Thrift Store Shopping: I forage so you don’t have to…

Friends, I’ve been binge-thrifting. It’s a thrill, it’s an addiction, it’s a sickness. It’s recreation and entertainment. It’s my hobby — and I don’t feel (excessively) guilty.

And, oh, I do love the buzz — that blast of dopamine — when I come across an under-priced treasure. Think hand-pieced, hand-stitched sampler quilt for $14, a pristine BMW leather motorcycle jacket on half-price day at Family Thrift for $28, or the Bose stereo marked $48 but discounted, thanks to my senior citizen status, to $36.

I’ve been a thrift-store shopper for years. But lately, I can’t seem to pass a Goodwill, Salvation Army or Family Thrift store without involuntarily turning the steering wheel into the parking lot.

In the past, I had the excuse that I might be buying something I needed. That excuse was thin even when I was living in my own house or apartment. I still had more art than I could display and, at some points, stored excess “finds” that were too good to pass up in my basement or garage — and which I often passed along to the children of friends getting their first apartments. “Look in my garage,” I would say, when I heard of someone seeking a…