When I have some extra time in town I always love to hit up some of the local thrift stores. I’m a big fan of thrift, second hand and antique shops. You can find many different things that they either don’t make anymore, or you can just find some pretty good deals on things you need. I’m always looking for functional pieces that don’t break the bank.  I am not a collector of expensive things….just useful things.

While my blogging buddy was back in Iowa for a short time a few weeks ago of course we went thrifting. I finally have time to share some of what I found.

My goal was to find a stool to use with my art easel. I’m still searching for one of those but we did find one of those old metal chair/step stools. $6 at Goodwill. Yay! I LOVE those things!  Even had the original vinyl on it! It is now mine.:)

The other item I was looking for was a magazine holder so that I could give the one I was using (handmade by my great grandfather) to my dad to use for his magazines. I found this folky, hand painted, right up my alley, magazine holder for $4.  As you can see, it has already been put to good use.:)
I have also been looking for some nice black dress shoes and found these cuties along with a pair or wood (yes I said wood…how cool is that!) sandels.  $2.50 a pair.  I really don’t NEED anymore shoes but I really like these!

Couldn’t pass up these other items.  Two Norwegian books and one Swedish book (in their respective languages) for about $1 a piece.   I guess most people don’t like reading old books….especially ones in other languages.  Lucky for me because I do!  I already had a folding wood book holder but love it so much (great place to stack my mail) I had to have the other one I found.  It was $3 or $4.   The Pansy seed package pot holder was fantastic and I couldn’t pass it up for $0.25.  How can a professional gardener not have something like that in her kitchen?

I ended up not finding everything I was looking for but came away with some pretty great stuff in my opinion.  One persons trash is definitely another persons treasure.  I would much rather re-purpose an item than have it go to a dumpster or a land fill.   So next time you think something is ugly or worthless or think “who would ever want that?”  don’t throw it away!  Donate it to your local thrift store.  There are plenty of people out there that are more than willing to give your unwanted item a second chance!  Happy thrifting!