This last Saturday, my mom, sister and friend and I spent nearly 7 hours garage sale-ing!
Ironically, this opportunity came after another friend of mine asked if she could go garage sale-ing sometime. She said that my family and I always have great luck. Funny enough, I couldn’t remember the last time I’d gotten a bunch of good deals!
But when it rains, it pours!
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Stop #1: We hit 4 garage sales here in Atascadero. One was a super depressing estate sale (all of the lady’s stuff was still set up just as she’d left it! There was even a funeral sign-in sheet by the door!!! wtf?). We didn’t get anything here, and left feeling super creeped out and sad.
But the other three had a lot of great deals!

I’m going to repaint this shelf and use it in the bathroom. The 3 mini flower pots were 25 cents total– perfect for my kitchen window garden!
One house had a giant MOUND of nice boys’ clothes, selling for just 25 cents a piece!!! I got over 26 little boys’ clothes. Here are a few of my favorites.
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Stop #2 (post Jamba Juice, of course):
There is a secret, hole-in-the wall place in San Luis Obispo affectionally titled, “The Bin”. In reality, it’s the Goodwill Outlet/Distribution Center. You have to know where to find it (it’s not listed on google maps), and you have to be willing to get down and dirty (some people even wear gloves!)! If you’re curious about one near you, I found this blog about a similar one.
Basically, you have to DIG through bins and bins of clothing that didn’t sell at the Goodwill stores in the area. All that work pays off though– only $2/pound of clothing! I found around 10 items for myself, all name brands– Forever 21, Abercrombie, Ann Taylor Loft, White House Black Market, Banana Republic….all 10 items for less than $5!
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Stop #3, downtown SLO.
We really meant to just come here for lunch, but as we were parking, we saw yet ANOTHER garage sale! My sister got a brand new Puma athletic bag for $2 and some cool jars for her room. My mom got an entire bag of clothing (there was a lot of Patagonia and Italian leather!) for $5, and all the books were free.

All I got were these like new running shoes– get ready…25 cents!!! The lady was totally giving away her stuff
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Stop #4: NCCS thrift store.
At this point, it was nearly 3pm and we were TIRED. But we decided to run in and see if there was anything.
Of course, this is where I hit the jackpot. Not only did I find a bunch of things we’ve been needing, but since we have $100/year’s worth of teacher’s credit at the store, all of it was FREE!!!!!

A wicker patio set– would’ve been $22. They came with cushions, but I absolutely HATE the print. I bought some cheery red and blue outdoor fabric to cover them with. More later!

Funny story– I had this same exact pair when I lived in Dallas. They were so comfy, I wore them nonstop for almost 2 years. In the end, there were holes in the soles and I had to throw them out! These were the same ones in my size, so I went ahead and got them, in case I can get another year or two of use from them 🙂 Would’ve been $2
Not pictured, I also got a brand new full size mattress cover for our guest bed (again, free for me, would’ve been $2).
So….there you have it! Was it worth an entire day’s worth of work? Well, the real point of the day was to spend time with my sister, mom, and friend Susan. We were able to go out to lunch together as well, which would’ve been worth it in and of itself.
All in all, we had so much fun, it would’ve been worth it even if we hadn’t gotten such great deals!
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Thanks so much for linking to my blog post about Goodwill Bins shopping! You can totally find some amazing treasures in there…I love that striped shirt you found!
xo
Carly
http://www.ChicSteals.com
whaaaat? I’ve never heard of the Goodwill Bin!!! Sorry I missed it, it sounds like a great trip:)