We entered Thrift Shop season this year with only three things on our "To Buy" list, but we've ended up with a lot more than that. Let's just say we're suckers for a bargain?
Mind you that was the adults' "To Buy" list, the boys had other ideas. It really is the only time of the year that they have free range to shop, and it is like Christmas for them, in terms of getting "new" stuff!
Here are some, but not all of the things we bought. I think most of the things not photographed were purchases (or freebies) that the boys got.
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| A giant casserole dish to cater to my family's growing appetites. |
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A bunch of books that will probably be returned to the Thrift Shop "library"
sometime in the future. |
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I shared this story on Facebook yesterday.
On Friday afternoon, after Thrift Shop closed
for the day, I discovered an email sent that
day about a band concert our middle son
has to play in next week. What we didn't know
before then was that he was required to wear
dressy clothes, including better-than-sneakers.
He normally refuses to wear such clothes, and, never
having had an reason to have to wear these types
of clothes before, there are none in his wardrobe.
Turns out that we were able to find a whole set
of clothes for free for him during the ½ hour free
shopping allowed to those who spend about three
hours cleaning up the gym after the event.
God's provision indeed! |
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Once I get a replacement pedal for my sewing machine,
I'll be all ready to try making some new skirts. Looks great! |
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Some DVD action. Watching NCIS being one of our favourite
relaxations as a couple in the evenings. Men in Black has been
recommended as something our boys would enjoy. |
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A brand-name hoodie for our next winter,
cost only a couple of dollars. |
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| More relaxation time. |
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This one also made it onto my Facebook page. I bought a frozen yoghurt/ice cream maker at Thrift Shop for ¥1,000 (about $AU10), it was more than ¥8,000 new.
Frozen yoghurt is rare in Japan. This was one of those unexpected finds that makes Thrift Shop like an exciting treasure hunt (I've never even thought about buying one of these). I didn't even see it out on the floor, but happened to be working with its now former owner for two hours at the register on Friday afternoon. She happened to mention that it hadn't sold yet and my interest was piqued. We love our frozen desserts around here, and frozen yoghurt is rare in Japan. After a quick call to David I took the plunge and bought it. I can't wait to try it out!!!! |
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| Boy toys found by our youngest. |
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| These were finds by our eldest. A Japanese abacus (soroban), a dice game, cute container and more books.. |
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| More boy toys...it feels like we've discarded a bunch of younger toys (at least two or three boxes) and gained toys that appeal to older kids. At least we're not having to pack up and move everything to another location in nine weeks... |
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| Another boy's toy. Found this floating in the bathroom sink when I returned from working yesterday afternoon. |
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This was my great toy find. We already have a couple of tubs of Zoob,
a construction toy that is not cheap (it was a gift). But we've
never had WHEELS. And if you know any boys at all you know
that wheels make a big difference! This toy kept two boys awake on
Thursday night! |
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| Even big boys aren't immune to the lure of plastic swords. |
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What was bought was the plastic "stand". Suits their HeroScape
collection. Discovered by our middle son. |
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A cool Ikea alarm clock that also functions as a timer, thermometer
and clock, depending on which way up you sit it. Also bought for a couple of dollars. It was for our middle son. I'm yet to hear it function... |
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This was the real thing we were looking for: luggage. We have a larger
luggage allowance than we've ever had before and bigger boys with larger
clothes. These will come in handy and the three
bags cost only about AU$12 in total. |
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| More books and some clothing. Shorts and t-shirts. |
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| Wooly mammoth. Shhhh, this is for a birthday present for our youngest son this week. |
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And possibly the cutest find by our eldest: Top Trumps
cards to add to our collection with cute dog pictures! |
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| Pulling apart the shoe-display stands. |
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Someone who reads this blog urged me to take these two photos of
our two younger boys helping with the clean-up of the gym
yesterday afternoon after Thrift Shop was all over (for three hours). They both
did a fabulous job for no monetary reward and we're very proud of them.
Their older brother was in the paid-crew of high schoolers who were helping with heavy lifting outside and in the storage area of the cafeteria basement. |
One of the staff members made a short video (less than 4 minutes) showing some of the action of Thrift Shop. I recommend checking it out:
Great haul!
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