Bargain-Basement Prices for a Thrifty Wedding

Yesterday I was home sick from work, and when I finally woke up and had something to eat, the condition of our bedroom bothered me. We have too much stuff in the apartment. And I just haven't had any time to clean or organize it.

So my sweetie and I packed up two big piles: one to take to the storage unit (extra luggage, art supplies, and some glassware of our housemate's) and one to donate to the thrift store (the housemate's rolling chair, the books and clothes I've been meaning to get out of the way, an old printer that was given to us months ago).



While we were at the thrift store, I decided to browse the selection of china dinnerware, because we need dessert plates and tea cups and some serving dishes for our wedding reception in October. I found several stacks of suitable plates -- one set of 4 or 5 dessert plates, a dinner plate, and a salad bowl in a matching pattern; one set of 8 blue glass salad plates and 3 similar purple ones; a dozen etched sherry glasses in several sizes (good for pudding, fruit, etc...).

I asked my sweetie to bring some up to the counter and find out whether we could get a better deal for buying a large number of items. The glasses were marked 50 or 75 cents each; the saucers and plates went from 50 cents to $2.50 each. The cashier separated them into three lots, and then priced each lot at $3.50!! On top of that, we got some cordial glasses for topping the DIY cupcake stands and tea towers I'm planning to make, and some buffet-table items for holding stacks of plates.

So we walked out of there with a couple hundred dollars' worth of dishes and glasses, which were marked at about $62 total... for $17.50. I tell you, the grin on my face was ENORMOUS.