Getting a new job can be an exciting new chapter in one’s life. But it’s a little intimidating when you’re required to dress the part on a restricted budget. I recently got a big promotion and spent hours in my closet trying to put together as many professional outfits as possible, but realized I was coming up short. After one week on the job I realized my wardrobe was not going to cut it.
I looked again to my trusted source for fashion bargains….Goodwill.
When Goodwill workers unload donations they sort them and mark them with a colored price tag; red, blue, green and yellow. Each week is designated it’s own color. For example, donations that come in the first week of the month are marked blue, the second week is marked red and so on. It’s a way to track how long an item has been in the store and keep the stock rotating.
On Sundays and Mondays, Goodwill has a sale where everything with a certain price tag color is 50% off. I happened to walk in on a day where blue tags were 50% off and was able to walk out of the store with 6 blazers/ work jackets, 3 pairs of dress pants, 5 shirts and 3 dresses for $51.00. Now when I think of shopping for work jackets at Goodwill I imagined finding aisles and aisles of 80’s blazers with huge shoulder pads, but I actually found a ton of cute stuff from Gap, Express, and Limited.
Don’t under estimate the variety and quality of stuff you can find at your local Goodwill store. Some days I can go in there and find so many great deals that my arms are numb from the weight of all the clothes. Other days I have to search a little bit more, but now I have a great wardrobe for my new job and the best part is that my entire new wardrobe probably cost less than most of my co-workers outfits. People always comment on how cute my stuff is and I smile knowing that the dress I am wearing on cost me $2.50, and they’ll never know.
For more information on when your local Goodwill holds certain sales and events, just go to Goodwill’s Website at: http://www.goodwill.org/. Just type your zip code into the store locator and click on the store nearest you. The store will usually list a website with its most recent monthly calendar that highlights sales, silent auctions, and car auctions,
Happy Shopping!
