Our big, blended family loves to take (typically) monthly Goodwill shopping trips and bring home a decent haul of things we want/need for our home that would otherwise cost a lot more money in a retail store or online. Some people are hesitant to shop at Goodwill, and I get it. It takes a little longer to find the things you’re looking for, and sometimes you may not find what you need at all. For most of the things I plan to purchase, Goodwill is my first go-to. If I can’t find what I’m looking for there, then I’ll look for the best deal at another store or online. Other people may not like Goodwill because they prefer to not purchase previously used items, particularly clothing. What some people may not know about Goodwill though, is that they often will have brand new items that were first on clearance at another store like Target, and still didn’t sell, so the items were taken to Goodwill, still unused and in perfect packaging. Other times, people purchase brand new items or receive them for gifts, but donate them before they’ve been used or opened. As you’ll see today, the majority of the items I purchased at Goodwill were new, still in packaging or with retail store tags still attached! I’ll mark those products with NEW! so you can get a visual feel for just how many great deals you can find at a Goodwill store.
NEW! Valentine’s Day decor–originally $3 at Target, and we paid $1.
Farmhouse Style Valentine’s Day Decor–We paid $6 for this piece, and I absolutely love it! I couldn’t find an exact match for this item, but similar designs would cost anywhere from $10-$20. I don’t even think you could DIY this item for less than $6, and it looks great on our front door!
NEW! Boxes of Valentine cards for Kids– Sure you have to look through a large bin to find the style best for your children, but at 99 cents per box compared to $2-$3 per box, I’ll do a little digging. Especially if your child has a large class and needs more than one box, or if you have several children to purchase for like we do! We spent $5 on the Valentines we purchased, and that same haul at Walmart would have cost $12-$15.
NEW! Stocking hats for next year–Now is the time to buy winter gear like hats, gloves, etc, if you’ll need to replace these items for the next winter season. We bought four new-with-Target-tags stocking hats for the kids, three of which were 50% off the Goodwill price, which came out to $1 each. The fourth hat came with a pair of mittens and was $2.99 for the set. Definitely a great savings, even over typical Goodwill prices!
Snow pants and “next size” jeans– Although these were not brand new with tags, all four pairs of pants from this month’s Goodwill haul LOOK brand new. No rips, stains, elastics still in tact, no fabric stretching, piling, etc. The snow pants for the boys are both Columbia brand, and something they did not yet have in their current size. Each pair cost $4 at Goodwill ($25-$30 retail price tag). The jeans are in the next size our oldest daughter will be in; since she’s tall and very skinny for her age, jeans are harder to find for her, so we when we find a nice pair at a good price, we go ahead and purchase them. We picked up these two pairs at $3.99 each. The brands were Cherokee and SO ($10-25 retail price range).
NEW! (some) St. Patrick’s Day outfits–I loved all of these shirts they had for $2.99 each at our local Goodwill. A few of the shirts were brand new with the retail tags still attached, but even the ones that were not brand new still looked new! With kids’ holiday clothes especially, they typically don’t get worn often and even used holiday clothing will be in excellent condition when donated. Brand new similar shirts cost anywhere from $4.50 to $15, depending on the store you’re buying from. The two oldest girls wanted to wear the green tutu skirts we found as well, so we picked those up for $2.99 each also. We will pair these items with clothing they already own, so that each of the five children will have a special, new look for St. Patrick’s Day, and we only spent $21 to do that.
NEW! Baby outfit–We have a new baby in the family, and although we already had purchased another outfit for the baby, we found this brand new outfit from Target for only $2.99. We picked that up to add to the gift, because honestly, it was too cute not to for that price!
Storage bins–We happened to find these at the perfect time for us. We are remodeling our upstairs in our home this year, and turning the upstairs playroom into a bigger bedroom for our oldest girls. We had bought a six-cube storage shelving unit on Facebook Marketplace a few weeks ago, but we still needed the cube drawers. The bins were not in the original packaging, but they seem like they’re brand new! We bought three hot pink and three light pink cube drawers at the Goodwill price of $2.00 each. These typically cost at least $5.00 each, so that purchase alone saved us $18!
NEW! Wrapping supplies–This is something I pick up every time I see it at Goodwill if I know our supply is getting low. Tissue paper typically costs $2-$3 each for a similar pack, and Goodwill has them for a price of 50 cents per package. It’s not a huge savings, but I know it’s the best deal you can find, and it’s something we use for quick gift-wrapping quite often!
NEW! Women’s socks–This was a total impulse buy, but not only were they brand new (the only way I would purchase socks from Goodwill!), but they were also 50% off the Goodwill price and oh-so-appropriate for me. #hangry
I paid just 75 cents for these that would normally have cost at least a couple dollars. If you’re going to impulse buy, do it at Goodwill!
Let’s sum up our savings, assuming we if we hadn’t bought some of the items used, we would have paid retail costs to purchase them. I’m using the lowest retail prices currently available for each item, so the savings could be substantially more than this if you weren’t purchasing retail items at the best current deals:
Not a bad haul! Next month, I’ll share our next Goodwill haul + tips for making your Goodwill shopping experience worth it!
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