Raised in the “elite” Northwest Suburbs of Chicago my moms go-to-cure for heartbreaks was retail shopping. Sure the election isn’t the same as being dumped by a high school boyfriend, but the pain, the fear, and the loneliness are oddly similar feelings.
Is it just me? In times that are so high pressure I feel like I would do anything just to make myself not think about the election.
Now, I live alone, I’m 29 and I’m poor. What can I do with $20.00? Does that even cover the cost of gas to get anywhere? I can actually get a lot of stuff for $20.00 so DONT FREAK! Not to mention this will forever make holidays non-stressful. You can make $20.00 go as far as gifting your whole family if you’re creative enough.
Imagine a store full of unimaginable products or items. Gems from the times, books of every variety, designer clothes with tags, and brand new designer shoes and purses. Whether your purchase is for monetary gain or just for yourself- you never feel ripped off when you take twenty dollars to Goodwill or Family Salvation and leave with potentially hundreds and yes thousands sometimes dollars worth on clothes.
Note: not one particular thrift store is set up the same. I always look for the ones with the best ratings, or the closest too me. I always have a couple back up ones in case I’m really on the hunt for a product. Some days are hit or miss and be sure to know the dates that certain colors are half off and twenty-five percent off. That takes your $20.00 and gives you about $50.00
1. There is NOTHING, and I truly mean NOTHING (short of intangible items like houses, etc.) that cannot be found or purchased at a thrift store brand new or in excellent condition. I’ve seen nearly everything, at a thrift store. It helps to go to a town a bit wealthier as they tend to give away more expensive items. (I.e $5.00 lazyboy couch. Yes, $5.00) Too often we arrive at a thrift store with no budget, no list, and really no clue why we’re there. That’s why it’s best to have an exact limit. You won’t feel bad if you leave with $20.00 worth of junk, you may feel bad if you leave with $100.00 worth of stuff you don’t want, and have no intention of selling it right away. If selling, a shop and marketplace plan needs to be put into action first. Know what your selling, have a brand and logo self-made and if you can get a godaddy or blue host domain. It’s a waste of money to assume you’ll sell a product if you know nothing about the market value.
If you are one of the clever people who have now figured out how to “flip” items the most profitable way is to start and set up your selling platform like an eBay store, a Facebook marketplace, Amazon sales, posh mark app for clothes, offer up app, let go app, and the next door neighborhood app.
Craigslist pro is on the list of 2020 top platforms to sell, but given some bad experiences I leave that to the last place. If you have a ton of collectors items (I.e a bin of beanie babies, a box of hot wheels, figurines) then Craigslist is good for wholesale listings. My friend made $800 off his 10 gallon bucket of rare and unrare beanie babies. You have to know your market place.
Whether you take that $20.00 and spend it on yourself or sell. Make it a point to buy items that you potentially would want or keep. This avoids piles of unwanted, unfitting clothes, and crappy toys that you misguessed on. Even when it comes to books, unless first edition, signed original copies from a famous author are available only buy books you would read. You don’t know how long they’ll sit on your shelf.
I used to buy books that I thought “other people” would read. What a waste! It turns out my interests are similar to those of my purchasers. Books are and will always be the best items to sell. Self-help books, cooking books, how-to books selling on eBay, Amazon, Etsy, and abebooks.com (for rare) are the best platforms. The amazon app barcode scanner, eBay app barcode scanner, and BookScouter app can tell you the going price of a book just by scanning the barcode while in the store. Books are generally $0.99 for soft cover, and $1.99 for hardcover. Again, if all the books you like have a yellow label. Figure out what day of the week yellow labels are half or even twenty-five percent off. No point in spending more than you need to.
Now, let’s take a step back from selling and focus on you. This election is stressful and YOU need an upgrade. This year, I took. $20.00 shopping spree on a Monday at my local Family Salvation in Niles, IL.
This trip was mainly for my own personal shopping but I always have sales on my mind. It was White is half off day. Anyone who thrifts knows that white is the most expensive color tag. It’s best to buy your expensive items when they are half off. That being said I only picked white (half off) and yellow (25% off) clothes, books, and artwork. How do I know what’s quality and what’s not?
Make a list of designers and brands. Also, measure your waist, bust, hips, and feet size. It’s important to look at your favorite jeans and see what sizes they are and what cut they are. For instance you may be a size 8 but look best in high rise jeans. Don’t go too far off your charts, and avoid cute clothes that your uncertain you’ll fit into.
Once you have an overview of expensive brands I.E Ralph Lauren, Lauren Hill, Colombia, DKNY, Under Armor, adidas, marvel, Steve Madden (and the list goes on) you can browse for those branded items and not worry about how they look, because if they are in nice enough condition (ideally tags) you can always re-sell them if you don’t like the way they fit. Posh mark searches for specific designers so it’s best to know what is popular and what isn’t. For instance last year there was a spike in Betsey Johnson purses. Know the colors of the year, trends of the year, and know your fabrics.
You may be holding back because you had one or two bad experiences at a thrift store. This happens when a store is poorly managed. A well taken care of store will have its items to the best of their abilities sorted, stacked, and priced appropriately.
Don’t be surprised if you go to a thrift store and find a mega win that costs you $15.00. I once walked into Savers with $20.00 and found a Bissell Upright Carpet Cleaner. The exact same one my dad had for $12.99 and in perfect condition. I didn’t think twice before grabbing that. Plus I spent the other $7.00 on what appeared to be a multi use Keurig machine. Sometimes a few items priced well is better than a ton priced low. Remember thrifting is designed for people like me and maybe like you, who really honestly do not have enough money to buy these items at regular price. I also find it amazing to see unique or rare items.
Tips: when buying anything, examine for missing pieces or test in electrical outlet. Many times I’ve gone to purchase a printer at a great value just to find that someone donated a broken printer in hopes goodwill would fix it.
IF NO BARCODE USE GOOGLE APP TO REVERSE IMAGE SEARCH.
I have done this on rare books, printers, video cameras, TVs, clothes, wood frames, artwork, pet supplies, figurines, crystal glass, popular coffee mugs etc. unless you want the item don’t get it without doing your own personal appraising.
Shop Ideas:
new and used book resale, vintage and designer purses, rare and collectible toy, rare and collectible figurines, jigsaw puzzles and board game shop, trading cards shop, cute stationary store, online thrift store, designer clothes outlet, framed artwork shop, electronics/chargers/cords shop, phone case shop, vintage glass shop, coffee mugs shop, shot glass shop, mid-century glass shop, silver shop, hair and makeup boutique, art and paint supply shop, used TVs and laptops (yes laptops) shop, jewelry bargains, vintage cameras sale shop, fabric shop, art supply shop, logo t-shirt shop, CD store, DVD store, vinyl records shop, discount furniture store. The possibilities are endless.
Lately, my shopping has been all personal… but with high retail value- I have two brand new t shirts that I got for .50 cents made by Marvel. I am starting to gather figurines which I may one day sell but for now just find unique. I always pick up different texture paper. Ive purchases 100% cotton paper, resume paper, Brite paper, brite white paper, grid paper, poster paper. Bags of cool pens and sharpies. The items such as three hole punches. Staplers, folders, etc. are always a bargain and my favorite purchases are New-Age or best selling books.
To give you and over views- my last trip to Family Salvation I spent $32.00 I spent it on books, a coffee tray, and a computer chair + MEDION music lightbulb, and barstool. Some findings in front of me now are as follows:
side note: a majority of my home is thrift store items, I plan to update the items as I come across them but these are just a random assortment
Designer 8.5 platform black heels with stickers
The Taco Cat Talk 