OH SO AMERICAN: THRIFT STORES

I thought that would be fun to share with you guys american lifestyle thru my eyes. In these series I’ll post about what I've seen only in USA that I’ve never seen in other countries in the World.

I decided to start with Thrift Stores because they are one of my favorite things about USA and you can find these kind of stores in every state you go.

Thrift Stores are places where you can score great clothing, kitchen ware, books, decoration items and mostly everything you can think of for a very cheap price. You get to buy a book for 0.50 cents or 1 dolar, a jacket for 3 bucks, an amazing painting for 5 bucks. How does it work? People clean their closets and find things they don’t want anymore so they donate to thrift stores. Mostly of the thrift stores I’ve been are non-profit, all the profit goes to community projects and to help people in need and all the staff is volunteering, usually retired people. (this is a great way to spend your time doing something useful for the community!)

Besides the recycling part of thrift stores  I also love when I find vintage items from USA, they are so pretty, especially the white pirex with retro designs. It’s a pity I cannot bring this stuff with me in my backpack, it can break easily, it’s heavy  and common I don’t want to carry glass all the time with me. I’d get a lot of vintage stuff from thrift stores if I was in USA for 2 or 3 weeks and back to Portugal but this situation never happens because flights are pricey, it’s pretty far and I have the time so I stay at least 2 months around here.

So, you can consider a thrift store as a second hand store (you also can find new items with tag on) but they have different names around the World, like in Australia they are OP stores but exactly same concept as thrift stores, maybe with the profit part.

To finalize this post I’m going to show you the stuff I found in Meals in Wheels Trift Store in Lakeport that I didn’t buy, when looking for Pirate items for my costume for Halloween.

I loveeee these mugs! A backpacker needs a rainbow mug right? Not! :) And oh these orange vintage flowers. If I'd live in USA I'd have a huge kitchen closet for my 1000 mugs.

Always a sucker for owls, especially with my favorite colors and Happy Autumn, my favorite season. Maybe it's good to have a plush in your backpack when you feel lonely. Not!!!

 Mushrooms and flowers? Yes please. I almost bought this shirt to sew an handbag but then when I'm gonna make it? I don't even know when I'm back in Portugal (if I come back...)

Don't judge books by their covers? Not in this case. Look at this delicious cover and yep I'm interested in natural cooking, not sure if this info is updated though. 

What do you think about thrift stores? Do you shop often there? Any great scores lately?