The filters for our pool are $10 each. Not too bad, but we have so many trees(pine also), that we change the filter almost weekly!

I went into Nuway to pick up some ice cube trays & found 10 of my pool filters brand new in the wrapper for .29 each!!

Best $2.90 I've spent in awhile :)

Azarae D.

Clark Howard was talking yesterday about brand-new golf shorts he got for 3.50 last week. And then he said there was a news article about a lady who bought a winter coat for a few bucks, got home and found $2000 in the pocket! My dad has been shopping in those stores for years and has never had THAT good luck!

The $15.00 painting that is currently in a local gallery on consigment for over $3K

Gee I can't beat Lazygardens but bought hubby an almost new Woolrich winter jacket for $10. There are no clothes in our Goodwills for 50 cents but i bought a pair of black jeans for $3.75 Monday. I do much better at yard sales and junking. Kathy

I can think of several right off the bat, since I shop at Salvation Army a lot and am always on the prowl for great labels. The most money I ever spent for one item was $50 for a coat. But it's a long black wool Evan Picone, lined in black & white wool check, so elegant and beautiful, and like new. I've been known to wear it with my $2 Nicole Miller dress.

Then there's the big copper coal scuttle I found at a SA in Connecticut with a $10 price tag. While I waited on line to pay for it, a woman exclaimed, "Hey, I just paid $250 for one of those!"

Fun thread.

Susan

The five depression glass plates in the pattern my Mom collects for $5.00 each, no, they are not repro's at a Salvation Army in Upstate New York.

At the Salvation Army, when I was in college, I picked up a very clean, off-white/light beigh love seat for $40 (someone had just dropped it off.) Used it for 3 years (looked really good in my room too) and sold it for $56 when I graduated.

Well I have a new favorite! I bought some naughty drinking glasses - they had decals of women on them and when you looked at the inside of the glass they were naked. 50's I think and I just sold the 10 I paid $10 for at an auction for $10 EACH. Kathy_PA

Bus tickets! Someone must have moved and given away their Metro bus tickets. My husband rode the bus to work every day. It was like buying money at a discount

I have to add another one. I was in a nice consignment store Thursday and picked up a brand-new Janzen swimsuit for $10. It still had the price tags from the department store where it was originally purchased - $65! AND, it fits like it was made for me!

I just came back from the flea market with 2 vintage lawn chairs for $35 for both. Restoration Hardware has a sale on theirs now- $59 EACH! Mine need a little sanding and a paint job, but that's OK. I don't like the colors on the RH anyway.

Here is a link that might be useful: Restoration Hardware Maple Street Chair

How about my new desk? It is a vintage army desk-- our downsizing neighbors sold it and the matching chair to me for 40 bucks because they did not want to move it out of their basement! It was his desk overseas in the army in WWII. It is a tanker desk, in perfect conditon, all steel, with a leather top and it is EXACTLY like this $1500.00 plus delivery one at restoration hardware: (see link)

Chair's identical, too! Mine was free, theirs is 1000 bucks! (I won't tell you what I had to do to get my husband to move it alone since I was pregnant and couldn't do any lifting!)

Mine is currently covered with the kids alphabet magnets!

Here is a link that might be useful: Skatie's new desk and chair

Oh my gosh I could get you dozens of those desks. We live between Letterkenny army depot and Fort Ritchie/Camp David. I thought everybody had those desks but now know where they come from. Kathy_PA

I found a pile of French copper cookware in a Goodwill store here in Georgia one day. I knew this was good stuff due to the weight. It looked as if it had never been used....only displayed. I paid $33 for all 7 pans. I sold them on Ebay for $411. That was a pretty good deal!! Then there was the time that I bought a $150 reel mower at a thrift store for $1.88. I love thrift stores!!!!

Brad

Kathy, you should check out what those desks are going for on ebay!!!!!!!!!!! Seriously!

That desk looks exactly like the one that used to be in my son's room. When I had the room remodeled, the contractor and crew sawed the metal desk into pieces and pitched them out the window. (After the desk had been brought into the room the entryway was made smaller, so we couldn't take it out the door.) Oh, well, the desk was a mess. Really. *g*

Susan

We have a wonderful thrift store nearby. On Mondays they offer 50% off of their already-incredibly-low prices. My best personal buy was a new Saville Row suit (tags still on it), marked at $10, bought on a Monday at $5.00. I routinely buy Izod/Nike/Ralph Lauren clothes for my kids at $1.50-$2.00/each on Monday.
merj

DH brought home a brand new Romertoph clay cooker from the Salvation Army. He gave 2.00 for it and it retails for 50.00. I'd been talking about getting a clay cooker for a while, so he scored really big with this one.

Sorry, no big deals here to chortle over.

I can't believe this obsession with name brand clothing, etc.

Seems to me that if the maker wants to put his name on a shirt, shoes, etc. that I'll wear (hopefully for years), s/he should sell it to me for half price.

I advertise his product every time that I wear it.

When s/he tells me that, due to the wonderful cachet of their brand name, exclusivity and all (but they willingly sell it to all comers) I must pay double the price of run-of-the-mill products for it ....

I say that's *smart marketing*!!

Seems to me that we should just laugh at them and tell them to get lost!!

Momma Bird in good old Ohio - we're waiting for you to show us a picture of you modelling your lovely new suit.

Kathy - sounds like a good idea to pick up a few of those wonderful desks ... and publicize them on eBay.

Good wishes for stretching your dollars ...

(I was tempted to add, something like, " ... but not your stories, please" but forebore - I have had no reason to believe that I've seen stories stretched around here.

Accusing someone of lying is not exactly a laughing matter, in my book.

Though I do enjoy a good laugh, as several of you know - usually of the rather dry kind of humour.

Enjoy your summer, sharing good times with loved ones and friends.

I just lost a good friend - a hard worker and smart - not yet 60. Lung trouble - he smoked (cigars).

ole joyful

Just today, went to a Kohl's Dept store and purchased a pair of Men's trousers...Retails at $48.00, on SALE for $34.99. Went to check out and the cashier said "you made a great purchase today... That will be $7.50". You guessed it..Went back and bought 2 more Pair of my favorite trousers...Total$15.00

I love kohl's. I bought DD a Jansport bookbag there for $20. It was supposed to be 40 but there was no tag so the clerk rang it up at $20 and asked if that was ok? DUH, yeah!

I do better at garage sales and flea markets. In fact the majority of my home furnishings come from that source. Either that or a relative looking to get rid of something.
Couch and matching chair - Heywood Wakefield for $50. Excellent condition, cushions not even that bad. Peter Max lithograph from the early 70s- $40 - we suspect it would be appraised around $3000 at least since it is a short run.
Cool art-deco dresser with round mirror - $100. Great condition.
As far as thrift stores go - around here they are not good for women's clothes. All are size 8 - 10. Nothing larger usually. But for my kids I got a brand new - Lord and Taylor navy blue blazer tag still on it. And brand new penny loafers. Also barely used stride rite gym shoes for my daughter. (I only buy new or barely, barely worn kids shoes - don't want to wreck those little developing feet!)
And it is fun to scrounge to get all the home furnishings - your house looks unique. Like I tell my husband - everything in our home has a story...

I went to a local thrift store. They were having a sale on toya for 75% off. I picked up a yellow barbie case that I thought would fit my daughters dolls. When I opened the case, there was a skipper andd scooter doll with 23 additional items, in mint condition. The price was 2.00, but with the 75%off, it only cost 50 cents.

Every couple of years in the Fall I go to a thrift store an hour away (used to live in their area) and look through the men's sweaters for 100% wool (or at least 50%.) Never paid more than $4. They are so great for snowblowing, just running around in the winter, and to work (I work in an OR so have to change into scrubs.) Last time there I got 13 sweaters for $80. I just wash them in Woolite in the machine, line dry, and never feel guilty when they are worn out. Each trip I have managed to find 1-2 sweaters that are so nice that I save them for 'nicer dressing' days...amd always receive a compliment from someone on how nice I look!

DH bought a pair of Linen Brooks Brothers pants at a thrift store for $2. When he came home and tried them on, he found $1.25 in the pocket. Linen trousers for $.75!

Treeskate, when my children were small I used to buy 100% wool sweaters in adult sizes at the Salvation Army and machine wash and dry them at hot temperatures. They'd shrink down to child size and have that "boiled wool" look. So nice and warm for skiing, etc.

Susan

My dd bought a new looking pair of Abercombe Fitch jeans at Salvation Army for $8 (which I thought was still high for something used). She found a $10 bill in the pocket.

Last week I bought a pair of Casual Corner dress pants for $1.50 at the Goodwill. During $1 days I bought a pair of brand new shoes.

I have a SIL who has a large beautiful home,in an upscale neighborhood.Money is not a problem for them.Her entire home is filled with garage sale and thrift store finds.She refinishes some items,but some stay as they are.Her home is very tastefully decorated,and you would never know where these items came from.Her whole family also shops at thrift stores for thier clothing.just goes to show,'you don't need to be POOR to want to save money.