Building Up Savings

Columnist - Gayle Lynn Falkenthal

One of the great benefits of thrift store shopping is that you’re recycling. Buying gently-used items and giving them new life means one less item in the landfill. But why stop at small items like a pair of shoes or a shirt? How about rescuing a light fixture, hardware, or even sets of windows from being trashed?

There are some great places in San Diego County to find used, surplus, and donated building materials. If you’re remodeling on a budget, check these places out before you head to the depots.

Habitat for Humanity, the nationwide charity that builds homes for low-income families, sells donated surplus building materials like cabinets, doors and windows to the public at ReSTORE thrift stores throughout the United States. There are several in California including one in San Diego on Friars Road. The store proceeds go right back into Habitat homebuilding projects.

I paid a recent visit and I kick myself now for doing an entire kitchen remodeling project without checking it out. While you never know what you might find, there are finds to be made and money to be saved by smart thrift people like you.

Stock included doors, windows, sinks, and cabinet and door hardware. I paid $3 each for cabinet pulls at a well-known hardware store. At the Habitat store, there were good choices for 50 cents each. When you have to buy 48 of them like I did, it adds up! I bought a Moen faucet for $198 for my kitchen. At the Habitat store? A whopping $37.

Another favorite by those in the know is Architectural Salvage at the corner of Kettner and India in Little Italy. This is more a true salvage and recyling outlet. Adventurous homeowners, restoration enthusiasts, and designers have been hitting this place since it opened in 1996. Like any thrift store, the inventory changes every day. The big plus of this shop is the knowledgeable, welcoming staff. This is the rare sort of place where a person like me who can barely use a hammer doesn’t feel stupid asking questions. Don’t go anywhere else if you’re looking for a fireplace mantel, chandelier, or a claw foot bathtub. And you can spent hours looking through odd bits of hardware.

I’ve never paid a visit to Builder’s Trading Company in Encinitas, but the web site is plenty intriguing and it also sounds well worth the trip. Builder's Trading Company says it receives large quantities of salvaged material from old buildings and new construction sites and selects “only top quality, undamaged products to offer our customers.”

If you do go shopping at these stores, keep up to date on current pricing because some of the new items do not offer huge savings. But it may not matter to you if you make a great find to your liking.

Visit my eBay store "TNBB" for some fun items I've picked out just for you. My finds are your finds!
Email: info@falconvalleygroup.com