Thrift Find: Play/Train Table

[windinthemaples]

Thrift Find: Big Wooden Play Table
Found At: Salvation Army Mundelein, Illinois
Price Paid: $25.00
Why I'm So Excited:
This was expensive, in the world of thrift stores, but I refused to leave it behind. With its simple, sturdy top and giant wheeled storage bins beneath, this is the most perfect play and train table imaginable for our new basement play spaces. Graeme and I visited the store, saw it, and started making plans for how to get it into the car. It was exactly two inches too long for the hatchback to close. Graeme said, "Push more, Mommy!" from his supervisory position in his car seat, but really, I was not feeling positive about our chances. I did not give up, though, so I borrowed a screwdriver from someone and spent a lot of time with my hazard lights on outside the store taking it apart, piece by bitter piece. ;)

And it worked!!

(Better yet, I found all the screws in and amongst my floorboards and was able to reassemble the thing with only the help of one toddler child.)

So I'm feeling like a pretty accomplished thrifter. This, added to the odd Thomas the Train cars I've found lumped in with cheap McDonalds toys at yard sales and Goodwills, plus the set of wooden train tracks and buildings I found at a Tuesday Morning for cheap, and I have the fancy-shmanciest little train table--which can double as any other kind of table for games and toys and crafts--for easily under $40. Take that, retail prices! :D

What frugal finds have made you feel like the queen of your own thrifty domain? :)

Comments

[ilea.livejournal.com]

Not to rain on your parade but please make sure that those thomas the train toys are not the ones with lead paint. (Indy's got a high lead level from juice and I don't want that to happen to graeme from toys)

[sugarmaplelife.livejournal.com]

You have rained on my parade. :) But, given the age of the house, lead-painted toys probably aren't my biggest concern.

(How does Indy have a high lead level from juice?? I've never heard of that! What happened?)

[costumenut.livejournal.com]

That is an amazing find! I've seen those tables priced at 8 times that price!

I always luck out finding clothes thrifting... a lot of times with the tags still on! And some of my favorite vintage dresses were $1 or less at garage sales in mint condition, that would easily sell for much more online or at a vintage store.

[ilea.livejournal.com]

http://thestir.cafemom.com/food_party/104905/high_levels_of_lead_found

Here's the list: http://www.envirolaw.org/documents/ProductsTestedforLeadFINAL.pdf

I was giving her earths best organics and 365 organic juices and at her 2 year lead test she came back with a 13. (anything over 10 is bad) so in a year she went from a lead level of 0 (and I live in a 70 year old house) to 13. I bought one of those test kits and tested everything looking for where it came from then I saw this article and tested her juices. It was positive. I was buying organic to make sure it was free from all the bad chemicals out there. To say I'm pissed about it is a severe understatement.

Now I make my own juices and only buy fruits and veggies from states that I know test for lead in the soil as part of a farmers agriculture license. After this I feel like I can't trust any of our food manufacturers and I am soooo ready to start my own self sufficient organic farm.

[ilea.livejournal.com]

Here's the recalls on thomas toys
http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml07/07308.html
http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml07/07212.html

[sugarmaplelife.livejournal.com]

Thank you for the links. (So helpful that they had photos!) Graeme's thrifted trains, officially, weren't on the list. :) That's nice to know.

Child recalls seem impossible to keep up with. In Chicago, a lot of my local thrift stores started throwing away all toy donations so they wouldn't have to worry about the dangers of reselling things they couldn't vouch for. So sad! Or like, remember that infant sling that was recently recalled for causing all those suffocation deaths? We had that exact same one for Graeme! Crazy!

[sugarmaplelife.livejournal.com]

*agape*

Scary the sorts of things we have in our environment, our bodies, our products without knowing it. This is another checkmark on the "juice is evil" side of the argument. ;)

What did the doctor say to do about the lead? Does it pass from the system in time? Are there other ways you can/have reduced her level back down?

[mermaiden.livejournal.com]

My jaw is on the ground. :O Lady, your thrift store mojo is so shiny, I can see it all the way over here! <33333 FREAKIN' FABULOUS, I AM DOING THE JOYOUS THRIFT STORE DANCE WITH YOU. :D

[sugarmaplelife.livejournal.com]

I don't have the time, since Graeme gets antsy, to go through thrift clothes much anymore. Most of his clothes were either thrifted or hand-me-downs from his cousins, though, and I know how awesome the finds can be there. I've certainly donated clothes that were perfectly great, had tags, but were gifts that didn't fit and I couldn't exchange. :)

[sugarmaplelife.livejournal.com]

It is my hunter/gatherer skills put to use. ;) Even Graeme is good at it--he can spot a toy he wants under a rack, upside down, in a dark corner from the front door. :D

Someday, I will convince you to post some of your past thrift conquests! :D I know your percentage of prized possessions that came from thrift stores rivals my own. :D

[ilea.livejournal.com]

It does pass from the system with help from a better diet.

Thing is it's not just juice it's the apples, pears and grapes themselves. Up until the 1960's lead arsenate was widely used as a pesticide in orchards. Lead and arsenic have built up in the soils and water and are now being absorbed by the fruit. Indy loves apples and grapes. She used to eat them as a snack everyday so she was probably being exposed there too. Next planting season I'm going to grow grapes on my fence.

[ilea.livejournal.com]

I had that sling too! Yeah recalls are hell to keep up with. Most of the thrift stores here started tossing their toys too. What a waste.