A Review of The Hope Chest, St. Paul January 18, 2009

Yesterday I went to The Hope Chest in St. Paul, which is a like a high-end secondhand store with all proceeds benefiting breast cancer research. Anyway, they have about a dozen beautiful, mostly new dresses (donated from a local store). All of them were priced at $125 and were gorgeous. I didn’t have any luck but wanted to pass this tidbit along to other brides. The sized mostly ranged from 10-16, but there were a few smaller ones in there (nothing bigger than 16). You have to ask about the dresses because they are not out on the sales floor. They told me their Orono store doesn’t have any wedding gowns, so this is just at the St. Paul location. Good luck!!

Other than bridal gowns, they have an assortment of high-quality furniture, career clothing, shoes, decorative elements, framed art, etc. The prices match, but it’s good to know that all the money goes to a cause that is dear to many people.  Staff was really friendly and helpful, too.  If thrifting kind of eeks you out, but you like a bargain, The Hope Chest would be a good place to start.

A Review of St. Vincent de Paul Thrift Store April 27, 2008

St. Vincent de Paul Thrift Store, 461 W 7th St, Saint Paul, MN 55102, phone 651-227-1332

Today we went to the St. Vincent de Paul Thrift Store on West Seventh in St. Paul.  I like this store.  I have not really checked out their clothing, though today they had 50% off on certain colored tags.  What’s really nice about this place is that it is extremely organized.  For the crafty side of me, I enjoyed searching for my sewing notions in well-labeled drawers that actually contained what the label said they would.  The greeting cards were organized just like if you were buying them new.  Also, they have everything.  We found two boxes of vacuum bags.  Those are expensive!  If you had the time and knew your vacuum number, you could find a bargain.  In this store, be sure to search in every nook and cranny.  For example, tucked in one corner there were several ironing boards in excellent condition.  It’s not so obvious, but they do have a back room.  The only two drawbacks to this store is that it is kind of musty-smelling in the back room, and parking can be a little hard.  I didn’t ask or scope out the situation on dressing rooms.  However, if you want to support charitable work directly and would like to experience an extremely well-organized and well-stocked store, it’s worth a visit.  According to their website, there are also stores in Minneapolis and Duluth.

Twin Cities Free Market – a review and tips February 16, 2008

Twin Cities Free Market is a kick-butt website run by Eureka Recycling. It’s like virtual classified ads of free stuff (both wanted and available). I have obtained a USB cable, beads for crafting, and other craft supplies on the Free Market. My sister even got a tuba! There is some good stuff on the Free Market ranging from baby stuff to furniture to home renovation materials.

I think it is frugal to use both features. It’s kind of obvious how getting free stuff is frugal, but not so much how giving it away can be. My boyfriend has unloaded doors, a broken motor, shelving, and a broken camp stove on the Free Market. All the people knew these things were broken and wanted them so they could fix them and use them. Now, if he’d just hauled them to the dump, he would have used his gas getting there and paid a dump fee. Even if he’d just left them out by his garbage, he may have been charged by his hauler. So this was a perfect for both parties, and it was kind to the Earth!

Here’s how you use it:

1. Go to Twin Cities Free Market.

2. Click on “View Listings.” You will probably have to register in order to view listings. They track their users this way, my guess is for funding reasons. So have no fear! Register and search on!

3. Use the search features to narrow your results, or browse everything! There is all kinds of stuff on here! If you want something, contact the lister according to their directions. Pay close attention to the email addresses. Some people insert REMOVEME or spell out the “at” in order to avoid junk, and you will need to make it into a proper e-mail address in order to reach the person.

4. If you are going to list something to give away on the Free Market, I can share how I prefer to do it. First of all, don’t be surprised if you have no shows. Almost every time I list something, there are no shows. This kind of amazes me, because the items are free. I guess on the other hand, it’s understandable that if people haven’t paid for something, they feel little commitment to it. Don’t let that stop you, though! Lots of people do show up and are glad to have the items you are listing.

In the body of the listing itself, I prefer to specify the situation in which I will return e-mails. “If being offered the item” is what I usually say, so people aren’t left wondering. Don’t feel like you have to respond to the first person. You may want something gone right now, or you may want to see what people want it for. (People WILL tell you, whether or not you want to know!) For example, I once listed three formal dresses that needed some cleaning/repair. I gave them to a woman for her young daughter’s dress-up box, but then another mother e-mailed me that her daughter had won a city Queen or Princess title, would be in a ton of parades, and the dresses were in her size. She would have used them much more than in the dress-up box. Of course, you can’t control what happens to your stuff after it’s gone, but I learned from that one to just wait for a few messages to see what’s up.

Another thing I do is never commit to sticking around so someone can pick something up from me. Life happens and people are delayed or don’t show. What I do is put the items, well packaged, outside my house. I used to put them on the porch and once someone took something else, too! So now I just say “The xxx will be hanging from the mailbox in a Target bag after 6:00 on Friday. Please pick up within 24 hours or I will offer it to someone else.” I also always put it in the original ad if I expect someone to come right away. I usually say within 24 or 48 hours.

When you have given away the item, go back to the site and click on “Edit Listings.” Indicate what happened, save, and it will disappear from the listings. Otherwise people will continue to contact you, and I’m sure it’s valuable to Eureka to have accurate information about the effectiveness of the service.

Happy Free Marketing!