Last Saturday I went up to Albuquerque to pick up some brackets I found on craigslist, and I stopped in at Goodwill just to see what they had. I’m not particularly fond of Goodwill since they price gauge on a regular basis. Have you noticed that? When a store that gets items for FREE charges $200.00 for broken table and chairs that don’t even match, you have to start to think something’s shady!
Anyway, the high prices don’t prevent me from browsing and going on a safari for that extra special something that was priced just right or below value. I wasn’t looking for anything specifically, just something of value…and I found it when I spied a bunch of wooden hangers taped together. I was so excited to find REAL wooden hangers! $1.99 for two bunches of wooden hangers is a deal! I was able to get Simmi nine children’s books for $3.00 and a very cool mirror I’ll be painting pink for her bedroom for $3.00 as well.

We have a few thrift shops down here in Los Lunas, and one of them is called Bargain Square. I’m always entertained when I go into Bargain Square because of how they price stuff. If you’re from Los Lunas, and you’ve been to Bargain Square you know exactly what I’m talking about. Okay, so here’s what happens…

We go to Bargain Square and usually meet some other thrift savvy person on the prowl for a good find, who will inevitably say, “wow! A used spaghetti jar without the top is on sale for $4.00! What a deal!” and then look at us in amazement that someone would allow such things to be priced so high. Yet, on the flip side you can find a LARGE willow basket in perfect condition for .99 cents. Yes, this happens on a regular basis.

Bargain Square is the place to come for that extra special “something” that you would have never expected to find there. You can’t go there with any expectations that you’ll find what you were looking for, but you will have the heightened awareness that someone who doesn’t know how to price used merchandise has been put in charge of the price tag gun and has gone crazy…real crazy.

One really cool item we got there was a food processor. This wasn’t just any old food processor, it was a La Machine with every attachment you could ever want in a food processor. At the time, I saw it sitting on the shelf, and I said to Dom, “Whoa, its a food processor Dom! Holy shit look at all the stuff it comes with…plug it in to see if it works!”

He plugged it in, and everything worked perfectly. We stuck it in the basket and then I kept my eye on it as it sat there in the cart as though it were made of gold. The photo to the right is similar to what we have. I found it on ebay for $70 or best offer. If you’d like a La Machine, just click the photo to be taken to the ad.

While everyone may want a shiny new stainless steel food processor, I’m quite satisfied with our $15 treasure from Bargain Square. Yes, $4.00 empty jars of sauce with the old label still attached costs an arm and a leg, and someone pricing merchandise obviously underestimated the value of an old food processor. 🙂

The original reason for traveling up to Albuquerque on Saturday was to pick up a craigslist treasure…shelf brackets!

I needed lots of shelf brackets for our bedroom since we’re installing shelves on either side of our large picture window. I wanted something heavy duty that we could spray paint, and I hit the jackpot with these! There’s 24- 13 inch shelf brackets for $10.00 Not too shabby!