Goodwill Run

Last week, I had about an hour to kill, and had to go to Dollar Tree to get glitter for my Reindeer. Driving there, I go right past my other favorite shop- Goodwill. We have such an awesome Goodwill. It's clean, it's staffed by friendly people, and best of all, there are actually 2 shops.

Shop 1 is a regular Goodwill with regular prices. Shop 2 is our As-Is center, where the prices are deeply discounted. It brings in items from 15 area Goodwill's that don't sell on the first try in the regular retail shops.

I digress. I had just about an hour before I needed to be at the meeting point to pick my older two kids up from school. I could explain why there is a meeting point, but really, I would simply be digressing and getting off point.

I decided that if I spent 20 minutes at Goodwill, and 20 minutes at Dollar Tree, with a 5 minute drive between Goodwill and Dollar Tree, I could get to the meeting point on time.

I am SO glad I stopped in. My first stop was the As-Is center, looking for sweaters and whatever else I could find to use for crafts. I found a gorgeous Angora mix pale pink sweater. It was too small for me, but would make a soft, warm hat for my niece Alex for Christmas.

I also found a stool, brand new with tags from Target on it. The original Goodwill tag said $19.99, but because that side is a discount side, I got it for $3.29! It did have a crack on one of the spindles between the legs, but a little glue, and some weight on it for a night, and the crack is glued together nice and tight.

Better yet, when I looked the stool up at Target.com, I found that a 2-pack retails for $99.99! I got 1 for $3.29! I love it, too.

On the other side, I found a few small things, nothing big. A tub for craft storage for $.99, a Christmas coffee mug to send my Grandpa in Florida, and a Garfield mug from McDonalds from back in the 80's.

As I stood in line, I saw a big gold basket with what looked like craft items in it, all taped shut. I left my cart in line, and looked for a moment. It was marked $2.99, and I could see wire garland, wooden objects, and tea light candles in it. I decided to hedge my bets, and grab it.

I figured at the very least, I would use the basket for Christmas. It's painted metallic gold with some glitter on it.

When I got home, I realized just what a treasure I found. It was packed down with all sorts of craft items.

 

 

 

 

 

1 bag of wooden stars, retail $.59
3 Christmas Frame Ornaments, retail $.99 ea
1 Bag Sparkly Pom Poms, retail $2.99
10 Assorted Wooden Spring Clips, retail $1.49 ea
An assortment of partially finished & unfinished wooden objetcs
Handful of unburned Tea Lights
1 Gold Glitter Basket, retail $4.97
1 Wooden Trinket Box, retail $1.49
1 Bow Maker, with original instructions
1 Wire Garland, retail $1.00

I am so excited with my find!

To give you an idea on the size of the basket, I used it for our Family Movie Night Christmas gift. It has 2 1-Liter bottles of Jolly Rancher Soda (1 red, 1 green), 5 movies, 2 bags of candy, 1 jar of unpopped popcorn, and 1 popcorn seasoning. It's a BIG basket! I want to add a big bow to the front of it, though.

If I were to have bought all the craft supplies full price, and the stool full price, it would have cost me at least $80.  Instead, I got all of it for under $10!

For those of you out there who don't check out Goodwill for the good deals, you should start!!

Frugal Find

Yesterday, Nick called me while I was out and about, and wanted to meet for lunch. We don't often meet up for lunch, as he works 35 minutes away from where we live, so I agreed, but first I had to stop for gas.

It's not often you find a great deal at the gas station, but boy did I luck out! When I first went in, I saw a coupon sitting on top of some candy bars for $1 off any 1 tab bag or theater sized box of Wonka candy. I glanced around, found no candy, but grabbed the coupon. I figured I could use it somewhere else for a good deal.

Luckily, as I went to pay, I glanced to the side, and found tab bags (the larger sized bags of candy that hang from a rack- apparently Wonka calls them Tab Bags) for the new Puckerooms (mushroom shaped sour gummy candy) and Sluggles (slug & bug shaped gummy candy), and a hang tab with more coupons for $1 off 1.

But it gets better. While the bags are marked $1.58 each, there was a sign- Wonka Candy 2/$2. I picked up 2 bags for free, and went out to the car, where I thought about stopping by later, so I could get more. Well, then I started thinking- if I wait, the candy or coupons or both will be gone, right? Ok, that was enough to convince me. I went back in and picked up 4 more bags.

These are pretty big bags, so I won't give them to the kids outright, way too big! But, I think I could easily separate 1 bag into 3 smaller baggies for the kids stockings. I'll do that with both of the types, so I'll use 2 bags. The other 4 bags will be used for Family Game Night & Family Movie Night.

All in all, not a bad deal, though- 6 bags of candy for the bargain price of $0.00!