I went shopping today

[Chicken lady]

New swim suit - $7.46 on clearance (I'm swimming laps twice a week and the old one is getting close to socially unacceptable as the color fades out and the elasticity gives up)

An 8 space sturdy metal wine rack for my rolling pins/ large dowels in the studio $2.30
2 wine glasses to fill in holes in my everyday set because they break (same actual style) $1.15

then the replacement part for my ice cream maker came in the mail. $29.95! (Including shipping) But it's a $315.00 ice cream maker I bought for $6 at goodwill and I really like ice cream and am allergic to cow milk. So....

The ice cream costs me a little over $1/pint in ingredients (goat feed, hay, chicken feed, sugar and vanilla) so I guess I compare that to soy ice cream to figure out how much ice cream I have to eat before I pay off the part.

[freshstart]

I have to start going to Goodwill! well done

I bought my first Christmas present of the season. Macy's had a 10 piece bakeware set reduced from $59 to $16 with a $9 rebate, free ship to store. It looks like a lot more than 7 bucks and my sister-in-law loves to bake. Fresh pans are nice sometimes.

[JaneV2.0]

I never tire of tales of great bargains hunted down and carried home in triumph! Especially thrifted ones.

[Chicken lady]

The trick to goodwill is not buying extra stuff. That has been hard for me, but I have learned to err on the side of missing the bargain. Often I collect all the things I like as I go through the store and then put most of them back before I check out.

I categorize the items: fun, useful, essential. The wine rack was fun/useful. The glasses were just straight up useful. Had I found a bathing suit at goodwill - that would have been "essential", but I had to go to a real store. Essential means I need it now. Useful means I have a use for it and will buy something else to serve that function in the forseeable future if I don't buy this now (yes on both for the glasses, only the first for the rack). Fun is "it will make me happy to have this."

fun in has to be justifiable in terms of space, cost, uniqueness, and timing (would it make me equally happy to have something smaller/cheaper/different/later?)

i hate shopping in general, so I often bought clothes at goodwill I wasn't in love with "just in case" or like new potential gifts that then didn't actually work out. Sometimes I still buy back up shoes, but only if I like them as much of more than the pair they are backing up.

in general I like shopping at goodwill better than regular stores because I almost never find exactly what I want anywhere and "good enough" at $2 is a lot more satisfying than "good enough" at $50! Also, it's one stop shopping. I have gone to real stores in search of brands I discovered I loved at goodwill. That can be hard with clothes though - because, for example, my favorite pair of shorts had been out of production and style for years when I discovered it. (It is kind of fun to see the look on the sales clerks face when you say "I'm looking for shorts like these" and she has to stop herself from saying "try the 90's.")

[freshstart]

lol

[19Sandy]

I found a brand-new pair of fleece pajama pants for less than $2 on the clearance rack - regular price was $25!

That ice cream maker sounds like a bargain and you were fortunate to find a replacement part online IMO.

My goodwill seldom gets a shipment, I can go there like 10 times before I find anything I like. Of course, I wear popular sizes so that might be the reason.

I don't really like to shop but had to recently since I have gained weight and many of my garments and shoes were in bad condition.

[Zoe Girl]

Great deals! My kids were all on swim teams, so swimming daily and getting the type of suits we needed at $35-50 a pop was an expense. Not as much as other sports.

[JaneV2.0]

I'm going to drop off a donation soon. I don't need any clothes, but I think I'll drop in. I found a gorgeous, pristine mola--apparently a card table cover--just the right size and color (predominantly red) to hang on the command center wall--so much lovely hand work!--for four dollars. My estate sale's gonna rock.

[Ultralight]

I need to get some of those pants cover things for biking in the rain. I dread shopping so I have been putting it off.

I need to get some circle hooks for catfish fishing, but some issue.

This weekend I think I will just have to force myself to go...