Freaks & Geeks and Goodwill Outlet Stores

Check out this sign, totally something the American Picker dudes would buy. It was just chilling behind Salvation Army.


That was Saturday late afternoon, let's start from the beginning.

Our big plans to attend the Ivy Tech community garage sale and then the Farmers Market were ruined because of rain and thunderstorms.



I needed my green army jacket to keep me warm.

Have you guys ever seen Freaks & Geeks (best hour long drama/comedy/coming of age television show ever)? It only aired one season, but is an all time favorite. Anyway, the point is I love my green army jacket (Old Navy), because it reminds me of Lindsay Weir (Linda Cardellini), the main character in F&G. The jacket appears in pretty much every single episode of the show and is honored in the song Lady L by Nick Andopolis (Jason Segel), "Is your green army jacket the only thing keeping you warm tonight?" Great TV Moment. My striped v-neck (Urban Outfitters) also reminds me of F&G, so I guess you can say my entire outfit is F&G inspired. Sounds like it is about time to re-watch all of the episodes on DVD, again.

Our next adventure took us on a road trip to all three Indianapolis Goodwill Outlet Stores. I read about the outlets online, but never experienced one for myself. They are nuts!



Are you ready for this? At Goodwill Outlet Stores items are sold by the pound! The merchandise has not been pre-sorted and is basically piled into bins, which customers can dig through. The bins are removed from the sales floor and replaced with a completely different selection of merchandise every 2 hours.

Here is the pricing breakdown:

Clothing, housewares, books, toys, DVDs and CDs: 69 cents per pound
Glass: 49 cents per pound
Paired shoes: 99 cents per pound

I quickly identifed the regulars because they were aware of bin rotation times and began to line up where the workers wheeled out the fresh merchandise. The first outlet location we visited seemed to have a strict system where you cannot begin grabbing items until all of the new bins are out. I watched everyone examine the piles of miscellaneous clothing, kinda like watching Dave, Barry or Darrel examine a storage locker on Storage Wars, hilarious. Honestly I kept thinking to myself that they could make a reality show about this shopping experience. Once they were given the go-ahead the shoppers went to town on the bins. I was totally intimidated.

This is some serious thrifting and I don't recommend it for everyone! But, if you are A. up for a challenge, B. not claustrophobic, C. aggressive (enough) and D. looking for a super amazing deal then I say check it out. Oh, and bring gloves.

All said and done I bought a few accessories - 2 belts, a scarf, leggings and some other items I cannot mention, because they are gifts for an avid reader... ;). I spent a total of $.81 cents, $.33 cents at one location and $.48 cents at another. Big spender right here!



When we got back to Bloomington the rain had stopped and the sun was shining! We made a quick pit stop at Salvation Army. I didn't find any clothing, but we did find a cool photo location!

Purple Vest: This vest (originally from F21) is another purchase from Goodwill's 50% off sale, which takes place the first Saturday of every month. The regular price was $2.99, but I got it for $1.50!

Wearing my $.25 cent shoes again.



The rest of my evening consisted of hanging out on the balcony, reading and chatting with my family & friends on the phone.