Goodwill Hunting

I don’t normally think of myself as a trailblazer but I’ve been hunting for bargains way before it was fashionable to do so. I’ve braked for garage sales, cleared clearance racks and scoured through consignment shops long before the economic downturn, not because I couldn’t afford to pay retail, but because I just HATED doing so.

I’m happy to report that I’ve passed my cheap gene down to my firstborn child. Today, she invited me to accompany her to the local Goodwill store, an invitation I hastily accepted. I figured walking up and down a resale store’s aisles would be as good a way as any to work off that amazing burger and sweet potato fries we had just polished off at Smashburger’s. (If you haven’t been, go – they know what they’re doing).

The front of the store was full of Halloween-themed items. Too bad I wasn’t in the market for a costume – they had tons. Not sure what might have been living in the fur of that one lion suit, but most of what I saw would have made great trick-or-treat apparel, if only I had anyone around to outfit. Anyway, once I worked my way through the holiday stuff, I arrived at books and music. I didn’t buy anything this time, not even the Greatest Hits of Lesley Gore album, a record I once actually owned, that was in the bin behind the bookshelves.

After deciding that there wasn’t any glassware I couldn’t live without, I walked past the electronics department. There on the shelves were computers, keyboards, and VCRs for a fraction of their original cost. Most of it looked fit for the landfill but then I saw it – an HP printer that looked exactly like the one I had at home, the one that makes that god-awful noise every time it tries to feed the paper. The one on the shelf didn’t have a power or USB cord but that didn’t matter. I had both waiting at home.

My daughter found a pair of fun glasses and I walked out of there with that printer (which actually worked when I got it home) and a wallet that was $4.28 lighter. A great burger, a great bargain and an afternoon with my daughter.

I honestly don’t know which I enjoyed more.