Flea markets are great. San Jose Flea Market has inexpensive socks sized to the size of the shoe, so they are really comfortable. They also have dragons. WAIT until you see the dragon I got while I was finding out if my old wheelchair was reliable. (It is not reliable.)
The trick with Goodwill is to shop in an upscale neighborhood, as Goodwill asks the same price for Target jeans and for designer jeans. Note that the Goodwill jeans are already broken in. Do not forget to look through the jewelry pile. We found earrings made like little phones, and other great goodies for 50 cents each.
Salvation Army has upscale stores in some areas. I LUSTED after a fake fireplace, because I REALLY miss my fireplace. The stuff at Salvation Army is generally less expensive than the stuff at Goodwill.
Junk stores. I found eighteenth century copies of matched fourteenth century swords in a junk store for $125 including a steel shield.
Chinatown, Japantown, Korea Town, Little Saigon and other ethnic areas. All of these places have crafts from their counties some of which are quite inexpensive. Chinatown in San Francisco has Japanese cooking knives with carbon steel blades that do not rust. These are NOT inexpensive.
If you start to feel frightened in an ethnic neighborhood, just start meeting peoples eyes and smiling. Most people are really friendly. I do not understand the newspapers attitude towards East Side San Jose. I got REALLY LOST on the way to the flea market. The area looked really nice, and the people were amazingly helpful about giving me directions.
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