Thrift Store Recon

True to form, I am always on a never-ending quest for finding things that a lot of folks would otherwise consider "trash" with the intent of giving them new life in a new form.

As opposed to roaming the local junkyard or raiding the e-waste for raw materials for my projects, I sometimes go upmarket and occasionally check out the local thrift store.

The nice thing about thrift stores is that they are typically run by a charity where all the profits from the store usually go to helping others in my community. Because the proceeds are for a good cause, people typically donate items that still have a great deal of life left in them.

The fact that the items for sale in the store are dirt cheap is always a very nice bonus!

So I usually find my local thrift store a source of good cheap parts for my project ideas.

But I also get a great deal of entertainment in perusing the aisles. I often find things just make you wonder why anyone would ever want to buy it

For example, things like bowling trophies from 1986.

Strike!

Sometimes you get to see the aftermath of some very questionable choices in decor.

I really don't want to know 

Perhaps it was a gift of questionable taste. Personally, I would like to meet the person who thought putting speakers into the feet of a Teddy Bear was a good idea to sell as a product...

The stomach has a cord that plugs in too

But a lot of the time you will find the handy work of those that have the same passion that I do - those who make unique and strange things out of ordinary items.

For a bottle, he's a pretty happy snowman! 

I always have a mixture of respect and sadness whenever I encounter those items in a thrift store. I see a lot of the vision, time and talent put into those treasures. The sad part is that the most likely reason for these to end up here is that its creator is not here with us anymore, and others didn't feel it was valuable enough to keep.

But eventually, I find what I'm looking for my next project at just the right price.

An analog weather station that I could use the parts for 

The price is certainly right!

So, for the price of a cup of coffee, you too can have the main ingredients for your next project build