Goodwill, Great Deals!

We live in a 1760 square foot, 3 bedroom house.  Before Addisyn was born the front bedroom was my little room, and the middle bedroom was the guest room.  When I was pregnant we transformed the middle bedroom into a nursery, and "my room" became the guest room.  We recently decided that having that front room as a permanent guest room was a waste of space in our modestly sized house.  After all, nobody has stayed the night with us in almost a year.  So, we're going to get rid of the queen-sized bed and invest in a good air mattress for those rare occasions when we actually have overnight guests.  We will be turning the room into a playroom for Addisyn.  It will be much easier for us to hang out in there with a baby gate to keep her in than chasing her all through the house.  A little bit of the room will be for me, too!

My grand plan was to put a little desk or table in the room where I could sew while Addisyn played.  I was also hoping to find a nice, shelf-type toy organizer.  So, off to Goodwill I went to see what I could find!  In the past week I've been to 3 different Goodwill stores, and found some great deals!

My main mission for the first Goodwill trip was to find a desk or table to use as a sewing station.  I pulled in the parking lot, and the store was PACKED!  As it turned out, it was half-price day - what luck! I did find a small, one drawer desk in great shape priced at $15, so I paid $7.50!  There was also a  20th Anniversary Trivial Pursuit game for $3.00.  The box was taped shut, so I couldn't be sure if all of the pieces were there, but for the $1.50 it would cost me on half-price day I decided to risk it.  The game is complete as far as I can tell (I didn't count the cards), and half of the cards were still in the factory wrapping!

A few days later I went to a different Goodwill, still searching for a toy organizer for the playroom.  I didn't find anything for her toys, but I did find a few toys that I had been wanting to get for her at prices I couldn't turn down.  Addisyn ended up with a Little Tikes piano and drum, both in great shape, and only $1.35 each!

We went to a third Goodwill store this afternoon, and still haven't had any luck with a toy organizer, but found a couple other things.  (Sounds like Walmart for a lot of people, huh?  Coming out with more than you intended!)  I bought the Scene It!  DVD movie trivia game for $0.50.  The box was open, so I knew that the game was missing the 4 original token pieces, but they had been replaced with other pieces for moving, so no big deal.  Everything else was there.  But my best deal by far: a Kelty Treble laptop/messenger bag for $3.15.  The bag is practically brand new, and retails for $79.95!!!  Even on Amazon they are $60-70!  What a steal!

Of course buying from Goodwill is about more than just sweet deals, this organization has been a Godsend for millions of people.  It provides jobs, job training, and other support to individuals and families in need.  We've made many donations to Goodwill, too.  We love that it's a place where we can take things we no longer need or want and know that somebody else will get some use out of them, and we can get a tax deduction from what we donate.

Oh, and my purchases weren't only made because I thought it looked like a good deal for the item.  I had been eyeing the Scene It! game on and off for years, but never wanted to put out the money.  For a long time I had thought it would be nice to get a messenger bag that was made to carry a computer, but they're so pricey, and my computer usually doesn't leave the house, so I couldn't justify buying one, until now!

My haul ($15.35 for everything pictured!):