Thrifting 101: The History of My Thrifting Addiction

This is the first installation of my Thrifting Thursdays series here on the blog! Check back (hopefully) every Thursday for more thrifting tips.

I’ve thrifted my whole life. I grew up in a family of five kids with one income, so needless to say things were tight. Buying clothing new wasn’t exactly an option for us, so naturally we turned to second hand clothing. As an adult that now as a child, I completely understand not only the not really being able to afford new clothes thing, but also that kids grow out of things in like 10 minutes, so WHY WOULD I PAY FULL PRICE?! I understand now mom, I’m sorry.

I actually really enjoyed going to the thrift store as a kid and choosing my own clothes and browsing the toys and shoes and knick knacks. Every fall, I’d get $10 to spend on “back to school” clothes of my own choosing (I was homeschooled, so the idea that I got ANY money for “back to school” is laughable, but I appreciate my mom doing it anyway). Sometimes we’d be allowed to pick out a bag of “new” toys or legos or something. It was great. Even the smell of thrift stores is a bit nostalgic for me.

When I got older and started making my own money, I’d go to the mall and be like “$25 for a SHIRT?!” as if that was outrageous. I’d end up leaving the mall having only bought some Smackers glittery lip balm (is that still a thing?) from Claire’s instead of all the clothes I “needed” and I’d go to the goodwill a mile away and stock up there. I’d get like 4 shirts for $25, it was great. Honestly, I still feel like $25 is a lot for a shirt… I also still buy almost all of my clothing at thrift stores.

Early on I developed a taste for vintage clothing and and style, and at the height of the eBay craze my mom would sell thrifted clothing to make some extra money so I learned what brands made good clothing and what things were worth money. All of which is helpful when I run across smartwool base layers for $2 and mid century modern furniture worth hundreds of dollars priced at about $75. Ive gotten to the point where I can tell the quality of an item by how the fabric feels in my hand. Better quality, better fabric. The other person who taught me a lot about thrifting and vintage stuff, is Christy over at @4birdsvintage. Some of the stuff she finds at estate sales and thrift stores is crazy. I’ll still text her every once in awhile to see if she knows anything about something I find at a thrift store that seems pretty rad but I’m not sure about.

All this to say, I’m basically a legacy thrifter. Im pretty proud of that — not gonna lie. I’ll share my knowledge though, don’t worry.

Next week: Seeing the Potential.

I know you can’t wait.

Ps, this is me an my momma, in what I can only assume are thrifted clothes.