Mastering Great Goodwill Hauls

Preparation and consistency are the keys to mastering anything in life. Let’s focus these skills when
mastering great Goodwill hauls every time.

Preparation for Mastering your Goodwill Haul

Part of the preparation is creating an ongoing list of all the upcoming events in your life.
Here is a suggested list for you to consider.

Entertaining Celebrations:

Tea parties | Milestone Birthdays | Graduations |Housewarmings | Back to School

Holidays:

Halloween | Thanksgiving | Christmas | July 4th | Memorial Day | Labor Day

Decorating Projects:

Consider spaces in your home that you are styling by changing colors, furniture, or art.

Creative Re-Purposing:

What items can be re-purposed? Examples might be a few candlesticks painted and glued to beautiful
plates to create a tiered serving platter. Another brilliant idea could be a sizeable tall vase, and a large
bowl can become a birdbath or small table.

Thinking Ahead:

Since Goodwill has seasonal items all year round, always keep your antenna up. People are cleaning out
garages and attics year-round. You may find the perfect Christmas décor in April – but if you weren’t
walking that aisle, you would have missed it. Retail stores condition us only to shop holiday when they
are stocking it. Goodwill has these aisles all year – having a prepared list of needs will help you master your Goodwill haul and save money!

Consistent Lists & Visits

All the above are the preparation – the Consistency lines up with keeping your lists current and making
regular visits to your local Goodwill, when possible, choosing a few locations that might be further away
but offer entirely different inventory. I like to visit locally at least once a week and add in another out-of-area store when I know I’m going to be further from home. I plan and find another location near the area I will be in.

Tips to Keep You Prepared:

  1. Having a well-curated and updated inventory of what you already own. You can do this in several ways. You can use a file on your phone with photos or create a secret Pinterest board. Evernote is perfect for pictures and list-making.
  2. Create an ideal wish list. I often see something on YouTube that spurs an idea that I may or may not pursue, but I put it and any details on a list in my Evernote wish list file to consider when searching for fresh ideas. I rarely count only on my memory.

Staging a Home to Sell

Recently, I had to stage a home for a client to sell. I’ll use the tips above to help you in mastering your Goodwill haul. To begin, I suggested the homeowner leave significant pieces of furniture and cleared out everything else. I visited several Goodwill stores with a list of items needed to stage the main spaces.

mastering great Goodwill hauls

Items spotted in these photos: Blackwood bench $5 at N. Olmsted GW became a coffee table, plates & glasses $2 set the mood, the metal art $3 created a focal point, pillows provided texture and contrast, and all from Goodwill for a few bucks.

Even the laundry room needed a little personalization. Paper lanterns $1 for some fun, canvas art to liven the area up.

mastering great Goodwill hauls

The kitchen needed a coffee bar with a canvas NYC $3, a tray, and coffee accessories complete to look. The island needed bar stools for $30 a pair and all the details for a few place settings. Their dining room was the perfect place for a Cleveland frames print $17, pillows to soften the bench $5, and the arched window $25. Everything else belonged to the homeowners.

mastering great Goodwill hauls  - Kitchen
mastering great Goodwill hauls  - Kitchen
mastering great Goodwill hauls  - Kitchen

Preparation & consistency will always bring results that you want and make you happy. Avoid the last minute dash trying to find the items you need to master great Goodwill hauls for important events of your life.


Traci McBride

Blogger Bio: Traci McBride

Traci McBride is a Life Stylist and founder of TeeMcBee Consulting Ventures, LLC, focused on individual personal styling and wardrobe management since 2008. Traci worked with and has been certified by Style for Hire’s Stacy London celebrity stylist.

Visit Traci’s website! Coming soon Zhooshing Spaces website offering services virtually & in-person, offering complimentary Chat with Tee 30 min. Calls by visiting our website.

Traci is passionate about bringing form, function & style into every area of one’s life while expressing yourself. More Color, More Style, More Self Expression = More Passion & Confidence in Your Life