When things began to shut down to slow the spread of covid-19 the goodwill closed its doors. I wasn’t sure when it would open back up but i knew it would be a while before i could replenish my stock of clothes. Judging by peoples’ percentage of adherence to the lockdown orders, a long while. My laundry machine washed the clothes with salt water and they had all been hung on the laundry line at some point. This meant they faded in the sun and salt and occasionally frayed or developed holes. I knew the clothes i had wouldn’t last forever. So, i began googling online thrift stores. I found something called “Thread Up”. It was magnificent! It was a website with photographs of garments from all over the USA. I could specify what material i wanted the garment to be, how well-worn i would tolerate the item, the type of garment, the size, and the price range i was looking for. I picked “100 percent cotton” “under ten dollars” “barely used or like new” “small” and i highlighted both long and short sleeved shirts. Then i sifted through nearly 500 garments before i tired of the task and decided to call it a day. I had both short sleeved shirts and long sleeved shirts in my basket. I did this for a reason. See, i had a one-time, 50 percent off, new customer coupon that on top of the sales prices, made every garment 4 to 7 dollars each. I knew i would only be able to afford “Thread Up” once with that one-time, new customer, 50 percent off coupon, so i bought for the whole year. I put nine garments in my basket. I typed in all my coupon and sale codes. Then i pushed the button and made my purchase. The clothes would arrive in separate boxes and bags from each state i had ordered them from. Each new day i had another package in the mail. The clothes arrived in pristine condition and they looked exactly as represented in the photographs. Some were form fitting. Some were looser, but they all fit well enough. It was such an exciting concept to be getting thrift store finds in the mail from all different states. I felt thankful for the coupon. I felt thankful that i had clothes stocked up for the year and didn’t have to worry about how i was going to maintain last year’s garments against the salt, the sun, the mud, machetes, and power tools.
