Top 10 Thrifting Tips

I was told not to give all my secrets away, but here I am, telling you all of my thrift tips and tricks! Stay around a while and you will learn all of my thrifting secrets so you too can thrift successfully and have fun doing it.

My Top 10 Thrifting Tips

Do what you would like with this information but I suggest you take it and run straight to your nearest thrift store! I didn’t get all these tips right away, they took time, lots of trial and error but I’m here now to share with you what I have learned thus far so that you too can thrift like a pro. So far, we have covered When to go Thrifting, Best Places to go Thrifting, and now a few of my favorite thrifting secrets. I will be going into detail about my top ten thrift tips and explain how each tip will help make your thrifting experience much easier.

1. Get Inspiration

This is one of my favorite things about thrifting! So many times, I scroll through Instagram and Pinterest and see all these adorable outfits and home decor but when I look at the prices, I am not so pleased. I suggest before you go thrifting, get on your favorite platform to get inspiration, for me that is Pinterest, and save some pictures that you would like to achieve. Make sure to identify what it is you like about that picture and then make a list in your notes with descriptive detail such as, a tan sweater or wooden shelf.

2. Prioritize

Prioritizing what you are looking for is key so that you do not get overwhelmed when you walk into an often time cluttered thrift store. Refer to the list you created, and pictures you saved as inspiration. My favorite things to thrift are crew-necks and jeans so these are two areas I will head to first. This tip will help you save time and energy when tackling a thrift trip. Once you have identified your priorities and checked out your top two areas, if you have any remaining time left you can then explore the rest of the store!

3. Look for Color or Texture

Looking for a specific color or textured item is another fantastic way to save yourself some time and stress. If I am ever thrifting in a hurry, I will just scan the isles looking for specific characteristics like texture and color. Color is one of the easiest ways to scan the rows quickly and effectively. If you get lucky, some stores like Salvation Army even organize their clothing by color, which makes thrifting a breeze. Oftentimes texture is a huge characteristic I look for when shopping for denim because thicker denim tends to mean it is an older piece, which I love. Once you practice and perfect this technique you can start to tell the age of something based off the way an items texture appears without even having to feel it.

4. Look Everywhere

If time is not an issue then this would probably be one of my most important tips ever, make sure you look everywhere! Once you have covered the areas you wanted to, I suggest shopping the rest of the store and don’t be picky! Some of my favorite finds were found hiding in the men’s section or under the wrong size. Thrift stores have people coming in and out all day so the likely hood of an item being moved and not put back in its correct section is pretty high, not to mention mistakes happen. Employees are not perfect and sometimes sizing mistakes can be made, so make sure you look EVERYWHERE.

5. Take Your Time

Patience is key! Be prepared to spend some time in the store if you really want to find something good. When people tell me, they don’t have much luck thrifting I ask them how long they spend looking, and more times than not the answer is not long. You cannot expect to go into a thrift store and find what you are looking for immediately, though it’s not impossible, it’s very unlikely. Remember to be patient, I like to think of thrifting like a treasure hunt. If the gold was easy to find, then everyone would be doing it.

6. Go in the Morning

Mornings are the best time to go thrifting for many reasons, but my favorite reason is to avoid the crowds. Nothing is worse than trying to thrift in a busy store, especially if you are already anxious or don’t do well in crowds. By going in the mornings, you get to eliminate some of that stress and you get first pick on a lot of items. Though a lot of stores are distributing items throughout the day, if you go thrifting about an hour after open time, many new items will be out on the floor that weren't there the night before and haven’t been picked through yet.

7. Check the New Racks

This tip is one that I have recently discovered, and I absolutely love but there is a right way to do it. Whenever employees roll out a new rack to distribute onto the floor, I always make sure to make my way over quickly but do not crowd the workers. These racks that you often see in the front of the stores are new items going out and you don’t have to wait until they are put away, first pickings! However, make sure you are respectable to the employees, they are just doing their jobs and trying to distribute the items to their sections. Wait until the worker grabs some items to distribute and then you may scan through the racks quickly. This is where I have found some really cool items before they even made it out onto the floor.

8. Small Town vs City

Where you go thrifting can make an enormous difference in the type of items you find. From my experience, if you want more vintage type of items, visit a small-town Goodwill or local consignment shop. These stores are normally less picked through and have more unique items. If you are looking for higher-end brands and newer items go to a bigger city that gets more donations. Keep in mind that sometimes bigger cities will have higher prices than those in small towns but often the items will reflect accordingly. So, if you are looking for cheaper unique clothing or items, check out a small town near you, if you are wanting more name brands try thrifting in the city.

9. Grab Now and Decide Later

When I go thrifting it can sometimes feel like a race between me and the other customers on who will find the best items first. Is this reality? It’s probably just in my head but because of these kinds of thoughts I have come up with the tip of grab now and decide later. By doing this not only will you be able to secure more items to pick from after, but it also helps get those creative juices flowing. If you like something, don’t think too much about it, put it in your cart, and once you have finished thrifting, head to the fitting rooms. Now is the time to look through all your items and decipher what to keep and what to leave behind, just make sure you hang your left-over clothes on the back rack before you go!

10. Observe the Items Closely

The last tip before leaving the thrift store is to observe all the items you have decided to keep before you actually purchase them. I cannot tell you how many times I thought I found the perfect item and got home only to find out it had some sort of imperfection. The best way to avoid this is to observe the item from all angles in good lighting before you leave. If it’s clothing, I like to hang the item on the edge of my cart and hold it outwards so that I can see the piece with no shadows. Always check the pits and sleeves for holes and take note of any stains or odors. Ask yourself if the flaw matters, does the stain look permanent, or is it something I could fix with some special attention? This is the time to be picky! You want to make sure that whatever you decide to bring home now that you will be happy you purchased it later.