Sure, it smells like mothballs but I had THE best time.

I haven't talked about the whole single wide budget, double wide
skillet frame of mind I have while raising/feeding two kids and a
husband in a long time.

I apologize.

I am a hardcore thrifter. I started when I got a job at Value Village
at seventeen and it was over from there. Dude, they used to give you
50 percent off all your purchases. How can you NOT be hardcore and act
like a child let loose in a candy store? Come on now.

I have a friend who discovered not long ago that there is a local by
the pound thrift store. Seriously? How did I not know this? She'd been
once before and really scored and she thought we could go together and
check it out. I did end up going without her for the first time with
the family and that was a huge mistake. For a hardcore thrifter who gets
"into the zone" when she's looking for bargains, bringing her three men
was an EPIC mistake. It's just a bunch of clothing and housewares/toys/
books dumped into bins and you dig for what you're looking for. Whatever
IT is. Sometimes, you don't know until you put your hands on it that
that was EXACTLY what you needed. It usually smells really bad (like
fourty boxes of old mothballs, urine or the rare bins that smells
like old vomit), there are a few lurkers who are waiting to grab
what you discard, and there's no air conditioning. Oh, and most
important? Watch out for the clothing with nasties. You'll find at
least one. But it's a hardcore thrifters dream. You have to trust me
on this. When I went for the first time, I had a half hour before
the family gets bored and I get ImhungryImboredthisplacesmells
canIhaveadrinkofwaterIhavetogotothebathroomIwanttogohomethatpersonissorude.
Never again. I'll head with my friend next time.

Her and I headed out yesterday and got to the store right as
they opened. Four and a half hours later, we came out with two
huge carts full. HUGE. But, our kids' school clothes were
all taken care of. And it wasn't all nasty, stained clothes. There's a
lot of high end clothing that's just sitting there waiting for you to
find. You just have to dig for it. I spent $67 and I think my friend
spent ten dollars more. The great thing about this place is the more
you buy, the cheaper per pound it gets. I didn't really understand that
until I realized that the price was going down. (I wished I'd kept
some of the gems I threw back, I don't know why I didn't get it.)
For my 67 bucks, I got six huge bags packed full of clothes and one
bag of books. Not bad. And there was a ton of name brand clothing.
I even was able to find some clothes for my youngest that I could put
away until he could fit into them. Not bad. I highly suggest
you take a friend. Her and I kept throwing clothes back and forth
for each other. You find something great, you want someone you know
to have it. Trust me. She found this great almost new pair of Aeropostle
jeans that she couldn't just leave there, so she walked them
over to a girl that she thought would fit into them. You just can't let
it sit there!

Because I spent time digging, I was able to afford groceries next month
instead of spending money on brand new clothes. I still have to get the
school year basics and new shoes, but everything else is taken care of.
For 67 dollars.

Oh! And to tie in the weight loss, I did buy two pairs of pants for the
next size down I go for a small portion I would have spent elsewhere.....
even at the regular thrift store. (OT, I'm down 40 pounds!)

So. Yesterday was a productive day. Thrifting owns. Seriously.