Goodwill Hunting

The chronicles of two girls versus the tangled mess that is Goodwill Outlet. Emphasis on the GOOD.

(Looking for a creeeeeEeeEeeepy clown family portrait? I know just the place.)

Today my friend Haley and I went to the Goodwill OUTLET (what!? I had no idea they even had outlets until recently) in St. Louis. Mmm... smells like old people and forgotten childhoods.

Basically, the outlet was a giant room filled with huge blue bins, filled with tons and tons of STUFF.
Picture a janky warehouse filled with the weirdest collection of people. I may or may not have spotted a man with hot pink lace gloves. At the outlet, you pay by the pound (only 75 cents a pound for anything - can't argue with that).

Things I actually bought:

• Funky/slightly tacky retro Hawaiian-ish/blue collared shirt (No idea how to describe this beauty)
• Woven gray and red scarf
• Slightly worn red, white, blue, and beige flannel (full o' love)

Things I wanted to buy but decided not to for the sake of practicality:

• THE tackiest holiday sweatshirt I have ever laid my eyes on - covered in polar bears and snowflakes and glitter and with FRINGED sleeves. FRINGED SWEATSHIRT SLEEVES. It was heinous but at the same time oh-so-beautiful.
• A 70s workout jacket (think Back to the Future lady fashion)
• Boyscout tshirt (yeah no idea why I wanted it - it was cool okay)
• Old fashioned typewriter that was definitely broken but really fun and vintage!
• Teddy bear the size of a human 
• Ice skates that were definitely made before I was born
• A giant velvet green couch for $2 that I adored, but would have nowhere to put :( 

Every time a new blue bin was rolled in, people would swarm around it like sharks circling their prey. People would basically climb in as they stuffed their arms full with any clothes or other assorted objects that were potentially worth anything of value. I'm scared to find out what I contracted by rummaging around all the bins and touching thousands of people's old stuff. People were wearing masks and gloves... apparently Haley and I missed the memo with that one.

In all seriousness, I do love Goodwill though. Not yet sold on Goodwill Outlet (I'm 97.3% sure it's where all the stuff from actual Goodwill's that nobody buys goes), but I can't complain about the prices. There are definitely some hidden gems if you're willing to go dumpster diving through the hundreds of bins!

Next time, I'll wear a hazmat suit and set aside a solid 12 hours to look through it all - there are definitely a ton of things with major DIY potential.

Happy hunting!

Jacqueline