Goodwill Blogger Day at the Outlet

This past weekend, I was a part of the Goodwill Blogger Day at their outlet store in Boston, MA. If you don't shop second hand, then you are truly missing out on treasures that you might not otherwise find, from homegoods, to righteous vintage purses and so much more. I was more than psyched to get the opportunity to shop for a couple of hours with other like minded bloggers and really get down to it at one of the biggest Goodwill locations in my region. My friend Erin and I headed into Boston to get down at the Goodwill's largest location and outlet.

Not only did I come for a shopping experience but I learned more about Goodwill than I knew before. They have a fantastic mission, which generally speaking, is to help people work. The Goodwill Stores are run as social enterprises, meaning they support Goodwill’s mission to provide job training for individuals with disabilities and other barriers to employment while also providing jobs and good quality, low-cost goods to individuals and families looking for value.

I met some great bloggers at his event as well as hung with my girls Erin and Susan. This was my first time at this Goodwill location and my very first time being at a Goodwill Outlet store. We were brought to a warehouse type location where there were bins upon bins of clothing, textiles and more to search through. The outlet is not like your typical location where you can stroll through aisles looking at things on hangers and shelves but rather it's more like a treasure hunt, which you have to be in the mood for (in my opinion). I made the conscious decision to try and find some linens, perhaps some textiles to DIY with. This seemed like it would be my best route.

Some folks are pros at this type of situation. U-Meleni of Urban Thriftologee, was to be admired. A blogger and stylist, we discussed the need to mix things up with older pieces and modern pieces so that your look doesn't get stale. She was digging like it was her job and she left me in her dust, bee bopping around, looking for pieces to take home. Another pro on the scene was Barbara. She won Goodwill's Halloween Instagram contest with her take on Madeline and was super enthusiastic about the hunt. She scored this droolworthy senorita wrap around skirt that looked adorable on her and made me jealous.

Now you are probably wondering, what did I score? Well, I will be perfectly honest that since I didn't know what to expect with the experience, I sort of had to readjust my expectations once on site. I normally shop in the store locations not the outlet. I had to mentally gear myself up for some digging and the possibility of not finding much. In addition to adjusting my expectations, I also needed to adjust to my surroundings. There were some people shopping the outlet who, how shall I say this... have a spice for this type of shopping. By spice, I mean fervor and possibly pushy enthusiasm. Once all my adjustments were done, I got into it and I came out with a large bag of linens, a sassy vintage pajama shirt and a cardigan for $5... which I will say is not too shabby, my friends.

*photos from Goodwill Boston's Facebook page.