Tuesday, October 18, 2011

DO YOU LOOK FOR PERFECT?

Not long ago I was thrifting with my oldest daughter and I was pulling things off the rack and getting her youthful opinion. After the third or fourth item got the scrunched face no-no nod I asked her what she was looking for.
"Something I don't have to do anything to."

What? This is a thrift store. Nothing is perfect. That's why it ended up here.

MOMG (Mother of My Grandchildren) could you clarify that a bit?

The things I had shown her for approval were less than perfect. That one is dirty. That one is faded (can't fix faded) that one is out of style (?) and so on.Well, dirt doesn't stop me. I have lots of soap and elbow grease. Faded you can't fix and style is changing so fast it probably will BE in style before we get it home. I mean, your Dad's Members Only jacket is back in style!!

That brings me to my original question.When you are out yard sale-ing or thrifting do you look for perfect?

I don't mean I will buy something that will need 10 hours of work just to find out what color it is. I mean the fixing the seam, sewing on a button, fixing a hem, giving it a good scrub kind of thing. I never hesitate to pick up a dress or pair of pants that have the hem coming out in a spot or two. I can fix that. The dirty pyrex has never stopped me. I have soap and I'm not afraid to use it, along with some secret cleaning weapons.

I picked up this duvet cover for an excellent price. It it missing one of its buttons. Rather than mark down the price and let it go without all of its buttons I will dig in my stash of buttons and replace the button. No biggie.
I love it when the weather cooperates and I have time to wash my treasures and hang them on the line to dry. They smell sooooo good. The stripes on this only go vertical, the other stripes are shadows from the other clothes lines.

So, I don't think I am cheating anyone when I list something that I have repaired. If it is an obvious repair I'll mention it in the listing, if not I don't bother. Is that the right thing to do or am I guilty of false advertising?

What do you do? Do you only look for perfect?

1 comment:

  1. There is no fun to be found in "perfect", though I buy fewer needy items when my time is limited. I am learning to think honestly about my purchases, and not try to salvage every little thing.

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