The Going Gets Rough...

Today is the first day I have really struggled with not buying anything new rule. As in went into full withdrawals right in the middle of our local Hobby Lobby, and almost pitched a 2 year old style tantrum. Key word is almost! I went in innocently enough to get a few sewing supplies I needed, and had been putting off purchasing for fear of a total loss of self control in a retail establishment. Not 50 feet from walking in the door I saw the Christmas trees Tyler and I had been coveting all season long. These gloriously tacky whimsical curved trees in the loudest, tackiest colors imaginable. We had hemmed and hawed back when we could've bought them because the lowest price we saw was $44, down from $124. Not too bad honestly, but we didn't want to spend that on something so frivolous as an ugly tree. Today, however, they were on 90% clearance and were just a mere $12.99. There I was in Hobby Lobby, tears welling in my eyes, trying to figure out some way I could break my own rules and get the damn tree. Then I remembered our one faithful reader out there in blogger- land, and I fled from the store like a bat outta hell.

I made a trip to our local Goodwill to take some of the edge off my withdrawals- give myself a little retail fix that fit the rules. And, partly to answer a sweet email we got from one of our first grader's teachers about our project. She requested that we post some pictures of things we find there, as she has never had much luck finding anything. To be honest, I hadn't either until we decided upon living this crazy project.

More often than not, I found things like this the few times I had ever been in a Goodwill:

(Yep, you're seeing correctly. Granny's old wig and some outdated feminine hygiene products, for the rock bottom price of $1.99/ea)

I have learned though, that if you have the time and are willing to scour the store a little, you can find some great bargains! Tyler got Lost: Season 5 for $5.99 recently, in mint condition. The other secret to shopping Goodwill is that you have to go often and purchase clothes out of season. I'm stocking up now for the kids' summer clothes. I've been going once or twice a week since our project started looking for specific items for our kids, and am amazed that each time the store has totally different stuff in it. Even my beloved Target can't manage turn-around that fast. 

Here are today's purchases:

 A Tommy Hilfiger nightgown and yoga-style lounge pants for me, both $2.99

 3 summer tops (surprisingly all made with organic cotton) and a skirt for our lil' C, $1.99/each

And this $1.99 Star Wars T-shirt our CP is gonna flip for

See, there is good stuff after all! That is, if you can get beyond dead granny's wig and keep looking!

Now, I'm off to have a cup o' tea and conquer my giant eco-living reading list before I start back to school next Wednesday. I'm a pretty fast reader, so with any luck I'll be done before Monday.