I am a bonafide shopaholic. I’m not in recovery or rehab, and I have no intention of being in either any time soon. I love to shop.

One of my favorite hobbies is seeking the deal of the century. When I shop retail I almost always shop the clearance racks and aisles.

But in this post I want to address consignment and thrift store shopping. I really enjoy it. You may know the joy of it too. But, if you’re new to it, or unfamiliar with it, I’ll give you some of my best tips.

1. Find two or three consignment and thrift shops near you and shop them often. They get new stuff in all the time and they put different things on sale each week.
2. Ask when they have dollar days. It’s often on the first or last weekend of the month.
3. Shop the ticket color that’s on sale.  Last weekend I bought only blue tickets; I got everything 75% off.
4. Sometimes there will be several color tickets on sale at different percentages off.  It all depends on how long the merchandise has been in the store.
5. If you consign with the store (bring things in to sell) you’ll always have an account from which you can spend on other stuff. I don’t fool with consigning; I just buy!
6. When buying clothes, which I do a lot of for my 5- and 10- year-old granddaughters , you have to check the items carefully in bright light. Generally a good consignment store won’t take it if it is torn, worn, soiled, or frayed. But since thrift stores take donations you have to be careful. It’s not even worth 50 cents to me if it’s stained.
7. Sunglasses are a great thing to buy. More often than not they are brand new with the tags still on them. I won’t pay more than $7 or $8 for shades because I just throw them in my bag and they get scratched up eventually.
8. Shoes can be a great deal too. I only by shoes that look like they’ve never been worn.  For the girls I’m a little less stringent but they have to look good.
9. When the little one was born I bought baby stuff for my house. I got great deals on a crib, bouncy chair, high chair, and toys. I cleaned them all with Lysol wipes and felt just fine about their cleanliness.
10. I bought almost all the furniture for my new sun porch at two consignment stores. And, I found the mirror, lamps, and about half the decorative items too.  I bought new pillows. I’d never use someone else’s dusty old pillows unless you could wash them and maybe put new covers on them. Even then, I wouldn’t do it.
11. Costume jewelry is a fun thing to shop. They usually have tons of it. I’ve bought a couple of party purses. I’m only going to carry it once or twice and don’t want to spend more than $10. And, I have found several brand new make-up bags for really cheap. I like to have lots of them and so do my girls.

As as you can see there are many good finds to be found at consignment and thrift stores. I don’t work on Fridays. I have spent many a Friday afternoon knocking around my favorite shops. I highly recommend it. Even if you only have five bucks in your pocket, you can usually find a steal.

dmzh