I love going to thrift stores A LOT. There are a lot of reasons why this is and that is what I am going to be talking about today as well as some of my favourite thrift store purchases over the past few months.
I grew up going to thrift stores all the time. My mom is a big fan of thrifting and she definitely passed that on to me. You could find us quite often at one of the three Value Villages in my city (they were all good for different things) and even most vacations included a trip to a thrift store or a consignment store.
Some of the reasons that I love thrift stores are:
- Saving Money: I am a grad student who loves new clothes, but I don’t have the money to buy things all the time. Going to thrift stores (especially on 50% off days) allows me to get more bang for my buck).
- Not Supporting Fast Fashion: As I talked about in this post, I am trying to reduce the amount of fast fashion that I am purchasing and shopping at thrift stores allows me to still buy some of the brands whose clothes I do like, but not supporting their brand with my money.
- Helping the Environment: I love that when I am purchasing things second hand I am giving clothes new life and keeping them out of landfills. This is also why I donate everything I give away as I hope the things I no longer have a use for can make someone else’s day.
- Discovering New Styles: There are so many times that I come out of a thrifting trip with something new and unexpected that I would have never got somewhere else. Most of the time when I am at a thrift store I will load up my cart with everything that looks remotely good to me and end up only getting a few things. I will try on lots of things I wouldn’t have otherwise and it has really given me a few gems.
I don’t only find clothes at the thrift store, last summer I found three pairs of almost new Toms at Value Village which for someone who lives in Toms was amazing. I also have gotten home goods and kitchen supplies which helps when I needed to stock a kitchen for just a few months without spending too much money.
Now every thrift store is different and you may need to travel to a few to find the one that fits with you and your style. Also every chain or individual store is different in how they price items and organize them. I personally don’t like the Goodwill that is currently near my house for a few reasons so I am willing to go a bit further to the Value Village that is really neat, and has a lot of things that match what I am looking for. So don’t give up if the first store you go to doesn’t work for you.
Now you really need to be willing to dig and search sometimes at thrift stores. Items aren’t usually organized perfectly and because sizes range (especially in women’s clothing) I usually need to search from small to large as there are things in all those areas that will fit me. I need to be in a very specific mood to go thrifting, but when I am in one of those moods I can really find a lot.
Some of my top thrift store finds:
- Olive button-down shirt
- Mustard sweater
- Light washed jeans
- Loafers
- Green military jacket
- Black and Grey sweater
I never know what I am going to find when I step into a thrift store and that is really what I love about it. For someone who is cheap, trying to be more ethical, and open to whatever comes my way, thrifting is one of my favourite past-times and really the only time I go shopping nowadays. So check out your local thrift store (or multiple), you never know what you might find.
fivestarredlife.ca 