August 17th is National Thrift Shop Day. We all know that I think it should be a national holiday. I love my thrift shopping – both shopping and writing about it.
When you shop The Ridgefield Thrift Shop, My Sister’s Place, St. Bart’s, The Back Door Thrift Shop (blog coming soon), Cauz For Pawz, New Canaan Thrift Shop, and countless others, you are supporting PHENOMENAL causes and helping change countless lives. Not to mention that we are helping save the planet by keeping clothes out of landfills. “Reduce, reuse, and recycle” is my motto.
In honor of National Thrift Shop Day, here are some quick tips for thrift shopping. Although this blog is a repeat, there are some new tips included.
Be friendly and ask the staff when the most new merchandise is put out.
Be kind when thrift shopping, most of the people who work at charitable thrift shops are volunteers, and they have already spent hours filling the racks. If you put items back, put them back on the right rack.
Know your labels and brands – know what to invest in for your basic wardrobe pieces and what to buy for fun.
Don’t buy something just because it is a name or designer brand; make sure you love the piece and will wear it. More often than not, you will not wear it if you are buying it by name.
Remember, if you buy an item and it needs alterations, the alterations can cost two to three times what you paid. Choose wisely when buying a piece that needs to be altered.
The smaller thrift shops sometimes have the best buys.
Sign up for your favorite thrift shop’s email list so you know when the sales are.
ENJOY the hunt, and know that you may not always find something. Just keep going back when you find a thrift shop you love.
Merchandise is also very geographical, so go out of your own area, and you will be surprised at how different (in a good way) the merchandise is.
I have recently heard from many thrift store managers that people are dropping off unusable merchandise. Please know that some smaller thrift shops have to pay to have garbage hauled off. Please only drop off clean and in good condition items.
I hope you find these tips helpful.
Thank you for reading – if you like my blogs, please like my Facebook page: TonionThrifting
Until next time, Happy Thrifting!
ToniOnThrifting 