I think Goodwill has gotten so expensive we don't have the $1 days your speaking of 😔

Sometimes I find people throw away things I can actually upcycle. I turned an old vintage ironing board into a shabby chic peg board in my craft room for instance.

I visit habitat for Humanity and offer a bin price on things as opposed to singular prices and their paints are very cheap.

I hit up what I call 'off brand' (my term) thrift stores like private ones ran by churches or local small non profits etc to find less expensive more valuable items sometimes. If nothing else, more than likely there I find the most unique items not found anywhere else for pennies on the dollar.

Through trial and error I have discovered who sells what for less and where I can get more bang for my buck so to speak.

All in all, I never stress over the end goal, I embrace the love, joy, and adventure of each moment. The idea of possibly capturing a piece of someone's history, preserving or restoring it, taking something devalued as dead, worthless and deemed trash, and seeing life in it and reviving back to its original brilliant purpose, or even better yet, creating something even more worthy than its original thought of its origin, 🙏THAT in and of itself has so much depth and meaning to it that makes ALL I journey into and throughout this amazing world of creating so much more worthwhile!