I’ve been thrift shopping for about the past 10 years or so. I’ve been a yard sale’r all my life thanks to my family on my Mom’s side. Although if my dad were here he would speak up about his frugal mother and that I also take after her because she was a regular at the thrift store. So I guess you can say thrifting and yard sale-ing is in my blood. When my kids were younger I used to love to put them in the car on a Saturday morning and hit the yard sales. Thomas was the best he loved it. He would always ask what are we going to buy? And I would always answer, “I don’t know… you never know what you’ll find at a yard sale”. And Thomas would agree. It’s one of my favorite memories with him.
So lessons learned at the thrift; what’s yours is meant to be yours. You can’t look at other peoples finds and wish you found something first, it wasn’t meant to be yours to begin with. Keep your eye on your cart! One time at the Sal Val this woman emptied my cart and walked away with it! I was so angry and was looking around when this woman quietly pointed at another woman and there she was with my cart; I knew it was mine because she left a handbag I found in the front seat. I went up to her and said, “You took my cart!“ I was pissed. The woman said oh yes, yes in broken English and gave me back the cart and tried to keep the bag! Unreal! So I said hey, and the bag, that’s my bag! She wasn’t happy about that part but she gave up the bag. So from then on I never take my hand off whatever is holding the stuff I find.
Google is your friend!! If you are not sure something is a good deal; google it (after you put the item in your cart). I’m a self admitted bag whore so I am always on the look out for designer bags and I’ve been quite blessed in my finds. But nothing has been found all at once. There are days I’ve left there without a bag, some days I leave with 2. I’m also a designer denim whore. And again sometimes I find a pair or two, other times not so much.
To thrift you have to have a lot of patience to comb through the racks. The best treasures are usually amongst things you wouldn’t look twice at. But I love thrifting and I love going through rack after rack. My girls say I have this facial expression that’s like, “I’m busy here…no talking..”. Haha. I love the thrill of the hunt and that you truly don’t know what you’ll find. I’ve found Lladro statues, Lenox bowls and vases, the list goes on. But not one group of items were found all at once. You have to decide what you really like, does the item need repair? Is it worth repairing, hemming, gluing, etc? Sometimes the answer is no and you have to leave something really cool behind. Same thing if you find a really cool piece of clothing but totally the wrong size. Too big? You could have it altered, but too small? No.
I wish all my fellow thrifters and yard sale-rs the best finds this spring!!
Menay O; mom to 4, Christian and thrift shopper on the side... 