$99 Thrift Challenge

While my mother was visiting last week we decided to take advantage of our time together and sail across to Seattle to do some thrift store shopping. I actually had to buy some paint from the Eco-store but since the Goodwill Outlet is close to that I thought we would hit both places. If you have never been to a Goodwill Outlet then it should be on your Thrift-To-Do-List. It is amazing experience. At the Seattle Outlet there is 16,000 Square Feet of thrifty stuff. It is set up like a warehouse and filled with these large bins that are waist high on rollers. The bins are probably about a foot deep and overflowing with clothing, books, toys, household goods and electronics. It's a complete mess but once you dig through this all you discover a wealth of treasures. The price for items is by the pound. It starts at $1.29 a pound but the more you buy the cheaper it is. I paid .79 cents per pound. Every half hour to hour the workers will come out and remove 8 of these rolling bins. All the customers start lining up around this gap and wait for the newly stocked bins to arrive. It is exciting and stressful. Out of 8 bins which one will be the best? The customers at the Seattle store are pretty nice although you have to be quick if you see something you want. I stopped at the Portland outlet once and it reminded me of  a river full of piranhas. Especially the books. Everyone grabbed anything they could get and then started typing ISBN numbers into their phones to see if they were valuable. Far too stressful for me to handle. I didn't stay long. Maybe I was there on a bad day.

On Friday though at the Seattle store I just about struck gold with things I liked to find. Here are some of them.

When we left I had two entire full shopping carts full of everything under the sun from feather duvets, to aprons, to clothing, to vintage linens and even 2 very old wooden chairs. I don't normally go this overboard but it was like patchwork quilts and linens were being thrown at my feet. What would any thrifter do? My total for the day was $95.00. Okay that's a lot more than my normal thrifty budget allows but since I did buy a few things to resell I figured that was okay this one time. But the idea that I could buy so many amazing things for less than $100.00 sparked an idea for the $99 Thrift Challenge.

-Thanks to Moki for the Thrift Challenge Button.

For the challenge, I want to know what you bloggers can buy with $99.00. You can buy items in any thrifty fashion as long as it is second-hand. It can be from a Thrift Store, Auction, Yard Sale or even Craig's List. I am creating a Flickr group for your photos. We need photos and details on your blog about what you were able to buy with $99 by September 30th. If your budget can't get to $99 then please tell us what you were able to buy within your budget. Everyone should be able to be included. At the end of the month, bloggers will vote for these categories:

-Best Value for Everything
-Ugliest Ever Purchase
-Biggest Value for an Individual Item
-Most Creative Item

I will be sending out prizes which are thrifted of course to the winners of these catagories. Please email me if you would like to be included in this challenge.

Here is what I was able to buy with $95.00

Small Quilt with a few stains. Another lady who saw it in my cart told me she had liked it but it was stained. I must admit a stained linen would never stop me from buying it. The price would but not a stain. I don't know the prices of anything because it was per pound but most of what I bought was light and therefor very inexpensive.

Eddie Bauer Duvet and a vintage pillow in beautiful condition. I'm not sure the value of this duvet but it is in mint condition and reminds me of the European Eiderdowns, the kind in Mary Poppins on the children's beds in the nursery.

Vintage woman's jacket on the top. It was too darling to pass up. It doesn't fit me so I 'm going to try to consign it. You can also see a vintage apron with little roses. The cloth napkins on the far right feel so vintage and are just darling. They were one of my favorite finds that day.

At the top there is a yellow & white hand embroidered tablecloth in beautiful condition. The curtain on the right is bark cloth. I gave a loud whoop when I found that set. On the right near the bottom is a finished needlepoint in my summer colors of blue and green which is going in the craft room.

The pillow is Calvin Klein, is silk and has the original tag from the store. The rest of these goodies were found in a paper bag. Two very old bibs made from quilted cotton with embroidery patterns on them, some punch-thread thingys which I have never seen before but look very interesting. One is completed so I thought it would look nice in my kitchen in an old frame.

As the 8 new bins were coming out I spotted these 2 chairs on top of a cart that a worker had left near the furniture area. The chairs seemed perfect for my dining room so I ignored the tempting bins and stood by the chairs, placing my hand on one of them as if marking my territory. Another lady came sniffing around but wanted the wicker under bed storage box of which my two chairs were sitting on. Then we were told off by the worker for touching stuff on the cart. We both pleaded our excuses at him and he smiled and let us take the items we wanted and told us to not do it again. Whoa, grade school flashback! They were not priced but at checkout they rang up as $2.99 each.  They are probably close to a hundred years old. I have no idea why they ended up at the outlet instead of at a regular store or their auction house.

Material, vintage vogue pattern, hand embroidered linen bag, purple gingham apron, pillowcase and more linens.

I thought this guy deserved his own photo. Isn't he sweet? He's going in the craft room framed.

This quilt is probably from K-mart or Target. It says Room Gear on the label. I love it. It is cozy and the colors bright and perfect. Since the craft room is 1/3 guest room I will be putting this on the bed.

Another favorite. This is a duvet cover and matching pillow cases from Ikea. The cool thing is that this is Cath Kidston fabric. It's a little faded but that gives it all the more shabby chic look.

By this time I was pretty exhausted. This type of thrifting is very hard work. The kids were pretty tired and were laying on a bagged duvet that my mother was intending to buy. I grabbed my mom a rolling office chair and parked her by two of the carts with the children who had toys to play with and books to look through. I conquered on but my thrift energy was waning.

Strawberry shortcake sheet on the left, cute vintage quilt in the middle and some fabric on the right that reminded my mom and I of "It's a Small World After All" Ride at Disneyland.

Are you going into Thrift Overdrive with this post? Bear with me just a few more photos. The sheets on the top are Raggedy Ann and Andy that I had as a child. I was delighted to find two sets of these. This was a last minute buy as I was taking a cart back. My mom cringed when she saw I had more in my hands. The item on the right is a bar maid costume that I am considering for Halloween. Bottom is a Portmeirion tea cozy and the green outfit is a Robin  Hood costume for Keiran.

More stuff. Flower sheet to cut up into fabric, Needlepoint Pillow (there is another matching one too), Batik tablecloth for a friend of mine, Pooh tie to hopefully resell, and a lovely quilting wall hanging on the right.

Last but not least is a cheap quilt made in China but I just can't turn away from anything patchwork. The flag on the right is vintage and complete with 48 stars. The pillow on the left is from Pottery Barn and new with tags.

It is hard to believe but I still haven't photographed a third of the items. I plum ran out of steam from organizing the items to photograph as well as having to put everything away. It was amazing to think of what you can buy with $95.00. I suppose eventually I'll have too many linens. Is that possible? The funny thing is that the eBay sellers at Goodwill were talking amongst themselves that it was a bad day. Maybe that is why I did so well because there were so many linens. It was such a fun day with my mother and the children did fantastic for being stuck in a thrift store for at least 2 1/2 hours. If any bloggers in the Seattle area ever want to go on a field trip to the Outlet let me know.

So are you up to the $99 Thrift Challenge?

Comments

[Carrie Sommer]

Holy toledo! What a haul!

[Veronica TM]

Wow Selena! All those items are great! I can totally understand you being tired, but you scored!
I don't think I can join the challenge right now {Fiona makes it really hard to thrift}, but can't wait to see what everybody shows up with. Great idea!

[kristin]

Yikes!!! you're brave! sounds like it was a feeding frenzy!! but talk about the score of the century!! i'll have to think about your challenge, it's a bit out of my budget...but sounds like fun!

[Oona Baker]

I stumbled across your blog and have been loving watching your thrift scores unfold! Amazing stuff you found!!!! I am in Portland and know exactly what you mean about the Goodwill outlet. People are ruthless there and way too intense about thrifting (make that ebaying) I love to take my daughter there to discover treasures, but we tend to avoid the crowds.

Anyways, lovely blog. Thank you.

[moki]

wowsa! Whata stash! I might be up in Seattle the first week of Oct. for the schmancy show. hmmmm

[moki]

wowsa! Whata stash! I might be up in Seattle the first week of Oct. for the schmancy show. hmmmm

[joyce]

Although your finds look amazing for that price I'm not sure I'd have the stamina for that kind of a shopping spree. Great that you can do it though.

[pam]

Wow. I am amazed at the stuff. And the patchwork stuff! Love the lemony punchneedle.. that's fun, I have done that.. if you don't have the instructions I can scan them in for you. Wow.. I mean what can you say but WOW.

[raesha]

WOW!! What awesome goodies. We have a small Goodwill outlet here...you have inspired me to go check it out:):) I am totally in on the $99 challenge:)

[Lilia]

Im in and love to be challenged on thrift!

[Jackie]

I'll certainly give it a shot! Maybe I'll get lucky and stumble on some hidden treasure around here!! You're amazing!

[Angie]

I just reviewed these goodies again......so prepare the boat..Im joining!!!!

[Angie]

PS- I claim you as my partner! HAHAHA LOL :)

[bethany]

I am totally in.. I wish there were cheaper thrift stores in Nor Cal.. This is likely going to force me (oh, say it isn't so...) on some kind of thrifting road trip.. Fan-tastic!

[k8tykat]

there's a great goodwill "dig" [as it's refered to here lovingly] that has some true blue thrift[ebay]ers too. they get a little intense. but it's a great place to score items.

[suse]

Holy cow, Son #3 would be green with envy if he knew you scored a Robin Hood costume. He is, you might say, obsessed.

As to the challenge, I'm in, and hereby submit my Clarice Cliff jug, which I see you already noticed!

[dawn]

holy crap! alright, the first day the kids are back in school I'm heading into Seattle. outta my way!

[shona]

This is so funny that I have just found this post because I JUST got back from The Goodwill Outlet in downtown Nashville. This place has ruined me for all other thrift stores! I regularly leave with a jumbo bag, filled, for under $10.00 + if you shop right, you can knock the price down even more by shopping the daily special (today: clothes .99/lb). You have to love to dig (I do!) but love an amazing deal even more. I'm such an addict. I think I could fill my car for 99.00 (with no room for me to haul it home).
**Added bonus- digging strengthens your arms.

[Sarah]

Oh my, I am completely, utterly, hopelessly in love with that vintage quilt with the red, white and blue animals on it. Finding that would have made my "year" I tell ya.

[roberta]

This is my first time to your blog...not sure how I got here...vintage-y bloghopping I guess, but had to comment. When I saw the Raggedy Ann and Andy sheets my heart stopped short...my kiddos all gathered around (they heard my "Oh My Gosh!" *gasp*...and I told them the story of how I had those very sheets and when I was about 4, fell asleep with a big piece of purple bubbleyum in my mouth, and when I woke up the gum was holding me to the sheets by my hair. *ahhhh memories!* My sheet was very faded by the end of my childhood, those look vibrantly new.

Love the chairs too. We had a town dump day where everyone could dump there stuff for free and my husband salvaged 4 chairs (intentionally set to the side) that were in fabulous shape. I agree, one man's trash truly is another man's treasure.

Thanks for sharing your fun thrifty finds and ideas! :)

[Tara]

Geez Louise - I thought I'd hit the big time on Wednesday when my local Goodwill had their 50% off day ...and then I read this! Holy Moley Cow, I have total thrift envy!

[Sandra]

WOW! I absolutely ADORE thrift stores but...but... the nearest one to me is more than 100 miles away. That's adds greatly to the purchase price so I don't go very often. Thanks for sharing your thrift store fun. Love the quilts as well...you might could get the stain out with vinegar and sunlight...depending upon the stain.

Please visit Fiber Femmes at www.fiberfemmes.com and consider writing a story about your thrift store challenge. It sounds like just the thing to "brag" about!

[Kris]

Wow - what a haul! Our Goodwill here in NJ is just horrible! I wish we had some better places.

[DayLilyLane]

I am a new blogger and found your site from I think Daisy Cottage. I loved the name as I work at a school and always wear an apron at work. I loved the recount of your goodwill adventure and OH MY GOSH! the wonderful things your found."It was a good day in the neighborhood!" as I like to say. I can't do the challenge now but I am saving up for it. My sister had the Raggedy Ann sheets too. It brought back fun memories.I will visit often, you are a great escape from a world that usually wants only "new and improved" things. Vintage and cherished is definetly better.

[Bren]

I want in your $99 thrift challenge, it sounds fun to me. You got some fantastic bargains esp. those $2.99 chairs, I am pretty envious.
Tell me how to get in on the fun.
: ) Bren

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