How High Can Goodwill Prices Go Before Thrifters Give Up?

Or, have you lost your mind, Goodwill?

Photo by Robinson Greig on Unsplash

I am a dedicated second-hand shopper.

But now? I don’t know if it’s because of inflation, nonprofit organizations needing a lot more money, or resellers desperately snapping up inventory that they hope to sell online, but the prices at my local Goodwill (and other “thrift” stores) are becoming straight-up silly.

My frugal mind is being continually blown

Here is my secret to financial “success” (or “getting by”): I don’t like to shop.

Because I hate going to stores, trying things on, paying retail/non-sale prices, I rarely, rarely go shopping for myself or my family members. Until this year, my teenage children didn’t actually know how to go into a clothing store and try on new clothes.

Instead, I have found a few good annual church rummage sales, quality garage-sale neighborhoods, and a small network of Goodwill and St. Vincent de Paul secondhand stores at which I buy most of our clothes and home goods.

I also wear my clothes until they are worn out. Recently, I went shopping for jeans for the first time in half a decade, and when I came home, I told my spouse, in tones of outrage, “They are charging $8…