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Ralph the Bargain Hunter

My Uncle's Thrifty Life

By MATTHEW FLICKPublished 3 years ago 3 min read
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Ralph the Bargain Hunter
Photo by Charisse Kenion on Unsplash

When I think of thrifting, I often think of my great-uncle, Ralph. He was the king of bargains. He grew up during the Great Depression. It was in his nature to look for a good deal.

Ralph worked as a groundskeeper for the New York City Housing Authority. Part of his job was to take debris to the local garbage dump. It was during these trips that he found many of his “treasures”. He came home with everything from full cases of laundry detergent discarded by the local Procter & Gamble factory, to a case of “broken” garden statues. He didn’t realize that they were copies of the Venus De Milo and the arms were intentionally missing.

Ralph’s weirdest find is probably the olives. After a hurricane, he went to the beach. He discovered an enormous wooden barrel. Thinking it had to be something amazing, he broke open the barrel to discover gallons of imported Greek olives. How was he going to get them home? He called his wife, Virginia. He asked her to bring every container in the house to the beach. For months, every time you visited Ralph and Virginia, they offered you olives.

Sometime in the 1960s or 1970s, Ralph found enormous rolls of wrapping paper. A paper company was going out of business or was getting rid of old stock and dumped the wrapping paper. Not wanting it to go to waste, Ralph brought it home. He distributed the rolls to family members, including to my grandmother. It was high-quality paper, so grandma only used it on special occasions. Because she used it so sparingly, we found remnants in her house, decades after Ralph gave it to her.

Ralph was a golfer. He often dragged his grandchildren, nieces and nephews to the woods surrounding the local golf course to find lost golf balls, paying the children per bucketful. He then cleaned the golf balls and resold them.

By Nikola Đuza on Unsplash

What did Ralph do with his treasures? He sold whatever he didn’t keep for himself or give away. When he retired, he rented a booth and sold his wares at a local flea market. When my dad was younger, he would join my great-uncle at the flea market. Ralph bought anything if he thought it was a good deal. Once convincing my dad to buy a box full of something my father couldn’t identify because, according to Ralph, “if an item is ten for a dollar, buy it!” It didn’t matter what it was. More often than not, Ralph returned home from the market with more items than he sold, because of this philosophy.

As a child, visiting Uncle Ralph was always a treat. In the living room was a large chest of drawers. Each drawer was full of trading cards. He opened a drawer. Stick his massive hands in, coming out with a fistful of cards, which he then handed to me. Though he always looked for a bargain, with his family, Ralph was exceptionally generous. Throughout my childhood, his generosity continued. He gave me many trinkets he had picked up. Autographed baseballs, comics, little toys, you name it.

After he passed, Ralph's daughter called us. She invited my dad and I to the house to see if there was anything we wanted. I brought home a few insignificant items. I don’t think Ralph ever found anything of great value. And he sold even less. Ralph never made money with his found treasures. What he didn’t make in money, he more than made up with his generosity. He generated little profit, but he generated a ton of memories for his children, nieces, nephews, grand-nieces and grand-nephews.

These days, I often go to thrift store, flea markets and garage sales. Every time I return home with my treasures, I remember Uncle Ralph and thank him for instilling in me the thrill of the bargain hunt.

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About the Creator

MATTHEW FLICK

I am a disabled fiction and nonfiction writer currently living in New York. My writing is inspired by my life and the odd people in it. I'm passionate about pop culture, obscure trivia and great writing.

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