The Family That Bargain Hunts Together Stays Together

Alexander has inherited his mother’s good genes. They can both find amazing deals in thrift stores.

I go into one of those stores and am greeted by that smell that only a second-hand shop can produce. Immediately, I am thrown off my game and can manage to see only cluttered piles of other people’s cast-offs. Alexander can go into the same store and find a $40 game, brand-spankin’-new-in-the-box, for $5. His Mom can go into the store and find a might-as-well-be-new Graco double stroller, which sells used on ebay for over $100, for $15.

They have a gift. It’s almost frightening to be in their presence sometimes.

I’ve gone thrift storing with my mother-in-law to try and learn her power, but she never seems to find anything when I’m with her. I seem to kill the superpower.

I’m kryptonite for the super bargain shopper.

Tonight, Alexander took me and the kids to go see a desk he had scoped out earlier at an area thrift store. He had described the desk to me and it sounded great. (He is not one to exaggerate the aesthetic state of an object). However, when we get to the store, the desk has inexplicably morphed into another piece of furniture. The drawers don’t pull smoothly anymore and there is an unexplained growth protruding from one side.

And so we left the store empty-handed. My amazing ability to render useless the bargain shopping powers-that-be in my family had struck again.

On the plus side, Lij and Dylan fell asleep on the ride back. We were able to put them right to bed when we got home. And even though we didn’t get a new (used) desk, we did get to spend time together.

Next time however, I think I’ll suggest that the kryptonite stay in the car. No sense in wasting a perfectly good super power.