30 thrifting hacks that CHANGED THE GAME

I have to add my favorite tip, because it's coming up soon. Find the store closest to your nearest international university. They are loaded with furniture when the semester ends (go early May) it is a lot of ikea, which is fine, but you'd be surprised at the cool pieces students took from their parents and donated once they moved out of their dorms.

I am 63 years young and grew up in Oregon and have thrift shopped and garage sale or flea market shopped all my life for mostly all my home goods and 99% of my clothing, I am so glad younger people are doing this again. If more people will thrift shop, then we can increase that percentage of things purchased in thrift compared to the amounts that were donated. America is immensely blessed to have sooo much material goods available secondhand. It truly is the most ecological choice to buy secondhand. A wonderful side note is all the money my husband and I have saved over the last 43 years of our marriage. All the money saved is now available to us in our retirement for recreation, trips and philanthropy.

I add a comment that’s always useful: don’t buy things you don’t need, just because of the price 😊 thrift stores can be a temptation so bring a little bit of minimalism with you ❤

I have to admit I kind of consider myself a thrifting expert (lol) but this was excellent. Agree with all of it 100% The only thing I always tell people (and may have missed in this video) is DO NOT feel like you must buy something when you go thrifting. I live in a small city w/ a lot of great thrift options but there are days when I come home empty handed or with one $2 picture frame and that's ok. Better to only buy stuff you KNOW you're going to use, wear, or repurpose than to just buy random items.

Another tip - some alterations are REALLY easy to do. If you find a cardigan you like, but hate the buttons? Buttons are super easy to swap out! And you can even find other buttons in the sewing/craft section of the thrift store! Don't love the colour of a dress? Dye it! Need a shorter hem? Hemming is really easy to learn and do! Even if something isn't quite perfect, there's some really easy ways to flip things to make them your own <3

Thank you for these tips! Just a note, Rayon does not contain plastic. Rayon (aka viscose, tencel, bamboo, lyocell, modal) are synthetic fabrics made from plants—they do use a chemical process, but they do not contain plastic, so cannot shed microplastics. They do shed microfibers.

Nothing feels better than getting a compliment on something and being able to say "thanks! It's thrifted!" The idea of turning a printed canvas into a blank canvas is genius!

Another tip to add: find a thrift store with a mission you can support with your donations and purchases! I work at a thrift store that funds a free comprehensive program for women coming out of addiction. Any thrift store is providing recycling (for some items at least), jobs, and savings for the community, but there are lots that are going beyond that and using profits to benefit your community.

If there’s no dressing room to try on pants or shorts at thrift stores, find a stretchy long skirt with elastic waist band. Put it over your current pants then take them off and try on thrift store finds underneath the skirt and then remove the skirt to see how the thrift store finds look. I’ve been doing this since a kid and it’s much easier to make sure the fit is correct instead of trying over leggings.

As a sewist and quilter, I stopped buying new fabric, which is extremely expensive, and started buying 100% cotton men's shirts, flat bedsheets and duvet covers, and vintage fabric. I found that I am having a whole lot more fun both shopping for the fabric and even making my quilts is more fun now! I embrace the holes, thread bare areas, and even stains. I incorporate them into my pieces and enjoy thinking of them getting a second life and of the people who wore them before I recreated the fabric into something new. For stains I either cut the stain out or I embroider or applique over it, turning the area into a unique design idea. Great video! Thanks for the tips!

I'm a fairly experienced thrifter and I second all of these!! I love that she mentioned placeholder pieces; I just replaced 4 placeholder chairs with 4 that matched 2 other (thrifted!) chairs that I already had! I would add to this to check with your store about their furniture pickup window if you're buying a large piece. Many places give you 24 hours to pick it up. Also, never buy a belt new. So many belts are cheap bonded leather. I have found many designer belts (Coach, RL) at thrift stores. Definitely learn how to tell quality leather from crap - it will help you find great belts, bags, and jackets!

The men’s section is such a good place to find high quality wool sweaters. I have also bought a purse at the thrift store with a $50 in it. The purse had so many sections it took me months to find it but huge bonus. That $50 covered many future thrift trips. I continue to live in hope of another one.

I love thrifting my clothes, but as a plus size person the thrift store can be a brutal place.

I started my second-hand only clothing journey the same time you did!! :) My rule now is that I have to have ACTIVELY tried to find a piece I want second-hand for 6 months before I consider purchasing new (sometimes purchasing is needed for us curvy girls). Honestly patience is key - want new white sneakers and the thrift store doesn't have any? Come back next week and they will!

Such great tips!! I have a tip for the plant parents! Look for metal, glass or pottery trays/dishes to replace plastic water catching trays for under your plants. It looks so much better than dirty plastic trays and I’ve found SO many different sizes almost all my plants big or small have thrifted trays/dishes under them!

Great tips! Another tip: throw any clothes, bedding, material you buy straight into the dryer (dry but with tags removed) with a nice smelling eco-brand dryer sheet (or wool balls with some essential oil) for an hour on medium heat. Because the fabric is dry, it works with dry-clean only stuff and won't shrink anything but it gets rid of smells and the teeny tiny chance of bedbugs or moths.

I wanted jeans with real pockets and my husband was like, " Just shop in the men's section". Not only did I get real pockets, but they fit so nice and because the way they size them leads to consistency I could just pick up two more in that size without it being so questionable as to whether or not they fit.

You guys are the reason that most of my closet is second hand :)

Im 54 and have been avidly thrifting since my childhood...... My best advice is to go often. The more you go the better you get at it. I don't even have to try anything on at this point; I can eyeball most everything and can tell from another isle if something is silk, leather or cashmere. Thrifting is a skill. 😉🙌🏻You don't have to buy every time you go but you need to train yourself to find the good stuff.

Love this. I have been thrifting since I was a teenager in the 80s. I like that you talked about sustainability and how much clothing waste we have going on. I also love sewing, so I like to look through the linens and even at clothing to refashion. It's very fun and can be a lower stakes way to get started with sewing if that's something you are interested in trying out.