How I Saved Hundreds Of Dollars By Thrifting This Summer

 When one of my friends told me that they had never been into a thrift store before, my jaw dropped. Thrifting has always been a way of life for me. Starting at the age of 6, my grandma and I would spend hours in the store picking out our favorite pieces. I was addicted to the feeling of finding something so perfect and paying a quarter of the price.

Money had never been an issue for me until freshman year going to a new school in a new town, where every girl wore $200 UGG boots and $130 leggings. I could never afford to pay a total of $400 an outfit, so I turned to the local thrift store to find used “trendy” clothing.

 Looking back now, I can’t believe that I cared so much about what brand was on the back of my generic black leggings, but it really helped me feel like I fit in at the time. When my mom told me that we were going to California for vacation this summer, I was so excited but my bank account wasn’t. So, on the first day in Cali I stopped in a thrift store to pick up some cute outfits for the rest of my trip. When I’m looking for clothes I try to find quality fabric because you can always fix and hem pieces, but if it’s a Walmart shirt there's not much you can do. Also, I tend to look for solid color fabrics because patterns can look cheap and go downhill real quick. 

The biggest mistake I used to make was I would look for brands that were popular like Brandy Melville, Adidas, and Lululemon. I would buy anything with those labels even if I didn’t really like the style or if they looked used or didn’t even fit me that well. One time I wore a Thrasher sweatshirt to school that was 3 inches too small on my hips, so every time I even raised my arms a little, I looked like I stole it from the children’s section. But as long as the logo was there, I didn’t care. What a horrible consumer mindset! 

Now when I try things on I have 3 rules that I want to share with you:

Rule 1: is if the piece of clothing doesn’t fit, be realistic about your sewing skills. If you have never sewed a day in your life you will probably not be able to completely rehem a dress.

Rule 2: if you try on a dress and say “ehh” but end up buying it because it was $2, that dress will end up hung on the farthest side of your closet never seeing the light of day. I repeat, if you don’t love it, don’t buy it.

Rule 3: The last rule is if you don’t find anything that day, just accept it was an off day and try again some other day. Thrift shopping is a gamble, some days you’ll luck out and other days you’ll find absolutely nothing. But the days you don’t find anything, DO NOT pick up a random shirt near the checkout register to justify the 2 hours you’ve spent in the Goodwill. Take your dignity and try again another day. 

I bought four dresses from Goodwill for my trip to California in June. I spent less than $100 and found some great pieces including a white linen sundress that I used in a meadow photoshoot where I frolicked among the wildflowers. It fit my personality perfectly and I would never would have found it in some branded mall store. (see photo in header image) That is why I love thrift store shopping.

I bought this wrap dress for $8 at the Goodwill in Sunnyvale, CA