I know you’re drunk, so I don’t know if you’ll read all my comment or any of it, but here’s the best TL;DR I could do for you:

Thrifting is awesome: you recycle, while sometimes finding things that are worth a ton of $$$$$. I’ve found furniture sets that I paid for $380 on one and $140 (or $240, I can’t remember) on the other, and the $380 one is worth in the six figures range; while the $140 (or $240??) one got appraised for $8,000. It’s a TON of work though: driving, hunting, research, refurbishing, etc. I’ve also found an antique wooden mermaid that used to belong to the bow (front) of an old ship from either the 1600/1700’s or the 1800/1900’s, depending on which historian.

Thrifting is also sad though; I’ve found antique chairs stuffed w/ African Slave hair and I’ve found Nazis memorabilia at different places I go to, to find my stuff.

I was gonna say there isn’t nothing wrong with goodwill deals; I’ve found stuff that’s worth 3-5 figures by thrifting and it’s actually partially what I do for a living. It’s hard work and a lot of driving and hunting; researching on a ton of various items, history, trends, and style in EVERY topic you can imagine: jewelry, clothes, art, books, furniture, blankets, pillows, mirrors, etc..

And then there’s the refurbishing you have to do and sometimes it is ugly. Some of these old Victorian era chairs aren’t stuffed with cotton but the hair of African slaves. When I find these I stop immediately and report/send them to the National Museum of African American History in Washington. I’ve even found old slave dolls with blood on them and old slave chains; Nazi memorabilia. One was a “supposed” (I had my doubts from doing research) piece of Hitler’s tile or some shit that was taken from his bunker when he was found dead. Even if it was real it definitely wasn’t something I would want to sell nor would it be something I could even make a profit off of.

It’s a beautiful job but also a sad and ugly one that reminds me of how there are parts of humanity where there are and were a lust for blood, division, and hate for those different than them; whether by religion, political beliefs, economical beliefs, sexuality, gender, or ethnicity, and skin color. This being said while it’s exciting to get your “white whale;” a rush that never leaves you; it is also emotionally and physically exhausting. And it would be a full time job if I didn’t have my awesome fiancé to help me and keep me grounded.

But on a positive note, for example to show how awesome thrifting is: I’ve found an MCM full bedroom set that’s worth about six figures; one mirror alone from this set sold for $2,800. Then I found an Art Deco furniture set (just a horizon and vertical dresser) that got appraised at $8,000. I’m keeping both unless things gets really bad for us, as the pandemic has hit us hard, not as hard as others, but still we did have to sell a car, we are moving out of our rental home due to extremely ugly high rental costs.

I’ve also found, and paid a pretty penny for it ($800), a wooden mermaid that once belonged on the bow (front) of an old ship from the 1800’s; one historian we emailed thinks that she could be from early 1900’s and another thinks she could be from the 1600’s-1700’s. She’s one of our prized possessions for sure.