This is just a journal entry about how I get things for so little cost in my life.  It's not about buying at yard sales / craigslist / etc... but instead in actual stores.  And its not about finding sales, using phone apps, or coupons either.  Sorry that this is long, and probably boring to most, but I thought it might be an ok post for some.     And with that....

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When I was a young adult it seemed fairly hard to get good items for cheap.  But now, its like I find more and more places where I pay so little, its sort of embarassing.   Am I just lucky?   You can decide.

This started maybe 10 years ago when visiting my mother.  She told me of a food surplus location near her.  So I went there with her and I was hooked.  Afterwards, when visiting I would go there once or twice and fill up with food staples (ie not fresh vegtables, but anything else even frozen items).  They seemed to get overstocks and outdated items like cereals that are still plenty good.  For outdated items, they can be very cheap, like 10%-25% of original prices.  For overstocks, it will usually be in the 60%-80% of Aldi type prices.  It was great.   But then it closed during Covid 🥺.  Turned out the same "store" had two other locations, and one of them is on the route I take when going to visit her 😎, so I have continued to stop at this other location to this day and it really cuts down on my food expenses. 

But then... a few years ago a new store opened in the old location near my mother.  And(!) it is also similar with heavy discounts, but it's not food related (mostly).  It looks like the store gets many of their items from overstocks / damaged items from Sam's Club.  But more, the store has a very unique pricing structure.  They put tags on the items with SIX(!) prices shown.  Turns out the price you pay depends on when you buy it.  The first price is the Price "They" Charge - like a normal price in other stores, though often you could call it the "List" price.  Next is the initial price charged at this store, which is 50% off of the price above.  Then the next price is what the item will cost two months from now, which is 60% off of the list price.  Then the next month it is 70% off, the next month is 80% off, then finally 90% off another month later.   (So if you snooze, you can lose!)   I usually find a few good items each time I go, including my favorite - an "18" pack of "Celsius" energy drink is often there.  The "18" is in quotes, as usually the box only contains 17 cans - which is why this store has them.  So at local stores near me, a 12 pack of these usually costs $20 and up, but there I am getting 17 for $12, so I stock up.  I often drink one most days at lunchtime.  I've gotten other things like a battery lawn mower for about 75% of what they cost at the local hardware stores, a pair of new water pik machines for $10, and latest was been a pair of room air filter machines (w/filters) for $10.

Well I was thinking it can't get any better, but then a few weeks before this past Christmas I decided to go to this weird recently opened store that always seemed to have a full parking lot a mile from my house.  I had no idea what it was.  It had been a hardware store, then an ethnic grocery store, among other things, but they came and went.  Now it had a name that made it sound like it was about Thanksgiving(?).  I had NO idea what this was, but the good thing about being retired is I can go investigate whatever and whenever I want.  So I wandered in and was I surpised.  It tured out to be a variation of the previous store I described.  But here, the prices change DAILY!  And the stock is REALLY a mess.  Soooo, what it seems to be that someone is buying, among other things, a lot of returns from Amazon - REALLY CHEAP.  It seems like 50% of the items I see have Amazon tagging on them in some manner or another.  And it is setup like a bulk thrift store.  They just have everything piled up in bins in rows around the store's floor, and anything can be anywhere.  And the price?  Well... It goes on a 7 day schedule.  One day is $10/item, next day is $8/item, next day is $6/item (notice a pattern?), then $4, then $2, then finally $1/item.  The seventh day is a restocking day and the store is closed, after which the cycle restarts.   I think there are people going there to buy and resell things, but for me I am trying to be cautious about that.  So far I have gotten two items to resell, each paid $1 and looking to sell for $30 each.  I go (if I go) on the $10, $2, and $1 days.  The $1 days are chaos, but on the $2 day it is more sedate and has a much better collection of items.  And the $10 day is when lots of people go to buy up big items (and is also chaos). 

The only thing I got for $10 was a new set of bed sheets.   It was the color I like and really good quality.  I see on Amazon it goes for $25 (ok, so maybe not super high quality - though I do like it), so a decent price.  

I've gotten new rugs for $1, boxes of Brita filters for 3/$1.  If you try to buy Brita filters, you know they are really expensive.  I got 7 boxes, or 21 of them.  So I am stocked for a while - yay.  Also got a 3-ring binder with 50 plastic sheets to hold sport cards for $2 - this would go for $25 at elsewhere.  I may have spent a total of $40 there so far.

As an example my latest $1-day visit netted me 4 items.  These were:
* A box of sport card sheets that on Amazon is $25
* Clips that are $7-$10 on Amazon
* Microwave splatter cover that is $12 on Amazon
* And an adhesive tile kitchen backsplash (Art3D company) that is $30 on Amazon.

So am I lucky, observant, obsessed, or are these types of stores everywhere?  I dunno, but it does show how cheap things are wholesale versus retail.  The markup is crazy.

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As a coming attraction, I may have found a new way to "play" around and possibly make money that can even pay for some of my expenses.  How?  Well its not as good as it may sound (and certainly not for everyone!), but check in again, probably in February as I'll post it then.  This possibility appeared in my lap over the holidays, so far it's something new to amuse myself.  I am doing an "investigation" this month to see how well this can work, if at all (but so far, so good).