My first day at our opshop.

I had such a fun afternoon at the Brotherhood Opshop in Eltham! The other volunteers were very friendly and glad to have me on board, and they showed me how everything was sorted in the back room of the shop. What an eye opener!! We had about 8 people drop boxes and bags of stuff in, and that was just while I was there in the afternoon. I helped sort and price it. BSL (Brotherhood of St.Laurence) like to keep things cheap, so unless they know something has quite a high value (as in antiques or jewellery) most of their stuff is under $10.


They have re-organised their team of volunteers and asked me to work on Friday mornings instead of Monday afternoons, and that's fine by me. Now that I've had a taste of it, I'd be happy working in there every day; it was like Xmas opening up all those bags and boxes that people brought in! I was very good, and only pounced on two items! I took home a red jumper, a set of Aussie design coasters, a DVD and a patchwork chook. The coasters and DVD were already on the shelves, and I found them before I started working, but when the chook turned up in a donated bag, I begged to buy it immediately!






In the morning, before I went to the BSL, I had to go to a shop in Greensborough, just near Savers, so of course I had to pop in and see what was on offer.
I found these goodies:
A vintage Semco cloth, embroidered with Mexican theme designs, $3.99

Gorgeous scarf in my favourite colours, $2.99

Cute little cotton cloth which will be perfect on our kitchen table.

Two lengths of patchwork fabric - brown and cream pattern 39" wide by 90" long, $3.99
Multi-coloured pattern 43" wide, one yard long, $2.99.

All in all, I was a happy little Vegemite :-)

Opshop buyer becomes opshop seller!

The Brotherhood shop in Eltham have lost two of their most dedicated volunteers recently, so there was a desperate sign in the window asking for new volunteers. On my weekly visit, I asked the lady in charge what days did they need workers, and she just about fell on her knees in gratitude! Looks like I start on Monday 26th of this month. Told hubby I had a little job at the opshop, and he raised his eyebrows and said "But you don't get paid, do you?" Men...one track minds.

Dunolly op shop

Pack your bags and have a weekend away exploring Central Vic op shops!
Well, I can speak for the Dunolly Uniting Church op shop at least ;)

It's open Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays, along with every second Saturday of the month while hosting the regular carboot sale/market in the car park.
If you pop up during the carboot weekend you may as well stay overnight as the Dunolly Market will be held on the Sunday.

But getting back to the op shop - they have their Spring/Summer range in stock at silly prices, all styles, ranges and sizes.
In fact all of their stock is marked at ridiculously cheap prices - hand-embroidered doilies/tablesclothes starting at $1, collectable glassware and crystal beginning at 50 cents, the list is endless!

I found some brand new Hugo Boss jeans for the hubby for $5, a pair of new women's Summer culottes for $2, 2 pairs of casual shorts (1x male, 1x ladies) for $2 each, with the usual balls of wool (50 cents) books ($1) and things that caught my sons eye (50 cents each).

The op shop is housed in the (former) Wesleyan Jubilee Sunday School built in 1887 (as seen below, click for larger view), behind the Dunolly Uniting Church in Barkly Street, Dunolly.

You heard it first...

If you're reading this, then of course you're an avid op shopper. So you wouldn't think it was strange that I was whiling away a train trip by babbling on about op shopping to a fellow enthusiast who just happens to be having a birthday today and who had just been op shopping as her birthday treat. What you might find strange, or at least just a bit of a coincidence, is that while we were discussing this worthy topic, I happened to look out the window at Tooronga station and notice a sign - about an op shop that is opening soon!!
According to the sign, an MS (Multiple Sclerosis) shop is opening on Glenferrie Road, Malvern. I couldn't see the date, but the sign was asking for volunteers, so it must be opening soonish?
Does anyone have any more info about this exciting news?

City Weekly mentions!

Hi all, just a very quick post to tell you that the City Weekly article about op shopping (featuring Gina E and others including myself!) is up now at this link! And of course you can pick up the hard copy of the paper too if you're in the CBD. I'm also blogging for them at the moment so visit the website thecityweekly.com.au if you get a moment!

Werribee Op Shop Tours

Hello all,

Op Shop Tours Australia are operating in the Wyndham Sustainability Festival so spend the day in Werribee this Saturday and find yourself a bargain or two.

Saturday, September 10, 2011

Location: Meet at the Wedge Street Piazza, 90A Watton St (cnr Wedge St), Werribee

Cost: FREE

Time:
Session 1: 9:15am - 12:30pm
Session 2: 1:00pm - 4:15pm

Bookings essential:
http://www.wyndham.vic.gov.au/environment/environmentsustainability/eventsprograms/festival2011/events/opshop_tours

See you there,

Jo :)

Savers in Mill Park.

I got my hair cut and coloured today, and as I was in Mill Park, it was an ideal opportunity to drop into Savers on Childs Road. I must have been there for two hours! For some reason it was fairly quiet this morning, and it was nice to just wander around up and down the aisles without being pushed aside by over-enthusiastic shoppers. Monday is their day for giving 20% off everything for seniors card holders. The girl at the cash register asked if I had a Savers Discount card and when I said no she said "Oh what a pity I can't give you any discounts, you're too young to have a Seniors Card"...then I flashed my Seniors card and my pension card, and she blinked and said "that's good enough!".


Hubby has been after a box to store all his heart medications, instead of in the shoe box I provided! I found the perfect size plastic box for $5.99.




I found these fabrics in the tablecloth section. I suppose you can make a tablecloth out of any fabrics, but I've got better ideas for these two! A yard of black gingham $4.99. The brown (colour in photo is not right) fabric is 41" wide by 2-1/2 yards long, for $6.99.



Three ties $1.99 each. The tie with books on is perfect for a project I'm working on, that needs books on a shelf - I'd been looking for fabric like that for ages! The next tie has cats on it - first one I've ever seen, and I love the colours of the third one.

This mug is for one of my friends, who has two plates in this design, and will be tickled pink to get a matching mug for $1.


This little book was $1.99, and well worth it - gorgeous illustrations of 'calling cards' that predate our modern day 'business cards'.

For a total of $26.90 worth of goods, I paid $$21.60 - way to go!

a glenferrie gem

as my first post in this blog, i thought it appropriate to choose something extraordinary. akira isogawa is just that: a genius at his art. he is a master of fluidity and his penchant for choosing prints and fabrics is unparalleled. and guess what? he is absolutely lovely in person, softly spoken and a thoughtful mind. i was lucky enough to chat with him at his gpo store in melbourne, having only one week earlier come across this beautiful wool bolero at the vinnies store in glenferrie road, malvern. and i will be lucky enough to see his divine creations at the romeo and juliet ballet at the arts centre later this month xx