Good finds + Good friends = Awesomeness!

I have a friend who loves to thrift shop probably more than I do. On one of her trips to Goodwill she saw this awesome Athleta tank in the linens section and grabbed it for me.

She called to tell me I had a Goodwill find in the mail and to be on the look out for it! I was so excited when I opened my package and found this awesome tank.

Never a bad idea to keep your thrifting friends in the loop as to what you are looking for! You never know… your friend may have better luck than you!

Deal of the Year!

I'm so excited to blog about my best deal ever!

Today after my workout, I headed over to my favorite Goodwill. Look what I found for $9.00 dollars. That's right... N-I-N-E dollars!


Here's the price to prove it... although, I didn't realize you can hardly read the tag... but trust me, it was $9.00.


I wondered why it was at Goodwill, figuring something must be wrong with it. So, after double checking the return policy (full refund within 48 hours) I decided to buy it.

I made a quick stop by my local grocery store to buy the k-cup coffee cups that this machine uses and I headed home.

I cleaned it up and everything seemed to work fine. I put the k-cup coffee cup in the holder and hit "brew".

Ummm, something was not right...

After doing some research online, I discovered that the K-cup holder or "funnel" was missing. So, I did some more research and discovered that a Keurig replacement funnel was $40. Argh! My good deal was no longer a good deal.

So, I called up one of my friends who owns a Keurig machine and she said that she owns a "My K-Cup" reusable filter and that is should work for me if I wanted to just use my own ground coffee, etc. (Which is a heck of a lot cheaper than buying the k-cup coffee cups if you ask me!)

I made a bee-line to Walmart, purchased the "My K-Cup" reusable filter and what do you know? It works PERFECTLY! I can even use the k-cup coffee cups (if I punch a hole in the side of it - for you Keurig owners - you know what I mean...) To make the deal even sweeter, I used a $5.00 off coupon from Walmart on the purchase.


In total, for my new machine, etc., I paid approximately $25.00. This machine retails for $149.00 on Amazon. Whoohoo!

Total score for me, as I was just looking at these machines last weekend with Randy.

Goodwill Hunting shopping day - Recap!

I met my friend Heather on Saturday and we headed out for a day of Goodwill shopping.

Heather and I know each other from church and have many mutual friends, but we've never had the opportunity to hang out together. It was fun getting to know her a bit better and realize that we have A LOT in common. Aside from loving a good deal at any type of thrift or resale store, we both are stay at home moms with common values in how we raise our kids. She's also a type A personality which is always a good pairing for this type A personality!

We ended up stopping at two Goodwill stores and the Salvation Army. Heather had never been to the Salvation Army, so it was great to introduce her to the 1/2 price deals of SA.

Heather got some great deals on school uniforms for her daughter who will be starting Kindergarten this year. She also found several really cute outfits for her youngest daughter who is almost two. She also scored some really great clothing items for herself.

I found a variety of items and ended up spending less than $30 the entire day.

• Banana Republic tank
• 2 New Balance sport bras
• Nike skort and soccer shirt for soccer practice
• 5 books
  
• Littlest Pet Shop playhouse
• Ron Jon Surf Shop boogie board

It was a fun day and Heather and I agreed that we will need to set up another Goodwill Hunting shopping day soon.

Goodwill Hunting shopping day!

My friend (IRL) Heather has organized a Goodwill Hunting shopping day!

Here are the details:

Join the ladies for a day of Goodwill Hunting (shopping). We will be hitting as many Goodwills as possible, snatching up as many bargains as we can.

We will meet at the Starbucks at 1431/35 by Pei Wei at 9:30 and depart shortly after that so don't be late!

Come ready to shop!

Book update and other stuff

Sadly, I never received a response to the email I sent to Goodwill Industries of Central Texas, but in this case, actions speak louder than words!

While in Goodwill yesterday, I noticed the children's book have been re-tagged to $.59 - $.99 each! WHOOHOO! No more price gouging! I was so excited to see this change that we bought three books. I wonder now if I was the only person to complain...

In other news, I recently purchased two really cute items for the girls. The pink Bermuda length shorts are from the GAP. They have adjustable waist and are in excellent condition. I paid $1.99 for them.


The skirt is from The Children's Place and is fully lined and is also in excellent condition. (I took this picture right after I washed it, so the fabric is a little damp and the colors look darker than they really are.) I paid $3.99 for this skirt which is more than I would have normally paid, but because I had my little girl with me and she loved the skirt, I couldn't put it back.



But, here's tip for shopping at Goodwill. The cashiers ring up the items based on the category that the item falls in to. The guy at the register rang the GAP shorts up in the "shorts" category, but failed to place it in "children shorts" category. Adult shorts are $5.99 and children shorts are $1.99. Quite a difference! When he corrected his error, I also questioned him about the price of the skirt. I felt certain the price wasn't $3.99, but rather $1.99, since skirts and shorts are closely related in category, but he insisted it was indeed $3.99. I didn't argue with him about it since my little one really wanted the skirt. However, had I been alone, I would have put it aside.

This is where the magic happens!

My "desk" set up at home is in my kitchen. This is where the magic happens!

I love having my computer in my kitchen because I can do all I need to do on the computer while I cook, clean up and watch my kids eat breakfast. It's also great because when my girls are playing on the computer, I'm usually in the kitchen and can quickly oversee what they are doing.

I have been in the market for a new stool. My previous stool squeaked every time I sat down or stood up and was quite literally falling apart.

I found this stool at Goodwill and it was priced at $6.99. Sold!

I love that it is a bit higher than my last stool and that it also has a back. Another cool thing about it is that it folds for easy storage! AND, it doesn't squeak every time I sit down!

In other news... I've recently noticed that the prices of children paperback books at one of my favorite Goodwill locations have increased from $1.29 each to $1.99 each! I couldn't believe my eyes! More importantly, I know that my book buying will drastically decrease with those kind of prices. It's really sad because there are a lot of great titles that I would typically buy for my kids, but now that the price has increased, I can't see myself spending that kind of money on used children paperback books.

So, last week, I wrote an email to the Goodwill Industries of Central Texas. Here's what it said:

"Dear Sir or Madame:

I shop at the Round Rock location at least once per week. I especially shop for books, not only for myself, but for my two daughters who are both avid readers. There have been times when I've left Goodwill with in excess of 10 or more books because of the great selection and low price.


However, I've recently noticed that children's paperback books have increased in price substantially. Those books are now priced at $1.99/each. While I understand, paying $1.99 for a book is still a good deal, it seems a bit exorbitant for a used book at Goodwill. I have visited other Goodwill stores in the area and I've purchased books from those stores priced anywhere from $.59 - $1.29/each. In my opinion, those prices seem to be a bit more in line with what one would expect from Goodwill. I'm not quite sure why the Round Rock location would increase the book prices across the board as they have.


I'm under the impression that pricing is set by the store/store manager, not Goodwill Industries corporate, but I wanted to pass along the fact that I can no longer afford to buy books from Goodwill in Round Rock if the prices remain as high as they currently are.


Thanks so much for your time."

I'll let you know if I get a response...

My New Favorite Store

I have a new favorite store! I've talked about the Salvation Army in the past, but I've had really good luck there over the last month. In fact, it's quickly becoming my new favorite place to shop.

Over the last month, I've purchased about 15 pairs of shorts/capris for my family. (The picture below is from the second trip I made last week.)

Each pair of shorts was 1/2 off the ticketed price which was anywhere from $1.99 for kids and $3.99 up to $4.99 for adults. This particular shopping trip to the Salvation Army cost me roughly $17.00. Can you believe it? And the brand are great brands - J Crew, REI, Express, Old Navy and Nike.

I was particularly excited to find the REI cycling shorts with the padded bottom. They are brand new. I plan to turn them around and sell them on Craigslist for profit. I paid $2.50 for them. Good cycling shorts run anywhere from $40 and up.