Retail Therapy

You've heard that term, I'm sure.
Referring to something like, 'when the going gets tough, the tough go shopping'. Ha.
Today was non-retail-but-still-shopping therapy.

Did some Goodwill Hunting with my friend Tami on Tuesday.
Tami on Tuesday...
Could be either a great novel or a girl band, don't ya think?

That's Tami on the left. I have no idea who the chick on the right is.

We went to two different Goodwill stores. We got up early to do it, I don't like shopping there when it starts filling up. I don't think that Tami hates crowds as much as I do, but she's a good sport. Picked her up at 8:45.

After a bit of shopping, we had lunch together. We got put in 'the quiet corner', but I am not sure why the guy who seated us thought we were going to be quiet.

Ha.

We always have a lot to talk about. Catch up on. But of course no personal details will show up here. :)

Drove past a furniture place advertising a chair/sofa combo for *only* $799.00.

I can't even imagine that.

Tami talked about someone she knows who redecorated her house a few years ago and shared the prices of the furniture etc.

We discussed being lousy consumers. I can't say whether or not Tami is a lousy consumer, but I really am, I check Goodwill first before I go to the regular store when I'm looking for things like craft supplies, towels, sheets, suitcases. Garbage cans and plastic bins and TV trays. Clocks and movies and kitchen gadgets.

I am sitting here in the momcave as I write. Looking around for everything in here that I've purchased from Goodwill stores. Books. Lots of books. Art supplies. The cubbies on my corner desk, the lamp that I repainted sitting just to the right of them. A pencil/pen carousel in front of that. The little cubby sort of thing that sits over the dvd player that my recently acquired cheap-but-not-from-goodwill smart TV sits on can be hooked up and all that. The entertainment center to the right of that that's going back to Goodwill soon... it was Matt's, I used it for ages but I want to put shelves in that spot now that Lyssa has moved out. The old TV is still sitting in the cubby, it's heavy and I haven't asked Eric to move it yet, but I need to take it to Goodwill, too. They have an electronics recycling service.

The bedspread and pillows on the bed. The plastic bins in the closet that hold a ton of things for work. Quite a few of those things, beads and toys and books and assorted crafty things came from Goodwill, too. Folded up behind the door, the card table I use for tie dyeing with my kids at work. The little dresser that sits underneath the corner desk, each drawer crammed full of CDs. A bunch of movies on dvd. The tall and comfortable swivel chair that sits in front of the desk. Paper and edging scissors. That's just this room.

Every room of the house has stuff in it that came from Goodwill. I wish I'd kept track of how much they cost vs how much retail would have been, but I suppose that might be sort of appalling, too, since I've been shopping at Goodwill for more than 20 years. And I rarely leave without buying at least one thing.

So while we were driving from there to here, we discussed my $7.99 jeans from Goodwill. The ones I bought last week were blue-tagged, meaning they hadn't moved from the sales floor in X amount of time, so were half price. Four bucks for a pair of jeans I'd pay at least $40.00 for in the store.

They're nothing exciting, either.
Just a pair of mom jeans with a little stretch and a reasonable price tag. Not worth 40 on my best day, but I only paid $3.99 for them, I can move, sit and stand in them all day long. What's not to like?

Picked up a lined windbreaker/raincoat, too. All my coats with hoods are either way too heavy or way too warm for spring rains. It's currently clicking around in the dryer, all the drawstrings are smacking the insides. I imagine I'll be removing the clunky plastic pieces from it, just didn't occur to me to do it before I put it in there.

So do you shop? Retail therapy? I find that getting a few really good deals can improve my outlook on life, at least temporarily.

I found a wastebasket for the Momcave today, too.

The one I had in here was, in the words of my Grandma Fern, 'no bigger than a fart bucket.' I don't know what that means, but I wish I could call Grandma and ask.

The new one is a heavy ceramic thing, embossed with ferns.. I wonder if that's a sign from Grandma?
Colored a soft blue and green.
Let me see if I can manage a photo here, don't go away.

Bigger than a fart bucket