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Tuesday, June 17, 2014

Thrift Store Gods Send Me A Message

This is a companion piece to my as yet unwritten post: What's Goodwill NOT good for? The answer is anything very specific and/or anything you need right this second.  Also: men's pants.

We are about to go for a trip to Serbia, among other spots. There we will meet our dear daughter whom we haven't seen since September. When we started to pack, I realized once again that Mr FS has awful travel pants. Each year, I say "Let's get you nice pants. From a real store."

Then, Miss Em requested that Frugal Son, who will meet up with her earlier than we will, bring a set of Game of Thrones for the brother of someone who showed her incredible hospitality. Miss Em thinks I have magic powers. She said, "It's ok if they're used." I called all the used bookshops and checked Paperbackswap. Nada. Miss Em finally said to buy them new.

The rule of thrift shopping for needs is to WAIT. Time ran out and last week I ordered Game of Thrones. Poor Frugal Son will be shlepping 5 heavy books to Europe. What a guy.

Finally I--controller of the shopping--broke down and bought Mr FS two pairs of travel pants. Ex Officio from Sierra Trading Post (a good site to know about). They just arrived. Very nice!

Here we are a day before we leave. We have been cooped up for 5 days in heavy rain. I went to Goodwill. What do I find? A pair of Patagonia travel pants in Mr FS's size. Then, I went to the Food Bank thrift. There I find the complete paperback set of Game of Thrones.

The thrift store gods are sending me a message. What is the message?


5 comments:

Duchesse said...

Perhaps, "Thou are wise to shop at stores with full-refund return policies"?

Have a marvelous trip, you must be aching to see her!

tess said...

Haha, that's happened to me before! For a while it was raining Calvin and Hobbes books after my son expressed an interest.

The Frugal Shrink said...

Ha, I agree with the Duchesse's statement on return policies. ;) This is the thrill of thrift shops. You know these things will show up, but WHEN??? Have a wonderful trip!

Gam Kau said...

A bit woo-woo, but my theory is that we get what we need. If we are patient enough. Similar things have happened to me many times.
Or maybe it is simply a reflection of how wasteful our society is. :)

Have a safe and wonderful journey!

Terra Trevor said...

I love this post!