Thrift Store Goodwill Shopping for Baby

Is it even possible to have this much fun with a baby??? Oh my goodness, to have a little girl is so amazing. Let’s face it, half the fun of having a baby is the cuteness factor and this girl has it!

$2.99 Janie and Jack dress from Goodwill. New, this would be around $50.

Thrift store shopping has been a huge part of our family culture. We literally do it as a family activity. I figure if I were to take my kids to the movie theater or out to dinner, we’d spend as much, so I see this activity as frugal and fun. I don’t shop at the mall, I’ve never purchased anything at Nordstrom or Macy’s. Sometimes I shop at Ross or TJ MAXX, but I’ve got to tell you, for selection and price hands down Goodwill is my favorite place to shop.

It doesn’t matter your income level, if you’re just making ends meet or have some money to spare, I feel good about thrifting because of its impact on the environment. I grew up with 8 siblings and my parents promoted sharing, passing down and reusing things that we had. I also like the idea of giving to a cause that helps those in need. So many people need a hand up and if my shopping goes for something good, I say “Let there be shopping.”

Another $2.99 Janie and Jack dress from Goodwill

I absolutely love the selection. At Goodwill, I’ve been introduced to brands and clothing lines I’ve never heard of. It’s fun to look up what an item would have cost if I purchased it brand new.

New with tag $2.00 outfit found at Goodwill in California

The Phoenix valley has amazing thrift stores. I’ve thrifted in California and their prices seem a little high to me, but I would still rather thrift then not. While thrifting out of state, sometimes I score on a great local find or spot a trend that isn’t in Arizona. I find my kids keepsakes, souvenirs and presents at Goodwill.

How much would this Minnie Mouse outfit cost at Disneyland? $1.00 at Goodwill.

So, with all I’m finding for Ruby, I thought I’d share some of my tips while thrift shopping for a baby.

1)     Use a coupon - In Arizona, Goodwill has a 20% off coupon. You receive this coupon if you are on their email list and can use the coupon as many times as you’d like.

2)     Shop deal days - Every Thursday, Goodwill has their famous $1.00 day. Certain color tags are only $1.00. Every other Saturday is their 50% off sale. Most baby clothes range from $1-$3, so I can pay .50cents to $1.50. This really adds up to huge savings.

3)     Seasonal Items Sell Fast – I’ve learned seasonal items move fast, so when the weather turns cold, it might not be the best time to find cute sweaters or boots. In summer, sun dresses and tank tops might be in short supply. Most the time, if you stick with it, you’ll find what you need, but for tons of selection, shop seasons a little bit early.

Love the .99 cent scarf  as a back drop!

4)     Shop A Size Up – Ruby will be one in September(can you believe it!!), but if I see something darling in a larger size, I’m all over it. I don’t mind holding on to an item for a year or so until it fits her. I keep a box in my closet for these cute, can’t-pass-up finds.

$2.99 Tommy Hilfiger denim dress? Yes, please!

5)     Baby Clothes Get Dirty So Don’t Sweat It – Ruby is a spitter-upper, so a lot of her clothes have a “wear once” policy. I do my best to keep up with stain-blocking fabric cleaner, but much of the times baby clothes get beyond dirty. Spit up, baby blow outs, bottle spills, messy eaters, crawling, I mean, it’s not worth sweating over stained clothes. And why would I spend good money on something that most likely will be “one and done!”

I love this India onesie, but this Goodwill .99 find was a "one and done" outfit.

6)     Donate Back – For the clothes that clean up and are in good shape, I can donate back to nieces, nephews or friends in need.

Ruby in a little Old Navy Hawaiian dress I found on dollar day! Love it!

7)     Clothing Companies Donate Too – Sometimes, I see stock from clothing companies (lately it’s been Target and Zara) and they make donations to Goodwill. I can buy these new trending clothes at bargain prices. Love it!!

I love when I find boutique items, this $1.49 Natalys little dress is from Paris. It's in perfect condition (for now)!

8)     Baby Gifts – With such a huge selection, I can find New with Tags baby clothes all the time. These might free up some money to throw in a box of diapers too.

9)     Open My Mind – Shopping is fun, but spending too much money is not, so thrifting allows me to really think about what I like. In reality, while thrifting I can purchase most things I find, so I don’t have to worry about buying the cheapest item or fitting in a budget, it’s like finding everything on the clearance rack!!

Just for Fun!!

10) Easy Shopping – It’s not easy taking a large family shopping at the mall, heck, even shopping at Target is stressful because my kids get a case of the gimmes, but at Goodwill there is something for everyone. True, every purchase adds up, but my kids might find a toy, a trinket, a baseball bat, a tricycle and it’s all-round a good experience (and a good deal). We find games, puzzles, books, toys, crafts and more. In other words, while shopping for baby I can say “Yes” to most things my kids find because it fits in our budget. 

These little $2.99 Gap jeans have stars on them - true love!

Goodwill allows returns up to 1 week of purchase, so I can try things on and test them out without regret. 

H&M romper for $1.00

In Ruby’s little photo shots, I used vintage fabrics (anywhere from $2-$4)as the back drop.

This pink vintage fabric was $2.99.

Thrift store shopping says “Yes” to so many fun ideas and opportunities. I just love it. 

Ruby's Lucky Jeans and Tommy Bahama blouse, plus the gorgeous fabric, all for under $5.00.

Let me know if you have any questions or suggestions in the comments below and feel free to share this post to new moms.

How Many Shoes Does A Girl Need?

Have you ever accidentally donated something to the thrift store only to realize you’d made a mistake?

That happened to me in a big way, or at least I thought. 

Several months ago I was cleaning out my closet.  Preparing to sell our home, we had new carpet put into the bedrooms and everything was being shuffled around.  

Typical night in our home.

Piles and piles of clothes, toys and other miscellaneous “how did I acquire so much junk” items ended up going to Goodwill.  It felt great decluttering, a task I could have never accomplished without the amazing skills of my determined husband. 

Through this process, we would fill the truck with “I’m never going to buy that again” items and off my oldest son would go to Goodwill.  He got pretty good at that, picking up giant black trash bags filled with “way too much stuff” and dropping them off at the donation center. 

But wait!  Where were my shoes?

When I cleaned out my closet, I put almost every pair of shoes I owned in a giant black trash bag, the same bags we’d been using for “get that junk out of here” donations.  I got busy again and that night, looking for my flip-flops my heart filled with dread.  Where was my bag of shoes?  I asked my son Chandler and he insisted he hadn’t seen any shoes when making his daily “Holy heck, Mom has a shopping addiction” drop off to Goodwill.  I had hope.  I had faith, but after looking high and low that bag of at least 20 pairs of shoes – running shoes, boots, high heels, sandals, slippers, flip-flops – many of which were still new, was gone. 

Sometimes, an unexpected life-lesson comes when all your shoes are lost.  Not quite a depression, but I did some deep soul-searching over this.  Why had I acquired so many shoes?  Did I really need that many?  Could I be happy knowing they at least would help someone else in need?  I’ll admit, I thought of going to the thrift store to see if I could find any of my shoes on their shelves, but I had to let it go.  I wasn’t going to grovel.

Somehow, in the dark corners of the home, almost like the ghost of shoes past, I did find an old pair of TOMS, my pink running shoes, a pair of black books and a pair of sandals that had never fit me quite right, but they would do.  I could get by on four pair of shoes, right?  I mean if a man can go to the moon, I could do this.  To make matters direr, I’d made a promise to myself and my all-supportive, loving, decluttering husband that I wouldn’t bring anything else into the home until we moved.  

Funny, looking in every picture I’ve posted on social media in the last three months, and you’ll see me in one of those pair of shoes.  

Those black boots weren’t meant for many of the outfits they were worn with, but if the shoe fits . . . I’m not sure if this analogy really fits here, but you know what I mean.  

Eden said to me just last week, “Mom, are those shoes old.” Yes, TOMS do not hold up that well if you wear them every day, but desperate times call for desperate matters.

Well, we decided not to move (you can read about that here), but we still had one more clean out to do.  It’s like our “I need serious help” junk was breeding.  Our garage was still full of “I just might need that later” stuff and we started one more decluttering project.  Honestly, I couldn’t face it.  I was so burned out on going through trash, I gave Derek the green light to just get rid of whatever.  My defeat was a victory to finally parking a car in our garage when later that night, I noticed a big black bag in my closet.  Yes, my friends.  This story has a happy ending.  In his greatest moment of chivalry, my husband like a knight in shining armor found my shoes and like a kiss on a sleeping princess, he slipped those shoes in my closet in the stillness of the night.  Has there ever been a more romantic scene written? 

It’s been three days since all my shoes were returned and I haven’t even opened the bag.  I’m wearing my holy pair of TOMS.  I call them holy because they have holes.  I did learn a valuable lesson.  I don’t need that many pair of shoes, black boots can look pretty good while wearing a silk dress (please tell me you're picking up on my sarcasm)

and uncomfortable sandals eventually mold to your feet.  

Week in Thrifting and Latest Dresser Re-do

It's been a great week thrifting.  I always find something I can't live without.

I'm really into owls, so when I found this huge "family of owls" vintage wall art for $6.99, I snatched it up.  I'm not sure where to put it yet.  As for now it leans against my fireplace.

Because of how Anthropologie and Pottery Barn stage there photo shoots, I'm always on the lookout for that something special when staging dressers.  These vintage horses are it!

The raw wood piece is hand-carved, signed and dated 1951.  The colorful wood horse, found last week while shopping Goodwill on date night looks to be from the same era and is hand-painted.  Eye-candy for me!

I really liked this Made in England vintage tin, with it's cute folk art.  I found it at Goodwill for $1.99.

I like to use things like this for Eden's hair clips or Reef's Lego's.  

On dollar day, I found this cute faux Coco Chanel dress.  Mayer was certain the logo was DC, his favorite skateboarding brand.

 I must say, they look an awful lot alike. 

If this dress makes me a cool skater mom, DC it is!

My DC/Coco Chanel dress will be worn for project:USED at out next photo session.  I know a lot of you want to participate, so here's the thing.  When wearing a used dress, please hash tag #projectused when posting your photo on social media.  Also, you can link up to me on facebook under Laura Lofgreen, My Dear Trash and now, Project Used.  For updates on future on photo session, I will post them on my  blog and the project used facebook page .  Please follow project:USED on facebook and you can also follow me on instagram at lalalofgreen.  There's a lot of cool stuff coming up and I want as many people at our photo shoots as we can get.

And, last but not least, I also finished up another turquoise dresser (can't keep that color around for long) and I loved how it turned out.

When I found this XL piece at Deseret Industries, it was like reeling in a big fish.  

I don't find many 78 inchers.  

On a sad note, we've had a furniture death in the family.

Yes, this amazing armoire died on Thursday.

It was spectacular.

It only weighs about 200 pounds, so after the wedding (click here to read more about that) I left it on the patio until I could decide what to do with it.  We've had so many windy/blustery days here and wouldn't you know it, a gust of wind knocked it over.  It literally split and came apart.  Like Humpty Dumpty, I couldn't put it back together again.  I was just grateful no one was hurt because this thing was a beast.

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What I learned from losing my phone

Last Thursday night, I couldn’t find my phone.  I knew it was in the home, so we called it and tried the on-line locater, but nothing.  Conclusion? I had a lost phone and it was out of battery.  Reef was the last one to have it, so I asked my precocious son “Do you remember where you put it?”  Asking a 5 year-old where they last left something is like giving them a candy bar and wondering later why it’s gone.   Reef insisted he’d left my phone on the kitchen table, but nothing. 

After an hour or so of searching, Chandler said “Mom, we haven’t done the most important thing.  Let’s pray.”  Nothing like making a mom feel humbled when the teenager insists on praying.

So, we prayed as a family and continued our search.  I paid special attention to impressions and kept feeling like it was outside.  While walking through the backyard with a flashlight, I was reminded of an experience I’d had a few weeks earlier.  Before Christmas, I misplaced several movie passes I purchased to give away as gifts.  After searching for sometime, a feeling came over me to keep things in perspective.  Sure, the tickets were lost but my family was safe, in good health and had enough to eat.  From that moment forward, I gave it up to God.  A few weeks later, the movie tickets were found and all was well.  The truth is, I was already over it so finding them was like getting something for free.

Thursday night did not produce my phone.  Come Friday morning and I accepted the inevitable.  My phone was gone and I would need to purchase a new one.  I was most concerned about my contacts, but it was what it was and everything would work out.  That's when I made a decision.  Since I did not have a phone or phone numbers of my contacts, since overall I was feeling pretty bummed, I should just take a day off to celebrate all I do have.  I am fortunate to stay home full-time.  When was the last time I took the day off?  No work whatsoever!  That’s when I decided I was going to play hooky with Eden. 

Chandler came out of his bedroom, ready for school and said “Mom, I just finished praying again you would find your phone.”  I was so touched by his concern and faith when I had an impression to go outside and check in the stroller.  I hadn’t used the stroller for a few weeks, but still, went outside to check.  Several feet before I got there, I saw it; there was my phone sitting in the chair.  

I ran inside and hugged Chandler, thanking him for his faith.  I wanted to celebrate by following through with my idea and planned my special day.

Movies!

Shopping! Check out these funky shoes I found at Goodwill.  

I tried on several pair.  My motto?  If you can’t walk in them, don’t buy them!

The celebration continued through the weekend.

Making bracelets.

Flying paper airplanes

Sunday we wore our Goodwill dresses to church.

Gratitude was the theme of our weekend. 

Maybe I should lose my phone more often!

Linking up to:

Girl's Dressing Modest for Dressember

If you’ve been reading this blog for a while, you are aware I am a member of the Mormon Church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  I was raised by Mormon parents who joined the church in their early twenties, actually before either one of them met.  My parents both lived wonderful lives pre-Mormon with great families and opportunities, but felt the teachings of the Mormon Church brought more fulfillment and happiness into their lives. 

One of the elements of the Mormon Church my Mom really honed in on was modesty. Her mother had set this example and taught her the principle of modest dress. 

Beautiful and modest dress really defined my grandmother's era.

My mom with her mother and sister on Easter Sunday.  

My mom's engagement photo.

In return, my mom taught me and my four sisters the value of our feminine spirits.  She said “One way to keep your body and spirit nurtured is to dress in a way that honor’s God.”

Like many believers of Christ, Mormon’s feel we draw close to God through actions of love, moral goodness and keeping our bodies clean from addiction.  By living such a way, I believe we are given wonderful gift.  It’s the gift of the Holy Ghost.  We can actually have a companion sent to us from our Heavenly Father that guides us throughout our life, keeping us safe, directing us towards our life’s purpose and providing comfort in an uncertain world. 

What is modesty?  It’s more than just knee-length skirts and one-piece swimsuits.  I believe modesty is part of obeying the law of chastity because how we dress reveals our standards.  

I love how author Carly Walker describes us Mormons and our obsession with modesty.  On the website Normons, she shares her desire to stay true to her values in a fashion-obsessed world (and it’s a really funny article).  She says “When me and other Mormon girls my age grew up, we slowly learned the reasons why we dress the way we do. We stopped caring about looking like everybody else. We realized we were too different. Instead of trying to be something we obviously weren’t, we started to dress the way we wanted to, coined the term “modest is hottest,” and then rocked it like a boss.”  

image found here

Also, there’s a great Mormon fashion designer by the name of Athelia Woolley.  She is the co-founder of Shabby Apple, a beautiful dress and clothing company.  On the Shabby Apple website, it says “Newer styles seem to be using less and less materials, but our retro fashion from the 20’s, 30’s, 40’s, 50’s, 60’s and 70’s have a high level of modesty that still complements the feminine shape.”

Here’s a bit more about how Athelia started the Shabby Apple Co.

I had to laugh about Athelia's dilemma with sleeveless dresses.  You’ll notice many of the dresses I wore for Dressember had a t-shirt underneath.  Thus, the life of a modest girl.  I found this Shabby Apple dress at Salvation Army for $4.00 and featured it last year for Dressember.  

Here are the last days of Dressember.  

December 30

Kelly's daughter Emily left on a mission for Chile.  Monday night, they had a going away party.

I wore a Tryst skirt, made by Billabong.  My shirt from Express and Gap cardigan were all from Goodwill's $1.00 day.  

 Doesn't Kelly look gorgeous.  I know a lot of you miss her posts.  She may still blog from time to time, but her life has gone from busy to busier.  Not only does she still do estate sales and trunk shows, but she is also the new Primary president in her ward. She volunteers countless hours for the children ages 18 months to 12 years-old in her church.  

As a missionary, Kelly's daughter Emily honor's the modesty code too.  You can read about the church's guidelines of dress for missionaries here.  

She will volunteer the next 18 months of her life as a full-time servant for our Heavenly Father. 

December 31

Eden is posing on an end table I refinished in her $1.00 Old Navy dress from Goodwill.

On a side note, I was thrilled when Eden was highlighted on Dressember’s Instagram.

I know dressing modest may not be trendy.  It even appear's old fashion, but I am grateful to have this standard in my life.  Dressing this way is a conscious choice I make every time I go out shopping.   There are certain stores I cannot shop in because I will never find a thing I can wear.  Many times it's frustrating, but that's just how it is.  Thrift stores have such a huge selection of woman's clothing, many vintage, so most of my clothing purchases come from there.  When I was younger, I wanted to dress like everyone else.  As a teenager, one of the only fight's I every had with my mom was when I wanted to wear a mini-skirt.  And I did wear it!  Many times!  My mom let me make my own choices with fashion.  She never forced anything on me, but in the end, I came back to what I had been taught.  It's what makes me feel most comfortable.  I wish more designers would accommodate and I think in time, many will realize it's a profitable business.

Benefits of dressing modest:

1.  It allows me to be more creative with fashion. I experiment with layering and leggings.

2.  I get to cover up more of my flaws.

3.  I can still dress trendy, but I don't have to look like a teenager.

4.  I stay warm in the winter

5.  I set an example for my little daughter.

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