I am a certified thrift monster. You can ask anyone I know. Since I’ve been focusing on getting my money in order, spending a lot on clothes has taken a backseat to spending a lot on paying off debt and saving. So I spend as little as possible and try my damndest to look amazing nonetheless, and it’s made me really, really resourceful when it comes to thrift shopping.
On Saturday, I hauled my sick ass out of bed [yes, I had the flu, and I still do - hence the dearth of posting this weekend] and accompanied my good friend Matt [who posts his kickass sci-fi writing here under a Creative Commons license - check it, kiddos, it'll rock your socks off] to procure an outfit on the cheap for an event he was attending Saturday night. Here’s everything I taught him, and how it went down.

  • Go often. You will not get a brand-new wardrobe of mint-condition secondhand clothing in one single trip to one single thrift shop. It’s just not going to happen. So you’ve got to go more than once. Remember, you’re getting it for cheap, so it’s going to cost you some time.

  • Go to lots of different stores. If you visit seventeen different thrift stores, your luck will be better than if you’d just visited one. Even better, you’ll be able to get a sense of what each store has in spades. For instance, I go to one thrift specifically to search for silk blouses from the eighties to wear under sleeveless dresses and with pencil skirts, another for mint-condition name-brand dresses, and a third for old hats and shoes. I’m more likely to visit Village Thrift on a Monday, when everything is fifty cents; if I’m shopping on a Tuesday, I’ll go to the Salvation Army close to my work, because their clothing is half-off on Tuesdays. See what I mean?

  • Don’t try to do a ton of shopping in one day. It is very tempting to take the above two pieces of advice and then say, “OMG! I’m going to spend all day Saturday going to all the thrift stores in the tri-state area!” After a couple of hours, your eyes will glaze over and you’ll never want to touch a piece of old fabric again. Limit yourself to a couple hours at first. And don’t forget to . . .

  • Take breaks often, and eat. Your blood sugar is not a joke, people. Matt and I stopped at a grocery to buy granola bars and fruit, and we wrapped up the day with a good bit of Camp Washington Chili. If we hadn’t, I doubt we’d have made it as far as we did – four shops in two hours.

  • Come dressed to try on stuff outside of the dressing room. Both of us failed at this. Admittedly, it’s easier for girls than for guys – when I remember to do this, I wear leggings and a tank top underneath a fitted dress and/or a jacket so I can slip into skirts and pants without too much trouble. If you’re a guy, though, there’s a good chance you’ll get arrested if you take your pants off in public, even if you’ve got some little bike shorts or whatever underneath [don't say I didn't warn you], so…sorry. Line up for the dressing room.

  • Bone up on your sewing/repair skills, or make friends with someone who’ll alter things for you. Matt bought two collared shirts that fit decently, but I’m going to take them in on the sides so they’re more fitted and flattering. I bought a really great cap with an enormous feather that had fallen off the side. Fixing it will take me all of ten minutes. I’ve habitually bought things with stains I knew I could get out, missing buttons, or hems that had come down. I’m also a huge fan of cropping the sleeves of silk blouses and dresses to make them more my style. However, it bears noting…

  • Be honest with yourself about what kinds of alterations you can handle or are willing to pay for. If adjusting the crotch depth of that awesome pair of MIA-inspired pants is out of your realm, don’t get ‘em – they’ll sit in your closet and give you a silent guilt-trip every time you see them. Cutting down a plus-size dress so it fits a petite woman isn’t for the faint of heart, or the inexperienced at pattern morphing. I used to be notoriously over-ambitious about what I could actually accomplish with my thrifted goods, and it was a hard lesson when some of them sat in my closet for months on end, waiting for me to take action on them.

  • Also, be honest with yourself about how flexible you can be on condition and fit. Tattered prom dresses are adorable, but how comfortable are you showing up to brunch in a dress that’s literally in shreds? Do you care if your vintage cashmere sweaters are covered with pills and dog hair? Are you fine with a shirt whose sleeves have been cropped – messily? Be honest with yourself. If you wouldn’t buy it new, it’s not acceptable in vintage.

  • Bring socks or stockings. On the day that you do not bring socks, you will find the most adorable pair of vintage shoes, and you will be unable to try them on without fear of all manner of fungus and funk getting all over your feet.. [Matt's way of dealing with forgotten socks was to buy the shoes in question - they were four bucks - and if they didn't fit, he planned to give them to someone that could wear them or donate them back for a tax deduction. I recommend this, but not as much as I recommend bringing socks in the first place.]

  • Resist the urge to buy things for their absurdity value. It is so tempting to buy a multicolored sequined dress with an asymmetrical hem and a big flounce on one shoulder or a 1970s-era plaid suit with enormous lapels and a monogram on the sleeve that reads “Killer”, but how many times will you actually wear that? Be honest with yourself. [Okay, I might wear that sequiny flounced dress every day. Do as I say, not as I do.] If you must brag to your friends about that ridiculous sweater with the coffee cup knit into the front and coffee-bean-shaped buttons up the back, take a photo.

  • Bargain. This may make some thrifters feel self-conscious, but I’m pretty unabashed about it. “I’m going to have to take this to a tailor to fix the hem. Can I have twenty percent off?” [Never mind that the tailor is actually myself.] It works for me about half the time. That cute feathery cap I got on Saturday that I have to fix? Totally got a couple dollars knocked off the price.

  • Above all, shop for quality. It’s tempting to grab armloads of cute thrifted stuff, but really how much will you wear it? Think about cost per wear, and be realistic.

Tomorrow I’ll have photos of all the cool stuff we got. I’m in the process of reinstalling Creative Suite on my cute little Hackintosh, and I’m not sure exactly how it’s going to work. I’ll figure something out.

Until then, do you have any thrifting tips to add?

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