Thrift Store Finds for new apartment.

AndrewF · ‎06-13-2026

In the past three days as I drive around I hit up all the Goodwill stores along the route.

Major finds:

A Toshiba microwave that still sells for $150, I got it for $50. Had to do some light cleaning but it works perfectly. It even has a "sensor reheat" option that I've never had before.

A Cuisinart 14 cup coffee maker. Still sells for well over $90 at Target, got it for $10. Pretty nasty, but managed to scrub it clean with dish soap and a dishware brush. Some idiot overflowed the brew basket or poured coffee into the water reservoir. Luckily they put in that stupid filter thing I always remove anyway and it prevented grounds from getting into the heating element. So I scrubbed with dish soap and the brush and kept shining my phone's flashlight in until all the sludge was removed and down to the black plastic, then flushed out with water until no more bubbles. Used Goo Gone on the exterior. Also used wet paper towels until no coffee sludge was coming up off the burner, or around or under the brew basket. Ran two cleaning cycles of 1:1 vinegar water and then one cleaning cycle of 8 ounces coffee descaler and topped off until 14 cup line with water. Then two full 14 cup cycles plain water. Disposed of "permanent" filter and use #4 paper filters (using the origami fold which almost nobody seems to do).

Brewed up some Sumatra coffee and I think that was the cleanest cup I've ever made.

Found a Rival slow cooker, probably from the early 90s. Perfect condition. $10. So old it said Made in USA on it. This old stuff is so good. I'm going to donate the slow cooker I already have, which is a much newer Hamilton Beach. It works fine but the exterior is rusting. I just liked the Rival one more.

Found a pile of Brita Elite and ZeroWater filters. The Brita Elite were 99 cents each and the ZeroWater were $2.99 each. Factory sealed. Went around the corner and picked up two Brita UltraMax dispensers which retail for $36.99, got them for $1.99 each, also got a ZeroWater dispenser for $1.99. Next day found a Pur system and a bunch of filters.

Found a Cuisinart garlic press for $1.99, looks new.

Got a Swiffer for $3.09, works fine. Found two bottles of solution factory sealed for $2.99 each.

Bought a complete set of plates and bowls, no defects, very high quality, service for five. $16 total.

Found a Cambridge Soundworks CD740 "clock radio", but honestly it sounds better than most shelf systems I've owned. It's an all in one comparable (but sounds better IMO) to a Bose Wave Radio. I had been on the lookout for a Bose Wave Radio because I like my Wave Music System IV so much. I paid over $300 for the Wave IV even refurbished.

I got the Cambridge Soundworks CD740 complete with remote and the optional external antennas. The CD player didn't work, but there was another one just like it on the shelf that did not power on. I paid $6.29 for the one with the broken CD player and I showed them that the other one didn't work at all and got it for free. When I got home, I disassembled both units and pulled out the broken CD player and discovered that it was the motor that broke, not just a dirty laser, but I transplanted the CD player from the unit that didn't work at all and reassembled the original unit, and tested the CD player which now works fine. Cleaned the new CD player with my Maxell cleaner CD.

Stuck in a Bluetooth receiver in the Aux port. Can play songs from my YT Music app on my phone (or anything else really).

Fixed a loose volume knob with part from the dead unit, replaced worn front panel with the one that looked new from the dead unit, and cleaned the exterior thoroughly.

Unit was $400 in 2005, that's $702.35 in today's money, plus I upgraded it with Bluetooth.

Picked up a 40" Vizio 4K TV with remote for $10.99. No scratches on the screen. Stuck a Google TV streamer on it and cleaned the smudges off the screen with eyeglass cleaner and microfiber. Put it in the bedroom.

Other small things that amused me including a "cat" coffee mug that looks like "Mr. Kitty", our cat when I was a small child, he was an orange tabby. Some $1.99 liquid hand soap dispensers for kitchen and bathroom that looked nice and weren't full of someone else's soap.

A nice ceramic salt and pepper shaker set that looks like lighthouses for the kitchen.

Still on the to-do list:

Decor items if I can find anything that looks tasteful.

Love that Goodwill has a "rewards program". I've earned over $10 in credit towards more stuff there. They never seem to have clothes that fit me. I go to Carhartt mostly.

Where I did splurge:

I paid over $4,000 for a new bed at Hassleless Mattress. Totally worth it. I'm asleep as soon as I lay down. I have a terrible back and it's so hard finding a good bed. I found a Sealy model that was a "4" with 1 being the most firm and 5 being the most plush. I like to sink into a mattress, but not to where I feel like there's no support underneath me. My grandmother had a mattress that practically swallowed you like quicksand. It was terrible. I think it must have been past what Hassleless calls a 5.

I liked how their store has no salesmen or anyone bothering you while you're trying them out, just take all the time you want. No pressure. The doors lock at 9 PM and unlock at 9 AM, and there's a kiosk you can place your order from. Would do business with them again.

TrapLine · ‎06-13-2026

Do hope you had the Dawn Soap Ducks observing to ensure an environmentally friendly cleaning

AndrewF · ‎06-13-2026

@TrapLine wrote:
Do hope you had the Dawn Soap Ducks observing to ensure an environmentally friendly cleaning

I grabbed one of those huge Sam's Club Member's Mark concentrated dish soaps and it seems to work better than Dawn Platinum.

I just scrubbed down an instant pot I cooked a cheesy pasta recipe in today and it was practically effortless after a short soak in hot soapy water.

I think Dawn should copy the Sam's Club stuff.

I'm switching my mentality to thrifting because the prices at Walmart are getting pretty absurd honestly. I did grab a good set of kitchen knives and pots and pans at Sam's and you need spatulas and stuff that are soft and flexible because the rigid ones scratch your ceramic.

So I got those at Walmart. But I'm definitely paying attention to thrift stores for appliances, dishware, things of that nature.

This apartment is so old that all the outlets were polarized, not grounded, so I am adapting them to be grounded three prong outlets. I didn't ask, I'm just doing it.

I found a bunch of power strips and extension cords at Goodwill, usually $1.99 each.

Sometimes you just have to adapt things to work.

I spent most of the afternoon tearing into a "clock radio" that thinks its a stereo because most people use those earpod things or whatever. I mean, it's sad but the world we live in stopped caring about quality and started caring about convenience.

Bose is getting ready to join the others in the bankruptcy pile. They had mass layoffs years ago. A lot of this stuff, you just can't buy anymore because like, nobody cares how good the music they listen to sounds unless they're just from a certain generation.

They pretty much threw away the patent that built the company and started making earbuds and other stuff that dies in a year or two because it has a battery. None of my audio stuff uses a battery because I try not to knowingly buy trash.

Or if they have to chuck a $100 coffee maker every year.

When you get them at the thrift store you can afford ones that were better built, and you can afford more than one so if this one craps out on you, you just grab another out of the closet. Gets expensive fast at Target or Amazon or Walmart.

TrapLine · ‎06-14-2026

@AndrewF wrote:
@TrapLine wrote:
Do hope you had the Dawn Soap Ducks observing to ensure an environmentally friendly cleaning
I grabbed one of those huge Sam's Club Member's Mark concentrated dish soaps and it seems to work better than Dawn Platinum.

I just scrubbed down an instant pot I cooked a cheesy pasta recipe in today and it was practically effortless after a short soak in hot soapy water.

I think Dawn should copy the Sam's Club stuff.

I'm switching my mentality to thrifting because the prices at Walmart are getting pretty absurd honestly. I did grab a good set of kitchen knives and pots and pans at Sam's and you need spatulas and stuff that are soft and flexible because the rigid ones scratch your ceramic.

So I got those at Walmart. But I'm definitely paying attention to thrift stores for appliances, dishware, things of that nature.

This apartment is so old that all the outlets were polarized, not grounded, so I am adapting them to be grounded three prong outlets. I didn't ask, I'm just doing it.

I found a bunch of power strips and extension cords at Goodwill, usually $1.99 each.

Sometimes you just have to adapt things to work.

I spent most of the afternoon tearing into a "clock radio" that thinks its a stereo because most people use those earpod things or whatever. I mean, it's sad but the world we live in stopped caring about quality and started caring about convenience.

Bose is getting ready to join the others in the bankruptcy pile. They had mass layoffs years ago. A lot of this stuff, you just can't buy anymore because like, nobody cares how good the music they listen to sounds unless they're just from a certain generation.

They pretty much threw away the patent that built the company and started making earbuds and other stuff that dies in a year or two because it has a battery. None of my audio stuff uses a battery because I try not to knowingly buy trash.

Or if they have to chuck a $100 coffee maker every year.

When you get them at the thrift store you can afford ones that were better built, and you can afford more than one so if this one craps out on you, you just grab another out of the closet. Gets expensive fast at Target or Amazon or Walmart.

Do hope when installing three prong outlets you really are finding an earth ground through a ground wire or metal conduit. Other wise you may not be getting a true earth ground. There is a difference.

AndrewF · ‎06-14-2026

Yep, they can be properly grounded, they just weren't for whatever reason. Some were, in the kitchen or bathroom, some weren't.

A trip to Menard's fixed that.

Not everything about an old apartment is bad. I have an Al Bundy toilet that goes "BA-WOOSH" and doesn't force you to stand there flushing it ten times and get the plunger like the modern ones do.

TrapLine · ‎06-14-2026

@AndrewF wrote:
Yep, they can be properly grounded, they just weren't for whatever reason. Some were, in the kitchen or bathroom, some weren't.

A trip to Menard's fixed that.

Not everything about an old apartment is bad. I have an Al Bundy toilet that goes "BA-WOOSH" and doesn't force you to stand there flushing it ten times and get the plunger like the modern ones do. Aw, were saving water?

Com'mon now, got'ta love the new modern 1.6 gallon toilets. Instead of one flush, it takes three. Modern science? Sometimes I wonder!

TrapLine · ‎06-14-2026

@AndrewF

Lived on a lake in an old carriage house. Loved everything about it but, it was old! The views were great and of course the lake shore access. Best part, the neighbor that owned it demolished it after I left ... what does that tell you?

AndrewF · ‎06-14-2026

@TrapLine wrote:
@AndrewF

Lived on a lake in an old carriage house. Loved everything about it but, it was old! The views were great and of course the lake shore access. Best part, the neighbor that owned it demolished it after I left ... what does that tell you?

I rented a lake house and the landlord was going so long in between tenants that he just sold it because he could list it for months and not have a tenant, but it was still costing money to maintain it.

The rent was lower than you'd expect because there were 37 giant steps down a big hill to get to the house and you had to clear the snow and salt them in the winter.

FicoMike0 · ‎06-17-2026

Some of us have been known to connect the safety ground to the neutral, in a pinch. You can't tell the difference with the cover plate on.

AndrewF · ‎06-17-2026

The landlord just took an outlet adapter and didn't connect anything to it and plugged the refrigerator in. I actually flipped the breaker off and replaced the outlet with a grounded one.

Landlords are a very dirty bunch, collectively. A few are decent, but most of them rent crap they wouldn't live in themselves and charge the cost of a mortgage for it.

Mom and her third husband rented a house for a while. When I walked into the kitchen they were remodeling I found wires wrapped in duct tape and shoved back into the wall. The landlord had his son who was usually in prison doing the work.

I went and told him that this was unacceptable and that my mother was living in that place, and asked him if we could do the work ourselved if he just paid for materials. He actually agreed.

The kitchen got done right. Not sure about the rest of the house. Probably not.

He wasn't the biggest crook I've ever seen with landlords. That would be two landlords ago, we had millions of cockroaches, overflowing garbage dumpsters, some tenants upstairs broke their window and he didn't repair it for five months. The toilets kept breaking down and he wouldn't do anything about it for a week. Things like that.

Before my new partner and I moved into this place, I just sort of assumed there would be roaches and treated the whole place myself with deltamethrin insecticide, tekko insect growth regulator, Raid and combat bait traps (different poisons to deal with potentially bait averse or resistant roaches), and sticky traps to monitor for activity. So far I have not seen or caught anything.

But after you rent expensive crap that a vicious slumlord has been neglecting, you come to fear the worst.