Friday, July 9, 2010

Basket 'O Bargains + Fine China Made in Japan

Here's what $11.63 bought me at Goodwill's 50% off sale. I can't believe I would have spent close to $25.00 otherwise. Spend, spend, spend.
The City of Toronto's on a mission to get people weened off plastic shopping bags. We're actually charged five cents per bag by the store and the money goes to greening the city - at least I think so. The cashier happily packed everything up in my basket and off I went like Little Red Riding Hood.
I already have a similar Peruvian wall hanging. This cost .99 with the discount. It will go in my new Primary classroom in the fall. There's so much going on in this wall hanging. If it had been hanging in my classroom when I was a kid, I would have found myself looking at it and touching it all the time.
Men and women doing fan dances on the dance floor.
The audience sits in the balcony enjoying every moment.
With the discount this brand new "how to make paper" kit cost $1.49.
Sorry about the washed out look. The sky wasn't cooperating. More books for the class. Can you tell I'm a nature nut and ecologist? Paperback books were reduced to .49 and hardcover books were a dollar each.
A pile of Chickadee mags for next to nothing. I'm going to create a cozy reading nook in my classroom including a coffee table for magazines.
Sometimes you just have to love a great basket. This was priced down to $1.49. I'll use it in the classroom. I'm not sure what will go in it yet. Maybe food and bedding for the class pets.
This book of Robert Louis Stevenson's garden verses for children was a real find.

Below you'll find an antipasto dish I bought earlier in the afternoon at the run-down Vincent de Paul's Value Shoppe on Broadview. The woman running the store was really nice, but seemed incapable of dealing with the mountain of donations in the tiny little shop. She sold me this dish for a quarter. I love that it says "Fine China Made in Japan" on the back. I'm really drawn to Made in Japan crockery from the sixties. My mom told me that giving someone a mass manufactured household item made in Japan back in the fifties or sixties, was considered the height of cheapness. Now these pieces are collectable. I wonder if all the Made in China dollar store stuff we have nowadays will one day be sought after.
That's it for now. Stay thrifty.

6 comments:

  1. You found some awesome stuff. I would love your classroom, cool wall hangings and a book nook!! Love the antipasto dish, very cool look to it.

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  2. Love that last book! Good point about the dollar store stuff.

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  3. The city doesn't keep the money from the shopping bags, shocking, I know! The retailers keep the cash.

    BTW, bags are now 6cents with HST!

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  4. Linda and Mom Wald - as always, thanks for the kind words. Thanks Sir Thrift-A-Lot for clearing up the plastic bag situation. So much for my green thoughts. I'm sure the retailers are making a profit on bags if that's the case.
    Erin

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  5. That St Vincent de Paul is my favourite thrift store in Toronto- I live a few blocks away. Maria is always adrift in a sea of donations, but she is so wonderful to the varied customers that drift in and out. I love the thrill of the unexpected there.
    But the best thrift store if the Sally Ann in Fenelon Falls. Check it out this summer.
    Darlene

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  6. Hey Darlene,
    Now I'm feeling guilty about my comment about St. Vincent de Paul. I think I've just had lousy luck going there on rainy days and having my son with me at the time. I do love the cluttered experience of it and now I know the name of the friendly woman who runs it - Maria.
    Thanks for the comment.
    Erin

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About Me

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I'm a slightly off-beat Toronto-area teacher who enjoys writing and photography. I come from a family of collectors and now I'm dragging my own family around to yard sales. It's just a bit of fun. Enjoy the scenes.