I’ve been planning to start purchasing inexpensive and brightly colored dishes to use in “staging” food pictures for my blog for a while now. I put staging in parenthesis because we really do eat everything I make. My kids are usually standing right outside the camera range saying “Hurry up Mom, I’m starved.” My everyday plates are plain white and they look beautiful on my table — they just don’t look as pretty in blog pictures. And because I have plain white plates, we can have serving dishes in any color I want!
It all started when I bought this bowl on clearance at Target last week. It cost $12.75. I started thinking to myself that I could do better at Goodwill since I wasn’t really concerned about buying matching stuff. Just pretty and colorful stuff. Today, I went back to Target for more Pull-Ups and happened to find some plates and bowls from $1.75 to $2.75 on clearance. I liked them so much I went ahead and bought them. I also found a couple of cute little heart ramekins in the $1 section that I think will be perfect for celebrating Valentine’s Day blog staging this month.
Since we had a little extra time, the kids and I stopped at Goodwill on the way home to see if they had any toys for the kids or pretty dishes for me my blog. I was shocked to discover that a single plate at Goodwill costs $3.99 to $4.99 depending on the weight of the dish. That’s an awful lot compared to Target clearance, especially since it is not like you can ever buy a matching set at Goodwill! I picked up five or six things that I ended up putting right back on the shelf. I did walk out with this pretty candle jar for Valentines Day for $2, but that’s it. I guess I’ll just keep shopping the clearance sections at Target instead.
However
While in Goodwill, I kept wondering why so many people were in there. The store was packed. More packed then I have ever seen. I finally asked a sales associate. Guess what? Today and tomorrow (January 25 and 26th 2012), all clothing in Goodwill stores across the nation is only $2. This is a sale that only happens once a year. I found this gorgeous pair of shorts for my son, usually $4.99 at our Goodwill – $2. With all the kids in tow and so many people in the store I did not feel like spending any time looking for clothes. Guess where I am going tomorrow by myself though! Now Target clearance for clothing is pretty good, but it is very rare to find clothing for $2 at Target.
My conclusion is that bargains are everywhere… it all depends on what you are looking for. Where is your favorite place to shop for bargains???
I found some gorgeous dinnerware at Salvation Army yesterday, 79 cents each piece. I didn’t get it, really didn’t have the extra $ for it and it wasn’t enough to serve my whole family (pieces missing…although it’s not like I have a complete set of anything anyway). I’m shocked at the Goodwill prices! But I guess maybe that’s where you live too.
Oh, I didn’t think of that LIsa. It could most certainly be where I live. I was expecting to find plates and bowls for $1 each…
BTW, I never had matching plates for all of us until my in-laws bought them for me last Christmas. They spent way more then normal for Christmas, but got a great deal through Pfaltzgraff. My father-in-law had apparently been stalking the website for two years waiting for a good deal and for a few days this particular pattern was 60% off. Cheaper then Goodwill :0
Our local Goodwill also has 1/2 price clothes EVERY Sunday (and many of their kids clothes are under $2 regularly). And it is packed every Sunday (or at least their parking lot is, I can rarely find a spot). They also have a tag color each week that is half off. But I’ve also found really awesome deals in the clearance racks of Target and Walmart—it’s a combination of luck and what you happen to be looking for.
I’m always shocked at the prices at some of the thrift stores, compared to clearance prices elsewhere. On the other hand, sometimes you definitely find bargains at the Goodwill types of places. I scored a couple nice pairs of jeans (including a pair for me!!) and a nice shirt for Trina for $4.50 total just this weekend at a thrift store…
Wow, that’s really interesting and surprising.
Goodwill is getting more and more expensive. I have just about given up shopping there lately. I will however make a note about the $2.00 sale for next year. We have several thrift stores in the area and I have been slowly making my way to them. I totally agree though about staging food. My everyday dishes are Coca-Cola by Gibson from about 15 years ago. Sometimes I will get our my more formal dishes (again a set of Gibson, white with Gold trim) to stage something if the Coca-Cola isn’t appropriate.