I’m heading off to my local Op Shop today, in Mallala, coffee, cake and Op Shop, all in one, allied with one of the local churches … What stories will I find there, I wonder?
Each item of clothing has a story, they’ve been around, travelled, to who knows which places? Today I’m wearing a combination of clothes, some Op Shop treasures, others new. I tend to buy new underwear, but outerwear often comes from an Op Shop, and I love each piece!
I tend to stick to one palette of colour, the Autumn range, so when I look for clothes, I tend to concentrate only on those warm green colours, as well as burnt orange, mellow yellow, cream, and so on. Red is on option, too, but a sombre red, rather than super bright one. Dusky pink is one that goes with these colours too.
I’m excited about this little trip, meeting up with a friend, and even if I buy no new clothes, I will find much to inspire me, simply by being out in my community! There is inspiration in so many things in life, and I try to make the most of every opportunity I have, to be inspired!
What was the story about this dress, I wonder … bought for an event that never happened, or hoping for a drop in size, that wasn’t reached? Who can ever know? Not me, but I can imagine the story, be inspired by the ‘could have beens’. Every item of clothing at an Op Shop has its own story, for sure!
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So the Op Shop visit is over, and we weren’t in time to get a coffee and cake there. Instead, when Sharon and I had snaffled our bag of beautiful things, a bag full, for each of us, and only $5!, we headed off to the Mallala Hotel for our coffee. We asked if there was any cake available (there wasn’t) instead, our coffee was served with an Allens Snakes Alive snake, clever work there – Troy from the hotel!
And this is my great haul of clothes! I have no idea where I’m going to put all of these clothes … Some of the things already in my wardrobe and drawers, may have to go … I’m very happy with the various possibilities there, in this range of new things, and all for the tiny price of $5 for the bag full!
I saw the ‘Corona Beer’ T-Shirt, and bought it, as a sick joke, really. Boy, the stories that could be told about the related, corona virus …
I’m very happy, as I said, with this haul of clothes. The pants may or may not fit, and if they don’t fit, it doesn’t matter, I’m more than happy to take them back to the Op Shop later, and I’ll still be totally satisfied with what I got! Lots of tops, all in colours that go together well! And there are chances to go wild with the mixing and matching, with tops, over leggings, or tone it all down with a black cardigan type bought at a previous Op Shop adventure somewhere else …
I’ve been to quite a few different Op Shops in my time, and don’t remember which clothes have come from which shops … So many clothes, so few dollars paid!
Happiness can come, as inspiration can too, from adventures with a friend. Thank you Sharon for this great time! We’re going to do it again some time, perhaps when there will be more winter clothes, jumpers and snuggly jackets …
Carolyn Cordon - Creative 
I heard on JJJ the other day — your favourite station and mine — that the op shop trend began way back in 2012 with ‘Thrift Shop’ by Macklemore and Ryan Lewis which was the number one song in the JJJ top one hundred of that year. You may remember it
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I suspect Op Shops and interest in them goes back further than that John, but don’t know for sure. I know I’m much keener on them now, than I have been in the past. I used to love shopping in town, when I was a young worker, and worked in the centre of Adelaide, close to Rundle Mall. Now, I’m more or less retired, living well away from the ‘big smoke’, and with far less money, Op Shops hold a lot of interest to me! One of my friends in a Queen of Op Shops , and knows everything you might ever want to know about them, in and around South Australia.
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Glad you had a fun morning, Carolyn. Like you, I enjoy going to thrift shops. This morning I spotted a brand new top on a sale rack outside a boutique (not a thrift store) and it was reduced from $89.90 down to $29.90 which is quite a saving. I was wearing an identical top which I purchased for $1 from a local thrift shop a fortnight ago. I love the top and was very pleased with my purchase when I handed over my $1 coin but realising it was ‘this season’ and the original price made me even happier.
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Yes, getting a bargain like that is always a happy time! I’ve taken a couple of items out of my wardrobe, but there needs to be many more items to go, unless I can put my things away in a different manner … Hanging on a coat hanger, one item per hanger is a good way for optimal appearance for each item, but not in terms of having enough room.
I’m going to do some study on this one …
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At the moment, I have t-shirts mostly in the drawer, and I hang more than one thing on each of my hangers in the wardrobe. I could do with a wardrobe entirely for my own things, to be able to hang everything I have, separately … I’m good at managing with what I have though, and don’t feel like I’m missing out in any way though, all good …
I’m going to go and try on my ‘new’ pants soon, and I’m happy they would go well with everything I bought, and I have another pair of Op Shop pants that would look good with all of my new clothes too.
This was fun, all for the cost of just $5! This Sale will continue on Friday and Saturday, for all of March.
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Well, I’ve put those new clothes away, and am quite happy with my method of dealing with them. There were 11 items, and I have only two ‘spare’ coat hangers in the wardrobe, with many of my items of clothing, hanging our doubled, tripled or even more, all on the one hanger. This is not optimal, not at all. So, rather than look to the wardrobe, I took a different tack. I folded up two items only and put them in my drawer – there isn’t a lot of room in there …
So what I did, was take a shoe box I had in the bedroom, put the shoes in there out, and put them under the bed. Then I folded then rolled up every item, not too tightly, and put them all in the shoe box, where the all fit easily. I put the shoe box under the bed too, and viola! Task completed!
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