2000+ butterflies

I've mentioned my long time relationship with yard sale-ing, but I have not yet delved into my love affair with all thrift stores. I've never met a thrift store I didn't like. True, there were some that left me less than impressed and some that I wanted to wear a HazMat suit while shopping (J&J Junk off 280 in Birmingham, anyone?). Most however have some quality, some allure that I just can't seem to shake. I think it all ties in with my desire to shop, need to be frugal and passion for "great ideas."

Let's chat for a moment about these "great ideas." Apparently this is something that I was known for as a child. My Dear Mother loves to regale friends, family, and especially the Man with stories of how I would tell her of a "great idea" I just had. Now, my ideas rarely worked out, or were even possible-- but I had this unrestrained enthusiasm to follow through with them until, inevitably things wouldn't work the way I imagined, or I would grow tired and cranky, or something didn't line up "just right."

That same thing plagues me today. I have to work at determining what "great ideas" are within my time, skill and patience limitations. I'm constantly seeing inspiring ideas on the blogs I read, hearing great ideas from friends, and even conjuring up a few of my own. However, I'm working on choosing my "great ideas" carefully-- to save myself the investment, dissappointment, and to save my sweet Man from the eventual temper tantrum when I can't cut/paint/frost/sew/glue in a perfectly straight line. Still, I can't resist a "great idea" and love the creative process of taking someone's castoffs and with a little time and minimal investment making it my own. This brings me back to the original topic: thrift stores.

I love them. I heart them. I love the fact that I can bring $10 and shop for hours and still have money left over. And might I say that I was thrifting when thrifting wasn't cool. I have been shopping in thrift stores for over ten years. (Wow, I feel a little old right now.)

We have a few great stores around the Auburn/Opelika area: Harvest Thrift, Mission Thrift, Salvation Army -one in Auburn and another in Opelika, Angel's Antiques - not quite thrift but still good prices, and now the return of the prodigal store:

Goodwill is back!

Goodwill has been closed in Opelika for about 3 years now from what I remember. There is a new store opening up in Midway Plaza today. I won't be able to attend the grand opening this afternoon but based on a few billboards they will be releasing 2000+ butterflies to celebrate.

Oh Goodwill, it's great to see you again!

I'm hoping to check it out tomorrow afternoon. The building itself seems huge. I am so glad that a few of our local thrift stores are taking advantage of abandoned buildings and making good use of the space. Another great thing about thrifting is that most stores contribute to the community in some way-- so not only can you relish a great deal, but also you are giving back. For example, the new Goodwill is slated to have a career center that has free job search resources including 16 computers, phones, fax machines and even hosts training classes.

If you don't have a local Goodwill, no need to worry. Goodwill even has a site where you can shop online.

Here's hoping the new store will have some great finds, good prices, and won't be too picked over by the time I get there!