My First Shopping Trip to Goodwill

Ever since I spotted the Goodwill store on Route 17 in Paramus about two months ago, I have been dying to get there.  I've seen so many great blog posts and articles about the wonderful scores at Goodwill, and a friend of mine always went to thrift stores and came out with awesome finds.  Now I'm not new to thrift store shopping, but I've only gotten items for myself there maybe once or twice before.  Back in the day, I put my son through private Pre-K and kindergarten by thrifting and ebaying children's clothing.  With ebay's new fees and the thrift stores getting a little more knowledgeable about pricing, that is no longer a decent money maker for me.

Ok, back on track.  I dreamt last night about what I might find at Goodwill.  I mean hey, I live in Bergen County, home of the infamous NJ "real" housewives.  Visions of Vince sweaters and Gucci heels danced in my head.  Well, in reality, it was nothing like my dreams.  I know these places are hit or miss, but I found it to be a pretty depressing shopping experience.  No music, it certainly didn't smell good in there, and I don't know, it was just kind of blah.  What do you expect though, right?  So I did browse all the women's racks.  It was nice that items were organized by color family.  What I found annoying though were the huge number of items that were obviously washed/dried incorrectly.  Cute sweaters labeled large that were shrunken up enough to fit my 7 year old daughter.  Seriously, there were hundreds of items like that.  Pilly sweaters, shrunken satin, pulled nylon, faded blacks and dingy whites.

That being said, I did grab a few items and spent $45.  Hopefully I'll find a way to use them all.  I have a few ideas already, but as we can see from my "dream" above, sometimes the reality doesn't match up with what's in my head.  I will keep you all posted though.  Now, on to the haul!

Denim skirt from the Gap ($6.99), Old Navy rose colored corduroy mini ($2.49), Unionbay army green corduroy shorts ($4.29)

Space dyed knit top from Design House ($6.99) - never heard of 'em, BCBG vneck tunic ($9.99)

Cute Free People argyle sweater ($4.99) - someone shrunk this, but it's a medium and I have an idea which may absolutely bomb, Free People tunic sweater ($4.99), Juicy Couture nautical cardigan ($6.99)
I don't plan on wearing any of these things together and I haven't tried anything on yet (although they will accept returns for store credit within five days), but I hope to play around this week.  Keep your fingers crossed please!!

Any success or failure stories from thrift shopping?  Have you had better luck at privately owned second hand stores versus places like Goodwill?