Post by Barnaby Cuthbert on Dec 24, 2014 12:49:17 GMT -8
Some shoppers go thrifty route with Christmas presents
By Jonathan Iello - Financial Times
SEATTLE -- During the final day of Christmas shopping, recession or not, some people are going to spend a lot.
Rebecca and Lucas Ulrich take a different course. They dig through plastic bins of other people’s clothes.
“You buy them by the pound. So you just can’t beat that,” Rebecca said, huddled over the blue tubs at the Goodwill store in SoDo Saturday night. She and her husband flew in from Spokane to see family but wanted to make a pilgrimage of sorts.
Everyone is cutting back in Seattle, as another wave of economic woes seems to be settling in in the Pacific Northwest this year, but the Ulrichs have other reasons to save. Rebecca is seven months pregnant and found nursing clothes for pennies instead of dollars. They found perfectly good chairs for 99 cents each. Value is in the eye of the beholder, they say.
“We also find other stuff that other people pay $100 for 25 cents and it’s still almost brand new,” Lucas said.
That includes a toy horse from Macy’s that still has the price tag attached.
The Ulrichs are just one family who can see there is another economic downturn headed for Seattle in the January, post holiday season. They are going to exchange their gifts like normal Sunday morning and maybe come back to Goodwill on Monday.
There could be another good find waiting to be discovered. After that, they, and many other families will likely choose to stay indoors and at home, waiting out the cold winter, and pinching pennies where they can.
"Our mortgage is eating up our savings, it's better to stay inside than to get left out in the cold."
By Jonathan Iello - Financial Times
SEATTLE -- During the final day of Christmas shopping, recession or not, some people are going to spend a lot.
Rebecca and Lucas Ulrich take a different course. They dig through plastic bins of other people’s clothes.
“You buy them by the pound. So you just can’t beat that,” Rebecca said, huddled over the blue tubs at the Goodwill store in SoDo Saturday night. She and her husband flew in from Spokane to see family but wanted to make a pilgrimage of sorts.
Everyone is cutting back in Seattle, as another wave of economic woes seems to be settling in in the Pacific Northwest this year, but the Ulrichs have other reasons to save. Rebecca is seven months pregnant and found nursing clothes for pennies instead of dollars. They found perfectly good chairs for 99 cents each. Value is in the eye of the beholder, they say.
“We also find other stuff that other people pay $100 for 25 cents and it’s still almost brand new,” Lucas said.
That includes a toy horse from Macy’s that still has the price tag attached.
The Ulrichs are just one family who can see there is another economic downturn headed for Seattle in the January, post holiday season. They are going to exchange their gifts like normal Sunday morning and maybe come back to Goodwill on Monday.
There could be another good find waiting to be discovered. After that, they, and many other families will likely choose to stay indoors and at home, waiting out the cold winter, and pinching pennies where they can.
"Our mortgage is eating up our savings, it's better to stay inside than to get left out in the cold."