Getting Lucky at the Goodwill
Imagine a store filled with Ralph Lauren polos, Lucky jeans, and adorable
children’s outfits with unpronounceable French brand names. No, I’m not talking
about Nordstrom. I’m talking about your local thrift store.
Whoa, you’re thinking. My local thrift store doesn’t have any of that stuff. Unless you
live in Bangladesh, it probably does. I have visited a considerable amount of
places and I always seem to make it to the local thrift store. There are always
unmined gems; it’s just a matter of locating them in endless racks of acid-washed
jeans and vacation t-shirts.
The first step is to know what you’re looking for. If you’re the stylish type (I am!),
have you been to the mall lately? Read any fashion magazines? Do you know
what’s on its way in and what’s been in so long your granny’s starting to like it? If
you’re not a fashionista, know what you wear the most and what you wouldn't put
next to your skin if you were naked in Antarctica. If tight collars or itchy tags bug you,
check those things first. If you wear your royal blue t-shirt every day, another one
just like it would probably get used. But if you have more t-shirts than a souvenir
shop, walk away from the entire rack. Having a good idea of exactly why you are
there cuts down on the deer-in-the-headlights feeling we all get when faced with a
large, disorganized store.
The next step is to know what lasts. Tommy Hilfiger looks good after years.
Lacoste looks good after decades. But Wal-Mart brands shrink and lose hems
and just don’t fit well after a few washes, which may be why they’re there in the first
place. Similarly, for children you can look for well-made brands normally out of a
middle class price range, like Gymboree, OshKosh B'Gosh, Janie and Jack, Baby
Gap, Hanna Andersson, Oilily, and Petit Bateau. Don’t be afraid to go a little label-
crazy here. It’s not necessarily materialism, just good (un)common sense.
The third step is to narrow the possibilities quickly. For example, I always like the
sweatshirts I see at PacSun and The Buckle. One day I realized that they were all
hoodies. Now, when I visit a thrift store, I don’t have to paw through the entire
sweatshirt rack. I only have to consider the ones with hoods—easy to pick out,
right? Similarly, I have been known to get down on all fours and crawl next to the
pants and jeans rack. Right now I like bootcut jeans with little or no
embellishment, so focusing on this detail reduces a half-hour of picking through
the rack to two minutes on the floor.
If it’s a good deal now, it will be a phenomenal deal on half-price day. And all
thrift stores have some sort of promotional schedule, be it every Wednesday or the
last Saturday of the month. There may even be a coupon you can beg off of
someone. Ask an employee or a frequent shopper when th best sales hit. Then,
put the item back on the rack and walk out of the store. You can wait; it can wait. If it
is gone by this Wednesday (or whenever), there’ll be something else.
If possible, shop without children and spouses. They don’t want to be there and
they’ll just slow you down. Or, if they are my children, they will love going because
they know they have a good chance of getting you to buy them something they
don’t need if it’s only fifty cents. Either way, you’ll be distracted and stressed, and
this is supposed to be fun. If you’ve read my article about dressing children on a
budget, you are shopping a size or two ahead, so there is no need to spend hours
in the fitting rooms.
Finally, don’t guy-buy. What is guy-buying? Read the definition:
Guy-buy (gī’ bī), tr.verb 1. Shopping like you have not a micron of sense in your
head. Buying cracked coffee mugs and stained t-shirts despite their obvious
uselessness. Being sure you’ll find a use for it someday. But you won’t. YOU
WON’T. So put it back and look for whatever it is you need. 2. Paying too much for
something, usually 5-10 times its actual value. Like $7.99 for a used t-shirt. Hello?
you can get a new t-shirt for that? You don’t want the Goodwill people laughing at
you, right?
If you know how to approach the thrift stores, you’ll be the one laughing. You’ll be
laughing to yourself when people comment on how well your children are dressed
and how much you must spend. You’ll be laughing out loud when someone says
they spent ninety dollars on a pair of Guess jeans that you bought for eight bucks.
You’ll at least be smiling when there’s a little extra money in your budget for the
things you really need, like food and rent and paid-off credit cards. So happy
shopping! If you find an especially good deal using my tips, I would love to hear
about it!
Imagine a store filled with Ralph Lauren polos, Lucky jeans, and adorable
children’s outfits with unpronounceable French brand names. No, I’m not talking
about Nordstrom. I’m talking about your local thrift store.
Whoa, you’re thinking. My local thrift store doesn’t have any of that stuff. Unless you
live in Bangladesh, it probably does. I have visited a considerable amount of
places and I always seem to make it to the local thrift store. There are always
unmined gems; it’s just a matter of locating them in endless racks of acid-washed
jeans and vacation t-shirts.
The first step is to know what you’re looking for. If you’re the stylish type (I am!),
have you been to the mall lately? Read any fashion magazines? Do you know
what’s on its way in and what’s been in so long your granny’s starting to like it? If
you’re not a fashionista, know what you wear the most and what you wouldn't put
next to your skin if you were naked in Antarctica. If tight collars or itchy tags bug you,
check those things first. If you wear your royal blue t-shirt every day, another one
just like it would probably get used. But if you have more t-shirts than a souvenir
shop, walk away from the entire rack. Having a good idea of exactly why you are
there cuts down on the deer-in-the-headlights feeling we all get when faced with a
large, disorganized store.
The next step is to know what lasts. Tommy Hilfiger looks good after years.
Lacoste looks good after decades. But Wal-Mart brands shrink and lose hems
and just don’t fit well after a few washes, which may be why they’re there in the first
place. Similarly, for children you can look for well-made brands normally out of a
middle class price range, like Gymboree, OshKosh B'Gosh, Janie and Jack, Baby
Gap, Hanna Andersson, Oilily, and Petit Bateau. Don’t be afraid to go a little label-
crazy here. It’s not necessarily materialism, just good (un)common sense.
The third step is to narrow the possibilities quickly. For example, I always like the
sweatshirts I see at PacSun and The Buckle. One day I realized that they were all
hoodies. Now, when I visit a thrift store, I don’t have to paw through the entire
sweatshirt rack. I only have to consider the ones with hoods—easy to pick out,
right? Similarly, I have been known to get down on all fours and crawl next to the
pants and jeans rack. Right now I like bootcut jeans with little or no
embellishment, so focusing on this detail reduces a half-hour of picking through
the rack to two minutes on the floor.
If it’s a good deal now, it will be a phenomenal deal on half-price day. And all
thrift stores have some sort of promotional schedule, be it every Wednesday or the
last Saturday of the month. There may even be a coupon you can beg off of
someone. Ask an employee or a frequent shopper when th best sales hit. Then,
put the item back on the rack and walk out of the store. You can wait; it can wait. If it
is gone by this Wednesday (or whenever), there’ll be something else.
If possible, shop without children and spouses. They don’t want to be there and
they’ll just slow you down. Or, if they are my children, they will love going because
they know they have a good chance of getting you to buy them something they
don’t need if it’s only fifty cents. Either way, you’ll be distracted and stressed, and
this is supposed to be fun. If you’ve read my article about dressing children on a
budget, you are shopping a size or two ahead, so there is no need to spend hours
in the fitting rooms.
Finally, don’t guy-buy. What is guy-buying? Read the definition:
Guy-buy (gī’ bī), tr.verb 1. Shopping like you have not a micron of sense in your
head. Buying cracked coffee mugs and stained t-shirts despite their obvious
uselessness. Being sure you’ll find a use for it someday. But you won’t. YOU
WON’T. So put it back and look for whatever it is you need. 2. Paying too much for
something, usually 5-10 times its actual value. Like $7.99 for a used t-shirt. Hello?
you can get a new t-shirt for that? You don’t want the Goodwill people laughing at
you, right?
If you know how to approach the thrift stores, you’ll be the one laughing. You’ll be
laughing to yourself when people comment on how well your children are dressed
and how much you must spend. You’ll be laughing out loud when someone says
they spent ninety dollars on a pair of Guess jeans that you bought for eight bucks.
You’ll at least be smiling when there’s a little extra money in your budget for the
things you really need, like food and rent and paid-off credit cards. So happy
shopping! If you find an especially good deal using my tips, I would love to hear
about it!
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