fireside set find.

[pict]

Needed a fireside set to go with the new stove, so off to the local thrift store-found a good big set for $5 bucks.

Local dealers wanted $70 plus for theirs!

Also saw lood carriers etc.

Check out the thrift stores before you part with your hard earned cash.

 

[elkimmeg]

I'm not a dealer and I glad it worked out for you. My concern would be quality. I doubt the $5 set equals the $70
but it may work for you. I work with my hands using tools. the last thing I want to do is to trust habor freight ratchet and bust a knuckle
what if the ratchet gives. I would rather have a tool I can trust and will have a life off the shelf.

 

[northwinds]

I'm not a dealer and I glad it worked out for you. My concern would be quality. I doubt the $5 set equals the $70
but it may work for you. I work with my hands using tools. the last thing I want to do is to trust habor freight ratchet and bust a knuckle
what if the ratchet gives. I would rather have a tool I can trust and will have a life off the shelf.

This could be a geographical language difference. In WI, most people refer to Goodwill and St. Vincent's as thrift stores. I've picked up some nice high quality items at Goodwill, including a $2 used Vitamixer blender that has provided years of good service. A lot of people get quality gifts, never use them, and they end up at thrift stores for a fraction of the original price. That happens less frequently now as entrepreneurs skim off the goods at thrift stores and make a profit selling them on ebay.

 

[BrotherBart]

Yeah. I judge the set I bought last year during Home Depot's clearance more by the quality of the set and the $85 original price than I do by the $9.99 I paid for it.

 

[kevinmoelk]

Thrift stores can be great! I've been both a shopper and a giver. In fact last weekend I gave away some really nice stuff... a $100 water cooler that was maybe 3 years old and an ancient (but still in good working order) telescope. Could I have sold them on e-bay? Surely, but I didn't want to go through the hassle. Over the years I've given away tons of clothing, household items, tools, etc... all very high quality merchandise, much of it the best money could buy. I figure someone buying them might be excited as I was when I found my good finds, and that makes me feel good. It's stuff I haven't used in years anyway. Besides, I get a receipt and a tax write off on all of the things I donate... just as valuable as selling them, and a whole lot easier.

Here's an interesting fact about stuff:

Over a billion square feet of personal, away-from-home storage space is now rented in the US, much of it heated and cooled. Interestingly called "self storage" this "industry" has increased forty-fold since 1960, making it larger than the music business, and economically more profitable than the movies. It fills a space about the stize of 300 huge office towers, or about 100,000 city pocket parks. And much placed in the long-term storage is never valued again (unless it's old files subpoenaed for court). So which do you prefer: another hundred square feet of concrete for your stuff, or trees? Storage, or music?

*excerpt taken from the book "Little House on a Small Planet" pg 24. An excellent book by the way that everyone living in a mcmansion should read.

Sure I know a little off topic... point being though that if Pict is happy and the fire place set it saved from the landfill, then it's a win win. One man's trash is another man's treasure.

-Kevin