Hello from "The Old Flame"

If a shop has "cheap" in its name, it usually isn't.

Hello all, i am the latest "I op, therefore I am" writer. I am "The Old Flame" as in Taph's Old Flame.

To find out more about me, you will have to visit my blog. Hopefully I will fill in some more posts over the next few weeks.

I love a bargain as much as the next person and believe that if you do not haggle, then we should call the Roman Guard. However i do have a slightly different focus when it comes to op shopping. Sorry, but it comes from having a XY chromosome, but that also means i will have some different insights too.

Hopefully these insights can be used to effect by you, or feel free to ignore me.

A few other Xmas closing dates.

Here are a few other Xmas closing dates for op shops in the Belconnen region.

The Y Shop
Closes 23 Dec. Re-opens 2 Jan

Vinnies
Closed 25 Dec - 29 Dec & 1 January
open 30 and 31 Dec

Another Chance (Scullin)
Closes 12pm 20 Dec
reopens 10am 19 Jan

Orange things

Orange things
Originally uploaded by redmag

After a having last weekend's op shopping activities called off due to some ghastly 24-hour bug - I was primed and ready to hit the shops just after 9am this weekend.

The Bargain Hunter in Quenbeyan is always good for fabric and other crafting supplies but this morning it was excellent - here are some of the new additions for my ever growing stash.

There was also lots of good quality kids books there too (no photos)

Hope you had luck in your hunting too!

My brain hurts...

So I think I've worked the Google Map thingy out. Sort of. Kind of. I could spend a whole day wresting with it ("Brain Injury Trust op shop is HERE you moronic map thingy NOT THERE!!") but I have to go somewhere tomorrow, sit at a desk and get paid to stay there for a certain number of hours. And not play with my map thingy and spreadsheet thingy :-(

So I suppose I'm saying if you fancy helping update map thingy and spreadsheet thingy please let me know and I'll add you as an author ... Ditto for blog thingy!

Including the kitchen sink...

Captured at Salvos Jamison, where we stopped on a whim mainly to check their hours.

Micki kitchen play set, perfect for Little E whose mother was muttering something just a few weeks ago about wanting to get one for him. There's a sink with water (!), 4 hobs, an oven*, knobs which go "click click click", a cupboard (with broken hinge but a quick call to my distributor who stocks these confirmed hinges are available as a spare part) and a hanger with pot mitt.

RRP? $170.00
Salvos price? $15.00
Score!

(*non-working, obviously!)

Taph FAFing About - Time for a Cuppa

DATE: 19 November 2009
SOURCE: Aussie Junk, Mitchell
OBJECT: 5 x Wedgewood cups and saucer
INVESTMENT: $5
NOTES: For friends who have been collecting this set since their wedding 40 years ago.

Salvos Christmas hours

Spotted on the door at Salvos Weston. The woman behind the counter assures me these hours are the same across the city...

Thu 25th Dec: Closed
Fri 26th Dec: Closed
Sat 27th Dec: Normal hours
Mon 29th - Weds 31st Dec: Normal hours
Thurs 1st Jan: Closed
Fri 2nd Jan - Sat 2nd Jan: Normal hours

Budget? What budget?

After a week without op shopping I headed to Jamison Trash and Treasure this morning with a $30 budget: $20 from my $5 note stash (I save every $5 note that I get as change. It's quite amazing how quickly they add up) and $10 from a book I sold to Booklore this week.

All was going well. I picked up a Richard Scarry for 50 cents (anyone who knows me knows I don't go past a Richard Scarry if I see one)It needs some mending. Little E will love it.

I grabbed a Beatrix Potter CDrom for a friend who is recreating Beatrix's house in mini: $1.

Some plants. $6.

Then I saw this:which was $80. Way beyond my budget. Also beyond the combined wallet contents of me and friend Tania who was with me. But then I discovered it was being sold by someone who I'd known professionally. And it was the only grey dressmaker's dummy I've ever seen.

So caution was thrown to the wind. I trotted galloped off to the money machine. Tania went to get her car. And thus it was that Lovely Linda now lives with me and my budget is shot to heck. (Good thing I got another food parcel this week, hey?)

It's a start...

Many of you have tried to links on the right to google maps and google docs and found they don't do anything.

Sorry about that: been on my list for a couple of weeks and tonight I finally made some time to start working on them.

The good news is there's a list of op shops and opening times there now.

The bad news is it's based on a rather elderly document I have so it's out of date. And I can't get google maps to work for me at the moment.

As I've been visiting op shops over the past few weeks I've been collecting their details. But Canberra's a big place so I'd love it if you could check details of op shops you visit regularly and verify the opening times for me. Also let me know the details for the ones I know are missing from the list at the moment.

If that's not an excuse to get out there this weekend, I don't know what is!

Taph FAFing About - Sauce for the Goose

DATE: 19 November 2009
SOURCE: Salvos, Tuggeranong
OBJECT: Corningware Saucepan with liquid measurements on the inside
INVESTMENT: $10
NOTES: I had to be talked into this one. I know it's gorgeous, in mint condition and suitable for both normal people and southpaws, but its original price was $20. I would not have paid that. As it was, all bric-a-brac was half price and the Voice of Frugal Reason insisted I bring it home. I love it.

Also on Unravelled.