$2.17

What do you get for $2.17 (including sales tax) these days? Not a gallon of milk, not a loaf of bread, not a good pair of socks and certainly not a fancy coffee at Starbucks - none of these would come in at $2.17 at most stores.

How about five wool sweaters, one wool blazer and two sweatshits?

That was my loot today when I went shopping at the local thrift store outlet. Yup, we have a thrift store outlet in this area. When a Family Thrift store is finished with its merchanize it moves it to the outlet store (on the north side of Little York Road between the Hardy Toll Road and Hwy 45). I don't know if that is what it is called but every Wednesday afternoon and evening this store is completely restocked with merchandize and re-opens on Thursday morning with everything priced at $1.75 an item. Friday everything is priced at $1.50, Saturday $1.25 and so-on until by Wednesday morning everything is $0.25.

Today I decided to drop in and see what they had for $0.25 and scored great items for felting (all that wool) and transforming into jackets (the sweatshirts). The store closes at 1:00 pm on Wednesday for restocking and I got in and out with about 10 minutes to spare. What surprised me is that the clothing was all in good shape, did not smell and there were still some great items left... like the size 10 women's navy blue linen blazer and a black silk woman's jumper - both of which I passed on.

This store is not my discovery. A wonderful woman in the quilt guild is a real thrift store aficionado and she had been talking about this place for months. She even guided some of us on a road trip to the best thrift stores in the area. I never went on the road trip, so this was my first experience with extreme thrift store shopping. I am now forever in her debt. In fact, on a previous trip she found a jacket with great buttons. She kept the buttons but gave me the jacket as she thought it would look good on me. It does look good on me... I just have to find some buttons!

And wait until you see what one of her friends made from similar finds that I got to purchase from her for a mere pittance this morning... its spectacular! Photos soon.