There was a time in my life when I would not have been caught dead in a thrift store. I have never been a big shopper, but back before I had kids I bought everything new. I was convinced that thrift store shopping was a lot of work, and I found the idea of wearing second-hand clothes or eating off of second-hand plates distasteful. Never mind that I would happily visit other people’s homes or frequent restaurants and eat off of their plates, or borrow my friend’s clothes. Using a faceless stranger’s cast-offs did not appeal to me.
Then I had children. Tiny little people who grow at alarming rates and always need some article of clothing or another. Suddenly, spending $20 for each new pair of teeny-tiny pants seemed exorbitant. Let’s say your kid has 5 pairs of pants, which is maybe not even enough. That’s $100 in pants that they will outgrow in 3 weeks, and poop on, and generally cover in yucky kid goo. Suddenly, the thrift store with its $4 baby pants seemed much, much more appealing.
Thrift store shopping has other things going for it, too. It’s an environmentally-friendly choice, since you are giving new life to old things, and not consuming any additional resources. Re-using at its finest. Also, the variety of items that you can find in a large thrift store is unparalleled. If you want the perfect shirt to match a great skirt you found, you’ll likely have better luck at a thrift store with hundreds of shirts in different styles and colours. They won’t all be winners, but you only need one. Plus, second- hand shopping is like the best treasure hunt ever, my 5-year-old loves combing through all the teacups and saucers and picture frames and sparkly shoes.
On some random Tuesday you’ll find the kids and I out on a walk to our local thrift store. We check out the books and the dishes, and I always take a spin by the pots and pans in search of cast iron. Sometimes we buy clothes, sometimes Hannah spends her allowance on toys, and we always stop off to check out the kids’ shoes and the jewelry. I find 3 shirts I like for a grand total of $17, which is less than one new shirt from the mall. And when we get home I just give our new treasures a thorough wash and we’re good to go.
Do you like to comb thrift stores for hidden treasure, too? If so, care to share any great finds? I promise to be suitably impressed. 
I love thrift stores! Like you i’d never be caught dead in them before kids but they are great for kids clothes and shoes – stuff that looks like it’s never even been worn half the time and I’ve found loads of really nice trousers and jeans in there for me too, I guess from people that have either put on or lost weight and hardly even worn the clothes them selves. I also love finding interesting materials, to sue for sewing projects – material shops can be so expensive and often peoples old curtains, table clothes even shirts and dresses can be a great source of material. Love them. Nothing makes you feel better than getting a real bargain.
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Kieran and I LOVE to thrift – but I have to be in the right mood. I’ve never been a big shopper either – go in for a specific item, find it, leave. Thrifting isn’t that easy. It’s helped to switch my consumerism mentality; I don’t need everything I might want.
My best find? Easy: a learning tower. Practically brand new. Retails for $200 new, I got it for $30. It would have been worth it for $200, it is that handy.
Dionna @ Code Name: Mama´s last post ..To Do
I love it. I bought curtains, cushions, furniture, clothes, dishes, pots, pans, fashion jewellery, handbags, books, cds, belts… you name it I buy it. We call them charity shops and on our high street there are 5 different ones (there are smaller than an American thrift store though) and in 2 miles away there are anohter 6. My best bargain have to be my lounge curtains which I got for £3 and they were brand new with tag saying £150… yep, that is one cool saving.
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I was never a real thrift shopper pre-kids…at least not for clothes. I loved going to swap meets to see what kind of treasures i could score and I was always on the hunt for My Little Ponies (since I was currently going through my resurgence of interest)
Once I became pregnant I discovered thrift shops were great places to pick up Maternity clothes. And of course I hit up the kid’s swap meets for baby related items.
I still don’t thrift shop for my own clothes but I hate paying full price so that’s why a few trips a year down to the outlet malls make my closet happy
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My daughter wants to know precisely how large that pig is. It looks lifesize!
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Our thrift stores are filled with disorderly piles of expensive and random second hand junk. No treasures. No vintage. The only “treasures” to be found are in the garden furniture section, and we got our chairs there. I like old utensils and farming tools, and try to go to the “old trades” markets when I can, but the prices have recently become outrageous. I had to leave behind a box of wonderful handmade rusty nails (big, and kind of faceted and irregular) which were sold at the price of gold, it seemed.
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I really liked this post!
Kids are so darn expensive. I hear you. And thrift stores are pretty awesome. We have some great ones here in NYC and especially the suburbs, where the rich people dump their expensive hand-me-downs.
Old School/New School Mom´s last post ..Saturday Mayhem
I do not enjoy shopping but I love thrift store shopping. It frees me to buy without over-spending. When the temperature hit 80+ degrees F here in CA this week, I hit the thrift store for shorts and skirts for my girls and came home with 14 like-new items for $1.99 each! I also got a canvas camp chair for $4.99 and two chapter books for my daughter for a dollar each. I am always amazed at how I can find items that are brand-new with the tags still on. This time it was a box of “clothes” for a stuffed animal dog — something I would never buy at full price but for $1.99 my daughter will love them for her birthday!
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I love shopping in thrift stores. It’s always so much fun, although I do usually end up buying more than I intended to by the time I leave. Recently, my best day was a day to myself in the city where I spent 3 hours in Value Village. By myself (did I already mention that?) No kids to hide in clothes racks or lose in the toy section. Just me and my sweet time browsing through all the goodies.
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I always kind of liked the idea of thrift stores. I had one boyfriend whose mother was just hysterically disgusted at the thought of wearing other people’s clothes, though. It was kind of funny. I’ve gotten most of the kids’ favourite things (that my Mom hasn’t made) at consignment stores.
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Hi Amber,
Someone suggested to me that you can soak clothes in salt water before washing them to remove any “energy” that remains. I have done that a few times when I felt the need. I grew up going to garage sales and estate sales with my parents, mostly searching for antiques, so thrift store shopping was a natural progression.
Congratulations for joining the thrift store shoppers of the world.
I don’t visit thrift stores very often any more (limited time, and I have to be certain I can get what I need on the one trip I’m able to make), but I used to do a ton of thrifting for costume pieces. We’d spend a day visiting a whole series of Goodwill shops, pulling together interesting and inexpensive bits that could be retailored for the time period or theme. The most recent trip I made was to get an old leather belt to turn into the strap for an Indiana Jones bag for Q-ster. Can’t beat those $1 prices!
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I was never very good at thrift store shopping. I didn’t have the patience to look through everything. My sister is a star at it. And I now have my MIL hooked after asking her to look for snow pants fot eh kids. I just keep giving her lists of things we need.
There isn’t a thrift store near us. One of the drawbacks on not living in the suburbs.
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When I buy something (other than food, clearly) it is only from the thrift shops. I cannot enter a thrift shop and leave empty handed. Just so much good stuff, so many treasures.
I’m been thinking maybe I need to buy a pair of jeans new, since I’m long and I have a hard time finding my size second hand, but I’ve even passed that idea up, I’m just going to alter them myself
We have a nice little stash of baby clothing going, they are all in such great shape from the second hand stores, I don’t know how anyone buys new!
I love this post. So so much. Those red shoes are incredible, by the way.
Amber Morrisey´s last post ..Beyond just signs of Spring
I used to do lots of thrifting for myself when I was in highschool. Got lots of bang for my buck.
I was grateful that I remembered the thrift store near my house recently though. My daughter’s snowsuit zipper got wrecked a couple weeks ago and I needed a new one fast (it was a one-piece suit). Naturally, when one goes shopping for winter clothes in February in Ontario, there are none to be found – all the spring clothes are out! I was thrilled – and very relieved – to find a full snowsuit at Value Village for $6. For the amount of time she’s going to wear it (she’s not quite 18 months), I really didn’t want to pay full price. It was a reminder for me to check the thrift stores first, especially for a small person that changes sizes constantly.
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I live and die by the thrift stores! I don't know HOW people can afford to by new?!
It’s funny how our perception of thrift stores change once we have kids. We have a place here called Children’s Orchard and I find myself going there at least once a month. Just the other day I found a really neat sun hat for my son for $3.99. He loves wearing it too, in the house
The kids don’t know the difference, yet. I think it’s fun that Hannah gets to spend her money in a store that is affordable to her budget
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Last visit to a thrift store Mikko tried on every pair of pink high heels — and I must say he can walk better than I can in them!
He wanted a doll at a store for $10; we put him off. We were at the thrift store: same doll in a bin marked FREE. Score!
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