Saturday

Today is the 26th of January.   Here in Australia, this makes it Australia Day.

I love a sunburnt country, A land of sweeping plains....  (by Dorothea Mackellar).    



Happy Australia Day, to Australians everywhere.

Freebie found yesteryear;  A whole packet of glass beads, and there's plenty to make a long necklace.   I feel a project coming on!
Boo to the person that tossed these away, but yay for me!

 

Thursday

I love real BARGAINS, I love great DISCOUNTS and I love fantastic REDUCED PRICES!!

These things also help when you are going through a rough patch, such as being jobless.  Can you imagine if there weren't discounts and reduced prices??  I don't like to think about it to be honest.  

But lets concentrate on BARGAINS for now.  Where do you find a bargain?  Where have you found a bargain?  Where do you think you'll find a bargain?

If you are anything like me, you'll be thinking either eBay or second hand stores.  Right?  Well, not always.

Regarding second hand stores;  I have said it all here before and I will say it again....  With the prices they put on used stuff today, you may as well buy them new!  This obviously depends on what the item is.  But let's concentrate on the cheaper items for now.  The people that put prices on second hand rubbish (*ahem*.... referring to it as 'rubbish' because I'm angry with their warped pricing!) are living in LA LA LAND or a just being plain old greedy or they are not experienced.

One example;
I find 50 cent knitting and crochet books/magazine/patterns at one op shop.  Then I happily mozzzzy on down to the op shop across the road or suburb, only to find them at $2 each.  AND I have found the same 50 cent magazine/book at one store, for $2 at another store.  There is no uniformity with op shops.  I don't think they even have an interest in that.  While one shop finds it fair to place 50 cents on a book, another finds it fair to place $2 on it.  Who is supposed to be right?  Who makes up the pricing rules and why?  I JUST DON'T UNDERSTAND IT.

Honestly, where has the charity gone?  Out the window.  Ka-put.  Gone, baby gone.  Hasta la vista, baby.  You get the idea. 

Having said all that....  I can still find bargains if I look well enough and happen to be at the right place, at the right time.  And I will let you in on a little secret... there are 2 or 3 stores where I can find knitting and crochet books/magazine/patterns for just 25 cents.  You heard me.... 25 cents!  Or another store that has 3 for $1!!  And to take it a step further..... they have balls of GOOD wool (some real wool and some acrylic) for 50 cents each!  And to top it off with a big bang... they occasionally have half prices days!!  So that means 12.5 cents for a knitting/crochet pattern/mag/book or 50 cents for 3 ... AND 25 cents for a ball of wool. WOW.  I almost feel like I'm stealing from them.  LOL!!!

Those shops are the REAL charity shops.  They are the ones that people go to time and time again. 

So, please take note, high priced op shop owners and / or workers.  We see you.  We notice you.  We are not impressed with your pricing.

Eventually your prices will match the normal shop prices, then we will stop buying second hand.  Be very careful how you price things.  And remember why the op shop actually exists and what it's function is.  Not only should it help the charity that the money goes to, but it should also help the buyers just as much. 

And back to why?.... some of us are jobless and struggling.  Yours is the only store that can help us with struggling times, if you'd only see it that way and not just see it as mostly a money making scheme.


Onto a great op shop find.... I paid just $3 for this AWESOME Asian bottle, which I think held some kind of herbal liquid medicine or the likes at one time.  It's one of those things that I'm glad I found and bought.  :)