Secrets of a Secondhand Shopaholic

I’m a secondhand store snob.

With the Goodwill Sale ending March 24, a lot of people assumed I would be all over it.  But I just couldn’t get excited about it.

Don’t get me wrong – I love the sale.  I think all avid shoppers should take advantage of the incredible discounts.  Friends of mine have gushed about the fabulous bargains they found at the Goodwill Sale. I am sincerely happy for them.

But secretly inside, I have this obnoxious sense of “Thrift Pride”.  No matter how great their deals are, I think that my way of shopping is better.  See what I mean?  I’m a secondhand snob.

Here’s my thought process – if I went to the Goodwill Sale at Younkers, I know I would have found several things that I loved, or liked enough to buy.  Remember, I am a shopaholic, my natural instinct is to buy on sight.  Whether I’m at Younkers or Goodwill, it’s hard for me to say no when I see something cute.

And Younkers is stocked full of cute things.  So I’m pretty sure I would have found some great things.

But I just feel I find just as many great deals at my thrift stores.  At a fraction of the prices of retail, even when retail stores have incredible 20% off sales.  To further explain my point, let me show you Exhibits A and B:

So for less than $20, I bought:

4 Tops @ $2.29/each

2 belts @ $1.59/each

1 pair of shoes @ $3.59

2 pairs of pants @ $1.99/each

Now, I kind of feel bad about the pants…..if you look on the 2nd receipt, there are two items “5 – 18 Kids” for only $1.99.  Those are for a black pair of skinnys, and some Levi’s capris.   The cashier must have hit the wrong button, so I really got a deal there (Pants are typically $3.89, so I saved $1.90 on each).  And honestly, I just noticed that mistake now, as I was taking pictures of the receipts.  I certainly don’t pride myself on trying to rip off Goodwill…..

“Ok”, you say, “good for you, Secondhand Shopper.  You really got some great deals on some clothes.  But I remember Get Shorty, where you bought 17 skirts for around $70, but you ended up taking 1/2 of them back.  So just finding the bargains doesn’t impress me.  So Secondhand Shopper,  let me see what you got for under $20, then I’ll decide if your way is better.”

So now I offer you Exhibits C through H.

Oh, and there are two things below that I purchased at Bargain Basket (BB) – the brown shorts, and the J. Crew Straight Legged jeans.

Exhibits C & D:

And for those of you who remember

this post where I thought my pants were skinnys and they weren’t, as you can see in Exhibit C, I have finally found some real  black skinny jeans.  Exhibit D has straight leg jeans, which I actually think look better, don’t you?

Exhibits E and F:

The total cost for these four outfits (minus the shoes and the black jacket in Exhibit F, which actually cost $30 retail), is $32.14.

I just don’t think I could find four complete outfits like these for $32.14 at  Younkers Goodwill sale.

I’m not saying that if I were to rate these outfits, they all would be 5′s.  But I did get some great staples – the capris, and two pairs of black jeans that I really needed – skinnys and straight legs.

And I absolutely LOVE the brown and white Heart Soul tunic.  In fact, I love it so much, I would have paid $32 for it.

So there are my four reasons that I didn’t shop at this year’s Goodwill Sale.  However, I do hope all of you did take advantage of the sale.  Really, I do.

The more you shopped at Younkers for the Goodwill Sale, the better my inventory over at Goodwill gets.  So I hoped you shopped the heck out of it!!

PS:  Here are the belts and the shoes I bought, that were listed on the receipt.  It’s been suggested that I wear more color in some of my black, white and neutral ensembles, so I picked up a red belt and some red Bandolino shoes…