26 Thrifting Tricks, Tips And Hacks That May Make Your Thrifting Experience Way More Fun

For some, when they hear the words “thrifting” or “thrifted”, they instantly imagine outdated, dirty, and worn-out clothes. Plus, they think shopping this way takes a lot of time for inferior results, so it’s basically worthless. Yet, reality is different. 

Yes, sometimes some of the clothes in these stores might be a bit worn out; after all, they’re used and donated by people (or organizations). Regarding hygiene, the stores typically do not wash the clothes they receive, but they sort them out and remove items that are too dirty.

Regarding the time it takes, it’s highly variable. For instance, if you’re going to look for clothes or goods without any specific expectations, it won’t take long – thrift stores are usually packed. But if you’re looking for a particular item, it might take longer, as the selections can be inconsistent.

As for the inferior results, it’s also variable, but quite often, people tend to find some unexpected and valuable stuff they couldn’t find anywhere else. As Macklemore rapped in his song Thrift Shop: “One man's trash, that's another man's come up.” 

Besides these relatively minor disadvantages, thrift shopping offers way more advantages. Where to start? Well, we could start with one of the biggest ones – sustainability.

As you might (or might not) be aware, fast fashion is one of the things that seriously damages our Earth. Low-quality clothes for fast-changing trends are made by using water and other important resources, get worn a couple of times, and are thrown into landfills, not to mention the microplastics that they release into our environment.

When you thrift clothes, you are not demanding new ones; you’re purchasing the ones that already exist and not contributing to pollution. Plus, you’re extending the piece's life by preventing it from ending up in a landfill.

Additionally, thrifting can be a hobby or a fun activity to do with friends or family. Thrift shops offer a wide range of items in various styles, functions, and eras. So, looking for something specific or rare can be like a fun game with other people or by yourself.

You can also simply go looking for one-of-a-kind pieces to make your style more unique and fun.

If we have proven to you that thrifting might be a fun and worthy experience, but you still have doubts about how you can do it, don’t worry, we can help by directing you to the YouTube channel @TheSorryGirls' video “30 thrifting hacks that CHANGED THE GAME.”

The video's hostess Kelsey, in an interview with Bored Panda, revealed that thrifting has always been a part of her life: "When I was a kid, it was my mom and grandmother being money-smart. In high school, I started thrifting for myself because if you couldn’t afford name brands, then the ideal was to express yourself with one-of-a-kind pieces from the thrift store."

She added that in summer of 2019, she tried committing to only thrifting and found out that it wasn't as hard as it seemed.

As you can guess from its name, in the previously mentioned video, Kelsey shares what one should do and expect when going thrift shopping.

For instance, preparing or “being in the mood” for this activity; knowing which days or times of day are the best (or worst) to go; how to thrift, and so on. These pieces of advice are what today’s list is made up of.

At the same time, in our interview, the video hostess Kelsey noted that besides thrifting itself, people should strive to buy less overall: "I love seeing society buy second-hand but even better is learning to love what we already have and not feel the consumerism pressure to buy more."

So, keeping that in mind, check out today's list, upvote the tricks you think are the most worthy and if you have any that weren't mentioned (or tips on how to buy less overall), don’t gatekeep, share them in the comments!