Summer clothing on super-sale: When Gap is cheaper than Goodwill

True story. Last weekend I went shopping with my daughters on both Saturday and Sunday. Saturday, I was dragged by my eight-year-old into a local Gap where she convinced me to buy her and her sister the cutest little spaghetti-strapped tank tops on sale for just $3.99 each.

The next day, after dropping some junk off at a Goodwill Superstore, I let them run wild through the aisles and pick out a few items (it's for a good cause, right?). This time my daughter picked out a used Gap tank top and the tag proclaimed a whopping $5.99 price.

The takeaway from this? It's not that you can't get a good deal at a thrift shop. We actually bought many more items that day. I purchased myself t-shirts with labels from J.Jill, DKNY and (yes) Gap. My younger daughter picked out an adorable pink dress. The find of the day was a Ralph Lauren buttoned-down shirt for my husband. Our whole bill came to $35. I'm not sure how it happened, but I think there is a color-coded system I didn't pay much attention to where you actually pay a lot less for items than they are marked.

No, the real lesson from this post is that we are only about halfway through peak summer heat and there are incredible bargains to be had on summer clothes on the racks at major chain stores.

So get out there and buy yourself a nice new t-shirt. It will set you back about the price of an ice cream cone and last a lot longer.