Tips and Tricks for Shopping at Secondhand Stores

As I’m sure you already know, finding inexpensive products that I love is a big deal for me! I aim to find the trendy products for way less than what most people are paying for them and most the time I succeed… we won’t talk about the times I haven’t though… :). One thing that always amazes me is to see that 90% of the time when you find a product that you fall in love with you can find either that same product or an exact dupe of the product for ½ the cost or sometimes even more than half the cost! But since I have started this blog I have learned a lot about shopping on a budget and especially about shopping from secondhand stores! So make sure you read my tips below and learn from my mistakes.

1. Shop secondhand stores that you trust:

I have shopped at several secondhand stores and some are wayyyy better than others! But my all time favorite one that I have shopped at so far has been thredUp! They are the world’s largest online thrift and consignment store. My sister in law actually introduced me to them last year and since then I have found incredible name brand items for 70%-90% off of their retail price like Madewell sweaters for $20 and Old Navy denim for $7! I know…amazing. Every single time I log into thredUp I find at least 5 different items that I love.

2. Look for brand new items:

Sometimes when I tell people that I love secondhand stores they give me a weird look and say that they could never wear someone else clothes. I definitely don’t feel that way but I get it! Everyone has their things. The awesome thing about thredUp and other consignment stores is that they sell a ton of brand spanking new items! In this last haul that I got from them every single pair of shoes and one of Evie’s shirts that I got was brand new, never been used, tags still on! But they were 70% off of their retail price and I couldn’t be happier with them!

3. Look at the item description:

This one is HUGELY important! When you look at an item like the one shown below it will tell you exactly what size it is (along with the sizing chart which varies for whichever shop you are using), the color, the pattern, and sometimes even detailed measurements. It will also have what material the items is made from (this can vary per item), and what condition the item is in (this is where you will find if it’s brand new or gently used)! Looking at all of these is so important because unlike shopping at regular stores online, consignment stores only have specific sizes for specific items. When I bought a jumpsuit in size XS a few years ago without knowing…this was a lesson that I head to learn the hard way haha.

I purchased 4 pairs of shoes, 2 sweaters for Evie, and 2 dresses for Evie, for only $107! They also had a 20% discount running when I made my purchases. Whenever I shop at thredUp they have a coupon running that they have usually emailed me about! I LOVE getting those extra savings!