They say that women love chocolate, shopping and girl's night out and not exactly in that order. I would have to agree with GNO and chocolate, but shopping has never been my thing. I know a shocker right!? It has to be one of my least favorite things to do, but it is still a need for many of the necessities of life. The only time I truly enjoy shopping is when I am with my daughter, but really it is a "Girl's Day Out" or taking the traditional "Black Friday" sale shopping with my amazing nieces every year. For a lady that dislikes shopping, that is some serious love to venture out on the biggest and busiest shopping days of the year during horribly late and early morning hours. I love it though and will continue to take these cuties with me as long as I am "cool" enough to shop with!
I do have a secret love. D.I. What you might say, "D.I." what the heck does that even mean? Well, D.I. stands for Deseret Industries. It is like a thrift store that sells someone else's no longer used or loved clothes, toys, books and more. It is owned and operated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Similar to many other second-hand stores, people can drop off their used/unwanted items and donate them to the Deseret Industries. They are then sorted and placed within the dozens of Deseret Industries around the country. The D.I. is different from other thrift stores as it provides not only goods for families that might not be able to afford full price apparel and other household items, but it also provides jobs and career training for those in need. It is not a hand out but a hand up as they teach, train and help others become more self-reliant.
Now, why would a second-hand store be anyone's favorite store to go shopping? Well, in times of need or not there are some SUPER deals at the DI. Since moving to Arizona almost 4 years ago, we have been frequent shoppers at the D.I. in Mesa. What are some of my favorite buys? Books for sure. I LOVE to read. Any spare moment I have, you will probably find me with my nose in a book. You can pick up some great LDS fiction, Christian fiction and many other great novels at the D.I. Usually I can grab a great read for about $1 to $1.50. That's about 95% off!! I don't know how many dozens of books I have bought since shopping at the D.I. It always makes me a bit sad when I see a novel that I love and already have, but paid full price for it years ago in a traditional bookstore. Besides a huge section of books for sale, the have some great clothes up for grabs at a great price. I have found Cub Scout uniforms for a few dollars. When we lived in Pennsylvania, we bought our oldest boy his scout uniform at an Army surplus store for over $100 for his entire outfit. When my next son was old enough to go to scouts, we needed to purchase him a shirt and I wasn't looking forward to dropping another $100 on a new outfit. We went shopping at the D.I. this time since we lived only 30 minutes from the Deseret Industries store and found a shirt for about $7! We now shop for all our families clothes items at the DI. It is just hard to pass up a great deal with some great clothes and knowing that the money spent at DI is going towards a great cause. That is what I call a win, win and guilt-free shopping!
As I am writing this post, I realize that I have tons of stories I would love to share about our shopping trips and some miracles too that have happened while at the D.I. Subscribe to our site to keep in the loop about our D.I. deals and blessings.
Here's a picture of our family Christmas card from last year. Everything you see my children wearing included shoes were purchased at the D.I. except the baby's hat which I crocheted myself.
For more details regarding the comings and goings of my FAVORITE store, visit their website.
A short video about what Deseret Industries gives back to the community. Pretty awesome place, you should visit and it just might become your favorite too!
Here is a short video about what DI does with some of the things they can not use in the store. If the video doesn't work, visit it here.