Free Stuff at the Swap Shop

Do you want yet another way to get free clothing, free toys and free household items? Look around your area for the latest trend, the swap shop, or start your own. What is a swap shop? A swap shop is a place where people in a community can go to drop off items that are in good useable condition and pick up other things that they find there for free. No money changes hands, and the items can be put to good use over and over again. A swap shop may be as simple as an open trailer or as … Continue reading →

Goodwill Hunting and Target

If you are a regular reader of the Frugal Living blog, you’ll know that I am a fan of getting things for less by shopping at thrift stores. Going to Goodwill or other stores is always an adventure. My kids look forward to it, too. In fact, we were coming back from Lowe’s home improvement store when our eldest son asked if we could stop by the Goodwill. he knows that they usually have some interesting toys and games, and that he and his siblings can usually get more for their money there. Yesterday was the jackpot of toy selection, … Continue reading →

Your Thrift Store Purchases Can Affect Your Credit Cards

I read a very interesting article on CreditCards.com this morning. In it, the author explains that making credit card purchases at certain stores, including thrift stores can negatively affect your ability to get credit as well as how much credit you will get and even interest rates. Basically, although the credit card companies can’t see exactly what you are purchasing, they may consider it risky behavior if you spend money at casinos, fast food restaurants and thrift stores. Okay, let’s put aside for the moment all of that data mining and how scary it is that there is all sorts … Continue reading →

How to Make Sure You Don’t Get Stuck at the Thrift Store

If you are familiar with my blogs, you know that I do a lot of thrift store shopping. And you also know that January is a favorite time of my to do thrift store shopping. We hit the Goodwill today in between other errands. Unfortunately for us, the store was completely crowded, with people everywhere fighting over everything. This is not the way we like to shop. With the economy the way it is, many new people are discovering shopping at thrift stores. When you are in this environment, it is easy to get into the “grab it quick” mentality. … Continue reading →

Goodwill Bargain Store: Get More Discounts

Have you heard of a Goodwill bargain store or Goodwill outlet store? If you have one in your area, you can save big. I visited the one near me yesterday, and here is my report. Goodwill bargain stores or Goodwill outlet stores (I’ve seen them called both) offer bottom of the line discounts on thrift merchandise. You might remember that I’ve talked about how at Goodwill stores, merchandise rotates through the floor at these stores, and clothing gets tagged with different colors that indicate how long it has been in the store. At the end of its stay, the store … Continue reading →

What You Can Find at the Goodwill In January

As I mentioned in yesterday’s post, January is a great time for bargain hunting at the Goodwill. We decided to check them out last night, and here is what we found. There were a lot of new books, so I was able to pick up four interesting ones that were on my list. There were several others available, as well as music CDs and a couple of video games. There were some new toys, although not as many as I would have expected there to be in January. I picked up a National Geographic science kit that was still sealed … Continue reading →

Shopping at Goodwill in January

January has got to be one of my favorite months for thrift store shopping. That is because many of the donations that were made at the end of the year by folks looking to get their tax deductions. Ideally, it would be wonderful to visit the thrift store practically every day to see what new thing are available. In fact, when we lived in in our old neighborhood, there was a decent thrift store within walking distance. When the weather was nice, I could pack a kid or two in the stroller and take a nice walk. And, the Goodwill … Continue reading →

Will Buying Used Clothes and Toys or Reselling Them Soon Be Illegal?

At first read, it sounds like an Internet scam. A law has been passed that will prohibit anyone from selling used children’s clothes and toys, effective next month. This would have wide-ranging affects, putting everyone from consignments shops and Goodwill to eBay sellers and yard sale folks out of business. Everyone from hard core frugal moms who have adopted frugality from the beginning to new to the craft frugalistas who are responding to trends that make frugal cool, to people who suddenly find the necessity of a frugal lifestyle with the failing economy, people are panicking. As someone who relies … Continue reading →

It’s The Most Wonderful Time of the Year for Thrift Store Bargains 2

As you wonder what to do with all of your leftovers, take advantage of other people’s leftovers, too…leftover stuff, that is. This is the best time of year to get wonderful merchandise for pennies on the dollar at your local thrift store. If you missed the first part of this topic posted earlier today, click here. You should also find a lot of toys, as parents, overwhelmed with all of the gifts, either donate brand new items in an effort to bring the gift giving under control, or donated older toys to make way for the new ones. I found … Continue reading →

It’s The Most Wonderful Time of the Year for Thrift Store Bargains

Is the Christmas music still playing in your home or have you already moved on from the holidays? I’ve been encountering a little bit of both in the past two days. There is a desire both too hold on to Christmas as it has come too quickly, and a desire to prepare for the new year. One way that folks are moving on and preparing for the new year is by getting all of their last donations in before the calendar hits 1/1. This way, everything can be taken off of taxes for the year. This is true not only … Continue reading →