Goodwill

Most everything is in bins. Not hung up, just an industrial-​sized bin u have to dig through. Not for me.

This is one of those super store Goodwills where the entire store is one large room will tons of rolling blue bins filled with clothes. They are loosely sorted (mens, womens, kids…) but generally speaking you need to be willing to dig around. While I have found some great deals once or twice, the entire store is pretty dirty and run down, so not the most welcoming place. For someone who just needs clothing in a hurry this is a great place to look through but it’s not half as clean or well organized as most other goodwill stores.

It had been a long time since I had been at this particular Goodwill – My how things have changed!
Now, instead of neatly hung up clothing arranged by color (which I always thought was cute/​odd), there are about 20 of these blue plastic tray/​boat/​sled things on wheels and piled with clothes, broken knick knacks, shoes, books and videotapes. Here, you pay by the pound, which is an odd concept, but at least unlike other snootier Goodwills that like to charge a premium for so-​called «boutique clothing» (remember, this stuff is DONATED!), you might get a few bargains. But all mounds and pounds-​o-​clothes bargains in the world can’t erase the imagined bedbugs and cooties I just KNEW were crawling and slithering in the piles!
Call me a sissy, but-​ick!

I know, I know. The economy sucks, your bank account is… well, and yet you still wanna shine. Me too. So when a friend suggested a shopping trip up on The Alameda, I was skeptical. But it was a rainy Saturday and off I went.
Glad I did. Because this Goodwill isn’t your typical goodwill. Don’t be scared of the huge — HUGE — bins o’ stuff. Dig in. Because everything is $ 1.69 a pound. Except for books; they’re fifty cents a pound. Oh, and shoes are $ 3, but my focus was on stuff I could buy and wear once or twice. Because who finds decent stuff at a thrift store? Oh, I can laugh at myself, now.
The Patagonia fleece I dug down to find, the one with the tags still on it? Less than a pound. Less than $ 1.69. The Banana Republic sweaters? Ditto. Same for the Levis jeans… and the Towle silver-​plated bowl/​plate thingy that I bought so I will think of eating carrot and celery sticks as something classy and fun, instead of something I have to do to finally shed the ten pounds of «Holiday Weight» I’ve been carrying around (since before the holidays) awhile. Tons of kids clothes too, btw. My friends and I spent quite a while just holding up wee things and say «ooh, adorb!» We are easily pleased.
Can’t guarantee that every day will end up with a nice score like mine, but since they re-​stock daily who knows? And there’s always that white Abercrombie & Fitch oxford I (would never iron to save my life) left there in the bins as a sort of pay-​it-​forward thang…