How to Shop: Goodwill Outlets

Be thee fairly warned: thrifting has never been for the faint of heart, but a Goodwill Outlet could still give you a coronary if you aren't prepared. For serious.

Few and far between, these establishments are basically where unsold merchandise gets one final go at being re-homed. There are no racks. There are no hangers. There are no "departments." There are no price tags or bathrooms or dressing rooms or mirrors. What they do have is giant bin after giant bin of unsorted, unwashed, pre-owned miscellany priced to sell by the pound. It's not a place where everyone would choose to shop -- and that's precisely the point. The crux of the matter is that Goodwill Outlets allow adventurous and industrious bargain hunters to trade in petty amenities for the one thing that matters most (at least on this blog): a better bottom line.

How it works:
1) Visually assess intimidating mound of clothes/shoes/whoknowswhat.
2) Snatch up anything that looks cute, and throw it in your shopping cart.
3) Grab an armload of stuff and shift it to the side, so that you uncover more stuff.
4) Repeat steps 1-3 until your arm/patience/nose gives out.
5) Assess stuff in cart for wearability/quality/fit/weight.
6) Haggle and pay.

A few tips for mitigating the peril:

1) Dress to dig.
The Goodwill Outlet browsing process is something akin to an archeological dig, and you should dress accordingly. Hands-free bags, ponytail holders, short or roll-up-able sleeves, and easy-moving fabrics are a plus.

2) Know your clothes.
This process goes a lot faster if you are the type of person can spot her go-to brand of shoes from across the room or recognize cashmere by touch. Get familiar with the look and feel of the things you love, and finding more things you love will get to be second nature. I only spent about ten minutes at the outlet this time around, and I left with one of my favorite brands of jeans for $2.50 and perfectly fitting leather boots for $4.

3) Figure out some fit cheats.
There are no dressing rooms or mirrors in the outlet, so you have to find other ways to tell if a garment will fit you the way you want it to. For example, I know that I like my jeans rise to go no higher than my hip bones, so I throw shame to the wind and line up the crotch seams of prospective jeans to the jeans I'm currently in to see how high the rise goes. I also know that I like my tops to define the area under my bust, so I usually lay tops over my chest and make sure the side seams wrap around my torso no farther than my armpits.

4) Don't be shy!
There is a chance that your outlet location will be filled with lots of other bargain hunters so eager to find their own deals that they will physically jostle you out of the way. Don't let yourself be run over! Put your head down and jostle them right back. And if the cashier quotes a price that seems too high for you, make a counter-offer. These leather boots were originally quoted at $5 but, because the soles are cracking a bit (an easy enough fix for me, but a significant shoe flaw nonetheless), the cashier let me have them for $4 -- Don't laugh! That dollar I saved could turn into an awesome swap meet purchase later!

5) Have fun!
You might not end up coming home with anything, so don't put pressure on yourself to find a diamond in the rough every time. Enjoy the thrill of the hunt, and quit when the thrill is gone. There are always more stores to browse, and new items are always arriving. :)

work outfit: embracing the bow blouse

Right after I heard that bow blouses would be big this Spring and Summer. At first, I didn't think the look was for me, but I found this olive-hued piece for a buck, and figured I could try out the trend without breaking the bank. I liked it so much that I recreated its inaugural outfit to share with you today... also, I hadn't picked out my clothes the night before, so it was easier to go with the old tried-and-true. ;) Also featured are my favorite blazer, my favorite pants, and my shiniest shoes.

In other news, a friend of mine thought it would be fun if I contrasted the retail prices of my clothes with the prices I actually paid. The Asian side of me tsk tsks and warns against being a braggart, but the blogger side of me thinks people might find it helpful to see how much of a "discount" one can get by shopping outside of the normal retail realm. The latter impulse wins out for now, so here's a fun chart depicting price details (but please do let me know if you think it's too much):

Item	Original Price	My Price	Vendor Type	Location
Ben Sherman Cotton Blazer	$200	$1	swap meet	Huntington Beach
Merona Polyester Blouse	$22	$1	swap meet	Huntington Beach
Ann Taylor Slacks	$88	$1	swap meet	San Fernando
Carlos Santana Pumps	$88.99	$25	Ross	Los Angeles
London Fog handbag	$150	$0 (X-mas money)	Marshall's	Costa Mesa
Outfit Total:	$549	$28

Because of the secondhand nature of my clothes, some items are no longer available in stores. In these instances, I've done my best to find the closest approximations (considering brand, material, size, et cetera) for the purposes of price comparison.

Work Outfit: Comfy, Cozy, and a touch of Citron

Nothing too elaborate today. I was feeling a bit down, so I thought I'd wrap myself in soft and un-restricting fabrics. I thought I'd have to change my bag, but the yellow-citron thing didn't bother me after all (convenient, since I also felt a bit lazy this morning).

Citron top, $1, swap meet, Huntington Beach
Deco necklace, $3, swap meet, Huntington Beach
Black patent skinny belt, $0.60, thrift store, Ontario
LL Bean Freeport Fleece sweatshirt jacket, $24.99, LL Bean
Banana Republic navy midi skirt, $1, swap meet, Huntington Beach
Jessica Simpson Floral Garden Satchel, $10, via Amazon (funded)
Nine West black patent pumps, $20, Ross

Funding the Splurge

Remember this bag? Its original retail cost was $108, but I only paid about $10 total. No, it wasn't used -- and no, it didn't "fall off a truck" somewhere downtown.

I initially spotted the bag at my local Marshall's discount store. I loved the bright yellow color, the laser-cut daisies, the functional pockets and key clip inside, and the way it looked with my outfit at the time (cut off jeans shorts, black tights and combat boots, and a tan cardigan). I was smitten, and full ready to buy myself an inexpensive pleather treat. Then I checked out the price tag: 75 clams! For PU! When I'd probably catch one of those poor, delicate flowers on something and destroy the bag within a month! I regretfully put the bag down and left empty-handed.

Cut to a week later, and I was rabid to find this bag again. I could suddenly picture a million different outfits that desperately needed a shock of yellow, and I sure as heck could not find anything I liked as much in real leather. So I trekked back to Marshalls - the bag was gone. I trekked to yet another Marshalls -- and another -- and three more TJ Maxx locations -- only to yield the same results (cue pathetic fallacy).

I eventually found the bag on the Jessica Simpson site but, as you see above, retail was over $100, and that didn't include shipping. I still wanted the bag, but I just couldn't justify the extra cost. I had to get creative.

Now honestly, I've lusted after stuff I couldn't afford long before this, so I already had a plan in place:

1) Find a better offer: $108 was the original retail price, yes, but there's always a discount to be had. In this case, the discount wasn't much - I ultimately paid $82.59 on Amazon, but 25 bucks is 25 bucks. Ebay is also a treasure trove of deals waiting to be had.

2) Chip away the cost with coupons: Although it didn't apply in regards to my yellow bag, I can often find coupons that waive shipping or reduce the cost of my desired items even further. A quick Google search is all it takes to save a cool $10 on shipping!

3) Liquidate assets: I've worked at hedge funds and brokerage firms (at a very low level, but still!), so I know that, when wealthier people want to make large purchases, they have other options besides busting out a credit card and generating debt -- and one of those options is to liquidate assets. I didn't have extra money set aside for frivolous purchases, nor did I have any income-generating investments. I did, however, have a pile of ill-fitting clothes ripe for Ebay selling.

Ever since I was a starving, unemployed college student, I've bought most all my clothes at the swap meet for $1. At the time, I averaged an Ebay sale price of about $10 (it's less now). This left me something like $8 in profit per item sold after fees. Thus, I was able to raise the 80-odd bucks I needed for the bag by selling $10 worth of clothes.

If you don't have a surplus of used clothes lazing about, chances are you have other stuff you aren't using - that 4"-screen netbook you haven't looked at since the iPad came out, the old Razr flip phone you were saving for "emergencies," random garage kitsch. You might not value this stuff anymore, but that doesn't mean it lacks monetary value. You can sell things on Ebay/Craigslist/Etsy/Bonanza or, if you dislike selling through the internet, you can hold garage sales or resell items to friends and acquaintances.

Other such success stories:

B. Makowsky Rebel crossbody bag (mine is black) - original retail $154 - net damage $12
Cole Haan Hooded Travel Jacket- original retail apparently around $300 (similar) - net damage $10


Michael Kors Lead Me On boots - original retail $169 - net damage $-10 (sold thrashed, gifted Frye boots for $10 more than these cost on sale).


As you can see, I don't like to deny myself much of anything. If I love something, I'll find a way to make it mine, even if it means giving up something else -- and dude, if I'm not willing to give up something else for a new purchase, then I probably don't want it that much, right? On that note, I hope I've helped give you another excuse to shop... and one idea about how to shop without breaking the bank.

Sincerely,
Your Friendly Neighborhood Enabler :)