There Is Something Very Special About This Chair...

There is something very special about this chair, and it's not just that it's holding my birthday presents until I open them tomorrow.

 Here, I'll take those off so you can see it properly.

Actually, there's a lot of special things about this chair.  First thing is, there's only one of it, which, if it's not to your taste, you're probably glad to hear.  I can see it's a chair you either love or hate on sight.
The second special thing about this chair is that I rescued it.  Technically, I rescued it twice.  I made it; rather I put it together from two old chairs and some bits and bobs.
This is our story, mine and the chairs:
Many years ago now, I was not living somewhere safe and secure.  The only place I could find to rent at short notice and without getting rid of most of the few things I had was actually a storage space under an old style high set house.  I could use their kitchen and bathroom at least but to say my room was a "bedroom" is a joke.  It was a storage space.  It had an old lumpy bed and a little side table.  The floor was dirt and the floor of the house above was unsealed so my wake up call every morning was sand and grit raining down on my face from above as the little girl of the house ran around getting ready for school.  There was no electric light, I had a small battery powered one but not enough to read or study by.  There was a wardrobe of sorts, but it had no doors.
But then, one day, my favourite thing ever happened: Hard Rubbish Collection!  You guys, it's like an op shop but it's free and on everyone's lawn, as if you didn't know I'd love that!
I saw the blue chair frame in my immediate neighbour's pile.  I saw it had no seat.  I stroked the chair frame and told it "I wish I could fix you, then I could keep you and save you.  I'll save myself one day." because paying actual money to live in a storage space drives you a little bit batty.
For two days I thought about that lovely chair frame.  I liked the colour and the shape.
Then, the day before pickup in my area, I went out for a walk.  I decided to go down a street I'd never been down before, just to see what was there.  That's when I saw it: a clinical, boring-looking ubiquitous metal chair with it's seat detached.  The seat was not exactly pretty, but it was intact and functional, so I grabbed it, along with a bag of coat hangers to get my clothes out my suitcase and in the "wardrobe".
I took it back to my room and then went and grabbed the frame.  I sat the seat on the chair and looked at it.  It fit!  I planned to go to an op shop the next day and buy some fabric or an old sheet or something to decorate it a bit.  It was about five o'clock by now so all the op shops were closed.
But the more I looked at it, the more I had to fix it absolutely now!  I opened my wallet to see if I could afford KMart.  $20.  It'll have to do, I had a chair to save!
I bought a pink single bed sheet to cover the seat, a hammer and nails to hold all the bits together and on my way out, the craft section caught my eye.  I thought it would be nice if I could tie-in the delicate blue of the chair with the bright pink of the seat somehow.  I bought some pastel coloured paints and some butterfly decals and ended up making this design:

I finally had a little colour in my life!  With no garden and no electric lighting, this is what I needed!
I was never quite able to fix the seat on properly.  It held for a bit, but came loose again.

But it's a very comfortable seat, and if you sit still, you'd never notice.
There is something very special about this chair.

Signed with love and hope,
Cassandra Louise.

Op Shop Hop - Maryborough Queensland

I've been in Maryborough to visit my pets, and also my parents are here.  I'm going back to Brisbane tomorrow, so today my mum and I went on an op shop hop around town.  We both found some great things, as well as some great things which we couldn't take home or didn't need but thought were wonderful.

Our first stop was the St. Vinnies shop on Kent Street.

 We chose a good day!  The "special" on the board today was:

Which is perfect for me, as I am a lady and wear tops.  I looked through the racks inside to find four tops that would fit me and were cotton.  The ones I picked out had an original sale price of this:

So I felt $10 for the lot was a great deal, especially since even the cheapest top I chose would have been over $10 new.
I chose this one, which is my new favourite top, so you can't tell me if you don't like it:

Along with these three:

Along with the four shirts, I found a nice cotton dress with pockets for $5.  I couldn't find anywhere to take a full length photo, so you'll have to believe me that it's about knee length.

I won't show you everything that Mum got for fear of making the longest photo-based blog post ever, but I must show you this sari* that she got for $4.

*Not being worn as a sari in picture, really just making me a beautiful speckled purple ghost

Other things of note at Vinnies included all these wonderful plants from $1!

This organ, with a stool for only $40.

And children's books for 50c each or 4 for $1 from this basket

Our next stop was the Salvos shop in Alice Street, on the corner of Bazaar Street.

Where the "special" this week is:

Mum was after manchester, so this was very good for her.  It's quite hot so we didn't even want to think about long pants existing, but it's great for anyone looking to stock up for Winter.

One thing really caught my eye in here, which was this two piece outfit, obviously home made but fits me like it was made for me!  It was $6 for the set.

And it looks like this on me:

Again, couldn't get a full length picture, but the skirt goes down to my knees.

Other things of note at the Salvos shop included these toys from 20c each, some with their original tags still on, averaging $1.

This beautiful bassinet for $40

And this 60cm long fish tank for only $20!

Third stop of our op shop hop was St. Paul's op shop in Adelaide Street.

My favourite thing at this shop is always this clothing rack at the door.  It always has a mix of women's, men's and children's clothing and each item is 50c.

Mum bought some candle holders here, $2 for a set of 4, and some fabric.  I found a book I wanted which was priced at 50c, but they threw it in for free with Mum's stuff.  Score!

Our final stop was the Lifeline shop, also in Adelaide Street

.They also had an excellent special on ladies' tops, but I already had four so I tried really hard not to look at any as I have to get all the stuff I buy home to Brisbane.

Inside, they also had a special on dresses, $5 each.  I got this pink dress which was marked down from $8!  It goes down to my ankles and is delightfully cool and breezy to wear!

Other items of note at Lifeline included 50c books.  SO MANY BOOKS!

These lovely dinner plates at $1 each:

And this big bin of green thongs (footwear, not the ahh... other kind) for 50c/pair, new!

If I didn't have to get everything back to Brisbane, I would have bought so much more... including that $40 organ, which I'm a bit in love with even though I never even saw it with the lid up.

Happy Op Shopping!

Cassandra Louise.

Some of my Favourite Op Shop Posts

For the purpose of this post and others like it I may do in the future, "op shop" will mean op shop, thrift store, secondhand shop, true vintage shop and any other place you may get "pre-loved" clothing, toys and homewares, including online.  I fished some really fantastic things out of the bin at a sharehouse I was living at, once, and I am extending "op shop" to include things like that, too.

This post is essentially a list of blog posts which I have found especially inspirational or inspiring.  In some cases I searched through many posts by a particular blogger to find just the right one, in some cases I knew exactly what post I wanted to feature before I even started.  I hope from here you get some wonderful, inspirational ideas!
They are in no apparent order save for the order I found/rediscovered them.

First, a little shameless self-promotion with this post of my own: Things You May Not Know About Charity Op Shops

2. This post about clothes swapping by Agy: Have You Been To A Fashion Swop?

3. Thrifted maternity wear with Erica: Human Friendly Fashion Blogger Outfit- Maternity Edition

4. This one at I Love To Op Shop, in which I quite like the ugly clock: How Ugly is my Clock?

5. This adorable collection by Op Shop Mama, as I'm a sucker for a kid's xylophone: But Wait, There's More!

6. This one by Ali, because she opens with a delightful pun: Confessions of a Serial Shopper

If you enjoy reading these, let me know.  I would love to make another list for you.  Lists are cool.
I was a bit sad that some of my all-time favourites are from blogs that have been taken down.  Boo! :-( Lots of gems here though, all from blogs that are still up and have a lot of interesting content. :-)

Do you have a favourite op shop post or thrift blog?

Signed with love,
Cassandra Louise.

Op Shop Finds

Hi everyone!  I know I've been gone a while, but I'm back now, hooray!  Since I wrote this rather serious post about op shops, I thought I'd take the time to write a fun one, with pictures (yay!  Pictures!) and so have been running around my house all day looking for things I know were bought at op shops.

I took photos of my favourite bargains, things like:

awesome piratey bandana (50 cents)

Queen bed doona cover - it says "LOVE", not "OVE", but my fence is only so tall ($4)

This bowl, and also

this bowl (20 cents each)

This handbag, which I carried for my school formal ($2.50 without the dog on it, I added that myself)

Patchwork book ($1)

This scarf ($1).  One dollar!  I like a good big scarf, very versatile, but this is extra amazing because

silk and also made in France! ... I'm not normally excited by things like that, let me have this one.

Delightful winter coat ($10) I'm not wearing it today as it's well over thirty degrees in here...

$5 outfit ($4.50 skirt, 50 cent top)

And possibly my very favourite op shop find of all time, saved until last especially...

This cup and saucer set ($2.50 for the set!)

I've also bought many books for as little as 20 cents each, PC games for $1 and CDs for 50 cents.  I've bought pairs of shoes for $3 and hats for $2.

What's your favourite op shop find?

Signed with love,

Cassandra Louise.

Things you may not know about charity op shops

Since my computer quite literally exploded (there was a bang and smoke came out of it, I'm going to call that a small explosion) I can't post my own photos on here, as I have no way to upload them to the computer I'm using.
Since I can't show you wonderful pictures of my garden, I thought I'd talk about something else very dear to me- charity op shops.
Op shops are wonderful places for a variety of reasons, and they are staffed primarily with people who are there out of the goodness of their hearts, wonderful volunteers.
This post comes both from my perspective as a customer of these shops, and as someone who has worked as a volunteer in one of these shops.
Most people know they should only donate usable things to their local op shop, as the volunteers do not have time to sit around fixing things.  Unusable things go straight to the tip.
At the store I volunteered at, they were fortunate enough to get a lot of donations every day, and this is where the story starts.
First thing in the morning, when the early volunteers arrive, the items in and piled around the donation bin are sorted.  At the store I volunteered for, things were sorted into the following categories:

1. Unusable.  These are the things that shouldn't have been donated.  If you have something you would like to donate but think it may be "unusable" maybe fix it up before you donate it, or give it to someone you know and maybe they can use it or fix it.
2. Disaster Relief.  This category is essentially clothing only.  Clothing that is substantially out of style (but not "costume") or that has small stains on it goes here.  At the time I was working at the store, this box went to Haiti for the earthquake appeal.
3. Saleable.  This is the category for everything that can be sold in the store.  The very carefully sorted out "good stuff".  If everything that ended up in this category stayed out on display in the shop until it sold, I would not have felt moved to write this post.

 So many times when I was helping out at the shop my heart sank, even though I was doing a wonderful and rewarding thing, and it was always for the same reason: the waste.
The op shop symbolises the opposite of waste, doesn't it?  It's a wonderful treasure trove of new and nearly-new things, nothing wrong with any of them, as the selection process assures, but so many good things, with not a thing wrong with them, end up in the tip, even after making it to the shop.

You see, so many donations make it to some shops every day that there is simply no room for all the saleable items in the store.

This is a very wonderful problem for an op shop to have, and I do strongly believe everyone should donate any good, usable items they have to their local op shop, but there's an important thing the wonderful people who donate to op shops forget to do; they forget to buy from op shops.

Non-clothing items that sit on the shelf in an op shop for more than three weeks or so are discarded.  This is what made my heart ache so.  These items aren't sent to the warehouse to be given to stores with less donations, they aren't donated to other charities or given out to people in desperate need, they are simply taken to the tip.  Cups, plates, glasses, candle holders, vases, nearly new, collector's items and antiques.  It doesn't matter.  They're just dumped.  I saw beautiful things being thrown into boxes to be trucked out to the tip.  I grabbed a few things, but I was living in a tiny room, already very full of someone else's things, so I could really only take what I actually needed, there was no room for want.

I'm writing this today to ask you to buy from charity op shops.  I know there's a lot of reasons why people don't buy from op shops, and I'm going to ramble on a little more and talk about them here.

• I don't need to buy from op shops But do you need to buy new?  Isn't there enough stuff in the world without making new stuff for the sake of it?  There doesn't need to be shame in buying "pre-loved", as I have well and truly covered, there is nothing wrong with this stuff.  The volunteers make sure of it.  I have been given beautiful gifts from the op shop and most of the time I would never have known if I wasn't told.
• Op shops are for people that don't have much money Well sure they are, but they're for everyone else, too.  Use the rest of the money you would have spent to treat yourself to something else, or save it up and do something really special for yourself or someone else at the end of a year.
• Everything in op shops is old and out of date Some of it is, that's true, but certainly not everything.  Some things, such as vases, mugs and glasses are much the same no matter how old they are, so why not visit the op shop for these?  Sometimes, actually very often, you can even get matching sets of two, four or six cups or glasses, just like you might buy from a "regular" store.  I once had a very lucky find that helped my mother piece back together a breakfast set she was given when she got married, thirty-five years ago!  I've also bought some beautiful English ceramics for less than $1 per piece.  While these things are older and have been used before, they're hardly dated.
• Anything I buy secondhand won't really be mine Do you realise how many dozens of people have touched that shiny new set of glasses you get from the gift shop?  Of course what you bought is yours!
• New things can be just as cheap Other stores keep their prices low by buying in bulk and often from manufactures that use sweatshop labour.  Where this is the case (it is not always but it is often) you are paying for this practise to continue.  When you buy from the op shop, you are paying to provide food and blankets to the homeless, or crisis counselling for those in need, all the while you are defending the Earth by minimising waste.

So if there's something you don't need, but it is usable please donate it to your local charity op shop; if there is something you do need, please check your local op shops for it before you look in other stores, and if you cannot see what you want on display, ask one of the volunteers.  You will be doing more for your community and the planet than you will ever know.

Signed with love,
Cassandra Louise.

Here is a list of what is generally accepted as donations by:
St Vincent de Paul Stores (Vinnies)
Salvo's Stores
Lifeline Stores
Animal Welfare League (Queensland)
If you are unsure, please ask.