My neighbor had told me the week we moved here that all Nashville-area Goodwill stores run a 50% off everything in the store the first Saturday of every month. I’ve been meaning to check it out every single month since we moved, but it finally worked out for it to happen today.
Silas had an early soccer game and Kaitlynn had ice skating at the same time, so I took Silas to his game and Jesse took Kaitlynn and Kathrynne to ice-skating. After soccer, Silas & I went over to Goodwill (it was right on our way home!) to check it out.
The store was quite crowded — and I could see why! The prices after the 50% off sale made most items less than $3, with many as low as $0.99! For the most part, almost the entire store was at garage sale prices or better.
The only downside? There was a LONG line at checkout. Even though they had multiple registers open, I guessed that you’d probably have to stand in line for at 30 minutes just to make it to checkout. So I decided that there wasn’t anything I needed enough to stand in that long of a line today. But it was fun to check it out and I hope to go back some other first Saturday of the month when I have more time and am prepared to stand in a long line! 🙂
One way we save a lot of money is by eating oatmeal. We typically eat it at least 3-4 per week. Usually for breakfast, but sometimes for lunch or a snack.
Today I had oatmeal for lunch. I cooked it my favorite way — just a little crispy on the stovetop and then added a heaping teaspoon of coconut oil and a half teaspoon of vanilla. It’s plain and simple, but it’s filling, nutritious, and inexpensive. Plus, it’s a quick and easy meal or snack to make!
How did YOU save today? I’d love to hear!
Our Goodwills in Indiana have both the 50% off the first Saturday of the month and then every Sunday it is 50% off the color of the week. I don’t go very often but my neighbor always was going and found great things! I was able to find the third Harry Potter book in hardcover for my son. A great deal for $1.25 and in excellent shape!
Crystal – the Nashville Goodwills open at 8am on those Saturdays. If I’m there between 7:30-8:00, I can usually get my shopping done and not wait in such long lines. There IS a line to get in the store that early, but it’s easier to check out if you go when they open. Just a tip.
We like oatmeal with a dollop of peanut butter in it. The peanut butter melts into the warm oatmeal and is so yummy, plus it adds protein and makes it more filling.
The Goodwill by us utilizes a color tag system as well and does 50% off sales based on the color. I love it becahse it helps me narrow down my search and saves me a bundle! Downside is I want to go every week to see what the tag color is. 😉
The location had a 50% off sale at the end of summer that was heavily advertised and the store employees informed me that it would be a “madhouse”, but I still wanted to check it out and had my husband stay home with our boy while I went. I have to say… it was not as bad as they made it out to be! It must have been a lull, because the parking lot was much fuller earlier that morning, but I still got some awesome finds and it was definitely worth the trip! I got many clothing items as low as $.75!
I saved money today by eating leftovers . I also traded some clothes with my neighbor she gave me some clothes for my younger son and I gave her some clothes for her grand daughter . Win win 🙂
I have tried the goodwill sales a few times, but haven’t found much in my size. I love the idea though! I’ve been selling my kid’s clothes to Kid to Kid for the store credits. That, plus coupons and their frequent customer stamp ticket helps a lot!
I saved today by traded some unwanted fish (my family won’t touch salmon) in my deep freeze for almond milk and regular milk from my sister! Hey, it works. 😉
I’m actually working on a blog post about my trade group that I’m a part of and how I’m incorporating that into our no spend journey. 🙂
I shopped the sales and clipped coupons to get the bulk of the month’s groceries while hubby had the kids at his mother’s.
Our goodwill has one day a week where everything is discounted.
For how I saved today, I had a coupon for free kids meal at the zoo, so we had a nice morning at our free zoo and a lunch onsite. We are also members so we got the train rides, carousel and children’s zoo free. It costs $85 a year but includes free parking and as much as we go (and I have 2 kids that have to ride carousel and train) it is worth it. The mebership is tax deductible too.
I ate leftovers for dinner too if that counts.
Jealous! Goodwill stores in Kentucky NEVER run a sale! I did save money by handing down some precious memories to my daughter for our first grand-daughter: clothes and handmade blankets and toys made by my husband’s mother 25+ years ago! Thanks to interest, I DIYed the stains all out!
I saved money today by making a meat-less lasagna in the Crock-Pot. And it is soooo good 🙂
How do you get your oatmeal crispy?
Yes, how do you get the oatmeal crunchy?
How do you make oatmeal “crispy” on the stove top? One of the reasons I dislike oatmeal is the gooey texture. Crispy sounds intriguing and awesome!
I am curious about this too. I usually make baked oatmeal and cook it at a higher temp than suggested. It’s delicious and crunchy
This week was pretty hectic, and expensive, with follow up trips to the doctor for both my son and myself, prescriptions, two take out meals (because I finally gave up on trying to work all day, do doctor’s appointments, and cook while feeling sick), and an extra daycare expense because I had to work later than usual. Despite these things getting in the way, I still saved where I could… I used coupons, I bought marked down produce and created a menu based on it, used cash back apps, and I stocked up on some items that were a great price.
Stood in line at the grand opening of Cavendars for maybe 5-10 minutes and received a free $10 gift card… then I found a pair of jeans marked down plus 50% off making them only $22 then after the $10 gift card I paid just $12 for an $82 pair of jeans and then they threw in a super cute shirt! So a whole outfit for $12 I’ll take it.
This is not how I saved but I have to say that my kids love their oatmeal with unsweetened applesauce, a little brown sugar, and cinnamon. I have always fed it to them this way since they were really little and they still love it. An extra bonus is that the applesauce helps cool it off faster so the can eat it right away.
I visited an out of town friend for a few days. Helped her mother get 20 lbs of Mahatma rice for 32 cents (gotta love those sales and coupons– the rice was free just had to pay tax). As a thank you her mother gave me sweet potatoes from her garden and a jar of pickles she had canned. We will thoroughly enjoy the free food she gave me as a thank you– saves us on our grocery bill.
We saved by borrowing a lawn mower and mowing our own lawn;0) We even got the kids to try it out! Now that we’ve landscaped our hill it is much more manageable! Saved: $40+tax
The Goodwill stores around here (Maine) use a 50% off colored tag system. Sounds a lot less hectic. All items get one of several colors of tags, and each week one of the tag colors is 50%, so there’s plenty to choose from for 50% off every day. They change the 50% off color every Sunday, which makes it the best day to shop. Today I got the materials to make 12-13 prefold diapers out of flannel sheets and towels for $6.50!
I would love to see this more often, how people saved money “today” as it is encouraging!
I braved two Goodwill stores near my home yesterday for the 50% off sale. The first had long lines but many registers open. I wasn’t in line more than 10 minutes. The second I was definitely in line for 20 minutes as they only had three registers open.
I bought my daughter:
1 sweater – $1.00
2 t-shirts – $2.00
1 pr jeans – $2.00
1 pr pants – $1.00
1 dress – $2.00
7 LS shirts – $7.00
I felt the 30 minutes in line was worth it for all that for $15, especially when one item was Gymboree, one was Limited Too and several shirts were from Justice.
Mini’s grandparents in FL sent her an Olaf t-shirt when they visited Disney a few weeks ago. We found the exact same shirt at Savers (thrift chain) for $2 in the next size up. The next shirt I found was one she was gifted from Justice that she had grown out of in the next size up.. LOVE finding new shirts like that!
Does letting someone take me out to lunch count?
(Joke, y’all, joke. It’s my friend’s turn; my turn is next.)
Haha!
I downloaded the Kroger Friday Freebie coupon a couple of days ago and used it today at the store to get free Idahoan Potatoes.
My Goodwill is having a 50 percent off sale too in a couple of weeks. I’m going to try and go.
I made a menu plan this week which is a great accomplishment with many things happening this past month. Sometimes you just survive but I find it helps save money so I’m back on track.
YOU ARE BRAVE to go to the goodwill 50% off sale. Whenever I drive past one on the sale day it always looks like a madhouse. I do pretty well with the Goodwill rewards program in our area, that gives you a card to put on your key chain. In another area I go to I see 50% off Goodwill purchase coupons on the back of their local grocery store receipts. Our store also does special colors of the day. These three things help me save money at Goodwill but avoid the long lines at the 50% off day.