I’m materialismally challenged. (Shut up, spellcheck! That is totally a word! So is spellcheck!)
Recently a good friend of mine sent a text inviting me to go shoe shopping with her at the mall.
ME: Ew! I hate the mall. And shopping. And shoes.
HER: But they’re 30% off!
ME: What’s the sale price?
HER: Around $60.
ME: BLERG!
I didn’t go, of course. She knew I wouldn’t. I’ve never paid $60 for a pair of shoes in my life, not even for my wedding. My go-to store is Goodwill. Look at this awesome outfit I got from there right before Christmas. $2.99 for the shirt, $1.99 for the tank top, $4.99 for the jeans.
But that doesn’t make me cheap. It just means I was able to take the money I saved on clothes to buy this sweet $32 necklace from SurlyRamics.
And it’s not just clothes. I got this really cool chair for free:
And used the money I had set aside for furniture on this set of Harry Potter books. It was $120, but it came with a Hogwarts trunk! It’s a cardboard trunk, but still!
Hufflepuffs are particularly good deal finders.
Also, the cool multi-colored patchwork pillow on the chair up there? $42.
So I’m not cheap. I just have really weird financial priorities.
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R.J. Keller 
I LOVE Goodwill. For exactly the same reasons you outline – less money on clothes means more money on cool stuff you can’t get as inexpensively as you can get the clothes. (Also, having been to one of the pricier mall stores to try to spend a gift card I got at Christmas, I keep being reminded of how cheaply the expensive clothes are being made, and how inexpensively I can get well-made clothes at Goodwill.)
Had me up until $42 pillow. FORTY-TWO DOLLAR PILLOW?!
I’m a Goodwill girl, too. Mostly because I’m broke. 🙂
Kris, exactly! My son got a pair of Tommy Hilfiger jeans (new with the tag!) for $5 at Goodwill last summer.
Tracy, I know! It was an impulse buy. But it’s hand sewn and looks freaking amazing in my living room.
I’m a big-time thrifter. The thrifts and consignment shops near the rich neighborhoods are best. I can get on-trend designer labels, often still with the tags on, for pennies on the dollar of the original price.
I think that all just makes your normal. Cause that is EXACTLY what I do. I save where I can so I can afford other things. I love your good deals! And I really like the pillow!
Ann, it’s the best way to go, really. 🙂
Janet, thanks! I don’t regret buying it for sure.
Our Goodwill sucks. And they don’t have much in the way of ‘plus’ sizes for women, so I’m just SOL. My family’s motto is “Better Living through Scavenging!”
Spending that much on books is NEVER a bad thing!
I’m very lucky. There are four really good Goodwill stores that are less than an hour drive away.
When you have to get it done, a person may as well still do it.