Last week Brian located that his antique belt become almost wiped out and asked me to maintain a be careful for a trendy one. I notion our little nearby thrift maintain should probably have one, but while we stopped with the aid of manner of on Saturday morning, we observed no belts at all in the guys's section. I notion maybe they were filed with the footwear, but whilst we checked there, the only belts we positioned have been really for ladies. So we determined to feature a stop at the Goodwill maintain in East Brunswick to that day's errands.
As I noted again in February, we don't visit this save that regularly because it's now not surely on our regular path, and my closing ride there has been pretty an lousy lot wasted. But if we are already headed out to one of the home centers in East Brunswick (which we were), it is not that huge a detour to hit the thrift shop too, and I figured that even supposing it did no longer have something for me, it ought to at the least be able to provide us with some thing as clean as someone's belt. Well, it did...And, to my wonder, some different gadgets besides.
Since the belt turned into our number one purpose, we went searching out that first. Brian attempted on a pair and positioned a clean black leather-based one in a appropriate period. It have become priced at $12.Ninety nine, which seemed a bit immoderate for a thrift preserve item (although I've in no way definitely offered a person's belt earlier than, so possibly I surely do no longer recognise what they must cost). However, the tag on it grow to be green, and we were there on a inexperienced-tag day, which made the very last fee a much more reasonable $6.Forty 9.
Then, having placed what we got here for, we split as a lot as take a look at the relaxation of the racks, simply in case we took place across whatever else we could use. Based on my closing visit, I wasn't certainly watching for to find out a few factor, but as I flipped through the racks of grey tops (the same ones I'd perused with out fulfillment on my ultimate journey), lo and behold, I truely decided a V-neck cotton pullover that suit pretty nicely. (I didn't hassle waiting in line for a becoming room, simply pulled it on over my T-blouse right there inside the aisle, and on the same time as I could not find out a entire-length replicate to assess it from every perspective, I turn out to be capable of see enough of myself in the mirror through the hat phase to tell that it regarded okay.) This grow to be priced at $7.99?Which might have been a chunk higher than common because of the Calvin Klein label indoors, a function that does not definitely upload any price for me?And it changed into a yellow tag, so we needed to pay the whole amount. But after having spent plenty of last winter and this spring searching for a clean gray pullover, both in thrift shops and in catalogues, without success, I determined some thing that during shape me became a good deal on the price.
I then wandered over to the shoe rack, wherein, all over again, I wasn't really looking ahead to to find something in my period. And I did now not, exactly, however I did find out a pair of strong trekking boots in black leather-primarily based (which I'm inclined to wear if it is offered secondhand) in a guys's length five half. That's a touch huge for me (a men's four or 4 half of is in the direction of my ordinary period), and after I attempted them on, they had been indeed a piece roomy within the toe. However, they still felt reasonably snug, and could possibly be even extra so with a heavy wintry weather sock. And for the reason that, as you may do not forget, I virtually have some doubts approximately how long my cutting-edge pair of winter boots will very last, spending a bit cash on a backup pair appeared like an inexpensive idea. These had been priced at $14.Ninety nine, but the inexperienced tag on their soles reduced them to $7.49. And for the purpose that they're a properly-legitimate brand (Timberland) and have no visible wear at the soles and just the faintest trace of scuffing on the uppers, they ought to keep up quite nicely.
When I rejoined Brian, he was carrying two items: a pair of green shorts and a videotape of the movie Little Big Man. Yeah, a videotape—remember those? We tend to buy new videos in DVD or, more recently, downloadable form, but we've held on to our old VCR, and it allows us to take advantage of the occasional great deal—like this classic film priced at a mere 99 cents (49 cents with the green tag). The green shorts were in a cargo style, which isn't Brian's usual preference, but they were also a size 34, which is small enough for him to wear (after some recent weight loss) even without his new belt. The tag on them was red, but at $4.29, they were still a bargain. (At home, fresh out of the shower with no shirt and his hair uncombed, he put them on and said, "Look, they're Abercrombie and Fitch! Do I look young and hip?" Um, no, but did you actually want to?)
So altogether, we got shoes and a sweater for me, shorts and a belt for Brian, and a movie for both of us—including several name-brand items—all for $26.78 including tax. (Clothing isn't taxed in New Jersey, so the only sales tax was 3 cents for the movie.) For me, that made this trip satisfying enough to cancel out the disappointment of the previous one. So I've now revised my opinion of this Goodwill store from "not worth the trip" to "hit or miss": you might find nothing of use, or you might find lots, and there's really no way to predict which ahead of time. Thus, while I still don't consider it worthy of a special trip (that might only end in disappointment), I do now think it's worth going just a bit out of our way to stop by, if we're already in the general area, to see if we happen to strike it lucky.
