come shopping with me

 

Welcome to the bins.

Today, my lovely pal Tricia and I decided to go shopping at one of our favorite places: the bins. Technically this type of store is known as a Goodwill Outlet store. This might be where Goodwill clothes go to die or maybe they just collect clothes that can't be sold at regular Goodwill stores so they end up here instead. I'm not really sure. I was going to research it but I kind of like the mystery.

The point of going to the bins is that you buy goods by the pound. The more you buy, the cheaper the rate. I normally don't buy all that much so my goods end up being about $1.69/ lb. Now, if you think about much your favorite clothing items weigh and how much you paid for them full price, you can see why this is such a great deal. Here's the catch; you may run into some things you wish you could permanently erase from your memory (more about that later).

Okay, step one is to wear something that allows you to try clothes on. This place doesn't have things like "dressing rooms" or "mirrors" so make sure you have a buddy with you to tell you how smokin' hot you look. Enter: Tricia Mulligan, the most beautiful blue haired female of my close acquaintance.

Isn't she a cutie? Here she is modeling a spectacular pair of lightly used men's briefs for your viewing pleasure. If that's not really your thing, I have a photo of myself holding a pair of significantly more used women's underwear.

Make sure to click on that photo so that you get the full benefit of the crotch stain. I want you to know that I did this for you guys. I am a fucking trooper and I will hold the dirty crotch stain panties so that you get the benefit of the full "bins experience".

There were some normal things, of course like this sexy skirt:

This super cute dress:

And this blanket that I LOVED but I could not purchase because that would be grounds for murder in my family. (pssst, Mom- will you make this for me please?)

But let's get serious here. Let's talk about the stuff that really matters. Like this pair of used athletic cups that I found in the toy section.

Contrary to what your brothers might tell you; those are NOT gas masks and they do NOT belong on your nose and mouth.

I faced some disappointment when I realized that this was not a real mouse carcass.

And then some confusion when I tried to figure out what the hell someone was doing to this soup can:

After that, I got a bit hungry when I found this old lunch tray with food residue still on it:

You might be asking yourself, "what in the hell do these 'bins' look like to produce such wonders?"

They look like this:

And this:

Okay okay, I know at this point you're wondering what in the hell we could have possibly found in this massive pile of junk but I actually had a pretty good haul today.

 

Here's what I got: 

2 pairs of tights
1 cable knit sweater
1 pair cut off shorts
1 vintage nightgown
1 tank top
1 long cardigan
3 books
1 pair toddler pants
1 Elsa and Anna hat
1 J Crew blouse

And one little doggy action figure to join the other warriors that live above our fridge

And for all of that, I paid a whopping $10.36.

There are a lot of people out there who might be afraid to shop the way that me and Tricia do. Who might think that the amount of work involved and the gross things that you run across just aren't worth the benefit of paying $1.69/lb for you clothes. And do you know what I say to that? Good. More for us.

Bonus pics below: