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The Fun of Thrift Stores

The following is a guest post by Crystal at Budgeting in the Fun Stuff. Her blog covers living expenses, saving for your future, and the fun stuff along the way.

I love shopping at Goodwill. I don’t shop for clothes often—once every year or so—but when I do, I go to Kohl’s, Dillard’s, and Goodwill.  Oh, and Shirt Woot, but that’s more for the humor than the shirts themselves.  🙂

Kohl’s has my favorite line of tops (Dana Blumenthal).  Dillard’s carries my favorite line of work slacks (Investments).  Goodwill is just for fun.

There’s just something about browsing rows and rows of clothing that I don’t have to feel guilty for wanting to buy.  I’ve only bought one t-shirt and four blouses over the past 3 years, but all of those are still my favorites and cost less than $25 altogether.  Two of the blouses make great work tops!

My first trip to those lovely aisles was with a friend about 3 years ago.  We had a ton of fun trying on 30 or 40 pieces each and coming out of the dressing area to get the thumbs up or down from each other.  It was also fun to think of the outfits we could easily put together for friends and family members that weren’t there—the tackier the better, lol.

I thought that Goodwill would have worn-out stuff that was all from before I was born, but I was pleasantly surprised.  Sure, there are some old styles, but there is also a lot of new stuff too.  Not all tops come with shoulder pads.  🙂

My favorite Goodwill blouse is easy to clean and fades from a tan to black from shoulder to stomach so it looks elegant and works great for a woman with a little fluff (like me).

For guys, the fashions don’t seem to change as much so there seems to be more general options.  My husband would be fine with almost any of it, but his wardrobe is complete for right now.

Have you ever shopped at Goodwill or a different thrift store? If you have, how did you like it?  If you haven’t, would you consider it?

A$k nicely, and ye shall re¢eive

Truth to tell, I didn’t even ask at the Safeway yesterday.

I dropped by on the way home from work, not feeling on the top shelf and absolutely not feeling like cooking anything elaborate. There wasn’t much in the house for me to eat or anything at all for the dog to eat. Thought I’d buy a porterhouse (3 or 4 meals for me) and an Idaho potato, along with a couple of other minor necessities.

All the T-bones and porterhouses were sliced paper-thin, the better to persuade buyers that the breathtaking prices were still buying them a nice steak. You can’t grill one of those things rare, and I don’t like shoe-leather meat. There was a nice, thick ribeye, but I really wanted a porterhouse, which would yield enough for several meals.

So, I picked up the ribeye to keep my hands on it, since it was the only steak cut thick enough to grill the way I prefer it, and then stopped by the butcher and asked if he could slice a porterhouse a little thicker than a quarter-inch, like…about the thickness of the captive ribeye. All the steaks in the fancy meat cabinet were also cut thin. He said he would, but another customer was ahead of me with a large order, and then he’d have to take his saw apart and refit it with a different blade. If I’d like to wait a while, he would be happy to slice a respectable porterhouse.

Tired and distinctly under the weather, I said no, I could make do with the steak in hand. He then – get this! – offered to cut the price on the ribeye!

Yes. The ribeye was already marked down. He marked it down even more, for no other reason than goodwill.

And with that gesture, goodwill was exactly what Safeway got! Not only that, but the checkout clerk was actually polite to me. You couldn’t pry me away from the place now.

Thought for a moment I’d stepped through a time warp: who would think we were in the 21st century? Wish other retailers would remember that customer service = business goodwill = customer loyalty = higher profits.

3 Comments left on iWeb site

Mrs. Accountability

Safeway employees are always extremely polite, helpful and friendly. I only buy sale items from Safeway, but their great personalities would more than make up for the higher prices.I would like to apply for a job at Safeway just once to see what their hiring procedure is like. I mean, they MUST do a personality test on people, to make sure they are “people” persons

Wednesday, July 23, 200807:47 P

Mrs. Accountability

Oh, and the other thing I’ve noticed… in the less affluent neighborhoods the steaks are sliced paper thin. In our little town they are 2″ thick steaks, much thicker than I would ever like. How many ounces of meat do you eat at a meal to make 3-4 meals of a porterhouse?! Guess I’m a pig! I can eat a whole one myself

Wednesday, July 23, 200807:49 P

Funny about Money

LOL! I eat a lot of veggies, grains, and salad, so the steak is just a small part of the feast. A typical meal is fish, meat, or poultry; rice, potato, or pasta; and salad or cooked vegetable. Plus fruit for dessert if there’s anything good in the house. Plus wine or beer if I’m not on a diet.

Old age helps, too. In my callow youth I could easily polish off a whole porterhouse, and did so every now & then. These days I don’t seem to want to eat that much. Not that I don’t want to eat or don’t enjoy eating (it’s one of my favorite pastimes), but that much smaller portions seem to suffice

Wednesday, July 23, 200808:40 P