New Thrifty Finds

On Monday, I took several boxes of stuff to Salvation Army.  I have been doing a huge clean-out in my house, and all of the things that I have either replaced with vintage things or things that I have ended up with in box lots at auctions and have no use for find their way to Salvation Army.  There are two thrift stores about 45 miles from me that I really like.  Salvation Army (which has the easiest set up for donations) and DAV.  I like these stores because you can always count on them to have great vintage stuff at incredible prices.  There is a Goodwill that I always hit up as well, but I don't care for it as much.  It's more of the yuppie kind of thrift store, if you know what I mean.  Almost everything that they put out for sale is less than 20 years old.  Occasionally I find a vintage find or two, but Goodwill also charges much higher prices.  I'll mainly stick with Salvation Army and the DAV.  I wonder if it's a coincidence that my two favorite thrift shops are located on old Route 66?

After dropping off a backseat full of stuff at the donation center, I drove a block over to the thrift shop where I found that all of the Christmas stuff was already marked 50% off.  They have a huge section of Christmas, so I felt like a kid in a candy store.  I picked up a lot of things, but only a couple of them are out for display this year.  The rest are boxed up with the empty Christmas decoration boxes.  I'll find a place for them next year.

Here are my finds from Salvation Army.

This little Santa is sitting on top of the chimney in this fun vintage planter.  I added the little red flocked berries...he needed something in the planter part.  He was 50 cents.

This log and holly ceramic candle holder looks like it was someone's craft project.  It has the painter's signature on the bottom.  It was 75 cents.  In all, I came out of Salvation Army with a box full of Christmas goodies and one piece of Pyrex (an opal divided dish) all for $6.  Not bad!

The DAV is on my way to Goodwill, so I was not about to pass it up!  I got several things there as well, but these are the notable ones to share:

A beautiful Jadeite Fire King swirl mixing bowl.  It was truly a "start the car!" moment.  This little baby was priced at $4.98, and in my hands faster than you can blink.  I like the way the green looks up against the vintage pink Shiny Brite ornaments that I filled it with.  I think this may go on the kitchen table.

Lastly, I found this handpainted made in Germany dish.  It is in amazing condition.  Since it is marked Germany, I am thinking that it must be pre-WWII.  It just looked so much like something that my Grandma would have, that I picked it up.  It was also a bargain at $3.98.

It was a very satisfying day!

Now, before I end today, I was wondering if any of my readers have ever used Kiva?  You can find their website at kiva.org.  It is a non-profit organization where you invest in a loan for someone, most likely in another country, that is trying to better their life.  They might be starting a child care program, investing in a new animal or two for their farm...just about anything.  You invest $25, and when the person starts repaying the loan, you start getting your money back.  You do not gain interest on the money, you just help back the loan.  I have been looking into it, and I think that I might like to give it a try, but before I do, I was wondering if any of my readers had tried it, and what their experience with it was.  If nothing else, even if I lose my money, it isn't much and I'll just think of it as a donation.  The thing that I like is that once the loan is paid off and your $25 is back in your account, you can either reinvest it in another loan or draw it down and get the cash back.

Have an amazing Thursday!  The big day is almost here!