The holidays are upon us and for some people that pesky recession is still in full effect. Whether you have the means or not, most folks are probably going to be conscious of their spending this holiday season – or until the economy completely “recovers”. With that said Jess and I have been working on a post to divulge the best thriftable holiday gifts to give. Jess sums it up best below:
So here we are at another holiday crossroads. I know for me Christmas lost its sentiment a few years ago. Reason being, time and money. The idea of dedicating my weekends driving around to different malls or shops searching for the perfect gift seems torturous. Especially since holiday shopping has turned into the latest extreme sport. The obvious answer… thrifting for holiday gifts.
MAKE A LIST, CHECK IT TWICE: Before you start you may want to make a list of the people you are shopping for to ensure no one is left out. Even Santa has a list. Plus, last minute holiday shopping is no bueno.
PLAN YOUR ROUTE, ALLOW FOR SURPRISES: If you’re like me you’ll want to get it all done in one day. Google maps is the best way to map out an attack strategy. Simply pick your general destination and search for thrift stores. Even if you have a regular set route, you may discover another store not too far out of the way.
HUNT IN THE DOWNTIMES: Obviously weekends are going to be a circus. If you are lucky enough to dedicate a weekday, don’t think twice, just do it. If you’re really feeling adventurous, make a day trip out of it and drive into the unknown countryside. Just make sure you call beforehand to assure the locations are open.
HIT EM WITH THE WARM & FUZZY: Which brings us to what to get. Thrift store holiday shopping is a bit of a challenge for one reason. You don’t want to give people junk. Put your gift ideas into perspective for the individual recipient. You don’t want to be like my uncle Dan, who notoriously dishes out useless crap at Christmas, such as “used flash lights” and “marine biology periodicals.”
These are our top thrift store holiday gift ideas:
• T-Shirts & Cardigans. I fall back on thrift store t shirts for many occasions. The more funny and random the better. Try to find shirts that are a poly-cotton blend. They are the most comfortable.
• Mexican Woven Blankets. They are vibrant and warm. Just make sure it’s in good condition, no stains.
• Needle Point package. There are some pretty rad needle point patterns out there. You can choose to either give the gift away in the package for your crafty friends, or do the work yourself and frame it. You can find some really neat vintage ones on Etsy too.
• Books. These are usually pretty easy to come by if you know the person’s literature preferences well enough. Any book you can usually find in a used book store or a Half Price Books – you can usually find it eventually in a thrift store, for half the used price.
• Mugs. The funny and ironic, the ones with states, countries or kittens on them are always a safe bet.
• Vintage Decanters. With a recent spike in interest from shows like Mad Men and Wine Library.TV I’ve started noticing that thrift stores are brimming with vintage decanters. Some of them are truly unique and beautiful. They can be used for red wine(s), and/or any hard liquor. Classy.
• Board games. This is a new favorite of mine. I love hunting for a particular board game and then eventually finding it all in tact. Some recent favorites of mine are Apples to Apples, and Rummikub. These also provide a post-meal/post-present opening fun time with your family. NOTE: Heavy drinking makes any board game that much more fun with family…
That should be quite enough to encourage you all to get out there and get thrifting for some of your gifts this year. Time is running out! We’d also like to know what you all think would make a great thrift gift. Comment or email in. Have you ever given or received a thrifted gift? MERRY THRIFTSMAS TO ALL.
BUY LOW, SELL HIGH: So in keeping with the theme of finding and selling thrifted stuff for CASH, I’ll let you guys in on a little secret. IT’S UGLY XMAS SWEATER WEEK! That’s right, for a couple years now I’ve been slowly buying amazingly awesome/hideous ugly holiday sweaters for reselling. This is the best week to list and sell those babies, you’ve got a few days left to hunt and find some of these in the thrift stores. Desperate, uncreative, drones will pay top dollar off of eBay and Craigslist to try and out-tacky their peers and co-workers at their holiday parties. The best time to pick them up is in the off months, summer and spring when the holidays are off of people’s radars and the thrift stores aren’t gouging the prices just before the holidays. Pictured above are 3 “gems” that I’m selling this year. The one with santa and reindeer (which I picked up for $2.99) already sold on eBay for $64 – can you believe that?! Someone’s going to make it rainthis Christmas. Anyways, I initially felt apprehensive about even telling you lovelies this secret lil cash niche – but I love you all… well, most of you. So happy holidays and get out there and get diggin.
WHAT TO LOOK FOR: The ones with “bedazzlement” and “rhinestone gem jewels” like Leslie and the LY’s rocks in most of her videos. These are the most desirable and fetch the most cash. Anyone remember this video she did with Space150 in 2005 for Gem Sweaters, pure gold. Another thing to look for is the general tackiness of the garment. The more tassles, and bells and stuff hanging off of it, the better. Finally, a big secret is to find the more general ones (not everyone celebrates Christmas). The ones with bells, or holly, or gingerbread men on them. These ones make them more overall appealing to people of all faiths. Go buy a few packets of gems and puffy balls and some Aleene’s fabric glue from Wal-Mart’s craft section and gem them up yourself. In the stack photo above you can peek a couple more generally ugly one’s that I plan to gem up while watching TV or listening to records. Here’s a great Flickr set showcasing some brutally awesome holiday sweaters.
It’s been a while since I’ve done an old school post with actual Things I’ve Found (in thrift stores). There’s quite a smattering – so here goes: I found some stuff that I’ve already re-sold, like that vintage Magnus chord organ (bought for $10, I’m not saying what it sold for!)
Also nabbed an old Boo Berry toy bank from the 1970’s ($1.99) Boo Berry was and still is my favorite kid’s cereal. I found a vinyl 12″ LP too awesome to pass up. German dance/punk from 1982? HELL YES. Some band on the canadian label Yul Records called Rational Youth. I took a small chance on it because I dug the artwork ($.99) and it’s really really rad. Check them out on iTunes when you get a chance. There’s a railroad book in there ($2.99) with some really good illustrations and old railroad posters.
My two favorite absorption’s this week were my little squirrel planter ($1.99). I needed some greenery on my desk at work so I bought that cute lil guy, he reminds me of the reckless and hilarious red squirrel I have living in my backyard. I put a little spider plant in there. The second is that Red Owl sewing kit. I didn’t technically thrift this as my grandmother donated it to me, but I wanted to show it anyways. I grew up being slowly pushed through Red Owl from that upper kid’s seat in the shopping cart, strange comforts can be found in grocery stores as a kid. All those colors, shapes, packages calling out to you. Probably threw a few tantrums to get some Boo Berry. As a designer it just doesn’t get any better than that logo, man I love it. One of the best logos of all time.
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The Star Tribune reports on SOME DUMBASS: In Marietta, Ohio – Police said whoever donated a water jug to a charity in southeast Ohio probably didn’t mean to be so generous. The jug contained about $1,500 worth of marijuana. Police said workers at a local Goodwill Industries site recently found four bags of marijuana when they looked inside a water jug left outside by an anonymous donor. They turned the two-gallon metal jug and the pound or so of marijuana over to police on Friday. Marietta police Capt. Jeff Waite said the jug is probably an antique. He said authorities would be more than happy for the jug’s donor to come forward and claim it. (Thanks Jess).
A TIFATTS fan from sunny San Diego sent in this link a while back. It’s cuddly stuffed animatronic toys, without all the fluffy cuddly stuff. Some really creepy shit in here. An excellent art project idea simply made from thrift store stuffed animals.
Im excited to introduce you to our very first guest-blogger post by fellow thrift guru, Jess Burg. Jess is the real deal. I’ve seen her sport some of the wildest, most rare thrift threads out there folks. She will be contributing here all week and hopefully a lot more in the future. She brings a good female perspective on thrift culture and a great fashion mindset to Things I Found, (something that I feel this blog has been sorely lacking.) Here is her first inspiring piece about how Michael Jackson fuels her thirst and tastes when it comes to thrifting. Enjoy!
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I want to get closer to Michael Jackson in any way possible. Being that I feel robbed of my first idol and self-proclaimed God all too soon, thrifting makes for a good coping mechanism. In theory, I can always find something to remind me of him and the legacy he left.
It used to be, the one item that was easily found in any thrift store was an old beat up vinyl copy of Thriller. When Michael passed, mourning fans and others who tried to sell them on eBay seized every last copy. Still there are many MJ gems to be discovered. Common thrift item such as crazy leather jackets, shoulder padded blouses with pop-up collars, patent leather ankle boots or even the right glove. Once you stop and look, it’s undeniable; his stylistic influences are all over the thrift store. I call his style “sexy tough.”
Some of my favorite Michael inspired items include the following:
A glittery silver knitted blouse with padded shoulders I wore one New Years Eve. A black, hybrid combo of mesh and cotton t-shirt with gold embroidery separating the two textures. I like wearing it when I know serious dancing will ensue. A few studded black belts that resemble those he sported in the “Bad” video. Then, my pride is the high tops I found. The funny thing about the day I found them is I bought them not knowing what they were. For $20 I became the proud owner of a pair of limited edition, Michael Jackson LA Gear high top sneakers. They are so tough! The shoe is modeled similar to early 90s basketball high tops except I’ve never seen B-ball shoes covered in luminous silver studs. In typical LA Gear fashion, two kinds of laces, black and silver sparkle, weave in and out of the shoe. Black leather straps with silver tips and little silver buckles adorn the tops and outer side of the shoe. On the tongue, the sanctified insignia of the King of Pop, knees bent and on his toes, replicating the same move in Moonwalker. A perfect 7.5 fit, I believe that these sneakers chose me. I’ve maybe worn them out of the house twice. I will have them for the rest of my life and honor them as the holiest of all memorabilia. They will be passed down to my children’s children in hopes that his prophecies of “Take a look at your self and make that change,” will one day come true.
Let me first start by saying that having to make rent this way was in no way fun or recommended. Unless you’re retired or insanely dedicated to it. Paying my rent for 6 months via scraping by on reselling thrifted goods was a ton of work. I was able to utilize my in-depth knowledge of web selling platforms to more easily liquidate most of the items. I was able to achieve this feat mainly by selling just a few items each month that made up most of my then $800 a month rent. On a soapbox-rant side note: let me say that when congress or some rogue old senator (who you know doesn’t even use the web) dabbles with the idea of taxing people’s income from selling items on sites like eBay and Etsy, it makes me seriously cringe. Some folks do this for a living and it’s grueling. An extremely slim percentage of the web sellers are making good coin from doing it. Like I said above, reselling items for a living is not what I’d call fun.
HOW DID I DO IT? You have to have a keen eye for items that you know will sell. “Don’t sell what you don’t know.” A bus driver wouldn’t apply for a job as an Army helicopter pilot would he? You have to know what you’re looking at or you’ll waste a lot of money on stuff you can’t liquidate and end up looking like a hoarder with a garage full of junk. My item of choice was art, because that’s what I’m comfortable in. Having a fine art and design background I was able to find rare prints that had probably been turned in by someone who didn’t know any better. I found real screen prints by David Weidman, hand-colored etchings by UK artist Jo Barry, and ORIGINAL impasto oil paintings by Italian artist P.G. Tiele (which still blows my mind!) I also found art objects such as original McCoy pottery and vintage little sculptures and plant holders from various artists & eras that sold for amounts that still surprise me to this day. America is a nation of collectors and when they see an item they want or don’t have – you bet your assthey’ll pay for it. What happens is when someone passes, all of their stuff has to be dealt with by their spouse or relatives. Most of the time it’s in hasty fashion and a lot of the items get put in a box and donated to thrift stores – that’s just my guess. Whereby, I heroically pluck them from their dusty shelves and find a better venue for them to be noticed and subsequently sold. In some ways I’m helping keep these works of art from the trash or thrift store purgatory. In a way I’m helping to connect the items with someone who collects or genuinely cherishes that artists’ work.
WHERE DID I FIND THE TIME TO DO ALL OF THIS THRIFTING? I had the time to pull this off because I was freelancing at in the evenings and would go out and thrift by day to avoid heavy crowds. Being a night owl, doing this by day made it exactly like having a 8-5 day job. I’d set my alarm and get up to go hit my spots 6 days a week. Through this experience I quickly learned how, when, and what time the newest goods were delivered to each location. I even started to notice (and feel) like some of those old creeps sitting in their cars for the stores or garage sales to open, just to be the first to get in there and peruse. QUICK TIP: using a phone with fast and strong internet can help you quick google search any artist or pot or item you think may have good value. I personally use an Apple iPhone and will attribute it to helping me find and sort through a lot of the stuff I’ve scored over the past couple years, all while shopping in the store!
It’s now been well over a year since I was doing this and have found a real comfort in knowing that if I ever hit a rough patch again in my life, that I’ll be just fine due to my sheer resourcefulness. Anyone can do this if they really have to. It may take a little bit of studying and a keen eye but you can pull it off. The thrill of scoring something you know isn’t supposed to be in there for $2.99 is the best feeling in the world. It’s a rush and it’s frankly why I manifested it into this blog.
This week I go solo and show you some personal items I’ve recently nabbed. I cover what I look for in a thrift store, and what you should be keeping and eye out for when you’re out thrifting. Click the image above for the video.
I also posted a few shots from some other goods I picked up recently. Mostly books – as usual. All of the books were under a buck. The camera bag (shown in the video) was $2.99.
* HEAD ON OVER: Arc’s Value Village Thrift Stores & Donation Centers Opens in Saint Paul. Arc’s Value Village Thrift Stores & Donation Centers will become a part of the rich retail history of White Bear Avenue with the opening of Arc’s fourth and largest Twin Cities store in the Hillcrest Shopping Center, 1650 White Bear Ave. N., St. Paul. Hillcrest Shopping Center is just south of Highway 36 on White Bear Avenue, near Aldrich Arena. The store will celebrate with a Grand Opening on Saturday, Nov. 21, 2009.
We check out Minneapolis’ newest thrift store Lost & Found. Co-owner Culley Donovan gives us the inside scoop on what it takes to start and get a thrift store off the ground and gives us an interesting in-store tour. Culley turned his passion for thrifting into one of the best thrift stores Minneapolis has to offer orthat frankly, I’ve ever been in. It has a little bit of everything, all hand-picked gems by the man himself – check it out! See the video here. (18 mins.)
EXTRA LIGHT THRIFTING week on my end. Lots of stuff going on this Fall. Fall is when most businesses slough off the last of their peeling suntans and kick it back into high gear. I managed to score a small stack of Dwell magazines for $2 each. It’s one of my top 3 favorite publications of all time. A little design, a little architecture, a little product design thrown in for good measure, just all around good, idea sparking reading. Check it out here and get a subscription whydont’cha.
SLIGHTLY OFF TOPIC: I’d like to mention/PLUG something for all you readers. About 2 years ago I was laid off for a few months from my 9-5 design job and started just going to thrift stores. Simply because I had the time to do it and because I’m pretty keen on spotting shit that resells for good coin. I lived very comfortably doing this for a full time job those few months. That’s what initially spawned this blog. During that time, I also discovered a dude named Gary Vaynerchuk. Gary is this crazy, A.D.D. north-Jersey guy who has a great wine video blog (Vlog?). I can honestly say that Gary’s passion for his lo-fi Vlog helped keep me motivated to get going and act on my passion of kickin around thrift shops and supporting myself when I didn’t have steady income. It’s amazing what a person can find out about themselves when faced with a bout of unemployment. He’s recently come out with a book that I’m almost done reading called “CRUSH IT: Why Now Is Time To Cash In On Your Passion.” So far it’s exactly like Gary, direct, motivating, and funny. You can pick it up here from Amazon.com as well. It’s people like Gary that emit hustle and motivate followers to act on their passions in life. So as the nights get longer and the fleeting daylight sucks your energy level, pick up this lil’ book for a shot of literary espresso. You won’t be disappointed – trust me.
MORE FRESH VIDEO GOODNESS to warm you up. My pal Noah and I visit a thrift store, so what – right? The thing is Noah has NEVER EVEN BEEN IN A THRIFT STORE. I know right?! This hit me as really odd. But he’s a good guy, so I took him to one, and here’s his before and after reaction. Enjoy.
