The mindset of a Thrift Store

When I decided to start a blog it was only after talking with my mom, who I talk to about everything...I had recently gone to Goodwill and purchased some very nice items, I was so proud of these items I quickly went by my moms to show them to her. We talked about how interesting it is that really nice things can be found in a thrift store, and that it just takes patience and the will to never pay full price for clothing that drives people like myself to shop at these stores. 


Sadly thrift stores have a bad reputation for whatever reason. Notions that, "They're for poor people." "Gross, someone else wore that before." Allow me to break these myths down for you. It is 2012 in the United States, we are all poor. Secondly, if you have ever borrowed clothes from your sister, brother, friend, roommate etc, then someone else has worn that before. Going through life with your nose stuck up in the air does nothing but make your neck stiff, while it makes my closet full. Trust me the only things I will positively not buy in a thrift store are the following:

• Underwear
• Bras
• Socks
• Sheets

Preparing to sift: When I say prepare to sift this is the image I would like to pop up in your mind...

What you have here is a great example of the massive amount of stuff crammed on these racks. The trick is knowing where to start your sifting. Never blindly go into a thrift store, go in knowing what you are looking for. This will make your time at the store more enjoyable. Today for example I went to the Goodwill knowing that I wanted to find athletic shorts & pants for myself, golf shirts for the husband and cute little smocked items for the future tax deductions. It is like grocery shopping, make a list and then you will not have all the crap when you get home and look at it with the thought of "now where will this go?" 


Now how to deal with the issue of the hangers will not move. This can be looked at through only one lens...the more stuff, the greater the possibility of finding something nice. Get a cart and start sifting. Pull each and every single hanger, do not grab the clothes...they will fall off the hanger. Now this next part is important pull the item completely out of the rack, look at the front, look at the back. Not to say people would donate something with a stain but, people would donate something with a stain. 


What will I find today? Well that is simple, you find what you are willing to look for. Today was a good example. I wanted to find the husband some golf shirts. He prefers golf shirts in the summer because they are made out of a fancy material that breathes well, and he works outside most of the time. Today I found an Adidas golf polo in yellow, a Callaway golf polo, a Polo Ralph Lauren collard shirt and a Nike Golf shirt. Had I purchased them at the retailer I would have spent $110.00 on only the Adidas golf shirt. 

(What I like about this picture is that both are Ralph Lauren Polo shirts, and I cannot remember which one came from Goodwill and which one did not.)


I only have $35 to spend- Okay so you are on a budget, so is everyone else in the country, here is a little secret. Goodwill has a "Color of the Week." Or as they like to refer to it as the Managers Special. What this means is that the color of the tag indicates what is on sale that week. You have blue, yellow, red, green and blue. Yellow seems to NEVER be on sale (there is so much tagged with yellow), but the others are on a rolling cycle. This week was Green. Sadly I only found 1 item that was green tagged, but that made it $1. Everything else was between $2.25 and $4.25. So today I purchased the 4 golf polos for the husband, a pair of Adidas shorts and Adidas pants for myself and 4 smocked outfits for the future tax deductions. My grand total was $33.50. Under budget.


Insider information on Goodwill: On the ends of the aisle you have wired rack baskets usually ties, scarves, baby onsies etc...these items are usually (it depends on what Goodwill) 5 for $1. In the sections where they have put all of the color of the week items are not the only items in the store with that color; look in the racks you will be surprised when you find something tagged with that color that was overlooked and it is exactly what you wanted to find.


So there you have it, the mindset of a thrift store is driven by your attitude toward it. Once you have shopped at a thrift store a few times you will find yourself saying, "I am not spending $3.75 on this shirt, I will wait until this color goes on sale." It is these statements that I find myself saying nowadays. The best times to go to a thrift store are in the mornings when they open (however do not get there right when they open because then you will be fighting with the employees because they are still pulling the color of the week) and on Saturday mornings. 


I like to think of myself as thrifty when I can be. You cannot talk your way into cheaper gas, you cannot protest buying groceries and you cannot refuse to pay taxes; but you can refuse to buy things from the retailers when you know good and well that it exists in thrift stores for a drastically lower price.