I am not ashamed to admit that I buy 99.9% of my clothes at Goodwill. For a lot of reasons; it’s a way to buy designer clothes without supporting sweatshops, it’s recycling, and it’s very inexpensive.
There is an art to it though, so let me share my Zen shopping methods. I go to a few different Goodwill stores almost every week. My work takes me all over town and if I’m in 5 o'clock traffic, stopping at a Goodwill is one of the ways I kill time until traffic clears. (I’ve also been known to go to a batting cage to smack balls around to pass the time.)
Goodwill is a very organized store. The type of clothes are in categories, men, women, etc. and clearly labeled; long sleeve, short sleeve, sleeveless, whatever.
They are also arranged by colour and size. Women’s sleeveless shirts will start with small — white, tan, yellow, orange, pink, red, blue, grey, brown, black and then patterned.
I go to the size I want, the colour I want, and then just start running my hands over the shirts. I don’t pick up hangers or even slide them apart. This is Zen shopping, I’m going by feel and barely looking, though if something catches the corner of my eye, I’ll give it a look.
I’m mostly shopping by feel — soft, soft, soft. If it’s not comfortable, I’m not buying it cause I know I won’t be wearing it. By now I pretty much know what styles and colours look good on me but I step out of the box occasionally to try something new and I encourage others to do so.
Using my method of touch, most of the clothes I buy are brand new, with the original price tag still on it or a label you can tell has never been washed.
I have to love something to buy it and I usually only buy the sticker of the week that is half price or 99 cents. Odd how $4.49 has become a high price to pay for a shirt. I pay full price only if I really, really, love it.
I don’t buy shoes at Goodwill. I consider shoes to be a medical expense and mine are very expensive, because a shoe that’s been worn could do bad things to my whole body by altering my gait.
Kids clothes you can almost always find brand new and you can get great deals on toys. What’s in your shopping cart?