How to Succeed at the Thrift Store

One of the best ways to save a lot of money on things that you actually need is to buy used.
I will admit that there is a level of humility needed to shop secondhand, but remember you aren't all that and a bag of chips and your time is much more important than that brand new shirt. Saying some money on needs allows you to buy some of your time back using investments, paying off debts, or building your rainy day fund.

We are on year 5 of our local Goodwill being our 1st stop for all our material needs.

The things that we have found to be easy and low risk to find at Thrift Stores are: clothes, coats, kids shoes,plates, silverware, drinking glasses, coffee mugs, decorations (or material to make them), books, wood furniture, kids toys (wood or easily washable plastic)

Things that are harder but can be found are: small appliances, electronics, maternity clothes, adult shoes, pots and pans

Things that we will not buy there: Anything non-washable in the washing machine or easily with bleach. These include: stuffed animals, cloth material toys and games, things with way too many nooks and crannies, things with many small parts that may be missing and needed

The basic steps are as follows, when a need arises:

1) Look around the house for a substitute items that will suffice
2) Write a list of what you need (check it twice)
3) Head to the thrift store with at least 30-60 mins open
4) Look for the big stuff first, before heading into clothes
5) Try on everything and look for defects or potential defects
6) Re-check the list to make sure the items fill the need
7) Buy the items for 90% of retail in most cases (*many stores have 1/2 off days to save more)

*note on kids: plan ahead, buy the sizes one season ahead, so as not to get stuck with out a fitting coat or shoes. Be sure to not buy too far ahead, as many kids skip sizes entirely.

Thrift store shopping takes multiple trips and good planning to be successful.
However, the return is usually 75-90% off retail (i.e. jeans for $3 instead of $30-$50)

The estimated money we have saved by shopping at the thrift store is in the thousands of dollars, especially on kids clothes and shoes. We have found many quality brands very gently used, that have been very well worth the time invested.

It is also a fun date night activity or for moms to get out of the house for a bit. There is more fun to be had not simply doing a 1 for 1 transfer for $10 for a shirt at the retail store. Part of the fun is that there are gems to be found and you can add some personal flair to you place or self that probably isn't at the retail store.

I recently got an awesome Youngstown State Penguins T-shirt complete with Chilly Willy Cartoon Mascot to replace my 7 year old t-shirt from High School Basketball that got a hole :(

Imagine what you can find!

Spend money on what you actually want like working for fewer years or a trip to Rome, not trinkets!