Goodwill

When I was younger we would go to the local Salvation Army to get stuff for our Halloween costumes. One year I actually had the option of three different costumes. I could be Loretta Lynn, a witch or Jackie O. In high school I took over my mom's old sewing machine and would make over anything and everything. I was hitting up the thrift store for shirts/pants/ect to tear apart and put back together. Sometimes it would actually be wearable. My mom is totally skeeved out by thrift stores. Anything I brought home had to be washed in hot, hot, hot water, detergent and Lysol. Not the yellow Lysol the stuff in the dark brown bottle that smelled like an old hospital. My clothes were practically sterile.

A friend of mine who was a pot smoking hippy living on practically nothing took me to the Goodwill in Visalia. Wow, it was soooo much nicer than the thirft stores in P'ville. Now that I live here and still cheap I go there on a regular basis. I have no shame in admitting that. I've scored tons of stuff for Jack. They are all new looking, clean and some even have the tags still on them. I even pick up stuff for myself. I still reconstruct the clothes.

My last trip I bagged the following.From left to right: Three toddler zip up hoodies, one pair of sweats size 18 month, one Nine and Co. dress, one random brand dress, two Old Navy t-shirts, one skirt(not pictured) and one super cool hat for Jack.

The two dresses will be turned into skirts, the kids clothes will be packed away for future use. Did I mention that the kids clothes were all from Target and still had tags on them? They were $3 each.

I should probably mention the clothes storage. I buy future sizes when I can find good, clean stuff at Goodwill. Jack has a bunch of clothes form 18 months to 5T stored away. To make sure I don't buy too much of one thing I keep a small notebook of sizes and a running tally of how much. I bring this book with me whenever I go so I don't go overboard and he has 15 pairs of jeans with two shirts.

I love the thrift store. It can tedious sometimes having to go through every.single.thing. on the rack but it's worth the time and effort. I would totally hit up yard sales but I work most weekends and Travis is grossed out by yard sale clothes (he doesn't mind thrift store clothes though, weird huh?).