Good hunting at Goodwill

I've been a regular visitor to thrift shops for decades now. Based on a quick count, roughly two-thirds of the clothes in my closet are secondhand, including many unique pieces that I dearly love. But that doesn't mean that I normally have good luck at thrift shops. On any given thrift shop visit (including most of the ones I made during Thrift Shop Week in 2016), the most likely outcome is that I'll find nothing useful and walk out empty-handed. I've only managed to accumulate such a sizable secondhand wardrobe through perseverance; even if I strike out nine times out of ten, my occasional lucky shopping trips add up over time.

The same, however, does not hold true for Brian. In the past month, we've visited two different Goodwill stores: our usual store in East Brunswick and one up in Bound Brook that we decided to check out for our anniversary, because we're weird that way. And between the two, he has filled pretty much every gap in his wardrobe for less than $50. I, meanwhile, came away with a grand total of one item, but given my track record, I still consider that a victory.

Here's Brian's haul from the two trips combined. It includes:

• Two pairs of shorts. They're both cargo shorts, which aren't his favorite, but they both have the above-the-knee length he prefers, rather than the knee-length fit that seems to be all you can find in stores these days. The light grey pair is actually a 30 waist, so it's quite snug on him, but wearable. Both pairs cost $6.
• One pair of jeans. He actually found two pairs in his size, 32/30, on the trip we made yesterday—a rare occurrence for him, since usually he hunts through the racks and doesn't find any. But one of the pairs turned out to be skinny jeans, and he decided he couldn't quite pull that look off. So he bought only the more conventional Levi's for $8. They had a little splotch of paint on one leg, but he was able to scrape most of it off with an Exacto knife, reducing it to only a barely discernible smudge.
  
• One V-neck shirt. Brian's usual uniform for winter is jeans, a T-shirt, and a sweatshirt over that. He'll occasionally choose a sweater instead, but typically just for slightly dressier occasions. This shirt is kind of a middle ground between the two. It has an inner layer of comfy knitted material like a sweatshirt, but the outer layer is a woven fabric that's a bit more presentable. It also has a neater, trimmer fit than the typical bulky sweatshirt, so it will take his everyday look up a notch. Marked as a sweater on our receipt, it cost $6.
• One pair of sneakers. This was the biggest coup. Brian's favorite pair of shoes is a pair of classic canvas sneakers in a nifty plaid fabric, which he bought for $20 at Old Navy close to 15 years ago. They were the first pair of shoes he ever saw in a store and thought, "I want those shoes," as opposed to, "Well, I need new shoes, so I guess these will do." And other folks agree with him; he regularly gets compliments on them from friends, relatives, and even strangers. Unfortunately, after 15 years of on-and-off use, they're starting to fall apart. Mind you, that's a pretty impressive lifespan for a $20 pair of shoes, but it's clear he won't be able to use them much longer. But of course, after all these years, Old Navy no longer makes them, and until today, he couldn't find anything he liked nearly as much at a price he considered reasonable. But on yesterday's trip to Goodwill, he found three pairs he liked enough to try them on, and this was the most comfortable fit of the lot. Its solid green fabric uppers aren't quite as snazzy as the plaid ones, but the shoes have the basic old-school styling he likes and were well worth the $20 price tag. He might eventually find something else he likes better, but at least now he isn't at risk of having to go barefoot when the plaid ones finally give up the ghost.

So that's Brian's back-to-school shopping done, all for a grand total of $46. Add in the one item we bought for me, a white cotton turtleneck, and the total is still only $52. 

Just for fun, I calculated what we'd have paid for similar items purchased new from a good but not fancy retailer like L.L. Bean. My calculations: $50 each for Brian's two pairs of shorts, $60 for his jeans, $65 for the closest thing to his shirt, and $50 for his shoes (assuming he chose the color that was on sale). Add in $37 for my turtleneck, and the total for the lot comes to $312—six times what we spent at Goodwill. Even buying everything on sale at Kohl's would have cost us about three times as much.

Of course, if we'd had to buy everything new, we probably wouldn't have bought most of it in the first place.