my best finds yet

Monday was the day that Another Chance reopened after being closed for nearly a month. I figured I had to get there on their reopening day, but not so early as to give the staff to time to price and put the new items onto the floor. I had some success as I was able to pick up these limited edition Zen range Tupperware containers. Not bad value at 50c each either. (Sorry, my red salt shaker is in the photo to give an idea of size).After this I went back into Belconnen and called into Vinnies, and got lucky there too. While I was there this staff member came out with the trolley which had four Johnson Brothers cups and saucers in the Summer Chintz Patten. This is the same set as my parents have and it has been out of production since 2003, so with a move as quick as a snake, I grabbed these too.

Tit for Tat

This afternoon, I did the right thing, and look a Jazz car full of children's clothes and toys and other sundry gear that had accumulated at NationsHeart to the closest Op shop in Belco. In 35C heat, there I was unloading all the boxes and bags, and just as I finished, a wonderful lady came to help.

"Oh Look", I said "you have got a Kenwood Mixer there". She asked if I wanted one - I did to do some baking .. and well - the good old principle of "what comes around, goes around" came into play - and it came home with me (OK - untested - I will have to try it out this afternoon won't I!)

Vinnies half price sale

Seen on the door at vinnies Belconnen.

"Ladies dresses 1/2 price until Monday 19 January 2009. (Excludes Blue Ribbon items)"

I do not know if this sale is happening at other vinnies stores, so if you happen to be near a vinnies store can you check and post a reply.

Thanks

Winding me up

(Reprinted from The Shopping Sherpa)

With a three day trip offering op shops and woollen mill factory shops aplenty, what did I chose to spend this morning doing?

Op shopping, of course!

With the best intentions I set off to Vinnies Belconnen as I'd finally clicked that when I bought my jam pot there was also a normal pot. And it was a brand Taph liked. So maybe I should just mosey on over and see if it was still there...

Alas it wasn't, but some of my fave op shop ladies were so we had a natter. Then I decided today was a good day to check out the hours on some more "second tier" shops so pointed Miss Daisy southwards.

But she misunderstood and soon I was parked outside Vinnies Tuggeranong in a car which fair oozed self satisfied and smug happiness at doing the right thing. So I had to wander in, didn't I? Especially since I've not been down since the day they reopened...
This, at $5, hit the basket pretty quick-smart. I figure Taph's always in need of one if I don't decide to keep it myself...

But then there was the $5 bag of mohair that I hummed and haaed over. I walked around the shop three times with it. I almost put it back twice ("I'm going to BENDIGO tomorrow! Why the hell am I wanting to buy wool today?")

But then I gave in and bought it. And once in the car realised that the interesting looking skein of pink stuff actually still had a label on it: Which made the $5 spend worth it for this alone, not even taking into consideration the rest of the bag:

A question for you

What was your best op shop/ market/ second hand find of 2008?

Northside Christmas close downs

I finally made the time today to whizz round what I term the "second tier" op shops Northside to confirm their opening hours on our google docs spreadsheet.

None of them have reopened yet after Christmas:

Reruns (Charnwood) reopens 12 Jan.
So does Hand to Hand (Holt: Kippax Fair).
Another Chance (Scullin) reopens on 19 Jan.

Also Northside, here's a burning question that you might be able to answer for me:

There's a listing for a Global Care op shop in Macquarie. I've never found it. Does it still exist or do we need to remove it from the spreadsheet?

$5 finds

(Reprinted from The Shopping Sherpa)

I'm not sure which I'm more stoked about: Essteele Australis 5.5L jam making pot, found at Vinnies Belconnen where I saw it as it left the cart of new stuff being put out and had it in my hot little hands before it had a chance to hit the shelf.

When I got up to the front counter, Francis-the-shop-lady said "Oh, that's a good buy. It's only that cheap because it doesn't have a lid". I explained that I was sure my glass frypan lid would fit just fine and that they'd just saved me a trip to David Jones (which was my planned next stop) where I was going to finally buy the Bistro stockpot I'd been hankering after since I moved to Canberra 10 years ago. All because I had a pile of oranges and lemons I'd been given which, after my first adventures with jam making, I wanted to try and turn into marmalade.

So Francis wrote out her never fail marmalade recipe for me while the woman behind me in the line waited patiently:

Francis' 3 Day Marmalade

6 pieces of citrus fruit
4 pints water
1 cup sugar per cup pulp

Day One: Grate the skin of the fruit then cut the fruit up. Place in the water and leave overnight.

Day Two: Boil about 10 minutes or until soft.

Day Three: For each cup pulp, add one cup sugar (or slightly less according to taste). Boil until the mixture sets in cold water. Bottle.

Across the road at Salvos I bought this for $5:
a CD rack (I think it was originally from IKEA but can't be stuffed going through my old catalogues) which just screams out to be turned into a 3/4 inch scale modern apartment/ holiday house... (Thanks to Mini Modern for originally mentioning the concept)

Wonderful Freecycle

Today, we received the best present for the New Year through freecycle. It is a three piece display/storage cupboards for our dining room. My dolls will have a new home now for display - and I have a plastic container (somewhere) which has some lovely things in that I can put on display. Thanks to our friend R who was a wonderful help to get them home.

If you haven't checked out Freecycle - do so.

The Freecycle Network™ is made up of 4,658 groups with 6,292,000 members across the globe. It's a grassroots and entirely nonprofit movement of people who are giving (& getting) stuff for free in their own towns. It's all about reuse and keeping good stuff out of landfills. Each local group is moderated by a local volunteer (them's good people). Membership is free.

Stop Press ... Salvos Phillip Moving and Expanding!

It's official. After weeks of speculation we can announce that the Salvos Family Store at Phillip is moving from Colbee Court to the Phillip Market Place on the corner of Hindmarsh Drive and Botany Street (where JB HiFi used to be near KFC) on 14 February 2009.

The current store of 300 square metres will close on 7 February. The new 850 square metre store will open on 14 February. Current permanent staff will double to two full-time workers.

We declare February 14 2009, Op Shop Lovers' Day.

You heard it here first!

Help!

Did anyone take note of Bargain Hunter's Christmas hours? We're probably in need of some of their free jars and it seems dumb to drive all the way out there tomorrow only to discover that they're closed for the week between Christmas and New Year...