Electronics and Thrift Stores

Like my pink cordless phone? Me too - except it's going back to Value Village, where I bought it for $17.99 last week 'cos I was just groovin' on the whole pink thing. But I learned, during a valuable trip to La Source, that the power supply must exactly match the phone it comes with or the phone will blow up. Maybe I should have known this but I'm a girlie chickie boo and not at all technically-inclined. Sadly the power supply I grabbed off the shelf is not the match to this old Radio Shack phone.

True: I recklessly discarded the wholly reasonable rule of not buying electronics second-hand - there are so many reasons not too, even if you test whatever by plugging it in. Items could be old, fried and dangerous, and typically stores don't take responsibility for donated items that malfunction or aren't safe.

But here's a cute wall scone I picked up at my local thrift shop for under $4. I plopped a little lampshade on it that I just happened to have hanging around and doesn't it look cute? I can tell by the cord that this is an old fixture, so I'm careful to not leave it on for long - just to be safe.

And there was a happy ending to my think pink theme: I found a cutie-pie FujiFilm pink camera at The Source on sale. Well a gal with a shopping column and a blog has gotta have a decent camera, no?? And grunge-queens have a thing called plastic for more expensive purchases - though she rarely uses it.

FRIENDLY THRIFT TIP:

Practise common sense with second-hand electronics. Generally the only item I buy with regularity is lamps, but I stay away from old frayed cords. I always test the item in store, and if I'm not sure about it, as I was with the pink phone, I ensure I can exchange or return it within a certain amount of time.