The parade of stuff

Goodwill opened a new outlet in downtown St Louis last week, so when we had free time on Friday we hauled ourselves down there. (Instead of going to Iowa, like I really wanted to!)

If you don't know about the "goodwill outlet" yet here's a quick rundown - they sell everything by the pound. It is essentially the last stop for all the Goodwill merchandise here. If it cannot be sold in a store (reject for whatever reason) or hasn't sold within x number of days it moves to the outlet. Everything at the outlet is sold out of big blue bins. The bins are on wheels and are rolled onto the floor and then (reportedly, we were there an hour and this did not happen) changed every 30 minutes. Whatever hasn't sold after it has been on the floor for 30 minutes goes into the recycling stream. So, there is NO organization at all. Linens are piled in with clothes, shoes, household goods etc. They did try and keep the books together though. And then everyone and their brother stands around and roots through huge dirty bins.

It was actually pretty fun.

And I bought a lot of stuff.

Pretty plates for the plate wall.
A quilt that was torn into two pieces and sort of ratty (but I can repurpose it).

With cute scarecrows on the back of one half of it.
A metal top.
A hanging rack for Sammi's room when she gets a bit bigger (needs a different coat of paint).
An awesome pyrex bowl (love stripes but never find that pattern!).
A tablecloth that is in "ok" shape.
And aprons (which were perfect).

If you don't mind digging and are looking for stuff that can be repurposed, it's the place to be. If you need nice neat and tidy things that are ready to use, the Goodwill outlet is probably not for you.