A Proud Frugal Shopping Moment

Posted By Paul

There have been several articles of how you can save money by purchasing things used. I wanted to share a recent outing where I really saw that philosophy in action.

It all started with wanting to get my kid a jigsaw puzzle. He's only 2 1/2 years old so I was looking to find one with at most 25 pieces (preferably big pieces that were durable).

I went online and found a puzzle that looked great. It was a 20 piece puzzle and had nice thick pieces made of wood.

The problem was that the puzzle cost over $20 (and that didn't include shipping). Even though the puzzle seemed to be just what I wanted it seemed a little pricey for something my kid would outgrow in a year or so.

So coincidentally that evening my wife and I had planned an errand that took us near a Goodwill store. I decided to postpone my online purchase and see if the Goodwill store might have something that would work for me.

We totally hit the jackpot, there were stacks and stacks of kids puzzles. We ended up buying one large piece floor puzzle, two 'puzzle packs' (each pack had 4 puzzles of a dozen pieces each), a 15 piece Winnie The Pooh puzzle, and finally a Lite-Brite that we happened to see.

For ALL of the above we paid $12. So not only did I pay half of what the online order would have cost me but instead of getting one puzzle I actually got 10 (plus a Lite-Brite).

I'm going to have to try to be more aware of when I am looking for something that might be easily found at a Goodwill or other secondhand stores. Buying used is ESPECIALLY good for toddler toys where he will inevitably either outgrow or destroy the item.