Thrift Shopping: A Complete Beginner’s Guide

Thrift shopping has become one of the trends in today’s time. However, though it is a trend, there are still some people who refuse to buy second-hand items due to superstitions and/or cleanliness issues. In my perspective, there’s nothing wrong with thrifted items as long as you know how to clean it and as long as it is still useful.

For an instance, if a person wants to keep up with the latest fashion trends and at the same time, to save up money, he/she may want to try thrift shopping and look for cheap but trendy finds. Through combining thrifted clothes, you are able to save up money and practice your fashion sense.

History of Thrift Shopping

Cheap finds is the first thing that comes into my mind whenever I hear the word “thrift”. It is buying things which are still good and useful without breaking the bank. In 13th Century, the word “thrift” was coined as “fact or state of wealth”. It is also termed as “prosperity and savings” from the Middle English, inspired from the Old Norse Riding which  means prosperity and from thrifask which means to thrive. The sense of “saving habit, economy’ first recorded in 1550s, while the word “thrift shop” accredited in 1919.

According to Webster Comprehensive Dictionary,” thrift is a noun defined as care and wisdom in the management of one’s resources; frugality. A flourishing condition; vigorous growth, as of a plant. Any of a genus (Armeria, Formerly Statice) of tufted herbs of the north temperate zone growing on mountains and the seashore; especially, the common thrift (A. maritime), having white or pink flower heads.”

Thrift Shopping Guide: How To Choose The Best Deals

To help you in your journey in thrift shopping, here are some of the useful guides that I created:

1. Know your personal style. – Before shopping, you must first establish your style. It is a distinctive manner of expression. Know what’s your overall style vibe. Having one is important because you should know how to express yourself to establish your identity.
2. Have an inspiration. – Having an inspiration can help you establish your own style. Find inspiration from your social circle, popular models and TV shows. More often than not, you can use a celebrity’s OOTD to find things that match this style from the thrift shop.
3. Find the thrift shop that suits your style. – There are a lot of thrift shops out there and not all of them have the same products. Do you want vintage items? Or do you want trends from the 60s, 70s, 80s or 90s? Yes, it can be as tricky as a treasure hunt. But it is important to find the store that caters your style.
4. Check the price. – Remember to always check the price. There are thrift shops out there that sell their items with a price that is not worth the quality of the product.
5. Buy quality finds. – Even though it is cheap, it is still important to check the quality. Check it if you can still use it and always buy something that is worth the price. Check for wear and tear, missing buttons, or discoloration.
6. Have fun. – This is the most important tip of all. Though there are some guides you need to take note of, you must always have fun in thrift shopping.

Thrift shopping is fun but always remember to buy at your own risk. Be careful on what you’re choosing and only buy something that is worth the price. Don’t waste your money on something that cannot be used already. Have fun!

Reccomended Thrift Shops worldwide

We live in the era today where thrift shopping is the mainstream for buying affordable fashionable clothes. We can buy it from online thrift shops or from local thrift shops. Online thrift shops are best options for busy people. According to Bethany Avard from Entitymag: “the top online thrift shops are Poshmark, Thredup, Asos market place, Ebay, Goodtwice, Depop, Restitch, Shopgoodwill.com, Etsy, Facebook Marketplace, Swap.com, Refashioner and Instagram.”

The advantages of buying things online are they’re not time consuming and it’s very convenient. On the other hand, there are disadvantages like shipping problems, negative Environmental impact of packaging, scammers and complicated websites. While local thrift shops have constantly changing selection. The benefits of shopping at local thrift shops are you can maximize your time on searching, you may discover designer products and you can also enhance your wardrobe style by selecting unique pieces. When you look around here in the Philippines, you can see different thrift shops everywhere. My top local thrift shops are Anonas Ukay, Remnant’s Thriftshop, Dapitan Arcade and Hidalgo Street.

Conclusion

Now is the perfect time to invest on buying from thrift shops. Getting thrift items means investing more, which will provide your extra long-term mileage. Having the ability to spend wisely can only bring you one step closer to achieving your goals. You give leeway to achieving your travel goals and other ambitions, because your money is not going to waste.

You need to know the difference of needs and desires. If you know a purchase is unnecessary or you only need an item for one occasion, you will find ways of not spending as much as you can. While spending wisely, you are also helping our world to become a better place.

Does a habit affect our daily lives? Yes, It is. A habit defines who we really are. It reflects our character and behavior towards to ourselves and to our environment. By practicing a habit of buying thrift products, we can reduce waste by reusing it. Buying secondhand ensures that you will keep plastic out of landfills and contribute positively to the fall in worldwide demand for textiles and eventual waste. You’re helping to keep things going that would have gone into the landfill.

Any step to reduce waste is a step in the right direction. The number one reason to love thrift shopping, is its gentleness towards the environment. In life, being financially responsible will lead to less pressure and less worries.  Being thrifty is one way to put this into action. You can either sell your used items or purchase someone else’s used items.

We need to be resourceful for us to help create a less wasteful world. A resourceful mindset encourages out-of-the-box thinking, generating new ideas, and the desire to imagine all the ways you want to accomplish.

Let’s help our mother earth by going zero waste. This means refusing to buy things with lots of packaging, repurpose worn out items, shop for used goods, and purchase reusable products like steel water bottles. It still takes some energy and resources to recycle, but it’s better than sending stuff to the landfill or allowing it to become litter. Let’s look after our world, our home.