Obsessive thrifting and estate-sale-ing

[Miss Peach]

When is it too much? Am I among friends in my struggle to quell the treasure-hunt syndrome?

It probably helps that I don't buy online, which is a way to console myself, but GOODNESS...
the stuff!!!!

 

[HepKitty]

lol sometimes I'm guilty of this too...

 

[Katarina]

Do you picture the stuff staring up at you and screaming, "HELP ME! TAKE ME WITH YOU"?

Yeah, me neither.

 

[de-stressed]

Totally guilty here.. and recently guilty of online shopping now too :eusa_doh:

 

[HarpPlayerGene]

Looking forward to seeing you on that Hoarding show. lol

I have the bug too, but at least I like to be organized and have my surroundings look nice so when anything really starts to pile up or get to where there isn't a logical way to fit it into a drawer, etc., then I know to sort through and eliminate the less-than-favorites. I'll donate or sell off things that I figure out aren't a great fit or that I have dupes of and concentrate on top quality rather than pure quantity. Still, I have a lot of stuff too.

 

[Miss sofia]

I know my excessive charity shop habit had got too much when i was actually invited upstairs at the charity shop the other day by the old dears for a rummage, and that was probably the most excited i have been for years! Dear, dear!

 

[Foofoogal]

oh Miss Sofia,

They all save me stuff. I have codependents to my obsessiveness.

 

[Mr Vim]

I do not know about you folks but my excuse is that I'm just starting out, now a few years from now? Maybe then I will have a problem.

 

[Miss sofia]

oh Miss Sofia,

They all save me stuff. I have codependents to my obsessiveness.

That made me laugh out loud. Oh i have got those ladies saving me stuff, It's just the fact they have let me loose upstairs now that is worrying, is there no end to this madness!!

 

[Claireg]

I know my excessive charity shop habit had got too much when i was actually invited upstairs at the charity shop the other day by the old dears for a rummage, and that was probably the most excited i have been for years! Dear, dear!

OMG.. this is MY story!
I had this the other day, I felt like Id been given the keys to the magic kingdom!
its gotten so bad that I just physically cannot drive past a thrift shop without going in, even if i just checked it out a few days ago.
And i have convinced myself that i can "sense" if there is something decent in there waiting for me!

 

[Miss sofia]

Ha ha, it's so true, great minds and all that, my charity shop (see, there is no hope left..) is actually on my way to work and i get upset if i don't pop in everyday because i convince myself i missed out on a belter of a find. But then i do reason that it is a local independent shop all money to a local hospice and you can still buy stuff there for under a pound..with change...so ...CHARGE!!

 

[Land-O-LakesGal]

My children save me from my obsessiveness right now. I used to spend my summers off teaching going to estate sales every day. I would sell some of it on ebay but mostly I just have a house full. Right now the most I can do is garage sales and in Minnesota those end soon. My kids take up most my time and money right now.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I went thru the obsessive stage a long time ago -- in the pre-internet/pre-ebay era, I knew where every flea market and thrift store in the state was, and I racked up hundreds of miles of driving going to them every summer. It was worthwhile then, though, because the really good stuff was still out there for the finding. Nowadays, none of the fleas or thrifts here have anything worthwhile -- it's mostly 80s stuff, and I hated that when it was new -- so I actually do very little in-person shopping anymore. There's an antique-mall type place a couple blocks from here that I go to once a month or so, and that's about the extent of it.

Which is good. I wore out two cars in my obsessive days.

 

[Wire9Vintage]

Guilty. I try to sell enough to support my habit. Which isn't easy!...

I also have two up-and-coming obsessives in my daughters. But I must say, we have some very nice things that have lasted and will last seemingly forever. My kids have learned the lesson of quality over quantity. Even with our obsessive thrifting/auction-going, we have far less stuff than most of our friends. And our stuff is interesting, has value, and is nearly one-of-a-kind (including our really nice closets of clothes!). If we get tired of something, we can sell it on to another like-minded soul, rather than tossing it in the trash, which is all you can do with most new things.

And yes, I also feel like I'm saving things that want to be saved. That's just a little weird, I suppose

 

[Miss sofia]

No i totally get you. I always find it sad when you see things in a fleamarket or a charity shop, be it a tablecloth or a set of cutlery perhaps that you could imagine were someones pride and joy once, a wedding gift, an anniversary gift, part of someone's bottom drawer, so i feel like i am giving them a good home, keeping the memory of what they may have meant to someone alive for a while longer.

I have had to curb the old photo habit though, i have trunks full, i used to find that really poignant, especially ones i found in skips or in the rubbish, i even have some of them incorporated into my family album, and as far as my son is concerned that's great uncle Raymond and auntie Lucy and that's that.

 

[Claireg]

Yeah i know about the poignant factor!
i found a full set of art deco teacups, plates, sugar bowl and jug the other day. Someone had put them out all in different places over the shop so you couldnt tell it was a set.
i HAD to buy them, if for no other reason than to keep the set together, I imagined some little old lady having had them for 80 years- probably her "good" set and her kids come along and throw them out!
Well - i tell myself that was the reason, I have LOTS of different ways to talk myself into spending money!

 

[Foofoogal]

I love this thread. It so makes me feel good to know there are like minded people in this world.

Wire9Vintage you summed up my thinking exactly.

In a nutshell. It makes me happy and adds much to my life. When I moved from Texas to Arkansas it was one of the main familiar things to me.

i HAD to buy them, if for no other reason than to keep the set together,

I cannot tell you how many times I have done similar. If I find a sugar bowl I go on the hunt for the creamer.

I really, really wish someone would do research on the minds of collectors like us. I guarantee it is a right brain/left brain something or other.

for example:
Right now I am looking at a pristine vintage copper 1960s planter. It has the coolest design on the front. Like diamonds. Still has stickers.
Do I need a planter? No.
Should I pick it up just in case someone collects this or it would look great in a 1960s house.
but what if I spend my money and it doesn't sell when I try to sell it and the right person does not come along.
but what if I leave it there and it doesn't get appreciated and it ends up in the dump?
everyday they are taking vintage and drilling holes in it or taking it apart?
Should I save it or not? I truly have chats with myself along these lines.
I get some sort of great satisfaction like you all do from rescuing it. No other word for it.
Saving it.
When I went to the Louvre a few years I think it got worse. I saw the micro mosaics from eons ago. I thought who saved these years and years ago? I run across stuff deadstock still in box. Did the person get it as a present and not like it so they did not use it or did they love it so much they could not bear to use it?

 

[BoPeep]

It was worthwhile then, though, because the really good stuff was still out there for the finding.

This is it. Back in high school, Mom and I hit all the major flea markets at 5am because you could pick up glass washboards for $1 and Griswold meat grinders for $5. Well, okay, the meat grinders are still $5. Why does no one want these?! Seems that the "good" stuff just isn't there anymore. Or perhaps it's because I walk past the tables saying, "Already have it, already have it."

I do feel the need to *save* things also. Bought a incomplete set of dishes, promptly hit ebay to finish off a service for eight. Bought a Sunbeam mixer, travel to every rummage and thrift store with the tray in my purse in an effort to match bowls. Bought a set of pink Depression salt and pepper shakers, travel with them in my purse in an effort to find the screw on lids!

 

[LizzieMaine]

One thing I still do is pick the dump. It's a socially-acceptable practice here, always has been, and most town dumps have a "swap shop" building where the pick of the day's litter is set out for whoever wants to take it home. Mostly I bring home books and hard goods from there -- last spring I found a Lane cedar chest that I was fortunate enough to be able to fit in my car, and a few years ago, I got my '46 Westfield bicycle from there. Rarely do I leave without at least a few books under my arm -- I get very upset when I see books being thrown away, to the point where I take things I probably won't get around to reading just because I can't stand to see them pulped. A while back when I was there, I took home a 1926 college zoology textbook, which is still sitting in my car -- makes for interesting browsing when I'm waiting at a traffic light...

 

[LordBest]

Good lord, I would kill to have an antique/vintage meat grinder for only $5.

This is it. Back in high school, Mom and I hit all the major flea markets at 5am because you could pick up glass washboards for $1 and Griswold meat grinders for $5. Well, okay, the meat grinders are still $5. Why does no one want these?! Seems that the "good" stuff just isn't there anymore. Or perhaps it's because I walk past the tables saying, "Already have it, already have it."

I do feel the need to *save* things also. Bought a incomplete set of dishes, promptly hit ebay to finish off a service for eight. Bought a Sunbeam mixer, travel to every rummage and thrift store with the tray in my purse in an effort to match bowls. Bought a set of pink Depression salt and pepper shakers, travel with them in my purse in an effort to find the screw on lids!