A “No New Clothes” setback

No, I didn’t slip up and buy something new. But yesterday while editing the police briefs at work, I discovered that a manager of one of the Fort Wayne Salvation Army stores is facing theft charges for pocketing a couple of deposits he was supposed to take to the bank.

This bums me out, because when clothes at the Salvation Army or Goodwill are priced higher than my garage-sale calibrated target prices, I compensate with money from our charity fund, effectively converting part of the “purchase” into a “donation.”

So now I’m wondering: Did part of our charity money go to this thief? The police brief named the guy, but didn’t say which store he managed. At any rate, I’m not abandoning the project, though it is a blow to my morale.

Fellow frugals lurking among us

Rowan went shopping with a friend and her mom yesterday, and was pleased to discover that instead of going to American Eagle or Aeropostle they went to the Salvation Army and Goodwill. And then followed that up with cute $4 hair cuts at the nearby cosmetology school. All three stops were in or near Quimby Village in Fort Wayne, which, now that I think about it, could almost be considered a thrift mall when you add in the Save-A-Lot and a dollar store. All it needs is for someone to start showing dollar movies in the old theater (currently a church, I think).

Speaking of the Salvation Army...

That’s were our daughter Cassie found her gift for Dad, a cozy flannel shirt. Because it didn’t have tags, I threw it in the washer before she wrapped it so it would be all ready to wear. Usually I have to nag Bob to try on new clothes; sometimes a couple of weeks go by before he gets around to trying on a new shirt, and then he likes it washed before he’ll wear it. But he wore Cassie’s flannel shirt to Grandma’s house on Christmas Day, and then he washed it and wore it again to work yesterday.

A Christmas audit

For the next few days I’m going to be studying our Christmas game plan to see what could be improved on for next year. I have this urge every year and rarely indulge it, but I think that’s a big mistake. It’s an investment in my mental health, and my family’s happiness, for 2010. As I conduct my review, I’ll post ideas as well as horror stories (if they aren’t too embarrassing) about what we’ve learned.
For example, the gift idea that came too late: A gift card to the Salvation Army. This works only with a gift recipient of a certain mindset, but it would‘ve been perfect for our 16-year-old daughter, Rowan. She loves vintage clothing, especially T-shirts, and she could‘ve bought a bunch of them with a $20 gift card. (It would also be a bargain for our Christmas budget, because I dip into our charity fund for 50 percent of the purchase price of items bought at the Salvation Army*.)

*The way I see it, shopping at a thrift shop run by a charity is like making a donation where you get something in return -- like a mug from public radio. For tax purposes, you’re supposed to claim only the amount of the donation above the value of any goods or services you receive, right? So I pay the actual value of the item from my own pocketbook, and cover the rest of the purchase price from the charity fund. I don’t feel bad about doing this, because clothes at both Goodwill and the Salvation Army tend to be priced about double what I think they’re worth, according to my garage-sale barometer.