Thrift Store Virgin (Day 15 - August 6, 2011)

That Poverty Guy (Sean Krausert)
Day 15 - Slightly Bearded / 227 lbs

Yes, it's true . . . until today I was a virgin.  A thrift store virgin.  For those out there who are also thrift store virgins, and perhaps don't even know what a thrift store is, a thrift store is a place where "previously loved" goods are sold quite inexpensively.  Well, today, I made my first purchase at my local thrift store, and I feel very good about the experience.

I needed to buy a TV tray for in the tent.  No, I don't have television in the tent!  I have a rickety old lawn chair that someone dropped off for me thinking I may have use for it (. . . which I did, so I'm thankful to them).  I sit in the rickety old chair, in my tent, typing on my laptop doing blogs, Facebook posts, tweets, e-mails, etc. for the project.  The problem is that I will soon become quite hunched if I continue to type with the laptop on my lap (ironically).  Thus the need for a small table that can fold away . . . a TV tray.

Before trying the thrift store, I first walked around to three garage sales in my area since the thrift store was quite a lot further away.  Unfortunately, I struck out at all three garage sales . . . no TV trays or small folding tables of any kind.  I started to be concerned that I wouldn't find TV trays anywhere when one of the garage sale hosts remarked, "TV trays??  We're not old enough to have TV trays."  I didn't realize there was a minimum age requirement, but apparently there is.  So with three strikes, my thumb was out looking for a ride to the thrift store. (Well, actually I started begging my wife to drive me down since I figured that if I found anything it would be too far to carry them back to the tent . . . all of a sudden I had empathy for my children when they want to be driven somewhere).

In Canmore, we have what I suspect is a very good thrift store . . . clean, well-stocked, and organized superbly.  Not long after entering the furniture section, there they were . . . a full set of four TV trays complete with a stand! (It helps if you re-read that last sentence and at the ". . . " imagine hearing angels singing and the set of TV trays starting to glow with an inner light .)  Of course, I only needed one table and so asked the very friendly clerk if I could break up the set.  He apologized indicating that they were tough enough to sell as a set, and so breaking it up would not be an option.  Apparently, a lot of their clientele don't meet the minimum age requirement to own a vintage set of TV trays.  However, given the looming hunch in my back, the fact that I am appropriately middle-aged and old enough to operate these bad boys, the trekking I did to find them and it being unlikely that I would find some other, I slapped $12 on the counter and bought the whole set.

Yes, I had $12.  In fact, I should update you on my finances.  To date since starting the project I have received $25 and change.  Twice a little white haired lady who has heard of the project arranged for a young woman to  place $10 in my hat (she came up to me, asked me to take off my hat, and then put $10 into it) . . . so that's $20.  I've received $5 today for cutting a small lawn on my street . . . and so that brings it up to $25.  As for the change, some crazy lady threw it at me! (. . . my mother-in-law . . . who isn't really crazy . . . just delightfully eccentric.)  So after spending $12, I'm now down to $13 and change. 

Before closing, it was interesting to see that my weight stayed at 227 lbs this week (down 6 lbs from the start of the project).  Not sure if that is a sign of things to come or if I just plateaued momentarily.  I notice that 66% of the respondents to the poll last week thought that I would lose quite a bit of weight by the time that this first phase is done at Thanksgiving weekend in October (i.e. guessing I would weigh less than 218 lbs).  I guess time will tell.

Hey!!  I'm That Poverty Guy . . . let's make a world of difference together.

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