This weekend my local Goodwill was having a Founder’s Day sale with select tags marked $0.94. I went both days and found great deals during each trip! It’s no secret that I love shopping secondhand – it’s amazing the deals you can find and I love the hunt. One of my favorite finds was this Step 2 Tool Bench (pictured above) – with a red tag, so just $0.94. (I’m finding the same one on Amazon for $55!). My daughter has already turned it into a baby changing station, ha!
Also on Friday I found these clothing items:
- Girls – Ralph Lauren corduroys – $0.94
- Girls – Gymboree jeans, flower – $0.94
- Girls – Mossimo jean capris – $0.94
- Girls – Gymboree long owl top – $0.94
- Men’s – long sleeve dress shirt – $0.94
This morning the orange tags were 0.94 cents. I had seen a bunch of these deals yesterday and was hoping they’d still be there today when I went! I scored an Under Amour long-sleeve hoodie shirt for $0.94 for my son. These retail for $30 – $45 new. I also found a Gymboree dress shirt for $0.97 and an iZod dress shirt $0.94 cents. Both dress shirts are for school next year!
From left to right – Girls gap dress $0.94, Girls Cherokee khaki jacket $0.94, Girls Gymboree long-sleeve shirt $0.94. ALL of these are school clothes for next year!
From lef to right: Girls Gymboree zipped hoodie $0.94, Girls Hannah Anderson long-sleeve cotton dress $0.94 and Girls Gymboree long-sleeve cotton dress $0.94.
This is a Men’s Calvin Klein plaid dress shirt, just $0.94. This will be a great shirt for my husband to wear this summer and in the fall for work.
Girls fancy dress $0.94 cents. This should fit my daughter next holiday season, without any problems! It would also make a great dress for a dress-up bin.
And athletic shirts for my son – all dri-fit material. Each one was $0.94 cents. Great for soccer practice!
And for me I found these New Balance Workout pants for $0.94 (reg. $45 – $50) and Danskin workout capris $0.94.
I think we did pretty good! I’m happy to start school clothes shopping now. Anytime I shop secondhand I always look for a couple sizes up. We have a storage bin in the garage for “bigger” sizes and they are added there. Except for the crazy amazing deals we’ve had recently on jackets from Amazon or the occasional 70% – 90% off clearance find – I haven’t bought new clothes for my kids in a very long time!
Here are some of my tips for thrift shopping:
- Have a list of what you’re looking for. Thrift shops can be overwhelming – but have a plan, for example looking for girls jeans or pants, and you’ll find yourself much less overwhelmed and your success rate goes up.
- Make sure to look on multiple racks, even if it’s not the size you’re looking for. I often find the treasures accidentally placed in the wrong size grouping.
- Look a size up. Different brands fit differently. Look a size or two larger and you can either buy ahead of find an item that will fit, even though the size is larger.
- Look closely for stains, snags, frays. Take the time to look over the clothing. Hold it up to the light. Do you see grease or food stains? Fraying? Missing Buttons, Tears?
- Pay attention to the tag color on sale. Often thrift stores will discount a particular tag color.
- Watch for coupons and sale days. Many thrift stores have a sales calendar available (I know Goodwill does), which tells you what tags are on sale when. Military and seniors can often save an additional percent. My local Tacoma Goodwill branch has a Facebook Friday coupon (every Friday) for 25% off a $20 purchase.
- Try it on to be certain. If you can, try on clothing at the store – they usually have dressing rooms! Check a store’s return policy.
- Go often. There are many times I stop into a thrift shop and walk out empty handed. It’s a treasure hunt that is sometimes fruitful and sometimes not. Be patient and you’ll find the deals!
It’s getting to be garage sale season again and I’d love to hear about the great deals you find! I plan to start up my Secondhand Sunday feature – it’s always much more active in the summer with garage sales.
Have you found any great secondhand deals lately?
Send in your secondhand treasures and if I feature your score here on the blog, you’ll get a $10 Amazon gift card!
- I’ll be featuring one secondhand score each Sunday
- If I feature your thrift-store or garage sale treasure here on the blog you’ll get a $10 Amazon gift card!
- Please email me a photo at thehive@queenbeetoday.com – include in the email a short description of what you found secondhand, what you paid for it and what you think it retails for. Use subject line Secondhand Treasure when you send the email.
- Try to take a photo that is not blurry and is in good light (try natural light, no flash, if possible). The better your photo the more likely it will be to make it on the site. People want to see what you got!
- If you bought something secondhand and restored it or improved it somehow – I’d love before and after photos!
Tammy says
How do you know when Goodwill has tag sales? Is there web page where I can check? I never know when and on what holidays they have them.
trhamburger says
awesome for you. I wish I had it in me to shop second hand, but I don’t. I don’t even do hand me downs between my own kiddos…which is plain mental on my part since I buy them nice clothes
Melissa says
I’ve always found awesome deals at The Bellevue, WA and Seattle, WA Goodwills.
Ginelle says
Have you ever checked out the 25 cents sale at Kid kadoodle in the Tacoma. It is 6 and Pearl-ish (it is not on that corner but really close). I have gotten some great stuff for my kids and gifts for baby showers. They have them every month. When I went to the one in March I got over 75 item for just over $17.00. In that was maternity clothes as well as clothes for the kids.
Tammy says
Yes, it’s a good place to go if you have lots of patience and don’t mind a crowd.
emmab says
Wow, you scored big time. Might be worth the drive from Everett to the tacoma goodwill. you will not find deals like that up this way.