Feathering my nest on the cheap -- dinnerware

Is there anything more thrilling to a frugal shopper than a stellar deal on something they've already got on their must-have list?

I think not!

You know my passion for dinnerware. I love plates. I love bowls. I love tea cups and mugs and platters and serving dishes. I love it all! It helps our budget that I've stuck with the same patterns that I chose 35 years ago.

But pieces get chipped, broken and crackled. And my dinner parties get larger and larger. So, from time to time, I need to replace items or acquire additional pieces to expand our entertaining capability.

I could buy individual pieces through a traditional retail store, department and discount stores, shop vintage resale stores, or,

keep my eyes and mind open to bargain opportunities in thrift stores!


To give you a ballpark on the dinnerware savings I typically find in thrift stores:

• a soup/cereal bowl in Johnson Bros. Friendly Village pattern (the one I use fall and winter) retails, full price, for $12.50
• same soup/cereal bowl can be found on Amazon or in Marshall's for $6.99 to $9.99 -- good, yes?
• shopping the vintage resale places in our neighboring vintage district, I can find these bowls for about $5 to $6 each, better,
• or best (short of someone out right giving me what I need), the same soup/cereal bowl in Goodwill for $1.99

I realize that there's a bit of an ICK-factor with some things from thrift stores. But with dishes -- they go into the dishwasher and get sanitized in my own home, to my specifications, before I even use them. Think about it, you eat with forks, bowls, plates, glasses, mugs that have been used by complete strangers, every single time you eat in a restaurant! And you have no control, whatsoever, as to the cleaning and sanitizing of restaurant dinnerware. That's a pretty good argument against any case of cooties I imagine that I'll contract, by buying thrift store dinnerware, don't you think?

Now, you wanna see the dinnerware that I bought in August and September at my local thrift stores? Here it all is:

4 bread and butter plates, 5 soup/cereal bowls, 1 salad plate, 2 fruit saucers, 2 mugs and 1 tea cup. I paid between 99 cents and $1.99 per piece, spending a total of $25.93. All of these pieces, combined, retail for over $200.00, full price. My savings, by buying my dishes at thrift stores this summer, instead of shopping retail stores, was 87.5% off of retail prices! Woo hoo!!!

So, there is a drawback to thrift shopping for dinnerware. I can't just walk into any thrift store and expect to find pieces in my pattern. Many times, I scour the dinnerware section, and come up empty-handed. But I do know that eventually the dinnerware that I'm looking for, will show up. And I buy the pieces that interest me, then.

Just another feather for my warm and cozy nest!

An FYI -- when thrifting, I came across a lot of Christmas items. Now would be a very good time to check your local thrift stores for those Christmas-themed gifts or dinnerware, while everyone else is focusing on Hallowe'en and autumn.

Would you believe a cashmere sweater for 99 cents?

I know. It sounds unbelievable. But believe it. This cashmere sweater, for 99 cents at St. Vincent de Paul, a couple of Sundays ago.

Every time my daughters and I go to SVdP, for their Sunday 99 cent clothing deal, I make a quick pass by the sweater section. I've been scouring the racks all summer, for a cashmere sweater or two.

The only real drawback to cashmere is the cleaning. However, I was doing some reading, and apparently, dry cleaning is not the best way to clean cashmere sweaters. It's just the easiest.

Very gentle hand-washing, in a basin of 85 degree F water, with a bit of baby shampoo, is what several experts recommend. Rinse in clean water, avoiding twisting of the sweater. Press the water out of the sweater (don't wring), and lay flat on a terry towel. Roll the sweater up in the towel, to press additional water out. Then, unroll, and lay the sweater flat, and pull into shape on a horizontal sweater drying rack. Allow to air dry.

I've done this sort of thing with my cashmere sweaters before. I just didn't know it was the best way to clean cashmere. Who knew?! And now I can feel better about some of my cheapskate ways!