Picture this: a store filled with a plethora of unhidden gems. These gems being shirts, jeans and dresses of all different patterns, colors and sizes. Stepping into a quality Goodwill stocked to the brim with so many different things is always both exciting and slightly overwhelming, especially if you don’t know where to start looking first.
Now, even though all Goodwills are layed out differently, they all have the same distinct sections. As soon as you walk in, you look straight ahead, and your wondrous eyes are met with row after row of glorious denim jeans. To your left, there are about twelve rows of every type of women’s shirts you can find. In the back, there are men’s polos (my favorite type of shirt to crop) and other men’s clothing. Across from those is a section of dresses and skirts so quirky and vastly different from the other they make your head spin. Behind this section are the bins; the bins are full of absolutely anything and everything, and I’ve found a few good finds in them.
No matter how overwhelmed I feel when I go to a Goodwill, I always tell myself to go to the jeans first. It’s always hard for me to find a good pair of jeans at any Goodwill I go to. They are either way too big, or just fit me weird. Not to mention, I almost always find myself looking for mom jeans, and those are so sought after at Goodwills that you will probably never find the one pair meant for you.
You can always tell when a rack has been picked through for the best items, and I always scold myself for being too late. After having an internal cry session over not finding a wholesome pair of blue jeans (preferably mom jeans), I segue to the shirt/sweater section, or any section with the least amount of people. One because being around large crowds of people makes me very anxious, and two because it’s easier to sift through racks when I don’t have to awkwardly wait behind someone.
At the shirt/sweater section, I look for anything that catches my eyes, really. Sometimes, I’ll pull up my Pinterest board of my favorite outfits and try to find pieces that fit them, but sometimes it makes me too nit picky. I usually always end my Goodwill trip by browsing through the men’s section and the vinyl records. I always find nice shirts to crop, or a nice crewneck to wear. I love crewnecks so much – whoever created them is amazing. Not to mention, I’ve found some nice records at Goodwills. One time, I found a Nina Simone record, and I thought it was the coolest thing ever.
When I’m done there, I sometimes go to the bins if I feel like it, or I’ll just go into the changing room and try everything on. When I’m in the changing room, I’m always pretty picky and talk myself out of buying quite a lot, but the things I do end up buying are always worth it!
Then we get to the end of the day. I get home, lay out all the shirts I got and go crazy. I usually cut them all – like, every single one. I think cutting shirts into crop tops is an undiagnosable addiction because I can’t seem to stop once I get started.
Going to a Goodwill always manages to lift my sprits and gets me into a creative, innovative mood. I always feel like I can become anything I want with the products at Goodwill. I can finally submerge myself in Cottagecore or go into full blown fairy mode.