Not to get too Macklemore on you but…I do a little dance when I enter a thrift shop. I’m just so excited about all of the possible finds and treasures in there and the fact that I can shed that fear of, “I’m going to spend too much money” that I get when I enter a retail store. I feel like a kid in a candy shop. I feel rich! I feel like I may finally get to buy some of the brands that are usually beyond my price range. When I first discovered thrift stores, I went a little overboard. It felt like everything was basically free so, what was the harm in buying every little item that intrigued me? For starters, thing weren’t free. So, I found that, after I’d pop into a thrift store once or twice a week and buy everything I liked, I was spending an extra $200 a month or so…whoops! That adds up. It’s one of the not-so-smart ways I spent money in my twenties. Furthermore, I was buying a lot of duds, because the price persuaded me. Thrift stores are great, if you know how to hack them.
Skip it if it was cheap to begin with
If the item started at one of those mass-production stores where everything is already cheap to begin with, you probably shouldn’t buy it from a thrift store. I won’t name names on what stores I’m talking about but, you know the ones—their items only have a very short lifespan to begin with when purchased brand new. They’re practically rags by the time they make it to thrift stores.