Goodwill has made some changes lately.
First, they have stopped organizing clothes by color and gone with sizes instead, like literally every other store in the world. This should be a good thing, but IDK, sometimes I find myself missing the ability to just skip entire racks of yellow and orange, or zip straight to the blue and purple. And sometimes you'd find a more fitted XL, when you otherwise never would have wasted the time going through a whole rack of them.
They have also replaced the discount bins of 15-cent books with bins of VHS tapes. Now discount books are 20 cents, and they're only discounted Wednesday-Friday -- and those are the books that have the tag color of that week's color sale. Not sure if helps or hurts -- sucks only having 3 days of discount books, but now that's theoretically ALL books, some of which would never have gone below $1.50 or $2, instead of just the less appealing books.
MUCH WORSE, they have raised the price on their Tuesday Color Discount Day from $1.49 to $1.99. Not only is this already pretty high, it also means that now that day is really only worth it for clothing -- you need to find an item priced at over $4 to get a better deal on that day than the Half Price Days, and even though all their prices have been creeping up (especially books omg), most of the non-clothes items are still lower than that.
Now more than ever I am determined to investigate the Goodwill Outlet store (priced by the pound, low prices at that). I researched it a lot while car-less and dreaming, and began to make plans. People have said it's definitely gross and grungy, possibly to the point where I should wear rubber gloves, and otherwise reminds you of Original Old School Goodwill. And it's made up of reject items that didn't sell after 3 weeks at the regular store, even heavily discounted. BUT, I have seen good items on shelves on Tuesday Discount Day, and those items have been there for up to 2 weeks and 6 days. I think it's possible I could find something. Not probable, but possible. It would certainly be an adventure.
It'll have to wait until spring, though. It's not too far but I haven't been quite in that area, and snow is piled so high on the banks of every street at this point that it is LEGITIMATELY a safety hazard even in my immediate and very familiar neighborhood. When you're turning into an intersection, most of the time it's impossible to see cars coming until you are just a few inches from entering the lane, so turning without a green light is terrifying.
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But despite all that, I have still gone a couple of times, when the weather isn't murderous and I can actually walk to it.
A combo trip to Goodwill and Savers last week yielded the following:
+ Midnight Valley sheets, new in package (bulk overstock) for $20, because really, $20 for sheets is pretty much cheaper than anything I've seen at Target whenever I go, and I do not have the patience to stalk their weekly sales for the rare moment bedding gets cheap. I looked for months and after a year, I still only have one set of sheets. Sheets are one of the few things I will not buy used, no matter how clean they look.
+ Also not pictured: a brand-new black spaghetti-strap tank for layering. I need more of those without lace across the top.
+ Two fabulous board games: Cash Cab, because the amount I love that TV show is genuinely stupid, and the BEST board game score since I found all those animal games: Go For Broke. It's literally EVERYTHING I have been seeking in a new game. A board, chance cards, relatively simple instructions, dice, AND as a bonus, multiple spinners (who doesn't love spinners)! The original game is (c) 1965; this edition is 1985.
The object of the game is to spend all your money until you get to zero. It's similar to Monopoly, but faster. I just love the illustrations in this edition -- a quick search online reveals that pretty much all other editions are so cartoonish and awful I probably wouldn't have given the game a second look. Chris and I have already played it, and I'm pretty much in love with it.
click to enlarge the game board and see the spots in detail.
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Meanwhile, my trip yesterday was super equine themed.
First, a GIANT coffee table horse book, the kind I've drooled over all my life, for the glorious price of $2. Sample spreads shown.
Next, a juvenile book, inscribed by the author! It was only a dollar. I flipped it open just because I couldn't remember if I had read this one or not, and then it was like OH HELLO.
The Snowbird - Patricia Calvert
This cute little Grand Champion foal. Even though I stopped collecting these long ago, and have even considered selling my collection, I still secretly like them. And he was a dollar and he had his original blanket AND tail ribbon! Come on! Sadly, I had to leave behind his mother because she was missing her tail, and THEN I had to leave behind a gorgeous magnetic nuzzling mare-and-foal set -- the mare even had a little lead rope clipped to her halter! -- because someone had cut off the foal's mane.
Toys I left behind included a metric ton of Target clearance toys in box (there were a couple of Barbies for like $6 that would have been awesome if Barbies still looked like they did in the 90s -- yes, somehow I have become fond of 90s Barbies with accessories even though I really didn't find them that exciting as a kid -- and a 1970s Fisher Price A-frame dollhouse (no accessories, not worth it).
AND FINALLY: my pride and joy of the book successes, this gorgeous piece:
The Living Forest by Rien Poortvliet.
The illustrations, as shown below, are gorgeous. It's tall and oversized. Best of all, though I paid a fancy $5 price, the cheapest copies I can find online are $9 (with shipping included), so good investment! I am practically drooling over the beauty of the pages as I turn them. Most of them are just handwritten script + pictures, but at the beginning of each chapter is a Wall O' Text page that's really interesting to read.
click to enlarge, because the script is neat.
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Also, I have a new car now, but I must wait until I have sufficient sunlight so I can take pictures of it before I spill any details.
