I never seem to have the time to do garage sales, but I do pop into Value Village and the Mennonite Central Committee thrift shop now and again.
I have found dozens of beautiful table cloths, so many I have promised myself not to buy any more. Canning jars, coffee mugs for the workshop; replacement carafes for coffee makers - I had to pay $35 for a replacement carafe once, and will never do it again. Value Village (also known as The Double V Boutique . . .
) has dozens of them all the time, for every brand known, from about $1.99 to $4.99.
Best of all, my quite embarassingly extensive collection of Le Creuset enameled cast iron cookware. I simply CANNOT resist this stuff. I only buy it if it's in good shape, and now I have so many pieces it's hard to find cupboard space. New, it is terribly expensive. I bought the big, big pot for $20 at Value Village, and it's over $300 new. Mine was a bit grubby, but a good soak in TSP and hot water and it came up just like new.
My youngest sister goes to Goodwill in Seattle about twice a year, she is a fiend for bargains and always makes wonderful scores. And she has "the eye", you know, like Rosie, can make the old junk look like a million dollars.
