Goodwill Hunting

Day 6

Some of my coupons, clipped just last Sunday, are expiring.

I went through my little red organizer and threw out the expired coupons. I am going to look into donating expired coupons to a military family because I know that they can use them for 6 months after the expiration date. But for now, I organized my coupon file by throwing them out.

I wanted to go shopping. For jeans. And I had no coupons for jeans or any clothing for that matter. So I remembered an aunt of mine who had once told me that you could find some pretty nice jeans at the Goodwill store. Figuring that this experiment in savings had to go on, and that being a savvy shopper encompasses more than just the use of coupons, I packed up the girls and went to the Goodwill Store. And I resolved to include my experience there in this savings journal.

I must start out by saying that at first, I was feeling pretty negative about the idea. The store was rather hot and my little one decided to melt down in her stroller. My older daughter kept asking me why we were there at all. Between the questions and the crying, I wasn’t sure how I was going to get a grip on this shopping trip.

I noticed that two rows of racks were dedicated to jeans. One for women’s jeans and one for men’s jeans. There was no order to the jeans on the racks. It was just two long rows with hangers jammed close together and holding jeans of all shapes and sizes. I took a deep breath and began going one by one through the women’s rack. Generally speaking, most of the jeans were too large for me. But I began noticing that the brands on the rack were pretty good. Some were brands that I would have purchased in a retail store. And some brands were above my typical jean price point.

All the jeans were $5. There were 4 that caught my eye and were my size. At $5 each, I decided to purchase all 4 and not risk the anxiety of entering a dressing room with my two kids. So I brought my finds home.

My aunt was right! What a great haul!

And here is the awesome happy ending: They all fit beautifully.

What a great experience. Thank you Goodwill.

I probably saved a ton of money with the 4 jeans. They cost a lot less than I would usually spend on one pair. But I feel funny adding them to my “Money Saved” total since I really don’t know how much I would have spent if I had gone to a retail store instead. So I won’t add it in, but I do want my readers to know about how great my Goodwill hunt went!