Comments on: How to live on less: A guide to thrifting

By: mom, again

mom, again — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 19:59:24 +0000

I worked in a restaurant that had a dress code of casual, but collared shirts. Polo or golf shirts depending on where you live. Being not a tiny woman, I found I could get men’s brandname shirts (Lands End, LL Bean) in more than good enough condition for my purposes. For the price of a new woman’s shirt at the dept. store, I bought enough shirts to get me through the week without having to run a load of laundry. Being very good brand names, the fabric was tough enough for some heavy duty cleaning attempts, though if one did reach an unwashable state, it became a gardening/car work shirt for my husband.

my very best purchase ever was a pair of brand new Salvador Ferragamo loafers, plus cedar shoe trees, in my extra, extra wide size, for $2.50. I’ve had them resoled twice for about $8 total spend, and worn them almost 15 years.

the sad lesson i learned from this, though, is that if I could afford high end brands, I’d find more shoes that fit properly. (helpful people: pls. don’t advise the ‘wide’ shoes at the local cheap shoe store, those aren’t wide enough. usually a ‘D’, i need ‘EE’).

By: Urban Frugal

Urban Frugal — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 02:56:52 +0000

I have seen some really great items, such as Madame Alexander Dolls, Effanbee and Jaeger and full skeins of wool, as well as Red Heart yarn. Often I can find assorted silver items. There have been times when I don’t buy anything, but it is just like shopping at any other discounter, you have to look to find things.

http://www.urbanfrugal.com

By: Miss Genevieve

Miss Genevieve — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 17:47:50 +0000

My thrift store trick is to go the stores located in the more well-to-do {or sections of} towns. The selection is better and so is the quality of the goods you find there. It may cost a bit more in gas but, it is well worth it for the real deals.

By: Carnival of Modern Home Dwelling Day Two: Eco-Fab at Today’s Homemaker

Carnival of Modern Home Dwelling Day Two: Eco-Fab at Today’s Homemaker — Thu, 15 May 2008 11:01:34 +0000

[...] How to Live on Less: A Guide to Thrifting. Ivy from Home Ec 101 is a bit of a thrifting pro (actually, she’s kind of a pro at a lot of stuff). Her readers have also chimed in with a lively discussion on the topic. [...]

By: meghan

meghan — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 00:31:03 +0000

Thrifting is a little like Fight Club — I don’t talk about some of my special thrift stores…

By: MarieLynn

MarieLynn — Sun, 10 Feb 2008 23:49:23 +0000

For some reason I have thrift shop karma. Whenever I need something they just happen to have it in stock the next day.

Recently, someone stole my daughter’s new snow pants at school, they were 85$ pants. On the same day I found a suitable replacement pair of lined waterproof pants for 1$.

I see the nice woman who works at the local store get haggled all day over 25 cents by people who seem to buy to re-sell. I NEVER give her a hard time and she always gives me a good price anyway.

By: Red Icculus

Red Icculus — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 21:56:13 +0000

Awesome article, but this site is broken in Firefox.

By: Badbadivy

Badbadivy — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 21:08:49 +0000

For those who are seeing this page incorrectly, we do know and are working on it. The problem is, we ALSO use Firefox and it looks fine on our screens, even doing a hard reload and even when we clear our cache. So, if you could send a screenshot of what you’re seeing to us at helpme@home-ec101.com we would LOVE IT.

Thanks,

Ivy

By: dwindle

dwindle — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 16:45:17 +0000

Off the subject, this page doesn’t format correctly in Firefox, and the “recent readers” block sits on top of the text. Don’t know if you have any choice in the matter…

By: Moose Hollow Farm

Moose Hollow Farm — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 19:44:40 +0000

My brother used to manage 8 of the Goodwill stores in MA. One trick he did was to keep a dressmaker measuring tape with him. He had the tape marked at 1/2 the waist measurements for all of us. That way when you look at a skirt or pair of pants, you just measure the waist as it faces you. it should be 1/2 your waist measurement. He’d use that as a guide to buying for us.