Goodwill shopping

What a great find! I've gotten nice things at Goodwill in the past but they have been charging more and more in the last few years. You'll pay $4 for a tshirt that has stains or rips in it when you can get a brand new one for $5. I didn't shop there that much except on sale days where you got 50% or more off on certain color tags. But I don't shop there at all during the last year and into the foreseeable future because of the bedbug problems we have here in the Midwest. I've found some very nice things at Goodwill, though, including jewelry that the inspectors missed--costume jewelry by famous makers and old retro stuff that fetches a nice price. Congrats on the coat! I need one this winter but they are so expensive I guess I'll just sew up what I have where it's been ripped. I've gained some weight this past year, as I found when I put it on, and that's a very good incentive to stick to my food plan!

sounds like you made a great deal there, good for you

That is a good buy! I'm finding, around here, that the thrift store workers are getting too savvy about prices, Value Village especially.

I find my best clothes at thrift stores and you made a great find..The problem is, I don't find something every time or something in particular I am looking for. For example, trying to find jeans for boys, even in a big thrift store can be nearly impossible..Then it gets really bad if I got with my tiny daughter, (she wears like a 2 or 3) and she can find a million awesome clothes, while I am fortunate to find a couple things..lol Oh, they have clothes in my size, but I am beginning to wonder that one the size goes into single digits, they start making what I call "grandmother" clothing..lol

I go to the thrift stores to check on yarns and craft stuff. Often I find good yarn. While in there I check some of the clothing. Last year I found some name brand blazers for about $4 and got them. I've also purchased jeans and a few sweaters and shirts. Most of the things I've brought home still had tags on them. I'm somewhat leery of worn-looking clothing and especially shoes. Not sure what policies they have in place for making sure shoes are critter free.

I found this original purse there once that matched my boots to a tee! I couldn't believe what great shape it was in. There isn't a very good quality Goodwill in my area but where my b/f is from has a really nice one.

Forty dollars for a coat at Goodwill? Was it made of gold? People who shop at Goodwill don't have forty dollars to spend on a coat. If they did, they wouldn't be shopping at Goodwill. Anyway, it's been a while since I've been to a thrift store because the ones near me aren't good. Every time I have something to give away I take it to the thrift shops that are bad. The worst is Salvation Army. I give to them hoping maybe the people who have to shop there will get a nice surprise when they come across something of mine.

I really hat shopping for anything anywhere. I see nothing wrong with purchasing from goodwill if that is what you can afford. It sounds like you got yourself a really nice jacket there too! I hope it lasts a good long time! Have a great weekend!!!

Heck, yeah! I used to collect unusual brass things and Goodwill has always been an awesome place for that. On one of my trips, I noticed something that looked kinda like scissors but had a small receptacle on one side with a "pushy" thing on the other (that went down into the receptacle). I had no idea what it was at the time but it cost only 25 cents and it was solid brass. I bought it. Once home, I looked it up online and found that it is an antique candle wick cutter, which they stopped making in 1835. I have no idea how old the one I have is but I did find one very similar selling for $400.00!!! I still have it but will probably try to sell it one of these days when I have time to do the auction thing. Another great find from Goodwill was a microfiber jacket with the original sales ticket still on it. It was my mother's size and this was when microfiber had just hit the fashion world so the jacket was extremely expensive, at least initially. I paid $10.00 for it but the original ticket said it was $429.00. I gave it to my mother for her birthday and she adored it. I'm not exactly sure if she loved it so much because it was beautiful (it really was... I wish it had been my size lol) or because it originally cost so much. She always liked to brag about how much she spent on things so that could have been why she liked it so much. She did wear it several times that I know of. I just bought my youngest son a new bed for Christmas. I bought the mattress online from a major department store but they wanted $122 just to ship a (twin sized) box spring! I couldn't believe that shipping cost, especially since the mattress weighed more than the box spring and they only wanted $70 to ship the mattress. So, we bought a new box spring from Goodwill for $64 which came with a 5 year warranty. As far as I'm concerned, a box spring is a box spring so why pay extra? It fit in my SUV (almost) so it only cost a bit of gas and a bit of time to take it to his house instead of that insane $122! I love Goodwill. BTW, AWESOME find of yours! I know this may sound weird, but I hope you have many REALLY cold days ahead so you can wear your new coat.

no kidding. strange thing is, i prefer thrift stores. ive found better things for less and like you, ive found expensive thing for less. plus antiques, like once i found a black bakelite 1940's telephone with old fashioned clothe line /cord that my hubby, that was a telephone exec/tech. checked out and it still worked dial tone and all for 20 bucks! once i bought a little purse and my youngest daughter asked could she carry it for a day just to show off promising to be careful and she was. next day, i decided to change into it my stuff. i saw a little flap, pulled it up. it was a secret compartment. 80 dollars was in there! id payed 50 cents for the purse. my daughter cried cause she hadnt seen it.

Goodwill is a great place to shop. A lot of times you can find really classy things that you wouldn't ordinarily be able to afford if you found them at the store they were originally sold at. Unfortunately, some of the goodwill stores are hiring people to research items to see what they are worth and then are pricing them accordingly. Many people who do resale are looking at ebay for their pricing information. The problem with relying on that source is you are seeing what the person wants for the item but you are not seeing if they are really able to get that for it. You have to consider that no one may be willing to pay what they are asking. So, if you want to sell yours you will have to adjust your asking price to something someone would be willing to pay. It's difficult to know just how much to ask to balance between getting all you can and being able to sell it.

I don't show at thrift shops. I hate looking for my size! I wear a 4x and that coat would be perfect for me! Anyway! I hate shopping to begin with. I am not a person who likes to look through rows and rows of clothes for my size! I get depressed shopping for clothes! Trying to find something I can wear and I like is very hard! Today's clothes aren't my style! At least alot of them! So I only shop for clothes when I really need to!

Not anything that good, but yes I did find a beautiful poka dot dress from Dress barn that was normally $60 & I found it at the Good Will store & only paid like $4 for this dress. I couldn't believe it. Like your coat there wasn't one thing wrong with this dress. No tares, no stains anywhere, nothing.

Hi ElicBxn, know one could ever make me feel bad about where I purchase anything..First of all its not anyones business where I shop but I do know there are some very nice things at the Goodwill. It may not be the fact that they did not know the value of the coat but because of the type of place it is.. I love going to those places to look around now..I rarely but anything because I simply don't need anything...But you run across a lot of really very good items and at a great price. Keep shopping and finding those bargains...Happy Holidays!!!!!

Personally I am usually not one for shopping at Thrift stores. Usually anything I find there they want too much for. I usually can find items of clothing New on clearance racks, or online for just barely more than what they want for something used. But to find a deal for a good coat like that is a Great deal. Luckily I do not need a New coat that often so this is never really anything that I have to worry about.

I found a really good quality pair of work boots once. I was going to use them as planter pots but my friend tried them on and they fit perfectly. They were in very good condition and they lasted him longer than his usual $40 ones. I paid 50 cents. I've had a few lovely pieces of clothing from thrift stores that I've paid a couple of dollars for and I have worn and worn them. Congrats on your coat...sounds lovely and snuggly.

well..we don't have a goodwill..but we do have a salvation army.. i got two rolls of highly embossed wallpaper that normally sells for 30 a piece. that was a sweet deal.

Goodwill shopping can also be fun. I remember such cases when I was on business trips a decade ago. There I found so many books almost new, but only one or two dollars each. In some countries, goodwill clothing can be very clean and well prepared before offered, but not always the case. In my country, unused clothing and goods are collected only on urgent occasions, and immediately transported to the disaster stricken areas. We do need regular efforts for such efforts so that things can be valued to their maximum.

Wow. What a nice catch. I haven't been lucky enough to find something with such a low price but mostly because I don't check those stores. You have motivated me in doing some shopping in goodwill stores and I hope I will be lucky as you were.