Thanks for the welcoming. My local thrift shop is wonderful,I buy my irons for my quilt studio there too, in fact I just bought one a few weeks ago and when I got it home and brought it to my studio to get ready to use it,I discovered that the plastic film was still on the metal. I get my irons there inexpensive so when they stop working or start producing rust I don't feel bad when I throw it away.
Craigslist is great too.I have bought two sewing machines on Craigslist, My current Janome 8900, it was to good of a deal to pass up, and my previous machine a Janome QDC 3160 with a sew eze table. When I upgraded to my current machine, I sold the QDC on Craigslist. A lady from California actually bought it. I shipped the machine and table to California. Bargains are always fun to find.