A new kind of adventure...

Now you may not know this about me, but I have become a big fan of Goodwill over the last several years! Our local stores get good stuff and I can usually find stuff that my kids want that I am not willing to pay regular store prices for! They are happy to have the stuff regardless of how it made it to their closets and my oldest has even been known to brag about my bargain hunting prowess to her friends! Well, last week hubby and I had a little adventure together! We hear that there was a Goodwill outlet not too far from our house (how had that secret been kept from me? my dear friend who loves to get stuff at 'GW fashion' didn't know about it either!). So friday morning after the kids went off to school, hubby and I checked out GWO! I was excited and curious - I had planned on going on my own or with my friend, but hubby surprised me by saying that he wanted to check it out too! It was an experience like no other...

So, when you go to the outlets, it's NOTHING like the stores, let me make that clear... NOTHING LIKE THE STORE! Now there are no racks, everything is in bins, not like the one below, you could NEVER dig through that thing

the bins are fairly shallow, about 6-9 inches and they are lined up in rows - 2 bins wide and 5 bins long. So, you walk in and just start going through the bins - there are about 10 row throughout the store, so you just pick a starting point and work your way through. Simple enough, right? Not so fast....

All the bins are turned over every 2 hours on the odd hours, so you have to pace yourself! That's when the craziness begins! As soon as they start pulling bins out of a row, people start lining up along the lines waiting for the 'new' bins to brought into place! There is a specific etiquette that goes along with this process! NO ONE can touch anything in any new bin until all the new bins in a row are in place! It's hysterical because people stand with their hands behind their back so no one can accuse them of starting early! As soon as the last bin is in the row, there is a frenzy as everyone digs through the new bins. I must say that most people that are regulars are looking for specific things and they are after the non-clothing article primarily (the total opposite of what I was interested in). I learned to stand back and wait till the 'pros' were done, then step in! the only non clothing stuff I really had on my list were legos, most of which were loose in the bins, so I had to look carefully, but I left with a nice little baggy full to add to our slowly growing collection! Most of my "finds" were great name brand things in great shape that went straight into the washing machine before the girls even got a look at them! Hubby hung around for about 1 1/2 hours before he had to leave for a meeting, but truth be told, he was DONE! I made a few new "friends" who gave me some great advice - like next time wear gardening gloves and if you don't have 50lbs worth, ask someone to weigh in with you to get the lowest price (59 cents/lb for 50 lbs or over - the highest price is 1.59 for 10 lbs and under, so it's still a great deal!)