I talked earlier this week about really useful life hacks, and I do practice what I preach.

Today was a nice Saturday weekend run with my daughter off to the local Goodwill with a jam-packed parking lot, and an even bigger line of people donating. The crush is two-fold: one bunch is getting rid of stuff to get a tax deduction for it, the other is looking for really good bargains on stuff that can have a second life.

Be Realistic About Goodwill Hunting

Now, no one goes to a Goodwill store expecting to find gold, but once in a while you do find some really awesome treasures for a maybe $2-3 at most. Today, my find was three books for $6 and an extremely clean keyboard for $5. Much of what makes a treasure a great discovery depends on you as a person. I like IT books, for example. They are stuffed with valuable coding and tech knowledge that nowadays is all online all over the place instead of in one location. I also like travel guides, which come in really handing going somewhere I've never been.

My Finds, Not Bad

While some of the details do change, most of the content is still pretty valid, depending on what you actually find. My gems for today are A Linux+ cert study book, which is literally like Linux Dictionary, a tour guide book for Rome with lots of travel details, and a Small Business Nolo guide that was fairly recent (nice relevant legal stuff for me and my projects).

Weird Stuff, Run Away!

However, I did decide to pass on the Battle of the Red Hot Pepper Weenies. It just wasn't my thing for late night reading...

Then, of course, there was the Shiny Hiney Shower Tool. Seriously, who the hell makes and packages these things?!?