Valerean

Back in May I needed to find a new pair of dog walking sneakers, as my current pair were cracking and not keeping out the rain. I saw this pair of Reebok Breast Cancer Awareness Women’s Duramax White sneakers in my size at the online auction, bid on them and won with my minimum. Reeboks tend to run $80 to $120 retail new, so I got them for a steal. What sold me on this pair: the breast cancer awareness is always a nice message to promote, and I'm pretty sure the shoes are brand new as they're still bound together with a plastic store tag and have foam display shapers in them. The clincher was the pic of the soles. Used shoes always have scuffs and soiling. These look unused to me. Here's what they looked like when they arived. They had one tiny scuff on the sole, as if they had been tried on once in a store, but otherwise are brand-new. A nice pair of shoes for $10.99. :) The second, third and fourth images in this post came from the original aucti...

I've only ever owned one pair of sneakers at a time, but thanks to thrifting I now have four pair: New Balance, two pair of Skechers and Reebok. I'm also walking so much these days I'm wearing out the New Balance (also the first pair of shoes I ever thrifted.) I decided to thrift one more for a minimum bid, and won these Fila walking sneakers with tags in the original box. The box has a pricetag of $59.99 from Kohl's; on the other side it was marked down to $29.99. Inside the box I found the original owner's receipt from 2018. The shoes came with tags and the store stuffing still in the toes so they were never worn. They're in remarkably pristine condition, too, and are made partly of mesh to allow air to circulate while you walk. I paid $9.99 for them. The new sneakers are very similar to my favorite Skechers, which I wear when we go out walking, so I expect I'll get a lot of use out of them.

I wanted a slightly lighter weight pair of sneakers for summer, and watched ShopGoodwill.com until I saw a pair of Skechers that seemed to fit the bill. I bid on and won the sneakers for my minimum bid, which was perfect. They arrived last month still in the original box from Kohl's. Here's why I bid on this pair of shoes: the display circle tag, which means one of them was set out as a display in the store for a time, and the original hefty price tag: $64.99. One of the sneakers (no doubt the display shoe) still has the clear plastic display insert still inside, and the other has tags attached to the heel loop. Their immaculate condition tells me that they have never worn or even tried on. I paid $9.99 for them, so I'm delighted. Savings: $55.00.

After thrifting my brand new Skechers sneakers for a pittance I decided to hunt for another pair, as it's time to retire my old white sneakers. I also wanted a pair that were a bit more lightweight for my daily walking, and last month bid on and won these light blue New Balance sneakers, which were brand-new and still had the tags and store paper stuffing in them, so they had never been worn. When they arrived I was really happy, as they are my size and also wide, and fit my duck feet as if made for them. Later, while my guy and I were in the city, I checked out the exact same pair at a shoe outlet to see how much I saved by thrifting them. They were $134.99 retail, which really shocked me. People pay that much for sneakers now? Really? I paid $9.99 for mine. Yep. Savings: $125.00 Image credit: the first pic in this post was copied from the auction listing at ShopGoodwill.com.

I walk at least two miles a day, and I have been since last April without missing a single day. That's why my three-year-old sneakers are cracked and the soles are starting to peel away from the uppers. To get a new pair I went to the local shoe store, where I only shop every couple of years, but all the sneakers have gotten super expensive. I don't mind paying a little more for good quality, especially when I'd be walking in them every day, but nearly everything I saw looked very cheaply made. I decided to see if I could thrift some decent sneakers instead. I think shoes may be the toughest thing to thrift. Most are donated used, which I didn't want, and those that are new are snapped up fast online. But after months of watching and searching I found a pair of Skechers in my size that were brand new with tags, bid on them, and won the pair. They arrived last week and are really pretty. They've also got very sturdy soles and fit like a glove, an...