Op Shop Haul

Hi all,

First post on this blog but I've been reading it for ages.
Thought I'd start with my best op shop buy this summer (so far).
I was in Bright for a day and the op shop (the hospital oppy) had a great deal on....all the clothes you could stuff into a shopping bag for $5! I couldn't beleive it!!
I didn't even fill my bag!
This is my haul:




I managed to pile in: cookie monster t-shirt (which i now sleep in)
Some high waisted jeans which i cut into shorts
An amazingly warm big green cardi
A nice black 3/4 sleeve top
An orange v-neck top (valleygirl)
A white straight cut dress (looks great with a brown belt)
A black straight cut dress with detailing on the neck
An orange 3/4 top with lace edging on sleeves
AND
a cute dress which didn't suit me in the end, so I gave to an op shop at home

For five bucks!
It was a great op shop, spacious with really nice volunteers and awesome prices (even without the sale). Check it out if you're ever up that way:)

kat.

Salvos Stores on Facebook

Salvos Stores now has a facebook page - they post interesting finds that have come into their stores all around Australia (and that are currently available!) and they also post what the 50% off coloured tag is each week!

http://www.facebook.com/salvosstores

St John Of God Opshop new location

I visited the new premises with my opshop buddy Glenda, and we had a fun morning! The women working in the shop have a room at the back where they sort stuff and have their cuppas, and everyone in the shop can hear the conversations. Well! One lady was talking loudly about her experiences in looking for blokes on the internet. Was she doing it deliberately to keep the customers entertained? Glenda and I had to stop ourselves from laughing out loud!! I asked why they moved from the old house, and was told that it was condemned, and had to be demolished. The ladies were very cheesed off about it, and said most of their stock was in storage because there wasn't enough room in the new premises.

We bought some bits and pieces, went next door and had a coffee, then went back to the opshop for another scrounge! Here is what I bought:

Some lengths of lace for use in craft projects - $1 for the lot.


White tee-shirt $4. I've got several already, but this one had a nice lace insert around the neck.


Sleeveless top $2.


Wraparound skirt $3. At first I thought it was a length of patchwork fabric, and snapped it up because I love the elephants design. Then I saw the waistband and ties. I might still use it for patchwork though!



Silky (polyester) overblouse $1.

Three Legged Chair Op Shop, Mornington

It was at this op shop that I finally found a microwave turntable to replace the one I smashed. It was my 4th attempt - who knew microwave turntables came in such a variety of sizes and types? Next time, I'll keep a few key pieces from the broken one for matching purposes. Not that I plan to break another one for a long, long time!

Amy.

Half Price Sale - Ashburton

Dropped into 2 OpShops in Ashburton today, picked up a few patterns, a dress for Gr.daughter and this large, lovely piece of fabric.

The fabric was from the Support Services Op Shop by the Railway line in Ashburton High Street,  TODAY was HALF PRICE DAY on all stock... in fact they said their SALE would run from today (Wed) thru to Saturday.  May have to pop back again tomorrow to see if anything else takes my fancy. They are only open 1/2 days Saturday, but I did notice they have changed their Monday hours, they are now open from 10am every day, even Mondays.

the fabric  is Profusement from the Joy of Spring Collection, designed by  Greeff.. printed in England for Warner...[seems to be a heavy cotton]

up close

 

 Only big problem I have is it is musty smelling... guess I'll have to hang it on the line outside for a few days and hope it freshens up.  I do NOT want to wash and iron it if possible, until I decide what to do.  There are 3 large pieces, each approx. 2½ to 3 meters long!.

off to the Yarra Valley - -

Today GD and I decided to take a trip to the Yarra Valley to view the Brett Whiteley exhibition at TarraWarra Museum of Art.  The weather was great, and I have to admit the scenery was just perfect.  Along the way, we resisted the temptation to stop at EVERY op shop, but we did stop at a few, and found some more patterns, and embroidery bits and pieces, including a cute little frame, a pair of long... really long.. white lace gloves, and another copy of Notebook magazine. Best find was a set of six KEN DONE coasters, we are both great Ken Done fans!
Most were found at Ringwood, and Healesville, but we made a few stops elsewhere too. A lovely day out♥

Crush on coral at Savers

Normally I'm not someone who wears much pink, but I got a double shot of it at Savers Brunswick recently. I found this coral coloured woollen cape for $4.99 and the huge earrings were the same price. If you want to see what the cape looks like in motion, go to my blog!

 

Just a hint about capes - this one happened to be sitting on the rack outside the change rooms because someone must have just tried it on and rejected it (who was that foolish person!?), but I noticed that on the price tag it was categorised as "bed and bath". I found a cape in the Salvos that was put into that category too. I think it might be because neither of the ones I saw were actually tailored, they really are just rectangles with a split up the middle so they look like blankets. Anyway, just a tip for you - if you're looking for a cape, make sure you check out the bed linen and towel section of the op shop, you might just get lucky!

Slip

Vintage 100% cotton slip from an op-shop in Mansfield, Victoria.

Slip

Op Shopping Goes Digital - Salvos Test Op Shop Online

Salvos are testing an online op shopping service.

Things have come a long way since there was a different lady behind the counter each day, you got to know which lady gave 1970s prices, and you hid things in a corner behind the suitcase of winter clothes to retrieve and buy when that lady was serving (I've heard that used to happen anyway ;) )

http://salvosstores.salvos.org.au/shop/

Greensborough SAVERS

just had a lovely morning in Greensborough at Savers and Brotherhood. Grand daughter found a few more frames for her Cross Stitch project and some crafty bits and pieces, and an amazing Japanese musical jewel box ($4.99 !! bargain!!)
I have not been to Greensborough for years, so have now made a resolution to check it out more regularly.  For myself I found some great Retro Drinks Coasters, magazines and patternbooks.

Hope everyone else has had a successful Saturday. ~Lyndel

The Brotherhood is open again!

Wheee!! My favourite little oppy is open again after the Xmas break, so Glenda and I dropped in today to see what is new. Glenda found a few goodies of her own, and I spent the grand total of $12.75 on these:

Unusual bracelet for $8 - I love anything blue, and I like bracelets in summer with sleeveless tops.


This seems to be have been cut from a larger piece of printed fabric, but all I wanted was the Sunbonnet Sue figures at the bottom. 50 cents.

Yup - another tie - 75 cents. But what a neat pattern!


This Giordano teeshirt ($3.50) looks blue, but is actually white. It will replace the white teeshirt I have had for years, which is looking very shabby now.

St John Op shop has moved.

I have been reliably informed that the St John of God Op shop in Greensborough has relocated to Diamond Hills Shopping Centre, behind the Apollo Parkways Primary School. I haven't been there yet, but will check it out next week. Can anyone in the Greensborough area confirm this information?

School Holiday Op Shopping

I love Op Shopping in the School Holidays, as the shops seem to have lots of kids and teens finding wonderful things, and that always makes me happy.

Granddaughter and I ventured out yesterday  to find a few treasures, as she wanted more images for her Eleven of Hearts  blog.

First stop in Ashburton at the Community Services shop by the railway netted her a few 'hearts' and for me these 3 great Tea Towels.  I love Linen Tea towels and to find not ONE but THREE brand new ones was a real bonus.

puppies from the Guide Dog Association,  Wombats from the RSPCA, and autumn tone fruits from the Royal Horticultural Society UK.  a neat haul.

We then went across the road to St.Vinnies in Ashburton, and on to the RSPCA in East Burwood. Gr'daughter found more heart shapes, I just enjoyed the coffee !

Recent bargains

I haven't blogged for ages but I have bought some great things recently. Here's a few that were in my kitchen.

Mixmaster

Johnson of Australia Coffee Cups

Decanter -> Vase

Biscuit Jar

Champagne Glasses

Pewter Salt, Pepper and Mustard Set

Blue Glasses

Wedgwood bowl

the invitation's in the mail

Hi all,

I have just sent out a round of invitations to join the blog - thank you again everyone for your patience! If you would like to join (and particularly if I have missed you out thus far), please let me know and I will be onto it pronto.

Kind regards and a huge thank you to our contributors past, present and future.

Amelia

I long ago ran out of space on my fridge and on my various pinboards for all the things I need to stick in plain view so I won't forget them. I also have a freestanding wall between my kitchen and lounge room that was crying out for some sort of decoration, but nothing too fancy as it's the sort of wall people rush past constantly (and at close quarters) on their way to/from the kitchen. When I saw this at the Salvos in Sunbury I thought, perfect! I use it to hold photos, tickets, vouchers, invitations and the like, and I also think it's really pretty. For all I know things like this are really common, but it felt like a fortuitous find to me. It was $8.50.

I'm glad we're halfway through January - getting a bit antsy with so many church op shops and country op shops having their extended summer break...

More to read on my blog.

St Vinnies op shop Oakleigh open 7 days per week

Was just in the Oakleigh St Vinnies op shop, in Crewe Rd, when I overheard (and read the sign on the counter) that they are now open 7 days per week starting tomorrow.
Not sure if this is all St Vincent de Paul op shops or just the Oakleigh store, but the new opening hours at Oakleigh are Sunday 10am - 4pm.
They have rearranged the whole store layout in the past few months so if you haven't been for awhile drop in and have a look at the fab stock they have available.
A leaky roof in yesterdays heavy downpour saw the back room floor a little damp but no damage to stock and the hard working volunteers carried on, regardless.
Snaffled up some great jigsaw puzzles for my Aspie son, a bargain at $2, $3 and $4 each, audio book of Goosebumps on cassette tape and a few books.

New Year, New Skirt

I picked up this Lolitta summer skirt for only $2.50 in the first week of January... it was one of the 50% ticket items that week at Dandenong Salvos.

It's really great because for a few weeks now I have noticed the Salvos stores have been collecting all the half price items and putting them on one rack all together for you to browse through, as opposed to them being just on racks with all the other normal priced items. Makes it a bit easier to find a bargain ;)

What has everyone else been finding so far in 2011?

Sacred Heart Video

While looking up Sacred Heart's op-shop opening hours, I stumbled across the organisation's new video about op shops. It's mostly promotional, but I did discover that a lot of their unwanted stock gets picked up by Diabetes Australia and Savers (instead of going to the tip).

Oops

I saw Amelia's latest post, and started feeling guilty. So now I'm blogging again. Um. Yeah.

A little while before Christmas, I scored a stack of retro/kitsch tablecloths from the Forest Hill Lions Club Op Shop. Each one cost three to four bucks, and I ended up spending big (i.e. forty bucks).

The four below are my favourites, and now form the header for my new blog, cugly.wordpress.com, which features all things cute but ugly.

membership update

Many thanks to people who have enquired in the past few weeks about joining this blog. Many more apologies for my tardiness in responding. It would be wonderful to have you join; I just need to do a bit of housekeeping on the membership list and will then send invitations out to you.

Not strictly opping, but you'll forgive me??

Op shops were closed over the New Year break but I still managed to score some great second hand stuff... I went to the Rosebud Lion's Market on Sunday and this is what I got for the princely sum of $19, I think...


... there was an added bonus which I discovered when I opened the black handbag at home, this Japanese road safety amulet was hidden in the pocket (I only know what it is because I lived in Japan for nearly a decade)!

If you want more info/babble about the market, please visit my blog!

Savers at Greensborough New Year's Eve.

Like Jac, I couldn't resist a last opshop visit for the old year! I had a box of stuff to drop off at Savers in Greensborough, and was shocked to find I could barely get my small car into their driveway, for all the stuff that had been donated over Christmas! Furniture, and boxes of stuff bursting open. Could it all have been unwanted Xmas gifts?? No, more likely old stuff that was replaced by Xmas gifts!
I thought it would be worthwhile seeing what was on the shelves, so in I went.

A tie with American dollars printed on it - very different! $2.99


Beautiful paperweight - I have a friend who collects them, so I'm snapping them up when I see them going as cheap as this - $2.99


There were half a dozen of these frames for $1.99, but I just bought one. They are great for putting mini cross stitch pictures in for gifts.



Six books by some of my favourite authors; priced between $2.99 and $4.99, which was getting a bit dear for opshop prices, I thought, but retail prices for some of these would have been over $20, so I can't complain.


Craft mag 99 cents, Craft book $1.99


The total for all these came to nearly $32, but I have a discount card which is stamped every time I donate goods, and it was up to 20% discount, which reduced my total to $25.60. Guess I got those books at the right price after all!

Last Finds of 2010

Hi Everyone,

it has been ages since I posted my op shop finds so here I some things I picked up this week. I got this Ladakh dress at Dandenong Savers for $14.99, and I got the belt ages ago for like $2 from an op shop in Mornington. I got the bag on the left from Noble Park Salvo's - it is a brown leather Nine West bag and it only set me back $4.99! The bag on the right is from Savers Dandenong and it cost me 6.99 - best bit is that it is an Hermes! (well, a pretty good knock off if it isn't actually the real deal!)