Shopping at a thrift store can be an overwhelming experience, if you don’t understand the basics of this concept. In other words, here are the things you won’t be able to understand if you never shopped at a thrift store.
1. You have to wear tight clothes
At a thrift store you can find lots of beautiful clothes, but you need to make sure they fit you before you buy them. Most thrift stores don’t have a return policy, so you have to make sure the clothes are your size. Checking the label is not an option, as many thrift stores have clothes from multiple countries, such as traditional anarkali suits from India or a blouse from Maui, which means the sizes of the clothes don’t fit the US sizes. This leaves you with one option: you have to try everything on. However, most thrift stores don’t have dressing rooms either or have one with a long line in front of it. The solution to this problem is to leave your house dressed in tight fitting clothes, so you can try on the clothes at the thrift stores as fast as possible and without having to enter a dressing room.
2. You need to resist great bargains
Humans are prone to act on impulse and buy anything if they find a great bargain. Thrift stores are based on great bargains, so you need to learn to control your impulse shopping behavior. Only buy what you fall in love with right there, on the spot. If you won’t love that item when you first see it, don’t buy it, even if it’s a mega-bargain. Another thing you have to be aware of is how the new item will fit with the clothes you already have. This is the basic rule of all shopping, but you can be easily tempted to forget it when you are surrounded by cheap clothes.
3. You are a master at removing spots
One of the first rules of thrift shopping is never buy something with stains on it or with a “dry clean only” label. Most often, these clothes CAN’T be rehabilitated, the stains can’t be removed. However, anyone who shops at thrift stores is very creative and resourceful by definition, so you will probably end up buying stained clothes and finding new ways to clean them. All thrifters know couple of dozens of cleaning hacks, most of them being aimed in two ways: kill any random germs on the clothes and remove the actual smell of the stain, if you can’t remove the color. The favorite trick of thrift shoppers is freezing the stained clothes in a ziplock bag for a month, then apply loads of Fiberize on it. Thrift store shopping is an adventure, a treasure hunt. There will be days you will exit the store empty-handed and days when you will be happy to discover amazing items. Keep up your motivation and you will be rewarded for it. There are two types of people who buy from thrift stores: those who hate to spend 100$ more on an item just because it’s branded and those who rely on these stores to get their hands on accessories which can complement their wardrobe. Find out in which category you are and happy hunting!
