hrifting is so-darn-fun… for people who know what they’re doing. Those who don’t or who are new to thrift shops can be easily overwhelmed and have trouble understanding the hype around thrifting. Shopping from thrift stores is a very sustainable, very ethical, and very inexpensive way to shop. If you know what you’re doing, thrifting can be one of the best ways to buy clothes, furniture, and more.
However, if you’re new it can be daunting so I’ve made a few tips on how to get good at thrifting and find great deals.
Come Prepared
This one is huge! As someone who gets a little bit nervous in crowded areas that are not very organized, I have to mentally prepare to go into a thrift store every single time. What I mean by that is: I mentally prepare for the chaos and logically prepare for what I want to buy. Yes, it can be very fun to wander into a thrift store and look around with no ideas of what you want, but it’s also way harder to do that comfortably. It’s always best to have an idea of what you want to go into the shop. That way you know what sections to spend more time on and which to glance over, which leads you to be less overwhelmed after looking around!
Be Ready to Dig
Thrift stores can be really unpredictable in their stock as well as their organization. Often, you’ll have to dig around to find pieces you actually like. There might be a pair of shoes with the dresses and you might just have to pick those up!
You also have to be prepared to go through every single rack that interests you. Let’s say you really want a new T-shirt. You’ve got to be willing to file through every single T-shirt if you want to find the perfect one. For all you know, it’s smashed between two really ugly T-shirts that you would never find if you just glanced over the whole rack.
Grab Everything You Like, Edit After
My favorite tip for thrifting is to grab everything you like… literally everything. I know this may sound crazy at first, but it is so important that you grab everything you like (even if it’s just a little bit). If you grab everything you like, you have an option to put it back. But it’s not like urban outfitters where if you put some thing back for a second you can just go back to the rack and pick one of the 20. When your cool one-of-a-kind piece is gone, it’s gone. It’s way easy to put things back at the end of your trip. Remember, you should grab everything, but that doesn’t mean you have to buy everything.
