Thrift Diaries# 1: Steal or Fail?

I already mentioned in my recent blogs that I’ve been too busy for the past months, so busy that I’ve touched a lot of grass. Last year, I spent most of my time in front of the screen, and even on holidays, I barely went out. That ‘not-going-out’ doesn’t only limit me to hanging out with other people, but it also includes me using the orange app as an alternative to real-time buying. With that, I spent a considerable amount of time using online shopping applications just to buy stuff, and when I say ‘considerable’, it’s quite long really, like almost an hour just to verify if the product is really good or if the seller’s really legit. Anyway, since I don’t have time for that way back the past months, I made my way back to my roots. I’m undeniably frugal—stingy at some point– so once I’m buying something, I’m really opting... most of the time, for the cheapest.

And that’s why I mostly find myself in thrift or surplus shops, because why not? The vast array of things is a relaxation for my eyes, so for those months, several trips to those shops became a breather for me. A breather… in a way, those trips became a distraction from those really tough and demanding days. Ok, ok, before I get sentimental, I’ll not stray further from what I’m going to share today, and that will be my ratings on the stuff I’ve bought from those shops, so for the first stop, it will be the stuff I bought from JSK Houseware Trading Korean Surplus.

• Mini Stickers

It looks cute, but the color was too tame for me. I remember picking it because I like how cute it is, and apparently, I had an art project vision for it, yet until now I haven’t used it :(

Rating: 7/10

• Book Holder

I was hesitant about buying it because I don’t think it can hold any books, but anyway, my curiosity got the better of me, so I bought it, and unlike the stickers, I was able to use it. It can hold 3 to 4 books depending on how thick the book is.

Rating: 9/10

• Mechanical Pencil Lead

This was pretty much a steal for me at first because, in just ₱20 ($0.33), I was able to buy four of them. But upon putting them on my mechanical pen, I found it easy to break, and when I tried using it, it isn’t that visible. It’s not really a problem tho, because I definitely can use it whenever I’m sketching, yet I kinda expected it to be better.

Rating: 8/10

• Schedule Marker

This was definitely a steal through and through because I knew I can use it, especially at that time where our research is really in its peak and I need some sticker markers that would mark the parts we need to revise or retain. With all the academic demands I’m handling at that time, my mind definitely has a small capacity for all the stuff, so those markers are a lot of help, really.

Rating: 10/10

• Mini Smiley Diary

Green is definitely my favorite color, so I didn’t hesitate to buy it when I saw it. I haven’t used it, but the print inside is already tempting me to do so. I love how simple it looks outside and how classy the print inside it looks, so I definitely see it as a steal!

Rating: 10/10

• Colorful Clips

The clips’ colors definitely caught my eye, so I was determined to buy them. I was able to use most of them by now; there are definitely a lot more of them than the ones I was able to catch in cam now. Definitely worth it :)

Rating: 10/10

• Sticker Sets

There’s a lot of them! So, when I saw them, I know I can use them for some art projects. The cover pages on one of my sketchbooks are still pretty barren, so one of these days, I’m gonna use them to style those.

Rating: 9/10

And that would be for our first wave of thrift ratings; the second one will be for the items I bought from another surplus shop and that would be for the next thrift diary because trust me, there are definitely a lot more of them! So, see you then and hope y'all enjoyed your weekend.