Recently my high-school friend and I have begun thrift shopping. We have also discovered the thrills of thrift shopping together. It’s kind of like the shopping we did together as teens, except that now we are driving ourselves and we have more frequent pit stops. However, one thing hasn’t changed, we are still on budgets!

I’m afraid I have corrupted “S” and brought her into the realm of tablescaping so she has joined me in my search for the perfect bargains on all things table related. She also loves to find great stuff for her kids and grandies and to use in her creations, both basket and beaded.

So with that background in mind, I invite you to join us on our Blue Ridge Hospice Thrift Shops “Crawl”. We planned months in advance to spend our day off traversing the area in search of the best buys we could find. We decided to focus on stopping at one of our favorite thrifts, the Blue Ridge Hospice. We love this thrift because it has great stuff ( I found my Ruby Red Goblets there) and it raises money for a wonderful cause. It’s a win-win.

Normally, we haunt the store located in our county. For this special day, we decided to visit each of their five other shops in four towns located in near-by counties. Our goal was to make a stop at each shop and then head to the next one. Come along with us on our thrift “crawl” to see what bargains I find.

Our first stop was about 30 minutes away from my hometown. The store was very bright and well-merchandised and the staff was so cheerful. Once the clerk found out what our plans for the day were, she immediately called the store manager who came out to take our picture. She reciprocated and took a picture with us as well. As we arrived at each store location, we posted a photo of one of us in front of the store via Facebook.

For my first purchase of the day, I picked up ten clear glass sunflower-shaped dinner sized plates. They are a little hard to see in this picture even though I’ve placed a white plate underneath. I paid $15 for ten. “S” already had these plates so we didn’t have to flip for them.

Our second stop was about 15 minutes further down the road. When we pulled up to this store, “S” remarked that it really didn’t look like much…and it didn’t. Turns out, you really can’t judge a thrift shop by its looks! This place went on forever and I made my biggest purchase of the day there. The store itself was much darker inside than our first stop which makes it harder for non-teenage eyes to see the pretties, although things were very nicely displayed in this store as well.

I found four more of these vintage rectangular snack trays with matching cups to add to my collection. I paid $6.

I was also fortunate to find three vintage square snack plates. I have never seen the square version and was delighted to snatch them up. These were $6, too. Guess their uniqueness warranted their higher cost. Aren’t they cute?

I picked up a little candlewick (or Boopie?) sherbet/champagne glass for $1, a glass candlestick (“S” always finds the best candlesticks!) for $3, a tiny pewter cup for $2, and two large honey-gold checked napkins embroidered with sweet bees for $4. You can’t see those bees, but trust me they’re there and they’re cute.

And still I was unloading my shopping cart, yes, cart. I had to resort to using the store’s only cart to haul my finds to the register. When I inquired as to the price on this beaded fruit, I was told they were a store display. Ooops. That explains the no price tag situation. But everything has a price, right? Well, this fruit did at least. Ten bucks.

Still more to unload from my cart. I found a vintage dresser scarf for $2.50 (future table runner?), a large blue tablecloth with sunflowers ($5 due to a small stain), and another large tablecloth in predominately yellow with flower designs for $7. “S” found this last tablecloth for me. She has a good eye and a generous heart.

I really had to get those linens to help to cushion the other things I bought, right? We loaded the van with our purchases and headed toward our next stop on the other side of town.

After a little consult with both printed mapquest and maps on the iPhone, we made it to stop number three. Amazing what a difference just a few miles makes. There

wasn’t as much of a selection of what we were looking for, but we still managed to make some fine purchases. This store was also very bright and again staffed with the nicest people. I scored with some vintage plates by Homer Laughlin in Golden Harvest. The reminded me of plates my former sister-in-law used to have. They were marked as a set of six, but there was no price on any of them. I asked the clerk for the price who asked the manager in the back. When she said $5 for all six, I almost squealed. Did I want them? You bet your bippy I wanted them!

I also picked up the placemats in the photo. There were three of them for $1 each. I knew I had one in this same design at home so this trio would complete my set. I also found a sweet Fitz & Floyd planter ($1 can you believe it?), 2 silver-plated candlesticks (just cuz they were real shiney) for $1 each, and some wooden watermelon napkin holders for $1.

Here is a close up of that darling little squirrel…

I also picked up some Williams Sonoma square plates with olive designs. These were $2 each. In each store, “S” and I tried to meet a $15 minimum. We had coupons which activated at $15 so sometimes we threw extras into our basket to make our minimum.  I added these at the last minute to help round out my minimum. “S” found this red plate for me since she knows red is one of my colors. She is trying to put together a patriotic tablescape for me, even though she may not realize it. Last week she found me some small plates rimmed with navy and white stars. See what I mean?

We made our purchases, used our coupons, loaded the van and headed out for stop number four. Join me for part two and the continuing adventures of “S” and Tammy in their Great Adventure: Blue Ridge Hospice Thrift Crawl, April 21, 2011 (here).

I hope to join the parties at Apron Thrift Girl’s Thrift Share Monday, Flea Market Finds at Her Library Adventures, Nifty Thrifty Tuesdays at Coastal Charm, Thrifty Thursday at Tales from Bloggeritaville, and Thrifty Things Friday at The Thrifty Groove.

Tammy