to used sporting goods stores. They sell sleeping bags in thrift stores but generally not the kind you want for outdoors.

Acquire all this, and you now have access to supremely inexpensive, wonderful vacations for years and years to come. I’m not joking. My mummy sleeping bag is 30 years old. This stuff is good and sturdy. Our tent literally blew down the side of Medano Pass while we were away for days. But, that’s another story, a real whopper.

Many of you might not view camping as a vacation. I say a vacation must meet four criteria: 1) the biggest decision is what’s for lunch and dinner; 2) you don’t know the time or what day it is; 3) you can sleep in - but don’t because you can’t wait to start the day, and; 4) you want to extend your stay. For me, that’d be camping.


The frequency of bickering between my daughters drops down from about a gazillion times a day to one to zero when we camp. There’s something about being outdoors that puts one’s soul to peace. Look at the photo to the right. Is that love or what?

When camping you find yourself doing unexpected things that contribute to trust in the family and builds self confidence and esteem. Imagine how much trust was being offered up in the photo to the left with Daddy Golightly carrying Little Pie across freezing cold white water. Imagine the trust I had to stomach. Then the celebratory aftermath of how brave everyone felt, including myself for not freaking out.

The photos should provide enough description as to what we did on our thrifted vacation. The girls are laughing above because I just flung a cow chip on the fire. It smelled very herbal. As for Labor Day, I believe we'll go a bit north before we turn into the mountains for yet another family adventure that costs us some gas and a bag of groceries.