Thrift Shopping

Glancing through the Housing Works website at the beginning of this year, I had noticed that they had a $20-bag sale on Saturdays at their warehouse at Long Island City. Housing Works is a non-profit organization that provides housing services, AIDS-related services, and many other services to the community. The organization operates thrift shops around NYC in which it takes donations and resell them, donating all proceeds to the organization to fund the services provided to the community. The way the bag sale worked was that you would purchase a paper bag from Housing Works for $20 and stuff it with as much as you can.


I mentioned this $20-bag sale to a friend, who is an avid thrift shop shopper. She was very excited and wanted to go check it out. Curious as a cat, I went with her.

The experience, I must say, was pretty enlightening. Many people showed up at the sale. I was scared at first; there were so many people and the clothes were being thrown all over the place that I felt like I was swimming in an ocean of clothes. There was a point in which I couldn't even walk since I was knee-high in clothes.

But I must say that this bag sale was a great deal; definitely my money's worth. As my friend and I went around the warehouse, I saw many different clothes that carried brand names such as Ann Taylor, Kenneth Cole, United Colors of Beneton. I even saw this woman who found a leather jacket in one of the bins. Isn't it so surprising how you can find great deals like this? I got a lot of items (mostly accessories) for an overall of $20 only. Sugar sweet life....