I can remember my mother making me go to yard sales with her and I can remember the eye rolls and attitude I gave her on Saturday mornings when she wanted me to get up early with her and drive around from yard sale to yard sale. Now as an adult and mother myself I love getting up early on Saturday mornings and going "hunting". And yes, I typically drag my boys along with me. At this point they love it because they get prizes at each stop but I know the eye rolls are on their way. It's not just Saturdays that I enjoy bargain shopping. I love finding bargains anywhere any day. My favorite stores are TJ Maxx, HomeGoods, and Ross and I also love the thrift store and I can (and normally do) spend hours in there. Here are a few of the bargains I found last week:
Walker has always loved to read. Unfortunately he has outgrown the library of books we have collected at yard sales (my favorite place to stock up on books!) and it's not exactly yard sale season (but that all changes this weekend! eeeek!) BUT luckily the thrift store is a great place to find books. We found these three books at the thrift store last week. The first book is a Lift A Flap On the Farm book. Walker loves these Lift A Flap books and I do too because they are educational. This particular book teaches names of animals, colors, and opposites. This book was in great shape. The pages were still stiff and shiny and the flaps had not been raised. This particular book is currently selling on Amazon.com for $17.95. My bargain price was $1.99 - SCORE! We also scored a storybook collection of Disney Pixar stories for my three year old Buzz Lightyear Enthusiast for $1.99 and The Little Engine That Could, one of this momma's childhood favorites, for $0.39.
I also found some super cute clothes for the boys. I know a lot of people do not like to buy used clothes and that's okay - there are still lots of great bargains to find at the thrift store. These swimsuits were too cute (and cheap) to pass up. The first pair are from Crazy 8 and are baby blue with navy sea turtles and they cost $0.99. The second pair are the brand Greendog and are navy with skulls on them. These would typically not be our style but in addition to loving books and Buzz Lightyear, my little man loves pirates. Talk about being all boy! These were the perfect balance between cool for him and preppy cutesy for mom. AND....they were $0.79 so I could not pass them up.
Below: Red, White, and Blue Garanimals shorts $0.79
These are going to be perfect for Wyatt to wear on the Fourth of July.
Below: Old Navy $1.49
Below: Circo $0.99
Below: Kitestrings $0.99
Below: No Brand Listed but aren't they cute?! $0.59
Below: The Children's Place $1.49
So here's all my goodies from last week's thrift store trip. I think I did pretty well but just how well did I do???
$11.89!!!!!
I would call that a successful trip to the thrift store!
Here's some tips for how to have a successful thrift store experience:
- Take your time - The thrift store is a big place and can seem overwhelming. Take your time and really look. The aisles are chaotic and unorganized - don't be afraid to touch things and move things around. You never know what could be behind something or under something else.
- Bring Hand Sanitizer
- Triple check EVERYTHING - From books to lamps to clothes you want to check everything and then check it again. Books can look great from the outside but can have pages missing, tears in pages, and marks throughout. It's important to look through the book for these things. Make sure that electronics work. Most of the time they will have TV's plugged in but other items may just say "Works" on the tag. Ask them if you can plug them in to double check. Make sure to triple check clothing. Look for stains, holes, and fading. Hold the items up in the light and run your hand along the seams to check for tears.
- If you see something you want, put it in your buggy right away. If you decide you do not want it later, you can always take it out of your buggy but if you are three aisles away and you decide to go back for it someone may have already snatched it up.
- If something says SOLD and you really want it, check with a worker. There have been quite a few times that a piece of furniture or a big toy says SOLD and I checked with the worker and after some investigating the item was able to be re-tagged and sold. Buyers are given a certain amount of days to pick their items up and if they do not pick them up they can be sold.
- Be Patient - You may go to the thrift store and come out with nothing. Keep going! Just because you do not find something on one trip does not mean you won't come up with a car full the next time.
What is your favorite bargain shopping secret? Please share!
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