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'tis the Season to be Thrifty
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It’s that time of year again, when I log online to check my bank account and realize that Grandma’s gift (a holiday sweater of course) has put me in the red, the holidays have overdrawn me once again, and I still need to fill my gas tank and buy toilet paper…
This morning, as my tired eyes focused on that measly number, I had a thought -- besides standing on Hollywood Boulevard, what is the quickest way for me to make some cash? I made a beeline to my closet and started pulling out all of the clothes I haven’t worn in years -- the jean mini skirt, ultra-flared jeans circa 2000, sweaters I haven’t worn once since moving from the East Coast -- they all get thrown into old shopping bags. No, it's not a yard sale people -- it's time to go to Buffalo Exchange/CrossRoads/Wasteland and make some much-needed cash by selling this stuff. I make the hard decision to grab some dresses that still have their tags on them, and of course a couple of “pre-break up” dresses that don’t fit after gaining ten pounds, and I’m off!
Buffalo Exchange on La Brea is my first stop. This hip spot is clearly way too cool for the likes of me, as the trendy hipster girl doesn’t take ANY of my clothes…nada. I might as well be wearing pleated mom jeans and a holiday sweater. Thank God she didn’t take any items in my four bags of clothes, cause I got to my car just before the meter maid did -- phew -- no forty-dollar ticket for me. That’s one of the reasons (my collection of parking tickets) that has me running all around town anyway.
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Next stop is Crossroads on Melrose. They decide to take a few dresses and a shirt -- this makes me overjoyed, and I don’t feel like I’m in mom jeans anymore. The grand total (or the thirty five percent cash back I receive) is a whopping $5.25. But hey -- that’s five more bucks than I had this morning. I walk across the street to Wasteland, where to my surprise (and glee) they take five dresses and my thirty five percent cash back is $34.00. I don’t know of any other places that buy used clothes, but if I did, I would have headed there next -- the euphoria of getting cash handed to me for getting rid of crap in my closet is just too delicious.
With my grand total of $39.25 I buy three-quarters of a tank of gas, toilet paper, and a burrito from El Pollo Loco. No rest for me though -- now I’m busy collecting stray coins to take to the CoinStar machine at Ralph's.
photo by bryan F.
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